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Happy New Year! How are your New Year’s resolutions going?!

By Clair on January 18, 2012 in , ,

January can be a challenge if you’re trying to cut back on calories and your spending so this month, we thought we’d let you into a secret.  You already know that a loaf of bread from your local supermarket is a cost effective and comforting way to make a meal or a snack, but did you know that bread isn’t fattening?

A slice of standard brown, wholemeal or white bread usually contains no more than 80 calories and 0.8 grams of fat. To break it down further:

• A slice of white bread contains 77 calories and 0.6 grams of fat;

• A slice of brown bread contains 72 calories and 0.7 grams of fat;

• A slice of wholemeal contains 76 calories and 0.9 grams of fat.

Just so you can make a comparison, one chocolate biscuit provides 3.1g of fat and disappears onto your hips in a flash!

Seeded breads will be slightly higher in calories and fat because of the nutritious oils contained in the seeds but all bread is indeed good for you.

Here at FAB Flour, we can help you stick to your healthy eating resolutions by giving you some easy recipes which won’t break the bank either:

Spicy Bean and Grilled Vegetable Wraps

Mediterranean Magic

And here’s a few more tasty snacks:

Crunchy Pitta Pockets

Hot Tuna Sweetcorn Rolls

Spicy Lemon Chicken

Pork with Apple Sauce Sandwich

Mediterranean Stuff Peppers

Lose it and keep it off!

The simplest way to lose weight is to reduce your calorie intake (by making healthier food choices and reducing your portion sizes) and increasing your activity levels/taking regular physical activity. Don’t forget that once you’ve lost the weight you wanted to lose, continue eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising regularly so that the kilos don’t creep on again by the time your bikini beckons…..

Low fat, nutritious, inexpensive and versatile, when eaten as part of a calorie controlled diet bread can provide tasty meals and snacks to help you achieve your healthier lifestyle. There are as many, if not more, calories in the spread you put on a slice of bread as in the bread itself. So use as little margarine or butter on bread as you can and spread it thinly. Opt for a reduced fat spread or even omit the spread if you’re having bread with soup, or beans or cheese on top.

Take the test

You may only be thinking that your jeans are too tight but did you know that carrying too much weight increases your risk of high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer? Your body mass index (BMI) expresses your weight in relation to your height and works out whether you are overweight, underweight or just right for your height.

Measure your height in metres and weigh yourself in kilograms. To work out your BMI, divide your weight by the square of your height. Remember that as  individuals we all come in different shapes and sizes. The BMI is a rough guide as to whether you are overweight in relation to your height.  Use this example to help you work out your BMI:

A. My weight = Xkg (71kg)

B. My height = Xm (1.65m)

C. My height² (B x B) = (1.65 x 1.65 = 2.72)

D. My BMI (A ÷ C) = (71 ÷ 2.72 = 26)

If your BMI is less than 18.5: Underweight

You may need to eat more.

BMI 18.5 – 24.9: Normal weight

Good for you – make sure you eat a balanced diet and take regular exercise.

BMI 25 – 29.9: Overweight

Start eating smaller portions of a healthy balanced diet and take more exercise to help you move towards a healthier weight.

BMI more than 30: Seriously overweight

Your health is at risk so you should check with your doctor before changing your diet and starting regular exercise.

So what does a healthy balanced diet consist of?

Fruit and vegetables

Aim for at least 5 servings a day. Try to include a variety of different fruit and
vegetables in your diet each day. For tips on how to reach your 5-a-day target,
visit http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/5aday.

Starchy foods

Bread, cereals, potatoes, rice and pasta should provide around 33% of our daily
calorie intake. Choose wholegrain varieties whenever possible.

Milk, yogurt, cheese and fromage frais and fortified soya products

Choose reduced and low fat varieties whenever possible.

Meat, fish, eggs, beans, nuts and seeds

If you eat meat choose lean cuts of meat. Try to have at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be an oil rich variety such as salmon, mackerel or fresh tuna.

Foods and drinks high in fat and/or sugar

Foods in this group include mayonnaise, crisps, cream, biscuits, pastries, cakes and
puddings, soft drinks, chocolate and confectionery. Think of these foods as treats rather than something that you eat every day.

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Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!

