Beetroot Bread

Ingredients:

• 250g Wholemeal bread flour

• 250g White bread flour

• 1 tsp Salt

• 200g Beetroot

• 200g Starter

• 300ml Warm water

Method:

Put the flours and salt into a large bowl and mix together. Grate the beetroot and add to the flour, along with the starter. Slowly add the water and mix together to form a dough.

You can add more or less water depending on how your dough feels; I find it

varies slightly every time.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly oiled worktop and knead for 10 minutes.

There are various ways to knead your dough. I like to stretch it out, then roll it back in and give it a 90 degree turn, before stretching it out again.

Put your dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover loosely with a damp cloth to stop it drying out. Place somewhere warm, I usually put it near our wood-burner.

Leave to prove for several hours until the dough has roughly doubled in size. Sourdough takes longer to develop than bread made with shop bought yeast, but benefits from the extra time, as it develops a better flavour.

Tip your dough back out onto your lightly oiled work surface and carefully deflate it by poking it with your fingers. Reshape by folding in half four times and forming a nice tight ball. Coat with a little flour.

Place it in a lightly greased loaf tin for a square sandwich loaf, or into a floured proving basket, if you have one. Cover loosely with a damp cloth and leave for another hour or more to prove again. If using a tin, it should rise to the top.

Heat your oven to its highest temperature and boil the kettle. If using a proving basket, you will need to place an oven tray in to heat.

Place some hot water in a baking tray at the bottom of the oven, this will help to create a good crust on your loaf. If using the proving basket, tip your bread out onto the hot oven tray, slash the top and get it in the oven and shut the door, as quick as possible, to avoid heat loss. If using a loaf tin, slash the top and put your loaf tin in the centre of the oven.

Cook for 10 minutes before dropping the temperature to 200 degrees if the crust is looking pale, 180 degrees if the crust is noticeably browning, and 170 if it seems to be browning quickly. Cook for a further 40 mins.

When using a loaf tin, I like to take it out of the tin and place the loaf back in the oven for the last 10minutes.

Remove from the oven; the loaf should sound hollow when you tap it on the bottom.

Leave to cool fully before cutting.

Lemon & Nettle cake

Ingredients:

• 1L jug full of young nettle tops

• Juice and rind of 2 large lemon

• 200g butter

• 200g caster sugar

• 3 eggs

• 300g self raising flour (sieved)

• 1 tsp baking powder (sieved)

• 1 tsp ground mixed spice

Method:

Stick the nettles into a saucepan, and cover with hot water. Boil for 3 minutes.

Drain the nettles and put them into a food processor, along with the juice and rind of the lemon. Blitz to a fine pulp.

Cream together the butter and sugar and break in the 3 eggs. Add the nettle/lemon and mix well.

Finally add the flour, baking powder & mixed spice, and mix well, until fully incorporated.

Pour into a greased and lined loaf tin and cook in the centre of a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for 60-70 minutes, until a skewer can be cleanly inserted into the centre of the cake. If the cake is browning too much, cover with a piece of lining paper.

Sweet Saxon Bread

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Ingredients:

• 100g/1/4 cup melted Butter

• 250g/3/4 cup full fat cream

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 1 Egg

• 450g/ 2 1/4 cups flour

• Tsp Yeast

• 1/2 tsp Salt

Method:

In a large bowl mix together the butter, cream, honey & egg.

Add the flour, yeast and salt and mix together to form a slightly sticky dough.

Tip out onto a work surface and knead for around 5-10 minutes.

Roll your dough into a ball, and dust with a little flour. Put it into a bowl and cover loosely with a damp cloth, to stop it drying out. Leave to prove for half an hour.

Divide the dough into four, take one piece and roll it into a sausage. Join the two ends of the sausage together, forming a circle. Finally twist the circle in half to form an ‘8’. Continue until you have four ‘8’ shaped mini loaves.

Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 220 degrees Celsius.

Remove from the oven, the loaves should sound hollow when you tap them on the bottom.

Leave to cool fully before eating.

