Episode 5 Best Bakes Ever

The wonderful smell of bread just out of the oven,

the perfect piecrust,

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.

We've got some fantastic bakes coming up for you today.

The Hairy Bikers make a savoury Basque chicken pie.

All the colours of an Iberian sunset.

There's a very tasty malt loaf from Paul Hollywood

and a recipe you'll never want to throw away -

Nigel Slater's compost crumble.

This is one of those really easy desserts. It's a matter of minutes.

For afters, Rachel Khoo has some wonderful grapefruit meringues...

Wow. Look at that meringue. And that will look beautiful on our tartlets.

..Raymond Blanc shows us how to make beautiful

pistachio and sorbet souffles,

and there are two blackberry dishes,

a cheesecake from Glynn Purnell

and apple and blackberry millefeuille from James Martin.

But we start today with two different takes

on the best way to make puff pastry.

First, Lorraine Pascale shows us a recipe for a puff pastry tart

that can be used with a sweet or savoury filling.

She's using it to make a tomato tarte tatin.

Right, hob on, really high heat.

Pop the tomatoes in there.

And then really good extra virgin olive oil, about two tablespoons.

A good pinch of sea salt...

..a few twists of black pepper.

And a good squidge of honey to make it nice and sweet.

And breadcrumbs.

So these only need about two minutes in the pan

and you don't need to turn them over,

because I'm going to put some pastry over the top

and put the whole thing in the oven.

Most of the time, I just buy ready-made pastry

but, now and again, I make it myself

and I actually find it really rather rewarding.

So, puff.

Let me give you the scoop on how I made it.

First you make a dough with 245g of plain flour.

Add half a teaspoon of salt and 40g of chilled butter cut into cubes.

The secret with most pastry is to keep everything very cold.

Rub the butter into the flour

and when the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs,

make a well in the centre and pour in 130ml of cold water.

Mix it all together with a knife,

bring the dough together with your hands and squidge it into a ball.

Then wrap it in clingfilm and chill it in the fridge for 25 minutes.

Now, step two is all about adding the puff.

Get your chilled dough and roll it out at a little.

Then score a large cross in the middle,

cutting no more than halfway through the bottom.

Lift all four corners from the middle of the cross,

then pull them up and out.

Put 210g of butter, softened this time, in the centre of the cross.

Then fold all four corners back into the centre

so they're overlapping and so the butter is all nicely enclosed.

I know, I know, this recipe is very long-winded but the end is near.

Step three - rolling and folding.

Roll the pastry out away from you on a well-floured surface

to a rectangle roughly three times as long as it is wide.

Take the short edge nearest to you and fold it up a third,

then take the top edge and fold it down a third.

Turn the dough 90 degrees and then repeat the rolling and folding.

Then give it one more roll and fold,

chill it down one more time,

then roll it into the shape of the tarte tatin tin

and chill it down again.

So, that's puff pastry.

Now for the topping.

I'll just turn my tomatoes off and I've got my puff circle here

and just put it on top of the tomatoes

and ease it gently down the sides

so that it's covering the tomatoes completely and they're all encased.

I'll use my brush actually.

Push it down. The pan is still a bit hot.

There, perfect.

And then eggwash. One egg whisked up, nothing fancy.

This gives it a really good shine.

Perfect. So this is going to go into the oven

for 15 minutes at 200 degrees and then it will be done.

Oh, look at that. See how much that's puffed?

You can see the little layers there.

That's just how it's supposed to look.

Now watch this.

Put it down there.

It's got to be turned upside down, so I put a plate over the top

and I always do it over the sink

just in case there's lots of tomato juice.

Flip it upside down.

Oh, look at that.

Isn't it gorgeous?

Great. Now the garnish.

I always feel this needs nothing more than some fresh basil and mint.

Right, I'm taking this straight to the table.

Lorraine made that puff pastry herself.

Some chefs say there's nothing wrong with using the bought variety

and we'll be seeing lots of their recipes in this series

but sometimes it is worth making your own

and James Martin is next with his blackberry and apple millefeuille.

It's now time to put the rough puff I prepared earlier to good use.

