Superfood Pancakes, and a Review of Clarks Maple Syrup

Superfood Pancakes

I was recently sent some samples of Maple Syrup and Honey from Clarks to try, and within the same week, in fact literally a few days later, there was an article published by the Daily Mail detailing how maple syrup had been elevated to the lofty status of 'superfood'. I was curious to explore the science behind the idea of 'superfoods' a little, as it is a term that is used seemingly quite feely, and I wasn't entirely sure of the substance behind it. As it turns out, there are two opposing camps out there on the subject of superfoods, on the one side those who believe that superfoods contain high levels of antioxidants and phytochemicals that have substantial health benefits, and the other side, those who believe the terms is one invented and exploited by marketing companies. (It is worth noting that there is no legal definition to the term 'superfood'.)

A selection of Maple Syrup and Honey from Clarks

If we choose to look on side of those that do believe in the power of superfoods, then in simple science superfoods are those that are especially high in key nutrients, such as Omega 3, antioxidants and potassium, which are considered to have affects such as reducing the risks of cancers and cardiovascular diseases, increasing your immune system, and reducing depression. 'Famous' superfoods include blueberries, broccoli, oily fish and green tea to name but a few, and now, maple syrup can be added to that list. 

Predominantly maple syrup contains phenol compounds that house enzymes that convert carbohydrates into sugars, and the recent studies suggest that this could be the basis of an anti-diabetic compound. In addition, maple syrup also contains a high density of antioxidants, which are key in slowing down the oxidization, or ageing of the bodies cells, something that is not found in other natural sweeteners, even including honey. You can find more information on the health benefits of maple syrup on the Clarks website here.

All this talk of superfoods got me thinking, and as someone who constantly strives and yet falls short of eating a healthy diet, I wanted to have a go at creating something with my maple syrup that would make the most of it's new 'superfood' status. I had a look at some of the other ingredients that are also considered superfoods, and came up with this recipe for 'Superfood Pancakes', which is loosely based on scotch pancakes, or drop scones as they are also known in some parts of the UK. Containing blueberries, oats, and wholemeal flour, there are four, yes four, superfoods in this recipe! Which makes them really very good for you in my book (if you overlook the milk, sugar and butter content). 

Superfood Pancakes

Ingredients

150 grams wholemeal self raising flour

50 grams rolled oats

100 grams golden caster sugar

200 ml semi-skimmed milk

1 large egg

150 grams frozen blueberries

a little butter to cook

maple syrup to serve

Method

These are the easiest breakfast/ brunch/ snack to make, just beat the batter together and cook it! The quantities given should make 12 - 15 pancakes.

Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the oats and golden caster sugar, and mix well...

Whisk together the milk and egg, make a well in the centre of the dry mix, add the liquids, and whisk together to form a batter...

Add the frozen blueberries and mix well into the batter...

Melt a little butter in a frying pan or on a griddle, and drop three dessert-spoonfuls of the batter into the pan. It will spread a little but not greatly...

When the pancakes start to have little bubbles in the surface, and are colouring around the edges, flip them over carefully to cook on the other side...

And then serve hot, with a good healthy drizzle of maple syrup!

Gary and I had three pancakes each, which we topped with each of the three maple syrups in order to 'judge' each one. The vanilla maple syrup was noticeably sweeter than the others, although honestly I didn't get much of a vanilla flavour coming through. The Grade 1 and Grade 2 syrups were great, the Grade 2 definitely being my favourite, with a real earthy flavour coming through which worked perfectly with the pancakes.

I'm entering this recipe into Credit Crunch Munch, run by Camilla and Helen, and hosted this month by Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen, as it is made from store cupboard ingredients, and cheap to make.

I'm also entering into Made with Love Mondays run by Mark over at Javelin Warrior, as it was made totally from scratch, on a Monday, with a lot of love... simple! ;-)

Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of maple syrups and honey to try by Clarks, however all opinions expressed in the post are 100% honest and my own.

