- Happy Sunday, we hope you're having a great weekend.
Now obviously, we're all still in our homes.
But don't forget, every single weekday at 4:30 p.m.
we are live on Instagram
cooking up some food and having some fun.
You can get all the recipes
and all of your ingredients ahead of time
and join us in a cook along.
Get everything that you need on the Sorted Club books app.
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For more information head to sorted.club/cookalong.
But today, we get to watch Mike try and beat the chef
in another self-isolation improvement video.
Wish him luck.
We are sorted.
A group of foodie mates who have your back
when it comes to all things food.
This is Mike, a keen foodie who loves to cook, eat,
and have a laugh with his mates.
Often at his own expense.
(laughing)
Sometimes, his cooking doesn't quite go to plan.
So, during this strange time of self isolation,
Mike has roped in his trusty chefs, Ben and James,
to better his skills in the kitchen.
But is Mike up to the job?
Let's find out.
(soft upbeat music)
- Hello Ebbers.
- Hello.
- How are you?
- Very well thank you, yourself?
- Yeah it's very weird all of this, isn't it?
- It is and yet you look like you're already ready.
- I've got an apron
and you've made me weigh out a whole load of stuff.
What are you gonna make me do?
- So you did so well last time, that this time,
we're gonna mix it up and go baking.
Yesterday, I made a batch of these and I took some photos.
Today, you've got to try and beat me
by making a batch of cinnamon nut knots.
So it's like a cross between a cinnamon roll,
a Swedish cardamom bun, a maple pecan twist.
It's intricate, it's baking, it's proven doughs.
We're gonna put you to the test.
- Okay.
- So you are trying to beat me.
But at the same time, I'm here to help.
Jamie and Barry are gonna judge at the end
based on photographs alone.
And as if that's not enough,
I've given you a 30 minute time limit
but that only relates to the activity, the hands on stuff.
You need to make dough, knead the dough, roll the dough,
cut the dough, twist the dough, egg wash the dough.
We won't count proving and baking.
- Okay, gotcha.
- What could possibly go wrong Mike?
- That's a good question.
- Okay Mike, your 30 minutes start now.
The first thing you wanna do is get your milk.
So it shouldn't be fridge cold.
You might even wanna give it
five seconds in the microwave if you can
and then add your yeast into it.
- Okay that's warmish.
Oh now it's not warm enough.
This is plastic, it can't go in the microwave, hang on.
- Yeah it can.
- Can it?
- Yeah, literally just 10 seconds or so
and then add your yeast into it.
- The whole lot?
- Whole lot goes in, and you're just gonna start
to rehydrate it and just, it's gonna start coming to life.
You could put a pinch of sugar in there as well.
- [Mike] 'Cause yeast eats sugar.
- Great, put that to one side with the sugar in it
and just leave it.
Now big mixing bowl.
- Don't have one, how about a casserole pot?
- I mean that's a vessel that we'll work with.
Put the flour in.
All the other dry ingredients,
so salt,
the sugar,
lemon zest and then crack in an egg.
- How am I doing on time?
- You've already used three minutes.
- How have I done that?
- You need to really have this made and kneaded
in about 12.
- Okay.
- [Ben] Is your butter nice and soft?
- No, it's gonna have to go in here.
- Traditionally, you would add in the milk now
and start to knead it
and then once you've been kneading it for a while,
you'd add in the butter.
But this is an easy all in one method so it can all go in.
- [Mike] It has got some bubbles on it.
- Excellent, butter in and give it a mix up
with just like a table knife or something.
When I did this, it was really sticky to start off with
so a table knife is good 'cause it saves it getting stuck
between too many of your fingers.
Then you can go in with all the milk and the yeast
and you've got about a few minutes now
to try and bring this together into a dough.
It's going to be sticky.
- At some point, I'm just gonna have to get my hands in,
aren't I?
- You can do this in a mixer, but I haven't got one at home.
You haven't got one at home,
so it's absolutely plausible to do it by hand.
- [Mike] Right, I'm in.
- So what we wanna do here
is create lots and lots of elasticity from the gluten.
- [Mike] It's actually all right.
It is sticky but it's okay.
- That looks very good, mine was a lot wetter than that.
Timing wise, you've got 23 minutes remaining.
- How long am I doing this for?
- So you wanna be doing that for a few minutes.
But what you should be looking for
is something that's really elastic
so as soon as you're happy, tuck it up into a tight ball.
Tucking it under, tucking it under, tucking it under
'cause you want that tight surface.
What's gonna happen inside of there
is the yeast is gonna do all of its activity,
it's gonna give off the carbon dioxide.
But a tight skin on the outside
is gonna stop it breaking free.
Whack it in a bowl, cover it and leave it.
- Stop the clock.
That is proofing.
- That needs to prove for a good couple of hours.
So put it in a warm place, make yourself a coffee,
and we can always come back to the make the filling
just before it's ready.
Do you want to see a geeky
representation of yeast in real life?
- Yeah go on then.
(upbeat music)
♪ He's a super geek ♪
♪ Super geek ♪
♪ He's super geeky ♪
- So yeast need four things.
