Masterchef 2008 in Cardiff

I had a great opportunity in my second year doing advanced patisserie. Chef took me and 6 other guys down to the fantastic Vale resort in Wales to help participate in the Masterchef awards. We managed to mingle at one point ans saw the welsh rugby team.!!

We were there for 2 days and at one point we were up at five am so we could finish on time for lunch!!!

It was great fun, and experience to just turn up in an alien kitchen, jump stratight into working with a bunch of guys you didnt know and turn out great food.

Our first day at the Vale we arrived and changed in to our whites and were working from 1pm until 8 that day. Here we are making the langoustine canopes amongst others.

I also made up the overnight sponges for the bread that accompanied the meal and turned out over 80 loaves.

An overnight sponge is a percentage of dough made up the day before so it has time to ferment and improve in flavour before you add it to the the bread you are going to make. It is simple and straight forward. However, you will need a large enough bowl that will give your sponge room to expand.

Overnight sponge:
5g fresh yeast
130g water (cold)
150g strong flour.

Disolve the yeast in to the water and then add it to the flour. Mix until it is blended and combined. Then you will need to cover the dough to prevent droughts getting to it. Leave over night.

Following day, make up the final dough with the following.

450g strong flour
5g salt
270g tepid water
15g butter
285g sponge dough.

You should be able to weigh up 285g of the overnight sponge, it will have a strong yeast/vinegar type smell it should have risen then at some point callapsed. Add this to the already weighed up ingredients. Just knead together until you have a soft dough that is elsastic and shinny in texture.

Place the dough in a clean bowl and rest covered for an hour. Meanwhile you should pre-heat your oven to 230c .

Once the dough has rested you can either make rolls or a loaf. the size of a standard loaf for me is 450g that way you can make 2 loaves with the dough mixture you have.

You will need to knock out the air and knead it lightly before shaping it. To make the plaits in the picture. Simply roll out the dough to ressemble an oblonge then make three incissions almost to the end of the dough, and then plait the strands together.