Episode 17 Best Bakes Ever

The wonderful smell of bread just out of the oven,

the perfect pie crust,

the snap of a biscuit

and, of course, cakes -

cakes of all shapes and sizes and for every occasion.

We've got something for all the senses here,

as we celebrate some of the best bakes ever.

Coming up today, Nigella Lawson takes us through

one of her favourite chocolate cake recipes,

the Hairy Bikers serve up a Yorkshire curd tart...

Look at that.

-It's a tidy tart.

-Aw, it is.

..and there's Yorkshire pudding from James Martin,

used in his definitive toad in the hole.

You can't beat it.

There's Rachel Khoo making chouquettes,

Raymond Blanc doing a baked apple...

Melting, moist, and that amazing apple flavour -

it's absolutely delicious.

..and Lorraine Pascale showing us how to bake focaccia.

But we start today with a Bake Off Masterclass

from Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry

showing us how not to panic

when making some sweet and savoury pretzels.

All right, Mary, it's my turn to do

the Technical Challenge from the final -

I'm going to show you how to make them properly.

Could you weigh up for me 500g of strong white flour, please?

Add 10g of salt and 7g of yeast.

I'm using instant yeast here - fast-action stuff.

If you haven't got fast-action and you really want to use fresh,

you need to add about another third of the weight again.

Add 40g of softened butter,

and you'll also need 280ml of milk.

Now, that jar, Mary - does that take you back at all?

I think that...I think that's malt.

It is malt. It's malt extract.

We used to have this in the war.

It was in the sideboard,

and we used to have to have a tablespoonful of it a day -

don't ask me why.

Spoon one tablespoon into the mix.

It's really does make a difference. It helps with the colour.

You know, the richness of the colour of the pretzel,

cos you want that dark colour.

Mixing by hand, gradually add the milk until a dough is formed.

This is going to be quite stiff

cos you want that definition in the pretzel shape.

When the dough has come together,

knead for ten minutes or until it's smooth and glossy.

Now, all I'm doing, you see all I'm doing is just basically

rolling up the dough, a bit of pressure on there.

When the dough is smooth,

divide in half and place each into a small bowl.

Thank you very much, Mary.

First one was the plain one.

Straight in.

Second one...is the sweet one.

To the sweet half,

add the zest of two oranges and 50g of poppy seeds.

That'll do.

And then I need to work this mix together.

-Look at the burst of colour in there.

-Lovely.

Such a nice dough.

You can use any of the citrus fruits in here.

It's the citrus flavour that drives through

that darkness of the pretzel,

and it's what you crave for when you bite into it.

You've got that crunch of the poppy and then that beautiful flavour,

whether it's mandarin, satsuma, orange, lemon...

Or lime, actually - lime would be nice.

When the zest and seeds have been thoroughly worked into the dough,

shape into a ball.

And then place it...

..back in the bowl.

And then I'm going to wrap them with food wrap.

Is it there?

You know, men can never find anything.

OK. Rip out the food wrap.

Could I do that in a machine?

Think about how long that's just taken me

to prepare those two doughs.

But look at your shoulders, at your muscle - I haven't got that.

The thing is, that's just taken me five minutes -

if you use a machine, it takes four and a half minutes.

People at home, if they haven't got a mixer,

then contact me, and I'll go round there.

£1,000 a pretzel.

Leave to prove until doubled in size.

-Look at those guys.

-Gracious.

You can see how much they grow.

I'm just going to coat the bench in a little bit of flour.

Each dough needs to be rolled out and divided into six equal pieces.

You start with one,

keep it fat

and then taper it off.

Apply some pressure to the dough, working from the middle outwards

to push out any air bubbles that may have formed.

That's the sort of shape you look for for a pretzel, OK?

You then bring it to a U.

Then you need to twist it twice,

bring it back on itself...

..and tack it. All right?

Lift it up...

and then just stretch it slightly.

OK? So, that's one.

We'll do another one.

