CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Guide to baking ingredients

Tools, tips & techniques

Baking with alternatives

PART ONE: EVERY DAY

RECIPES

Breakfast

Power snacks

Tea time

Puddings

Cooking with children

Bread & savouries

Sweets

PART TWO: CELEBRATION

Easter

St George’s Day

Mother’s Day

Father’s Day

Wimbledon

Halloween

Bonfire Night

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Hogmanay

Eid

Valentine’s Day

Birthdays

Christenings

Wakes

Indexes

Acknowledgements

Copyright

HOW TO USE THIS EBOOK

Select one of the chapters from the main contents list and you will be taken to a list of all the recipes covered in that chapter.

Alternatively, jump to the index to browse recipes by ingredient.

Look out for linked text (which is in blue) throughout the ebook that you can select to help you navigate between related recipes.

Welcome to Leon Baking & Puddings

Leon was founded on the belief that food should taste good and do you good. In this book we hope to show that this can be the case even where it is often thought impossible – when cooking comfort food. The dishes you will find here look indulgent, sound naughty and taste like the sort of treats that normally come with a side-helping of guilt. Yet three quarters of the recipes are wheat, dairy or sugar free, with plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. You will find an index that allows you to look up recipes according to their ingredients – e.g. gluten free, dairy free, and so forth.

The book is divided into two sections. The first part, Every Day, contains recipes for things that you might want to eat throughout the year – breakfast breads, energy bars, biscuits and quick puds. The second part, Celebration, is a collection of recipes designed to celebrate the passing of time, both through the year and through our lives. This is where you will find everything from hot cross buns and toffee apples to a Desperate Dan Pie for Father’s Day.

We want this book to be accessible to even the most inexperienced cook – hence our ‘how-to’ sections on basic techniques and tools. Once you have mastered a recipe you can use our suggested variations to put your own stamp on it. We also want to provide inspiration for the more experienced. Some of the recipes are daring (see Baked Alaska), some draw on ancient wisdom (see Sourdough Bread), and some are downright explosive (see Honeycomb). Each recipe is given a confidence rating – from ‘beginner’ to ‘feeling brave’ – but even the more adventurous recipes shouldn’t prove too tricky for the careful amateur.

We hope this book finds a permanent place in your kitchen and becomes batter-smattered, tacky with toffee and dog-eared through use.

Claire & Henry

A note on the authors

We have written the book in the first person plural – ‘we’ – because it represents the fruits of a year of close collaboration. We are lucky enough to live two doors down from each other, which means we spend a lot of time messing up each other’s kitchens and feasting on the results.

But obviously, we bring different things to the party. Simply put, Claire is the professional baker and Henry the enthusiastic amateur.

Claire used to be the pastry chef at Chez Panisse, Alice Waters’ legendary restaurant in California. She fell in love with a dapper English DJ and followed him home to east London, where she now runs her acclaimed bakery, Violet. An ardent believer in seasonal, natural ingredients, she is the best baker we know, and there is a precision and delicate beauty to all of her cooking. Henry is a co-founder of Leon (with John Vincent and Allegra McEvedy). He started his career as a commis chef, but soon realized he was too messy to be a professional cook. He never lost his passion for food, however, and he still spends every spare moment in the kitchen, where he always has some experiment on the go (with his long-suffering wife, Mima, following behind him with a J-cloth). Some of these experiments turn into dishes worth sharing (see Henry’s Spiced Chicken Mystery Pie, and the Chocolate & Salted Caramel Ice Cream Bombe); others are still being chipped off the ceiling.

There are a few recipes that have appeared in previous Leon books. They have become so popular with our regulars, that we thought it would be wrong to print a book on baking and puddings without them.

Key to Symbols

Key to recipe icons:

♥

Low saturated fats

✓

Good carbs (low GI) / good sugars

WF

Wheat free

GF

Gluten free

DF

Dairy free

V

Vegetarian

Indulgence

Level of confidence:
Beginner

Medium

Feeling brave

Cooking tips, extra information and alternative ideas.

Lots of lovely people test the recipes to make sure they are spot on. We’ve given each one a badge of honour.

