Brunch on Saturday: Homemade eggs benedict or out for a Scottish fry up

In the second of our Brunch on Saturday series, we've selected a firm favourite recipe if you're staying in, with a gluten free option too and recommended Edinburgh's Blue Bear if you're going out

Home-Made Muffins with Eggs Benedict

Serves 4

For the english muffins (makes 8)
1¼ tsp active dry yeast
60ml/2fl oz warm water
½ tbsp (superfine) sugar
180ml/6½fl oz) whole milk
335g/12oz) strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
¾tsp salt
1tbsp unsalted softened butter
oil for greasing
4 eggs
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 thick slices cooked ham hock
hollandaise sauce (see below)
cayenne pepper to serve

This is definitely the most requested breakfast wherever I have worked. Ask various folk what their favourite breakfast is and this is always going to come up as a mid-morning weekend staple. I don’t know why I am surprised, it is delicious, and here we have my classic version. For Florentine, swap the ham for wilted spinach, for Royale swap in slices of smoked salmon. the muffins can be made in advance, kept in the fridge for up to a week or even freeze them.

For the muffins, stir the yeast into the warm water with a pinch of sugar in a bowl. Allow the yeast to dissolve a little and then add the milk. In another bowl, combine the flour, the remaining sugar and the salt, then mix in the butter. Pour in the yeast mixture and stir until the mixture clumps together and forms a ball of dough. Sprinkle some flour over a clean work surface and scrape the dough out on to it. Knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes until it becomes elastic. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for 1-1½ hours until the dough has doubled in size.

Flour a clean work surface and tip the dough out on to it. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and then roll each one into a ball. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and place the balls on to it. Cover with the tea towel again and allow to rise for another hour somewhere warm. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Gently pat the dough balls down to make into muffin shapes. Put a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat and cook the muffins in the pan for 5–6 minutes on each side. You want them to be brown but not burnt. Transfer the muffins to a baking tray and cook in the oven for a further 10–12 minutes.

While the muffins are baking, poach the eggs. Add 2cm (¾in) water to a frying pan. Stir in a dash of white wine vinegar and bring the water to a simmer. Crack the eggs into the water, bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Once boiling, take the pan off the heat and let the eggs sit in the water until cooked to your liking.

For the hollandaise sauce

2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon white vinegar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cayenne pepper
110g (3 ¾ oz)cold butter, cubed

For the hollandaise sauce, fill a saucepan with just enough boiling water so that when you place a heatproof bowl on the pan, the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. Place the saucepan over a high heat to keep the water simmering. Add the egg yolks, vinegar, salt and cayenne pepper to the bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly whisk the butter, a cube at a time, until you have a lovely thick pale sauce. You can keep the sauce warm in the bowl over a low simmer until you’re ready to serve up.

Remove the muffins from the oven, split 4 of them in half and put the bottom halves on to plates. Top each half with a slice of ham, a poached egg and lashings of hollandaise. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

Tattie scones

For a gluten-free option, potato scones are just as quick and very easy to make. Add fresh herbs or spices for added flavour.

Makes 12 pieces

450g/1lb floury potatoes, peeled and cooked
½ teaspoon of salt
50g/2oz butter
100g/4oz gluten-free self-raising flour
Fresh dill or parsley/ ground mace
oil

Mash the potatoes, then add the salt, butter and flour to make a stiff mixture. Flour a clean flat surface, and knead the mixture lightly, and roll out to a thickness of 1cm/½in. Cut out triangles and cook on a hot, greased griddle for 4-5 minutes on each side, until golden and serve hot.

Where to go for brunch: the Blue Bear Cafe, Edinburgh

Serving up brunch all day long in the Scottish capital is Blue Bear Café. Choose from light bites to full blown fry-ups, with appropriately (and rather sweet) bear themed names on the big dishes, like the Big Bear breakfast or the Vegetarian bear.

As the menu says, “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like pauper”. It has been designed with the hungry but health-conscious breakfast connoisseur in mind; the type who likes breakfast at any and all times of the day.

There’s a dedicated eggs menu, proving their no-messing-around attitude when it comes to breakfast. Not forgetting the full Scottish – served, of course, with black pudding and potato scones, along with grilled vine tomatoes, bacon, beans, sausage, mushrooms, haggis, toast and egg for £8.95, with its meat-free counterpart at £8.45. And don’t pass up on a plain and simple, but perfectly formed sausage roll for £2.95.

If that doesn’t take your fancy, go lighter with waffles covered in berries and crème fraiche for £6.45, savoury croissants with melted cheese and tomato for £5.95 or crunchy homemade granola for 4.95.

Set in Canonmills in the city’s New Town, the café believes in proper veg and works only with fresh, seasonal and local produce, which, with the help of some Scottish sunshine and an allotment, they grow some of themselves. As well as local food adorning your plates, there’s also local artists work on the walls, from photography to print, illustration and watercolour. Plus, there’s a table tennis table downstairs to work off your beans. And, if you needed more reasons to visit, the place is as friendly to its diners as it is to their dogs.

More information at cafebluebear.co.uk

The homemade muffins with eggs benedict recipe is from Breakfast: Morning, noon and night, by Fern Green. Published by Hardie Grant, £18.99