Product Review: Walkers Hoops and Crosses

For me, the opportunity to review a new product for Walkers was like a call from the mother-ship. I am a complete sucker for crisps of all varieties and flavours, equally happy munching on a bag of Kettle Chips as I am hunting out childhood favourites such as Wotsits and Monster Munch. Filling up my car with petrol every week comes with the added challenge of lining up to pay alongside the shelves of crisps and fighting the urge to grab a few bags for the journey home. They really are my one true weakness, and for that reason, Walkers can be assured here of a thorough review of their product, but should also know that they have some very high standards to meet! 

The product in question is their new snack 'Hoops and Crosses'. Designed primarily for kids, Hoops and Crosses are pitched as a source of wholegrain, and the press pack information that came with the sample revealed the somewhat worrying fact that 27% of children in the UK do not have any wholegrain in their diet at all! The term wholegrain is quite feely bandied about nowadays as something that is 'good for us' and that we should be eating more of, but rarely do people explain why. I'll try and cover it as succinctly as possible...

The Anatomy of a Grain: Source - Whole Grains Council

The grains themselves can be from any cereal product, including wheat, oats, rice, rye, barley and maize. The grains themselves are made up of three parts, the bran, the germ, and the endosperm. In white (refined) products, only the endosperm is used, and the bran and germ discarded. In wholegrain products, all three elements are used. Essentially, the endosperm is almost entirely carbohydrate in its make-up, whereas the bran and germ elements contain high levels of fibre and iron in particular, as well as protein, Vitamin Bs, Omega 3 and other lovely good stuff. When you know this, why on earth would you eat the plain white stuff!?

So back to the task in hand...

The samples came from Walkers in a lovely box, and when I opened it I found Monty the Monkey inside! The sample pack was a Roast Beef flavour, and a little bit of digging told me that Hoops and Crosses are currently available in three flavours; Salt and Vinegar, Roast Beef and Prawn Cocktail. Something about this pleased me, I think it was a pleasant surprise to see that they hadn't stuck to the usual suspects of Cheese and Onion and Ready Salted.

The bag itself felt very light, and when I checked the details, one bag contains 18g of product. Upon opening and emptying the contents into a bowl however I quickly revised my opinion, there were plenty of crisps in the packet, even for an adult crisp monster like me! The crisps were so tasty! They had plenty of flavour, and because they are baked not fried they aren't greasy to the touch or taste. Gary and I shared the bag, and he was equally impressed with the flavour, which is a big deal, as unlike me he can take or leave crisps, and is a bit fussy about flavours.

The best part, each bags is only 85 calories, so as well as being good from the whole grain, and good from the baked-not-fried bit, there is a feel good from knowing that as a snack they are about as low-cal as you can get. I will definitely be buying these again, and they will be replacing a lot of my lunchtime/ late night crisp binges I think!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored, however all views and opinions expressed are my own, and I was asked to be honest in my critique. 

Simple Sourdough Loaf, and Episode Four of Bread

My sourdough journey has been somewhat bumpy, to say the least, and it has kind of derailed my mission to follow and bake from each episode of Paul Hollywood's TV series 'Bread' as the two weeks it took me to cultivate my sourdough starter meant that the series had ended before I got chance to turn the oven on...

That being said, I think it is fair to say that if Paul's mission was as he said to get the British baking bread, he has certainly succeeded with me - if I put half the amount of effort that I have taken in researching, practising, debating and fine-tuning my sourdough into my day-to-day life, I'd be some sort of multi-millionaire genius by now! 

I've documented the trials and tribulations I experienced actually cultivating my sourdough starter (Gizmo II) here, and am pleased to report that he is now healthy and residing on the bottom shelf of the fridge so that he only has to be fed once a week. When it came to making my sourdough loaf, I used Paul's recipe, which you can find on the BBC website here, and made just a few changes;

Gizmo II and my already well worn copy of 'Bread'

• I used half the amount stated of strong white flour, and made up the rest with rye flour, as I wanted the rye flavour
• As I don't have a banneton or proving basket, I liberally floured a mixing bowl, and used that to get my shape

Sourdough proving in a mixing bowl for shape

• I used a mix of strong flour and semolina to dust the baking sheet and the top of the loaf to prevent it from spreading outwards when baking. 

