Tag: baking

My first AI inspired Islay whisky bread

Islay Fun

At some point I had to give it a try. I wrote about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in relation to Islay previously, trying to generate Islay related pictures and more. I’ve also been doing various baking experiments. So why not combine the two? Recently I asked Google’s Gemini for a walnut bread recipe with Islay whisky and it came up with something I could build on.

Picture of a round bread, cut into a half and two quarters
An AI inspired Islay whisky bread

The recipe the AI generated sounded interesting, although some of it didn’t feel right (and I didn’t have all the ingredients it asked for). I decided to build on it while keeping the core of it. Let’s start with the ingredients:

The sponge:

  • 100g strong wholemeal bread flour
  • 100ml warm water
  • 4g instant yeast

The dough

  • The sponge from above
  • 300g strong wholemeal bread flour
  • 200g strong white bread flour
  • 150g walnuts (walnut halves to be precise)
  • 50g golden caster sugar (as that was the closest I had and felt it fitted, the AI recipe had asked for brown sugar (or maple syrup))
  • 7g (1 pack) instant yeast
  • 1 tblsp vanilla essence
  • 4 tblsp Islay single malt whisky (I used the trusted Laphroaig 10yo)
  • 3 tblsp olive oil
  • 400ml warm water

Now for the process:

I started with the sponge (not sure why the recipe called it that, I’ll have to learn about that): Mix together the three ingredients in a bowl, cover and let rise for 30-60 minutes.

Once the sponge is ready mix in the remaining ingredients and knead well (I used my kitchen mixer with a dough hook for about 10-15 minutes). Leave covered in a bowl for rising/fermentation for about 30 minutes. As the resulting dough was very soft and “runny” I decided to use a round silicone baking form, moved it into the form and let it rise again for a good 30-45 minutes, could even do an hour. Different to some other attempts of whisky breads this rose quite nicely. While it was rising the (fan assisted) oven was pre-heated to 180°C. Finally it was time to bake the bread. It went in for about 35-45 minutes (you have to watch it closely towards the end, as you can see in the picture the crust turns quite dark easily). Once ready remove from the form quickly to avoid it getting soggy and leave to cool on a wire rack.

The result?

It might need some further refinement and improvement, but for the first attempt I’m quite happy. The bread is a little bit chewy, although in a way I kind of like that, better than the soft, fluffy nothingness of some other bread. With just four table spoons of whisky in about a kilo of dough I wasn’t expecting much of a whisky taste, but I think I still smelled and tasted the smoky/peaty aroma of the Laphroaig a little.

I will certainly try this again, maybe adjust some of the ingredients a little. If you give this a try please let me know of your experience and more importantly your suggestions for improvements.

Honey and Almond Shortbread with a dash of Islay whisky

Islay Whisky News & Links

With autumn rapidly approaching it’s time for some more baking again. The original recipe for “Honey and Almond Shortbread Biscuits” I cut out of the now long defunct Reading Evening Post many many years ago. I modified it slightly by changing it to metric, adjusting some ingredients and the process and adding an admittedly insignificant Islay touch. Just because I could. Here we go:

Picture of some shortbread on a plate, surrounded by a bottle of Bowmore whisky, a dram of whisky and a mug of tea
Honey and Almond Shortbread with a dash of Islay whisky

Starting with the ingredients:

  • 250g butter
  • 90g runny honey
  • 90g caster sugar
  • 1 tea spoon vanilla extract
  • 250g plain flour
  • 125g ground almonds
  • 3 tbl sp Islay single malt whisky (I used a Bowmore No1)

This is how I made them:

  • Mix together butter, honey, sugar and vanilla until creamy
  • Add the flour and almonds, mix well
  • Add the whisky (maybe while allowing yourself a dram?), mix well
  • Form/roll the dough into a long cylinder shape. It will be very soft and sticky, so this might be challenging
  • Chill or even briefly freeze the dough (this will make the next step easier)
  • Slice the dough into thin round(ish) biscuit shapes, spread out on a baking tray/rack lined with baking paper
  • Bake at 150°C (preheated), I think 20-25 minutes will probably be plenty enough (I left mine in for 30 minutes which made them much darker than I wanted, so the next batch will be in the oven much shorter)

And that’s it. As you can see I enjoyed some with a mug of tea and a dram of the Bowmore whisky. Did they taste of the whisky? No, not really. Can’t expect that from 3 spoons of whisky in 800g of dough. But it’s the thought that counts. And the kitchen smelled amazing while I was preparing and baking them. Good enough for me. Maybe you as well?