It’s officially autumn time, which means it’s time to fire up those wood fired ovens and get baking. This week we wanted to tempt your taste buds with sweet baking; think delicious pies, cakes and breads. We’ve put together our favourite Autumn/Winter recipes, flavours and even included a tip or two for baking in your wood fired oven. Watch out Mary Berry, our Stone Bakers are some tough competition!
Fabulous Seasonal Flavours
Flavours are key to creating scrumptious seasonal bakes. Adapt the flavours to any of your baking recipes.
Autumn Flavours
- Apples
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Cranberries
- Grapes
- Nectarine
- Figs
- Pears
- Elderberries
- Pumpkin
Winter Flavours
- Pomegranate
- Clementine
- Blood Orange
- Rhubarb
- Cranberries
- Ginger
- Quince
- Bramley Apple
Four Stone Bake Favourite Bakes
We’ve chosen some of our favourite autumn/winter recipes for you to try out using your wood fired ovens. What’s great about all of the bakes below is that they can be adapted to your own tastes using any of the flavours above. Perhaps you want to try an apple and blackberry pie, or add some sugared clementines to your chocolate Bundt cake?
Classic Bakes
Triple Cranberry Pie
Who doesn’t love to indulge in a scrumptious seasonal pie? We’re thinking full to the brim of fabulous fruity flavours finished with heaps of crisp pastry. Our Triple Cranberry Pie is the perfect winter pie. It’s bursting with sweet flavours, making it the perfect after-dinner treat. If cranberries aren’t for you, we suggest adding apple and blackberries, pears, Bramley apples, pumpkin or blueberries.
Filling
- 675g of fresh cranberries
- 225g of whole berry cranberry sauce
- 225g dried cranberries
- 115g white sugar
- 35g flour
- 1tbsp orange juice
- 1/2tsp salt
Short crust Pastry (You will need 2 crusts- one for the base and one for the top)
- 125g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 55g of butter cubed
- 30-45ml cold water
- Egg Wash- (1egg beaten, 1tbsp of water)
For the Pastry
Put the flour and salt in a bowl and add cubes of butter. Then rub in the butter with your fingertips, until your mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Next with a knife, stir in enough cold water so that the dough binds together.
Finally wrap your dough in clingfilm and chill for 10-15 minutes. Roll out your pie crusts, placing one in the bottom of your pie dish and the other aside for later.
Filling
Firstly you will need to fire up your wood fired oven to its optimum temperature. Then leave your oven to cool, maintaining the temperature at 180 °c.
For the filling put all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir. Leave to rest for 5 minutes. When your filling is ready spoon into your pie dish.
Next you will need your other pastry crust. For a lattice effect, slice your pastry into strips and place on top of your pie. Alternatively, if you’re after a classic looking pie, simply place the rolled out crust on top of your fillings. You can crimp the edges or make slits in the top, depending on how you want your pie to look. Brush the top of your pastry with egg wash.
Now you’re ready to bake your pie! Cover the edges with foil, leaving the top uncovered. Place into your wood fired oven and bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes take off the foil and bake for another 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden.
Now all you have to do is patiently wait for your pie to cool (if you can), then serve. We suggest lots of cream or ice cream if you really want to indulge.
Healthy Bakes
Baked Oatmeal
For all you healthy eaters out there, there is no reason why you can’t bake yourself a sweet treat from time to time. We love baked oatmeal with some berries of your choice. It’s jam packed with delicious flavours that won’t leave you feeling guilty afterwards.
What you’ll need
- 200g rolled oats
- 60g walnut pieces, toasted and chopped
- 60g natural cane sugar
- 1tsp aluminium-free baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt
- 475 ml milk
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 ripe bananas, chopped up small
- 185g blueberries, cranberries or mixed berries/fruit of your choice
Method
Firstly you will need to fire up your wood fired oven to its optimum temperature. Then you will need to let it cool to 190°c. Grease the inside of a square-baking dish.
In a large bowl mix together the oats, half of the walnuts, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, egg, half the butter and the vanilla.
Place the bananas in a layer at the bottom of the square-baking dish. Sprinkle 2/3 of the berries over the top. Cover the fruit with the oat mixture.
