English Crumpets ? History and Recipe is from other source and this blog just to republish with same information about English Crumpets ? History and Recipe , if you are the owner from this article feel free to cantact me

I thought as English Crumpets is an Iconic English Recipe and Snack, which I thought would be interesting to tell on its long history. Crumpets were an Anglo-Saxon invention. In early times, they were hard pancakes cooked on a griddle, rather than the soft and spongy crumpets of the Victorian era which were made with yeast. The crumpet-makers of the Midlands and London developed the characteristic holes, by adding extra baking powder to the yeast dough. The term itself may refer to a crumpled or curled-up cake, or have Celtic origins relating to meaning a "thin, flat cake".

Crumpets are generally circular roughly 7cm in diameter and roughly 2cm thick. Their shape comes from being restrained in the pan/griddle by a shallow ring. They have a characteristic flat top with many small pores and a half-chewy half-spongy texture. They may be cooked until ready to eat warm from the pan, but are frequently left slightly undercooked so that they may be cooled and stored before being eaten freshly-toasted. In Australia and New Zealand, branded square crumpets can be purchased from supermarkets, designed to easily fit in a standard toaster.

Crumpets are generally eaten hot with butter with or without a second (sweet or savoury) topping. Popular second toppings are cheese (melted on top), honey, poached egg, jam, marmite, salt, marmalade, cheese spread, golden syrup, hummus, lemon curd and maple syrup. The butter may be omitted - but a phrase very commonly associated with crumpets is "dripping with butter" (in this context, 'dripping' is - usually - a verb, rather than a reference to animal fat).

Delicious fresh from the pan spread with butter! Why not try with a slice of cheese and gently grill?

Ingredients

450 grams

White Bread Flour

 

1 sachet

Baking Yeast1 x 7g sachet

 

300 ml

Water

300 ml

Milk

1 tsp

Sugar

1 tsp

Salt

Method

Warm the milk and the water together.

Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth (1 to 2 minutes).

Leave until the mixture is frothy and double in size.

Grease and heat a heavy frying pan or griddle and 9 cm (3 in) rings and half fill with the mixture.

Maintaining a moderate heat, cook the crumpets for 5 minutes until the mixture bubbles.

Reduce the heat until the bubbles have burst.

Turn the crumpets over and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Serve hot with butter and jam.

If allowed to cool, toast before serving.

Preparation Time 30 minutes

Baking Time 07 minutes

Portions 12

Please visit my Funny Animal Art Prints Collection @ http://www.fabprints.com

My other website is called Directory of British Icons: http://fabprints.webs.com

The Chinese call Britain 'The Island of Hero's' which I think sums up what we British are all about. We British are inquisitive and competitive and are always looking over the horizon to the next adventure and discovery.

Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.

My family tree has been traced back to the early Kings of England from the 7th Century AD. I am also a direct descendent of Sir Christopher Wren which has given me an interest in English History and Icons which is great fun to research.

I have recently decided to write articles on my favourite subjects: English Sports, English History, English Icons, English Discoveries and English Inventions.

At present I have written over 100 articles which I call "An Englishman's Favourite Bits Of England" in various Volumes.

Please visit my Blogs page http://Bloggs.Resourcez.Comwhere I have listed all my articles to date.

Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.

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History and Tradition of Wedding Cakes is from other source and this blog just to republish with same information about History and Tradition of Wedding Cakes , if you are the owner from this article feel free to cantact me

Weddings have always been a wonderful occasion since the dawn of civilization. They have been celebrated with no limitations on aplomb ever since mankind started to record history on cave walls and rocks and then, later, papyrus. However, many aspects of the wedding as we know them today came much later into the equation. One by one they were added to the festivities. For instance, did you know that bridal showers started out as simple weddings thrown together by the bride's friends if she was getting married to a man who wasn't to her parents' liking back in 1800’s Europe. The parents would disown their daughter and her man and then what would happen was since she would not be able to afford any dowry, her friends would get together and collects funds and gifts which she could use for her future married life. Doesn't the gift giving part sound similar to the modern day bridal shower?