A blackberry and apple millefeuille is a bit decadent for midweek

but make the effort and you'll win any popularity contest going.

And this is SO simple to make if you've got your own puff pastry.

Now cooled and rested,

our rough puff can be rolled out into even sheets.

About 2-3mm thick.

I'm going to cut this into three equal oblongs

and those three oblongs are going to create our layers

of our millefeuille.

Instead of using eggwash, I'm going to use this - icing sugar.

A thick dusting of icing sugar gives the pastry

a rich caramel glaze when cooked.

Stick the pastry into the oven for 15 minutes at about 220 degrees.

Now for the apple and blackberry filling.

I'm going to grab a little bit of butter

and those people who are health-conscious,

you've probably not seen the amount of butter in the puff pastry,

and you're certainly not about to see the amount of cream

that I'm about to put in as well

but you do need the butter to fire it off to start with.

So, throw in the butter and then in with the apples.

'I love Bramley apples. Their sharpness combines brilliantly

'with the sweetness of the filling and the richness of the cream.'

And when I actually used to speak to my grandmother about apples

and when we used to produce our own in the little orchard

that we had, most apples, including the eating apples,

used to be that sharp and it's only as our palate has changed

over the years do we like them much sweeter.

But when you taste apples like that, they really do taste fantastic.

After that, cook for a minute or two, add a splash of water

and get it back on the heat. Add vanilla and blackberries

and stew for a further five to six minutes.

Now, you want to stew this down so the lumps are starting

to collapse a little bit, not too much

cos it's good to have a bit of texture there.

Then we can allow this to go cold,

and just to speed this up a bit, you can pop it in the fridge.

Now whip up some cream.

By the time you've done that, the pastry should have cooked perfectly.

What we need to do is leave that to cool for about 10-15 minutes

and then assemble it.

Now, I know this isn't superfast but what it is

is a dish that's full of flavour and it's really worth the wait.

And puff pastry this good means that I've actually got twice as much

as I need and we just top it off with the remaining bit of pastry.

And when you combine cream, fruit and puff pastry,

you just know that it's going to taste great.

It's not the healthiest dish in the world.

Who gives a damn?

It tastes great.

OK, more pastry now and something hot and a bit spicy.

The Hairy Bikers are looking at food from Spain,

up in the northern part of the country, near the border with France.

Typically, the food there features lots of paprika and chorizo sausage

and the boys' beautiful chicken pie is no exception.

Well, we never had the best of the weather in the Basque country

-but are we downhearted?

-We are certainly not, David!

Well, we have left the Basque Country and now we're Asturias.

Yes, it's where the mountains meet the sea in a rugged melange.

-A rugged melange?

-A rugged melange.

A rugged melange, we'll have you know.

But we've brought a little piece of the Basque Country

with us to Asturias.

And the reason for that is that we love the Basque Country.

We love the food, we love the people and we love the hats,

which is why we're just about to do a cookery with our hats on.

But anyway, the Basque chicken pie...

-No, leave it, I love it!

-Aw!

First in, olive oil.

-Do you know what I love about this dish, Kingy?

-What's that, mate?

It's colourful and when food has colour,

it means it has more vitamins and it's better for you

and it's full of taste as well.

Here, hold on, that's not necessarily true.

M&M's, they're not healthy.

But that's artificial colouring.

This is natural. This is what God gave us.

Stick your onion in the pan. Sweat it down.

And coincidentally the colours of the vegetables

that go in to the piperade are the colours of the Basque flag.

TRUMPETS TOOT FANFARE

Piperade is an essential of Basque cuisine,

simply a saute of onions, peppers and tomatoes.

Now, while Dave's chopping the colours of his Basque flag,

these are chicken thighs, boned, chopped and skinned.

We put them into a bag because it's that old trick again.

We season it with some salt, a good pinch of pepper,

and to thicken the sauce, don't forget,

what we need is about a tablespoon of flour.

And about two teaspoons full of smoked paprika.

'Christopher Columbus is credited by many for bringing back paprika

'from his second trip to the New World.'

