Bake Talk
Baking Tips 101: How to roll a sponge for a swiss roll
How to make a swiss roll (no, not by pushing Roger Federer down a hill 😛 ) In this little baking tip, we describe a technique for rolling up your sponge into a swiss roll… While your swiss roll sponge is in the oven baking, […]
Most Marvellous Banana Loaf
Most Marvellous Banana Loaf
17th March 2018
: 10-12
: 10 min
: 1 hr
: 1 hr 10 min
: Easy peasy!
While we'd happily tuck into a banana loaf any day of the year, there's something a just a little bit special about the smell of a banana loaf baking in the oven on a cold winter's day. This recipe uses our magical gluten-free flour blend and a dairy-free alternative to butter to create a deliciously moist gluten and dairy free banana loaf with a crunchy top.
Ingredients
- 130g Flora Dairy Free
- 200g light brown soft sugar
- 3 overripe bananas (ours weighed around 280g out of the skins)
- 2 large eggs
- 240g Magical gluten-free plain flour blend
- 2.5 tsp gluten-free baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 20ml dairy-free alternative to milk
- And for the crunchy top...
- One egg white, whisked until foamy
- About 1/2 tsp light brown soft sugar
Directions
- Step 1 Heat your oven to 170c / 150 fan / gas 3. Grease a 1lb loaf tin and dust with flour. Set aside.
- Step 2 Weigh the fat and sugar into a large bowl and smoosh (techical term) with a rubber spatula until you have a paste-like consistency.
- Step 3 In a separate bowl, squish the bananas with a fork then crack in the eggs and give everything a whisk to combine. Pour this mixture into the first bowl and mix everything lightly together to form a lumpy batter.
- Step 4 In a third bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt then fold this into the batter mix. Don’t go mad, you just need to make sure there are no traces of flour showing but you still want the batter to be lumpy.
- Step 5 Finally, stir through the dairy-free alternative to milk and tip the batter into your loaf tin.
- Step 6 Pop the tin in the oven for 45mins.
- Step 7 After 45mins, carefully remove the loaf tin from the oven, brush the top of the cake with the egg white foam, sprinkle with the sugar and return the tin to the oven for a further 15mins until the top is crunchy and a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean (a crumb is OK, just no liquidy batter!)
- Step 8 Leave in the tin for 15mins then carefully turn the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Step 9 Enjoy! xx Milo, Maddy and Me xx
Most Marvellously Buttery Cracker Bites with Sea Salt Flakes
Most Marvellously Buttery Cracker Bites with Sea Salt Flakes
23rd June 2017
: 40+ crackers
: 25 min
: 10 min
: 35 min
: Easy
These super buttery cracker bites can be loaded with cheese or munched just as they come. We must warn you that they are super moreish and it will be a huge challenge not to eat them all straight from the cooling rack! They will, however, keep for a few days in an airtight container - should you have such a level of self-control!
Ingredients
- 280g Magical gluten-free plain flour blend
- 1/2tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp gluten-free baking powder (e.g. Dr. Oetker)
- 30ml rapeseed oil
- 110g salted butter, frozen
- 120ml cold water
- 30-40g salted butter, melted (for brushing)
- Maldon sea salt flakes (for sprinkling)
Directions
- Step 1 Heat your oven to 190c / 170c fan / gas 5.
- Step 2 Put the flour, sea salt (not flakes) and baking powder together into a bowl and give a good whisk to fully distribute.
- Step 3 Grab your frozen butter and grate it in 3-4 stages over the dry ingredients, stopping every so often to gently distribute the butter and cover in flour (you’re trying to stop it from clumping together).
- Step 4 Add in the rapeseed oil and stir through with a knife.
- Step 5 Next add the water. Again, stir through with a knife and then use your hands to bring the dough together into a ball. If the dough appears a little on the dry/crumbly side, slowly add more water (a teaspoon at a time) until it comes together).
- Step 6 Wrap the dough in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.
- Step 7 Grab your dough from the fridge, sandwich it between two sheets of clingfilm and carefully roll it out to a thickness of around 3mm.