Each piece should be 40cm to 50cm in length.

Resting them part way allows the gluten to relax,

preventing them from springing back.

I was working with guys in Germany

-who picked it up and did the twist, you know?

-Yeah.

And then they went back, and I did it that way.

But what I do is I just grab the ends

and just twist twice

and then place it on the side,

pinch it, and then you open it up.

There's another pretzel.

Do you want to have a go?

I'm extremely nervous, and I won't do them as well,

but I will have a go.

OK, so grab your dough.

We'll keep on rolling it all the way.

-Well, that's not bad.

-That's not bad.

So, you make a U first.

One hand over the other, over the other.

Twist it twice...

..and then tack it to the side.

HE GIGGLES

To give the pretzel its characteristic dark colour,

we need to make a lye.

We've got a pot here with boiling water inside

to which I'm going to add bicarbonate of soda.

The colour of the dough normally would be very much a matte brown.

You put this in, coat it - it gives it that shine

and it alters the colour and gives it a very woody-looking finish.

Add 21g of bicarbonate of soda into seven litres of boiling water.

You see, it instantly starts frothing up.

Oh, gracious me.

Now, I'll start with the savoury ones first.

Gently drop each pretzel into the boiling water.

They basically have to be dipped.

It's not like a bagel where I'm going to poach them in there -

all it is is a dip.

Remove onto a baking tray, reshaping if needed.

While the pretzels are still wet,

sprinkle 50g of sesame seeds

and 20g of rock salt over the top.

Before they go in the oven, they need to be cut -

this is to let the devil out.

So, a deep slash right at the base.

-A straight cut.

-It'll open up there as it bakes.

Now repeat the process with the sweet pretzels.

As soon as you've got the last one in,

start bringing the first one out.

So, it's just literally in and out.

If you could straighten that one up a little bit for me, Mary.

You've got hands like asbestos.

Of course I can - that's no problem.

The pretzels will need to be baked at 200 degrees.

Now they're all ready to go into the oven.

-Well, there's two shelves ready for you.

-Thank you very much, Mary.

20, 25 minutes later, rich, dark colour -

we should have our pretzels.

To decorate the sweet pretzels,

Paul makes some candied orange zest and a syrupy glaze.

Peel an orange and cut into thin slivers of zest.

Makes me think I'm making marmalade.

It's about the only time I cut up peel like this.

Squeeze the juice from three oranges into a saucepan,

add 100g of caster sugar and bring to the boil.

And I'm also going to add now the rind,

which is just going to soften up.

Boil for one minute and pass through a sieve.

Now, this has been softened in the syrup.

Coat the zest in 25g of caster sugar and leave to dry.

And that'll be fantastic and beautiful on top of the pretzels.

Continue to cook the syrup until reduced and sticky.

-They look...about perfect.

-They do.

Wow, look at them. Gorgeous.

Nice deep rich brown colour.

Look at these guys.

You need to put the syrup on while these pretzels are still hot,

and these are still hot, so this is the perfect time to put it on.

Immediately you do that, it sort of brings them alive, doesn't it?

Yes, absolutely.

Sprinkle over the candied peel to finish.

So, at the end of the day, Mary,

after a hard day's toil,

you end up with 12 pretzels -

six savoury with the rock salt and the sesame seed

and six beautiful sweet ones with the poppy seed and the orange.

All very rewarding.

I'll take the savoury one here.

You can hear the crack on the outside,

-it's lovely, chewy and soft on the inside.

-Mm.

-I'll give you half of that one.

-I love the mahogany colour.

Mm! I like the soft centre,

and yet it's all crispy and crackling at the ends.

-Mm.

-Mm.

-It's delicious.

These look good.

Orange and poppy seed - a wonderful combination.

And then I'm just going to snap that in half. There we are.

-Are you going to have half?

-Thank you.

-What a shine from that orange glaze.

-Yeah, I know.

Mm. And just a little bit of spring in the middle and soft.

-Mm, so good.

