On Tuesday I had the privilege of joining Peter Sidwell and Luis Troyano at Peter’s cookery school in Penrith. Luis’ new book, Bake it Great is due to be released on August 20th, just over a year since his appearance on The Great British Bake Off. I first met Luis at a baking masterclass run by the Co-Operative for their group of bloggers. We had a lot to chat about, comparing experiences and notes on MasterChef and GBBO, and after keeping in touch for a while, I asked him if it would be ok to come along to watch. Of course, he kindly obliged.
After introductions, Luis proceeded to create a star bread made with an enriched dough. The bread was filled with Nutella (yeaahhh), orange zest and chopped hazelnuts. The unique shape of the bread was created by layering one round of dough on top of the other, with the filling in the middle. The twists are created by making a series of cuts out towards the edges, then folding the pieces back on themselves. I’ve made that sound inordinately more complicated that it needs to be, but once you see Luis gliding through this on the video, I’m sure it will all become clear. Anyway, it was totally delicious and looked marvellous once glazed with warm apricot jam. 
Next up were amaretti biscuits, dinked with a thumbprint in the middle to hold any variety of jammy, spready, curdy things you have lurking at the back of the fridge. Luis also rolled the edges of the biscuits in a variety of pistachio slices, poppy seeds and chopped hazelnuts creating a no less than 9 combos of biscuit heaven. I was lucky enough to take a few home to feed to the family. To say they were a hit would be an understatement. My brother-in-law called me 3 days later to say he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about them, further endorsed by my husband as (and I quote), ‘the nicest sweet thing he’s ever put in his mouth’. Good eh! 
Finally, Luis expertly constructed and perfected a beautiful carrot and cardamom cake. I couldn’t take my eyes off the thing! Using a smoother and turn table, Luis created protractor straight edges then purposefully placed candied pecans and walnuts all over the cake, finishing off with a final dusting of cinnamon (love that guy). 
I picked up tens of top baking tips during the day and improved my personal best for calories consumed in a day solely from baked goods. It’s fortunate I was watching intently as it looks as though I’ll be baking a batch of amaretti biscuits at the earliest opportunity. Sophie and I will be the ones behind the camera in the near future so I’m really grateful to Peter and Luis for having me, giving me a great idea of what to expect when it’s our turn.
Sisters Do Food 