The Dusty Knuckle is East London’s favourite bakery and café with being experts in creating seriously good bread, knockout sandwiches and everything in between! Having two locations based in Dalston and Harringay, The Dusty Knuckle offer an abundance of baked goods, where you can wine & dine and even attend their baking classes during the weekend, learning how to make their ‘knock-out’ breads.
Sharing their baking secrets is at the heart of the bakery, where managers Max Tobias, Rebecca Oliver and Daisy Terry have shared it all with the release of their latest cook book, ‘The Dusty Knuckle’, whereby Maldon Salt is credited for being the bakery’s salt of choice!
Here we delve into one of the recipe’s in which The Dusty Knuckle have used Maldon Salt to enhance their dish…the infamous Focaccia!
For the poolish, add the water and yeast to a bowl, mix until your yeast is dissolved, then throw in the flour. Mix quickly with your hands; this will be wet and sloppy and you are only looking to mix it enough so that there are no wet bits and no dry clumps. Scrape your bowl down, cover it with a clean cloth or lid and leave somewhere warm to ferment. How long this takes depends on the heat of your home, your yeast, your flour, your hands. You are basically looking for it to have grown to almost triple in size and for the surface to be covered in little bubbles, roughly 2 hours. Use it before it begins to deflate and drop down the edges of the bowl.
Add the first water addition for the dough, and the yeast. It will separate and feel slimy; don’t worry, this is normal. Add your flours and mix thoroughly until everything is combined. If you are doing this by hand, it will take around 4 minutes, and if using a mixer with a dough hook, around 2 minutes on slow speed. Scrape your bowl down, cover and leave for an hour. This rest period (called autolysis) allows the flour to further absorb the water, which is important in this recipe as it uses nearly the same amount of water as flour. It should rise nicely and it may get a bit of a crusty top: don’t worry about this, it’ll all get mixed in.
Add the second water addition and Maldon Salt, and mix in with your hands (again, it will break up, but don’t worry, it’ll soon come back together). Once your dough is looking a bit more coherent, you will need to work it a bit. The easiest way to do this is to grab one side, stretching it upwards as far as it will allow you, then fold it back on itself, turn the bowl slightly and repeat, working your way around and around (keep the dough in the bowl; you will thank yourself when cleaning up later). The dough will start off shaggy and will tear easily, but will soon become elastic and silky. This will probably take you about 10 minutes, but don’t scrimp on the time here: you are building strength in the dough, which is the key to that chewy delicious bread. You can use a mixer – we do – for this, mixing for 2 minutes on slow speed, then 4 minutes on fast.
Check your dough for elasticity: does it stretch without tearing? If it’s still a bit weak and tears easily when you lift it, give it a couple more minutes.
Once mixed and silky and lovely and smooth and soft, take the dough out of the bowl, pour 2 generous glugs of olive oil into the bowl and replace the dough in the bowl. Cover and leave to rest for 1 hour, then fold and leave for another hour, before folding again and leaving for another hour (3 hours in total from mixing the final dough). To fold the dough, grab the edge of the dough with oily fingers and stretch it as high as it will let you, then fold it back over itself. Do this 4 times (north, south, east, west) to complete one fold.
After 3 hours your dough should be feeling pillowy, soft and silky, and bubbly. Turn it out onto a well-oiled standard-sized baking tray and fold it neatly into a square shape (don’t worry if this is much smaller than the tray as it will sprawl out and fill the tray) and leave somewhere nice and warm, and not too airy, for 1 hour. (If following the morning bake schedule, then this is when you would put it in the fridge – it can be in the fridge at this stage for up to 12 hours.)
Fold each side in to create a square and leave it for another hour, then do this one more time and leave for its final hour.
Give it a prod: if it feels like it will let you, gently slide oily hands right underneath and slowly stretch it out, pulling from the central underbelly. Be delicate here: it should feel like a wobbly, airy pillow (if it doesn’t leave it another hour). Ensure you do not tear the dough. It will relax and start to fill the tray. Heat your oven to its hottest setting.