-They're beautiful.

The, the poppy seed adds to the texture,

and then that gorgeous orange flavour comes through -

it's one of my favourite bakes.

I'll have some more.

Now for something that sounds very simple - baked apple -

but this is a Raymond Blanc recipe,

so you know there's going to be so much more to it than it sounds.

ACCORDION MUSIC PLAYS

The variety I'm using here is called Reine des Reinettes, OK?

It's the queen of russets.

Lovely flesh, delicate flavours, and they'll bake brilliantly well.

-And are you finished melting butter?

-Yes, I have it here.

Although the apples can be baked whole,

to make them easier to eat

and to cook them faster and more evenly,

Raymond trims the bases and removes the cores.

Voila. So, that's the first part, then.

Brush butter on your baking tray to stop the apples from sticking.

Then add a sprinkling of sugar

which will turn into a caramel sauce as the apples cook.

So, after, I'll simply just bake it like that,

or you can brush it with a little bit of butter.

Roll it in a bit of sugar or cinnamon -

OK, whatever flavours you want to inside.

Just it will provide...create a nice little coat.

Voila. Tres bien.

What my mum would do, she would just add a bit of that,

then a bit of sugar.

Voila.

Put the apples in the oven at 170 degrees centigrade

for 30 to 35 minutes.

No fan - very important

because the fan is too aggressive.

It drives the heat inside, and often the apple will burst.

I'm going to make a caramel sauce.

The apple will love it, and you will love it too.

-With your pan on a medium heat, add 50g of sugar.

-Tres bien.

As it melts, it'll turn into a caramel.

The caramel is nice and blonde now.

We'll bring it to quite a dark colour.

When browned, stir in 20g of butter.

It's going to... See, look at that, look at that.

Add diced apple and cook for about 30 seconds.

Don't shake your caramel

because that temperature is really seriously high.

With a bit of apple juice.

Oh, lovely.

To thicken the caramel,

add half a teaspoon of arrowroot mixed with a little water.

Little by little is very important.

You cannot take away, you can always add.

It's a great, silly rule, but it works - believe me.

Voila. We have now a beautiful sauce.

Next, make a simple garnish

by toasting cubed wholemeal bread and icing sugar.

Mix pistachios, almonds - whole and flaked - and icing sugar

with a few drops of water or Calvados.

Water is nice, but a little bit of Calvados is much nicer.

A little bit.

Sprinkle the garnish on a baking tray

with an extra dusting of icing sugar.

To create some amazing textures, colours,

you go baf, baf - lovely.

The juices start to run, and it looks delicious,

but it tastes absolutely amazing.

Place at the top of the oven for eight minutes until golden.

So, look at your apples.

You can see it starts to break up a little bit outside

and you know it is about ready.

OK? And you can smell.

Voila.

Oh, lovely.

Food is just not about flavours - it's also about textures,

and flavours and textures work together

to create something truly exciting.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say, so...

Mm - that's a bloody good apple.

Melting, moist, and that amazing apple flavour -

it's absolutely delicious.

Now, here's a toad in the hole.

According to early cookery books,

it was actually pigeon that was first cooked in batter this way,

but this one from James Martin

comes with the sausages that we're all used to.

It really epitomises everything that my family are all about, really.

We were pig farmers, so we had great pork,

my grandmother's recipe for a Yorkshire pudding

and my mother's recipe for a gravy,

and it is gravy - it's not that fancy jus.

But the first thing that we're going to do

is we're going to make the Yorkshire pudding

and get this tin in the oven.

So, I use dripping or lard.

Lard may have fallen out of favour of late,

but for me, taste is king -

you simply can't beat it.

Do NOT use oil.

Hot oven.

Now, the Yorkshire pudding batter itself -

we start off with a mixture of 8oz of plain flour.

So, I'm going to throw in the eggs.

Eight eggs, 8oz of flour to a pint of milk.

Now, this is where this dish

is sort of perfect for a sort of midweek supper,

because you do need to leave this to rest in the fridge beforehand.

