A proper pot of Orange Marmalade

It's March and the days are still quite cold, but there is hope in the air for a bit of Spring to come. There is another little glimmer of light in this month: the Seville Oranges are still season. To the British this means one thing - make marmalade in vast quantities - enough to last until next Christmas!

A few years ago my dear friend, Liz Horton, handed me a pot of her homemade marmalade as a Christmas present. I secreted it away from the rest of the family because I had never tasted marmalade that delicious in all my life. Stupidly, it never occurred to me that I could make it. I would occasionally purchase some at church fetes or school fairs, but make it? Much too difficult. That was until lovely Liz invited me to her house one dark, snowy afternoon to a tutorial in how to make a proper pot of British Orange Marmalade. The first time I made it I was still slightly sceptical that I could make it on my own, but by the second year I was beginning to understand the nuances of the experience. This year we couldn't make our busy schedules align, so she encouraged me to have faith and try it on my own.

Therefore, this blog post is really dedicated to Liz's fine teaching skills. I have taken her beautifully crafted recipe and added my own pictures of the process to illustrate how easy it is to make. This recipe made 14 various size jars of the golden nectar, the majority being the standard Bonne Maman size jars, which I save all year long for just such an occasion. Let's hope my first batch of marmalade lasts until Christmas!

Seville Orange Marmalade
(makes approx 10 lbs of marmalade)

Ingredients:
3 lbs (1.5 kg) Seville oranges
2 lemons
6 lbs (3 kg) Granulated cane sugar eg Tate & Lyle (not beet sugar)
5 UK pints (that is 5 x 20 fl oz) of water

Method:
Wash fruit and remove stalks. Knife a cross (just over an inch) at both ends of fruit. 

Place in a very large preserving pan with the 5 (UK - see above) pints of water. Cover, bring to boil then reduce to a slow simmer for 2 hours. 

Remove the oranges to a large colander sitting over a bowl to allow to cool and collect any juices that run free from the fruit. Pour any of this delicious juice back into your preserving pan. Meanwhile, wash your collection of jars and place them on oven-proof trays ready for heating (or just pop them all in dishwasher). Weigh out the sugar and place in large flat pans. Put the pans of sugar into the oven onto low-medium heat (130 degrees C or 250 degrees F) for at least half an hour. 

Once the fruit is cool enough to handle, cut in half and scoop out innards and pith into sieve over  another clean bowl.

Push through innards until most gone through sieve and the remaining mixture seems a bit dry. Put all the sieved innards in bowl back into the preserving pan.

Cut up skins into desired size of shred and put in preserving pan. 

Bring everything back up to boil and boil rapidly for about 5 minutes. Remove the sugar from oven and add to preserving pan all at once. Stir constantly until sugar completely dissolves.

Bring everything back up to boil and let it do a rolling (ie: high) boil for at least 20 minutes. 

Put some side plates into freezer to prepare for the set test. Meanwhile, if you haven't washed the jars in the dishwasher, turn up oven and put the jars in to sterilise them. 

Test for set: place a teaspoon's worth of mixture onto very cold plate and wiggle to see if skin forms and crinkles. Once happy with set, turn off the heat and allow to cool for 20 mins. Make sure jars are warm but not too hot. Pour the marmalade into jars using jug or a large preserving funnel. Fill the jars to the brim. Cover the interior of the jam jar with a wax disc. Allow to cool completely in jars and then put on cellaphane cover, lids and labels on.


If you would like to enjoy this marmalade on some beautiful homemade No-Knead Bread, you can find it at: No Knead Bread recipe

No Knead Bread

In 2006, Mark Bittman wrote an article in the New York Times about Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery's No Knead Bread recipe. This article sparked a bread making revolution in America. My mother's eagle eye spotted the article and cut it out for me. She sent it off to me in London saying, "You must try this recipe, it is magic!" Try it I did, and yes, it is magic. So, now I say to you, dear reader: "You must try this recipe, it is magic!" Imagine, anyone of any level of bread making experience can make the most beautiful loaf of bread in your home kitchen! And you don't need to be nervous about your kneading skills.

We have photographed the whole process for you to help illustrate how easy this recipe is. The most important thing is to realise it will take 18 - 24 hours to ferment, so plan to make your loaf a day in advance.

Mark Bittman reveals the No Knead Bread

Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread

I like to make my bread with some wholemeal flour to give it a bit more fiber. My recipe has slightly different weights and measurements to Jim Lahey's original recipe. In the UK, bread is best made with strong flour which has a higher gluten content. In America, I favour King Arthur Flour, which is a great all-purpose flour. You could also combine the flour measurements and use their White Whole Wheat product.

180 g / 1 Cup (strong) whole-wheat or wholemeal flour
310 g / 2 Cups (strong) white flour or All-Purpose flour like King Arthur's
1/2 tsp yeast
1 3/4 tsp table salt
345 ml / 12 oz water

Place all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Whisk them together so they are thoroughly mixed.

 Add the room temperature tap water to the dry ingredients.

The dough will come together into a rough and slightly sticky batter with a quick stir. Cover with cling film and allow to ferment for 12 - 18 hours (even up to 24 hours).

 The dough will become quite loose and wet after 18 hours.

Turn your oven onto 225C/450F and place a covered casserole dish into the oven to heat for 30 minutes. (Others have used covered Pyrex dishes, ceramic dishes with lids or Aluminium casseroles. The most important element is that it has a cover.)

Turn your dough out onto a liberally floured tea towel.

 Very gently shape the dough into a round loaf and allow to rest while the pot heats in the oven. Do not knead it! You've made a lovely structure and kneading will ruin it.

Gently place the dough into the VERY HOT lidded casserole dish. Some people put a bit of cornmeal or bran on the bottom of the pot to prevent sticking, but I haven't found this is necessary. Put the lid on and place it back in the oven.

 Bake for 30 minutes at 225C/450F with the lid on. After 30 minutes, it will look like this.

 Remove the lid and bake for a further 15 minutes at the same temperature. It will look like this.

Allow the loaf to cool for an hour before cutting into it. This will be the biggest challenge of the entire recipe. 

Once you've made this recipe you can start to make lots of variations. Try onion, cheese and rosemary or cranberry and pecan. Simply add those ingredients at the beginning of the process. What variations would you make?