Dusted with flour and semolina and ready to bake

I was really pleased with the texture and taste of my sourdough, I'd never actually tasted one before, so didn't know what to expect, but it reminded me a little of the real ales that my Dad used to drink, quite a hoppy smell and taste. I can tell you that it was absolutely divine, both on it's own, and topped with scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes for breakfast! Mmm... 

My finished sourdough loaf, fresh from the oven

Light Summer Style Fruit Cake, and Two Very Special Cakes

If you visit my little blog regularly, you will know by now that I jump between experimenting with recipes and teaching myself cake decorating. I am harbouring a not so secret desire to one day quit the rat race of medical sales, and become a self employed cake decorator, although trust me, at the moment that day seems a long way off in the distance. I have the best family and friends in the world, who are constantly requesting cakes for events to test me, and this month I faced my two biggest and most important challenges yet, as I have baked for two very special events.

Firstly, my grandparents business is celebrating it's 50th year, which is such a fantastic achievement, even without considering the current financial climate. They have built such a wonderfully solid family run business together, and we are all so proud of them. Secondly, Gary's Mum was sworn in as Mayor of Newton Abbot, his hometown in Devon, and we were invited down to the Mayor Making Ceremony, which definitely called for cake! 

Summer Style Fruit Cake

For both occasions, because I was going to be making cakes that would be on display, and would be consumed by a lot of people, I wanted to make a good solid fruit cake, that would be robust enough to be sculptured, transported, and sit in the open air possibly for hours at a time. For me, I always associate fruit cake with Christmas Cake, and brandy soaked fruit, and I really didn't want that flavour for these cakes, what with both events being in May. I had previously made these Honey, Fruit and Nut Flapjacks using tropical fruits, and they tasted so floral and summery I decided to try and get that taste into my cakes. I grabbed my favourite Christmas Cake recipe, and started to chop and change the ingredients, and this is what I came up with...

Ingredients:

330g sultanas

170ml cold green tea

zest and juice from 1 small lemon

85g dried apricots

85g dried tropical fruit (I used a mixed selection that was already partially re-hydrated)

130g cherries

170g salted butter

170g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

zest of 1 lemon

15g honey

170g plain flour

30g roughly chopped pistachio nuts

Method:

(I made three cakes together here, so the images of the fruit portions may look considerably more than the quantities stated. The method remains the same)

• Start by soaking the sultanas to make them extra juicy. Brew the green tea, and leave to cool completely. Once cool, add the green tea to the sultanas and add the juice and zest of one lemon. Leave to soak for at least two hours, or overnight if possible. (I used partially rehydrated apricots and tropical fruits, so didn't need to soak them. If you are using fully dried fruits, add them to the sultanas to soak before use)
• Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees. Prepare a 20cm/8 inch cake tin by lining with greaseproof paper. Prepare a 'lid' for the tin also, by cutting another piece of greaseproof the same size as the tin, and cutting a small cross in the top to allow steam to escape. 
• Prep the remainder of the fruit by chopping it into pieces roughly the same size as the sultanas and halving the cherries.
• In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth, then add the sugar and cream together.
• Add the eggs one at a time and beat in. 
• Add the lemon zest, honey and flour, and fold the mixture together until all the ingredients are fully combined.
• Add the chopped pistachios, and the mixed fruit, and stir through well, so that the fruit is evenly distributed through the cake mixture.
• Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin, cover with the lid, and bake for 2 and a half hours, checking after the first 2 hours. The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. 
• Once cooked, remove the cake from the oven, and place on a cooling rack. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before removing it. 
• Cover and decorate as desired.

