Yesterday we had our friend Nick over for lunch. As it was a last minute kind of thing, I quickly made some Cheese onion chutney soda bread to have with our lunch!

Cheese onion chutney soda bread

Cheese onion chutney soda bread

I haven’t made my Cheese onion chutney soda bread recipe for a little while. Mainly because I ran out of my organic home made onion chutney (its been so long, we nearly forgot how to make it!) , and secondly, I had almost forgotten how delicious it is. This time, I had to resort to a shop bought jar which comes in at a close second to my home made version – organic red onion chutney. We actually liked it so much, I have made another one today!

When I was little, I used to go through colds and flu more frequently than other kids. I always preferred home remedies, and often I was served onion syrup. One day, having bad cough as an adult and not able to shift it, I decided to try onion treatment from my childhood.

How Cheese onion chutney soda bread was made.

I had a lot of sugary onion left after a recipe I was using one day. As I don’t like wasting food, I thought I’d try making onion chutney. If it went wrong, it wouldn’t be a massive waste, as I had already extracted and used the syrup.

Playing around with the remaining onion, adding various seasoning and vinegar, I came up with a pretty tasty onion chutney (recipe to follow). I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t ever tried onion chutney in my baking – it was so tasty! At the time, we were making a lot of courgette soda bread. It is my favourite savoury bake, especially when these amazing vegetables are in season.

Soda bread, what is that?

I remember the day I tasted soda bread for the first time…

Years ago, when I first arrived in England, I was working in a pub, owned by an Irish chef, as a barmaid. New to the pub (and the country), the chef fed me all sorts of new stuff every day. One reason was to become familiar with the menu, and in case any of the customers asked. Another reason was to prove to me how good his cooking was! I was allowed to pick anything from the menu, and that day I had spotted a new dish, accompanied by soda bread! Being very curious what this type of bread was, I decided to try it immediately.

To my pleasant surprise, I fell in love with this new thing straight away and have never looked back. Now I make all sorts of flavours pretty often, besides it is a great side dish for any meal.

Cheese onion chutney soda bread is so simple to make that quite often Zara can make it herself. She still requires a bit of supervision when she is preparing the ingredients. However, even the least experienced baker will be able to make this, if you follow the instructions carefully. It literally takes five minutes to weigh, mix and put it in the oven.

Absolutely divine.

Cheese onion chutney soda bread tastes divine. If you never had this type of bread the texture will be hard to describe. So, I would wholeheartedly recommend you to make it and try it for yourself. Cheese onion chutney soda bread is a little sweet and savoury at the same time. Is moist inside and crunchy outside, and my favourite way to eat it is just plain covered in salty butter. Oh my I love my butter! Still solid, straight from the fridge so you can slice it like a cheese whilst the Cheese onion chutney soda bread is still hot!

Method.

Turn on the oven to 200C, 180C fan.

You can prepare the whole Cheese onion chutney soda bread recipe in one bowl –  minimising the cleaning afterwards!

Prepare in a bowl:

  • 400g sieved self rising flour
  • 50 – 80g of chunky oats
  • 2 tsp. of bicarbonate soda
  • 3 – 4 tbsp of red onion chutney
  • 150g of grated cheddar or gruyere (or any other strong, hard cheese)
  • 4 rounded tsp of dry dill

Mix well with a wooden spoon (or with your hands). Personally, I prefer to use a spoon when I am making it myself, it’s quicker and less messy. However, when Zara is helping, she likes to use her hands.

Cheese onion chutney soda bread

Add:

  • 200g kefir or buttermilk
  • 100g natural Greek yoghurt

Stir well but not too long. Only a few minutes maximum, or will become stodgy!

To bake Cheese onion chutney soda bread, I use my pizza stone. Firstly covered in baking parchment to avoid the dough from sticking.

Make a ball out of the dough, place on the stone (if you haven’t got stone, an ordinary baking tin will work too) and cut a deep cross on the top. Open it gently and allow to spread so it can rise evenly.

Cheese onion chutney soda bread

Bake for around 40 minutes on the parchment, and for further 20 minutes without to crisp up the bottom of your Cheese onion chutney soda bread.

Remove from the oven and leave on a cooling rack.

Voilà!

Bon appétit. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do!

Aggy x

 

Today we have a special bake Babcias strawberry crumble cake*.

What an amazing hot summer we are having in the UK right now!! First time in years I am actually able to slow down for a little while and admire the surroundings. I have finally managed to expand my beautiful organic allotment and we have picked our first large crop from the strawberry patch. As soon I have picked the first strawberry I knew what I am going to make. My thoughts took me to my late grandma and her amazing Babcias strawberry crumble cake!

