PIKELETS (FREEFORM CRUMPETS) - CHEAP AND CHEERFUL!

June 2010.

Placed in the frying pan, a dessertspoon at a time

Oops, seems to be one missing!

There are few things easier than making pikelets (free-form crumpets).  It’s a good way into breadmaking for a beginner.

100ml lukewarm water

1/2 teaspoon yeast – any kind 

Enough strong (breadmaking) flour - around 50g - to make a thickish batter

(Check here for a gluten-free version.)

Start by making a thick paste, then gradually stir in more water to the water/yeast/flour mixture, to make a batter. 

When you're ready to go, lightly oil a frying pan and place over a medium heat.

When the pan is warm enough, place a spoonful of batter in the frying pan to see if the batter is the right consistency. If they spread across your frying pan the batter is too thin and you’ll need to add some more flour to thicken it. Cook them until the top has turned pale and is set in a mass of tiny holes.

As soon as the top is dry – and not before – turn them over to cook on the other side. They should be nicely brown on both sides.

Keep them warm in a folded cloth until they are all done.

For fruit pikelets, as in the pic, add a handful of sultanas after you’ve mixed the batter.

I made these last night and had half the batter left over for this morning’s breakfast. The fruit plumps up lovely.

Note:
These can also be made with self raising flour - in which case, simply mix the batter and go straight ahead.

Tuesday 22nd October 2019

Deciding to go a little bit healthier, I thought I'd make these with wholemeal flour (Doves organic - very tasty).  What stops me making these more often is just laziness - after dinner I generally can't be bothered, but there really is nothing to it. And if I have everything prepped beforehand, I've no excuse.

So this morning, I mixed 4 heaped dsps of w/m flour + 1 dsp sugar (optional, hence the 'almost' above), with enough water to make a thickish batter and a handful of sultanas. I added half a teaspoon of fresh yeast - but half a tsp of baking powder would serve just as well, added just before cooking - stirred it and left it for this evening.

Saturday 28th January 2017

Been making ginger pikelets, recently. Instead of sultanas, I've used chrystallised ginger, chopped into small pieces - and I've added a teaspoon of ground ginger to the batter. Simply wonderful!

Monday 23rd January 2012

Following a discussion on the BBC Food board last night, I made a batch of these, some of which I had last night, and another batch of which I've just eaten for breakfast. 

(When starting a sourdough culture, you're asked to discard part of it regularly during the early stages. However, this discard makes excellent pikelets.)

In the light of this I've updated the recipe (see below) - and I took several more pics:

The first two were cooked on top and the rest are just drying from the sides 

The third one turned over and the others continuing to dry from the edges 

All done - perhaps a little on top...

...and covered with marmalade. Breakfast is ready!

Have to admit I found it hard to resist eating these just as soon as they come out of the frying pan. Had some for my pudding tonight, made some for my wife and made enough for tomorrow's breakfast.

BREADMAKING MADE EASY - Highbridge, Somerset May 2014

Here's where I shall post all the preparation and planning for this course, plus links to the recipes of all the breads we make over the three weeks. I'll be surprised if we don't make a dozen or so different varieties of bread between us all! 

Here's the pre-course letter that students will receive:

Dear Student,

Breadmaking at Morland Hall, Pearce Drive, Off Morland Road, Highbridge, TA9 3ET, 9.30-12.30, 6^th to 20^th May 2014

This letter sets out what I intend will happen in the first session and includes a list of ingredients and utensils which you will need to bring. If you are new to breadmaking, let me reassure you that it is much easier than you have been led to believe.

The session will begin in a relaxed fashion – the first thing you need to do is to find somewhere to park all the stuff that I ask you to bring, get yourself a drink and a chair to sit on. There is some necessary administration to complete, but we can go through this together. If you need any help with the forms I will be there to give you a hand, so there’s no need to worry. Bring a pen if you can remember, although I will have a couple to spare.

Before we start I’d like to spend some time finding out if you’ve had any experience in breadmaking, and what you expect to get out of the course, so that I can hopefully meet all your requirements.

