Engagement Present Baking

So Michael and I had an engagement party and spent ages trying to work out an appropriate present. In the end we picked something similar to one of our presents.   For our present we received a three layered glass jar filled with lollies. I decided that it would be nicer to have some home baked goodies in the jars as well.

This is the jar before I filled it with goodies.

I also had to make some food for Michael’s last day at his legal placement so decided to make some quick and easy brownies.

One cooked brownie and the other just before cooking

Recipe:

• 250g of melted butter
• 1 1/3 cups of plain flour
• 2 1/4 cups of sugar
• 3/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

Combine all ingedients in a bowl and mix until smooth. Poor into a 20 cm square cake tin and bake for 50 minutes at 170 C. Allow to cool before cutting.

I made two brownies so Michael had enough and there was also some for the present. It doesn’t take long at all and is super easy and tastes yummy.

Next up I decided to make something else super easy which was caramel slice.

The recipe I used was from taste but slightly modified. Taste is where I love to go to get any recipes I don’t have.

Recipe:

Bottom Layer:

• 125 g of butter
• 80 g of caster sugar
• 190 g of plain flour

Cream the butter and sugar, then add in the flour and combine. Knead until it forms a smooth ball. Spread into a 20 cm cake tin and bake at 160 C for 15 minutes. Remove and cool for 15 minutes.

Middle Layer:

• 395 g of sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tablespoons of golden syrup
• 40 g of butter

Heat on medium until the mixture thickens and is a caramel colour. This usually takes about 10 – 15 minutes and needs to be constantly stirred. Pour onto the base layer and bake at 160 C for 12 minutes. Leave to cool for 3 to 4 hours.

Top Layer:

• 150 g of dark chocolate
• 20 g of butter

Combine in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 1 minute at a time. Stir the mixture between every minute and continue heating until smooth. Pour over the middle layer and leave to cool in the fridge.

Cut up and serve once all the layers have set.

Unfortunately, I forgot to get some pictures of this which was sad as it looked really nice.

Finally, David got some chocolate from Haigh’s Chocolates.

Now that I had all the pieces I put everything in the jar and wrapped it up. It looked really cool and I hope they liked all the food inside.

The jar filled with all the goodies

The chemistry of making bread

Hey Guys!

It really would be nice if I got some ideas from some of you! Then I could write about something you might like instead of stuff that I enjoy.  I have a million ideas, as I love to talk, but it would be more interesting reads for you if you told me what to write about.

Credit ulterior epicure

 

Today I decided to talk to you about the chemistry of cooking! Why you ask? Well for one I love cooking and eating the food I cook. Two, I love chemistry and understanding how things work. I always think while cooking about the millions of compounds that must be making reactions to produce the amazing food I’m eating. Three, I made pizza and while making the pizza bases I was wondering what exactly was going on inside the dough. Lastly, I’m sure a lot of you do cooking too and it might just be helpful or interesting to someone.

Credit lynn

 

To make dough for a pizza or bread you need several things: flour, yeast, water, salt, sugar and some oil. Why are they there and what dictates the amount of them? Let’s talk about these ingredients individually and see exactly why each one is in there.

The main ingredient in any dough is flour. This contains starch and proteins (mostly gluten). What do these things do that make bread, bread? The proteins, when combined with water, begin to form gluten networks. These make up the general structure of bread and hold it all together. Starch also performs a similar task in the presence of water. This is due to the water molecules linking the different proteins together. This process is helped along when you knead the dough and explains why it becomes very elastic after kneading. This is the bulk of dough but the other ingredients are just as important.

Credit mrlins

 

Yeast is the next ingredient and this is just a fungus. Ewwww! But it really is important. Bread it’s all soft and squishy because of the air present in the finished product. How does that air get in there?  The fungus in yeast feeds on the starch and the sugar present in the mixture. This allows for it to release carbon dioxide as a by-product of this process. The carbon dioxide is then trapped by the protein networks and forms a bubble. This gives bread its overall light texture and makes the difference between bread and damper.

Water is H2O and also an important ingredient. Bread wouldn’t be bread without it. We discussed its roles above with flour. However, with yeast it also does something interesting. The water present in the solution helps the yeast to multiply and produce carbon dioxide. Without this present you really wouldn’t have bread at all.

Salt–plain old sodium chloride–is mainly there for flavour. However, it does have some other interesting functions. The other reason that salt is added is to help the yeast form carbon dioxide bubbles. It does this in a backwards way. It limits the carbon dioxide production of the yeast. This would be a problem if the proteins weren’t fully formed as the gas would escape and you wouldn’t get the bread you know and love.

Sugar is what gives you energy, as it’s just a carbohydrate. Aren’t they meant to be bad for you though? Why are they in there? Just like sugar giving you energy it also gives energy to the yeast. This helps it to produce the carbon dioxide and form the bread we know and love. However, too much sugar can influence the formation of the gluten which is generally why cake has more sugar.

Oil is the last ingredient I want to talk about. It coats the proteins in the flour and, since it’s not soluble in water it helps to keep them away. This has an important influence as it stops the proteins in the flour forming gluten. This is why when you make cake you add more oils as gluten is more common in bread formation.

There you go! That is just some of the chemistry going on in the bread you are eating every day. I personally think it’s pretty interesting. Here is a little video to watch about the history of bread as well.

Let me know if there is anything you want to hear about!

Emma