It needs sugar,
it needs water,
it needs warmth.
We gave both, gave it tepid liquid, and it needs time.
And then something should happen and by the time
this is super frothy, your bread should be about ready.
- Great.
Okay now what?
- Resume, right the filling is basically
blitzed up nuts, whatever you want, and then
sugar
and spice.
- Okay, oh I need,
I've got no bowls.
- Put it in a saucepan.
- [Mike] Good idea.
Okay so brown sugar, pecans in.
I'm gonna go cinnamon.
- I actually used walnuts in my recipe
because that's all I had
and I didn't have quite enough cinnamon
so I also added in some ground ginger.
So mine were a really mixed spiced bag
but you can put in whatever dried spices,
whatever nuts you want.
Brown sugar's key.
- I'm good, I'm happy with that.
- Okay, in that case,
put your butter into the microwave to soften.
- Okay so straight in.
- No, no no.
(yelling)
well you've gone now.
- No.
- Sorry I wasn't paying attention.
- What do I do?
- Get a wooden spoon, mix it up.
What you're gonna create instead is like a very very soft
buttercream.
You might be better off here, 'cause this is
probably the more traditional way of doing it.
It's just gonna use a bit more time.
- No, I haven't got time.
I can't believe I didn't listen, that is so stupid.
Stop the clock.
I'm really annoyed with myself that I just did that.
Right, now what?
- More waiting time, the stopped clock is on pause.
- Okay.
(chortling)
- So do you wanna see the real magic?
♪ He's a super geek ♪
- Whoa.
- This is exactly the magic that's gonna be happening
inside of your bread.
- Down it.
- That is the sugar fungus.
In theory, your bread should be ready now
to roll, cut and shape.
- Oh, that has risen.
- The only thing you've got left to do
is roll, fill, cut,
twist and egg wash.
- Okay, my dough is looking good.
- Give it a gentle poke, does it kind of gently spring back?
- Yeah it does.
- Your time restarts now.
Dust your work surface with a little bit of flour
and then get your dough out.
You're gonna roll it into a rectangle.
It's gonna be a huge rectangle,
it's gonna fill most of that work surface
'cause you want it quite thin.
- Oh no,
mate, look at it.
It's pizza.
- Think carefully, your next step is going to be
to spread all of your butter sugar paste all over that.
When I did it, I brushed over all the melted butter
which is super easy, as melted butter
and then sprinkled the dry sugar spice nut mix.
- Well I don't have a choice do I?
Also, this is not a rectangle.
Are you happy with this thickness?
- Yeah you're gonna have to go.
You haven't got time.
- So where do I put it, everywhere?
- [Ben] Everywhere.
Get both hands involved
and just spread it out, it'll just be a lot quicker.
- Okay, come on come on come on come on,
come on come on come on come on.
- Stop fiddling, wash your hands.
- Is that okay?
- Yeah.
When you come back to it,
you're going to fold the dough in half.
So you're gonna basically put one half over onto the other
to sandwich all that sugary bit in the middle.
- Oh my goodness.
- Wonderful.
Stretch it, press it flat to seal it in
so all that butter and sugar and dough combines
and now you're gonna need a knife.
And you need to cut into strips
about
three centimetres wide.
Perfect, you can go a bit thinner actually.
- [Mike] Okay.
- Yeah great.
So take one of those strips out,
and squish it flat.
And now you're gonna cut it in half again, lengthwise.
But not all the way through,
so you're gonna leave it sealed at the top.
- Oh right so leave a gap here?
- Yeah.
- I did not do that.
This goes down, oh my goodness there is no time.
Flatten it.
I've been cutting with the other end of the knife.
- [Ben] You're gonna pick this up and you're going to,
in your hand, twist it.
Your left hand's gonna twist one way,
your right hand's gonna twist the other way
so you end up with three twists
which should give you like six twists
'cause you're doing it with both hands.
- [Mike] How's that?
- Perfect, now,
you're gonna have to watch me for this one
'cause I think this is really difficult.
You're gonna have, excuse my--
- Yes, time time time.
- [Ben] You're gonna wrap it around two fingers.
So that the last twist comes between the two fingers.
And then the last, it goes under and over
and then put it on your baking tray.
- Under and over, which bit goes under and over?
- [Ben] Yeah you've got it, you've got it, that's it.
Get it on the baking tray.
- Get out of my way.
- No pressure but you've got about a minute
to do each one of these now.
You need five more in five minutes.
- Okay, oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness.
Oh my goodness it worked.
- Does it look good?
- Yeah I can't show you right now
but that last one did look good.
- And you did it in about 45 seconds
so at this rate, you should be okay, keep going.
Now the key to these,
is if you've got a regular blooming loaf,
there's plenty of space for it to prove.
And then when you put it into a loaf tin, it proves again.
Because you're kind of tying this up on itself
and it's relatively tight and it's got all the extra weight
of the butter and the sugar,
this next prove is also quite slow.
So they don't puff up a huge amount,
but they should do slightly
because that yeast is still active.
