Great British lockdown bake off: homemade bread and cake recipes
Jamie Oliver’s easy to make loaf and Aldi’s Rocky Road are on the menu
Brits are staying home and they’re cooking up a storm in the kitchen.
With restaurants closed and many not offering delivery, millions of people across the UK are getting creative when making their own food.
Thanks to the popularity of TV shows such as The Great British Bake Off it seems that breads, cakes and sweet treats are on the menu.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
According to a report by Reuters a baking frenzy has taken hold across Britain to such an extent that online recipe searches have hit all-time highs and flour is running low.
The Derby Telegraph, citing a study by Tap Warehouse, found that searches for “how to cook” on Google have increased 3,600% in Britain since the coronavirus outbreak.
With baking on the rise for the stay-at-home lockdown, here’s a few recipes to get you started...
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Jamie Oliver’s homemade bread
As part of his Keep Cooking and Carry On series on Channel 4, the popular chef bakes a simple homemade loaf. He also makes a mean banana bread too...
Ingredients
- 650ml tepid water
- 1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
- 1kg strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting
Method
- Pour 650ml of tepid water into a large bowl.
- Add the yeast and mix with a fork for a couple of minutes.
- Pour in most of the flour and half a teaspoon of sea salt, then use a fork to mix together until you can’t move it anymore.
- Now get your clean hands in there and bring it together as a ball of dough, adding more flour as you need to stop your hands and the dough sticking.
- Transfer the dough to a flour-dusted surface and keep it moving, kneading, pushing and stretching it for 5 minutes, or until you have a silky and elastic dough.
- Use your floured hands to shape the dough into a rough ball, put it in a bowl, flour the top and cover with a clean, damp tea towel. Allow it to prove for about an hour or an hour and 30 minutes, or until doubled in size – ideally in a warm, draught-free place.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out by punching it with your fist, then kneading for 30 seconds.
- You can now shape it or flavour it as required – folded, filled, traybaked, whatever – and leave it to prove for a second time, for 30 minutes to an hour, or until it has doubled in size once more.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
- Carefully transfer your bread dough to the oven and gently close the door. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until golden. You can tell if it’s cooked by tapping its bottom – if it sounds hollow it’s done; if it doesn’t then pop it back in for a little longer.
- Once cooked, place your loaf on a cooling rack and allow to cool.
Aldi’s Rocky Road Chocolate Tray Bake
The supermarket chain’s in-house chefs have got creative with this treat.
Ingredients
- 500g leftover easter eggs
- 1 x 200g pack bourbon cream biscuits
- 1 x 154g pack cookies ’n’ cream biscuits
- 1 x 200g bag large marshmallows
- 1 x 75g bag dominion dolly mixture
- 1 x 80g bag mini chocolate eggs
- 100ml maple syrup
- 1 x 25 x 20x 3cm tin – lined with non-stick baking parchment
Method
- Break up the chocolate eggs and chop up half the marshmallows.
- Put the broken-up chocolate, chopped marshmallows and the maple syrup in an ovenproof bowl.
- Put the bowl over a pan of boiling water – make sure the bottom of bowl doesn’t touch the water and melt the chocolate and marshmallow mix.
- Put all the bourbon biscuits and half the cookies in a food processor and blitz to crumbs. Add the biscuit crumbs to the melted chocolate mixture and mix well.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin.
- Cut the remaining cookies and marshmallows in half.
- Whilst still warm - decorate the tray bake with the biscuits, marshmallows, dolly mixtures and chocolate eggs.
- Allow to cool and serve.
1932 Peanut Butter Bread
The internet has been going wild after Reddit user trixietravisbrown made Peanut Butter Bread using a recipe from the 1932 Five Roses Flour cookbook via Glen & Friends Cooking.
Subway footlong hot cross buns
Hot cross buns are not just for Easter, they can be enjoyed any day of the year. Subway is famous for its meatball marinaras but the chain has stepped up its baking game for this favourite.
Some of our favourite video recipes from YouTube...
RecipeTin Eats: World’s Easiest Homemade Bread recipe
The Domestic Geek: Homemade Bread recipe
Yummy: Lock-Down Birthday Cake recipe
Emma’s Goodies: Three ingredient Lock Down Chocolate Cake recipe
Main image: PXhere.com
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Ruska: experience Finland's magnificent autumn foliage
The Week Recommends The 'fleeting' season lasts just three weeks
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
Trump assassination attempt: do former presidents need more protection?
Today's Big Question Secret Service director says 'paradigm shift' needed after second Trump attack sparks calls for more resources
By The Week UK Published
-
'The anger that defines and threatens Trump'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
7 recipes for every kind of fall cooking occasion
The Week Recommends Marinated feta; go-to chocolate cake; a fresh way with Brussels: Autumn is not going to know what hit it
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Jay Rayner shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The journalist and food critic picks works by Nora Ephron, Fliss Freeborn and more
By The Week UK Published
-
One great cookbook: 'Truly Mexican'
The Week Recommends A cookbook that will teach you the bones of one of the world's great cuisines
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
One great cookbook: Anita Lo's 'Solo'
The Week Recommends Because cooking for yourself is the best kind of largess
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
One great cookbook: Molly Stevens' 'All About Dinner'
The Week Recommends This book is a problem solver, whether you need inspiration, careful instruction of complex ideas or crave success with the ABCs of cooking dinner
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
8 new cookbooks ready to make your summer hum
The Week Recommends The most special of Vietnamese food, Italian American baking for all and a primer on turning beloved cocktails into freezer versions of themselves
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
9 recipes to cook (or not cook) during the hot summer months
The Week Recommends Freshness and ease are where it's at from July through September
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
One great cookbook: Madhur Jaffrey's 'Vegetarian India'
The Week Recommends The 2015 tome will reshape how you think about both vegetables and Indian food
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published