Babcias strawberry crumble cake 

My grandma, in polish babcia* who of course had a massive influence on my food journey was an amazing cook. She was always cooking or baking and was always offering food to anyone who walked through the door. Her and granddad (dziadek*) had a massive fruit and vegetable garden where they were growing many organic fruits. She was the master queen of yeast dough and in the summer her signature bake was this simple berry cake. Preferably topped with strawberries or raspberries and it had to be sprinkled with some delicious crumble.

 

 

This tasty and delicious Babcias strawberry crumble cake is a must in the current weather. You can have it as light breakfast with a glass of milk or a quick bite with afternoon ice tea.  It’s great for a picnic or lunch out as it keeps really well and could be a healthier alternative to a doughnut.

Don’t worry there is no kneading or hard work involved as you normally would expect when working with yeast. The hardest part is watching and waiting for the dough to grow but believe me it’s so worth it!

Babcias strawberry crumble cake can be eaten hot, almost straight from the oven or even cold the next day… but it never lasts that long.

Babcias strawberry crumble cake is flavoursome, light and fluffy almost like the Italian Panettone cake. With fresh, juicy sweet and sour burst of strawberries nicely ‘melting’ in the dough. Coated in sweet, golden, buttery crumble!

 

Method:

The dough part for Babcias strawberry crumble cake.

In a medium bowl prepare the starter.

  • 50g fresh yeast
  • 2 tbsp. granulated sugar

Using back of a spoon crush and blend together. Add

  • 1 tsp plain flour
  • 2 tbsp. warm milk

Mix well together and leave it aside in a warm place covered with a cloth until double in size.

In the meantime prepare:

  • 100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled but still liquidised (if the butter is too hot it will kill the yeast)
  • 1 tbsp. organic olive oil (I have used avocado oil)
  • 250ml warm milk + 50g glucose
  • 1 whole organic egg + 2 egg yolks beaten with 150g sugar

Add all of the above including the starter into

  • 500g sieved plain flour

You can mix with a large wooden spoon until well combined, approximately 10 – 15 minutes. Alternatively  to save time and energy I am using my free standing mixer with beater end. Leave in warm place covered with a cloth till at last double in size. Approximately 45 minutes to an hour. I don’t usually rush this step so sometimes let it stand even slightly longer when I go out or carry with other jobs.

When the Babcias strawberry crumble cake mixture is growing I prepare the strawberries. You will need

  • 800 – 1000 g of strawberries (or if you prefer other red berries)

Wash them, clean and dry thoroughly. If they are a little bit on the sharp side, mix it with a few table spoon of sugar and leave on a sieve to let the juice out.

Crumble part for Babcias strawberry crumble cake.

  • 160g sieved plain flour
  • 110g cold (from the fridge) and chopped unsalted butter
  • 100g sugar

Chop all the ingredients together to crumble like mix and place it in the fridge.

Assembling Babcias strawberry crumble cake.

You will need 10 or 12″ square tin or a equivalent lined with baking paper. After an hour or so of resting the yeast dough mix it briefly again and spread it in a tin. Evenly cover with fruit and levse for another 15 – 30 minutes to rest.

Warm up over to 190C. Sprinkle crumble all over the Babcias strawberry crumble cake and place it in the over for around 45 minutes. Bake to golden on top or check it with a skewer.

Remove from the oven and slice it straight away or leave it to cool.

 

I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do and will bake it over and over again.

 

*Ps. A quick Polish lesson,

Pronunciation: babcia = babcha, dziadek = jadek

 

 

Lemon, almond and poppy seeds roulade

Lemon almond and poppy seed roulade recipe

So who watched the ‘Great British Bake Off’ last week? I think we will be trying our hands at the show stopper as it looked amazing!

Lemon almond and poppy seed roulade Here at Cotswolds Finest Cakes HQ not only do we have a passion for outstanding sculpted, gravity defying and wedding cakes; we also love baking breads, preparing desserts making the ultimate sweet treats. In our new blog we would like to share our favorite recipes with you all so you too can make and bake the most delicious desserts for you and you friends and family.Lemon almond and poppy seed roulade and our litte modelAll the recipes will be varying in skill level but with good planning and attention to detail there should be no recipe that is too difficult for the home baker!

Lemon almond and poppy seed roulade recipe

All the ingredients we use are things that are either found at home already or are easily available from your local store.

So, get your aprons on, the oven fired up, zero the scales and let’s get baking.

First recipe we would like you to try is our amazing Lemon, almond and poppy seed roulade with delicious cream cheese filling. This really is a very moreish dessert which all the family can get involved in making and certainly enjoy eating! The only down side to this dessert is that it’s so easy to make and so delicious – you may find yourself making it over and over again!

(more…)

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