Toast? What's YOUR Feel Good Food Smell?

Professor Tim Jacob, at the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University, has found that the smell of toast is Britain's most loved food smell. A recent survey by the Flour Advisory Bureau found that we are a nation of toast lovers with a whopping 99% of us putting our hands up to loving toast.

Apparently, toast triggers memories and evokes feelings of happiness in what is called the 'Proust Effect' – where a smell is firmly linked with pleasant memories, in this case those of family life.

At a time of year when 2 million students are heading to university, with tight budgets and, for many, limited cooking experience, toast is likely to feature heavily in their diets.

Professor Jacob explains, "Most families eat toast for breakfast and the distinctive smell of toast delivers a feel-good factor by evoking comforting childhood memories. It is entirely conceivable that students can sniff their way back to happy childhoods with the aroma of toast - delivering a warm, feel- good factor across countless breakfast tables and student hall of residences throughout the nation."

He concludes, "It is clear that toast reminds us of family. Breakfast, the meal where most toast is consumed, is a family meal and this association stays with us. Toast is used as a treat and to cheer us up, so when we leave home toast recalls family breakfasts and is therefore comforting. Psychologically, a process of conditioned association occurs to link toast and the smell and flavour of toast with key moments in our lives - family moments."

image by Steven Brisson (creative commons license, some rights reserved)

The top ten toppings for toast are butter (or margarine *shudder*), cheese, egg, jam, marmalade, baked beans, Marmite, bacon, peanut butter and honey.

So, I have two questions for you:

What are your favourite toast toppings?

What is your favourite food smell – the one that triggers feelings of happiness and comfort in you?

Students looking for some inspiration might like to visit Beyond Baked Beans, a site bursting with easy recipes, budget tips and simple cooking techniques for those cooking on a budget.

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Taming Aspartame: Baking with Canderel

I use aspartame.

Yes, I'm aware of the many controversial claims about its side effects (one being memory loss, how would I ever tell? ;) But if I stopped ingesting every food and drink stuff about which I'd heard a scare story, my diet would consist of nothing but potatoes. And wait, aren't potatoes linked to…

Enough!

So I use aspartame. (And sucralose too, for that matter). In my cheap instant coffee. :)

Pete can't stand the aftertaste but it's never bothered me.

When I was invited to a PR event for Canderel recently, I was genuinely interested to learn whether Canderel could be used in cooking, having read that aspartame breaks down at high temperatures, losing its sweetness.

The event was held in the lovely home of an interior designer who runs cookery classes in her kitchen, which she also rents out for filming, photo shoots and events such as this.

We were welcomed with cocktails and nibbles as we waited for everyone to arrive.

Canderel had recruited Emma Lewis, chef and former editor of BBC Good Food Magazine, to develop a range of recipes using their product.

Ingredients already weighed and measured out for us and equipment at the ready, we paired up and worked our way through the recipes provided, under Emma's friendly guidance.

We started off making a simple walnut bread (recipe provided below), followed by beetroot chocolate brownies and mini strawberry trifles before gathering around the hob as Emma made a quick chicken tagine with couscous.

Some of the recipes worked better than others – I really liked the walnut bread and chicken tagine. The brownies were OK, but a little bland in flavour, unlike a beetroot chocolate cake I'd sampled previously. The trifles didn't really work for me though they looked very pretty!

Best of all, after our labours, we all adjourned to the pretty courtyard garden outside and had a lovely meal together.

beetroot chocolate brownies

mini strawberry trifles

chicken tagine and couscous

Walnut Bread

Ingredients
8 tablespoons granulated Canderel
225 grams plain flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
0.5 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
pinch salt
50 grams half fat sunflower margarine (I'd substitute this for butter, personally)
1 large egg
grated zest from a medium orange
150 ml fresh orange juice
100 grams roughly chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons skimmed milk

Method

• Grease a 2 lb loaf tin and line with non-stick parchment paper or a pre-formed liner.
• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 4.
• Put the Canderel, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda and salt into a bowl and stir together.
• Beat the butter and egg with the orange zest until creamy (the mixture will look curdled, this is OK).
• Add the orange juice and stir well.
• Add the dry ingredients and walnuts then mix until just combined.
• Add the milk to give a soft consistency.
• Spoon into the tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
• Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack.

The bread was a success, with a lovely texture, a pleasant citrus tang from the orange juice, the crunch of the walnuts and just the right hint of sweetness from the Canderel. I really liked it!

Many thanks to Canderel, Emma Lewis and JCPR for a lovely evening.