This is a Yorkshire pudding recipe straight from Yorkshire itself.

My granny used to prepare her batter a day in advance -

and believe me, it makes such a difference.

The longer it's in the fridge, the better it is,

because of this next bit.

The minute you mix flour with eggs or milk,

it does need chance to relax -

it's a little bit like making pancakes.

It toughens up the gluten in the flour,

and that's why I always make this by hand.

And then I'm going to add a touch of mustard.

Now, it's entirely up to you how much mustard you want to put in.

But I'm just going to add a little bit of grain mustard - no more.

Let's mix this together.

And then the milk - always, always in my house...

..and in my mother's house, and in my grandmother's house,

it was full-fat milk.

There is no such thing as semi-skimmed - it's full-fat.

Southerners drink semi-skimmed.

Throw the milk in.

The whole lot. Like that.

A good pinch of salt.

And then pop this in the fridge.

Now, this is where you need to leave it for at least a few hours.

I like to leave it overnight wherever possible,

but we end up with this mixture...

..which has just been left nicely.

Toad in the hole is a simple recipe,

but there's nothing wrong with some attention to detail.

If there's one thing that nobody in my family would dare to skimp on,

it was the sausages.

And that's where my, really, love affair

with food stems from, I suppose.

Watching my grandmother and my auntie battle it out in the kitchen.

It was almost like Clash of the Titans, really,

the two of them arguing in the kitchen,

but they just used to produce the most amazing food.

I'm not cooking the sausages all the way through.

Browning them seals in the flavour

and ensures this midweek supper will look as good as it tastes.

And hopefully, now our tin should be hot enough.

Straight out.

Pour off any little excess dripping than we need.

Throw the sausages in.

And that's the noise that you need.

SAUSAGES SIZZLE

-Batter in.

-BATTER SIZZLES

The batter should make that fizzing noise as it hits the tray.

And then straight back into a hot oven.

That takes about a good 30 to 40 minutes

to cook all the way through.

Whatever you do, do not open this oven

for at least half an hour until they're ready.

Right, now we can get on making my mum's onion gravy.

Slice two onions and brown them off in your spare dripping.

There's a real art to making proper gravy.

It's all about layers of flavour,

and my mum has a real knack of knowing just what to combine

to make the most of what's in her kitchen cupboard.

Remember, this is my mother's old recipe,

so there's no fancy reduction sauces in here.

I'm going to use some of this.

Gravy granules.

Get that mix in. So, 250ml.

Cold water.

Deglaze it with a little bit of red wine or white wine.

Off-the-shelf beef stock like this

simply didn't exist when I was a kid.

But it has a great flavour,

and now, my mum uses it as much as I do.

And then there's one ingredient

that, really, I'm not a great fan of this, to be honest -

particularly on toast -

but, in this, it really does work.

So, we just add a good tablespoon.

And then finally, we can turn the heat down

and add our gravy granules.

Now, if there's chefs watching this, this is home cooking, all right?

Now, we just gently bring this to the boil.

Not too much, otherwise it's going to go lumpy.

And then what I think really finishes this off...

..is butter.

A nub of butter gives the gravy a lovely shine

and, of course, makes it taste fantastic.

It's pretty good, that.

Now, you can serve whatever veg you want with it, really,

but...frozen peas...

..you can't beat them.

Boil in salted water.

No more than about sort of 30 seconds to a minute...

..otherwise they end up like dried little bullets.

Sauce is nearly there.

The Yorkshire pudding's looking pretty good.

Now, the idea of this is, really, is after about 30 minutes,

just to open the oven door for only about ten seconds,

then close it and cook it for a further ten minutes.

That way, you'll let the steam evaporate out of the oven.

Too much steam will actually cause

the pudding to collapse in on itself.

So, we're going to drain these off.

Really, with peas, frozen peas,

you just want to show them the heat, really.

Not allow them to cook too much,

otherwise they go sort of dried and wrinkly.

