Dough!

I have been horribly slack in keeping this up to date though not, I am delighted to say, in the baking. Following my triumphant production of the World's Best Sponge Cake Ever (WoBSCEr) I started fiddling around with different size cake tins to see what impact that would have (and also,to be honest, because I couldn't actually remember which tins I had used in the first place). It turns out that the recipe works stunningly well in a 6" tin and becomes average in anything else. So it's 6" cakes all the way in this house. A sharp raspberry or bramble jam is definitely needed with the sweet buttercream (apple and raspberry is just too sweet) although the in-house critic has also helpfully reminded me that jam 'without bits' works best.

The ginger nut biscuits have run their course as an obsession but are now a staple. Fifteen minutes from start to finish, though they do catch suddenly on the bottom. Last time around I considered covering them in dark chocolate just for the hell of it (let nobody say I don't know how to live life on the edge) but they were all scarfed before I got the chance.

A fruit loaf went well, though to my mind it was not really much different to a bog standard fruit cake. The recipe said it worked well sliced and buttered but I can't see it myself. Mind you, it is from a 1970s cook book and I suppose they did things differently then. I do like a loaf cake so will be trying a few variations on the theme in the next few weeks, but right now I have the urge to play with coconut and limes and marscapone. Though probably not all in the same cake.

After the fun of making white bread like my mother used to, I progressed to wholemeal baked in tins. This proved popular on the home front though I thought it seemed too dense. Today was a real breakthrough though, the fun bit that comes when you relax into a recipe and start following what you think you should do rather than sticking to the letter of the law. I made a seeded loaf - not in advanced way, I bought a flour with seeds in - and other than the ingredients and the oven temperature went my own way with it. The recipe called for one ten minute knead followed by a rise in the tin then straight into baking but this really didn't feel right for me. I let it rise in it's bowl until it reached American gameshow host texture - smooth and stretched on the surface but, as with too-tight post-surgery skin, with the sense of a seething mass trying to break through. A second kneading then into a two pound loaf tin (rather than divided between two as suggested) and left to rise again. Baking took longer than stated, as was to be expected, but silver foil across the top worked it's usual magic and the end result was easily the best bread I have ever made. Beautifully light with a fantastic crust and amazing with butter and good cheese.

A totally new departure today was an apple and almond tart, as I was asked to produce something on the pudding side of cakey. This has a blind baked shortbread base with a moist almond sponge and sliced apple on top. Here my complete inability to work out what size cake tins I am using caught me out slightly. The recipe called for a 23 by 3 tart tin with removable base. Evidently the one I used was slightly bigger as there wasn't enough shortbread to go up the side and the finished tart has a slightly thicker base than would be ideal as a result. Mind you, I was mainly distracted by once again told to roll out an incredibly short mixture. Who are these people who can achieve such feats? I did my usual trick of slapping the ball of dough in the middle of the tray and using my knuckles to squish it into shape and place. Anyway, the tart is absolutely lovely and disappearing at an alarming rate. One of those things that looks and tastes far more impressive than it is so a good one to try on guests.

Returning to a moment for the question of sizing cake tins, I wonder if I am alone in struggling with this? I once mentioned in passing to the lady behind the counter at Lakeland that they would clean up (with me at least) by selling tins that had the size indelibly printed on them. Both she and the woman next to me in the queue looked at me as if I was quite insane. Evidently they are the sort of women who can tell at a glance whether a tin is 21, 22, 23 or 24cm in diameter. Or maybe they are just the sort of people who keep everything in its packaging. Either way, these simple things defeat me.

And now I feel vindicated - having had someone who is better at these things than me measure the tin I used, it is 22cm in diameter while the recipe called for 23cm. So are cake tins like women's clothes? Can you wander from cookshop to cookshop seeking the perfect size 22 only to find that one shop makes them baggy while the others are skin tight?

While rambling generally, this seems a good moment to acknowledge the dog's contribution to my recent baking. Since the glorious day when some raw cake batter fell on her head she likes to accompany me in my efforts, forcing herself between my legs and the work counter in the hope that history will repeat itself (or that the extra half egg will find its way into her bowl again). When it doesn't she has taken to helping herself. Hearing the telltale sound of a dog with her nose where it shouldn't be I wandered into the kitchen yesterday afternoon to find one side of the cooling rack had collapsed and half the cake it held had mysteriously disappeared. I might be more flattered by her enthusiasm for my cooking if she wasn't a dog who will truly eat anything and has been found tucking into raw root vegetables in the past. My parents used to have a childlock on their fridge to keep the cat out and now that the dog has worked out how to get into a pedal bin it is surely only a matter of time before she masters opening a cake tin.

Speaking of the dog reminds me that it is high time she went for a walk so I will abruptly abandon this post. Having strayed so far from the topic there seems little point in trying to find my way back and the sun is, after all, shining.