RECIPES

Spelt Banana Cake

This is absolutely delicious - really fluffy and so easy to make.  The children helped me and had great fun taking it in turns to press the pulse button on the food processor!  One note that I think depends on the size of the bananas you use... my mixture was very sloppy and took 1 hour 15 mins to cook...

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Ingredients

210g (7oz) Whatton Farm White Spelt Flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate soda

Pinch of salt

125g (4oz) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

250g (8oz) soft brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork

125ml (4fl oz) buttermilk or regular milk, soured with a squeeze of lemon juice

 

Heat the oven to 170°C (gas mark 3).

Grease a medium-sized loaf tin and line the base and sides with greaseproof paper (leave a little hanging over the sides to help remove the bread from the tin).

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and use the pulse action until smooth. Don't over-process the mixture.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and smooth the top.

Bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes, or until the bread is firm and golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Delicious freshly baked, or the banana flavour grows more pronounced if you save it for the next day. Also great served toasted after a couple of days!

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Perfect Spelt Bread

This makes a big and scrumptious loaf that we think really is the best bread around.  You can make it with all White Flour but for an extra bit of goodness you can't beat this half and half. Proving it overnight means you don't need to hang around waiting for it which is helpful in a busy household!

Ingredients

250g Whatton Farm White Spelt Flour

250g Whatton Farm Wholemeal Spelt Flour

7g (2 5ml teaspoons) dried yeast

10g (1.5 teaspoons approx) sea salt

300 ml luke warm water

2 tablespoons light vegetable oil

1 tablespoon honey

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Mix the flours, yeast and salt together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Mix the water, oil and honey together and pour into the well, incorporating the flour to form a dough, adding a touch more luke warm water if too dry, or flour if too sticky.

Lightly flour a work surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough has changed to become stretchier and silkier.

Place the dough back in the bowl and cover tightly with cling film to prove: about two hours at room temperature, less for a warm room and more for a cool room - or place in the fridge for 6-8 hours or overnight.

When it has doubled in size, uncover and punch out the air with your knuckles then knead gently on a lightly floured surface for a minute or two to distribute the bubbles of gas evenly and avoid big holes in the bread.

Shape into a ball and place on some greaseproof paper, dust with flour and cover lightly with clingfilm to prove for about an hour or longer if it has come out of the fridge, until just doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 230C/210C (fan) and place two baking trays in the oven to heat and have ready some ice or a cup of cold water.

Then slash the top of the dough quite deeply with a sharp knife, dust again with flour and lift the dough on its baking sheet onto the top tray.

Tip the ice into the bottom tray and shut the door quickly to create steam in the oven.

After 15 mins turn the oven down to 200C/180 (fan) and turn the loaf around to cook evenly.  

Remover from oven after 15-20 more minutes or when the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom and has a lovely golden crust.

Try not to eat it all in one go!

 

Super Speedy Spelt Bread

This is incredibly simple and quick, and with nearly a whole loaf gone in under 24 hours I think we can say pretty moreish!  It is slightly heavier than the previous loaf, but not in a bad way, just different!  The children ate it with home laid scrambled eggs for their tea, and then with jam, and then with just butter... And then we dipped it in our rapeseed oil before supper... and now it's nearly gone!  I loved the fact it uses a casserole dish to bake it in (due to the steam created under the lid) so no special tin is needed and you can just form it into a cob shape by hand.  And I loved that I could use our rapeseed oil too!

Makes: 1 loaf
Takes: 1 hour (including proving)
Bakes: Under 1 hour

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Ingredients

500g Whatton Farm Spelt Flour, white or wholemeal
300 ml water
5g yeast
10g salt
40 ml Whatton Farm Rapeseed Oil

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Mix the dry ingredients together by hand.
Add the water and rapeseed oil, and bring the mixture together by hand until you have a cohesive lump of dough.
Rub a little bit of oil onto your hand and smooth onto the ball of dough, cover the bowl with a clean tea towel or cling film and leave in a warm place for 20 minutes.
Flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
Knead the dough by pushing it away from you with the heel of your hand, and then folding it back on itself. Do this for a couple of minutes and the dough will be noticeably smoother and slightly springier.
If you’re baking inside a loaf tin, put the dough into the loaf tin now, and leave to rise for about an hour.
If you’re baking inside a casserole dish, flour the base of the casserole dish, shape the dough into a cob shape, and place in the dish. Cover and leave for an hour.
Pre-heat your oven to 220°C
Slash the top of the loaf with a sharp knife in whatever pattern you want.
Put the lid on the casserole dish and place in oven.
After 20 minutes, remove the lid form the casserole dish, and turn the oven down to 200°C.
Bake for another 20-30 minutes. The crust should be firm and a deep brown.
Allow to cool completely before removing from the dish.

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Spelt, Lemon and Maple Syrup Drizzle Cake

Spelt flour and maple syrup make this a really rich and nutty cake. I used wholemeal Spelt flour by mistake and it was still delicious!  Incredibly simple too, all in one bowl!

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Ingredients

190g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

190g Whatton Farm White Spelt flour

2 large eggs

2 tsp baking powder

3 lemons, zest of 3 and juice of 1

180ml maple syrup

Lemon Drizzle

1 lemon, zest and juice

70g caster sugar

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Preheat the oven to 180 ̊C, gas mark 4.

Grease and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment.

Using electric beaters, beat the butter until very soft and creamy.

