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Optional additions
20g each of linseed, buckwheat, white sesame seeds, walnuts, flax or pumpkin seeds – or a mixture of all of the above. Basically, whatever you fancy or have in your cupboard that needs using
1 Measure your water into a bowl, spoon in the starter and whisk with a fork until dispersed and no lumps remain. Mix the flours, salt and any seeds or nuts in another bowl. Make a shallow well in the flour and pour in the starter mixture. Using a blunt knife, whisk the liquid into the dough, rotating the bowl and cutting through until you have a well combined, sticky ball. Add a little more water if the dough is not coming together. Leave to rest for 30–40 minutes. This process is known as autolyse – while the dough rests, the flour fully absorbs the water, hydrating and kick-starting enzymes that will stimulate gluten development. Don’t skip this step!
2 Still working in the bowl (the dough will be very sticky and wet) use wet fingers or a silicone spatula to dig under the edge of the dough and bring that edge up over the ball. Turn the bowl clockwise and repeat the lifting, stretching and pulling motion a good 10–15 times round the bowl. Cover and leave for 30 minutes, then repeat the lifting, stretching and pulling motion another 15–20 times. This is to develop the gluten structure of the bread. If you are baking the bread the same day, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave it somewhere warm, like on a shelf above a radiator, for at least 5 hours. Otherwise (and preferably) leave it overnight in the fridge, covering the bowl with cling film – this will give the bread a fantastic depth of flavour.
3 If it’s been in the fridge, take it out and allow it to warm up for about 20 minutes. Use wet fingers or a clean spatula to repeat the lifting, stretching and pulling motion 12–14 times around the bowl, scraping any dough that sticks to the side of the bowl back into the dough – the aim here is to create air inside the bread so don’t push down too hard. If it’s too tense to stretch and pull this many times then don’t overwork it.
4 Leave the dough for 40 minutes somewhere warm, covered. Repeat the lift and pull motion 10 more times – you should feel now that the dough has some real tension in it.
5 Brush a large sheet of baking parchment with a little olive oil, followed by a little water, and dust with a thin layer of flour. Using a spatula or dough scraper, and without pushing too much air out, gently scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the parchment. Wet your hands slightly and tuck any stray bits under the bottom of the dough to form a neat ball. Dust it lightly with flour.
6 Grab hold of the parchment and lift it, along with the dough, back into a bowl. Dust lightly with a little flour and leave to prove for 45 minutes – 2 hours, until visibly puffed up and almost doubled in size.
7 Preheat the oven to 250°C/230°C fan/gas 9 (or its hottest setting) and put a round, lidded ovenproof pot or casserole dish in there to warm up.
8 Once the dough has proved, remove the pot or casserole dish from the oven (wearing oven gloves and being very careful as it will be stinking hot), place it on a heatproof surface and take the lid off. Now quickly lift the parchment and dough into the pot. Use the spatula to smooth the paper away from the dough and up the edge of the pot. Scatter the top of the dough with a little water and use a very sharp knife to make slashes in the top of the dough to help it rise. I do four in a square about 5cm in from the outer circumference. This gives the steam that builds up inside somewhere to go. If you forget, the bread will naturally break open, which is fine.
9 Cover and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, then lift the lid off. Your bread should be risen and smelling good. Depending on how golden the crust is looking, you might want to turn your oven down to nearer 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6, but if it’s still reasonably pale don’t do this. Bake the bread for another 5-10 minutes, or until golden and crisp.
10 Once you’re happy that your loaf is baked, remove it from the dish and quickly peel off the parchment. Transfer the bread to a wire rack and allow to cool before slicing and tasting. However tempting the smell of the freshly baked bread is, try not to slice it until it’s completely cool as this can squish the crumb.
Sour cream sourdough crumpets
Makes 6–8 crumpets
These guys are unlike any crumpet you can buy in the shops. They are made using the rye sourdough starter from the recipe here, along with a little buckwheat flour – a nod to crumpet heritage, as they were traditionally made with buckwheat – and fermented slowly to develop their characteristic bubbles and an incredible sour flavour. The batter is further enriched with sour cream and bicarbonate of soda to help things along just before cooking.
I make them every time I refresh my sourdough starter, and keep a stash in the freezer to bust out for breakfast and snacks. Make sure you are using lively refreshed sourdough starter or your crumpets won’t bubble (follow the starter refreshment steps here). They are incredibly satisfying to make, but there is a knack to it. The key is patience. And you’ll need crumpet rings. Eat them with homemade butter (see here) and jams and clotted cream or with wild medlar jelly (see here) and a slice of cheese. They are also brilliant for breakfast topped with smashed avocado, a poached egg and My ‘Kind Of’ Kimchi (see here) but really, the possibilities are endless.
