AGA Roast Tomatoes with Halloumi on Brioche

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This is one of our most popular specials at the B&B for vegetarians and meat eater alike. I use Greek Basil, which I love. It has tiny leaves so you don't need to do any chopping, just strip the leaves from the stem. It's also easy to grow from seed and, if you keep picking it, it lasts for ages.

I make brioche buns most mornings and use any that are leftover toasted in this recipe or for brioche french toast. You can slice them up and freeze them.

For one person

3 Slices Halloumi
8 or 9 Cherry Tomatoes, halved if too big
Sea Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
Greek Basil ( or normal basil leaves torn into small strips )
Brioche sliced

Put the tomatoes in a small ovenproof dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Add the small basil leaves, retaining a few for garnish. Put in an oven at about 200 degrees C for about 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and oil is sizzling.

Toast the brioche ( be careful as brioche has a high sugar content it can burn very quickly ).

In a small frying heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil on a high heat then fry the halloumi until golden brown on both sides.

Put the toasted brioche onto a warm plate, spoon over the tomatoes with its juice, then lay the halloumi on top, sprinkling with the reserved basil leaves.

Bircher Muesli from the Ashton, Lancaster

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Mr B&B sometimes travels on business and he came back from one trip raving about the Bircher Muesli he'd been served for breakfast on his BA flight. It's not often I've been asked to replicate airline food at home, though I did once have a rather fabulous soy salad dressing on a flight to San Francisco that I've been trying to make ever since.

I know that James at The Ashton in Lancaster, currently holder of the title of England's Best B&B, had mentioned a Bircher Muesli recipe to me, so I asked him to send it through.

It's best to soak the oats overnight apparently but I've made it in the morning with just an hour to go and it tastes fine in my opinion. Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a big main breakfast.

I've also seen recipes with currants, sultanas etc. I'm not keen so they're not in this recipe.

100g porridge oats
200ml apple juice
2 apples grated
150ml natural yoghurt
Toasted Flaked Almonds
Summer Berries

The night before, put the oats into a large bowl and pour in the apple juice, stir well and then cover and put in the fridge overnight.

In the morning grate in the apples, add the yoghurt and stir in the berries, leaving a few to sprinkle on top.

The sweetness of it will depend on the apple juice you've used. If it's not sweet enough for you, I reckon a drizzle of honey would be perfect.

Apricot Danish

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Apricot tarts & croissants are probably my favourite sweet pastry. Croissant pastry is complicated and takes a long time to make, but I've come up with a bit of a cheat that's quick & easy to prepare in the morning.

320g pack of ready rolled all butter puff pastry
Ground almonds
flaked almonds
16 ripe apricots
3 tbs apricot jam

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Cut the pastry into 8 rectangles and place on a baking tray.
Cut the apricots in half.
Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of the ground almonds into the centre of each rectangle of pastry, leaving a small border of about 1 cm.
Lay 4 halves of apricot onto each pastry and then sprinkle with a few flaked almonds.
Bake for about 15- 20 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden.
Melt the apricot jam gently, then brush over the pastry and apricots as soon as they come out of the oven.

Herby Mushrooms on Granary Toast topped with a Poached Egg

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I've recently put this onto the breakfast menu as a permanent feature and it's proving very popular. I pop it onto some homemade granary bread that has been toasted but it would also work well on toasted brioche.

4 or 5 medium sized flat mushrooms - mini portabella work well but it's also nice with chestnut
2 or 3 sprigs of lemon thyme ( or use normal thyme with a little lemon zest added )
2 or 3 sprigs of parsley
2 or 3 chives
salt
pepper
good knob of butter
thickly sliced granary bread
a poached egg ( see earlier recipe in this blog )

Slice the mushrooms thickly.
Strip the leaves from the thyme, Roughly chop the parsley. Snip or chop the chives into tiny pieces.
Melt the butter in a small frying pan. Add the mushrooms over a medium heat and fry till they start to release their juices. Season to taste with salt and pepper ( for me this is about a quarter teaspon of salt and 4 grinds of black pepper ). Add nearly all the herbs to the mushrooms, leaving about 1/2 teaspoon
Toast and butter the bread.
Pile the mushrooms onto the toast on a warm plate. Top with the poached egg and add the remaining herbs.