Mince pies

For the mincemeat;

Ingredients:

• 500g pears (cored and cut into small cubes)

• 500g dried mixed fruit

• 100g stem ginger

• 100g crab apple jelly

• 250g muscovado sugar

• Zest and juice of 3 oranges

• Zest and juice of 2 lemons

• 100g flaked almonds

• 50ml ginger wine

• 2 tsp Ground ginger

• 2 tsp Cinnamon

• 1 tsp Nutmeg

• 50ml sloe gin

Method:

Mix all the ingredients well, except the gin, and put them into a large oven proof dish.

Bake in a preheated oven for around 2.5 hours at 120 degrees.

Stir in the gin and spoon into warm, sterile jars. Leave to mature for at least 2 months before using. Will keep for a couple of years.

For the pies;

Ingredients:

• 300g plain flour (sifted)

• 150g unsalted butter (cut into cubes)

• Water

• Mince meat

• Milk

Method:

Add the butter to the flour and rub it between your fingers and into the flour. Keep rubbing until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.

Add a small drop of water and mix together. Keep adding a little water at a time, until the mixture comes together to form a stiff dough amd leaves the bowl mostly clean.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out as thin as possible - 1 or 2 mm is best. Cut rounds for the bases using a pastry cutter and place into cupcake cases.

Fill the base with mince meat and top with either smaller cut rounds or stars. Where the pastry top and base meets, use a little milk to seal the edges.

Brush with a little milk and cook in the centre of a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes, until golden in colour.

Pan fried oat bread

Ingredients:

• 250g/2 cups oat flour

• 200g/1 cup flour

• 50g, 1/2 cup oats

• 1 tsp yeast

• 2 tsp salt

• 250ml/1 cup warm water (give or take)

Method:

Put the flour, oats, yeast and salt, into a large bowl and mix together.

Slowly add the water a little at a time, and mix together to form a dough. It needs to be workable, so as not to stick to your hands too much, but too dry and it will fall apart. You can add more or less beer depending on how your dough feels. I find it varies slightly every time.

Tip out onto a work surface and knead for around 5-10 minutes.

Roll your dough into a ball, and dust with a little flour. Put it into a bowl and cover loosely with a damp cloth, to stop it drying out. Leave to prove somewhere warm for an hour or two, until its roughly doubled in size.

Tip your dough back out onto your work surface and carefully deflate it by poking it with your fingers.

Roll your dough into a ball, and roll to around 1/2 inch thick, or to a size that fits into your skillet.

Place your bread into the skillet and dry fry on a medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, before flipping and cooking for a further 5-10 minutes. Watch it closely to avoid burning.

Leave to cool fully before cutting.

Alternatively you can make oven baked tear and share rolls. 

Divide the dough into 6 and roll into balls. Place the balls into an oven proof dish so that they are just about touching. Cook for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

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Cheese Scones

Ingredients: 

• 250g Self raising flour 

• Pinch of salt 

• 1 tsp baking powder 

• 60g butter 

• 100g cheese (grated) + a little extra for topping 

• 80ml milk + a little extra for topping 

Method: 

In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder. 

Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the flour, to make breadcrumbs. 

Add the cheese and mix well, trying not to overwork it, as the heat from your hands will start to melt the cheese. 

Add the milk, a little at a time, until the mix comes together to form a dough. You may not need all of the milk. 

Tip out onto a work surface and roll out to approx 2 cm thick. Cut the scones with a 

medium sized pastry cutter. 

Place onto a lightly floured baking tray and brush the tops with a little milk. Finally add a small amount of grated cheese. 

Cook in the centre of a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 - 15 minutes until golden on top and cooked through. 

Crisp breads

Ingredients:

• 300g flour (plus a little extra for dusting the worktop)

• 10g Salt

• 10g Cumin, caraway or fennel seeds (roughly ground in a pestle & mortar)

• water

Method:

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Slowly add water and mix to form a dough.

Flour your worktop with a little flour and roll the dough out thinly. Cut the dough into rounds and make a hole in the middle.

Place onto a baking tray that has been lined with greaseproof paper.

Cook in the centre of a preheated oven at 200 degrees for about 20 – 30 minutes until lightly browned and crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon