Monday 30 September 2013

Apricot Couronne - Great British Bake Off Blog Hop

You may have noticed that I like baking bread. My trusty Morphy Richards bread maker has been going strong for many years now and although I rarely use it to actually bake bread, it's really useful for making and proving dough for pizza bases, flat-breads, sweet breads (not sweetbreads!) and even the odd loaf or two!

I really enjoyed watching last week's Great British Bake Off, as I find it amazing that someone who can produce the perfect macaron can't necessarily bake a loaf of bread!
I loved the look of the apricot couronne, and after last year's attempt at an 8 stand plaited loaf, I though the couronne was worth a try!

I more or less followed the original Paul Hollywood recipe, but decided to tweak the filling by halving the quantities of butter, sugar and flour and swapping the orange zest for lemon (I didn't have an orange!). For the topping, I omitted the apricot jam and flaked almonds (more ingredients I didn't have) and mixed the icing sugar with lemon juice instead. 

My top tip, is to cover your work surface/board with clingfilm, before dusting with flour, as it seems to help stop the dough from sticking, when rolling it out.

My electric fan oven seems to cook more quickly than it should , so I cooked the couronne for 10 minutes at 190C and then reduced the heat to 180C and cooked for a further 10 minutes.

The couronne really wasn't too tricky to make and tasted fabulous. I think Paul and Mary would have been quite impressed!


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3 comments:

  1. I made one recently in lieu of payment at playgroup. Everyone loved it so much I have received 5 or 6 orders for their very own! And of course my chums are willing to pay for my not-'incredible'- but-apparently-appreciated skills... so, the question is, how much is it worth?? Rach x

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    Replies
    1. It sounds like they thought your baking was pretty good then! I think the rule of thumb is to ask for around 3 times the cost of your ingredients to cover your time etc. I reckon I'd happily pay £2-3 for one.

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