Because I was sculpting these cakes into a shape, I had the baker's privilege of sampling the cakes upfront, and my goodness did it taste good! The cake has all the structural integrity of a Christmas cake, but the flavour is light and delicate, and the lemon and green tea flavours sit really well with the tropical fruits and apricots. Soaking the fruit in the green tea makes the final cake wonderfully moist as well, despite not being 'fed' with copious amounts of booze like a traditional fruit cake. I would thoroughly recommend this recipe for a summer wedding or similar event as a great seasonal alternative to traditional fruit cakes. 

And as for what I did with these beautiful cakes once I had baked them... well...

Lavender and White Chocolate Macarons, and a Review of Sainsbury's New Infused Sugar Range

Lavender and White Chocolate Macarons

Ever since seeing them at the Cake and Bake Show in Manchester earlier in April, I have been keep to test Sainsbury's new range of infused sugars. Sainsbury's have really got on board with the ongoing baking trend that is running through the country, and have updated, revamped and expanded their home baking ranges for Spring with some fantastic new products, the focal point for me being these Taste the Difference Lavender, Vanilla and Cinnamon infused sugars. You can read more about their full range revamp here.

The infused sugars are pots of granulated white sugar, which actually have their flavour elements embedded in the sugar, so the vanilla sugar contains vanilla pods, and the lavender sugar is flecked with  lavender flowers. I really like this touch, it would have been easy I am sure to have created an essence or flavouring, but the presence of the ingredients is really great, especially in the lavender sugar, as the flecks of flowers will be present throughout whatever you bake. If I had one niggle, I would have preferred to see Sainsbury's use a caster sugar, as it would have been better for us bakers, however it is only a little niggle!

I decided to try the lavender sugar first, and as I am hosting this month's Classic French challenge, I thought it would be an ideal flavour to incorporate into the theme of macarons, as the delicate flavour and dainty patisserie treats should go hand in hand. I took my basic macaron recipe, and replaced the normal caster sugar with the lavender sugar. Simple! Despite only having two tablespoons in the recipe, the lavender taste really comes through strong, and although not overpowering, you certainly wouldn't need any more. If you are using the lavender sugar in another recipe, you would only need to substitute a few tablespoons of normal sugar with this to get the flavour through really well, and with 250g in a pot, it will last quite a long time making it a reasonably priced investment to add the wow factor to your bakes. I can't wait to get creative with the Vanilla and Cinnamon versions!

Anyway, onto my macarons. I use quite a simple recipe, which I have found works well for me every time. The quantities are quite big, and make around 24 full macarons (48 halves) or 40 mini macarons (80 halves), you could happily halve it if you can find a way to split the eggs, or use a ready made egg white liquid such as Two Chicks. 

Ingredients

• 125g ground almonds
• 200g icing sugar
• 3 free-range egg whites
• 2 tbsp Taste the Difference Lavender Infused Sugar
• ½ tsp cream of tartar 
• violet food colouring gel

For the white chocolate filling

• 200g white chocolate
• 160ml double cream
• 40g unsalted butter

Method

• Blend the ground almonds and icing sugar together in a food processor until well combined. Set aside. This is to make sure that the mixture is as smooth as possible. I actually don't have a food processor, so I don't do this step, it doesn't make any difference to the flavour, you will just notice from my pictures that my macarons have a little bit of a bumpy finish...
• In a large mixing bowl, slowly whisk the egg whites in a large bowl at a low speed until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed. This will take about 5 minutes on the slowest setting, just keep going gently until you get there. Whisk in the cream of tartar and lavender sugar until the mixture is smooth and glossy, increasing the speed of the whisk as the mixture stiffens. I just scoped two teaspoons of the lavender sugar in, taking some of the lavender flowers at the same time, as I wanted them to be scattered through my finished macarons. 
• Add the food colouring and the ground almonds and icing sugar, and stir through gently until the mixture resembles shaving foam, do not mix too much, as you will lose some of the structure. I added quite a bit of the violet food colouring, but didn't worry too much about getting it spread evenly through the mixture as I wanted a more marbled affect on my finished macarons. 
• Spoon the macaroon mixture into a piping bag, and snip off the end. Pipe onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, making sure to pipe even sized circles, and leave at least an inch between each macaron as they will spread. I cheat a little here, as I use a double sided macaron mat I bought from Baked by Me, it's brilliant, and has both normal and mini sized ridges on, which means that you can pipe more macarons on a sheet without fear of the spread...

