Eggs Benedict from the very start!!

As you can see, my presentation leaves ALOT to be desired!! It's a wonder that I remember the photos at all!!

We had a very dear friend come to stay on Thursday night so since it's school holidays and I have a bit of spare time on my hands, I thought I'd plan something a bit mor special that would see us through a dress-up sewing frenzy!

For Friday breakfast I thought it might be nice to do a super simple Eggs Benedict but from scratch, so making the muffins and hollandaise sauce myself, in the thermo of course, and also poach the eggs in their shells in the egg basket! It's kinda cool to crack a beautifully poached egg on to your freshly toasted English muffty (muffin) and then add a little (or a lot) of the sauce. I have yet to decide whether to serve it on it's own, or on a bed of baby spinach or with some of my Dad's home made bacon currently curing in the back fridge, hmmmmmm...decisions, decisions!!! I guess I'll decide on the morning depending what people feel like.







Thermo English Muffins

So to start, I found a great recipe on another fantastic thermo blog

http://opiefamilyfood.blogspot.com/2011/01/thermomixing-up-some-english-muffins.html
and proceeded to make it!
As I was looking for a recipe, I read other non thermo recipes and many left the dough to rise over night to create a sour dough muffin...yummmm!!!

Start by heating up 235g of milk 3mins/90degrees/sp1.

Add 25g sugar (it says white but I used raw sugar) and mix 10sec/sp2.

Pour into a bowl/jug and leave to cool.

Put 235g water into the jug and heat 1min30secs/50degrees/sp1 (doesn't need to get to 50degrees)

Take off lid and sprinkle 1 packet (7-8g) of yeast on top of the water, (make sure you sprinkle it around the blade, half of my yeast landed on the top of the blade and stuck there).

While your waiting for the yeast to wake up, melt 50g butter (pop lid back on and put a small bowl/jug on top and press the scales button, making sure the scales are zeroed before weighing the butter) in the microwave or on the stove top.

After 10 minutes, add the milk mixture, the melted butter the first half of 750g plain flour (so add 350g now) and mix to a smooth wet dough for about 20secs/sp6.

Add the rest of the flour and the salt and mix 10sec/sp4.

Knead for 3min/Interval sp (wheat symbol)

For quick muffins, let rise in the machine til double the size. Or leave over night and continue from here the next day.












Punch the dough down and turn onto a well floured bench or thermomat (floured with corn meal, purchased or pre made in thermo by milling plain dried corn kernels like popping corn kernels on sp9 until it has a grainy texture, like polenta)

















Push or roll into a large rectangle approx 3cm thick and cut out rounds using a scone/biscuit cutter, a large glass dipped in flour, or other round cutter available. Lay rounds out on a baking tray covered with baking paper well dusted with cornmeal and dust tops with the cornmeal also. Leave on tray to rise again, covered with a damp tea towel for about a 1/2 hour.






While the muffins are rising, make the hollandaise sauce in the thermo.












Put the butterfly attachment in the jug, and place 4 egg yolks, 130g cold butter, 1tsp lemon juice and a good pinch each of salt and pepper. Cook 8min/90°C/sp3, pour out and keep warm in your thermoserver or an insulated jug or something similar. I absently put the hollandaise sauce in the microwave on high (i was gas-bagging on the phone) and I ended up with oily scrambled eggs, it looked like yellow chunder, not cool!!





So DO NOT microwave the sauce unless it is able to heat at a very low temp and you stir it every few few seconds I suppose (I don't know much about microwaves so don't quote me on that, but that's how I would have done it if I had actually thought about it)!!





Heat a heavy based frypan with a lid to low/med and grease well. Place the muffins in the pan and pop the lid on for the first 5 mins and then flip the muffins every few minutes until they are cooked through. Repeat with remaining muffins until all cooked.





The dough the day after being left over night.






If I was doing this on the same morning as breakfast (I made my muffin dough one day, let rise over night and cooked them the next day and then toasted them for brekky the next day), I would put the eggs on to cook when the first lot of muffins are cooking away, the eggs need to be timed so that all the muffins are cooked, cooled slightly, split and toasted ready for when the eggs finish cooking.





To split the muffins, stab at intervals around the middle of the muffin and then carefully pull apart a little at a time as you turn it. This creates lots of lovely nooks and crannies for the butter and egg yolk to ooze into, yummm, it's so much better than cutting them open...boring!!

Poached eggs












Place as many eggs as you need in the steamer basket (make sure you use the spatula as your handle), 6-8 should fit, depending on the size of your eggs. Fill the jug with about a litre and half of water, lower basket in and top up to the 2 litre mark. Cook for 46min/60°C/sp3.
Serve immediately!!





While the poaching and muffin cooking is going on, whack another heavy based saucepan on the stove and cook up some bacon or ham if you like!! Wait until the eggs are about 10 mins off being finished.
You could also place ham on the toasted muffin for Ham Benedict.












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