Category Archives: Baking

Bread, Birds and Butterflies

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I just caught the end of the Bread Group today. Gail is at a conference in London (as is Prince Charles, though I’m not one to gossip…) so they ran their own session today. The result was a variety of loaves baked using a focaccia recipe. I use those words carefully.

I’m sure they will all taste great, even the ones that look like illustrations from a medical textbook (due to the inclusion of sun-dried tomatoes) but if you were expecting focaccia that looks like the picture in cookery books you won’t find much of it here.  I was actually left with the impression that the bakers of the flatter ones were generally thought to lack imagination by the rest of the group.

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My favourites were the ones that looked like small loaves. I bet they will taste really good with a bowl of soup. I made that observation several times but ended up leaving without other bread or an invitation. I may have to investigate Photoshop and the possibility of adding more wrinkles if this sort of thing continues.

Meanwhile, we have had young goldfinches and wrens around the feeder and the blue tits are now feeding lots of caterpillars to their young in the nestbox. I’m not sure this is doing the butterfly garden a lot of good but nature is all about give and take.

I’ve seen two more Common Blues about, though the butterfly showing isn’t great at the moment. One of them was a female, which is always a bit difficult as female Common Blues are brown. Annoying though this may be, I have to admit it isn’t their fault because as they evolved nobody told them they were going to be called Common Blues. Compared to some species, they aren’t that common either.

Ah well!

Flowers are looking better, and I did mange to get some photos. It’s a shame the few pollinators I saw about were so quick I couldn’t get a shot.

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Tomorrow it’s Sheffield, though we’re hoping to get into the Peak District on the way back. We may to Wigtwizzle. I’m not sure there’s much to see, but with a name like that (which I just discovered on the map) how can you resist?

On the way back we may even find time to visit one of my favourite bookshops.

 

 

 

Here today and scones tomorrow

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It was scone day today and we now have several hundred scones cooling in the kitchen. Later we will vacuum pack them and freeze them ready for Open Farm Sunday. I can recommend them highly because I’ve been helping to dispose of the “rejects” and had the opportunity to check several.

When refreshed by a few minutes in a warm oven on Sunday 5th June they will be superb.

Once again it’s a case of thanking the volunteers, some of whom will be away on the day so won’t even get to eat one. Without the bread group we would be a poorer place, both morally and financially, as the tea room they run is our big earner on Open Farm Sunday.

My contribution was limited to photography and gluttony.

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I’m currently finishing off the drying of a hundred salt-dough animal shapes because we’ve used all the 65 I made last time. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I hadn’t realised how much time it would take. I am, however rolling it thinner. The hundred have come from the same amount of dough that only made 65 in the previous batch.

Tomorrow I have to produce at least another 100 is we are to have anything like enough for Open Farm Sunday.

Have I mentioned Open Farm Sunday? It’s on June 5th and it’s a good day out.

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Email office@farmeco.co.uk for details of the day. The Bread Group is doing ciabatta in two weeks if anyone fancies popping along – use the same contact address to check we have room.

Carry on Baking

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You see before you the blog of an unhappy man. I’m short on time and I have somehow managed to consign the hundred or so laboured words of my first attempt to pixelated oblivion. I’m not quite sure how it happened – a flurry of fingers, a wrongly selected key and it just disappeared. I cannot find it.

Today’s session, free from the tyranny of seriousness and sourdough, was a  light-hearted affair featuring an amount of witty repartee and a helping of classic double entendre in the style of the Carry On films. Everyone enjoyed themselves, everyone baked good loaves (though some were of a decidedly rustic nature) and everyone took turns in the jokes about soggy bottoms, or, more rarely, nice firm bottoms.

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If you recall our last attempt at Honey and Oatmeal bread, when Gail was away, we produced similar loaves – excellent but rustic – and did it all without needing to resort to smut about bottoms. The session on that occasion was conducted with the reverence and decorum that only a group of middle-aged men can bring to such a proceeding.

I’m not saying anything more, you may draw your own conclusions.

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In passing, we had some form of icy snow last night in Screveton (though not around our house in Nottingham) and we now have two bookings confirmed for the craft fair on Open Farm Sunday.

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It’s all looking good.

 

Sourdough – the results

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It’s a bit like one of those television talent shows isn’t it? Days after the main event – here are the results.

The difference lies in the talent of course – we do have some talented bakers amongst our members, as the pictures will show,  whereas the title “Britain’s Got Talent” is probably an offence under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 .