• Once you have piped out all of the macarons, drop the tray a couple of times to flatten them out, and then set aside for around 60 minutes before baking. This is to allow the surface of the macaron to set its hard shell, they will be ready to bake when you can touch the surface of the shell and it is no longer sticky. 

• Whilst the shells are setting, make the white chocolate ganache. Melt the butter and cream together in a saucepan, and bring to a low boil. Once little bubbles are starting to appear, turn the heat down as low as it will go, and add the white chocolate a couple of pieces at a time, stirring constantly, until the chocolate has all been melted into the mixture.
• Transfer the chocolate ganache into a bowl, and set aside to cool. I try and stir mine every 5 minutes or so, to prevent a skin forming, and once it is cool, place the bowl in the fridge to let it solidify enough to be piped easily without it running out the sides. 
• Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees.
• Bake the macaron shells for 10-15 minutes, until cooked. The top of the shell will rise up, and little 'feet' will appear at the base of the macaron. If you take them out of the oven too soon, they will split when you try and take them off the baking sheet, however if you bake too long, you won't keep the chewy middle of the macaron. After 10 minutes, test one shell to see if it lifts off the sheet easily or not, and keep checking until they are ready. 

• Remove the shells from the oven, and transfer them carefully from the baking sheet to a cooling rack.
• Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes, then turn over half of the shells. 
• Pipe the ganache onto the upturned half of the shells, then sandwich one empty shell onto one with ganache. Press them genlty together, so that the ganache pushes out to the edges. 

• Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the ganache to set, and then tuck in! 

I made some mini and some full sized of these macarons, and in this instance, the mini ones are perfect for the flavour combination. The lavender taste comes through strong, and therefore the sweet white chocolate ganache balances the floral tones perfectly, and as both flavours are quite pronounced, the mini macaron is the perfect mouthful.

These are my entry into this month's Classic French challenge, you can see the full challenge and add your macarons to the linky here.

The Diary of a Sourdough Starter

What with work commitments, and a general fear of the whole sourdough process, I have been putting this one off for a while, however, I committed myself to learning all I could from Paul Hollywood's 'Bread' series, and as there is a whole chapter of the book, and a whole episode of the series dedicated to Sourdough, I could avoid it no longer. I have to hold my hands up at the start and say not only have I never made sourdough, I've never tasted it, so I'm not sure yet what I have been missing all this time. I guess I am about to find out! 

As making sourdough is a lengthy process, rather than lots of short disjointed posts, or one that hops and skips over the process, I decided to keep a short diary here day by day, to show you how my starter gets made and grows up to become a real loaf. And if you follow me on twitter, you will know that this has been one heck of a journey! I can promise you that this is a story of hard work, heartache, and some successes and failures... Enjoy! 

The Diary of a Sourdough Starter

Day 1

Day 1: The starter has been made, the first step is very easy, chop grapes, and mix into strong flour and tepid water to form a loose dough. My starter has been split into two as I didn't have a jar big enough to fit it all in with room to grow. I'm already feeling a little attached to it, and looking forward to seeing it grow over the next few days! Maybe this is my way of getting broody??

