Mary Berry's Baking Bible Challenge

This week I bought a book I have been after for quite a while. 

It's a cookbook, of course, written by perhaps the nation's most loved of cookery writers/presenters/judges - Mary Berry.

It's not just me that's a fan in this house, the older 3 boys all love watching the Great British Bakeoff. I am not allowed to watch an episode without them here, and this last couple of weeks they have really enjoyed watching the documentary The Mary Berry Story.

So, I decided to set myself a wee challenge.

Since, you know, looking after a household of four boys and a hard-working husband just isn't enough to do really.

Seriously though, this isn't a tricky challenge, and one that everyone will benefit from.

I decided that since Mary Berry is the Queen of home baking, I would try and bake my way through her Baking Bible. 

That's a fun challenge, right?

Some of the recipes I will adapt to be allergy free, others I will do as written. I have only come across one recipe on my quick flick through that is quite nutty, and I may just give that one a miss. Given the number of nut allergies in the house I don't really like to cook with them any more!

We have already made a start, and the boys have been willing helpers. Calum (10) made the flapjacks entirely on his own. We used dairy free margarine and added dairy-free chocolate chips (the chocolate chips were one of Mary's alternatives to the basic recipe) and they were a hit!

James (13) helped me make some profiteroles for pudding another day.

We served these with our own chocolate sauce recipe (equal quantities of chocolate and cream, melted in a pan). They didn't last long!

I'm hoping to get a recipe or two from the book baked every week, and then I will share the photos of the results (which, judging by the first two we have tried look to be super yummy) on here.

I need a little help from my lovely readers though.

Can anyone think of a catchy name for my challenge?

I'm thinking that the Mary Berry Baking Bible Challenge doesn't exactly roll off the tongue!

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Cookbooks

Did I mention that I got some new cookbooks for my birthday?

I did? Several times?

Well, ok, yes I did. These are the books....

I do love a good cookbook, reading through it and taking notes about what I want to make next.

The bottom left book is where I got the inspiration for last week's Recipe of the Week (see here if you missed it)

With the top book in the photo, I think I might just start at the beginning and try out every single recipe. They all look so good! It's all about breads, which is something I'm not so used to making. My homemade bread comes courtesy of the bread maker - sacrilege to Mr Hollywood, I fear! Using his fine book though, I feel sure to conquer the challenge. It's full of step by step guides, plenty of photos and loads of advice.

I've not been the only one enjoying the books. The birthday boy, a huge British Bakeoff fan, loves looking through them.

This is how I found him the other day.....

Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way I can adapt those two breads he is looking at to make them gluten and dairy free so that he can try them!

 

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