'Make A Bake' East Dulwich Baking Group - Third Monday of each month

[hollyt]

Hello fellow bakers!

'Make a Bake' had our first meet up and it was a great success! Thank you so much to everyone who came along, everything tasted so good!!! As well as eating far too much and having some drinks, we chatted about the format for 'Make a Bake'.

We've decided to change the date to MONDAYS which works better for most people as that gives you Sunday to bake. The start time will be 7:45/8. We'll take it in turns to host (those that can).

We'll have a theme each month and take it in turns to bake sweet and savoury so we have a good balance of both. We divided everyone up into team A or B. Each time one team will do sweet and the other savoury and swap each time. If you're coming for the first time you can make either and then you can join a team when you first come.

The teams so far:

TEAM A - Holly, Mary, Laura, Susan, Farah, and Rachel.

TEAM B - Tash, Claudia, Odette, Ginny and Cath.

The themes, dates and hosts for the next three months are:

Monday September 21st

FRENCH

Host - Tash (overcaffeinated)

Monday October 19th

GUESS THE SURPRISE UNUSUAL INGREDIENT

Host - Odette(OD)

Monday November 16th

BAKES INSPIRED BY HOLIDAYS

Host - Ginny(Ginster)

Any questions, feel free to post!

Looking forward to seeing people in September :-)

Holly x

[Peckhampam]

Hi, I'm looking forward to starting in October.Pam

[chatterbug13]

Hi! Just moved to the area and am a keen baker (though not very good yet!!) and would love to join this. See you all in September :-)

Alice

[Waffo]

I'd love to join too!!! I've put the 21st in my diary.

[lisaloulou84]

Really wanted to come to the first one but missed it, so will see you in September!

[susan_]

Anyone watching the Bake-off tonight?

I'm cheering for Nadiya tonight!

[hollyt]

I love Nadiya! I'm watching :-)

[Red_Cat]

I'm watching too, am a bit worried for Nadiya, she's being very ambitious now - hope it comes off!!

[hollyt]

I want to marry Tamal, does anyone know him?!

[charmw]

Hi, am hoping to attend the October session, do we just bring a long a bake with an unusual ingredient?

A friend of mine knows Tamal, apparently he might be gay, but she's finding out more :)

[overcaffeinated]

Hi all - hope everyone's well! I'll send around my address for the Sept date next weekend...

[hollyt]

Hello Charmw!

Please do come along in Oct thought the theme is French, you can make sweet or savoury. Alternatively if you bring Tamal you can bring anything you like!

Holly x

[hollyt]

Oops, sorry Charmw, I've just realised you're coming in Oct not Sept so you're right, it's an unusual ingredient!

Holly x

[overcaffeinated]

Hi all - if you're coming on 21 Sept please can you send me your email address by PM? Am going to set up an email list as that'll be easier than sending everyone PM's individually each time, especially if we grow!

[Mrs Y]

Hi all,

Please see attached invite, I know this is a bit cheeky but if you don't asks you don't get, would any of you be able to donate a cake to our coffee morning. This is my first public event and Beauty plus and Si Manga have kindly agreed to me using space outside their shops in Forest Hill Road, So I am hoping for a good turn out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[overcaffeinated]

Thanks everyone who's sent me their email! Others please do so, will email on Friday... looking forward to next week.

[overcaffeinated]

Hi all - if you've PM'd me with your email address you should have received an email from 'Make A Bake' (just sent 5 mins ago) with my address. If not, PM me again and I'll send it to you individually!

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday and tasting more yummy things...

[Ruffler]

Mrs Y - I might be able to donate a cake for your McMillan coffee morning. When do you need it by and who would I deliver it to?

[Mrs Y]

You can take it to Beauty Plus on Forest Hill on Thursday, they are opened until 8pm , or I am more than happy to collect. Will pm you my mobile number.

Thank you, much appreciated.

[overcaffeinated]

Thanks all for coming tonight - another evening of good company, wine and bakes! Have attached pics of our creations from this and last month...

See you all in Oct!

[hollyt]

Hello!

Thank you so much to everyone who came along this week to 'Make a Bake', it was a brilliant night :-)

We chatted about Christmas and decided we did want to have a baking get together. We will do it a week earlier though on Monday 14th December as 21st felt too close to the big day. The theme will be 'Bakes You Associate with Xmas'. Therefore they don't necessarily have to be traditional Christmas bakes but they could be a bizarre family tradition!

We also have an email address now, so please email us and we'll add you to our mailing list!

[email protected]

Our next Make a Bake is:

Monday October 19th?

GUESS THE SURPRISE UNUSUAL INGREDIENT?

Host - Odette(OD)?

Look forward to seeing you there!

Holly and Tash xxx

[Peckhampam]

Hallo

I was hoping to come tomorrow and emailed for details but no reply. Hope someone can get back to me. Pam

[overcaffeinated]

Hi Pam - sorry, have just emailed you the details! Look forward to meeting you tomorrow

[Red_Cat]

Sorry not going to make it again tonight - Got too much work to do grr!

Enjoy your bakes!

[susan_]

Here's the original recipe I used for my sweet potato crackers.

And here's what I actually did: (It's a north American recipe so I converted some measurements to metric with the help of Mr Google)

188g all purpose flour

2.5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (actually I didn't add this as I used salty butter)

44g unsalted butter

200g cooked, mashed sweet potato (approximately one medium one)

1 teaspoon sugar

(I added some cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg but you really add whatever spices)

I peeled, cut up and steamed the sweet potato for 8-10 minutes. It mashed easily with a fork and I plopped in the butter while it was hot so it would melt and combine easily.

Then I added the dry ingredients and used my fork to mix it all until it was nearly a dough. I used my hands to knead it a couple times and then put it (wrapped in clingfilm) in the fridge for half an hour or so just to make it easier to work with.

I rolled it out in batches (using a little more flour for dusting) and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. You really must roll it very very thin so that the crackers get properly crisp. My first batch was too think and simply didn't dry out enough in the baking so ended up kind of chewy.

I baked them on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 175C for 10 minutes then flipped them over and baked for another 6 minutes. The aim is to get them crisp without going too brown. The pictures in the link show beautiful orange-y crackers almost like the goldfish crackers of my childhood, but I didn't watch mine closely enough so some of them discoloured from overbating.

Enjoy!