FLOURS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: WHOLEMEAL SPELT, POLENTA FLOUR, RYE FLOUR, RICE FLOUR, PLAIN SPELT FLOUR & PLAIN FLOUR

The role of flours is to provide structure. The proteins in traditional flours react with water, producing gluten, the strands of which create a lattice in which air bubbles can be trapped, giving your baked goods ‘lightness’, but some people find flour hard to digest. Recipes using gluten-free flours will be more cake-like, although this effect can often be offset to some degree by adding other structure providers such as eggs or gums.

❶TRADITIONAL WHEAT FLOUR

Wholemeal, plain/white strong (or hard) and self-raising

What is it? Ground wheat. Wholemeal is made from the whole grain: the endosperm (proteinous/starchy), the germ (proteinous and full of vitamins), and the bran (fibrous). The other varieties of wheat are made from the starchy endosperm only. Plain flour is used for general baking as it produces less gluten than strong flour which is traditionally used to make bread. Self-raising flour is plain flour with a raising agent (traditionally baking powder) added.

What is it good for? Pretty much anything in traditional baking.

Is it good for me? For a lot of people, no. Wheat has changed beyond recognition in the past 100 years, as farmers have selectively bred it from its naturally occurring forms to the extremely high-yielding grains that are produced today. These advances have done a lot to help feed a growing global population, but at a cost. Incidences of coeliac disease – a severe allergy to gluten, which causes the immune system to attack the lining of the small intestine – have been doubling every fifteen years since the Seventies. Some people are also allergic to wheat (rather than just to the gluten it contains). In addition wheat intolerance is a growing problem – a less catastrophic but still unpleasant reaction to modern wheat proteins which can leave you feeling heavy, tired, and listless. If you are lucky enough to have a body that can cope with it, wheat is a wonderful thing. If not, there are alternatives.

❷SPELT FLOUR

Wholemeal or white

What is it? Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat that has not been transformed by selective breeding.

What is it good for? You can use spelt as a substitute for wheat in many dishes. Although it is higher in protein than many wheat flours, it is lower in gluten. It will not therefore give you the extravagantly risen breads that you can create with wheat flour. It has a delicious nutty flavour. We love spelt.

Is it good for you? People with wheat allergy and intolerance can generally tuck into spelt quite happily. Coeliacs must avoid spelt because it contains gluten. Our own experience is that it doesn’t give you that bloated sensation you get from traditional wheat.

❸RYE FLOUR

What is it? Rye comes from the same family of grasses as wheat. It originated in Eastern Europe, where it grows well in cold climates and in poor soils. It is dense and dark and contains little gluten.

What is it good for? For making traditional rye breads. Also strongly flavoured beers, vodka and whisky.

Is it good for you? Many people find it more palatable than wheat, as it has lower gluten levels and has been less intensively bred. It is high in vitamins and soluble fibre, and has a lower glycemic load than many wheat and spelt breads so is less likely to lead to weight gain.

➍BUCKWHEAT FLOUR

What is it? Buckwheat is actually not a wheat at all. It is not even a grass. It is a fruit seed from the rhubarb family and similar to a sunflower seed. It is gluten-free.

What is it good for? We use the flour to make pancakes, the flakes to make granola and porridge, and it can be used as a couscous substitute in its groat form. However, it will not provide sufficient structure to make breads unless you add eggs or xanthan gum. It can also be used alongside other flours for interesting flavour and texture combinations.

Is it good for you? Yes. It is high in nutrients, especially manganese and magnesium, and also provides vitamins, zinc and a whole host of other goodies. It is sometimes called the ‘king of the healing grains’.

❺GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR

What is it? Any flour that does not contain gluten. You can mix your own or choose shop-bought varieties, which will generally be various blends of rice, potato, buckwheat, and bean and pea flours. They will often have added gluten-substitutes such as xantham gum.

What is it good for? If you want to avoid gluten, you can use it as a flour substitute in instances where the dish you are making does not need the strong structure that gluten provides. In this book, we use it in crumbles, scones, cakes, tarts, and to make a ‘cakey’ breakfast loaf.

Is it good for you? These flours will not contain gluten, but some are quite refined so they will not necessarily be packed full of nutrients.

❻POLENTA

What is it? Coarsely ground dried corn/maize, also known as cornmeal. As opposed to cornflour, which is very finely ground into a starchy white powder.