Whisk together 200ml (7fl oz/scant 1 cup) olive oil and 100ml (3 ½ fl oz/scant ½ cup) water until cloudy and immediately pour all over the top of the dough – be super-generous here. Dimple the top of the dough with your fingertips – sharp hard dimples are better than little soft ones so don’t worry if you go right through to the tray or even make a little hole; this will move the bubbles around inside and help get that chewy, open structure we are all looking for. Because it is so oily and bubbly, and nice to touch, it is tempting to over-dimple which can knock the air out, so just prod it enough so the surface is evenly dimpled. Sprinkle with Maldon Salt and bake for 15 minutes or until deep and golden brown. Be super-careful taking this out of the oven as the oil is hot and there will be excess on the tray.
Remove from the tray straight away and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Make the classic whiskey sour with a flowery twist from the infused flavours of lavender and nectarine syrup to give a subtle sweetness to the cocktail…delicious!
Prepare the syrup the day before by mixing the water, sugar, a pinch of Maldon Salt and the cut nectarine in a saucepan. Let it boil for 5 minutes, add the lavender and remove from the heat. Cover and leave to cool.
Mix the ingredients in a liquidiser at full power until the ice has started to crush and a thick foam has formed.
Serve and garnish with a sprig of lavender.
Create the perfect pistachio ice cream, but make it vegan! The buttery, nutty flavour of the humble pistachio really is intensified when combined with the rich, creamy coconut milk as the vegan alternative to the ice cream. Sprinkled with a pinch of Maldon Salt and chocolate cocoa and you’ll want to go for seconds!
Put all the ingredients in a liquidiser and blend at full power until the mixture is a smooth cream with no chunks.
Pour the cream mixture into the cake mould, cover it with baking paper and freeze it for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Chop and toast the pistachios for the topping for a 2-3 minutes. Scrape one side of the chocolate bar with a knife to get chocolate shavings.
If you want, create balls with a special spoon or make quenelles with the help of two soup spoons. Sprinkle each portion with pistachios, chocolate shavings and a pinch of Maldon Salt.
The perfect summer dessert – freshly baked apricots coated with a rosemary, butter glaze. Sprinkle a generous pinch of Maldon Salt to enhance the sweetness of the fresh apricots.
Cut the butter into slices, put it in the liquidiser together with the washed and prepared rosemary. Add the sugar and blend at maximum speed for 2 minutes. Put the mixture into a bowl, let it soften at room temperature. Heat the oven to 160ºC.
Wash the apricots and cut into the top of each apricot. Open up the cut with a knife and insert a portion of butter into each cut. Spread the rest of the butter over the dish.
Put the dish in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes on indirect heat. Once they begin to brown slightly, take out of the oven and serve with a sprinkle of Maldon Salt. On a hot summer’s day, serve with vanilla ice cream, cream or frozen yogurt.
This orange and carrot salad, paired with barbecue grilled halloumi creates the perfect salad for any summer dinner party!
Wash, dry and de-leaf the fresh mint. Set aside a few whole leaves and chop up the rest finely. Juice ½ a blood orange, filter out the excess bits/pips with a sieve, then season the juice with Maldon Salt and pepper. Add the olive oil, cumin and chopped mint and mix together well. Put this salad dressing in the fridge for later.
Cut the peel and pith away from the rest of the oranges with a very sharp knife until the pulp is completely clean. Cut each orange into segments and toss into a salad bowl. Using a vegetable peeler, finely shred the peeled carrots into the bowl, and add the olives and salad dressing together.
Chop the halloumi into thin slices, lightly brush with olive oil and then grill on the barbecue until golden on both sides. Serve together with the salad. Add a pinch of Maldon Salt for seasoning.
‘This is the perfect summer dessert, so simple and yet a real showstopper. Here, I’m going to use the barbecue to gently caramelise the peaches, adding a little pinch of Maldon Salt to lift the flavours of the peach and the ricotta’.
Place the dried rose, sugar and water in a pan and bring the boil, reduce by half, and remove from the heat.
Cut the peaches into wedges, remove the stones and cook dry on the grates until charred.
Add the peaches to the syrup to steep.
Roughly chop the mint.
Gently mix the ricotta with the olive oil and lemon zest.