Brioche French Toast

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Sometimes only something sweet and salty will do at breakfast and that's when I cook up some french toast and bacon with maple syrup.

You can use normal white bread for this but I prefer it with brioche. It's great if you have bread that's a few days old as it works better and is less likely to fall apart.

I have a sliced loaf of homemade brioche in the freezer and pick out a slice whenever I fancy ( or a guest orders french toast )

My daughter is also a great french toast aficionado but finishes her by dipping it in a bowl of caster sugar......

Ingredients

1 thick slice of brioche
1 egg
2tbs milk ( preferably full cream )
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp caster sugar
A large knob of butter
a few drops of sunflower oil

Beat together the egg, milk, vanilla and sugar in a wide shallow bowl. Dip the bread in for a couple of minutes on each side until soaked.

Add the butter and few drops of oil to a frying pan ( the oil has higher burning temperature and will stop the butter from burning ). Heat to a medium to medium /high heat then put in the toast. It'll need a couple of minutes on each side but keep an eye on it as it can burn very quickly.

Fleur D'Oranger Brioche Buns

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We've just returned from a weeks holiday in the South West of France and very nice it was too. As usual I returned armed with a load of recipe cards and a recipe book - my first one in French. My O Level French isn't quite up to translating these cards so I've been getting some help from @KateDeCamont on Twitter. Kate runs a culinary retreat in Gascony and I've added a visit there to my bucket list!

I had a go at making a Fougasse, which is a sweet brioche type loaf. It was OK for a first attempt but needs more practise. The recipe included a mystery ingredient Fleur D'Oranger. With Kate's help I worked out this was the same as the Essence of Orange Water that you can buy quite readily in delis & some supermarkets in the UK ( If you're in Shropshire I got mine in Broad Bean in Ludlow but I think I have also seen it in Tuffins )

As I didn't have much time one evening I decided to return to my tried & tested brioche recipe. This is the recipe from the Panasonic Breadmaker book with my own adjustments. Brioche is quite a difficult dough to work with as it's quite wet, so it's ideal to do the mixing, kneading & rising in the breadmaker. I use the dough setting then form into rolls or a loaf, leave to rise overnight in the fridge and then bake in the morning. This is perfect for getting that fresh baked smell for your guests without having to get up at 4 in the morning.

You could, of course, make it in a mixer or by hand. Once the mix is kneaded to a soft dough, leave to rise for 1.5 to 2 hours then knock down and make into rolls as below.

Because brioche is such a soft dough it's usually made in a mould. I have traditional brioche moulds but they can stick, so I cheat and use a 6 hole silicon muffin tin ( or if I'm making a loaf, a 1lb loaf tin with a paper liner ) - works perfectly.

When I make a loaf I slice into thick slices then put in the freezer. Brioche is perfect for making French Toast. I also serve it toasted and topped with roast tomatoes & halloumi as a breakfast special. Just be careful when you toast it as it has a high sugar content and so toasts more quickly then normal bread.

A warm brioche roll with some homemade apricot preserve & freshly brewed coffee is one of my favourite breakfasts.

1 tsp Fast Action Yeast
250g Strong White Flour
3 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
75g soft butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp essence of orange blossom water ( or the grated rind of a washed orange also works very well )
1 egg to glaze

Put all the ingredients into the breadmaker in the order specified by your machine makers and put on the dough setting ( or mix together the dry ingredients, rub in the butter. Beat together the eggs & milk, add to the dry and mix together, then knead till you get a soft dough. Leave in an oiled covered bowl for 1.5-2 hours to rise )

Put the dough onto a well floured surface and knock out the air. Split into 6 balls and put into a 6 hole muffin tin ( Silicon doesn't require greasing or you can use a tin one with muffin cases ). Leave to rise till doubled in size - about 45 minutes in a warm place or overnight in the fridge.

If I rise them overnight I bring them out of the fridge to get them back up to room temperature before baking.

Put the oven on to about 200 degrees. Brush the buns with beaten egg and bake for about 15 minutes till they're very golden brown. If you're making a loaf this will about 20 minutes.