sugar

Coconut & Mixed Nut Granola

- Michael Leave a comment
The Bearded Bakery - Coconut Granola

Lockdown is still going. We’ve stocked up on dried goods but we’re avoiding going to supermarkets, opting mainly for a veg box delivery and buying dried goods like flour, nuts and seeds from specialised online stores or smaller local independent shops. We’ve been finding places like this to be well stocked and quieter. As such, access to normal cereal has been minimal, but access to the components to make granola has been significantly easier. So we finally felt it was time to try and make a homemade granola recipe.

The Bearded Bakery | Homemade Granola

I’ll keep this pretty simple. The key ingredients in this recipe are as follows, and you can mix and match some of the other bits.

  1. Oil – we used butter
  2. Oats
  3. Sugar
  4. Desiccated coconut
  5. Syrup – we used a split of 50/50 split of honey and golden syrup, but different ratios and different syrups will work
  6. Nuts – we used a mixture of different nuts but you can mix and match. Opt for a cheaper nut for the bulk like a walnut unless you’re feeling particularly flush. We also used some seeds.

The key is the oil and sugars as they’ll get the granola nice and crunchy and help it cling together. The types of nuts you use are less essential and more come down to flavour combinations, what you can get hold of and what you can afford to use. For clarity, we used almonds walnuts, pistachios, flaked almonds and pumpkin seeds. The main nuts being almonds and walnuts.

This recipe will make about 1kg of granola, you can multiply it to make more.

The Bearded Bakery - Granola Recipe

Simple Nut Granola Recipe

A simple granola with mixed nuts and desiccated coconut.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Breakfast
Servings 20 portions (around 50g each)

Ingredients
  

  • 110 g unsalted butter
  • 195 g syrup (we used a mixture of honey and golden syrup)
  • 200 g demerara sugar
  • 175 g oats
  • 170 g desiccated coconut
  • 100 g mixed seeds & flaked almonds (we used flaked almonds and pumpkin seeds)
  • 150 g Mixed nuts (we used walnuts, almonds and pistachios)
  • 1/2 Orange, zested (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 150°C (130°C fan assisted) and line a couple of large baking trays with greaseproof paper.
  • In a medium sized pan, melt the butter with the sugar, syrup and zest. You want the butter to have melted and combined but you don’t want the mixture to boil.
  • Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  • Pour the syrup and butter mixture over the dry ingredients, mixing well until all of the dry ingredients are coated.
  • Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking trays, making sure they’re well spread out and in one single layer on each tray.
  • Place the trays in the oven, baking for 10 minutes undisturbed.
  • Remove from the oven and turn the mixture in each tray. Return to the oven and keep checking every 5 minutes.
  • The granola will be done when the mixture has turned a golden brown colour. Be very careful not to overcook. It will likely still seem a bit soggy when you take it out, but it will crisp up as it cools.
  • Allow to cool completely in the trays and transfer to an air-tight container once cooled.
Keyword Granola

Miso Brownies

- Michael Leave a comment
Miso Brownie - The Bearded Bakery

We’re living through very strange times. With a pandemic sweeping the globe and entire countries on shut down, everyone’s spending significantly more time indoors. Based on my social feeds this means that people seem to be baking a whole lot more often. I’ve joined the masses in making my own sourdough starter, made vegan cookie dough that’s portioned off into batches and popped in the freezer, even tried making fresh pasta for the first time. All in all, I’ve been spending a significant time in the kitchen. It’s been a good way of escaping from staring at a screen while I’m tried indoors, but also being practical at the same time. It feels like a good time to get a few posts up too.

Miso Brownie - The Bearded Bakery

This is actually a recipe I baked long before all of this kicked off. It’s one I’ve had in the back of my mind, ready to be blogged if I ever got round to getting back writing. After buying the fantastic new Meera Sodha book ‘East’ at the tail end of 2019, I found a recipe for Miso Brownies. Now, hers are a little more involved than these, using flax seeds, but the concept sounded fantastic so it was something I wanted to try.