What is it good for? We use it to give body to cakes while avoiding wheat flour. It has a beautiful yellow colour and a mild, sweet flavour.

Is it good for you? It a relatively complex carbohydrate that also contains protein and some vitamins. A reasonable food – it won’t make a superhero of you overnight, but it isn’t bad for you either.

❼GRAM FLOUR

What is it? Ground-up dried chickpeas.

What is it good for? We use it to add body to some gluten-free cakes. Also good for thickening stews. It can be a little bitter, so we like to use it sparingly.

Is it good for you? Yes. Gluten free, it has a low GL, so it won’t set your sugar levels racing. Contains a good bit of protein and iron.

LEAVENERS & THICKENERS

❶YEAST

A micro-organism that converts the sugars in flour into carbon dioxide bubbles, thus putting air into the dough. It comes in many forms – fresh, dried and rapid-rise. We specify the type used in each recipe, but if you are substituting one for another, make sure you follow the instructions on the packet.

❷BICARBONATE OF SODA

A chemical compound with a slightly alkaline taste, which reacts with acids to form carbon dioxide.

❸BAKING POWDER

A mixture of bicarbonate of soda and an acid compound (typically cream of tartar) that reacts when moistened to produce carbon dioxide. (Some baking powders use wheat as a ‘moisture absorption agent’. You can buy gluten-free ones that do not.)

➍ARROWROOT, CORNSTARCH

Starchy powders useful for gluten-free binding and thickening.

❺XANTHUM GUM

A thickener/binder that can be used at very low concentrations to thicken sauces. Often used to help give gluten-free breads structure.

❻EGG SUBSTITUTE

Also known as whole egg replacer, it is used to replace eggs in sponges and cakes for vegans and people who are allergic. Normally made of soy protein and potato starch. Not something we use often, but nice if you are baking for a vegan.

FATS

Fats play many roles in baking. They add moistness and tenderness. They create barriers between layers of flour, allowing crispy pastries to develop. They help gluten stretch in bread, and are used to stop things sticking to trays. They taste rich and sweet.

❶UNSALTED BUTTER

What is it? A golden block of dairy goodness made from churning cream to concentrate the butterfat. It is an emulsion of butterfat (about 80%), water and milk proteins. Unsalted butter is normally used in baking, as it has a sweeter flavour.

What is it good for? The most common baking fat, butter is solid at room temperature and can therefore be used to make all sorts of flaky pastries. It melts at body temperature, so it doesn’t taste greasy.

Is it good for me? As with suet, butter is mostly saturated fat and is therefore high in calories. These foods used to be considered the devil’s work, but they are all natural and recent nutritional research suggests that (within reason) they are likely to do us less harm than processed alternatives. As it is a saturated fat, butter can also be heated without changing its structure and becoming more harmful. Butter contains very little lactose and is therefore rarely a problem for the lactose intolerant.

❷SALTED BUTTER

What is it? Butter that has had salt added as a preservative and to change the flavour.

What is it good for? Generally we prefer the sweeter flavour of unsalted butter in baking and puddings. But occasionally – e.g. for the Sweet Popcorn with Chocolate Drizzle – the stronger flavour of salted butter gets the nod.

Is it good for me? Much the same as unsalted butter. If you need to watch your salt levels then go for unsalted.

❸COCONUT OIL

What is it? The oil extracted from coconut flesh.

What is it good for? It is liquid at body temperature, but just about solid at room temperature. This makes it a possible substitute for butter in many applications (although, as you will see from the recipes, you have to handle it differently). Its melting point (about 23°C) is much closer to room temperature than butter (about 32°C) or indeed cocoa butter (about 34°C) – which gives it unique qualities. Coconut oil icing, for example (see Vegan Vanilla Icing), melts in the mouth in a very different way from the richer butter icings. (If you have ever tried Lindt Lindor chocolates – which contain a lot of coconut oil – you will recognize the sensation.)