50g Sourdough Starter (see here (#ulink_d0b8c26f-ff20-57b4-ad18-8f579a8ed5f3)) or 1 sachet fast-action dried yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
200ml lukewarm water
175g plain flour (or 150g plain and 25g buckwheat flour)
1 tsp fine sea salt
½ tbsp sour cream
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
splash of milk (optional)
a little neutral oil and butter, for greasing
1 In a jug, mix your starter and sugar with the water to dissolve it, whisking out any lumps.
2 Combine the flour(s) and salt in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Slowly pour the wet mix into the well in the flour and briefly mix with a whisk to combine to a smooth batter. Don’t overmix – you’re not trying to create gluten as this will make the crumpets more bread-like. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to ferment in a warm place for at least 6 hours (or preferably overnight in the fridge). How long you can leave it will depend on your patience, but I sometimes leave the batter for 2 days in the fridge – the flavour develops and gets more sour the longer you leave it.
3 After the mix has fermented, mix the sour cream with the bicarbonate of soda then add to the batter, thoroughly whisking out any lumps until you have a batter the consistency of very thick double cream. If the batter isn’t pourable, loosen it with a little splash of milk. Leave for 30 more minutes.
4 Grease a flat, non-stick frying pan or hot plate with a little neutral oil or oil and butter and place over a high heat on a medium-sized gas hob burner. Grease two egg or crumpet rings and pour 2½ tablespoons of batter into each ring.
5 Cook over a medium-high heat for 1 minute (watch the clock – if you leave them any longer the bottom will burn), until bubbles have popped through on the surface and the mixture is starting to set. Turn the heat down to low and cook for a further 5–8 minutes (this will depend on how full the rings are), until set on top – there should be plenty of holes at this point and the batter should be pulling away from the crumpet ring. Using tongs, lift off the crumpet rings and flip the crumpets over, turn the heat up again and cook for a minute until golden on top, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Grease the pan in between batter additions to keep it from sticking.
6 Once all the crumpets are made and cooled, grill or toast them to perfection, or, if you’re doing lots at once, you could roast them in a hot oven for 3 minutes. Slather with butter and jam, or Marmite and cheese, smashed avocado and kimchi, or tahini with really good honey, or peanut butter… you get the drift. These keep well wrapped in cling film in the fridge for a couple of days (not longer, as the sour cream will moulder). I also like to make them ahead and freeze them.
TIP: If you’re vegan, you can swap the sour cream for water and fry the crumpets in oil rather than butter.
WHAT TO DO IF…
There are no holes: this means the batter hasn’t fermented enough and needs longer (the time it takes to ferment depends on the weather and humidity); also, check that your starter is alive and well. Try incorporating a little extra sugar just before frying, too.
The bottom is burned: you filled the ring too full or cooked it at too high a heat at the start. Try using a little less batter and keep an eye on the time you cook it over the higher heat. There is an art to making crumpets so don’t be hard on yourself if it takes a few attempts to get it right. It’s a bit like making pancakes – you’ll get better as you go and while it can be a little tricky to get right, I promise you it is so worth it. Also, remember all the bottoms will be pretty dark as that’s just the nature of crumpets. As long as they’re not black you’re good to go.
The crumpets are wet in the middle: homemade crumpets should be squishy and moist in the middle but not too wet! Did you skip the cooling stage and dive straight in?
Beetroot and horseradish blinis
Makes 15–20 blinis
You can use the crumpet batter to make plain blinis, or this beetroot version. These are great topped with sour cream, the smoked trout (see here) and dill.
1 quantity Sour Cream Sourdough Crumpet mix
For the beetroot and horseradish purée
2 roasted beetroots (shop-bought or (see here (#litres_trial_promo))), roughly chopped
1 tbsp creamed horseradish (or ½ tbsp freshly grated)
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Place the beetroot in a blender, food processor or Nutribullet with the horseradish and rapeseed oil and blitz to a smooth purée. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2 Stir in 1 tablespoon of beetroot and horseradish purée when you add the bicarbonate of soda in the crumpet method (see here (#ulink_6006cd9f-16b5-5643-8e23-fcb878b86cd3)) – it will make the mix bright pink.
3 To cook the blinis, grease a flat, non-stick frying pan or hot plate (see here (#ulink_6006cd9f-16b5-5643-8e23-fcb878b86cd3)) with a little butter and oil and set over a medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the batter to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes (cook a few at once if your pan is big enough), until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip over and cook for a bit longer. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper and repeat with the rest of the batter. Keep warm and serve, or allow to cool, then put in the oven at 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6 for 5 minutes to heat up.
TIP: You don’t use all the beetroot and horseradish purée in step 2, so keep it in a jar for eating on toast with smoked fish, salt beef etc., or use in salads.