A little bit of butter...

..in the end - just give it a nice glaze.

Sauce is ready.

And so is my gran's fabulous toad in the hole.

And this is, I think, how Yorkshire pudding should be -

it should be crispy on the outside, but soft in the middle.

Now, purists will say that it's got to be crispy all the way through,

but I disagree with that -

I think it needs to be almost, like, cakey in the centre.

And then we've got our lovely buttered peas.

And then, finally, we've got, of course, Mum's proper gravy.

And we've got to taste it, haven't we, really?

You can't beat it.

And it really is the perfect midweek supper.

It's rich, it's comforting,

kids will love it, adults will love it...

I just need to practise that gravy a bit more.

Now time for another pudding,

and this has been a favourite of Rachel Khoo's

ever since her first days in Paris -

the delicious French pastry called the chouquette.

My first chouquette, I experienced it

when I used to work for a French family as an au pair.

We'd pick up a little bag of these choux pastry puffs with sugar on it,

and they're really easy to eat, and you just pop them in your mouth,

and, yeah, very delicious.

This choux recipe makes a classic pastry base

you can also use for profiteroles and eclairs.

Start off by adding 170ml of water and 170ml of milk,

a teaspoon of salt and sugar

and then 100g of butter

and bring it to the boil.

And finally, add 170g of flour.

What will happen, it will start looking like

really lumpy mashed potatoes.

You've got to stir quite hard now.

So you've got to put in a bit of elbow grease.

It looks good.

OK, I think that is ready.

So, I'm going to put it in... my bowl.

So, now we need to incorporate the eggs,

but if you add the eggs in right now,

you're going to scramble it because the dough's really hot,

so what we're going to do,

we're just going to stir it a little bit to cool it down.

This is when a sous chef would be handy -

this is hard work.

So, I'm going to add my eggs.

The mix is going to look like it's curdling.

So if it looks like it's going wrong,

you're actually on the right track.

A lot of mixing with this recipe -

it's a good workout.

OK, that is looking good.

OK, let's do some piping.

And the easiest way to remember how to hold a piping bag

is you've got this L-shape with your thumb and your finger.

-Loser!

-SHE GIGGLES

Think loser, OK?

And then you're going to turn it around

and you're going to basically pinch it in there.

You hold the piping bag nice and straight, 90 degrees,

and you press, press, press, stop, and then you flick.

Then give the chouquette a dusting of icing sugar.

And that icing sugar will create a little sticky layer,

and that sticky layer will make our nibbed sugar stick.

Now, this is just refined white sugar

that you can find in the supermarkets

but great for baking as it won't melt in the oven.

I'm going to put some chocolate chips on these here at the end.

It's not very French, this version with the chocolate chips,

but it still tastes good.

If you replace the toppings with cheese,

you'd get the savoury version - gougere - that the French also love.

I'm going to dust my chouquette with a second layer of icing sugar

because it just adds that extra bit of sweetness.

So, they are ready to go in the oven.

These little pastry delights are difficult to resist,

but leave them in the oven for 20 minutes

till they're completely cooked

or they'll collapse.

OK, so, I think the chouquettes are done.

They are baked.

Look perfect.

-BAKING TRAY CLATTERS

-Ooh!

So, they're a lovely golden colour.

Best eaten when they're warm, so I might just have one right now.

Mm.

Delicious.

That's the perfect chouquette.

The lightest pastry puffs in Paris.

Now, who needs romance when you've got sugary delights like this?

MUSIC: Quand J'etais P'tit by Charles Trenet

We're going from a French favourite

to something very Italian - focaccia -

and nothing really beats baking your own,

so here's Lorraine Pascale to show us how to do it.

So, you need 500g of strong white bread flour...

..and two teaspoons of salt - just table salt's fine...

..and 7g of yeast.

And then some oil. Of course, my olive oil.

80ml of that.

And lastly, 250ml of warm water.