By Clair on December 22, 2011 in , ,
Christmas is a wonderful time of year for families and friends to get together and celebrate so we thought we’d share some delicious seasonal recipes with you.  Get into the festive spirit and let the kids get involved in the kitchen and you’ll have fun making treats and presents.
The kids will love decorating their own gingerbread men and you’ll wow everyone with Paul Hollywood’s recipes for mince pies and a Yule log.
Over the years many traditions about Christmas baking have been passed from one kitchen to another.  Here are a few of the most popular:
  • A Christmas pudding is traditionally made with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and His Disciples and is always stirred from East to West in honour of the three Wise Men who visited the baby Jesus.
  • People used to put silver charms into the Christmas pudding mix as well: a
    sixpence coin for luck; a thimble for prosperity; a ring for marriage and a bachelor’s button were also added. Whatever things one got into their piece predicted the year ahead.
  • It is believed that eating mince pies will bring good luck in the upcoming year. It’s luckier to eat more Christmas pies in others’ homes and unlucky to refuse a mince pie on Christmas Eve.
If Stir Up Sunday didn’t see you making your own Christmas pudding, don’t worry.  Our microwave recipe for Christmas pudding can be made just a week in advance and stored in the fridge.
We know that not everyone is a kitchen goddess when it comes to baking so here are the answers to the most common questions we get when things don’t go quite to plan:
Cakes:
All of the fruit in my cake has sunk to the bottom
Often fruit will sink to the bottom of the cake. This can happen when the fruit is syrupy, or high in natural sugars. To avoid this, wash the fruit to get rid of the syrup, dry it well (if the fruit is wet, this can also cause it to sink!) and cover it in flour. Do not open the oven door too soon to check on the cake.
My cake has a cracked, peaked top
If your cake has a badly cracked or peaked top you may have adding too much baking powder and/or bicarbonate of soda. You may also have overfilled the tin, or the cake may have cooked too quickly due to being too near the top of the oven or
the oven being too hot.
My cake sunk when it was baking
There are lots of reasons why the top of your cake may have sunk during baking. You may have used too much raising agent, over-creamed the fat and sugar, over-beaten the mixture after adding the egg, under-baked the cake or had the oven on too low a temperature. Another way to avoid cakes sinking is to never slam the oven door.
My cake is stuck fast to the tin
Make sure that you use a good quality tin and grease it well or your cake may stick to it, making it hard to remove. Don’t over grease it though as this can cause the cake to form a crusty ring around the sides.
Pastry:
My pastry is very hard
You may not have used enough fat or the fat hasn’t been mixed into the pastry well
enough. This can also happen if the pastry is too wet or over handled.
My pastry is very crumbly
This can happen if you use too much fat or over mix the pastry. The pastry may be too dry and may not contain enough liquid to properly bind the fat and flour. This can also happen if self raising flour is used.
My pastry is soggy on the inside
The pastry may be undercooked or you might have forgotten to make a steam vent. If you have a lot of sugar in your filling, or the filling is very wet, you may be better to cook the pastry first and add the filling halfway through baking.
My pastry case shrunk when I baked it
Pastry needs time to rest before it is rolled out and baked.  The pastry may also have been overstretched when it was rolled out.
The base of my pastry case has risen during baking.
This can happen if self raising flour is used – only plain flour should be used when making pastry. You also need to carefully press the pastry into the tin, making sure that no air is trapped underneath. Pricking the pastry or weighing it down
with baking beans or foil during baking.
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Paul Hollywood judges competition

By Carolyn on December 9, 2011 in ,

Wow, what a month it’s been!  We’ve been so impressed with the response to our first ever National Mill Month. Competition entries flooded in from all over the country and there were so many delicious sounding ideas that we had a really difficult time choosing our four winning recipes.

Our lucky winners had a fantastic cookery session with celebrity Master Baker and judge on BBC’s Great British Bake Off Paul Hollywood.

Paul showed our lovely winners, and the friend or family member who came with them, how to make bread at home and everyone had a great time trying out their new found skills.

Click here if you’d like to follow a step by step guide, with extra baking hints and tips to help you produce perfect bread.

 

 

 

 

He then gave each winner some hands on help to re-create their winning recipes:

Polly Pomfrey’s Apple & Cinnamon Whoopie Pies 

Gill Ennifer’s Sticky Gingerbread

Sam Hoey’s Pecan & Maple Syrup Biscotti

Liz Kennedy’s 21st Century Wheaten Bread

If you’d like to try these delicious recipes for yourself, click here to try them out.