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Hot Cross Buns!

We'd only made hot cross buns once before and, to be honest, they were disappointing. The texture of the bread just wasn't right let alone the spicing and balance of fruit. This time, I decided to find a tried and tested recipe from one of the knowledgable posters on the BBC Food Chat board. When I say "I", what I really mean is "we", since Pete is definitely the master baker in this household! In the end we couldn't decide between two recipes (by users Paulthebread and Cherrytreeagain), so we amalgamated both. We also halved the amounts to make just 6 rolls instead of 12.

Well, we must have done something right, as the resulting hot cross buns were delicious! If I'd known they'd come out this well we'd have made the full 12!

I'm providing the recipe amounts doubled back up again to make 12. Note, we didn't bother with crosses (though we probably will next time) or a glaze (which neither of us like).

Hot Cross Buns
(Makes 12)

Ingredients for buns
7 grams easy blend yeast
40 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
450 grams strong white bread flour
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
Half teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg (or a grating or two of fresh)
50 grams butter
140 grams currants, sultanas and/or raisins (dried weight)
Water, to soak dried fruits
50 grams chopped mixed peel
1/4 pint warm milk
1/4 pint liquid reserved after soaking dried fruits

Optional: Ingredients for crosses
75 grams flour
Milk, enough to make a pipable paste

Optional: Ingredients for glaze
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons sugar

Method

1. Soak currants, sultanas and/or raisins overnight in just enough water to cover.


2. Drain dried fruits (reserving the liquid) just before making dough.


3. Mix spices into flour.





4. Rub butter into flour until large crumbs form.





5. Add sugar, fruit, peel, yeast, 1/4 pint of warm milk and 1/4 pint of the soaking liquid and mix until the mixture combines into an elastic ball and leaves the side of the bowl easily. Note: It is better for the dough to be slack (wet) rather than tight (dry). Knead for a few minutes.








6. Cover and leave to double in size.







7. Knock back and knead again.


8. Shape into 12 rounds and put onto baking tray lined with non-stick paper or silicon baking sheet.






9. Cover and leave to double in size.


10. Optional: Mix flour and milk into paste and pipe crosses onto buns.


11. Bake at 200C (fan oven) for 20 minutes.





12. Optional: A few minutes before the buns are ready to come out, mix milk and sugar and heat until sugar has dissolved. Brush over the cooked buns and return to oven just for a minute before removing.


13. Leave to cool briefly before eating or you'll burn your fingers like we did!

Happy baking!

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The Soda Bread Diaries

Having enjoyed the soda bread my friend made for a picnic in her garden recently, she sent me the recipe. It's published in a book called The Baker's Tale by Catherine Brown but is credited to James Burgess.

The first time I made this soda bread (last Wednesday) I followed the recipe exactly and the bread was just gorgeous.

The second time I made it (on Saturday) I accidentally added a touch too much buttermilk which made the dough too sticky to shape easily but texture and taste were still fine.

Third time, tonight, I added two "heaped" teaspoons of treacle, reduced the volume of buttermilk (adding a little at a time until all the flour and oatmeal were absorbed into a dough without it getting too sticky). Formed ball, flattened it, criss crossed the surface and baked for the normal 20 minutes.

Came out really, really well. The treacle made it only slightly darker in colour (so still not sure quite what went into the really dark brown stuff we encountered in County Cork last month) but definitely added a subtle depth of flavour.


Recipe (method re-written by me)

175g (6oz) wholemeal flour
75g (3oz) strong white flour
25g (1 oz) medium oatmeal
half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
half teaspoon salt
300ml (10 fl oz) buttermilk* (I buy a 284 ml pot and don't quite use all of it).

*Apparently, if you can't get buttermilk you can use milk soured with the juice of a lemon.

Measure all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.

Add the buttermilk a little at a time and mix into flour/oatmeal with hands to form a soft dough.

Take care not to add too much or dough will become very sticky.

No need to knead dough or leave it to rise/prove etc.

Shape dough into ball then flatten into a circle about an inch deep.

I've taken to slicing parallel lines across the top with a sharp knife at two angles to form diamonds. Not traditional for soda bread but I like it more than the more traditional quartering.

Bake for 20 minutes in pre-heated oven at 210 (fan assisted) or 230 (non-fan). (If you don't like a very slightly moist and dense bread, which I do, leave it in a couple of minutes longer).

Check it's done by tapping bottom - should be a firm crust and a slightly dull thwack form inside.

Leave to cool for as long as you can stand it - I didn't last 4 minutes tonight!

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