Bread of Devon

A nice relaxed weekend, which included on Saturday, going to the Flavour Fest in Plymouth- a food and drink festival with lots of stalls and cookery demonstrations. Even though it rained and my £2 Primark shoes split and let in the rain, giving me cold, wet feet all day, I had a lovely time. I went to see a chef I know, Peter Gorton and Darrin and another ACS chef tutor (the chef manager) Rob do some cookery demonstrations.They were all really good and everyone got to try the finished dishes they all made. I even came across a balsamic vinegar and olive oil man's stall- he was on Dragon's Den once. He had a 66 year old balsamic and even a hundred year old one. Anyhoo, I digress. Back to cookery school!

So, Week Three commencing and today was all about bread and baking. We had Rob teaching us today. He certainly worked us hard today. I'm knackered! On today's menu was pasty-making, walnut and date bread, dinner rolls, oregano and garlic plant pot bread, short crust pastry, chelsea buns, de-boning chicken legs and gluten-free chocolate brownies. The morning consisted of chelsea bun making, really simple by the way and making the walnut and date bread to prove over lunch time. We also de-boned a chicken leg each and took out to sinews. Goodness, chicken legs are extremely sinewy- there are at least 10 in there. They're not particularly easy to remove either.

I made the short crust pastry, to be kept for a quiche later in the week and my new partner, Amy, made the pasty pastry to be used for lunch. Did you know that pasty pastry contains lard? And rather a lot of it. So that's why it's so tasty! We prepared the pasty filling and put together our lunch of chicken, celeriac and goats' cheese pasty. We used a kind of goats' cheese that only three goats produce. We used Ethel's cheese. Thank you, Ethel for your cheese. Rob told us of a guy who was on a course and asked him why they only use female goats' cheese. Haha, nitwit!

The pasty was really tasty. I think I prefer the traditional chuck steak pasty, but this was a tasty alternative. I tried to do a decorative pastry leaf on top- the photo doesn't really show it very well. I need to work on my crimping skills as I have too many crimps, but not bad for my first traditional Cornish pasty!

After lunch, it was time to cook the chelsea buns and make the other breads. I now know how to shape bread for dinner rolls and make weird and wonderful shapes to impress. We even made mini focaccia I learned today why you let bread prove twice, or maybe even three times. You let it prove once (letting the yeast do their thing, creating air bubbles) knock it back (knock the air out of it) and let it prove again, to make the air bubbles twice as big as before, to make the cooked bread light and not let it end up dense and have a cake-like texture. If you let it prove three times, that will mean that the air bubbles are three times as big and makes the bread quite hollow inside, if you like that sort of thing. Did you know that you can kill yeast in many ways, including adding liquid to it that is too hot and by letting it prove for too long without enough food. Yeast likes to eat sweet stuff, like sugar and honey, which is why you add a little bit of sweetness when using any yeast. You learn something every day!

We even made an oregano and garlic plant pot bread, where you actually cook the bread in a terra cotta pot, to give a different shape and for fun. So, after an afternoon of baking, filling the kitchen with delicious smells of freshly baked bread, it was time to collectively prepare supper, that was a buffet, consisting of many things we had made the week before, including gravalax, rabbit rillettes, corned beef, chutneys, cheese board, parma ham, salads, pickled onions, breads made today and potato salad that Amy and I made. It was very tasty and good to break up the string of rich meals we've been eating.

The rabbit rillettes and corned beef were particularly tasty and the gravalax. Mmm mmm mmm! Finally, it was pudding time- gluten free chocolate brownies. Unfortunately, they had hazelnuts in, so I only tried a little bit on the side which was nut-free. From what I tasted, it was very good and lovely and gooey. But I really do detest hazelnuts, so I offered my pudding up to everyone else. Probably the only time that will ever happen. I do love my puddings!

Tomorrow is vegetarian day. No meat or fish. I hear that supper includes gorgonzola and walnuts for starter. The main course consists of aubergine. I'm not a fan of any of these ingredients. But I'll try it...but not the walnuts. They are the spawn of the devil. Apparently you can leave them out or substitute them for something else so fingers crossed! Also, we have a mystery soup where we individually have to make a soup containing lentils and make it summery, selecting from a range of ingredients Rob is going to provide. We have to make a bowl for our lunch and also one for him to taste. And no recipes. And a time limit. Oh god, what do I do?!?! This must be to test whether we've been paying attention or not and if we've learnt anything so far. I hope I have! Right, I'm off to think of something edible to make! Wish me luck...