'Like much of Europe, the Spanish love their paprika or pimenton,

'but the Spanish variety is slightly less spicy and more smoky.'

'Like the French with a baguette,

'the Spanish take their paprika really seriously.

'The quality is controlled by law.'

There we are, look at that. How lovely is that?

Smoked paprika is a fantastic product

because it not only colours and flavours the dish with paprika,

the smokiness will give the pie, the chicken or whatever you do,

a wonderful barbecued flavour.

There's one red pepper, one green pepper.

We pop those into the onion and start to sweat the whole lot down.

This is a robust rustic pie so to go with the chicken,

we're also using chunks of chorizo.

'And guess what, chorizo is full of paprika as well.

'It's tasty, it's meaty and we love it.'

The onions are translucent,

the peppers have started to change colour,

so we need to flavour that with four sprigs of thyme and two bay leaves.

To pump up the flavour even more, we're adding fresh garlic

but only once everything else has started cooking.

The less you cook the garlic, the stronger it will taste.

-Oh, man, the smell of it is fantastic!

-It is, isn't it?

-Absolutely fantastic. Let's get them tomatoes in, mate.

-Yep!

Now, I've got ahead with these tomatoes.

What we've done is, they need to be peeled.

To peel them, you score them just across the base,

blanch them for about 30 seconds, plunge them into cold water

cos you don't want boiled tomatoes,

then the skin will pop off as easy as this.

Do you know what's nice about this? It's a really economical dish.

It's one way of making four chicken thighs feed the family.

Right, while the filling is doing, the pastry.

Flour.

To that, one teaspoon of baking powder,

just to give it a bit of lift and a teaspoon of salt.

So the baking powder, what'll happen

is that it will thicken the crust on it

because it'll rise slightly and give it some texture

and a little bit of a bite.

Now, to the dry goods we've got some butter. This is a short pastry.

You just pop the butter in and rub it till it goes to crumbs.

And to make it even richer, one egg yolk.

Now, to finally make the pastry, we add water until it becomes pastry.

We are not going to be too pedantic about how much water to put in.

Just kind of put enough in until it holds together

to make a bowl of pastry.

-He's not wrong!

-It's not rocket science!

-No, it's not.

Now, you could use this pastry as it is,

but it's going to be easier to handle

if you let the pastry rest for a while.

About half an hour.

Lovely.

Now, this filling needs to cool.

If we try and put pastry on top of that, it's going to disintegrate

with the heat because obviously the butter is going to melt.

So just let that chill.

The Basque piperade is in loads of other recipes too.

Another favourite pie features it,

along with leftover chicken topped with mashed potato.

A bit like our shepherds pie,

but still with plenty of the Spanish flavour we love.

-Nice, that.

-That's a good chicken, that.

And there is its little egg.

Just pop that into an oven and bake it until the pastry is golden

because, remember, the filling is already cooked.

-Three.

-Five.

-Five?! Can't you count or what?

-Four then.

-That was three.

Come on, then, let's see you do better. See if you can beat four.

-One, two, three.

-Three.

-Two!

-That was never two!

THEY LAUGH

-Come on, Frank Spencer!

-Look at this. Look at this.

-IMPERSONATES FRANK SPENCER:

-Ooh, Betty!

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! That was genius!

Let's get this pie out of the oven, Dave.

Yes. Look at that.

Fill it up.

All the colours of an Iberian sunset.

Oh, yeah. Nice. The chorizo is lovely.

That paprika goes through it really nicely, doesn't it?

It's tasty, it's colourful and it's just a little bit rugged.

Yeah.

Thanks, boys.

Now, let's join Glynn Purnell, who has today's second blackberry recipe.

A beautiful looking baked blackberry cheesecake.

Normally, I would use a typical soft foreign cheese,

But today I've got a fantastic Yorkshire, West Yorkshire,

British cheese which is pretty unusual, really.

So I'm really excited about making this.

I thought this one would be a perfect recipe to showcase

how fantastic and brilliant British cheese is.

The first step is the biscuit base.

Normally, you'd use digestive biscuits which I've got now.

If you've got broken biscuits in the bottom of the tin,

you can always throw them in as well.