Our winners will be visiting their local mills too to see for themselves how flour is made.  If you’d like to find out more about flour, click here to download our National Mill Month Guide which will give you the lowdown on milling, flour and bread.

Flour and bread facts

Did you know there are lots of different types of flours and because they all have different properties, they are better suited to cooking and baking different things?

Check out my quick guide below to the main types of flour and the best type to use for different recipes:

Wholemeal – This is made from the whole wheat grain with nothing added or taken away.

Brown – This usually contains about 85% of the original grain. Some bran and germ have been removed.

White – This usually contains around 75% of the wheat grain. Most of the bran and wheatgerm have been removed during the milling process.

Wheatgerm – This can be white or brown flour with at least 10% added wheatgerm.

Malted wheatgrain – This is brown or wholemeal flour with added malted grains.

Stoneground – This is wholemeal flour ground in a traditional way between two stones.

Organic –This is made from grain that has been grown to organic standards. Growers and millers must be registered and are subject to regular inspections.

Pastry – Plain flour is the best type of flour to use. For a step by step guide to making shortcrust pastry, click here.

Cakes, biscuits and scones – Self raising flour is normally used in cake recipes but you can also use plain flour if the recipe includes baking powder. Soft flour and sponge flour are also ok to use.

Batters – Plain flour is the best type of flour to use in batters.

Bread and pizza bases – Strong flour is ideal.

Sauces – Plain flour is best for sauces.
Alternatively you can use cornflour to thicken sauces if they are a bit too
runny.

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National Mill Month

By Carolyn on October 25, 2011 in

It’s the first ever National Mill Month and we’re celebrating all things floury!   Imagine how dull our kitchens would be without our favourite recipes for cakes, biscuits, sauces, batters, pies and pastries being made for our families.

New Recipes
Talking of recipes, we’ve got some great new afternoon tea recipes from celebrity Master Baker and judge on BBC’s Great British Bake Off Paul Hollywood to share with you.  Click here to download his delicious and easy to make recipes for free.

Competition
If his recipes have inspired you to release your inner domestic goddess, why not enter our great competition to find the nation’s top flour recipes and win a cookery session with Paul Hollywood?  Thanks to the skill of our millers, the variety of flours now available is immense so here’s your chance to show off your best recipe made with flour – it could be your favourite bread, cake, biscuit, pastry or scone recipe.

You and a friend could win an all-expenses paid trip to London on Tuesday November 22nd to cook up your recipe with Paul.  Click here to submit your favourite flour based recipe from your region but hurry, entries close on 7th November.

The right flour for your recipes
There is a flour to suit every taste and occasion, whether you need a creamy, white flour for breadmaking, a coarser, wholemeal stone-ground for a rich fruitcake, or a fine, light sponge flour.  Different types of flour have unique characteristics depending on the wheat used and the way they are milled.  Stock up with a broad selection of flours and you will always have just the right type for all cooking and baking needs.  Click here to find out the best flours for the recipes you make every week.

Flour mills open to the public
During National Mill Month flour mills around the country are opening their doors to visitors.  Click here to find the mill nearest to you which will be open to the public – don’t forget to book as all visits are by appointment only.

If there isn’t a mill open close to you, you can still find out all about flour milling by downloading our free National Mill Month Guide here. Packed full of the history of milling and mills, this guide also gives you the low down on flour and bread.

Flour and bread facts

Did you know:
One whole grain of wheat makes over 20,000 particles of flour.
It takes around 350 ears of wheat to make enough flour for one 800 gram loaf of bread.
The average flour consumption per person in the UK is around 200g per day?  About half of this is in the form of bread, rolls etc, whilst the remainder is in a range of other products such as pizza, pies, cakes, biscuits, pasties, noodles, snacks batters and sauces.
A wheat crop will produce on average 7.5 tonnes of grain per hectare – that’s enough to make 11,500 loaves of bread.

Without flour we wouldn’t have our daily bread, our great British staple packed full of goodness.  Bread provides carbohydrates, B vitamins, protein and calcium. White flour is fortified with calcium, iron, thiamin and niacin. One of the nation’s feel good foods, bread is a great tasting food which is naturally low in sugar, lower in salt, low fat, calcium enriched and is a source of both protein and fibre so love your loaf!  Click here to find out about some of the 200 different types of bread you can find today in Britain.

