Recipes > Baking

Pavlova

In a mixer bowl, place 3 egg whites, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence, 1 1/8cups sugar, 1 tsp cornflour, 1 tsp malt vinegar and 1/4 cup boiling water. Beat all together for 15 minutes. While it's beating, line an oven tray with baking paper. Heat your oven to 150Â°C.

When the mix is ready, place in a pile in the centre of the tray, and spread out to form a circle about the size of a small dinner plate. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes, then without opening the door, reduce the oven temperature to 90Â°C and cook for 45 minutes. Again don't open the door at all. Turn the oven off and leave the pavlova in the closed oven till it's cold. Remove from the oven and slide onto a platter and decorate as you wish.

Savoury Crackers

Put the metal chopping blade in the food processor bowl. Add 2cups flour, 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, and 50gms very cold butter chopped into small cubes. Add 1 or more of the optional ingredients listed below if you want. Whizz together, then add about 1/2 a cup of cold water in a thin stream through the spout, stopping when the dough particles will only just stick together to form a ball. Roll out very thinly on a lightly floured surface, then cut into squares or rectangles, or other shapes using biscuit cutters. Pile dough scraps together, roll out and cut more shapes until the dough is used. Bake at 190Â°C for 10-15 minutes until they are a pale golden colour. Leave to cool, and store in an airtight tin.

Optional ingredients: 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds. 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese. 1 tablespoon poppy seeds. The recipe includes that the crackers taste best several hours after baking as the flavour develops - it also says that they don't usually last that long in the Alison Holst household unless she has found a particularly good hiding place

Other variations can include your choice of one or more of the following: 1/2 to 1 tsp curry powder or 1-2 tsps chicken or other stock powder - leave out salt if using stock powder. 1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds. 1/4 cup ground almonds. Add 1 to 3 tsp of your favourite pesto. Add 1-2 tsps or to taste of chopped fresh or dried herbs - basil, parsley, mint, thyme, lemon thyme, sage, etc.. You could also use some wholemeal or wholegrain flour instead of 1/2 a cup or more of the white flour. Add some wheatgerm, or cornmeal, etc.. too.. increasing the baking powder by 1/2 tsp for each 3/4 cup of grains, etc.. You can change the ingredients to suit your taste - this is delicious.. change 1/2 cup white flour to 1/2 cup wholemeal flour, and add 1/2 tsp extra baking powder plus 1/4 cup fine or medium ground cornmeal, 1/4 cup sesame or sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup wheatgerm & a little extra salt to taste if needed. Make and bake as above.

Shortcake Pastry

Place into a food processor 200gms flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 100gms SOFT butter . Whizz till blending slightly. In a bowl, beat 1 egg and 1 dsp sugar till thick and the sugar has dissolved. Add to the flour mix and pulse to combine. If doing by hand, sieve the flour and BP into a bowl... use your fingers to mix in the soft butter. Continue as above, mixing the thick egg and sugar in well. Mix the dough lightly together in your hands to form a smooth ball. Roll out and cut in circles to fit your pie dish, patty tins, etc.. - an upside down cup or small bowl might give the right size, so circles cut around that will cover the bottom and sides of your tin. Lightly spray or grease your tins and place the circles in, pressing down into the shape of the tins gently. Fill as you want, top with pastry, or strips of pastry, or leave open. Bake at 180Â°C till only just beginning to change colour.

Sticky Tea Bread

1 cup sultanas,1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 cup cold strong tea, 2 large cups of self-rising flour, sifted, 1 egg

Put raisins and sugar in a bowl, cover with the cold tea and leave to soak overnight.

Next day stir in sifted flour and well beaten egg. Line a loaf tin and pour in the ingredients. Bake on the middle shelf of a preheated oven at 335° F or 170°C for 1 ½ hours.

Test with a skewer to see if loaf is cooked through. Cool on a wire rack.

This is lovely spread with butter, but can be eaten without.

This recipe can also be cooked in muffin tins and used as individual puddings with cream or custard.

Very versatile! I have even used it as a base to make a three tiered wedding cake with all the trimmings!!! Yummy.

Sweet or Savoury Pinwheel Scones

Make a good sized batch of your favourite scone dough - mix together 3 cups flour, 3 heaped teaspoons baking powder, no butter or margarine at all, and mix all together with milk to form a firm dough. Roll it out into a rectangle on a floured surface. Use your fingers dipped in water, or a brush, to dampen the far edge of the long side of the dough. Spread with your choice of toppings. Roll up, using the dampened edge to seal the dough together into a roll. Cut into slices about 1 to 1.5cm thick, and place the pieces on a baking paper lined oven tray. Either place them close together so they'll touch during cooking, to achieve softer edges, or keep separate to achieve a firmer edge. Bake at 220Â°C until golden and cooked through - about 10-12 minutes.

Variations: Savoury: Spread a very thin layer of marmite or vegemite across the surface of the dough. Mix in a bowl 1 to 1 & 1/2 cups grated cheese, 1 medium very finely chopped onion, and some chopped fresh parsley. Spread this mix over the marmite/vegemite. Roll up, slice and cook as above. Add some very well drained and chopped pineapple pieces too if you want.

Sweet: Spread a very thin layer of soft butter or margarine across the surface of the dough. Mix together 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1 & 1/2 cups of your choice of sultana's, raisins, currants, chopped dates, chopped dried apricots, etc.. Add 2 tsp of cinnamon, mixed spice, and/or ground ginger too if you want. Spread this mix evenly over the butter/margarine mix. Roll up and seal. Cut into slices and bake as above.

Walter Goetzeler's pretzels

1-1/2t dry yeast, 1-3/4c warm water, 5c flour, 1-1/2t baking soda, 2T margarine or butter.

Dissolve yeast in water, add remaining ingredients, knead. Let dough rise about 40min, to about 1/3 to 1/2 again its original size. Divide dough into approx 30g (ping-pong ball size) pieces, roll each piece to about 15cm long, let sit a few minutes (the first ones are ready for the next step by the time you finish the rolls in this step). Roll each piece out to about 45cm (18"), tapering the ends. Form these into pretzel shapes, with a double-twist on the arms in the center. Place the shapes on sheets lined with baking paper (wax paper if you have it), allow to rise to 1-1/2 times the size. Prepare dipping solution.

Prepare dipping solution of 5c water & 3T baking soda, choose a wider rather than deeper saucepan for this, bring to a boil. Work with about 2 or 3 pretzels at a time, put rest in fridge while you work (goes pretty fast, though). Drop 2 or 3 pretzels at a time into boiling dip, leave about 10 or 15 seconds, remove & drain. Place on greased baking sheet, preheat oven to 200C. When you have a sheetful of boiled pretzels, sprinkle them with sea salt & bake about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Great on their own, or eat them as a New Yorker would with a squeeze of mild mustard.