Broad bean and raw courgette salad
with ricotta
Serves 4 as a side
This salad screams early summer, with its nutty raw courgette ribbons, vivid green broad beans, lemon juice and sprightly fresh herbs. I use smaller, firmer courgettes for this as they are the stars of the show. If you grow your own and have any courgette flowers, tear them up and add them for extra colour. This makes a really special al fresco lunch, and is nice piled onto the warm yoghurt flatbreads (see here).
2 medium courgettes, peeled into long thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler
handful of mint leaves
handful of basil leaves
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
grated zest and juice of ½ unwaxed lemon
1 tsp runny honey
1 garlic clove, grated
pinch of dried chilli flakes or 1 fresh red chilli, desseded and finely chopped (optional)
100g podded fresh or frozen broad beans
100g ricotta, drained in a sieve, or Fresh Curd Cheese (see here (#litres_trial_promo))
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Put the courgette ribbons in a bowl with half the herbs.
2 Whisk the olive oil, lemon zest and juice, honey, garlic and chilli flakes (if using) in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3 Dress the courgette ribbons with the dressing.
4 Prepare a bowl of iced water. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the broad beans for a couple of minutes, then drain and immediately plunge them into the iced water. Once cool, drain again and squeeze the broad beans from their skins, using your nail to pierce the skin. You can skip this step if you’re using super-young broad beans, as the skins are less bitter than the older ones.
5 Pile the dressed courgettes onto a platter, scatter the broad beans onto the salad and dot over the ricotta or fresh curd cheese. Garnish with the rest of the herbs and serve with any remaining dressing on the side.
TIP: Broad beans can be fiddly to peel so I usually blanch and peel them as soon as I get them, then keep them in a bowl in the fridge dressed with a teaspoon of olive oil ready to use whenever I fancy. They will keep for a few days like this.
Mackerel with buttered greens
and pickled radish
Serves 1
One of my favourite food festivals takes place in May each year on the beach in St Ives, Cornwall. The setting could not be more inspiring – you can smell the sea as you cook. This dish came together one year when I heard about a mackerel honesty box where you could buy the freshest local mackerel for pennies. A kindly local gent was known for having a mackerel ‘shed’ which was always stocked with ready filleted, sparklingly fresh catch just outside his house. I couldn’t resist walking the streets until I found the box. I paired the mackerel fillets with freshly foraged three-cornered leek, which grows like a weed in Cornwall, and is beautiful wilted in butter and served with pan-fried mackerel. If you can’t find wild leeks, use the greens of spring onions or baby leeks, thinly sliced lengthways, with a handful of spinach.
handful of samphire
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
sprig of thyme
1 × medium fillet of mackerel, pin-boned
10g unsalted butter
handful of baby spinach
60g three-cornered leek (or spring onions)
½ lemon, for squeezing
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pickled radish
1 tbsp cider vinegar
2 tsp caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 radishes, thinly sliced, preferably with a mandoline
1 First, quick-pickle your radishes. Whisk the vinegar, sugar and salt in a bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Toss the radish slices through the vinegar and leave them to pickle while you cook the fish.
2 Blanch the samphire in a saucepan of boiling water for 30 seconds, then drain.
3 Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based, non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the thyme and allow it to infuse in the oil for a few seconds, then add the mackerel fillet, skin side down. Season the flesh with salt and pepper and cook, without moving the fillet, for 3–4 minutes, until the skin is crispy and the flesh is starting to cook through and become opaque. Carefully flip the fillet over and continue cooking on the flesh side for a matter of seconds, then transfer to a plate to rest.
4 Add the butter to the pan, followed by the samphire, spinach and three-cornered leek. Season with salt and pepper and wilt the greens in the butter for 2–3 minutes, tossing to thoroughly combine. Pour away any excess liquid, squeeze over a little lemon juice and serve the mackerel on the wilted greens with the pickled radish on the side.
Crab, Jersey Royal and asparagus salad
Serves 2–4
This recipe unites my two favourite spring ingredients – Jersey Royal potatoes and asparagus – with creamy crab, fresh green apple and soft herbs for a celebratory salad. The dish has everything: an irresistible earthy minerality from the potatoes (which are fertilised with seaweed), buttery green goodness from the asparagus, and luxury from the crab and mayo which dresses the salad as you eat it. It’s worth making your own mayonnaise (you can make it in advance, it will keep in the fridge for a few days), but if you’re pressed for time, shop-bought works, too – just stir a good fresh egg yolk through it to enrich it. This is a lunch worth carving out a couple of hours for with a friend.
sprig of mint
300g Jersey Royal potatoes or new potatoes, scrubbed
300g crab meat, split into white and brown
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of cayenne pepper, plus extra for sprinkling