Miso Brownie - The Bearded Bakery

Using miso for something dense and fudge-y like a brownie is excellent. It adds to that fudge-like texture but also gives an additional caramel-like flavour to the brownie. Miso’s something you may have picked up as an additional long-life extra when you were at a supermarket, or for one individual recipe. This bake should help give you some ideas for other uses too, like miso mac and cheese, or miso caramel.

So what’s everyone been baking lately?

Miso Brownies

Michael
Fudgy brownies with a nutty caramel tang. Perfect for using up any miso you’ve got in the store cupboard.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 23 minutes
Total Time 43 minutes
Course Dessert

Ingredients
  

  • 115 g Unsalted butter
  • 115 g Dark chocolate (70%)
  • 2 Eggs large
  • 1 Egg white from a large egg
  • 300 g White granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp Miso the type doesn’t really matter
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 110 g Plain flour

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 180°C(160°C fan assisted) and line a 9x9inch square tin with baking paper.
  • While the oven’s heating up, melt the chocolate and butter together. Do this by placing a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water and stir until the butter and chocolate have melted together.
  • Leave this mixture somewhere cool a little while you do the rest.
  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, or using an electric whisk, beat together the eggs, egg white and sugar. This will take a while, so a stand mixer will be best. Whisk for 7-10 minutes. The mixture will have gone pale and yellow. If you pick some up on the whisk and dribble it across the top, it should take a couple of seconds for the line to disappear. This step is essential for getting the properly crispy meringue-like top.
  • Stir through the miso and the vanilla.
  • Carefully stir through the chocolate and butter mixture, making sure you don’t knock much air out.
  • Carefully stir through the flour, again making sure you don’t knock the air out.
  • Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin, and place in the middle shelf of your preheated oven.
  • Bake for 17-22 minutes. You want the top to have crisped up and for there to be just a little jiggle when you wobble the tray.
  • Place the tin on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely, and set, before serving.
Keyword Miso Brownies

Cardamom Buns

- Michael Leave a comment
Cardamom Buns - The Bearded Bakery

Well hello there, it’s been a little while hasn’t it. Nearly a year, in fact. A lot has happened in that time. I guess the headlines are that I’ve moved to Brighton, been made redundant and very happily gotten engaged. That’s a lot to take in really. Sometimes life just gets in the way of stuff like this. I have been baking though and late autumn and Christmas is the perfect time to get back blogging about it. I thought I’d kick things off with some cardamom knots I made the other week. They’re absolutely perfect for this cold weather, going great with a hot coffee or mug of tea.

Cardamom Buns - The Bearded Bakery
Cardamom Buns - The Bearded Bakery

The awkward bit with these buns is the knot itself. As you’ll be able to see from my own knots, it doesn’t always go to plan. The bonus is, that as long as you ball them up pretty well it still looks good, but I’ll run you through the process for knotting them below:

  1. Cut each strip down the centre – making sure it’s still attached at the top.
  2. Pull the two halves away from each other and twist each one away from the centre a couple of times
  3. Tie this into a knot
  4. Tuck the ends underneath

Got that? It’s easier than it sounds, but you will make mistakes. Just don’t beat yourself up about it when you do – cos they’ll still look and taste great.

Cardamom Buns - The Bearded Bakery
Cardamom Bun - The Bearded Baker

Cardamom Buns

Michael
Warming and doughy cardamom buns.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Proving 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 35 Cardamom pods
  • 350 ml Full fat milk
  • 200 g Butter cubed
  • 500 g Strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 225 g Golden caster sugar
  • 7 g Sachet fast action dried yeast
  • 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • Vegetable or sunflower oil for greasing
  • 1 Large egg beaten
  • 2 tbsp Pearl sugar optional

