Scoffopedia

Tag: bakery

  • Ciabatta

    crusty homemade Italian ciabatta bread

    Ciabatta is a type of Italian white bread which includes olive oil as one of its ingredients.  It was first created in Verona in response to the popularity of the French baguette. Literally, the name means ‘slipper’ as it was named by Francesco Favaron, the original baker, who thought its shape looked like his wife’s slippers.

    Toasted sandwiches made from small ciabatta loaves are called panini.

    Since its original invention in the 1960s, many new variations have been developed, including a wholemeal version known as ciabatta integrale.

  • Bakewell tart

    photo of traditional bakewell tarts

    A Bakewell tart is a confection originating from Bakewell, a town in Derbyshire, England. Historically, it was served at any holiday occasion. Nowadays one could eat them on any day, usually with a cup of tea. Commercial versions are easily available.

    The tart consists of a shortcrust pastry shell, topped with a layer of jam, another of frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds. The tart itself could be a large round, or a tray bake, which is then sliced into portions, or – as shown above – made into little, cup-cake-sized portions.

    The Bakewell pudding predates the Bakewell tart and the latter is thought to be a 20th century alteration.  The Bakewell pudding has a flaky pastry shell according to Mrs Beeton, although the pudding’s earliest record, by Elizabeth Acton in 1845, makes no mention of pastry.

    Recipe

    Felicity Cloake’s perfect Bakewell tart

  • Soda bread

    photo of Irish soda bread

    Soda bread is a variety of quick bread traditionally made in a variety of cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate is used as a leavening agent instead of yeast.  Irish soda bread in particular is very popular in Britain as well as Ireland.

    It also uses very few ingredients, ie flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, and buttermilk.

    Recipes

    Try Not Delia’s soda bread which takes only two or three minutes to make and 20-30 minutes to bake.

    Trish’s Kitchen shows how to make Irish soda bread using whole wheat flour.

  • Abaisse

    This is a term used in French cookery. It means a sheet of rolled-out pastry. Abaisser means to roll out thinly.

    Sometimes the term abaisse is used for a biscuit (cookie) or a slice of sponge cake, which may be spread with cream or jam.

    The word isn’t very commonly used except in the case of French patisserie, so it’s probably not worth making a big effort to commit this one to memory just to expand your vocabulary.