The odd ginger biscuit, the odd cookie that's lost its way.

Blitz together the biscuits with melted butter.

I use salted butter to cut through the sweetness

of that real cheesy topping.

Tip into a loose-bottom tin, press it down firmly

and then whack it in the fridge to set.

Stage two is the fruit topping.

We just want to basically get the blackberries in with a bit of sugar

and crush as much of the juice out as possible.

Some people call it coulis but I like to just call it a juice really.

I think coulis is a bit too posh.

And then we will pass that off

and get rid of all those little bits that get stuck in your teeth...

I've got some now actually.

It should make an absolutely stunning pudding.

Leave it to cool and get on with the main event.

The sweet cheese filling.

So we've got this lovely West Yorkshire cream,

British cream cheese, which people probably haven't seen before

but we make it and it's fantastic.

It's got a slight acidic smell

which is going to go really nice with the blackberries

and we have a really nice vanilla pod which we are going to split.

It's going to flavour our cheesecake.

And here's a top tip -

before you split it, run your knife over it a couple of times

to loosen up all those lovely little black seeds.

You just want to scrape as much of that out as possible.

You can also save these and use them in your sugar.

Next, get the cream cheese into a mixer

with those precious vanilla seeds.

Then add three eggs and some cream that have been whisked together.

And then, finally, beat in some flour and sugar.

So once you've mixed it, you might have to run your paddle through it.

If you over-beat it, it will be too thin

and it will take too long to cook.

Don't ask me why. It just doesn't.

Then simply pour the cheesy mixture on to the biscuit base.

And drizzle on the cooled blackberry juice.

I am making like a feathered effect with the puree,

which is a little bit retro, but I think it's quite a classical recipe,

like a baked cheesecake,

so it's quite nice to keep that sort of theme really.

I'm going to pop this in the oven for around about 45 minutes,

but not too hot.

You don't want it overcooking at the sides.

We want it to cook really gently all the way through.

And in the middle we want a little wibble-wobble.

I'm serving my cheesecake with sharp, zingy blackberries

and crunchy honeycomb, dusted with black pepper.

Just give it a...

Smash it into shards of peppery sugariness.

I'm going to cut up some of the blackberries.

We will leave some of them whole, some of them mushed down a bit.

And, again, you always have to nick one.

Whack a bit of that in there.

Give it a little stir up.

And after 45 minutes, your cheesecake is done.

So it's exactly what we are looking for.

Look, we've got that fantastic little wibble-wobble.

Now for the hardest part - leaving it to cool before diving in.

So this is the moment of truth to see whether it's set.

We need to run a knife around the outside.

SOFT CRUNCHING

You can hear that crunchiness of the biscuit on the bottom.

There we go.

We're going to serve it with the blackberries and the honeycomb

and that should give the dish even more texture

and a little bit of spice with the black pepper.

So there we have it. My baked blackberry cheesecake.

Didn't that look wonderful? Ideal for a nice indulgent teatime.

As is our next recipe.

It's from Paul Hollywood and he's baking a malt loaf

that can also be transformed into a perfect pudding.

I'm going to make a malt loaf,

which is actually one of my son's favourites.

It's strange, cos it's quite an adult taste, actually.

We're going to start with malt.

This is a beautiful flavour.

It's very, very strong. It's like a cross between a caramel and treacle.

A couple of tablespoons of the malt extract.

Closely followed by two tablespoons of black treacle.

Using a hot spoon will help.

And then we have a tablespoon of brown sugar.

That will give you a beautiful caramel feel to the loaf.

25 grams of butter. Now, all this goes on the heat.

While the butter mixture melts,

blend together the other ingredients.

Strong white and wholemeal flours plus, of course, a bit of yeast.

In here, my butter, which is all melted together.

You've got to leave that to cool because

if you put a hot mixture on this, it will kill the yeast instantly.

Sultanas. That's all my ingredients ready.

The mixture has cooled for about 20 minutes

and the smell as the dark, warm liquid hits the bowl

is really lovely - malty and rich.

Now I'm going to add my water.

I'm going to get a bit of a spoon in there to turn this mixture together.