Most of the wheat we use is grown in Britain and virtually all the flour and bread we make is produced here.  It really is a “home-grown” food chain.  National Mill Month is a great opportunity to celebrate both the history of flour milling and the contribution that flour mills and bakeries make to the meals we serve our families.

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School holidays are the perfect time for children to experiment with food

By Carolyn on August 12, 2011 in

Dad making sandwiches with sonChildren love cooking and baking and the summer holidays offer parents a perfect opportunity to encourage their children to experiment with food – often even children who are fussy eaters will happily eat something that they have prepared themselves.

Below, we’ve put together a few suggestions for fun snacks, simple recipes and foodie science experiments for your budding little sous chefs to try. It’ll keep them entertained for an hour or two and we’re pretty certain that they’ll love eating them afterwards (the edible results that is!).

Fun snacks

Painted toast

Did you know that you can paint bread and then toast it to make a colourful snack? Simply mix up the “paints” (which are made up of a small amount of milk and a few drops of food colouring) and let your child’s creativity take over. You can also use a biscuit cutter to cut the bread into shapes.

Tip: Don’t toastthe bread in a toaster – use a hot grill instead.

Make meals fun!Smiley face pizza

Children love making their own pizzas – either cheat and buy small ready-made bases or make your own using our pizza dough recipe (feel free to use 75% white flour and 25% wholemeal for added goodness – children won’t know that there is any wholemeal flour in the pizza base as the toppings will mask the taste.

Lay out several small bowls with different toppings and encourage children to add as much as they want– some suggestions include chopped ham or chicken breast, chopped pineapple, chopped pieces of different coloured peppers, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and of course cheese! Don’t forget the tomato sauce – either use one from a jar or make your own by blending passata with cooked carrots and/or roasted red peppers for extra veggie goodness!

You can also do a similar thing with sandwiches – cut them into fun shapes or make them look like animals.  Younger children will love them!

Super science

Discover why toast always lands butter side down!

That age old question, why does toast always land butter side down can now be answered thanks to this quick experiment!

Cover the floor in newspaper. Butter a slice of toast. Then knock it off the table in a similar way as to what would happen if it was an accident. Repeat this six times and record the result – we bet that it landed butter side down at least five out of six times!

Why does this happen? There are numerous different suggestions but the most likely option is that when the toast is falling off the table, it starts to rotate. The number of times the bread flips over depends on the speed at which you knock it off the table, but generally, the speed at which this normally happens is enough to make the toast flip over once – hence it lands butter side down.

Seriously simple recipesdecorated gingerbread men

We have a whole host of recipes that children will love making on our website including chocolate chip cookies, gingerbread men, and banana crumb muffins. We also have recipes for meals that older children might like to have a go at, including crispy leek and cheese sausages, mini meatballs in tomato sauce and scrambled egg and bacon baskets

Get them out and about

Summer holidays needn’t be expensive. Many attractions are doing deals for families so why not take a picnic and make a day of it? Or if you live locally to the events below, why not take part in the Taste Adventure – it’s a fun, family activity that helps to teach children about where their food comes from and encourages them to think about their experiences of food in greater detail.

Clitheroe Food Festival – 13
August

Plymouth Flavour Fest- 19 -21
August

Aylsham Show – 29 August

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Master the art of bread baking!

By Carolyn on July 28, 2011 in

Handprint in flourThere’s a lot that can go wrong when baking bread but we’ve put together some helpful hints and tips to help you produce perfect bread every time.

Working with flour and dough

Different flours produce different types of bread. Wholemeal flour will generally give you a denser loaf with a stronger flavour. White flour tends to produce a lighter, more spongey loaf. Flour with grains added to it will produce a nutty flavoured, slightly dense loaf. Don’t be afraid to experiment and mix different types of flours together. For example, if you like the taste of wholemeal bread but would prefer a lighter texture then simply mix in some white flour.

Different flours absorb water at different rates. You may need to adapt the amount of water used in a recipe slightly to suit different flours. If the dough is too wet, then add a bit more flour and if the dough is too dry then add a bit more water to it. If in doubt, it is better to have a dough which is slightly too wet than slightly too dry. If the dough is a bit wet and sticking to your hands, then coating them in a bit of oil can prevent this from happening.