The breads we will be making on the first morning are: Plain soda bread, spiced fruit loaf (also soda bread) and a tinned loaf, yeast risen.

Each week you will make 2 or 3 varieties of bread – most of them chosen by you and the other students. However, there are various techniques I want to cover, such as ‘No-knead, overnight bread’, using the cloche method, etc. You will be given the recipes for all the breads we make, plus general breadmaking hints and tips. My aim is for you to become a competent home baker (if you’re not already!), able to bake any bread you fancy.

Bring a large basket or a cardboard box to carry all your equipment and ingredients, and the finished products to take home with you!  Coffee or tea is available during the session.

I want to reassure those students new to breadmaking that my first aim for this course is for everyone to enjoy their learning – I always delight in these sessions, and it’s my job to see that everyone else does. Breadmaking is an easy, everyday craft – as you’ll come to realise (if you haven’t already)!

If you have any questions, doubts, suggestions at all, please don’t hesitate to ring or email me. I always enjoy making contact with my students before the course begins.

Finally, I’d like to draw your attention to the word ‘Companion’. The ‘com’ part means together – as in community – and the ‘pan’ part of the word means bread. So the word ‘Companion’ can be taken to mean, ‘Someone who makes bread with friends’. Which is what we shall be doing on these Tuesday mornings!

I look forward to meeting you and welcoming you on the course.

Paul (Course tutor)

P.s. I’ve started a post on my blog where I will post all the planning for this course – plus all the pics, both mine and yours!

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/breadmaking-made-easy-highbridge.html

Have a look around the blog – this will help you decide which breads you’d like to make.

Shopping list:

500g strong white flour (own brand is fine)

500g strong wholemeal flour (if you want to make a wholemeal loaf or rolls)

Baking powder

Olive oil

Salt

2 dessertspoons sugar (granulated is fine)

Mixed spice

100g dried fruit

10g fresh yeast (but I'll have plenty available if you can’t find any)

You will also need to bring:

An apron

A couple of tea towels, both to cover your dough whilst it's proving and to wrap your warm bread in to take home.

Baking paper/parchment (this is unlike ordinary greaseproof paper as it contains silicon)

Something to carry away the finished products (a large basket or cardboard box lined with tea towels would be ideal)

Mug (there are cups and saucers in the centre – not sure if they provide mugs)

HOMEMADE BREAD WRAPS, GREAT FOR LUNCHBOXES

(For more breadmaking ideas, take a look at this post.)

Here I am on YouTube, demonstrating these.

Cheese and tomato (or mushroom) sizzlers (wraps)
(Makes 8 sizzlers):

Ingredients:
400g strong white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 rounded dessertspoon fresh yeast
250ml lukewarm water
Splash of olive oil (optional)

(Or: 2 mugs of flour to 2/3rds water)

Filling:
6 medium tomatoes or 8 mushrooms or a combination of these
150g grated Cheddar

Method:
1. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, pour in the yeast liquid, then add the olive oil if using.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Holding the bowl with one hand begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with your fingers. Check how the dough feels as you mix – it should stay soft and squidgy – and add more flour or water as needed. When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by flattening the dough out, folding it over and flattening it again. If the dough is too sticky, instead of putting extra flour on your worktop, place some in the bowl, put the dough back in and turn it round to coat it all over. That way you keep the flour under control and you won’t be tempted to add too much. Knead until the dough becomes smooth – and then stop before you get fed up!

4. Divide the dough in two and put one piece to one side. Divide the first piece into 4 and form each piece into a bap shape. Flour the worktop and roll each piece out into a circle about 15cm across. As you roll out the dough, keep turning it and refreshing the flour, to make sure it isn’t sticking.

5. Slice the tomato and cut each piece in half and put them in a line across the middle of each circle. Sprinkle a little grated cheese over the tomato then fold the sides of the circle over the filling, leaving the sizzlers open at each end. Place on a baking sheet and repeat with the other circles.

6. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

7. Leave to prove until the dough is risen and puffy and bake at 220C, 425F or gas 7 for about fifteen minutes. There should be some colour under the sizzlers to show that they are cooked right through.

