May 19, 2016 - 2:23pm
English Tea Cakes
Hi,
I've tried to make English Tea cakes but am having a problem with the rise/softness.......!!
I've tried Paul Hollywood's recipe with the spices and candied fruits but they came out flat!!!
the second time I made without the spices and candied peel, made it a bit slacker dough - looked quite good until I toasted them and they were hard......!! (solid dough)
One from off the net just plain with Sultanas not so bad but still not getting a rise, toasted okay but very thin.
Any suggestions on what's going wrong or anyone got a fail proof recipe.
I'm used to baking bread so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
Any help would be appreciated
bit of bread
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From your description, my guess is you have a problem with your yeast. Try the recipe with new yeast.
..from PH's website?
http://paulhollywood.com/recipes/teacakes/
Looks pretty straight-forward, especially if you're used to baking bread, and I'm sure you followed it to the letter. And his caveats too.
Have you repeated it to see if it happens again? If you're like me, sometimes you just make a simple error that you don't pick up on. Next time - error-free - it works perfectly. There have even been some formulae where I have a blank spot and repeat the error.
One other thought: what is the protein strength of the flour you use? I don't know where you're based, but British bread flour tends to be around 12%, strong bread flour is often 14%. For buns, 11% is often a good target - you don't want too much gluten - it makes them tough, small, and too dense. A 60:40 mix of bread flour to plain (AP) flour usually does the trick.
Oh, and I just remembered this: if you have any kind of kitchen probe thermometer use it make sure the dough temperature needs is 24-25℃. PH does not mention this but covers himself by saying, quite rightly, that you need to judge your dough's fermentation by it's size not how long it takes.
Hi Roundhay,
yes - used that recipe twice. Second time last week - made the dough softer - knead the Bertinett way - (arthristis in wrists). Gone hard and definitely not better 'next day' as PH suggests.
I'm using Shipton Mill Strong flour no 1 (101). So if I do the 60 strong to 40 plain (also Shipton Mill) hopefully that will help.
You say dough temp 24-25 when would I take that ( I have probe) - while I do bake breads I'm still learning......!!
fermentation size - I think I got that right as I go by size not time. (poke test).
I do a bit of bread for our small local market and have been asked for Tea cakes so need to get it right - don't want to break customers teeth on them......
KathyF - don't think it's the yeast as use easy bake and it was a new tin
...with the slapping. Over- (or under-) developed dough can both produce flatness. However, you don't want huge vertical Hot Cross Buns. Teacakes are meant to be flat(ish), so it could be that you're nearly there. If you have arthritis, it might be worth investing in a stand mixer like a KitchenAid.
Your flour sack or bag should have the protein level printed on it. However, the millers and bakers at Shipton Mills are really helpful; why not ring them, explain your problem and ask what flour they recommend you use? It might save a lot of experimenting.
Using the probe - Let's say you're aiming for 24℃. Take the flour temperature. Subtract it from 24. The difference is what you need to add (or subtract if the weather is really hot) to your water temperature before you mix. That should get you there or thereabouts. Take the temperature after you've mixed. And again after kneading/slapping. You should see a 1-2 degree rise from the friction of working the dough and the heat from your hands. Happily, the fermentation process maintains that temperature (as long as it's kept in ambient warmth).
That's a good rough-and-ready approach. If you want to be more precise (important if you happen to be working with sourdough) do a search on TFL for: Hamelman desired dough temperature. It will turn up lots of great info.
Happy baking.
As it's an enriched dough, I believe you would achieve a better result with osmotolerant yeast. I noticed a great difference for the brioche dough between using regular instant and SAF Gold. Fresh yeast should also work well, but perhaps less practical.
Hi,
Roundhaybaker:- Did as you suggested and replaced 40% of the bread flour with plain (I actually had some 'soft plain cake and pastry four' (from Shipton) so used that. I had to leave the dough proving for a full 3 hrs (PH said that would be okay) as lunch got in the way. Kept the dough softish as PH said. Only other thing I did was to raise the temperature as in the recipe it said 200 degrees but didn't state whether it was fan or not.....***
I have a gas oven - no fan - but it has centigrade temperature controls. Last time I baked at that 200, this time I baked at 220 degrees and the results was a greatly improved bun, soft, risen and toasted beautifully.
I do wish people would put fan or conventional when putting recipes online it can make 'one hell of a difference'.
Thank you all for your advice and help.