Kneading and provingdough hook for kneading bread

Never use water which is too hot as this will kill the yeast. The ideal temperature for the water, which you add to the flour to make the dough, should be lukewarm or hand hot.

Kneading needs to be done until the dough is stretchy and elastic. You probably need to do it for a bit longer than you think- about 10 minutes is optimal. To knead correctly, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface – a heavily floured surface can make the dough dry as the flour works itself into the dough. Push the dough away from you using the heel of your hand to stretch it, then pull it back towards you using your fingertips to make it into a rough ball shape. Some food processors have a dough hook which can do this job for you.

Proving simply means leaving the dough to rise. Whilst it is better to do this in a warm place to encourage the yeast to get to work, always ensure that the temperature isn’t too hot as this can also kill the yeast.

Add any nuts, seeds or fruit to your dough once it has been knocked back before shaping.

Baking

bread dough in a loaf tin ready to be bakedAlways try to bake your loaf in the centre of the middle shelf. If one side of the loaf tin is too close to the oven walls, this can cause a “flying top”, where the crust breaks away from the loaf.

To get a really crusty loaf of bread, place an oven proof dish filled with boiling water in the bottom of your oven, to create a steamy environment for the bread to cook in. Remember to stand to one side when you open the oven door if you are doing this though as the steam which comes out of the oven can obviously burn you. Take the loaf out of its tin for the last 10-15 minutes if you want an all over crust, or simply leave it in the tin if you just want a crusty top.

For a really soft loaf, you could try adding a small amount of ascorbic acid (vitamin c) to the dough before baking as this helps to increase the dough volume giving it a light, springy texture. You can also buy sandwich loaf tins with lids which help to prevent a crispy crust from developing. Adding milk or some fat in the form of butter or margarine can also help.

If you have any unanswered questions or recurrent problems when baking bread then why not take a look at our “what went wrong” section. We’ve also got a step by step guide to creating the perfect white loaf, and more detailed information about how to bake bread here.

If you’re a dab hand at baking basic bread and want to up your game, why not try our recipes for flavoured bread, including our bacon and chive loaf, onion and herb ficelle or horseradish bread. Alternatively, if you fancy something a bit sweeter then Paul Hollywood’s apricot couronne might be just the thing.

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Let’s get this straight… all bread is good for you!

By Carolyn on July 18, 2011 in

Different types of bread - collageIf we took everything that we read for granted, we’d never eat anything so we’re separating the fact from the fiction. All bread is good for you. That’s a fact and here’s why…

  • Results from the 2008/2009 National Diet and Nutrition Survey show that on average, we consume around 51g of white bread a day and 36g of wholemeal bread a day. This means that per day, white bread contributes over 10% of the RDA for calcium, protein and vitamin B1. It also gives us many of the other B vitamins, plus 7% of the RDA for iron and 5% of the RDA for zinc. All this and only 1% of the guideline daily amount (GDA) for both sugar and fat.
  • Based on our average daily consumption, wholemeal bread contributes the majority of B vitamins to the diet, along with 6% of the RDA for calcium, 8% of the RDA for iron, and 8% of the RDA for zinc. It also contributes only a small about of fat and sugar to the daily diet (2% Of the GDA for fat and 1% of the GDA for sugar). For more information about the nutritional benefits of bread see our nutrition pages.white and brown sliced breads
  •  All bread is made using only four basic ingredients – flour, water, yeast and a little bit of salt. Baker’s have significantly reduced the amount of salt in bread over the past few years – so it’s even better for you than it used to be. In addition, a recent study by Camden BRI found that the vitamin content of sliced and wrapped bread is much the same as unwrapped bread so you can feel free to choose whichever bread takes your fancy!

To dispel any other misconceptions that you might have picked up, we’ve created a new “misconceptions about bread” page on our website. Did you know, for example, that although 20% of us believe that we have a food allergy or intolerance, the real prevalence of all food allergies is less than 2% which means that over 98% of us can eat wheat based products such as bread with no problems?