Place the peaches flat onto a plate.
Spoon over the ricotta.
Sprinkle over the mint and fresh rose petals.
Mix a little of the syrup with the olive oil and drizzle around. Add a sprinkle of Maldon Salt to finish. Summer in one bite.
‘Cauliflower is such a versatile ingredient and here we’re adding Maldon Salt and a bit of curry heat before charring on the Weber Genesis BBQ‘.
‘Of course, you don’t have to make your own pitta, but I promise these wild garlic and lemon breads are heavenly. I’m going to be using this crafted glazed Baking Stone to ensure they have an irresistible crust’.
Make your pitta dough and prove for an hour.
Mix the melted butter with the lemon and wild garlic and reserve.
Cut the cauliflower into florets and season with the curry spice and Maldon Salt.
Char on the barbecue until softening.
Place into a bowl with the yoghurt and onions seeds and cover for 20 minutes.
Roll and shape the pitta and cook on the baking stone.
Chop the cauliflower, add the coriander, place into to the centre of the cooked pitta.
Brush the pitta with the garlic and lemon butter and serve.
Preheat your oven to 200°C.
Pour the oil into a baking dish and pop it in the oven.
On a high heat add water to a pot, bring to a boil and season with Maldon Sea Salt. Once boiled, add your washed potatoes and let it simmer until tender.
Individually press down your potatoes gently, (we used a little ceramic dish), then get your baking dish of oil out of the oven and add the potatoes immediately. Season evenly with 5 spice powder, Maldon Sea Salt and pop them back into the oven. Roast them for 40 minutes. Half way through, flip them over.
Meanwhile, slice your spring onion and red chilli.
To make your sambal mayonnaise, mix one tablespoon of sambal with two tablespoons of mayonnaise.
Once your potatoes are golden and crispy, garnish with spring onions and red chilli. Pour over the remaining sambal, finish with Maldon Sea Salt and service with your sambal mayonnaise.
Shred your red cabbage, carrots and oyster mushrooms.
Mince your garlic with a sprinkle of Maldon Sea Salt.
Slice your spring onions and chilli, set aside for later.
Wash your beansprouts.
Add a good glug of vegetable oil to your pan, add your garlic alongside your shredded vegetables and beansprouts.
Add all your seasonings, sauces and a sprinkle of Maldon Sea Salt. Give it a good mix.
Whisk the egg.
Place a teaspoon of the filling onto the non-floury side of the pastry sheet. Fold over the opposite corner and seal tightly making sure the filling stays in the middle. Fold over the left and right sides, wipe with egg wash then roll away.
Add the oil to a wok and heat until the temperature reaches 180c. Fry the spring rolls in batches until they turn golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and place them on a paper lined plate.
Finish with a sprinkle of Maldon Sea Salt and serve with sweet chilli sauce.
Light your gas hob to a medium flame. Put your aubergine directly on top, and char for a few minutes on each side until it is totally soft and charred. Set aside to cool.
Very finely slice your sourdough bread, then pop it on a baking tray. Drizzle it with olive oil, then bake for 10 minutes until crisp and lightly golden.
Roughly chop your parsley. Pop this into a food processor along with your toasted bread, lemon zest, then whizz into bright green breadcrumbs.
Once your aubergine is cool enough to handle, peel of it’s skin and discard it. Shred the rest of your aubergine with a fork – it should be soft enough to mash.
Heat a large pan of salted water using Maldon Sea Salt flakes for taste. Add your pasta and cook until al dente – a couple of minutes less than the packet says normally.
Finely slice your garlic.
Heat a glug of olive oil in a sauté pan, then add your garlic and a pinch of Maldon Sea Salt and cook over a gentle heat for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
Add your tomato puree, harissa and butter.
Add your smoky aubergine, along with a splash of pasta water to emulsify the mixture.
Get your drained pasta in the pan and give it a good mix. Grate in your pecorino and squeeze in your lemon juice, then season to taste with a good pinch of Maldon Sea Salt and black pepper.
Spoon your pasta into bowls, then top with your breadcrumbs and a little more Maldon Sea Salt flakes. Dig in!