Beat in the remaining ingredients until well mixed.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

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For the lemon drizzle, mix the lemon zest and juice with the sugar.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick it several times with a skewer, then slowly pour the lemon drizzle all over the top, letting it soak into the cake. Leave to cool completely in the tin before turning out.

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Rapeseed Roast potatoes

Even crispier than using the famed goose fat.... AND lower in saturated fat! 

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Ingredients

8 tbsp Whatton Farm Rapa Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

4lb fluffy potatoes, such as Maris Piper, peeled and cut into 2 in chunks

3 sprigs rosemary

 

Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6.

Put  the oil into a large roasting tin in the oven to heat up.

Put potatoes into a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8min.

Drain and allow to steam dry in a colander.

Return to the pan, put the lid on and shake to fluff the edges.

Remove roasting tin from the oven. add potatoes to the tin (the fat will splutter) with the rosemary and plenty of seasoning.

Roast for 1hr, shaking tin halfway through to turn the potatoes.

Transfer to a warm dish and serve.

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Chocolate Cake

(gluten free if using ground almonds instead of flour)
60g good quality cocoa powder

125ml boiled water

2 tsp vanilla extract

150g ground almonds (or 125g plain flour)

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

200g caster sugar

3 large eggs

150ml Whatton Farm Rapa Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

Icing sugar for dusting (optional)

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Preheat your oven to 170°C and grease a 22cm springform tin.

Sift the cocoa powder into a bowl and add the boiled water a little at a time until you have a thick, smooth paste.

Stir in the vanilla extract and leave to cool while you carry on with the recipe.

Combine the almonds (or flour), bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl.

Add the sugar, eggs and Rapeseed oil into another bowl and whisk for three minutes (a handheld or freestanding mixer is helpful for this).

Add the cocoa powder and mix well, then add the almond or flour mixture.

Whisk for another minute or so until there are no lumps then pour into the cake tin.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Use a skewer to check if the cake has cooked through. It's okay if a few crumbs stick to it if you want the cake to be slightly gooey for a pudding (ground almonds instead of flour are best for this).

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in its tin then remove the tin carefully and dust with icing sugar. You can serve while still warm with ice cream or custard, but I think it's best as a really light and fluffy elevenses cake or iced with chocolate butter icing for tea.

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Gooey Chocolate Rapeseed Oil Cake

This makes a completely scrumptious pudding, served with berries and cream or icecream, and is gluten free..

 

10oz dark chocolate broken into pieces

2 tablespoons ground almonds

125ml Whatton Farm Rapeseed oil

7oz caster sugar

5 eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

 

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Butter and line an 8" springform/loose bottomed cake tin.

Place the chocolate pieces in a bowl and set over a pan of hot water to melt.

When liquid, pour in the rapeseed oil while mixing.

Add 2/3 of the sugar, whisking continuously to dissolve.

Remove from heat and fold in the ground almonds, salt and egg yolks.

In a clean bown beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar to form stiff peaks.

Fold in the chocolate mixture then pour into tin.

Bake for 35 - 40 mins and test with a skewer to see if it's cooked.. I like it best when it's not quite done!

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Rapeseed Oil, Basil and Parsley Pesto

Delicious as a dip, or as a sauce for pasta

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1/4 bunch of basil

1/4 bunch of flat-leaf parsley

1/2 garlic clove

90ml of Whatton Farm Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

1 pinch of salt

1 pinch of black pepper

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Discard the herb stalks and roughly chop the leaves. Place in a blender with the garlic and blitz on a low speed to combine. Whilst blending, gradually pour in the rapeseed oil to form a smooth pesto. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

 

Wild Garlic Rapeseed Oil Mayonnaise

If, like us, you are overrun with wild garlic in early summer, this is a delicious way to use it!  Or you can of course skip the wild garlic altogether and just make a delicious simple mayonnaise.

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Ingredients

 

90g of wild garlic

450ml of Whatton Farm Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

3 egg yolks

1 tsp English mustard

2 tsp white wine vinegar

salt

pepper

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First make the wild garlic oil for the mayonnaise:

Rinse the wild garlic, then blanch for about 30 seconds in a pan of heavily salted boiling water.

Drain and plunge the garlic into some iced water, then pat dry with kitchen towel.

Chop the wild garlic roughly and add to a blender with the rapeseed oil.

Start blitzing on a low speed, then increase in speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the oil is a bright green.

Pass through a fine sieve, then through a sheet of muslin or a coffee filter. Keep in the fridge until needed.

Whisk the egg yolks, mustard and vinegar in a bowl until smooth. Continue whisking and pour in a thin, steady stream of the wild garlic oil.

Keep whisking and pouring until all of the oil has been absorbed and has emulsified with the egg mixture - you should be left with a nice, thick green mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper.

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Simple French Vinaigrette

 

Ingredients

120ml Whatton Farm Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil 

40ml white wine vinegar 

Pinch of salt and pepper

Simply mix it all up in a jam jar. Then, if you want, you can flavour it and make it your own with…. 

 

Lemon juice or zest (you may want to use less vinegar to avoid a tart dressing).

Sugar, honey, or a syrup of your choice - a pinch of sugar or drizzle of honey or syrup can take the edge off it if you find it a little tart.

Leafy herbs - Finely chop leafy herbs like coriander, basil, parsley, tarragon or sage

Woody herbs – add large sprigs of woody herbs like rosemary and thyme and allow to infuse for a while. 

Mustard - any mustard will do!
 

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