- Step 8 Using a 5cm crimped pastry cutter, stamp out as many rounds as you can and carefully lift onto baking sheets, spacing the crackers a few centimetres apart. Gather any dough scraps together, reroll and cut until you’ve used up all the dough.
- Step 9 Using either the prongs of a fork or a skewer, poke four holes into the centre of each cracker.
- Step 10 Place the baking trays in the oven and bake your crackers for 6-8 minutes until they begin to turn a nice golden colour.
- Step 11 Brush the top of the crackers with melted butter and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt flakes.
- Step 12 Leave the crackers on the tray to cool/crisp up then get stuck in!
![Most Marvellous Gluten-Free Chicken [Almost] Pie with Parmesan Pastry Crust Recipe](https://i1.wp.com/mostmarvellousbaking.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Chicken-pie.jpg?fit=1200%2C752)
Most Marvellous Gluten-Free Chicken [Almost] Pie with Parmesan Pastry Crust Recipe
Most Marvellous Gluten-Free Chicken 'Almost' Pie with Parmesan Pastry Crust
18th June 2017
: 4-6
: 30 min
: 40 min
: 1 hr 10 min
: Moderate
MMmmmmm, chicken pie. It's good old-fashioned comfort food. And this really is a *good* chicken pie! Well OK, an 'almost' pie - as the filling is not entirely encased in pastry...this one just has a pastry top 🙂 It’s packed with succulent chicken, colourful vegetables and ham, all bound together in a creamy sauce and topped with a cheeky Parmesan pastry crust for turbo-charged scrumminess And what’s more, it’s gloriously gluten-free! Follow our step-by-step instructions to make yourself the Most Marvellous gluten-free chicken pie…
Ingredients
- 380g Most Marvellous gluten-free savoury shortcrust pastry
- 50g finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
- 2 sticks celery, chopped
- 1 large carrot, peeled and cubed
- 1/2 red onion and 1/2 leek, sliced
- 60g edamame beans
- Handful broccoli florets, cut into bite size pieces
- 2 large flat mushrooms, chopped
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 50g honey roast ham, chopped
- 1 Kallo chicken stock cube made up with 500ml hot water
- 30g butter
- 30g gluten-free plain flour
- 200ml reserved chicken stock
- 20ml white wine
- 80ml creme fraiche
Directions
- Step 1 Make your pastry first so that it has time to chill. Follow the instructions on the back of the packet of your Most Marvellous Savoury Shortcrust Pastry Mix, with the additional step of adding 50g finely grated Parmesan before rubbing in the fat.
- Step 2 While your pastry is chilling, you can get on with making the pie filling. Put the carrot, celery, chicken, edamame beans, leek, onion, thyme and stock in a large pan. Bring to the boil and keep on a rolling boil for 12 minutes.
- Step 3 Drain the meat and vegetables into a colander with a bowl placed underneath to catch the stock (you will use it again to make the sauce) and remove the thyme sprigs.
- Step 4 In a separate pan, melt the butter then add the flour and whisk to combine. Cook for two minutes then gradually add the stock and wine stirring all the time to prevent lumps forming. Once all the liquid is added and you have a smooth thick sauce, remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper then stir through the creme fraiche.
- Step 5 Return the chicken and vegetables to your large pan, add in the mushrooms, broccoli, ham and the sauce and stir everything through. Transfer the mixture to a 1 litre round pie tin. Brush the rim of your pie tin with egg wash and set aside.
- Step 6 Roll out your pastry between two sheets of clingfilm so that it is just larger than the top of your pie dish. Peel off the top layer of clingfilm, slide your hand under the pastry and bottom layer of clingfilm then flip it onto the top of your pie dish. Carefully peel off the bottom layer of clingfilm (which is now on top!) and press down around the edges of the pastry so that it sticks to the rim. Trim the excess off with a knife then prick the top a few times with a fork.
- Step 7 Brush the pastry all over with egg wash then bake in your oven at 180C / Gas 4 (AGA: bottom of the roasting oven with the plain shelf on the third set of rungs) for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is cooked through with a lovely golden glow.