So, that goes on the machine for five minutes,

and if you're kneading it by hand,

it'll probably take a good ten minutes.

Just take it off, and I think that's done.

A good way of checking is to just fold it underneath itself like that,

and then stick your finger in some flour

and just stick it in really gently,

and the dough will spring back pretty much all the way -

that way you know it's ready to go.

So, I just want it flat. The focaccia, it can be any shape -

you can even do this in a tin, if you like, a square tin -

but I like to do my mine a rough oval shape.

So, just squidge it down,

and it does spring back quite a lot,

but if you just persevere, it will stay there.

Get my rolling pin.

Just roll it down, and it keeps springing back,

but just keep rolling it, every direction.

So, I need to leave this bread to rise now.

I like to cover it with clingfilm.

So many people do it with a tea towel,

but I find clingfilm is the best way.

A bit of oil.

The oil will make sure that

the clingfilm doesn't stick to the bread.

It's good to cover it cos it provides a lovely cosy environment

so the bread can rise - it's nice and warm and airtight.

But make sure the cling's not too tight

cos it needs to have that room to grow up a little bit.

Leave that to rise.

It takes about half an hour,

but it depends how warm the environment is.

I like to leave mine by a preheated oven.

You can flavour focaccia with all sorts of things

like olives or sun-dried tomatoes or thyme...

..but my personal favourite is rosemary.

Smells so good.

OK, I think my bread's ready.

It's lovely and pillowy. Look at that.

Oh...

So, focaccia has these dimples in it,

and you can just use your fingers.

So, put them in the flour so the dough doesn't stick to them.

And then...just do whatever pattern you like.

Straight lines does look better, though.

And then, the rosemary.

So, just take your rosemary sprig, like that...

and then snip...

..a little bit and stick it in the holes.

For the next ones, I like to pinch off the rosemary leaves

so you don't get the stubby cut off bit of the branch,

and this is just going to infuse the bread with so much flavour.

OK. Then some sea salt.

Put a nice sprinkle.

Extra flavour, and it looks really good too.

Then this goes into the oven at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes.

I've been e-mailing with some friends,

and I've been telling them about my soon-to-be-ready focaccia.

So I've promised them, when it's done, I'll send them a picture.

It's the Hairy Bikers next

who are baking a dish that uses curds.

Traditionally, of course, curds are a by-product of cheesemaking,

but the boys here are making their own.

We love it. We love it.

If Miss Muffet was here, she'd be stood on a tuffet -

that's all I can say, because this is epic.

Now, you might have trouble getting curds.

You know, one day there was a dairy on every corner.

You said, "Ee, prithee thee, sire.

"Could thou taketh myself a bucket of curds?"

And you'd go back and make your curd tart.

So, first off, we're going to show you how to make curds.

Add the milk to the pan.

Now, this is whole milk - that's quite important, this.

Oh, aye, the fat stuff.

-Is there another milk there?

-Yeah, more milk.

And we're going to put lemon juice into that milk,

and do you know what's going to happen?

It's going to curdle.

-You see?

-Do you get it?

-Curds...

-Curds, curdle.

I mean, Samuel Pepys...

he used to sit in with a barrel of curds and whey -

it was an interesting snack.

We bring this milk gently - and that's key -

gently up to a simmer.

Take it off the heat, and then as soon as that happens,

Dave is going to put some lemon juice in it.

Four tablespoons of lemon juice to about a litre and a half of milk.

And this'll give us curds. It'll also give us whey as well.

-We're going to chuck the whey away.

-THEY LAUGH

-You could always take them to a rail-whey station!

-Yes!

-Ey, we're having a whale of a time, aren't we?

-Yeah.

Right. That's lemon juice.

Right, we just wait for that to come to a simmer now.

# Oh, yeah, it is me in the Somersby... #

DAVID MUMBLES LYRICS

Nowt much we can do, really.

No, no, you're probably as bored now as we are.

-Kingy.

-What?

Let's play the alphabet game, but with cheese!

-I hate the alphabet game.

