Titanic Twiglet
About this build
Yeast bread dough is shaped into a long, knobbly stick, baked and coated with Marmite to recreate a giant Twiglet.
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Notes from the contributor
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½ pint warm water 1tsp sugar 12g dry yeast 1lb strong white flour 2tbsp oil (olive is best but I didn’t have any) 1 tsp salt a dollop of marmite
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Titanic Twiglet: the archived recipe
Condensed from the original account by Jane Langdon, published 2006-04-27. The quantities and method are the contributor’s; this is not a new kitchen test.
Ingredients recorded
- ½ pint warm water
- 1tsp sugar
- 12g dry yeast
- 1lb strong white flour
- 2tbsp oil (olive is best but the maker had none)
- 1 tsp salt
- A dollop of Marmite
The ingredient list says 12g of dry yeast, while the method describes a tablespoon; the 2tbsp of oil appears in the list but not in the method. Resting and rising times are not given. The finished Twiglet weighed 538g, which the maker calls 538x heavier than the original.
Method recorded
- Put a tablespoon of the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar into half a pint of warm water and leave until it has a good frothy head; the maker prefers yeast that is mixed with water first over fast-action yeast.
- Weigh out the flour, add a teaspoon of salt and roughly mix it together until almost dough-like.
- Tip it onto the worktop and knead until it feels springy and elastic, then leave the dough to rest for a while.
- Roll out a long sausage and add a few lumps along the sides for twiggy authenticity, then leave the dough to rise.
- Bake slowly, 20 minutes at 180C, until crisp and browned.
- Splodge liberally with Marmite and, as it looks pale, return to the oven for about 5 minutes to cook the Marmite to a darker colour.
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The original account
You will need:
½ pint warm water
1tsp sugar
12g dry yeast
1lb strong white flour
2tbsp oil (olive is best but I didn’t have any)
1 tsp salt
a dollop of marmite
I decided to have a go at a savoury pimp as they are sadly lacking in numbers on PMS and decided what else to pimp but my all time favourite nibble – the twiglet!
First things first gather together the goodies – horror of horrors I have no twiglets in the house so will need to go shopping before I can take the obligatory comparison picture. A quick search GIMF (google is my friend) and up comes a picture to work from.
I decided to try this as a bread based nibble (will be more like a gnaw but you know what I mean!) I’m not sure the original twiglet is bread based but hey this is my pimp and I can do what I like with it!
For those of you not familiar with yeast cookery the best type of yeast is the stuff that you have to mix with water for a little while before you use it – the dry mix ‘fast action’ stuff is good but not as good. So into half a pint of warm water went a tablespoon of the yeast and a teaspoon of sugar (the sugar was feeling shy so didn’t make the picture)
Once the yeast had a good frothy head on it I weighed out the flour and added a teaspoon of salt (which I forgot to put in the original picture)
I then roughly mixed it together until it was almost dough-like
I then tipped it out on the work top and kneaded it until it felt all springy and elasticky.
Now the dough needs to rest for a while. What you do while the dough rests is up to you but I decided to have a sit down with a cuppa and a chunk of Saturday’s pimp – the behemoth bourbon.
Once the dough had had a rest it was time to shape it into a twigletty kind of shape. I rolled out a long sausage and added a few lumps along the sides to give it that twiggy authenticity.
Now it’s time for the dough to rise – I can’t face any more bourbon just yet so I’ll go and do something silly like housework!
After a slow baking (20 minutes at 180C) until crisp and browned it’s time to add the finishing touch – a liberal splodging of marmite. The marmite looked a bit pale so I decided to try returning it to the oven for about 5 minutes to cook the marmite to a darker colour.
Comparison with the original: Tiny Twiglet: barely 1g; Titanic Twiglet: 538g! A twigtastic 538x heavier
