Bake Off Bake Along 2016 – Batter Week

Let’s get BATTERED!

Quote of the week right there from Candice!

I was excited to see this week come up, especially as batter is a Bake Off first! Whilst everyone else looked rather tentative at the idea, I have always enjoyed whizzing up pancakes and my common problem I’ve had with Yorkshires is that they rise too much and stick to the top of the oven! Let’s just say I was quietly confident going into this challenge, and for some reason thought I’d try BOTH the signature and the showstopper!

Literal batter madness right there.

Some weeks in last years bake off I struggled because I couldn’t choose one I wanted to do. During batter week I struggled because I wanted to do them all.

Sorry to all the pancake lovers, but it was the only one I missed out, not because I don’t love whipping up pancake batter, but because I’ve done it so often I thought I would be cheating myself by not trying something new. I’m still so sad that Bake Off will never be the same again on channel 4, especially as I was genuinely considering applying next year. Looks like that dream will never quite come true now! *sob*

As Adam’s been advised to try cutting wheat out of his diet for a few weeks, I got cocky with my Yorkshire batter, and made three types! The first was a standard batter with normal plain flour, just as I’d usually make them (there are lots of recipes online, but I tend to freehand it…). The second was exactly the same, but with gluten free flour instead. The third was a fancy packet of “yorkshire pudding and pancake mix” that we found in Waitrose. Seeing as my muffin tin has 3 rows of 4, I thought a row each would make a good scientific test.

Planning to have them for tea on Sunday night after a weekend galavanting around the Cornish countryside for Alex & Matt’s beautiful wedding, I was also baking with the extra stress of hungry tummies and ever fading light.

Ohh the worst thing about Autumn is how it gets dark so early!

With smoking oil and three bowls of batter, I spooned sort-of-exact amounts into each hole and got them as quickly back in the oven as possible. This left plenty of time to make my filling, which we’d decided would be a combination of horseradish mousse, thinly rare sliced steak, grilled tomato and baby asparagus spears.

I forget that whilst trying to bake and blog, darting from oven to camera adds time, and though when first served everything came out piping hot, by the time I’d managed to hurriedly get some photos, it might have been a bit cold. Soz Adam!

The verdict on the flours was pretty obvious. I apologise to any coeliacs but gluten and wheat evidently make the best Yorkshire puddings! They were pleasantly risen and though not perfectly identical, near enough! The gluten free flours came in second as although they weren’t as tall and light, they were actually the most symmetrical with a good dip in the middle. The Waitrose packet mix I’m sure is actually just fancily packaged flour, but they didn’t impress. For some reason they absorbed a lot of oil and stayed pretty shallow. You live and learn! Home made always wins!

The filling was – and I’m biased in my opinion – delicious. I love steak, and the flavours worked really nicely together with the kick of horseradish, the sweet tomato and the fresh asparagus. Plus I was pleased with how pretty they all came out and the clash of colour. We settled down on the sofa watching reruns of The Office and compared notes between battery mouthfuls.

Given that it was about 9pm by now and I’d already made one bake, I STILL thought it was a good idea to finish up with a batter themed pudding.

Churros are delicious, but I’ve not ever made them before. Though I didn’t have the time or insight to conjure up fancy flavours or fillings, I did finally have a use for the two interesting sauces I spied on the shelf at Morrisons a few weeks ago.

Making one batch of gluten free batter, and another of standard plain, I brought out the deep fat fryer, snipped the batter freehand straight into the hot oil and realised exactly why the contestants put theirs in on baking parchment! Wonky curly churros they may be, but rolled in cinnamon sugar and dipped in cappucino caramel and a pretty alcoholic gin and tonic caramel, they were insane. Plus for these, it didn’t seem like the gluten made any difference at all and both were very similar! I felt like I was a child at the funfair, greedily munching on hot sugared doughnuts.

Sometimes the simpler the bake, the better, and I actually really enjoyed the churros just plain with the cinnamon sugar. The batter was so easy to make, I feel like they’d be a really fun addition to a dinner party or family meal.

I think it’s quite clear to say I loved the batter week bake along and though perhaps having multiple Yorkshire puddings and then churros for pudding wasn’t the healthiest move, we certainly finished off the weekend full and satisfied!