Is it good for me? There is a great deal of debate over this. When people started trying to cut dairy out of their diet, coconut oil was seen as a perfect substitute. Then nutritionists pointed out that it was also high in calories and saturated fats. More recent evidence has shown that coconut oil actually promotes good cholesterol and that it is easily metabolized into fuel (rather than deposited as fat). Of course this is only useful if you need the fuel. Our feeling is that it is a good fat; some people say it will make you podgy, but many nutritionists disagree. Claire ate loads of it on a recent detox and the weight fell off. (Read labels carefully though, as some coconut oil is still hydrogenated, which is bad news. Always choose organic and unrefined).

➍OLIVE OIL

What is it? Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil is the oil extracted from olive flesh.

What is it good for? It is liquid at room temperature and therefore less versatile in baking than other fats discussed here. We use it in breads and pizza doughs and to toast granola.

Is it good for you? Yes. It is high in monounsaturated fats that may help protect against heart disease. It also contains a useful source of omega-6 fats, which we must eat because our bodies cannot make them from other foods. (Make sure you get the cold-pressed variety.)

❺SUET

What is it? Raw beef (and sometimes mutton) fat, often taken from around the kidneys. The stuff that you buy in supermarkets has been dehydrated, purified and mixed with flour to stabilize it. If you use real fresh suet, you may need slightly less. (You can also buy vegetarian suet, but choose carefully: most of it is made from hydrogenated trans-fats, which should be avoided.)

What is it good for? Making traditional steamed English puddings. The suet is hard and therefore forms little pockets in the pastry. When the pudding is cooking these melt away, leaving air pockets and giving that wonderful light, spongy and slightly crispy texture. If you substitute butter you will get a much denser, richer pastry.

Is it good for me? It is a high calorie saturated fat. However, the link between saturated fat and heart disease is now under dispute, with recent studies pointing to manufactured trans-fats and sugary foods as the real villains. Therefore: don’t eat suet every day, but it’s fine as an occasional treat.

❻LARD

What is it? Pig fat – often rendered (melted slowly), purified and then reset.

What is it good for? Generally used to make really flaky pastries (for example, the hot crust pastry used for Esther’s Pork Pie). It is solid at body temperature and has a distinct soft porky flavour. We don’t use it much.

Is it good for you? Very calorific, but probably not as sinful as its reputation would suggest. Eat it about as often as you would suet.

❼MARGARINE

What is it? A butter substitute originally manufactured from beef fat but now more commonly made by thickening vegetable oils and dying them yellow.

What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again. We don’t think that there is any recipe that tastes better when made with margarine.

Is it good for you? Traditional margarines made from hydrogenating vegetable oil were originally marketed as a healthier, cheaper alternative to butter. We now know that the manufacturing process created deadly trans-fats, and these types of marg have all but disappeared from the supermarket shelves. More recent manufacturing methods have produced a slew of margarines with their own advertised ‘health benefits’. However, they have only recently entered the food chain and we would council caution. Our general rule of thumb is: avoid using any ingredient in cooking that has been invented in the last 1,000 years.

SUGARS & SWEETENERS

It is one of the tragedies of the human condition that sweet foods were not that commonplace when our palates were evolving. To early man, sugar was a rare and valuable source of energy. As a result, we have evolved to seek it out and wolf it down. Our tastebuds, which usually guide us towards things that are good for us, tell us that sweet things are to be gobbled up with abandon.

Until as recently as 1766, when the Sugar Tax was repealed, it was impossible to get hold of sugar in sufficient quantity to do us harm. But white processed sugar is now cheap and plentiful, and over the last couple of decades has been recognized (alongside processed carbohydrates) as the single greatest threat to our health. In the end, moderation is the answer, but there are some sweet substances out there that enable us to satisfy those evolutionary instincts while offering a little more protection to our bodies.

SUGAR

Sugar is made by distilling a sweet syrup – usually taken from sugar cane or sugar beet – until it crystallizes. It is almost irresistible. We try to use substitutes where possible. Where you do use it, here are a few rules:

Use cane sugar (preferably Fairtrade), not beet sugar. Beet sugar has a funny taste, particularly noticeable in icings.

Use unrefined sugar – it has a slightly nicer taste and at least retains some minerals and nutrients.

Eat as a treat only. Otherwise it will make your blood sugar soar and then slump, leaving you a bit moody and, later, a bit fatter.