Now you know that eating any type of bread, regardless of whether it is white, wholemeal, bought from an artisan bakery or the local supermarket will not harm you in any way, why not make the most of it and enjoy some of cinnamon apple charlotteour recipes which use a wide range of different breads. You can bake our wholemeal loaf, French stick, soda bread, white loaf or even crumpets from scratch at home. Alternatively if you prefer the convenience of shop bought bread, then we have a wide range of recipes that use it, including summer pudding and apple and cinnamon charlotte which use the white sliced variety, avocado, chicken and bacon wrap, Greek salad pitta pockets, pork with apple sauce sandwich which uses malted bread, balsamic roasted tomatoes and mozzarella foccacia and green grape and brie baps to name a few!

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50 years of sliced bread!

By Carolyn on July 11, 2011 in

Slices of white breadAt the Flour Advisory Bureau, we’re celebrating the fact that sliced bread is 50 years old this month. Of course, we do love baking our own bread, but we also love the versatility and convenience of the sliced white loaf.

The Chorleywood Bread Process, the method that makes bread production possible on a large scale, was invented 50 years ago, ranks as one of the most significant inventions of the last five decades and actually is ‘the greatest thing since sliced bread’.

According to research, 57% of us believe the process should be celebrated as an iconic invention, alongside the likes of the internet, space travel and the mobile phone. Here’s why we think it’s great:

  • It helps bakers to service the consumer demand for 9m wrapped loaves daily by allowing the volume of loaves required to be produced in a reasonable timescale.
  • The process is now used in 30 countries around the world – including in France.
  • Bread made the Chorleywood way can use more British wheat. Nowadays, around 80% of the wheat used by millers and bakers is British, whereas in 1960 more than two thirds was imported from overseas. 
  • Consumption of wholemeal and brown bread has been increasing in recent years.  The CBP has helped encourage this by allowing them to be made with a softer texture, which many find more palatable.
  • It is environmental and ecologically sound too – as it reduces the level of waste, by producing bread that stays fresher for longer. Four in 10 claim that they would waste bread if they didn’t buy it wrapped and sliced.
  • For 11% of adults, using sliced bread saves between four and 10 minutes a day – that’s up to nearly two and a half days over the course of a year!
  • Bread produced using the Chorleywood bread process is just as good for you as bread baked using more traditional methods. An investigation by Campden BRI in 2008 found that the vitamin content of bread baked using the Chorleywood bread process is very similar to bread baked using more traditional methods and that this is true when comparing both white and wholemeal bread.

What’s more despite the proliferation of ‘trendy’ artisan bread – the sliced white loaf is still the only choice for three quarters of us when making a sandwich or packed lunch.

Celebrity chef, Antony Worrall Thompson said “Whilst it is great that there is so much choice when it comes to bread products on the market, sliced bread is the first choice for families who are looking for a versatile and healthy foodstuff. Toast it and serve with marmalade or marmite to make a quick breakfast, use it to make sandwiches or as an ingredient in puddings. There are so many different ways to enjoy bread, so why not get creative in the kitchen.”

See the video to hear more from Antony.

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Wimbledon Fortnight starts on 20 June!

By Carolyn on June 17, 2011 in

Wimbledon - tennis ball, strawberries and champagne.If you think the Wimbledon championship is just about tennis? Think again. Wimbledon is now just as much about food as it is the tennis. Here’s what visitors consumed during the two week competition in 2009 according to the All England Lawn Tennis Club:

  • 190,000 sandwiches 
  • 300,000 cups of tea and coffee
  • 250,000 bottles of water
  • 150,000 glasses of Pimm’s
  • 150,000 bath buns, scones, pasties and doughnuts
  • 135,000 ice creams
  • 130,000 served lunches
  • 100,000 pints of draft beer and lager
  • 60,000 sausages
  • 30,000 portions of fish and chips
  • 30,000 litres of milk
  • 23,000 bananas
  • 22,000 slices of pizza
  • 20,000 portions of frozen yoghurt
  • 17,000 bottles of champagne
  • 12,000 kilos (26,455 pounds) of poached salmon and smoked salmon
  • 28,000 kilos strawberries and 7,000 litres of fresh cream!

If you haven’t been lucky enough to get tickets in the ballot and don’t fancy queuing up for hours or battling your way across London when there’s a tube strike on, then we recommend a Wimbledon themed garden party at home. Great food, great company and you can mute the TV when Cliff Richard starts singing (although there’s something quintessentially British about Cliff singing in the rain and we secretly love it!).