Now start using your hand in there, folding it into the middle.

You end up with...

..that.

It's like magic, isn't it? Does that scare you?

You think, "I'll never be able to do that,"

but it's actually quite simple to do.

This is a slightly different technique.

If you pat and just pour into the middle

and what is happening now, because you are giving it some aggression,

the moisture from those sultanas are beginning to release.

It is therefore a good idea to use a little bit of extra flour

to stop the dough sticking to the work surface.

One thing I crave is actually being alone making bread.

For me, it's a very personal thing, making bread.

You get a huge amount of satisfaction seeing a loaf

come out of the oven that you have made.

I'm happy with that.

It's quite smooth, it's got a bit of elasticity in it now.

Halve it.

Fold over the ends.

Into the tin, knuckles in, flatten it down.

These have got yeast in.

Therefore they need to grow,

so you need to leave them alone and let nature do its work.

After about 90 minutes' proving, it's set for the oven.

190 degrees for 40 minutes.

It will be a lovely golden colour when it comes out.

Oh, yes.

There we are.

They smell lovely.

Now, one of the things which makes this even more indulgent is honey.

While it's warm, just drizzle over the top and leave it to soak in.

For a little bit of tea in the afternoon,

with a little bit of butter,

you will thoroughly enjoy a great malted loaf.

As great as this is sliced and buttered,

if you've got some left over,

you can transform it into a rich, satisfying dessert.

First, make fresh custard.

Milk and cream.

Or if you're feeling posh, it's a bit like a creme anglaise.

For this recipe and others in the series,

you can visit the BBC food website.

Two teaspoons of cinnamon.

While that is gently heating, beat together caster sugar and eggs.

Then gradually whisk in the warm milk and cream mix.

The smell when you break into it is lovely.

It reminds me of my nan's house. She loved malt loaf.

We used to go round there when I was a kid growing up.

Spread each slice with butter and marmalade.

Add a layer of sultanas.

Let the custard soak in for a few minutes.

Then, for crunch, sprinkle with demerara sugar.

That will then be baked.

Gorgeous.

Serve with creme fraiche and orange zest.

This is a really comforting, warming pudding.

One that shows just how versatile bread is.

Another pudding now.

In fact, it's a version of one of the simplest

and most popular ones around.

Here's Nigel Slater using up lots of leftovers

in what he calls a compost crumble.

You know, I eat a lot of fruit.

What I buy and put in the fruit bowl, I always go for the best ones

first and then I am left with ones that need using up.

I never quite know what to do with them.

But if I get it right and match one fruit to another,

I can put them all in one dish.

Today, I think I'm going to make a crumble.

It's just one of those instantly gratifying recipes

where something wonderful happens in the pan

with virtually no effort at all.

I've got pears and I've got an apple

and some odd bits and pieces that I haven't eaten.

And I'm going to put them into the pan

with a little bit of lemon juice.

And a wee bit of sugar.

And just soften them first.

Let all those juices get flowing.

Then they end up really soft and juicy underneath the crisp crust.

Even if you've got some underripe fruit, throw it in.

A little bit of heat and sugar is all it takes to make good.

If you've got some soft fruits, some blueberries, some raspberries

and blackberries, they can go in as well.

I don't think it works with tropical fruits.

Maybe the odd banana, but pineapple, mango, don't.

There is some lemon juice in there and just to draw out

all of those juices, I'm going to put a little bit of sugar in.

Now for my crisp crust.

200 grams of plain flour and about 100 grams of butter.

You can rub the butter into the flour in seconds

with a food processor.

It's that moment when you get your hands in there

and you feel the soft flour and you feel the cold butter

and you realise why you cook and what is so wonderful about it.

As much as I love a simple crumble crust,

I also like it when it's got lots of different textures going on.

So when I go to the cupboard I think of what will work.

So a few big oats, they are rolled oats.

I've got some pumpkin seeds.

Sunflower would be really good too.

I've got a few flaked almonds here.

Some sesame. I am just after things of different sizes.

Different textures. It just makes the crust more interesting.

And then some sugar.

