Baking up a storm for flag day

Happy Flag day continues with me baking, I have been in the kitchen slaving away for literally minutes to make more things for my always in danger of growing waistline. Today it was some Savoury biscuits and for the first time in a long, long time I actually wrote down the recipe to share! Great work, no?
So lets get to it. Preheat your oven now, as they are stupidly easy to make. I set mine to around 190C but of course all ovens vary, so think about normal biscuits and this is what you want to cook them at.

Next get all your ingredients:

1 cup of plain flour (plus some for rolling)
1 cup of wholemeal flour
1/3 cup of whole wheat bran
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp baking powder
cracked pepper to taste
150g butter
1/4 cup boiling water
1-2 tsp of Olive oil
Flavourings: ie seeds, herbs, spices, cheeses

It is really easy, first things first, combine all your dry ingredients. I sifted my white flour, but I really don't think you will need to. I then worked through the butter like I was making scones, so that it resembled course breadcrumbs at the end of it. Then I added the oil and water, I mix everything by hand normally, but as this is boiling water, I used a spoon. Of course, a mixer will work fine here. I added enough water to make sure that the mix stuck together but wasn't sticky, if you make it too sticky it isn't a problem, just when you tip it out to roll add some more flour and work it in.

So next I just added kneaded the dough a little to make sure it all combined well but it still has a slight "crumbly" appearance. I did this as I really wanted the biscuits to be crunchy and not doughy, but if you wanted the more cake, you will have to work it harder to make it more solid. or even add a touch more water. It was at this stage I added sunflower seeds as I wanted them in all my biscuits, but that is up to you if you want to or not.

Then I divided the dough up into small balls about the size of the palm of your hand, then I added different flavourings.
I chose to use: Paprika, garlic granules, and extra cracked pepper.
Rosemary and garlic granules
Cheese (cheddar grated)
Cheese and chilli flakes
But of course you can choose anything you want at all, the more savoury the better. I think blue cheese would work well as would things like sundried tomato and of course any seeds you want. If you aren't adding any flavours and just want a very simple one I would probably add a little more salt and pepper.

Then add to the oven for about 8 minutes or until it starts
I was certainly in a baking mood today and whipped up a chocolate and papaya cake, alas, I didn't record the ingredients but it would be roughly 2 cups flour, tsp baking powder, 15g butter, 1 double yolk egg, a tablespoon of olive oil, vanilla sugar, 150g of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of milk a good hand full or two of dried papaya and two blocks of chocolate, at least 50% cocoa solids.
Happy baking!!

The baking never stops....unless you are in London.

The baking never stops unless you are in London and then you chose to ride the Bakerloo line to make you feel better. So last weekend we had a whirlwind trip to London. Caught up with some good friends and also had the chance to throw Marty around some of my old haunts. There will be a post on this.....maybe even today. But first, I wanted to throw up some photos of what I did today while Marta was on the phone to my family in Australia.

Here we find a flock of chocolate biscuits, you will notice these have already paired for life. Any biscuits that did not pair quickly fell prey to predators.
They only ever separate for an application of icing that is made with native mint. Some researchers believe the mint is there for its cooling affect, others simply to be different to the more common and commercial Oreo which uses a vanilla flavouring.
This icing or "Wedding Icing", as it has been dubbed by some, is applied delicately but still with enough force to remain between the two biscuits for the remainder of their lives together.
There are variations in application of the icing depending on availability locally in the icings natural environment known commonly as "The Bowl".
The variety in application from thin to thick, allows the mates to identify each other before pairing again.
Once the male sees that the icing has been applied to the female, it jumps onto its mate.
Here is a scene where one pair has prepared for the voyage of life, whilst other pairs await the turn in the process.
Here we have another pair, embraced and tightly bonded till the end of time.
This is a group of biscuits and when paired and plastered together, as we see here, they are known as a "tin of biscuits".
They huddle together hoping that strength in numbers will protect them from predators.
Unfortunately for this pair, they have been grabbed by their major threat. Here is a most commong predator of the paired biscuit, it is a creature known as a Marta. First, the Marta smells to ensure this pair is not an Oreo, which is imported to the biscuits' native Poland and sometimes to the Marta, it can appear stale or unsuitable to consume.
After smelling, the Marta prepares to consume this selected biscuit pair by licking the protruding lips.
The Marta sinks its front teeth into the pairing stoping the pairing escaping.
Then to finish off the paired biscuit a solid portion is removed from the crispy and taut exterior so that the Marta can enjoy the smooth minty white plaster inside. It is the cycle of life here in Poland, some see it as cruel, but there are many predators of the biscuit, some are not as fussy as a Marta. Which prefers a locally made biscuit as opposed to ones that are found in locations such as "shops".