When making these for the first time, a common tendency is to include more filling than is strictly necessary! You don't need a lot - they really are cheap and cheerful. Once you've made them a couple of times, you'll find what's best for you.

Suggestions:
For 4 sizzlers use half of the ingredients.
Vary the cheese – Red Leicester or Lancashire, for example.
Use peppers or onions instead of tomatoes/mushrooms.

This dough will make two pizza bases, or a batch of rolls, or a smallish loaf, or – anything really!

PESHWARI NAAN BREAD

Last night we had some friends over for an Indian meal – from our favourite Indian takeaway, The Miriam in Taunton.

I saw this as an excuse to make one of my favourite breads – a Peshwari naan.

I made it with yeast, took one third, and rolled it out to fit my cast-iron frying pan which I placed on a low heat (I figured we’d be eating this one quicker). I divided the remaining piece into three, rolled them out fairly thinly, and put them to prove. I turned the oven onto 220C.

After about ten minutes I turned the one in the frying pan over, increased the heat and cooked it for a further 4 minutes.

When the oven was warm I put the naan breads in for a brief minute to get a burst of heat. After a further ten minutes, they’d risen enough to go in the oven.

I gave them 6 minutes and turned them around on the baking tray so the outside of each naan was now facing inwards.

After another 6-7 minutes they were ready and the guests began to arrive.

They all agreed that the oven-baked ones were superior to the frying pan naan – which I put down to the fact that the oven-baked ones didn’t have to be turned over and were therefore lighter.

If I hadn’t been using the oven I would have started them in the frying pan and finished them off under the grill.

Here’s the recipe (which I increased by a half):

Peshwari naan
I use two different methods to make this – one of my most popular breads. I originally made it as a quick bread, using self-raising flour and done in a frying pan (baked in an oven it is not as moist). Now I often do it using a yeast risen dough, baked in the oven and also in a frying pan – both are good. Any dried fruit will do, but dried apricots - the unsulphured ones - make it special.

Quick bread recipe
Ingredients:
200g self-raising flour (or you can use plain flour with 2 tsps of baking powder mixed in – self raising flour’s just easier)
1/4 tsp salt
1 or 2 tsps curry powder
1 dsp sugar
50g grated creamed coconut
100g dried apricots, chopped small
Medium onion, finely chopped
125ml water
Olive oil

Method:
The secret of any quick bread is to have everything ready beforehand. So oil a large frying pan and put it on medium heat. Mix dried ingredients and measure liquids. When everything is ready, add the water and oil and stir it quickly into a dough. Be ready to add more water or flour if needed. Take it out, shape it into a flattened ball and, after flouring your worktop, roll out into a circle the size of your frying pan. Place it in the frying pan.
They should take about 4-5 minutes each side to bake. When the first one is ready, slide it onto a cooling rack, re-oil the frying pan and carefully place the second naan into it.

Yeast bread recipe
Ingredients:
200g strong white flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 or 2 tsps curry powder
1 dsp sugar
50g creamed coconut (grated)
100g dried apricots, chopped small
Medium onion, finely chopped
1 dsp fresh yeast
125ml lukewarm water
Splash of olive oil

Method:
Place dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pour the lukewarm water over the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the olive oil. Mix into a dough, adding more water if needed. Knead for about a minute or so to distribute the ingredients properly.
Using the frying pan, follow the instructions as above.
Oven baked, roll out to a size that will fit your baking sheet, place on the lined baking sheet and leave until the dough becomes puffy.

Bake at 200c/425F or gas 7 for approximately 12 minutes. Check for some colour underneath to see if it is cooked properly.

Note:
I make a version of this, 'Spicy fruit naan', (incl. pic) which I have daily for breakfast, spread with mashed banana. 

ICED BUNS

Ingredients:
200g strong white flour
2 dessertspoons sugar
125ml lukewarm water
1 rounded teaspoon fresh yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil

Plus:
Icing sugar 

Method:
1. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour and sugar into a mixing bowl and pour in the yeast liquid followed by the olive oil.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary. Remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Holding the bowl with one hand begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with your fingers. Check how the dough feels as you mix – it should stay soft and squidgy – and add more flour or water as needed. When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by flattening the dough out, folding it over and flattening it again. Knead until the dough becomes smooth – and then stop before you get fed up!