Top tips for you to make the most of the Wimbledon fortnight:

  • Serve sandwiches, perhaps cucumber ones on white bread with the crusts cut off, smoked salmon on wholemeal bread and roast beef and mustard on seeded bread. Alternatively, why not try some of our more adventurous fillings.
  • Scones with strawberries and clotted creamMake strawberries and cream more exciting by using them as a scone topping. We’d use our basic scone recipe but add some juicy sultanas to the mixture. Then, once cooked, we’d top with clotted cream and strawberries. Alternatively for a less traditional take on strawberries and cream, you could try our sweet strawberry topped ciabatta, which combines strawberries, crème fraiche, balsamic vinegar and black pepper!
  • If you have any strawberries left over or some which have got a bit squashed then rather than throw them away, why not make our strawberry crumble.
  • Forget the tea and serve Pimms with fruit in a large jug – another excuse for strawberries.
  • Don’t forget to put up a gazebo, or failing that, a couple of large parasols.
  • Be sure to cheer loudly for Andy Murray – wouldn’t it be great to have a British champion!
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Encourage your little ones to cook up a feast on Father’s Day

By Carolyn on June 10, 2011 in

excited girl making pizzaFather’s day is fast approaching… and with most of us finding that money is tight at the moment, rather than spending money on presents from your children to your spouse, why not encourage them to cook a meal for their dad?

Cooking with your kids is a great opportunity to spend time with them, whether they’re 3 or 13. You can even use it as an opportunity to talk to younger children about colours and shapes or see it as a bonding exercise for an older child. Introducing cooking from a young age can encourage your children to make healthier choices later in life. A home cooked meal for dad on Father’s day could turn out to be more than just a gift for him – it could help to instill a passion for cooking which will follow your child through to adulthood.

We’ve created a simple menu for children aged 5 and upwards to cook this father’s day. With a bit of supervision, you should end up with a great gift for dad and a not too messy kitchen for mum!

Perfect pizzasPizza ingredients

Ingredients for the base:

500g plain flour, sifted

5ml spoon salt

5ml spoon dried yeast

275ml hand-hot water

5ml spoon clear honey

15ml spoon olive oil

Options for the topping:

400g tinned chopped tomatoes or ready-made pasta sauce.

200g grated cheese, e.g. mozzarella

100g cooked ham or salami

1 tomato, sliced

50g sweetcorn, drained

50g fresh mushrooms, sliced

50g red or green peppers, finely sliced

What you do:

  • Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt.
  • In a measuring jug mix the water, honey, yeast and oil together. Wait until the liquid goes frothy (about 10 minutes).
  • Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients and pull together to form a ball.
  • Turn the dough onto a clean surface and knead it for 5–8 minutes until smooth.
  • Lightly oil a clean bowl, roll the dough in the bowl to coat all the surfaces with oil, cover with a clean cloth and leave in a warm place to double in size (about 15 minutes).
  • Roll the dough out into a circle, which will fit the baking sheet on the baking tray. Transfer to the baking sheet.
  • Spread the tomato sauce onto the dough circle, leaving an edge all around the pizza. You can add a ready-made tomato-based pasta sauce, chopped tomatoes or some red pesto sauce.
  • You can also add some ready-cooked meat or other toppings of your choice.
  • Don’t forget your vegetable toppings.
  • Add your grated cheese to the top of your pizza last.
  • Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C/gas mark 6 for 20 minutes until the pizza crust is crisp and golden.

mixed fruit salad with berriesFruit Salad

Ingredients:

200g strawberries

200g blueberries

200g melon

3 kiwi fruits

150ml fresh orange juice

few sprigs of mint to garnish (optional)

What you do:

  • Wash the strawberries, and remove their stalks and cores. Chop the fruit into halves.
  • Wash the blueberries.
  • Take the skin off the kiwi fruits. Wash the kiwi fruits, then slice them width-ways to form round slices.
  • Alternatively, cut the melon in half and use a melon baller to remove the flesh.
  • Place the fruit in a serving bowl. Pour over the orange juice and mix the fruit salad gently. Use a few washed sprigs of mint as garnish if you wish.

Other easy recipes that your children might like to try are our chocolate chip cookies (for dad to take to work the following day), or scrambled egg and bacon baskets , which look great but are surprisingly easy to make.

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