Instructions
 

  • Open 10 cardamom pods, crushing the insides with a pestle and mortar and add to a saucepan.
  • Add the milk plus 50g of the butter (leaving the rest of the butter at room temperature until required).
  • Gently warm the milk, stirring so it doesn’t catch, until it’s steaming but not boiling. Remove from the heat and leave to cool until lukewarm, making sure the butter has melted into the mixture.
  • Put the flour, 75g of the sugar, the yeast, cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt into a large bowl, or the bowl of a freestanding mixer and mix until combined.
  • Pour the cooled milk mixture through a sieve into the flour mixture, this will remove the cardamom.
  • Using a dough hook or wooden spoon mix to form a soft dough, then turn out onto a very lightly floured surface.
  • Knead for 10 minutes until it’s smooth and stretchy. You could do this using the dough hook for 5-7 minutes, but I always find I get better results if I do it by hand.
  • Clean out and lightly oil the mixing bowl, transfer the smooth ball of dough into it and cover with a tea towel before leaving to rise for 2 hours, or until doubled in size (you could leave it in the fridge overnight if you wanted).
  • Crush the remaining cardamom seeds with the mortar and pestle and combine them with the remaining 150g of sugar.
  • Mix the remaining room temperature butter with all but 2tbsp of the cardamom sugar.
  • Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper in preparation for the buns.
  • Punch the dough down to knock out the air and turn out onto a flat surface.
  • Roll out into a rectangle of 35x45cm with one of the longer edges facing you.
  • Cover the whole thing with the cardamom butter, spreading it as evenly as possible, right up to the edges.
  • Fold the top third down to the middle and the bottom third up over that, so you have one long piece with 3 equal layers of dough.
  • Cut in to 12 equal strips (about 3.5cm wide).
  • Making sure you leave it attached at the top, cut each strip down the centre so it has two tentacles.
  • Now for the tricky bit. Follow the instructions above, but in summary: Twist each strip away from the centre two or three times, then tie the dough in a knot and tuck the ends underneath the bun.
  • Place each finished knot onto the prepared trays when you’re done.
  • Lightly oil some clingfilm and cover the trays, leaving them to prove for another 30 minutes to an hour, until they’ve doubled in size again.
  • Preheat your oven to 190°C (170°C fan assisted).
  • Remove the clingfilm, brush each bun with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the peal sugar.
  • Place in the middle of your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. You may want to swap the trays around half way through. They should come out golden brown.
  • Once they are out and cooling, tip the remaining cardamom sugar into a saucepan with 50ml of water and bring to the boil.
  • Remove from the heat to cool and brush over the buns 2-3 times while they are cooling.
  • Leave the buns 20 minutes to soak up the sugar syrup and serve warm. They’ll keep a couple of days in a sealed container.
Keyword cardamom, cardamom buns, cardamom knots

Crack Pie

- Michael 3 Comments

Crack Pie - Butter Tart

This is going to be my last post of 2017 and I feel like it’s a good one to sign out on. It’s actually been in the works from as far back as last August, when I went to New York. Whenever I’ve baked this recipe in that time the photos I’ve taken just haven’t been good enough, and for a recipe as good as this one, the photos need to do it justice. So lets rewind to August of 2016; after a day walking around Manhattan in the baking heat we sought out Milk Bar, part of the famed Momofuku group, to stock up on some bakes. Crack Pie had come recommended, and with such a ludicrous name, it sounded like something I needed to try. I didn’t realise that I was about to have one of the single most decadent desserts of my life. Crack Pie is essentially a butter tart, so think a dense layer of gooey, buttery filling sitting on top of a biscuit base.
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Overnight Cinnamon Buns

- Michael 1 Comment

Overnight cinnamon rolls

As I already alluded to, I changed jobs recently. In my old job we had a meeting on every Monday morning to talk about the week ahead. Over the two or so years at that job, my colleagues at Talented Talkers badgered me constantly to bring in some cinnamon rolls. My main excuse for not doing it is that cinnamon buns are much, much, better fresh and on the day they are made. I’ve done cinnamon rolls overnight plenty of times, but doing it in the week was something I haven’t done. However, with it being my last week, and the last time I’d be in that early Monday meeting, I wanted to bring in a treat for the team. This meant that after sticking the dough in the fridge the night before, I was actually up super early on that last Monday (about 5.30) to take the dough out of the fridge to allow it to return to room temperature before I stuck it in the oven. Read more