4. Leave it for an hour or so, covered with a tea towel. (Or go straight to step 5.)

5. When you're ready to proceed, divide the dough into 8 pieces. Form each one into a bun shape and then roll each one into a sausage shape. Place on a prepared baking tray about 5mm apart, so that they grow to touch each other.

6. Cover and leave to prove until they have grown appreciably in size. Bake at 220C, 425F or gas mark 7, for about 10-12 minutes.

7. Whilst the buns are baking, make up the icing sugar as per the instructions on the box. When the buns have cooled, spread the icing sugar evenly over each bun.

This is just a basic bread recipe with some sugar added. Wrap them in a tea towel while they cool, to keep them soft.

I made some in a playgroup this morning with 14 children. The first comment from the kids was, 'Yummy!". Mind you, they'd sprinkled the icing with sugar strands, chocolate flavour strands and hundreds and thousands!

A Vegan Pizza

(Makes 1 large or 2 small)

I ate a third before I remembered to take a pic!:( (No prizes for guessing what the baking parchment had previously been used for!)

Ingredients:

200g strong white flour

1 teaspoon bouillon powder

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs

1 teaspoon curry powder

4 large sun-dried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces

125ml homemade spicy tomato sauce (or use water)

1 rounded teaspoon fresh yeast or level teaspoon of dried yeast

1 tablespoon of the sun-dried tomato oil

Topping:

Pateole yeast and mushroom pate

Pesto (I use Meridian)

Houmous

1 sliced tomato

Several sliced mushrooms

Method:

1. Place the dried ingredients and the s-d-tomatoes into a mixing bowl. Stir the yeast into the sauce until it’s dissolved (dried yeast takes a little longer to dissolve than fresh) and add it to the flour. Pour the oil into the liquid.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with a knife, starting with the yeast, cutting through the dough. When it gets too stiff for the knife, use your hand to squeeze the mixture together. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water to keep it soft! When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by stretching the dough out, folding it over, stretching it out and so on and so forth. Do this until it is smooth – and stop before you get fed up!

4. Prepare your baking sheets, take the dough out of the mixing bowl and place it on your worktop. Divide the dough into 1 or 2 equal pieces and form each piece gently into a cob shape. Have plenty of flour to hand and liberally scatter flour over the dough and worktop. With a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough to the size of your baking sheets.

5. Spread the pizza base(s) with a layer of pate, then a layer of pesto, and finally a layer of houmous. Place slices of tomato and mushroom on top and sprinkle with herbs and black pepper.

6. Leave them to prove until the dough has become puffy at the edges.

7. Place in a hot oven, 220C, 425F or gas mark 7 for 15-20 minutes, turning round halfway through if necessary. When they're done the pizzas will lift up all along one side when you check underneath, using a palette knife. The bottom should be browning from the edges.


This was posted in June last year - here's the pizza I made today (4/2/11):


100g each, white and wholemeal strong flour
1 teaspoon bouillon powder
2 teaspoons curry powder (1 tsp chilli powder plus 1/3rd tsp each cumin, coriander and turmeric)
4 large sun-dried tomatoes, chopped small
115ml lukewarm water plus 15g tomato puree
1 teaspoon fresh yeast
25ml oil from the s-d-tomatoes

This made a fairly sticky dough which I rolled out, using stacks of flour, to the size of my baking tray (see pic above). I covered this with a layer of pesto and a rich tomato sauce. On this I placed slices of field mushroom and another four s-d-tomatoes - this time cut into strips - and I finished it off with fresh basil.

This recipe for the base is my favourite at the moment. It makes for a very 'short' crust - almost like shortcrust pastry!

I figure it's the oil from the tomatoes which give it this effect. I reckon this recipe would make fabulous  grissini (breadsticks)!

