Brilliant bakes we’ve turned to in lockdown
Social distancing has spawned a new generation of home bakers, and they’ve got some great ideas for lockdown cooking. The most popular bakes include pizza (actually, any kind of bread), chocolate chip cookies and brownies. But BBC Food Facebook, Twitter and Instagram followers have shared ideas for more brilliant lockdown treats.
Rainbows for optimism and key workers
It seems we’ve embraced the rainbow as a tribute to our NHS key workers in our bakes – and if you want to have a go there’s plenty of inspiration. To make your rainbow, decorate cupcakes or buns with icing, rainbow laces or edible rainbow rice paper toppers (which are available online).
What, no flour or yeast?
There’s no sign of people giving up when they don’t have certain (often crucial) ingredients.
No flour? No problem!
Determined cooks are proving you can’t hold back a baker, even without flour. Banoffee pie uses biscuits instead of flour in the base, like most no-bake cheesecakes. If you don’t have biscuits, Nadiya Hussain makes a cracking tart base with chocolate and crisps.
Many of us have loved flapjacks since we were children. Like the best of pals, the humble oaty bake has got our back when we need it most. You just need oats, butter, sugar and golden syrup, and that’s why so many of you (especially the kids) have been baking them!
If you have egg whites and caster sugar, you are already prepped to make meringues. Beata made and shared Nigella’s lemon curd pavlova with us on Facebook. Lemon curd is cheap, long-life and delicious – and you can even make your own! These teeny nests with mini eggs by Irene, shared on Twitter, are another great idea!
Baking without flour isn’t all about the sweet stuff either, as Diana on Facebook proves by making a crustless quiche. Perfect for a garden picnic.
No yeast? No problem!
More people are visiting the BBC Food sourdough starter recipe (and sourdough bread recipes) than ever before. The starter is made with milk, yoghurt and strong white flour. It requires around six days before it can be used. Chef and baker Patrick Ryan says plain live yoghurt gives your sourdough starter a helping hand by introducing a little friendly bacteria.
If you bake often, feed the starter daily with water and flour to keep it active, and if you don’t bake often, keep it in the fridge and feed it every five days.
Banana bread and dalgona coffee
Recently, two things have taken the public by storm: banana bread and dalgona coffee (a miraculous blend of sugar and instant coffee whipped to perfection). Matt Tebbutt merged the two and made a coffee banana bread on Saturday Kitchen, and many viewers shared their bakes with BBC Food on Twitter.