-A is for...

-MASTERMIND THEME PLAYS

-See, first one to think of a letter

-with a cheese beginning with A.

-Applewood.

Yes, but is that...? Yeah, I'll let you have Applewood.

B. Boursin.

C. Cheddar.

-D...

-Dolcelatte.

Oh, no, you can't, you can't... That was my go.

I.

Let's forget I. Hold on.

-That's it.

-That's it. We're there.

-We're off.

Now, to that, add four tablespoons of lemon juice sans le pip.

One...two...

three...

four.

-Oh, the milk's going!

-And stir.

Oh, look at that. No, no, no. Look. Look in there - it's happening.

Look at that. It's curdled.

Now, don't stir it too vigorously,

because you want those curds to be as whole as they can.

Yeah, you see how the bits are getting a bit bigger?

Now, pour the curds and whey into the muslin.

So, just let that go through.

And leave it to cool for about an hour.

T.

-Triangle cheese.

-No.

-Oh.

Let's go W. Wensleydale!

-Z.

-Zo, zor...

I don't there's a cheese beginning with Z.

Oh, there's got to be, somewhere in the world.

We could do accompaniments to cheese.

Apple!

Oh, God, that's quite enough.

Just like the Scottish crowdie,

the curds are bagged up and left to drain.

I wonder...

That's it.

-Now, if you get a piece of string, Kingy...

-Right.

We take that to the fridge

and you tie that to one of the shelves

suspended over a bowl and leave it overnight.

And honestly, the next day,

you'll have a bowl full of whey and you'll have a ball of curds.

-Wahey!

-I did one yesterday.

-Oh, did you?

-Yeah.

-We can start making tarts.

-Oh!

-Me on pastry, as usual.

-And I'll be on the filling.

-Woo!

-Crack on.

-Egg in bowl.

Just give this a bit of a whizz.

Food processor.

Flour goes in -

plain, because it's pastry, and we don't want a rise on.

For the pastry, we're using 175g of plain flour.

Now, all I've got in here is butter, caster sugar.

We're going to cream it together,

and then we're going to start to build our little bits up.

Bring the ingredients together using an electric whisk.

I'm going to cube the butter into the processor,

then give it a whizz until breadcrumbs are formed.

And also, because it's a sweet pastry,

we're going to put in two teaspoons of sugar.

One...

..two.

Give this a whizz.

I add an egg bit by bit,

and a bowl of pastry will miraculously appear!

Now, look at that.

How clean that processor is.

And all that's left there is a ball of pastry.

Now, this pastry I've put in fridge to rest for half an hour,

then I can roll out and make the bed for the tart.

Now, while Dave's doing that,

all I'm going to do is just very gradually...add...

..an egg, but do it gradually, yeah?

And then give it a good whisk after each addition.

To that, I'm going to add half a teaspoon of nutmeg.

Nutmeg's interesting.

Do you know, it'll last for up to ten years

as long as you don't start grating it.

Nutmeg need never become a cupboard monster.

No, that's true.

Pastry that has been rested.

Roll out.

To the beaten egg mixture, add the zest of half a lemon.

OK, give that a stir through.

Then add a heaped tablespoon of dried mixed fruit

and stir that in too.

And then we're going to mix in our curd.

Look at that. Beautiful. Beautiful.

And, you know, how many recipes can you say

that you've made your own cheese when you're doing cheese cookery?

There is a certain wonderful self-satisfaction to this,

actually - making your own cheese.

-As you say, it's lovely.

-Ey, it's a bit La Boheme, in't it?

Now, I'm going to line this plate

with my sweet shortcrust butter pastry.

It's perfectly easy to handle.

Put it onto a tin plate.

You know, you can do it with a china plate or a pot plate.

I've found with this tin plate, though,

nice thing is, you don't have to grease it

and it doesn't get stuck.

Lift it up in that flamboyant fashion

as beloved by grandmothers everywhere...

and trim the edge off.