Different toppings:
I always like to try different toppings. The three pizzas I made in the chiminea today (25/4/11) were topped with:
1) My favourite standby, mushroom pate and pesto plus sliced mushroom and tomato
2) Spicy tomato sauce and houmous plus grilled sweet peppers from a jar
3) Spicy tomato sauce and nutritional yeast plus peppers

Peshwari naan bread

I use two different methods to make this – one of my most popular breads. I originally made it as a quick bread, using self-raising flour and done in a frying pan (baked in an oven it is not as moist). Now I often do it using a yeast risen dough, baked in the oven and also in a frying pan – both are equally good. Any dried fruit will do, but apricots are my favourite - the dark, unsulphured ones, of course.

Yoghurt is fairly traditional in this recipe, but as I'm a vegan I don't use it. If you wanted to use some yoghurt as part of the liquid you may need to add a little more liquid - depending on how thick the yoghurt is.

Similarly, almonds are often used in this recipe - but I'm not a fan.

Once again, this is a recipe that anyone can play around with - just use the ingredients that suit you.

Quick bread recipe

Ingredients:
200g self-raising flour (or you can use plain flour with 2 tsps of baking powder mixed in – self raising flour’s just easier)
1 or 2 tsps curry powder
1 dsp sugar
50g grated creamed coconut
100g dried apricots, quartered
Medium onion, finely chopped
125ml water
Splash of olive oil (optional)l

Method:
The secret of any quick bread is to have everything ready beforehand and work quickly. So oil a large frying pan and put it on a low heat. Mix dried ingredients and measure liquids. When everything is ready, add the water and oil and stir it quickly into a dough. Be ready to add more water or flour if needed. Take it out, shape it into a flattened ball and, after flouring your worktop, roll out into a circle the size of your frying pan. Place it in the frying pan and increase the heat to medium.
They should take about 4-5 minutes each side to bake.

Yeast bread recipe

Ingredients:
200g strong white flour
1 or 2 tsps curry powder
1 dsp sugar
50g creamed coconut (grated)
100g dried apricots, quartered
Medium onion, finely chopped
1 dsp fresh yeast
125ml lukewarm water
Splash of olive oil (optional)

Method:
Place dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Pour the lukewarm water over the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the olive oil. Mix into a dough, adding more water if needed. Knead for about a minute or so to distribute the ingredients properly.
Using the frying pan, follow the instructions as above.
Oven baked, roll out to a size that will fit your baking sheet, place on the lined baking sheet and leave until the dough becomes puffy.

Bake at 200c/425F or gas 7 for approximately 12 minutes. Check for some colour underneath to see if it is cooked properly.

Cornbread with roasted peppers

Cornbread is one of the breads I don't make often enough!

I made this recently with some friends in a local care home - so I had to go easy with the chilli, otherwise I'd have included more.

I used a jar of roasted peppers from Aldi.

Ingredients:
125g strong white flour
75g polenta or maizemeal
1/2 veggie Oxo cube
1/4 tsp curry powder
1 dsp fresh yeast
125ml lukewarm water
Splash of the oil from the roasted peppers

Plus, 50g or so chopped red and yellow roasted peppers (folded into the dough)

Method:
Measure the water and stir in the yeast until it has dissolved. Place the flour, crumbled stock cube and chilli powder into a mixing bowl. Stir the dry ingredients to mix them and prevent any streaky bits in the bread, then pour in the yeast liquid and add the oil.

MIx into a soft dough and knead only until it is smooth.

To add the peppers, press the dough out flat and spread the peppers over. Roll up the dough and gently knead it a few times to mix the peppers through.

Shape it into a round and place on an oiled baking sheet or one lined with baking parchment and make some deep cuts in dough - to expose the peppers - in a pattern of your choosing.

(I made one with four cuts in a 'star' shape, but my students were not so hidebound - their 'rough cuts' made their bread look much more attractive than mine.)

Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise until it has appreciably grown in size - about half as big again.

Bake at 220C for about 15-20 minutes. It's done when it is brown across the bottom of the loaf.

Place on a cooling rack.

Variations:
The inclusion of some green chillis would make this bread even more colourful - as well as making it tastier.
Play about with the ratio of flour and maizemeal as you will. Even all maizemeal will work, although you'll only get a minimal rise.