Sugar comes in many forms from white caster sugar* to dark brown muscovado. If you are ever holidaying in a sugar-producing country, take an afternoon off the beach to visit a sugar refinery. They are amazing places. The cane is ground by vast grooved metal rollers sprayed with hot water, and the resulting syrup is boiled to varying levels of darkness in bubbling vats. The smell is intoxicating. Unrefined sugars are spun off from the syrups at varying levels of concentration (each darker than the last), using a centrifuge. The final remaining sweet syrup is called molasses, which is dense in nutrients compared to other sugars.

The sugars we use are:

❶UNREFINED CASTER SUGAR

Unrefined means it contains molasses; refined sugar has this source of nutrients and flavour removed. Unrefined cane sugar comes from an early stage of distillation, and the brown of the molasses is hardly visible. The crystals are ground, which makes them easy to mix, melt and dissolve.

❷UNREFINED DEMERARA SUGAR

Darker than caster sugar, with a stronger flavour. Larger crystals give it a satisfyingly crunchy bite.

❸DARK BROWN MUSCOVADO SUGAR

This sugar is not spun in the centrifuge, but is left to dry in the sun. It therefore contains more plant matter, which gives it its rich flavour. It is very different from, and much nicer than, the brown sugar made by adding molasses to white sugar.

➍ICING SUGAR

A very finely ground refined sugar, which generally contains an anti-caking agent.

❺TREACLE

The syrup left over when the sugar crystals have been spun out. Light treacle (or golden syrup) is made from the by-product of the first white sugar production. Black treacle is made from later boilings and contains more plant matter and less sugar (about 55% sugar). It is similar to molasses.

❻FRUCTOSE

The sugar in cane sugar is sucrose, which is made up of glucose and fructose (the latter also occurs naturally in fruit). Sugar can be treated to create fructose, which we use in our brownies because it’s less likely to give you a sugar high followed by a sugar low and is therefore good for afternoon concentration. However, there is recent evidence to suggest that it might turn to fat more easily than other sugars. In this book we therefore use a number of other natural sweeteners.

OTHER NATURAL SWEETENERS

Natural sweeteners are generally used because they cause less of a sugar rush than traditional sugar and are less refined – therefore containing more nutrients. However, they still come with some caveats.

❼HONEY

Flower nectar collected by bees.

What is good about it? Completely natural and delicious. Many forms are high in fructose and therefore create less of a sugar rush.

Any problems? Much mass-market honey is made by feeding the bees sugar syrup – and so is nutritionally identical to sugar.

❽MAPLE SYRUP

A syrup from the sap of maple trees.

What is good about it? Like honey, it is natural and delicious.

Any problems? The sweetness in maple syrup comes mostly from sucrose, and therefore it carries the same health warnings as sugar.

❾AGAVE NECTAR

A syrup produced from the Mexican agave plant. It is sweeter than honey, but less viscous.

What is good about it? It tastes good and is much less likely to give you a sugar rush.

Any problems? Due to massive recent demand, much of it is now quite heavily processed. Fructose is its main source of sweetness, and fructose may not be as innocent as once thought. Agave nectar’s reputation as a miracle substitute for sugar has suffered as a result.

❿BROWN RICE SYRUP

This is derived by culturing cooked rice with enzymes from dried barley sprouts to break down the starches, which is then strained off and the resulting sweet liquid cooked.

What is good about it? It is a natural product that will not give you a sugar rush and does not contain fructose.

Any problems? It is pretty strongly flavoured. It has not been widely available for long, but so far seems to have a clean bill of health.

⓫YACON SYRUP

A dark molasses-like syrup made from a Peruvian root.

What is good about it? Unlike agave syrup, the compounds providing the sweetness in yacon syrup pass through the body without being metabolized at all.

Any problems? It has a pretty strong flavour. As yet, no one has claimed that it is bad for you.

⓬STEVIA

A mint-like herb that is very sweet but contains no calories. Recently hailed as the potential solution to the sugar problem.

What is good about it? Sweet without an aftertaste and contains no calories. Will not give you a sugar rush.

Any problems? It is almost impossible to get hold of unless you grow it in your own garden. No detailed research has been carried out on possible side effects so in the UK it still cannot be sold, although it is permitted in many other countries. There is a heated ongoing controversy over whether sweetener companies are exerting political power to prevent it from coming to market.