Day 2: I've named my starter Gizmo... After reading up on the best ways to cultivate a sourdough starter, the basic rules of looking after a Mogwai seem to apply - keep away from direct sunlight, never get it wet, and don't feed it after midnight. OK, so, I don't think anything will go really wrong if I feed it after 12 o'clock, but I figure if I do find myself feeding my sourdough starter in the middle of the night I might have to seriously re-consider my life choices... Anyway, Gizmo has yet to start growing, but he is a little darker in colour, and I can see condensation forming inside the tub, so something is definitely starting to happen.

Day 3

Day 3: We have growth! Gizmo has almost doubled in size, and there are definite bubbles inside the mixture. Paul's instructions say to leave the starter for three days before feeding it, and as I made it the morning of Day 1, I feel I need to wait a little longer before discarding half and feeding it for the first time. I might just re-watch the episode later this afternoon though to check I am on the right path, as the instructions in the book are not quite as detailed as I remember the programme being.

Day 4: Yesterday evening I checked Gizmo whilst I was in the kitchen, and noticed that after the growth during the previous day, the starter was starting to fall back in the jar. I decided that it had had a good two and a half days, and that it would be a good time to feed it for the first time. I opened both jars, and transferred the mixture all back into one bowl, gave it a quick stir, and then discarded half as per the instructions. I then fed the remainder with an equal quantity of fresh flour and water, and returned it this time back into one tub. Today I am concerned that I might have killed Gizmo... There are a few bubbles, but there has been no growth, and a separate layer of liquid has formed on the top of the starter? I don't think this is right. I'm going out later, and I think if there is still no change when I get home tonight, I might try and feed him again to see if I can resuscitate the growth, if not, I may be introducing you to Gizmo II tomorrow...

Day 5

Day 5: Ok, sad news, Gizmo didn't make it through the night. Well, that's maybe a little dramatic, the starter was still there this morning, but since being re-fed last night it has failed to grow at all. Not only that, but the smell emanating from the tub had gone from sour to just plain rancid. I decided to dispose of the whole attempt, and start again. I purchased a large Kilner jar from the supermarket this morning, and I have decided to use apple rather than grapes for my second attempt. After reading up, the liquid that was forming on the surface was a sign of the starter being over-active. I am hoping that the larger jar, which means I don't need to separate the initial starter, and the fact that it is more airtight than the tupperware I was using will be the key to success here. So without further ado, here is Gizmo II...

Gizmo II

Day 6: We're back to the beginning of the process, Gizmo II is happy in his new jar, no growth yet, but I'm not expecting any until the end of day two really. There are a few little bubbles, and all is well with the world.

Day 7

Day 7: We are starting to see some growth again, larger bubbles are forming, and the starter is beginning to creep up the side of the jar. Gizmo II hasn't really changed in colour much, compared to Gizmo I who went quite a lot darker. I think that this is a good sign that Gizmo II isn't being as over-active this time around. I reckon it'll be ready to be fed later tonight before bedtime, and I'm hoping that I can start to then make my first loaf by Monday...

Day 8: Disaster, Gizmo II has split as well! I can't for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong, but it must be me as it's happened to both attempts. This one doesn't smell anywhere near as funky as the first however, so I'm going to stick with it, feed it, and hope it starts to move again.

Day 9: Had a little moan about sourdough starters on Twitter, and received an absolute barrage of replies. There are some amazing people out there, and they gave me some fabulous advice. Big shout out in particular to Joanna at Zeb Bakes who asked me a ton of questions, worked out what I was doing wrong, and emailed me the most amazing tips and advice. Here are a few bullet points of things I have learned today, I hope that they maybe will help someone else one day too...

• by creating a sourdough starter, we are aiming to create an environment for both yeast and lactobacilli to grow, which are the little bacterias that will eventually bring us bread. 
• there is an additional bacteria that grows in the early days, which emits a large amount of gases that usually causes big bubbles and a lot of growth. The lactic acid that then forms in the lactobacilli however will then kill this off. After that, we are relying on the yeast to have formed and take the growth from there. 
• using rye flour is a much better option for the starter than white flour, as the yeasts exist on the outside of the grain.
• when you 'feed' the starter with flour and water, you are literally feeding it. The yeast and lactobacilli 'eat' sugars from the fresh flour. As they do so, they also reproduce and so run out of food quicker. They produce gas and acid, and a pure form of alcohol, which is in the colourless watery layer when your starter splits. Basically, the split happens when it runs out of food. 
• to avoid this, the starter should be fed at least every day, and in some cases up to every 4 hours. The warmer the temperature, the more active the yeasts are, and therefore the more often it will need to be fed. 
  