I don't add too much sugar to my crumble,

because the fruit is quite sweet as it is.

I am using demerara, but caster will do.

So what I've got is a very rich crust here

with all that butter and sugar.

But it's also got all the seeds and nuts in it.

Now, delicious as that is, I've got a banana to use up as well.

Everybody likes their bananas at a different level of ripeness.

But, for me, once they get a little bit too ripe,

they get a little bit sickly,

and that's when they end up in the kitchen.

I always like to add something

that will feel like a little surprise underneath the crumble.

This is one of those really easy desserts. It's a matter of minutes.

You make it in one dish so there is not a lot of washing up.

I've never known anybody who didn't just tuck in.

And then that goes in the oven.

About 180, 200 for about half an hour.

This is going to be a real treat for the weekend

and a conscience-clearing dish that just helps me out.

I'll be honest, if I hadn't have used that fruit in this,

it might have ended up on the compost.

So this...

..is actually what I call my compost crumble.

The only thing THAT needs...

..is a little bit of sour cream.

This is everything I want a one-pan recipe to be.

And do you know what? That's a delicious end to the week.

I'm not sure about that name, compost crumble,

but the recipe looks wonderful.

Now, we've just got enough time to show you two more puddings.

The first is from Raymond Blanc -

a pistachio and sorbet souffle.

For many people, a souffle seems like one of those dishes

that's just too tricky even to try.

Well, Raymond would like to set you right.

There is some kind of myth about souffle.

That they are delicate,

they are the prima donnas of the baking world.

That it's impossible to succeed.

That, if you open the oven door, it will collapse.

If you breathe, it will collapse.

No. Go on breathing, open the oven doors.

I will show you simple techniques to make you a perfect souffle.

Three elements in a souffle -

the base, the flavour, the lifting part.

To start, warm milk in a pan.

-Add sugar and vanilla puree.

-Voila.

The next step of the base is to create a simple creme patissiere,

which is essentially a creamy custard.

I put my egg yolk, sugar, 50 grams,

and I've got a whisk here.

I've got 10 grams of flour.

And I've got 10 grams of arrowroot.

The reason I use arrowroot or cornflour is the starch,

which it is much finer.

It makes the creme patissiere much silkier.

OK, tres bien. My milk is boiling.

So you pour it in a little bit. Then you mix.

Don't put it all. That is why you get the lumps.

Just a tiny bit to dilute it, to mix it nicely

and then now I can add the rest of my milk.

Tres bien.

Thicken the mix over the heat, whisking constantly.

Voila!

A little bit of sugar. So you need 10 grams of pistachio paste.

Pistachio paste is made by simply blending

equal measures of toasted pistachios with marzipan.

Voila! So now you do your mix.

That is your base. Quite thick. Not runny.

That is so important because when you bake your souffle,

that will thicken the wall of the egg white

to make it much more viscous and much more delicious.

And much more strong.

Next, egg whites for lift.

Add a squeeze of lemon and whisk.

Slowly, add the sugar and continue whisking

until the egg whites start to stiffen.

I take a third...

to lighten the base. Perfect. Voila.

Gently fold in the rest of the egg whites.

This will keep in the air that makes the souffle rise, as it expands.

Voila.

Dust pre-buttered ramekins with grated dark chocolate to

prevent the souffle mixture sticking to the dish and allowing it to rise.

So now we are ready to fill up our souffle.

And I have a little trick.

I'm going to entrap chocolate sorbet inside my souffle.

Place that right in the middle here.

And I find it cleaner... Clean flavours. Clean, sharp, lovely.

Tres bien.

Use your thumbnail to push the mixture away from the side.

This will help the souffle rise straight.

Dust with icing sugar to give a caramelised crust and add texture.

Sinking souffles are notorious,

but this tip will give a perfect rise every time.

At this stage of the recipe,

the souffles can be frozen for a day or two.

When ready to bake,

microwave for five seconds first to soften the centre.

So imagine the consequences.

You are with your friends, you've had a lovely party.

You stand up and you tell them, and you make sure they listen,

"Gentlemen, ladies, my dear friends, my loved ones,

"I'm going to do my souffle."