-All right, mate.

-I'm nearly ready too.

That looks a bit plain, so we're just going to do

a nice pinch and tuck on the edge like this.

Almost mechanical-looking finish to the side of your pies.

You know, it's using your body as a template.

Now, look at that - that's pastry craft for you.

Fantastic, mate, fantastic.

-Top your curds in, son.

-There we are.

-Ooh!

-What a cheesy mess that looks.

-Doesn't it? It's great.

There's no need to mess with it too much -

it'll just find its own level.

Put the curds in the centre of the pastry case.

There we are. One curd tart.

Just pop that in the oven, preheated -

160 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes,

and then leave it for 30 minutes to cool before serving.

The curds will rise up, and the pastry should be golden.

MUSIC: Cheesecake by Louis Armstrong

-YORKSHIRE ACCENT:

-'Ey up, lad.

'That'll be Yorkshire curd tart ready for getting out of th' oven.

'Ee, mother!'

-Look at that.

-'Ee, by gum.

-'Look at him, ey?

-Look at it.

-Oo, ee.'

-That's...that's rather beautiful, isn't it?

-Isn't it?

Shall we put it outside? We could put it outside, couldn't we?

Like they used to in the old days.

-Should we?

-Yeah, go on.

-Open the door, mate.

-How about...

-What?

..diseases and complications?

I'll start. Arthritis.

B. Bubonic plague.

Cholera.

Diphtheria.

-HE CHUCKLES

-Impetigo.

J. Jaundice.

Let's go and get the curd tart, ey, shall we?

It's a nice cutter.

The thing about Yorkshire curd tart is you get a nice slice out of it.

No messing about, you know, leaving half of it behind.

Look at that.

-It's a tidy tart.

-Aw, it is.

-YORKSHRE ACCENT:

-'This is it.'

-It is.

'This is British cheesecake, this.

-'Ee. It'll never catch on.

-No.'

-Nice pastry.

-Lovely.

-Nice texture, actually.

-Mm.

-Fruit's plumped up.

-Mm.

It's quite grown-up, isn't it? It's quite an old-fashioned flavour.

Yes, that's it - nutmeg, you know, lemon zest.

Cheesecake, but real cheesecake.

That is best of British.

HE SLAMS FORK DOWN

There it is - the Yorkshire curd tart,

a very proper cheesecake.

It may look fiddly to make, but it's definitely worth it.

Well, we've reached today's final bake,

and is there ever really a better thing to end on

than chocolate cake?

You start off with 50g of the best cocoa

and 125ml of boiling water -

that's about half a cup of each.

Just whisk the two together until you've got a thick but smooth paste.

Measure out 150g of ground almonds,

and then add half a teaspoon of bicarb

and a pinch of salt.

I just dibble these together with my fingers to mix.

Now, in a large bowl,

put in 200g of sugar

and add to that 150ml of regular olive oil,

or indeed, specifically, light and mild olive oil.

It sounds quite odd to be using olive oil in a cake,

but it really works.

The cocoa is quite bitter,

and the roundedness of the olive oil

really gives a mellow, rich taste to the cake.

Add three eggs, and then whisk ferociously.

I let this go for quite a while

until the consistency is almost of a voluminous mayonnaise.

Now is the time, on a lower speed, to whisk in the cocoa mixture,

and suddenly, all that yellow batter goes rich and chocolaty and brown.

Add the bowl of dry ingredients

and pour into a greased and lined cake tin.

This is a very, very runny liquid.

Do not be alarmed -

it's the consistency that makes the cake so melting later.

Cook for 40 to 45 minutes,

by which time the sides will be slightly coming away

and the centre of the cake will be set

but still very desirably squidgy inside.

Right, I've got my coffee ice cream, armed with a scoop,

and my chocolate cake, just its dark beauty

just seen under that dusting of icing sugar.

You know what Mae West said -

"Too much of a good thing can be wonderful."

That's all we have time for today.

Do join me again next time. Bye-bye.