  
  Here lies my problem, my kitchen is warm, and the Hollywood method only states to feed the starter every 2-3 days. Basically, I have been starving the Gizmos of food! I've been told to discard all by 30g, re-feed it a couple of times a day, and it should come back to life...

Day 10

Day 10: Yesterday evening I discarded most of Gizmo II, keeping back just 50g, and fed him 100g of rye flour (Gary went to the supermarket especially for me) and 125ml water. I put clingfilm over his jar rather than the sealed lid, so that a little of the gases could escape, and I put him to bed. Late tonight I noticed that there was finally some proper growth happening... fingers crossed!

Day 11: Success!!! I've been feeding Gizmo II twice a day, and finally I have a starter that seems to be behaving itself. The bubbles are smaller and more even, the starter has doubled in size, and responds well to being fed. And it doesn't smell bad at all, just yeasty, like it's supposed to. Tomorrow, I'm going to make my first ever sourdough loaf, and I couldn't be more relieved that this part of the process is finally over!!!

Day 11

To summarise, the next time I make a sourdough starter, I will be doing the following;

• Use 150g organic rye flour and 175ml warm water (no fruit)
• Feed the starter daily, or twice a day if the weather is warmer
• Discard all but 50g of the starter each time it is fed, and feed with 100g rye flour and 125ml warm water
• If not using regularly, keep in the fridge and feed weekly. Return to room temperature however before using in a loaf. 

I hope that this blog post has entertained you, and more importantly, I hope that by reading about my trials and traumas I can help you avoid them yourself! Come back soon to find out how the loaf comes out... 

V x

May's Classic French Challenge

When I agreed to host this month's Classic French challenge for Jen over at Blue Kitchen Bakes, I had a long hard think for a theme for all of ooo... three seconds! I wanted to chose something that was first and foremost French (obviously), but secondly would give us all the freedom to experiment with flavours and colours to our little hearts content. Having scrolled through the archives on Jen's site to check what had been covered before, I could see that these hadn't been tackled yet, and as a Classic French patisserie treat, I felt compelled to make this the theme for this month's challenge.  If you haven't guessed it yet, May's challenge is of course, Macarons!

I've only made these once before myself, and that was because someone told me they were difficult, and that sounded like a challenge to me! There is definitely a knack, but as long as you are methodical and patient with them they come out just great, and my goodness the taste is always well worth the effort. So for those of you who have never made a macaron, now is the time to give them a go, and for those who have, well let's just see how creative you can all be!

Challenge Rules

• Please use the logo on your post and tag the post with the label 'Classic French' and include a link to myself at A Kick At The Pantry Door, and to Blue Kitchen Bakes.
• Please add your entries via the linky at the bottom, enter the name of your dish in the name box. If you don't have a blog or linky doesn't work then email your entries to kickatthepantrydoor@gmail.com including the name of your dish, your name, a photo and a link to your post
• If you're on Twitter you can also tweet your links to @ThePantryDoor1 and @BlueKitchenBake using the hash tag #ClassicFrench and we will retweet any that we see
• You can enter as many times as you want and you can enter your post into other challenges as long as it fits in with their rules 
• You can enter an old post if you want but please update with a link back to my blog and the challenge logo 
• Don't forget that if the recipe you use is from another source i.e. book/magazine/website/blog to credit the original author.
• The challenge will run until the 28th of the month.
• New challenges will be announced on the 1st of each month
• Above all have fun and use this as an excuse to learn something new and get creative!