This week is a very sad week because we have our dear mother's funeral. If it has happened to you you will know losing your mum it is a very deeply felt loss. One thing many people who like cooking say is that their mother inspired, and often taught them to cook. Even Nigel Slater's mother, who did not like cooking much, somehow managed to inspire the young Nigel to become one of our great home cooks.
My mother inspired all of her four children to enjoy cooking. I think it was something about allowing us to be hungry between meals, so we always appreciated the food she cooked for us.
We were also fascinated by the fruit and vegetables my parents grew in their garden - blackcurrants, rhubarb, almonds, plums, peaches and a compendium of vegetables and herbs all of which were used to make the weekly food shop go a bit further.
I have chosen to make a comforting cinnamon scented bread. It is made from a sweet dough which is rolled into a rectangle, sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, rolled up tightly like a carpet length ways, cut into pinwheels, placed in a cake tin and then cooked. To eat you break a bun from the loaf and enjoy with warm butter or simply on its own. This is another Emmanuel Hadjiandreou recipe taken from my favourite book 'How to make bread' and can be found on p156.
If you are an experienced bread maker you will be able to make this loaf from this abbreviated recipe. If you have never made bread before you will need to get yourself a copy of Emmanuel's book and work through it like a diligent student. You need to learn some basic bread making techniques, be organised and able to weigh ingredients carefully in order to make good bread. Any one can learn to do this if they put their mind to it.
Cinnamon bread
- 3g dried yeast
- 20g sugar plus extra for sprinkling
- 70g warm water
- 200g white bread flour weighed out in two 100g lots
- 1g salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon plus extra fro sprinkling
- 1 medium egg lightly beaten
- 40g soft butter and a little extra for brushing the buns as they come out of the oven
- 1 medium egg beaten with a pinch of salt for the egg wash
- icing sugar for dusting
- 23cm round cake tin, brushed lightly with oil nd dusted with flour
1. In one mixing bowl add yeast, sugar, water and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add 100g flour. Cover and allow to rise/ferment for an hour.
2. Add the remaining dry ingredients and the egg. Mix well and then mix in butter until well combined. Cover and allow to stand for 10 minutes.
3. Knead the dough for 1 minute, four times, allowing a 10 minute interval between each knead. Turn the bowl as you knead to ensure stretching all the dough thoroughly. Cover the bowl and leave to rise for one hour.
4. Knock back the dough to release the build up of air and gas and pull to the shape of a rectangle approximately 30cm by 20cm and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with a generous layer of cinnamon followed by sugar.
5. Roll up the dough along the longside and then cut 2cm slices. You should end up with 12 to 14 pinwheel slices.
6 Arrange these slices cut side up in the prepared cake tin.The slices should snuggle together. Cover and allow to rise for about an hour in a warm place.
7. About 20 minutes before cooking preheat the oven to 200C. Place a roasting in the bottom of the oven and fill will two cups of water.
8. Place the cake tin in the oven and lower the temperature to 180C. Bake the cinnamon rolls for about 10 - 15 minutes or until golden.
Turn the rolls out onto a wire rack. Brush the warm rolls with a little melted butter, sprinkle with vanilla sugar and cinnamon and allow to cool.