However, we are not going to discuss matters of bridal showers here.

In fact, it is the history and tradition of wedding cakes which will get the focus in this entry. Yes, the scrumptious wedding cake has a rich history all of its own and it is rather interesting, to say the least, to track the wedding cake down from its initial conception to the changes it has gone through over the years to the current form it is in today. Go on reading below to discover how the wedding cake originated and to find out just how it reached its current, fondant covered, multi-tiered avatar.

The History and the Traditions Related to the Wedding Cake Over the Ages

Once Upon a Time in Ancient Greece

The story of the wedding cake begins with the Ancient Greeks and simple grains.

Yes, mundane grains were used by the Greeks at weddings, not to be eaten mind you, but to be thrown at the bride and groom as a ritual for ensuring fertility. This was before the rice throwing custom, which developed at wedding ceremonies later on, of course.

The Rise and Fall of the Romans

The closest thing to a wedding cake was first introduced by the Romans when the Roman Empire was at its zenith. The grains were converted into breads and biscuits meant, no, still not for consumption by the guests, but to throw at the bride. It was sometime later during the Roman Times that a tradition of the groom breaking the bread over the head of the bride started to develop, with the groom going on to eat the bread later on. If you think the ritual was weird wait till you hear the meaning behind it — the breaking of the bread signified the end of the virginal state of the bride and the fact that it was the groom breaking the bread over her head depicted his total dominance over her from that point onward... Doesn’t the backward sexist nature of the custom creep the creep out of you? Hence it was probably for this very reason that the custom fell out of practice and became obsolete with the progressing times.

Wedding Cakes in the Times of Lords and Ladies

After the Romans fell and the world saw the arrival of the age of kings, queens, and knights during the medieval era, the wedding “breads" were slowly converted into sweet buns and other “flour-based" cake like savories (still not exactly the wedding cake as we know it today).

The bread breaking custom gave way to a new ritual – the sweet buns and cakes were piled neatly, one on top of the other, and a rudimentary tower was built. The bride and groom were then expected to kiss each other over the tower (this was probably the precursor to the vertically daunting multi-tiered wedding cake of today!). The towering pile of sweet cakes signified the strength of the love shared between the newlywed couple.

Reprieve for the poor, Marie Antoinette Style!

Now, these individual cakes and breads were a bit too costly to purchase to build a tower with. It was for this reason, that in the 17th century, the stacked sweetbreads gave way to a single cake known as the “Bride’s Pie". The Bride’s Pie was filled with sweetened dough and mutton. It was so called as the bride would put in a secret ingredient into the cake. This “secret ingredient" was a glass ring, meant for all the single ladies at the wedding to find. The belief was that whichever lady found the glass ring would be the next one to find the man of her dreams and settle down happily ever after.

While the tower of breads and cakes remained unshakeable in popularity amongst the rich, the poor immediately took to adopting the concept of the single “Bride’s Pie" cake, as it obviously came much cheaper. It was probably this trend which prompted Marie Antoinette to make her now famous faux pas of “If the peasants don’t have bread to eat, let them have cake!"

Rise of the Fancy Multi-tiered Wedding Cake

During the mid 17th century, when a French chef (whose name unfortunately is lost in the annals of history) was travelling through England and attended a wedding where the couple kissed over a tower of cupcakes, he was bemused at the structure and sought to redesign it in such a way that it would be more durable and more appealing to look at. He was the one who first came up with the idea of a frosted, multi-tiered wedding cake. To keep the structure steady and storage able for a few days, the French chef placed a layer of lard over it. This recipe soon became a hit and soon, an alteration was made to the lard on the French wedding cakes by sweetening and coloring it for benefits of the tongue and eyes. This was the origin of the typical “cake icing".

And so, the wedding cake made its journey through history in its different avatars, tied with different antique customs, some of which were modified slightly to suit changing times whereas others completely faded into obscurity. But one thing is for certain, be it in Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, or 17th century France, wedding cakes have always been synonymous with the grandeur associated with the business of tying the knot in public.

