There are now 84 Cookbooks On My Shelf

I have been making bread regularly for a while now and the Kitchen Aid is brilliant at kneading and mixing as I don't have the patience to do it myself and always stop too early. However, reverting to my true form I have found one recipe that works (Pain Ordinaire on Page 72 of Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno's book named Bread) and Mike has become rather bored of it. I have seen Paul Hollywood on TV and have seen his new book called Bread in the shops and couldn't resist giving it a go. My first effort was the Bloomer on page 23 but I managed to put too much water in it and the final result bore a close resemblance to The Quatermass Experiment, though the taste was rather nice - hopefully the picture below will give you an idea of the result. Not very 'bloomer' like!

Tonights effort was the Beef Cobbler on Page 80. I just loved the picture as the stew looked so unctuous and I liked the idea of the cheese and rosemary scones on top. The recipe was easy to follow and sat cooking in the oven whilst I prepared the scones. I didn't even need to use the trusty Kitchen Aid as the ingredients were just gently mixed together briefly so that even I had the patience to do it by hand. As I had prepared dinner a little bit earlier than required, I left the stew in the oven on a low temperature for an extra hour before cranking up the heat and plonking the scones on top for 25 minutes. The finished product looked remarkably like the photo in the book and the stew tasted delicious. I was not too fond of the texture of the scones as they cooked in the stew and next time I think I would cook them separately and serve them on top when plating. Overall a success and I think I would try it again, an interesting twist on the usual beef stew and as the scones are really easy to make without the need for any rising time they make a great alternative to bread.