- [Mike] Oh that one's rubbish.
You idiot, Mike.
- If you end up with any you're not happy with,
and you end up with scraps, just put them to one side
because what I did yesterday
with all my scraps and all my off cuts,
I just jumbled together into a really loose ball
and baked as one loaf.
Nothing goes to waste,
even those bits that you're not happy with.
- Oh man I'm gonna try and get one more done.
- [Ben] Once you're happy,
cover it with a tea towel or something
and put it back into a warm place for an hour.
- I'm gonna make the rest of these
but I only have one tray so I can't cheat.
And wipe down and I'll see you in half an hour.
- Yeah see you in a bit.
- Okay.
- So they've had another proof.
- Do you wanna see these?
They puffed up a little bit.
- Looking good.
Your time starts,
now.
(upbeat music)
So typically, a pastry brush would be perfect.
But if, like me, you haven't got one,
I just use two fingers just to dab around
the bits that are showing
and it will give it a nice golden colour.
- I preheated the oven, 180 I'm assuming?
Please say yes, please say yes.
- Good enough.
- What do you mean good enough, what's the right one?
- Well,
for our cinnamon roll recipe, we go 190
'cause we want them to crisp up.
But I think for these knots, 180 is good.
- [Mike] Okay, how long have I got?
- 47 seconds remaining.
- Oh come on,
okay they're going in, they're going in.
Okay stop the clock.
- I'm not gonna lie mate.
I kind of made the number 30 minutes up.
- Now's not the time to tell me that.
You never ever fly by the seat of your pants
and you choose now as that time?
- I timed myself yesterday, it was roughly
30 minutes of activity. - Oh my goodness.
- So I thought well, this would be fun.
- Well good job that this has worked then, hasn't it?
I've got 17 seconds to get it out
and just dust them with icing sugar.
- Yeah, they'll need about 15 minutes in the oven
but basically,
you're looking for something that's golden brown
so you want the inside to be fluffy
and not dried out.
- Okay.
- I mean, small violin moment, but I live on my own
so an entire batch of cinnamon nut knots
is quite a lot for me to get through
but they also freeze really well.
As soon as they cooled,
I just laid them in a big sandwich bag, one layer,
and now for the next couple of weekends,
I've got brunch ready to go.
- That's a great tip.
Ebbers.
- Is that it, right I'm gonna start the clock.
- Ready?
- You have 17 seconds remaining, starting now.
(yelling)
- That's hot.
Oh they're looking okay.
- You've got seven seconds
to dust them with icing sugar if you want.
Five
four
three
two
one.
(alarm beeping)
Step away from your knots.
- I'll chisel these off the tray and then take some photos.
May the best man win.
Here they are.
How's it going?
- It's going good, how are you?
- I'm sweaty.
- Excellent, that's how I like you best.
- Well you've got me.
Okay judges, I've made a batch of cinnamon and pecan knots.
You've got the photos.
Now one of us baked option one.
The other, option two.
We'd like you to judge and pick a winner.
- First off, I think we need to say,
they both look like incredible sets of knots.
Like, I'm very impressed.
It's not often that we get to
a final of a 'Beat the Chef' and can't instantly go
that's the chef's one.
- I think we have to look at,
the finish of the dish, how well browned the whole thing is.
Option one, it's hard to tell
'cause it's been covered up in a load of icing sugar.
And they both look great, like off the bat but,
option one, I'm struggling to kind of see,
how well browned they are throughout,
do you know what I mean?
- Yeah, I know.
- When you look at the two cross sections,
option one looks a little bit more inviting.
It looks juicier.
- And then we go up to option number two.
They look very perfect from the outside.
But then I look on the inside,
they do look lovely and fluffy.
So yeah I think this is a tough one, pros and cons of each.
After much deliberation, we both decided that what we want,
it's the most inviting thing that we want to bite into
and get all of the flavours and textures
and the one that gave us that feeling across the internet
was option one.
(clapping)
- [Mike] Wow,
that's me.
- Definitely you Mike, well done.
- I thought Ben's looked so much better.
That they were perfect.
When I cocked up earlier
and put all of that melted butter
in my nuts and my sugar by accident--
- I think it helped.
- That's why that's oozed
and not so evenly spread as yours was.
Shall I eat one, I'll let you know how it tastes.
Oh it's so good.
- And you can't beat them
when they're still a little bit warm.
- They are a little bit warm, that is really really tasty.
Thank you so much for teaching me how to make these.
- But as it was, you beat the chef.
Congratulations.
- Thank you, thanks boys.
(clapping)
- Well played Mike, well played Ebbers.
- 'Til next time.
- [Mike] One last thing, our new cookbook,
"Cooking to the Beat", is now available.
And it celebrates our love of food and music
with some visually stunning recipes
that are all achievable at home.
You can get hold of a physical copy
or get it via our books app, all part of the Sorted Club.
Check out the link for all the information that you need.
And now for a blooper.
- There's a bee,
bumble bee in this room, looking at me.
(laughing)
- Barry you're supposed to be self isolating.
(laughing)