The Great British Bake Off - Season 3

I know I am behind the times here, but we have just got the series on one of our stations and I must say I am loving it.  If anyone is interested in this you may have watched it already, as the third series finished a while ago.  You can read more about it here.  I am going to tell you who the winner is later on in the post (won't name them though) so if you don't want to know, don't read any further.

This week it was bread.  I was so inspired by the quick breads, that I decided to have a go and used this recipe:

Soda Bread with Smoked Bacon and Onion

Ingredients

• 250gms white flour
• 250gms wholemeal flour
• 300gms smoked streaky bacon (diced)
• 3 large white onions
• 1 bunch of fresh sage
• 1-2 tsps table salt
• 1tsp ground black pepper
• 2tsp 'bex tartar' (cream of tartar)
• 1tsp bicarb soda
• 1 pint of whole milk

Directions

1. Pre heat the oven to gas mark 5/200c.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Fry the bacon and diced onion until crisp.
4. In a large mixing bowl put the flour, salt, pepper, baking powder and stir to combine.
5. Drain the bacon and onion on to kitchen paper and add to the flour. De-stem and chop up the sage and add this to the mix.
6. Using your hand to mix pour in the milk until you have a soft but not sticky dough.
7. Tip onto a floured surface and cut into two.
8. Shape each half into a round (about 1-2in deep) and make a deep cross on each loaf.
9. Put on the baking trays and put in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped underneath.
10. Cool on a wire rack and brush the top of each loaf with a little of the bacon oil left in the frying pan.
11. While the bread is baking, slice the third onion into rings. Fry in butter with 2tsp of sage and 2 tsp of sugar. Fry until golden brown, then drain on kitchen paper and then sprinkle on top of the bread.
12. Serve in a basket.

However, didn't have sage or smoked bacon.  So I used diced up deli sliced Black Forest Ham.  Didn't put the topping on either.

They could have done with a bit longer in the oven and were quite dense.  They were pretty tasty though, warm with butter on.

It is well known who won this series, but I have to say watching her so far on the first three shows; it boggles my mind as to how she won?  I am a big fan of Ian's and like his style. It is on a channel called PBS/WNED and on a Friday night for us in Southern Ontario.