And you just walk out.

Then, you come back triumphantly ten minutes after

with your perfectly raised souffle.

What a triumph.

Then you get a serious reputation.

Then, you just... Voila.

So preheat your oven at 180 degrees.

It will take exactly 12 minutes.

Placing the ramekins on a preheated tray

will give them instant heat and help them rise.

Voila. Bon chance, mes enfants.

A good souffle should be barely cooked in the middle.

Just warm.

That's lovely. That is also a wonderful illustration of baking.

It has got all the magic that you would wish for. It's all there.

The crust, the colouring, the wonderful melting quality,

then the surprise of that perfect sorbet, cooling you down. Fantastic.

You've got it all.

Very nice.

It's like art with Raymond sometimes, isn't it?

Now, another French recipe and it's a great one to finish with.

This is Rachel Khoo's Little Paris Kitchen,

where she's baking some puddings that even sound good.

They're called...

I have the perfect recipe

to recreate that Parisienne patisserie experience at home,

a grapefruit and pepper meringue tartlet.

Start off by zesting my grapefruit.

This is for the grapefruit curd,

which will sit in the base of the tart.

Ah, beautiful smell from the grapefruit!

It's a bit like aromatherapy. Great way to start the morning.

Cut it in half.

Give it a good squeeze and pour 90ml of juice into a pan.

I need one egg.

And one egg yolk.

To your mix, add 100 grams of plain sugar,

a tablespoon of cornflour and a pinch of salt,

then get it on the hob.

You just want to whisk constantly until it thickens up.

It's almost there. All right, it's bubbled.

Switch off the heat, add 50 grams of cubed soft butter.

That looks like it's done. I'm going to pour it into my bowl.

It's got a great consistency,

but you do need to chill it a little bit cos it will set.

In the fridge it goes, just to chill.

Filling done, next task, the base for the tarts

and, for that, I've already prepared a Breton biscuit mix.

The recipe is on my BBC webpage.

And what you do is this kind of snail shape first.

So you go out, all the way in.

OK, and then the ring around the outside.

Makes you want a little dip in the middle

to put your curd in the middle.

They go in the oven for about 12-15 minutes.

Next up, the meringue topping.

Get a pan with 100 grams of sugar

and 40ml of water to make a hot syrup.

Here comes the science part.

I have my thermometer here and I'm going to put it in.

I need to get 118 degrees Celsius

because if it's not hot enough,

your meringue's not going to be stiff enough.

If it's too hot, then your meringue's too stiff

and you're not going to get a nice finish on your meringue.

So 118 degrees Celsius is the perfect temperature.

I'm going to put my egg whites in my mixing bowl.

Add a pinch of salt.

OK, so, we're not far off.

We're at 107 degrees Celsius and it's starting to bubble.

Come on!

118, OK. Let's take that out.

And then you want to pour it along the side of the bowl

because if you don't pour it along the side,

you pour it on the whisk and that makes spun sugar.

I'm going to go look in the oven. I think the biscuits are done.

Let's have a look.

Yay! They look perfect.

I'm going to add a little bit of black pepper to my meringue.

The spiciness from the black pepper

works really well with the acidity of the grapefruit.

That looks perfect. I'm going to turn it off.

Ah.

Wow! Look at that meringue.

And that will look beautiful on our tartlets.

OK, I just need to get my grapefruit curd out of the fridge

cos that's been cooling down.

Just add a couple of tablespoons in.

If you don't have time to make the filling,

you could cheat a little and buy some lemon curd from a shop.

OK, meringue time.

Look at that.

Just put on top.

OK, you will need a blowtorch.

And not any old blowtorch. I have a very big blowtorch.

Lightly brush the meringue.

This will caramelise it and add a little crispness.

And that's it. All that's left to do is to eat them.

Let's have a little look inside.

So, when you cut in, you've got a little surprise.

Isn't that stunning?

Well, Rachel has set the bar pretty high with that recipe.

It may need a bit of practice,

but it's definitely one of the Best Bakes Ever.

We're out of time now,

but we'll have lots more brilliant baking next time,

so see you again soon.