Mary's Bakewell Tart

I am a fan of the dutch television program Heel Holland Bakt (All Holland Bakes), so when the 2016 series of The Great British Bake-off was broadcasted on dutch television this summer, I didn't miss an episode. One week judge Mary Berry chose a bakewell tart for the technical challenge, and I decided to try baking it in my Aga. Especially because one of the layers in the tart consists of frangipane and I love this word!
It turned out to be a real challenge and I had to change the original Marry Berry recipe, but I am satisfied with the (very sweet) result.

Ingredients:

The sweet shortcrust pastry
- 200 g. plain flour
- 25 g. icing sugar
- 100 g. salted butter, chilled and diced
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 tbsp. cold milk

The frangipane
- 150 g. salted butter, softened
- 150 g. caster sugar
- 150 g. ground almonds
- 2 eggs, beaten
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp. almond extract

The jam
- 4 tbsp. raspberry jam

The icing
- 300 g. icing sugar
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 3 tbsp. water
- red food colouring gel

To make the pastry, rub the cold butter in the flour, using your fingertips. Keep rubbing until it looks like fine breadcrumb (photo). Stir in the icing sugar, add the egg and the water, mixing to form a soft dough. Don't knead it!

Shape into a disc and chill for 30 minutes, wrapped in cling film. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use to line a 23 cm fluted flan tin. Leave in the fridge to chill for another 30 minutes.

Line the pastry case with baking paper and fill with baking beans.

Bake blind high in the baking oven (180º C) for 20 minutes, then remove the beans and paper and cook for a futher 10 minutes to dry out the base. Take out to cool.
Spread the base of the fan with 4 tbsp. raspberry jam.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the ground almonds, egg, lemonzest and almond extract and mix together. Spoon the mixture into the pastry case and level out with a pallette knife.
Bake for 45 minutes on the floor of the baking oven, until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre, comes out clean.Remove from the oven and leave on a wire to cool.
For the icing, sift the icing Sugar into a bowl. Stir in the almond extract and cold water to make a smooth, fairly thick icing.
Place 3 tbsp, of the icing in a separate bowl and add the red colouring gel to make a raspberry coloured icing. Spoon the icing into a small piping bag fitted with a no. 2 plain nozzle (or make a cornet, using baking paper).
When the tart has cooled, spoon the icing on top, spreading evenly. Pipe parallel lines of the pink icing over the white icing, then drag a cocktail stick through te line to create a feathered effect. Leave to set.

Schnittbrötchen mit Sauerteig (German sourdough bread rolls)

This is a recipe for making great sourdough based bread rolls. The crust is perfect, and so is the taste. I am using diastatic malt in this recipe, which I made myself by sprouting wheat grain, drying and grounding it. Ed and Marieke explained how to do this on their great site Weekend Bakery. But if you don't have any diastatic malt just leave it out (perhaps you can add some more flour to your dough preventing it getting too wet). But never leave out the sourdough based starter, because it brings a wonderful taste to your buns!

The evening before baking the buns you can prepare your starter:

- 100 g wheat flour (I use biological flour type 550 from Germany)
- 100 g lukewarm water
- 35 g sourdough culture (again, check Weekend Bakery for making your own sourdough)

Mix the flour and the sourdough in a small bowl with the water and leave it at room temperature (covered with some plastic). The next morning the starter should be active, forming bulbs).
Now make your final dough:

- 400 g wheat flour
- 15 g diastatic malt
- 4 g dry yeast
- 11 g salt
- 5 g soft butter
- 200 g lukewarm water
- 235 g starter

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them well (I use a whisk for this) and add the butter, the water and the starter. Form a dough and knead well for about 15 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
Now divide the dough into 9 equal parts (weighing 95 grams each) and make boule shapes. Cover them and let them rest a few minutes. Roll the boules into a more rectangular form using the palm of your hand and the tips of your fingers. Slash the top with a lame or bread scoring knife and transfer them upside down to a cloth which has been floured well (see below).

Cover with a cloth and let them proof for a least 45 minutes.
For baking I use a perforated aluminum (baguette)form. It works great.

Now they are ready for the oven, The 'Snitten' should be up now. Transfer them to the roasting oven and for getting a nice crust, create some steam by putting a small metal baking tray on a rack high in the oven and pour in half a cup of hot water immediately after putting the bread in the oven. Besides this, spray the rolls after 2 minutes of baking with water. Bake them for 25 tot 30 minutes.
Take them out an d let them cool on a rack.

Thanks to Der Hobbybrotbäcker for the original recipe!

Klik hier om het recept in het Nederlands te lezen.

Brabantse worstenbroodjes (Sausage Rolls from Brabant)

Brabant is a large province in the south of the Netherlands, forming the border with Belgium. One of the specialities in Brabant is sausage roll. In Dutch: worstenbroodje.
It can be made very easily in an Aga and it is a perfect warm lunch!

Ingredients (dough):
- 250 g flour
- 6 g dry yeast
- 7 g salt
- 10 g sugar
- 20 g soft butter
- 200 g lukewarm milk

Mix the ingredients and form a nice, soft dough (perhaps you don't need all the milk, when the dough turns too wet you can add some extra flour). Knead the dough for at least 15 minutes and let it proof at a warm place for an hour or so, until doubled in size. The warming plate of the Aga is a perfect place for this (cover the dough with plastic and place it on a rack).

Ingredients (sausages):
- 350 g minced meat (half beef/half pork)
- 3 g ground black pepper
- 7 g spice mix
- 8 g bread crumbs
- 8 teaspoons tomato paste

Mix the ground meat with the other ingredients and form 12 sausages, about 15 cms long.
Divide the dough in 12 equal parts, about 40 grams each. Roll them out and to a rectangle.
Wrap the individual meat sausages into the dough and pinch the edges to make sure the meat is sealed.

Place each sausage roll on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Cover with plastic and let proof for forty minutes to an hour. Mix an egg with a little water and brush the sausage rolls with the egg wash. Bake them half high in the roasting oven for about 20 minutes.