Shires Cookery School » Past Courses

World Cup curry challenge

wendy — Sat, 29 May 2010 09:42:38 +0000

On the warmest weekend so far this year our students arrived to take on the challenge of preparing and cooking chicken tikka masala, onion bhajis and pilau rice. Under Richards tuition everyone quickly entered into the spirit of the course, with the fabulous aromas and flavours rising across the kitchen.

A huge thanks to the students who rose to the challenge and left the course with a ready made meal and the recipes to recreate the dishes at home. All we need to round it up is a few goals – come on England!

Lots more pictures and a fantastic video of the class will be on our site shortly.

Bread baking at its best

wendy — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:43:02 +0000

On Saturday 17 April a number of students joined chef Richard Curtis on our famous Artisan bread course. During the day the team learnt all the skills associated with this specialist baking skill, culminating with the students taking home arms full of fresh tasty bread.

Date for your diary – on 15 May will be running a pastry day – details being published soon

For the students a recipe – as promised by Richard

Half spongeA sponge dough for adding to a bread or roll recipe to enhance the flavour & texture of the final product　

400 ml of warm water (32oC / 34oC)
100 ml low fat yogurt
10 g yeast
400g strong flour
100 g wholemeal, rye or spelt
Rest for 18 to 24 hours at 20oC/ 24 oC max
Add to bread or roll dough recipe

Recreating the Caribbean

wendy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:15:26 +0000

Students joined chef Richard Curtis at our Caribbean Day held at Northampton College. During the day students recreated the fabulous tastes of the Caribbean with sticky spicy ribs, jerk chicken, fruit curry, traditional rice and peas. Followed up with lime chili panacotta and mango jelly. The students also gained lots of tips on choosing and preping fresh fruit and the correct use of spices to create those unique Caribbean flavours.

Basic bread recipe

wendy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:36:04 +0000

A recipe from our
Aritisan bread day

Basic Bread recipe
Ingredients
1kilo    Strong White Bread Flour  100%
10g       Fresh Yeast  10%
20g       Salt   20%
600ml  Warm Water 35c (hand hot)   60%
60g   Oil   6%

Method

Weigh all ingredients, oven temperature 240c.
Put the yeast, oil and water in a jug and mix.
Sieve flour and salt.
Make a well and add three-quarter of the liquid, mix well, gradually add the other liquid mix until you have smooth dough.
Knead well for five minutes, until you have a smooth dough.
Lightly oil the mixing bowl; cover with a large plastic bag, a carrier bag is ideal, prove until double in size.
Knock back, knead again for five minutes.
Divide into two, Mould place in bread tin.
Cover the bread with a large plastic bag and leave to prove.
Once proved double in size, mark the bread, place in the preheated oven and bake for thirty five minutes.

If you missed this course – the good news is we will be running it again later in the year – see the pics and comments from our students Subscribe so you dont miss out on future dates

A successful day baking

wendy — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:41:20 +0000

August 1 saw the launch of our first course at Northampton College – students joined Richard Curtis to learn the art of Artisan bread making.

The students where taken through a brief history of bread making before measuring, kneading and fermenting their first batch of dough.

Richard said every student went from the kitchen loaded with loaves of bread, from focaccia, crisp French sticks, granary basket bread to cottage loaves. As one student said “I have never learnt so much in such a short time.’ Richard then went on to say they were a great group of eclectic students who were ready to learn and laugh – a great day. Another student, Alison commented ‘I had never made bread before and knew absolutely nothing but Richard was such an inspirational and knowledgeable teacher who has really given me the confidence to give it a go on my own !!

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