Live webchat and baking session with Dan Lepard, Fri 8 Jan, 12-2pm

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We've got a Mumsnet first this Friday - award-winning baker and food writer Dan Lepard is our guest for a bake day and live webchat. Should be just the thing to counter wintry gloom and warm up your kitchen.

Dan's involved with the World Marmalade Festival, which promotes all thing marmalade-y and supports the charity Hospice at Home. So he has chosen Ponymum's muffin recipe and given it a citrus-y twist. Full details, ingredients, plus all Dan's variations on the recipe are here.

Please choose the version that tickles your tastebuds and join us to bake along with Dan on Friday. He'll be online from noon.

While your (and our) culinary creations are cooking, Dan will answer questions and swap tips about baking, bread making, marmalade making and the like.

Once your muffins/pudding/traybake are out of the oven, please share a picture of the finished result on your profile. We'll put up pix of our efforts here.

And, of course, if you can't make it on Friday but have a question you'd like to ask Dan, please post here.

Team Edward,

You say that the mixture seemed very heavy. This will be affected by how juicy you carrots and apples are, and perhaps a little bit by the absorbancy of your flour. Don't worry unduly yet, you might find that everything is ok when they're baked. I've worried about this in the past and often found that everyhting baked fine. So carry on...

two spoon method? two teaspoons or tablespoons or...? I'm not baking as I am supposed to be working but want to try this later.

Thanks,

Hello Dan,

I'm almost ready to go but wondering if you
has any aga-specific instructions? Usually I just suck it and see.

Thanks for answering- I will hunt down the agave. Should also come in handy for my diabetic and coeliac DH.

(posting to remind myself I've put them in at 12:37)

has have

Five four,
Great to read that your vegan version has lift-off. And a tray bake too! Can't wait to see it.

Browsing my blog feed, this chocolate brandy layer cake of Dan's looks proper deeeelicious!!

Team Edward,

How long to bake them. At 180C (160C Fan) look at them after 25 minutes but they might need thrity depending on how cold your ingredients were.

It's warm here in Carrie's kitchen. What's it like where you are?

would love a perfect scone recipe too please Dan.

mine are in Aga champagnesupernova, bottom oven (baking) coming along nicely, been in 10 minutes so far and are rising.

I saw someone on the telly (Ina Garten, possibly) filling muffin cases using one of those ice-cream scoops with the little slidy arm. Speedy and accurate, I grant you, but lacks the charm of the two-spoon method!

(Can you tell I'm not actually baking?)

Too cold in my kitchen !

My scones always turn out flat - have tried adding eggs to compensate for gf, but don't really get any better.

Hi CarrieDaBabi (Fri 08-Jan-10 12:16:59)

Bread with [plain flour. Yes, it's possible but don't let it rise too much. Also, add 1/2 500mg crushed tablet of vitamin C to the flour and this will help it rise better (the vit c strengthens the gluten in the flour).

Dan

DC are doing the 2 spoon method. It is a bit messy.

Champagnesupernova,

Bluesky is better at this than me, as I'm sadly aga-free ( we have a falcon/rangemaster, a bit different). So the bottom oven - if that's the mild one - sounds the best option. Don't aga oven have a ferociously hot one, and a relatively mild one?
Dan

Ah, glad I didn't bother buying one TE! Though I do find a normal ice-cream scoops (sans slidy thingy) good for getting nice even scoops of cookie dough straight from the fridge.

Hadn't thought of using an ice-cream scoop - I have a silicon spoon-atula thing and usually just slop it in and hope for the best
Actually, that's my question for Dan
Is there any hope for someone as "hope for the best" as me - baking bread always seems so PRECISE?

Dan, yes I have gone with bottom oven for now and will check.
WHen I make courgette muffins, then they stay in cooler oven until I am bored of them looking anaemic and then I pop em in the top and check them at 30 second intervals!!

I'll now try to answer a few more of the questions asked over the last few days!

Hi Ponymum (Wed 06-Jan-10 13:52:13)

Ovens that don't get hot enough. I know about that one. First off, save up and plan for a new oven. My (now old) new oven transformed my home life and I can't imagine getting through Christmas without it.

But?until that day comes. Get a plain thick unglazed terracotta floor tile, big enough to fit in the oven with a few inches to spare around so that the heat can circulate. Place it in the oven before you switch it on and then let the oven preheat for about 50 minutes. I know, it makes it an expensive loaf of bread and probably creates your own little patch of missing ozone from the sky, but it will help get keep the heat in your oven.

Someone told me that there's a category in which the winner can have their marmalade sold in Fortnum & Mason's if they get a double gold for the judges. Is that really true? It sounds amazing.

I have another question (if I'm allowed). Which is better- fan or conventional oven for baking and cooking in general? I have a slight fear of fan ovens but my MIL uses nothing but. She always assumes that the temps given in recipe are fine for fan ovens, whereas I assume they're for conventional, and need adjusting for fan. We were surprised to find that this doesn't get mentioned at all in a lot of recipe books.

I love muffins but one thing that I find confusing is that the the recipies always state to combine the wet/dry ingredients but to not over mix as this makes the mixture too heavy.

However, not overmixing, means I have big bits of floury mixture - what would you advise?

Thanks

Puss

Dan's going to quickly make a second batch of the mixture using the bundt tin this time. (He's clearing up as he goes along.)