Rhubarb and Strawberry Jam

Finished jam 

This is my absolute favourite jam. Even if you don't like rhubarb you will like this, as the flavour is very subtle and somehow seems to bring out the strawberry-ness of the strawberries.

Ingredients

500g strawberries (not too ripe)

600g rhubarb

1.1kg sugar

1 packet pectin

Juice of one lemon

The pectin and lemon are used here as strawberries and rhubarb are both low in pectin and acid which are needed to let the jam set. You could also substitute the sugar for jam sugar and leave out the pectin but jam sugar is quite a bit more expensive. I have got a good set before using only lemon juice but I would try with pectin first unless you don't mind your jam being a bit runny.

This recipe made me 5 jars of jam but one was a large kilner jar.

I got my fruit from a market so spent £2.50 on it overall. The best thing of course would be for you to use homegrown fruit! I would encourage you not to use supermarket strawberries and they can be very expensive and sometimes a bit tasteless. If you have kids you might want to go to a pick your own strawberry farm. I did this last year and made the jam on the day which gave it an amazing fresh flavour. If you have lots of rhubarb available but not many strawberries (which may well be the case if you grow your own rhubarb which is very prolific!) then you can reduce the ration to 1:2 strawberries to rhubarb. This still has a great strawberry flavour if you use nice strawberries. 

Method

• Chop the rhubarb into approx one inch chunks although don't bother being precise as the rhubarb will break down in cooking. Wash it. 

• Place the rhubarb and sugar in the pan which you will use to boil the jam. Don't try and use a small pan for this as it will take ages and be difficult to stir! Leave the rhubarb in the pan with the sugar while you sterilise the jars (see previous post on plum chutney if you don't know how) and chop the strawberries so it's starts releasing it's juice.

•  Chop the strawberries into quarters (these will mostly stay whole through cooking) and add to the pan.  Add the pectin and lemon juice. 

•  Turn the hob up to high and stir to stop the sugar burning. In a few minutes the sugar will melt and the jam start to bubble. Bring it to the boil and stir occasionally 

• After about 20 minutes test the set of your jam but spooning a small amount onto a cold plate. Let the jam cool and then run your finger through the circle of syrup. If the jam wrinkles when you push it it is set. This is the only difficult bit of making jam but it is worth being patient and testing a few times or your jam will be very runny (I have to admit mine was a bit runny on this go as I was inpatient but it is still delicious). 
• Once setting point is reached take your jam off the heat and leave to cool until the jam is about 90 degrees (this is hard to do exactly without a thermometer but use your best guess). 
• Spoon the jam into sterillised jars which are still warm. The jam being hot will help keep it sterilised so don't leave it too long. Put waxed discs on to of the jam and seal the jars. This time I used a kilner jar for me as I use lots of this jam and wanted to have a big jar for the summer! Kilner jars are quite expensive but if you want to give a special present you might want to use one. I got mine from a charity shop for £1 and intend to reuse it but to buy new they cost about £3. 
• As for the chutney, get creative with your labeling if you want your jars to look pretty. I think that extra 10 minutes at the end is well worth it to package your beautiful homemade preserves.

•  Try this jam simply on toast, stirred into rice pudding, on porridge, with granola and yogurt....

Variations

Of course if you are a purist strawberry jam lover you could make this with just strawberries. 

The addition of vanilla is also a nice touch but remember to use natural vanilla essence or a vanilla pod (which you should take out before spooning the jam into jars). 

Cost

This batch of jam cost me about £4 to make (for 5 jars) but depends a lot on how much you spend on fruit!

A homemade bread lesson

I have recently got into making homemade bread and have since made about 10 successful loaves. I'm not sure if this qualifies me to teach others how to become master bakers but if you haven't made bread before I would strongly encourage you to give it a go. Its therapeutic, you can get great results without much practice, it's much healthier than eating bought bread (especially if you experiment with different types of flour) and its not at all expensive.


