Hollywood or Bust!

I know there's a few home bakers on here so I thought I'd start a thread to swap recipes, hints and tips, and ask questions etc.

 

So - first up - does anyone have any experience with the silicon "tins"?  I've seen them used on TV but I have no idea if they're any good for a) bread and b) cake.  What are people's experiences?

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Comments

  • good for cake, never tried them for bread though

     

    as we're baking image ,  i've just made a belgian chocolate cheesecake, with a buttery biscuit base image

  • Same as fraggle - great for baking, no need to grease or line though I generally stand them on a firm baking sheet to prevent cracking as you move them, but have never used them for loaves as I just have 1lb and 2lb tins which I use with liners.

    That sounds lovely fraggle. I made Orkney Fudge Cheesecake for the first time last weekend with gf ginger biscuit base. Need guests though as too much to eat otherwise!

    I was very happy to discover an easy to do, great result gf stollen recipe this week.

    If you think you can or you think you can't you're probably right.
  • Are they the silicon liners Miss H?  I think I saw them at the shops today

     

    Any recommendations to try first from the Paul Hollywood book?

  • I've never used silicon tins, but that's because they didn't exist when I first bought my baking equipment.

    I rarely get a problem with things sticking.  The trick is to grease and line the tins properly, but if I was buying tins again I would give silicon a go as the worst part of baking is lining tins

  • And I apprecaite the thought you are putting into my Secret Santa, Bear.  Very subtle way of getting info out of meimage

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭
    What a great idea!



    I've got two silicone tins but i don't like them. I prefer my mental tins as I feel that I can better predict the cooking time and they seem to cook more evenly. I've also found that I needed to grease the moulds more than the metal tins.



    I'm currently on the look out for muffin recipes. A friend has asked me to bake her one instead of a cake but I'm running short on recipes. Can anyone recommend one?
  • Chocolate and beetroot muffins.  I'll hunt out the recipe.  You can't taste the beetroot and they make the muffins very moist

  • I'm guessing you mean metal tins Emmy! image

  • Chocolate and Beetroot Muffins

    75g Cocoa powder
    180g plain flour
    2 tsps baking powder
    250g caster sugar
    250g cooked beetroot (a pack of 4)
    3 eggs
    200ml oil
    1 tsp vanilla extract

    1.  Preheat oven to 180C/ Gas 4.  Arrange 12 muffin cases into tins

    2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder into a bowl.  Add the sugar and set aside

    3. Puree the beetroot in a food processor, add the eggs one at a time, then the oil and vanilla estract

    4.Make a well in the middle of the dry ingrediants, add the beetroot mixture and lightly fold in.  Spoon into the muffin cases

    5.  Cook for 30 min or until the top is firm when pressed with a finger.  Cool on a wire rack

  • M&S have a good muffin recipie book for £3 which has some lovely looking combinations.  I have treated myself to it.

     

  • Oooh - sounds good SCaz, that might be the first thing I try image

     

    I think I'll pay M&S a visit too tomorrow and pick up that book TP, sounds excellent.

     

    A mixed verdict so far on silicon tins, any other opinions?

     

    I think I might try and set up some sort of online resource for these recipes so that if this thread grows to hundreds of pages they're easier to find.  Perhaps a blog with pages for bread, muffins etc

  • I've not gone down the silicon route for my tins as I have a good set of metal ones and I can't see the point in replacing them.  The conductivity of the metal tins is proven and I don't find the lining a problem with a bit of practice and some good baking paper ... but I don't bake very often these days.   Come the gap year all that will change image

     

  • I regularly make the chocolate and beetroot cakes - they originate from the BBC food website, I believe.

    Important to make sure you get cooked beetroot, not pickled. image

  • limperlimper ✭✭✭

    A vote against silicon cake trays from me. Give me metal every time.

    Chocolate and beetroot?? Seriously??? What's wrong with chocolate and chocolate?!!

  • I got the recipe from my veg box people Muttley, but they might have got it from the BBC.  I've been making them for about 6 years and never had a dodgy batch, except when I forgot to put one of the ingredients in, and even they were edible.  They are very popular with my running club, who I don't tell about the beetroot.

    I also make good Guinness cake and Ginger cake.  Bear has munched his way through a lot of my ginger cake

  • Chocolate and beetroot is amazing.
  • Bear I've made Paul H's bread recipe. It's really good.
  • BookyBooky ✭✭✭

    I love the idea of this thread image

    Chocolate and beetroot cakes are amazing image

    Silicone bakeware, in my experience, is ok. But I prefer metal any day. I still use the silicone (I did a batch of muffins in one today), but the bendiness can be a bit off-putting. Transferring the filled 'tin' from worktop to oven requires good support - I'll sometimes stand it onto a metal tray to stop it dipping in the middle. 

    One of my favourite cupcake/muffin recipe books is Special Cupcakes by Wendy Sweetser image

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭
    Thanks Supercaz!



    @Bear - oh dear. Another iPad typo correction fail!



    I'm n a baking mood today and am tempted by Paul's iced fingers. When your day is going down the crapper - what better way to feel better than cookingimage
  • I tried SCaz'smuffins this weekend - very nice and juicy, and couldn't taste the beetroot.  I think in my oven they took slightly under the recommended time as the tops were a bit dry and the bottom burnt on a couple

  • Bear, you're always after an excuse to get your hands on my muffins, but I resent being told I have a dry top and a burnt bottom image

  • If anyone can tell me the secret to cooking on gas I would very much appreciate it.  My hobs seem to burn everything.  The rings are either on or off.  There doesn'tt appear to be a low setting.  Gas is supposed to be so controllable *strops*

  • E mmyE mmy ✭✭✭
    I'd get your cooker looked at! My parents gas cooker is a dream to cook with as you can really easily lower temperatures and its consistent. Our oven has a mind of its own :/
  • Just had my first shot since I was a kid at home made bread - it came out tasting delicious, but it seemed not to have much height to it.  Maybe I've just become too used to shop bought loaves but this one was about three inches high (so about the height of the tin.

     

    If this is how it's meant to be then fair enough but it puffed up so much during the rising and proving that I was sort of expecting it to do the same during cooking.

     

    Any ideas anyone?

  • My mum makes amazing bread - every time you visit her house, you just want to stand there inhaling the amazing smells!

    But she does cheat a little bit and uses quite an expensive bread-maker - the benefit is, though, that it has a timer on it so she loads it up in the morning, we all go out for the day and, bingo, beautiful fresh bread when we come back.

    Maybe try a different recipe XFR Bear? I think bread generally should rise above the tin... Either that or I'll nick my mum's bread-maker for you... What's that old saying? "Run like you stole something..."

  • Is your yeast still in date? I tend to leave my yeast mix overnight to work and that seems to help it get the bread going better
  • I only bought it yesterday so it should be.  Plus it rose okay when I left it.  It said it the back to slice into the risen dough and it did fall back quite a lot then but didn't rise again

     

    I actually have a  breadmaker SLB but I fancied taking a bit more "by hand" approach

  • Ahh, ok.

    I must admit to having used the bread mix packets when I was first starting out...

    Now I am a bit more confident
  • oops that should say "in the book"

  • I often find that bread doesn't rise much in the tin.  The quality of the yeast is important and you can't necessarily go on the price.  I find Hovis awful, Sainsbury's ok and Tesco's the best.

    Also lots of breads are not supposed to come over the top of the tin.  Generally the quantities you make are much smaller than for the bread you buy in the shops so the loaf won't be as big.  If you are making a standard loaf and using a standard loaf tin then I would generally expect it to come close to the top but not above it.

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