Roti Recipe and Sketches of Frangipani and Coral

Only a quick post! The coral was inspired by doing lots of diving in Koh Tao, and the Frangipani flowers are EVERYWHERE here in Asia, a very robust little flower-great to make out of sugar paste to top your cakes. …

Sketches from Vietnam

Learning to Cook in Vietnam

Hoi An, Vietnam. Yesterday was episode 2 in my ‘learning how to cook global takeover’. And it was AWESOME. It was with the Thuan Tinh Island Cooking Tour. It started, as many asian cookery classes do; in the local market. …

Sweet Street Food, Hoi An, Vietnam

These little stalls lace the streets of Vietnam, and in Hoi An they are freshly preparing types of donuts. One is a coconut cake, a ball bun filled with strips of coconut-the type you’d find in a ‘London Cheesecake‘ (if you don’t know what that is, then you are seriously missing out!)

Another delight, is a type of sliced banana fritter, with a few strips of coconut thrown in for good measure. The banana is dipped lightly in a pancake batter and then deep fried to create a thin, banana crisp.

There are a few other things on these stalls, even the bog standard ringed donuts.  They are all fried and sprinkled with sesame seeds (i need to use more sesame seeds in my food as it transforms normal to WOW with one pinch!)
Both of these cost me 10,000 vnd (£35p)
The smell reminded me instantly of theme parks back in the UK. Pretty cool as its a grey, muggy day here in Hoi An, a sleepy town of hanging lanterns and boutique tailors.

Vietnam Food Diary (Vol.1): I’m 85% sure I ate dog…sad face.

Yesterday, in Dalat (the valley of eternal Springtime, it’s gorgeous!) we went to a cricket farm – the garden shed of a guy’s house. Then, lucky me got to try them. I was determined NOT to, but then my squeamish …

Cambodia: Some food i’ve had so far…

I know I said this was a  Cambodia post, but there is two things I need to blog about from Thailand first. My travel brain is getting the better of me I’m afraid! Bangkok, Asiatique. MK Suki restaurant. These were pork …

My First Cookery Class in Siem Reap, Cambodia!

I’m writing this as we are on a bus to Phnom Penh, hopefully I won’t feel woozy half way through. We have been in Siem Reap for four days-previously we were in Bangkok for a few days (that was our …

My Day Baking Bread in the ‘Blackbird Bread’ Nest!

@blackbirdbread Hello, we bake bread and cake for Twickenham! Check out our blog http://blackbirdbread.blogspot.co.uk/

@lornas_cakery ooh! Do you fancy letting me see your bread making skills? I’m desperate to get better! I could pay you in cake? X

@blackbirdbread Sounds like a fair deal! Let’s get something sorted out!

And it was as simple as that. We met up the following friday at Mark’s house – Mr and Mrs Blackbird run a micro-bakery from home. This is where they bake bread for their local residents up and down the street (well, actually now its a fair few streets as the word has spread of the wonderfully light, fluffy, crusty warm homemade bread!)

Is it time for a bigger oven yet Mark?

When I arrived, at the leisurely 10am, Mark had already been baking for 5 hours. He bakes 3 times a week and gets orders via text message from his neighbours, it sounds so simple and it really works. So anyway, I walked in and was allowed to get stuck in straight away! I was so excited to have a day of messy hands and floury clothes whilst learning a real trade from a true home baker. It was the best day. We made so many loaves…

• a White Loaf,
• Focaccia
• Hippy Loaf,
• Spelt Loaf,
• Hippy Loaf
• and a Wholemeal Loaf

MEGA!

I was allowed to bake and take home two loaves, so I chose a white loaf…

and the Hippy Loaf (lots of seeds and texture in this one, and some honey… mmmmmmm!) this was before it was in the firey hot oven…IT’S COVERED IN POPPY SEEDS! Just awesome.

I was truley spoilt and all I paid Mr and Mrs Blackbird was a Fudge cake, I am in debt to them as I learnt tonnes and they were so generous with thier time and patience. They even put up with my stupid jokes and sense of humour – for instance, when I arrived the first thing I said to break the ice was; “Well this is weird isn’t it!” (I was referring to meeting on twitter and then turning up at thier home to bake bread a week later) anyway…

Throughout the day I kept telling Mark how he should run ‘bread days’ – classes from home. He was such a great teacher and zapped the fear out of baking bread. I went along with concerns that there was a ‘trick’ to kneading that I wasn’t getting right, or something really wrong with what I was doing. But in actual fact I think I was just giving up before mastering THE BREAD. I also realised I wasn’t ‘stretching the dough’ and making the dough work hard during the riseing process – a must if you want a light loaf! My loaves before were really dense.

Blackbird bread post for a White Loaf (recipe and step-by-step guide)

I remember my first few sponges (OK I was only about 12 years old) but they were pants! They didn’t rise and they dipped in the middle but I just kept going and voila, now they are pretty tasty.  I think the key is understanding the ingredients. For instance – don’t put the salt and the yeast on top of each other when you put them in the bowl (the salt kills the yeast) and other tips like, have a really hot hot hot HOT HOT HOT oven ready for your loaf to go into. And, if possible get a heavy-duty pan in the bottom of the oven so you can put some water in it to create steam and get an awesome crust on your bread.

All this info and more tips can be found on BlackBird Bread’s blog – Please check it out and give it a go, it’s really fun! (or, if you are local to Twickenham, text the nest and get Mark to bake you some!)

This little bread adventure happened last November, just before the Cake International competition and the 2012 Hamper mayhem … and because I have been so crazy busy (Oh, and the fact I am rubbish!) I havent written this post until now. I also have to confess, my bread making hasn’t taken off quite how I had anticipated – but I am not giving up, I just need a few hours spare but with the kitchen now packed up and our around the world trip next week, I’m gonna have to wait until November to finish what I have started and really master The Bread.

In the meantime, if you want to get into bread, Mark recommends checking out (@danielscookhous) Daniel Stevens, a fine bread master as well as the amazing (@dan_lepard) Daniel Lepard, baking guide for the Guardian.co.uk and judge on the Aussie Bake Off.

So, signing out for now, THANK YOU MR AND MRS BLACKBIRD, TRUE BREAD MASTERS!! x

My Cakery’s First Wedding Fair!

A few days ago I was rushing around, balancing display cakes, white drapes and business cards on my head. Well it felt like that anyway. Not knowing what to expect at my first wedding fair I prepared myself in a …

My First Madeleine’s

With the round the world trip booked, we have started to pack up our home at an albeit very sluggish pace, However, I suddenly realised that a christmas present, that I requested, from my brother was still in its original packaging, my …