This basic recipe can be used with a variety of types of flour. This loaf was made with half strong white flour and half country grain flour but I will describe variations later.

Ingredients

450g flour
300ml water
7g salt
5g yeast

The length of the ingredients list is testament to how simple making a loaf of bread is. It also highlights the difference from shop bought loaves which will have all manner of chemicals added!

You can use any normal table salt for this recipe.

Method

• If you are using normal dried active yeast (not easy bake yeast) you will need to reactivate it first. Do this by mixing 5g in a mug or small bowl with 50g tepid water (one third boiling to 2 thirds cold) and half a teaspoon of sugar. When measuring water weigh it don't use a measuring jug as this is more accurate. Leave the yeast for 10 mins while you weigh the other ingredients.
• Weigh the ingredients into a bowl, it is easiest to do this with electric scales. Remember that as you have used 50g water to reactivate the yeast only add 250g tepid water to the mixing bowl. Mix the salt in. 
• When the yeast is frothy on top, add it to the other ingredients and mix in the bowl.
• Turn the dough (which will be a bit sticky at this stage) onto a clean surface

Kneading

One method of kneading is shown in my video below:

This is a traditional method which uses the hell of your palm to stretch the dough. This method is fine for most dough but can get a bit  messy if your dough is sticky.

An alternative method is shown in my video below:

This is useful for stickier doughs or at the end of your kneading when you want to get the dough into a good shape.

Using your preferred method (or a mixture), knead the dough for 10 minutes. Scrape out or clean your mixing bowl (it doesn't have to be pristine) and coat the bowl with  a little olive oil to stop the dough drying out. Then fold the dough into a ball and put it in your mixing bowl and cover in cling film.

Leave the dough to rise until it has doubled in size (this depends on the temperature of the room but will probably be between 1 and 2.5 hours). To speed it up put the heating on!

Knocking back  

When the dough has doubled in size, turn it gently onto your work surface and pull, push and knock it into a flat oval shape. Then take the 'corners' of the dough and fold it into the center from several points, prodding the corners down. Then turn your ball over and shape it as shown in my video below:

Proving

Place your ball onto some oiled greaseproof paper and place your mixing bowl upside down on top to keep it moist. If your mixing bowl isn't very big the dough might tough the sides as it rises so you might want to cover it in oiled cling film instead.

Once again leave the dough until it has regained it's original size (about one hour). It is better to under prove than over prove at this stage so if you're not sure leave it for less time. 

Baking

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees and have a baking tray in the hot oven. Put a dish of water in the bottom tray (the moisture helps get a good bake). When your dough is ready transfer it (this is where the baking paper helps!) onto the tray. After 10 mins turn the oven down to 200 degrees. Bake for another 30 minutes.

The timings will vary slightly depending on your oven. This worked in mine which is not fan assisted so you might want to take the time down a little. 

Once the bread has come out of the oven leave it to cool on a wire rack and don't eat straight from the oven as it will give you tummy pains!

Try eating with cheese and the plum chutney from April's post. I did and the chutney has had a couple of months to mature now and was delicious.

Variations

There are endless variations to making bread as you know! Another version I have tried is 50% rye flour, 25% white flour and 25% wholemeal flour which is great with smoked salmon and very filling. If you find the rye to dense then you can reduce the quantity and replace it with white flour. Rye flour can be a little harder to find and is a bit more expensive but I found the dough easier to work with. 50% wholemeal and 50% white loaves are also good. Adding walnuts and raisins is also yummy if you want to add a bit more to you bread. I'll include some other varieties when I have tried them!

Cost

As there are very few ingredient in these loaves they work out very cheap to make. You can get flour for as little as 80p for 1.5kg and yeast is very cheap (especially if you buy a tin instead of sachets which I do as  don't like throwing any away). More specialist flours are a bit more expensive but the loaves you make with still cost you under a pound which compared to the prices charged at artisan bakeries etc is very good.

A nice loaf like this with some homemade chutney (see previous post) and some good cheese would make a great offering to take to a dinner party.