Grape and Rosemary Focaccia

I haven't attempted for focaccia in ages, but after getting a KitchenAid stand mixer, I thought it'd be a good dough to try it out!
Foccacia is a very wet dough, so is really tricky to knead by hand. It can be done, but will be messy!
I topped this focaccia with grapes - sounds weird I know, but the slight tang of the red grape really complemented the bread well!
Makes 1 focaccia (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 600g strong white bread flour
• 3 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp instant dried yeast
• 360ml (1 & 1/2 cups) water
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 
• 100g red grapes (seedless)
• 10g (2 tsp) sea salt flakes
• 10g fresh rosemary

Method:

1. Pour the water and oil into the bowl of your stand mixer. In a separate bowl, sift in the bread flour. To opposite sides of the bowl, add 1 tsp of the salt and the yeast. Stir briefly to mix. 

2. Pour the dry ingredients into the water and 1/2 cup of the oil, and start the stand mixer (with the dough hook attachment) on a low speed. Once all of the flour has been incorporated, turn the speed of the mixer up to medium and knead for around 7 minutes. If doing by hand, knead for about 12 minutes.

3. Cover the bowl and place the dough aside in a warm place for around 45 minutes, or until it has at least doubled in size.

4. Line a 20 x 30cm tray with baking parchment and brush with about half of the remaining oil.

5. Tip the proved dough out onto the tray. Gently press down to make a rough rectangle shape, about 15 x 20cm in size (about 1.5cm (1 inch) deep).

6. Press a finger all over the dough (docking the dough) to make little crevices, then insert a grape into each docked spot.

7. Lightly cover with cling film and prove for another 30 minutes.

8. Preheat your oven to 200c (180c fan)/400f/gas mark 6.

9. Brush the remaining olive oil over the surface of the dough, then insert the rosemary sprigs all over the top of the dough. Sprinkle over the remaining salt.

10. Bake for between 20 and 25 minutes, or until the surface has turned an even golden colour.

11. Enjoy!

This is delicious served warm, but would also be fab served at room temperature with some soup.

Gevulde Speculaas

I baked these yesterday after a long stint of studying. Speculaas are spiced shortbread biscuits, which I absolutely love. I found a recipe that filled the speculaas with a soft marzipan, and wow, they taste so good! Soft and sweet, with a good spice kick - this Dutch recipe is something special :) I adapted the spice blend from the recipe I found to what I had in my cupboard - namely ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice, and it worked really well (if not completely traditional).
Give it a go, and you'll be surprised how delicious these are :)

Makes 12 thick biscuits

Ingredients:

For the biscuit dough:

• 100g (1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp) softened butter/margarine
• 100g (1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp) soft dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 180g (1 & 2/3 cups) plain flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/3 tsp salt

For the almond paste filling:

• 200g (1 & 2/3 cups) ground almonds
• 150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
• 1 egg
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 60g mixed candied peel

To finish:

• 15g (1 tbsp) melted butter
• 1 egg
• 30g (1/3 cup) whole blanched almonds

Method:

1. To make the biscuit dough, beat the butter and brown sugar together until all of the sugar has dissolved, and the mixture is soft and spreadable.

2. Add the milk, flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and spices, and bring the dough together with a spoon/your hands. It seems very dry at first but should come together to a soft dough after a few minutes. If not, add a splash more milk.

3. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

4. Make the almond paste by pouring the ground almonds, sugar, lemon juice and egg into a food processor/ high-speed blender. Pulse until well mixed and the almonds have broken down into a paste (and no more sugar can be seen).

5. Add the lemon zest and mixed peel and pulse briefly to mix through. Set aside whilst the biscuit dough is chilling.

6. Preheat your oven to 190c (170c fan)/375f/ gas mark 5. Grease the base of a 20 x 30cm baking tray and line with baking parchment OR if like me, you never have baking parchment in, dust generously with flour.

7. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to form a rectangle about 30 x 20cm big (1/2 cm wide). Brush with melted butter.

8. Place the almond paste down the centre of the long side of the rectangle.

9. Wrap the sides and top of the biscuit dough over the almond paste, covering it.

10. Press the dough together at any seams to seal. Gently transfer to the baking tray.

11. Use a pastry brush to brush the top and sides of the dough with the beaten egg. Decorate with the blanched almonds, then brush over with the remaining egg.

12. Bake for around 30 minutes, until the almonds are golden and the dough begins to go brown. Allow to completely cool before slicing into thick biscuits.

13. Enjoy! These will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container.

Gluten-Free Lemon Meringue Slices

It's my birthday coming up (wahoo!) and so I wanted to bake something for work. I have a colleague who is a celiac, so I always make sure my work bakes are gluten-free. Another can't eat hen eggs, but can have duck eggs. Duck eggs are much richer and hence more delicious than hen eggs, so these lemon meringue slices use duck eggs in the curd filling and meringue topping.

Duck eggs aren't too tricky to find either - Iceland in the UK sell them now! Lots of farm shops also stock them.

I used Asda gluten free plain flour, but other gluten-free varieties should also work.

Makes 20 squares

Ingredients:

For the biscuit base:

• 125g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
• 150g (2/3 cup) softened butter
• 1 duck egg
• 250g (2 cups) gluten free plain flour, plus a tbsp for dusting
• 1 tsp gluten free baking powder

For the curd filling:

• 1 x 397g tin condensed milk
• Juice of 4 lemons
• 125g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
• 3 duck egg yolks

For the meringue topping:

• 3 duck egg whites
• 75g (3/8 cups) caster sugar
• 75g (3/4 cups) sifted icing sugar

For the topping:

• Zest of 4 lemons
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar (or you can use granulated sugar)

Method:

1. Grease the base of a 20 x 20cm square cake tin and dust with a little gluten free plain flour.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until the mixture has lightened in colour and is creamy.

3. Add the egg, gluten-free flour and gluten-free baking powder, and stir into the mixture. The dough will be very soft.

4. Gently press the dough into the prepared cake tin, trying to get it as level as possible. Chill for 20 minutes.

5. Preheat your oven to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4.

6. Use a fork to prick all over the top of the biscuit, then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the top is golden.

7. Whilst baking, make the lemon filling by pouring the lemon juice, condensed milk, sugar and egg yolks into a mixing bowl.

8. Whisk until smooth.

9. When the base is cooked, remove from the oven. Pour over the lemon filling and return to the oven for 5 minutes, until it is just set. Remove from the oven whilst you prepare the meringue.

10. In a grease-free bowl, pour in the egg whites. Start whisking (I used a stand mixer but an electric hand whisk will also work) on a medium speed until it turns white and forms stiff peaks.

11. Add the caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, constantly whisking. Once all of the caster sugar has been added, turn the speed of the mixer up and whisk until the meringue forms stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted from the mix.

12. Briefly whisk in the icing sugar.

13. Spread the meringue over the lemon filling.

14. Mix the demerara sugar and lemon zest together and sprinkle over the meringue.

15. Bake for 10-15 minutes until crisp and golden.

16. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin and slicing into squares.

17. Store in an airtight container.

18. Enjoy!