 

I am Sophia Jolie. I am expert in wedding cake making business. I like to share my knowledge and experience on Castle Wedding Cakes.

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Lardy Cake ? 15th Century History and Recipe is from other source and this blog just to republish with same information about Lardy Cake ? 15th Century History and Recipe , if you are the owner from this article feel free to cantact me

I thought as English Lardy cake is an Iconic English Spiced bread I thought it would be interesting to fans of English Food to know It's recipe and history. Lardy cake is also called Lardy bread, Lardy Johns, Dough cake and Fourses cake and originates from Wiltshire. In the West Country and dates from the 15th. Century. Today local bakers still make it to their own recipes, cramming in as much lard, sugar and fruit as they or their customers choose.

The lardy cake relates back to the 15thCentury Lardy bread, Lardy Johns, Dough cake and Fourses cake. At the  'Old English Fair' was an eagerly awaited event by town and countrymen who would get together to sell their wares. Gingerbread and Plum Cake became established products at these fairs, with the Lardy Cake being an adapted version of the later.

The major difference between the two products was that the fat (lard) was layered into the dough similar to Danish Pastry.

Today a equal mixture of lard and brown sugar are layered in at approximately 20% of the dough weight. The fermented dough also contains fruit and will also be spiced.

Recipeand Ingredients

20 Gram Yeast fresh (1 3/4 tsp dried + pinch of sugar) (3/4 oz)
450 ml Water, warmed (3/4 pint)
600 Gram Strong white flour (1 1/4 lb)
1 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
100 Gram Lard, diced (4 oz)
100 Gram Butter, diced (4 oz)
240 Gram Mixed sultanas and currants (10 oz)
65 Gram Chopped mixed peel (3 oz)
65 Gram Sugar (3 oz)

Makes 16 slices

Method

Preheat oven to 220 °C / 425 °F / Gas 7. Grease a 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 inch) roasting tin.

Blend the fresh yeast with the warm water. If using dried yeast, sprinkle it into the warm water with the pinch of sugar and leave for 15 minutes until frothy.

Put the flour and salt in a bowl and rub in 100g ( 4 oz) of the lard. Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast liquid. Beat together to make a dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean, adding more water if necessary. Turn on to a lightly floured surface and knead well for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Place in a clean bowl. Cover with a clean tea-towel and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.

Turn the dough on to a floured surface and roll out to a rectangle about 0.5 cm ( 1/4 inch) thick. Dot one-third of the remaining lard and butter over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle over one-third of the fruit, peel and sugar. Fold the dough in three, folding the bottom third up and the top third down. Give a quarter turn, then repeat the process twice more.

Roll the dough out to fit the prepared tin. Put in the tin, cover and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes, until puffy. Score the top with a criss-cross pattern with a knife, then bake for about 30 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown. Turn out and serve immediately or leave to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled this can be stores in a freezer until ready to warm up. It's best served plain or with butter.

Lardy Cake is really scrumptious hot or cold and once cooked can be kept in a freezer until ready to carve up and then warmed up prior to eating.

Please visit my Funny Animal Art Prints Collection @ http://www.fabprints.com

My other website is called Directory of British Icons: http://fabprints.webs.com

The Chinese call Britain 'The Island of Hero's' which I think sums up what we British are all about. We British are inquisitive and competitive and are always looking over the horizon to the next adventure and discovery.

Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.

My family tree has been traced back to the early Kings of England from the 7th Century AD. I am also a direct descendent of Sir Christopher Wren which has given me an interest in English History and Icons which is great fun to research.

I have recently decided to write articles on my favourite subjects: English Sports, English History, English Icons, English Discoveries and English Inventions.

At present I have written over 100 articles which I call "An Englishman's Favourite Bits Of England" in various Volumes.

Please visit my Blogs page http://Bloggs.Resourcez.Comwhere I have listed all my articles to date.

Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.

Read More...