On your marks, get set, BAKE!

The Great British Bake-Off is back for a new series and has got off to a scrumptious start. Following the DWS blog article on 'Which kitchen worktop is best for me?', granite is actually the best choice for all you budding bakers (as lovely as the GBBO's hardwood worktops are!)

The naturally cool surface of granite is ideal for working with pastry and bread dough. This week's show saw the contestants baking bread recipes from breadsticks to the 'show stopping' breads of their choice. Here at DWS, with such a sweet tooth, we are looking forward to the pastry episode and all the sweet treats they will be baking. Below is a recipe for sweet short pastry to keep you going until then.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Recipe

Ingredients
200g plain flour 
2tbsp icing sugar 
125g unsalted butter, cold from the fridge 
About 3 tbsp very cold water from the tap 
Method
Set a sieve over a mixing bowl and put the flour and icing sugar into it. Sift them into the bowl by gently tapping the sieve with your hand (sifting not only gets rid of any lumps but it adds a bit of air, which helps make the pastry light).
Cut the butter into tiny cubes. Add to the bowl and toss around with a table knife so they become coated with flour. Now cut the butter, in the bowl, into even tinier pieces by cutting through the mixture at random.
When the butter is about the size of small peas, put both your hands into the bowl and pick up a little of the butter/flour mix with your fingers only. Rub the mixture between your fingers and thumbs so the butter is squashed into the flour, then drops back down into the bowl (rubbing in). Keep doing this for a few minutes, then give the bowl a little shake - you should see any lumps you've missed. When all the lumps of butter have disappeared it's ready for the next stage.
Add the cold water and stir everything together with the table knife. When the mixture has started to come together in clumps of dough, use your hands to gather up the whole lot into a ball. If there are dry crumbs at the bottom of the bowl and the dough won't stick together, sprinkle over a tsp of cold water and gently mix it in; if the dough sticks to your hands or the bowl, sprinkle over a tsp of flour and mix it in. The dough should feel firm - not sticky or wet or dry and hard. Flatten the dough into a disc about 5cm thick, then wrap it in clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle a little flour on the worktop, your hands and the rolling pin. Unwrap the pastry dough and set it in the middle of the worktop. Start rolling out the pastry in a forward and back motion, then side to side, sprinkling with a little more flour now and then to prevent it from sticking to the pin, until it is fairly round in shape and about 26cm in diameter. 


Taken from The Great British Bake-Off: Learn to Bake (BBC Books, £18.99)

Another benefit of granite is using it to actually bake on. Look at Jamie Oliver's idea below...




"What caught my interest was Jamie's suggestion to have a slab of granite in the oven to bake the pizza on. I found a company that sells and installs granite worktops. They sold me a small slab that fits my oven perfectly (throwaway from a major installation) for a very reasonable price.

I baked my first pizza on the granite slab yesterday. 

For a first try the result was quite fantastic! I made some focaccia (dough simply seasoned with olive oil and spices). It puffed up beautifully! I also made some Margarita using Jamie's tomato sauce recipe, mozzarella, basil leaves and olive oil - yummy! I have some work to do on perfecting the dough, but the granite slab idea is absolutely brilliant".
I'm off into contact the BBC about discounted granite worktops for next year's series!


HAPPY BAKING!