Wheatley - A passion for baking

A PASSION FOR BAKING
JO WHEATLEY

Jo Wheatley

A Passion for Baking

For Richard and my boys: my reasons for baking

Constable & Robinson Ltd
5556 Russell Square
London WC1B 4HP
www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Constable,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2012
This edition published by Constable, 2013

Text copyright Jo Wheatley, 2012
Photographs Martin Poole, 2012
Photograph on Colin Bell, 2012

The right of Jo Wheatley to be identified
as the author of this work has been asserted
by her in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. This book is sold
subject to the condition that it shall not,
by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold,
hired out or otherwise circulated in any
form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar
condition including this condition being
imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing
in Publication Data is available from the
British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78033-877-4

Design & art direction: Smith & Gilmour
Food stylist: Annie Rigg
Prop stylist: Wei Tang

Printed and bound in the EU

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Cover photography: Colin Bell;
Design: Smith & Gilmour

INTRODUCTION

For me it all started at the tender old age of three, making pastry with my nan in her
kitchen on an upturned sock bin. I wonder now, if my nan hadnt allowed me to help,
would my love of baking have been so intense? My Auntie Helen is also a wonderful
baker, and whenever we went over to her place she was always knocking up something
amazing. I always wanted just to stand beside her and revel in the homely feeling she
created. When my cousin was very small we were invited to his birthday party and
Helen made biscuits for all the children with our names piped on them. Luke is nearly
forty now and I still remember being in awe of these amazing bakes, iced in pink for
the girls and blue for the boys. Even then I knew the love and attention my auntie had
put into these little biscuits. On my lovely Dads side all the aunties and grandchildren
used to meet up after a trip to the market every Saturday. There were eight aunties
and lots of grandchildren and we all squeezed into my Nanny Jessies small kitchen,
where somebody always had a bag with a bake in it.

Showing a child how to bake can be a lovely experience for both pupil and teacher,
perhaps especially when it leads on to a picnic in the garden. My lovely mum-in-law
Kath taught me that what children want most is our time. When the boys were little
Id go to collect them and they would all be sat in Kaths garden around a small childs
table set for tea a big mud pie with a candle plonked in the middle of it, three muddy
boys, best china and Nanny at the centre of a teddy bears birthday tea.

Baking is about memories, old ones and ones yet to be made: a favourite aunties
bread pudding; a nans apple pie; eating the most amazing croissant with a loved one;
madeleines that remind you of the most romantic dinner; a birthday cake shaped like
a fort for a special four-year-old... I could go on forever! Id love to know all your
baking memories and hope that A Passion for Baking will bring you lots more.

I really try to think of everything when I start to develop a recipe in my mind.
First and foremost the flavour. It needs to be balanced: sometimes you need just a
little backnote of salt or lemon sharpness to balance that creamy sweetness, or a little
coconut to melt into the background of the zesty orangeness. Then the texture a
heavy bake isnt satisfying to anyone (there is nothing worse than wasting calories
on a disappointingly heavy bake!). Next is the appearance. Of course we eat with our
eyes first, so it must look good. Finally, theres the nose: good baking smells so homely!

I love baking and particularly all the experimenting that goes with it. I have taken
to waking up at 3 a.m. with ideas, so now I have a pad by the bed to jot down my
nocturnal inspiration. Baking gives me a passion and a creativity that I truly never
thought existed, and I love the way it draws people together through their common
interest in something so nurturing and giving.

I really am so excited to share my recipes with you. I hope you enjoy baking them
as much as I have enjoyed creating them. Its so unbelievable to me that this has all
happened, a dream come true. I keep expecting a tap on the shoulder to say it isnt so!

A Passion for Baking

JOS STORE CUPBOARD

I think its really necessary to have a well-stocked store cupboard, then at a whim I can
knock up something lovely. Every week I buy about half a dozen packets of unsalted
Lurpak butter no other brand makes my buttercream as light and fluffy and I have
tried lots. The next on my list of essentials is Stork margarine , to which I was introduced
by Mary Berry. It gives the most wonderfully light texture, which is really important to
baking. Also essential is flour : of course you need both self-raising and plain, but I think
its always good to have a strong white bread flour as well, and some fast-acting yeast
sachets (these were recommended to me by the bread master himself, Mr Hollywood).
Eggs are another must: I keep mine at room temperature in a big bowl, and I always
make a point of putting the oldest on top every time I refill.

You must also have plenty of sugar . The top three are caster, soft brown and
demerara, but never forget icing sugar, of which I always have shelves full so that at
any moment I can turn my kitchen into a scene from Johnsons baby powder factory.
I also make up little jars of home-made flavoured sugars : lavender, cardamom,
lemon grass and the one I use most frequently, vanilla.

Also indispensable are baking powder , bicarbonate of soda , cream of tartar ,
and vanilla , paste, extract (never essence) and bean pods.