Next slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats, ensuring the milk moves through the oats evenly. Scatter the remaining berries and remaining walnuts across the top.
Finally bake in your wood fired oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the mixture has set. Drizzle over the remaining melted butter on the top and serve. If you fancy it sweeter, pour over a small amount of maple syrup.
Scrummy Christmas Bakes
Christmas Chocolate Bundt Cake
This Christmas chocolate Bundt cake is one of our festive favourites. It may look extravagant, but this cake is simple to make and tastes better than it looks. It’s a must for all you chocolate lovers out there.
You’ll Need
- 225g butter
- 75g Dutch-processed cacao
- 1tsp kosher salt
- 250ml water
- 115g of sour cream
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 275g all purpose flour
- 290g granulated sugar
- 1½tsp baking soda
- 2 large eggs
- 120g bitter sweet chocolate (60% cocoa)- finely chopped
- 1tbsp honey
- 115g heavy cream
- 1tbsp granulated sugar
- 3tbsp pistachios, finely chopped
For the sugared cranberries
- 120ml water
- 115g + 115g sugar, divided
- 340g fresh cranberries
Method
Fire up your wood fired oven to its optimum temperature. Then let your oven cool to 280°c to create the perfect baking environment. Butter and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
Next, mix together the butter, cacao powder, salt and water in a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted, then leave to cool for around 20 minutes.
In a smaller bowl whisk the sour cream and vanilla thoroughly. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and baking soda.
Combine the cacao powder and butter mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk together. Next mix in the eggs one by one making sure they are combined in well. Add in the sour cream and vanilla mixture. Whisk everything together until smooth.
Next is the fun bit! Pour in the batter into the Bundt pan and bake it for 40-45 minutes, or until cooked through.
Finally allow the cake to cool for around half an hour. When it’s at room temperature, take your cake out of the Bundt pan onto your platter, ready to adorn.
For the glaze, place the chocolate and honey in a bowl. In a small saucepan mix together the heavy cream and sugar, and heat over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Next pour in the cream/sugar mix and stir into the chocolate mixture until smooth and silky. When your glaze is ready, generously spoon it onto your cake.
The last step is to add some festive final touches, we love sugared cranberries. To make these, place 115g of sugar with 120ml of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. When boiled, pour over the cranberries, then leave to cool for an hour and drain. Sprinkle the remaining sugar onto a baking sheet and roll in the cranberries. Leave to dry for four hours, then decorate your cake.
Bread
Cranberry and Walnut Bread
There is nothing better than baking fresh bread in a wood fired oven. We love our sweet Cranberry and Walnut bread. It’s a fantastic alternative if you’re wanting some after dinner cheese and crackers, minus the crackers. Check out our easy-peasy recipe here.
Baking Tips and Techniques for your wood fired oven
To achieve these flavourful desserts, breads, cakes and more then it’s important that you create the perfect baking environment in your wood fired oven. In order to do this we thought we’d make it simple by breaking it down into easy-to-follow steps.
- Firstly you will need to follow the ‘Firing Up Process’. You can watch our ‘How to Fire up your Oven’ video. This will ensure your oven reaches its optimum temperature. Keep the embers across the oven floor ensuring heat penetrates the oven floor.
- Next you will need to wait for your oven to cool to a desired baking temperature, there should be no embers or flame, and your thermometer should read between 160-200°c.
- Place your items on the oven floor to bake. You may choose to cook in terracotta cookware; this further insulates food items and gives a ‘gentle heat’ to your items.
- Put your oven door in place and bake as the temperature slowly decreases in the oven. Roughly adhere to conventional baking times, see tip below.
TIP: If you fancy baking from a conventional recipe book, expect to add just under 50°c to any conventional recipe and expect cooking time to be cut by approximately a third.
TIP: Avoid using glass dishes, plastic or wooden handles. Always use cookware that is appropriate for high heat environments. ‘Regular’ oven dishes may crack, break or warp under high temperatures. We always recommend you use high heat friendly dishes such as cast iron pots and pans, or for lower temperature baking, Terracotta dishes, which are designed to withstand higher temperatures.
Click here for more information about cooking techniques.
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