So far everything looks to have great texture and crumb, and is making my mouth water.

But enough of my ramblings – here are the results. What do you think?

Sourdough Days

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In which the Bread Lady gets complicated…

It was sourdough today, but as it takes time there will be no pictures of delicious looking bread. Instead everyone poured the dough into brotforms and went home.

To me that’s a bit like a rugby match I once attended (Leicester Tigers v Bath in 2010). The score was 21 – 15. A drop goal and six penalties to five penalties. There is something immensely unsatisfactory about a game of rugby with no tries. It was raining too, and I had a group of  Under-14s with me. The game was televised and I’m told you could see me sitting in the rain in an open stand behind the goal looking more and more miserable every time someone scored.

Anyway, there were some dazzling skills on display today and a number of very competent breadmakers in attendance. If I tell you that the number of competent breadmakers didn’t quite equal the number of people attending I’m sure you will get the picture. We had every possible scenario from one batch that formed a crust as soon as the air got to it and another that looked like the perpetrator was pouring pancake batter.

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Gail doesn’t usually betray much emotion in class, but even she looked incredulous at what Barry had done using just flour and water

Gail was at her best; she loves the science of breadmaking, and the more complicated it is the better she likes it. However, before I say too much I will pause and reflect that she had 15 people at her session where I only attracted three last time I filled in for her. People clearly like complication. (Also note that it has not been possible, despite trying for three years, to take a picture of Gail with her eyes open and her hands still.)

Fair enough, I suppose, if you really want simple bread you can jump in the car and buy a crap loaf from the supermarket.

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I always recall a story of Ancient Egypt about the advent of leavened bread (we can tell they used yeast because you can see it in ancient bread remains if you use an electron microscope. (And they say that archaeology is dull!) Conjecture has it that yeast was introduced into bread when an Egyptian baker kneaded the bread with his feet whilst suffering from athlete’s foot.

It’s probably not true. In fact it’s almost certainly not true. However, when you taste sourdough bread it’s hard to stop that suspicion of truth entering your mind.

If you want to join the bread class check out the farm website. It’s great fun and I can recommend it for a good morning out with convivial company.

I will end there. My work is done, and I wonder how many of you will be able to eat sourdough without thinking of Egyptian feet from now on…

 

 

 

Yesterday once more

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Once again, I’m a day behind, so I will do two days in one.

It was the bread group yesterday and we had a bit of a sad one as we broke in the middle to plant a tree in memory of one of the group who died recently. It’s in the area where we sit to drink tea in the summer, so we’ll think of him regularly and in years to come we’ll also pick the apples off the tree.

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This is one of those times when I’m not really sure what to say as I’m not a great one for displays of emotion. The sun shone, we read a poem and the birds sang. It was as good as it could be when you consider the reason for the gathering.

Back in the kitchen we made a simple wholemeal loaf. There’s a comfort in gathering to make bread, and as one of the members said, we’ve had births and marriages in the group, and now a death, so we’re just like a family. Well, better than  a family really, as none of them ever raid my fridge or hog the bathroom.

As I locked up I walked out of the front and surprised two red-legged partridges dust bathing in the middle of the yard. It really must be getting sunny for them to do that.

 

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Friday started well with a big flock of fieldfares on the way down the lane and a good sighting of a group of finches that included half a dozen reed buntings (first sighting of the year for them). There were rooks on the sheep field and a single cock pheasant standing in the middle, looking like he owned the place.

We then had a group of 12 kids come out from the city. They come three times a year and they are always a good group as they are brought out as a reward for good behaviour and their hard work in ecological matters. It’s also a lot easier to have a good cooking session when you can get round the kitchen properly.

You also feel that you are actually teaching them something as most of our groups are from local schools and they know quite a lot about food and farming.

The best pizza was the owl, though they all seemed to taste good, judging from the way they laid into them at lunch. We haven’t had olives for a while (I’ve been feeling tight) but they do make a difference to pizza designs. I must make a note of that for future reference.

The bread is excellent, by the way. We ate some as soon as I got home, spread with the home made damson jam. I’ll put the recipe on the recipe page later.

 

Sourdough Thursday

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It’s a sourdough day on Thursday, and all the new starters (prepared after the last soda bread session) will be coming out for inspection. I have to admit that although I’m fascinated by the history of sourdough (and by the fact that various cultures can claim to trace their roots back to the California gold rush of 1849) I’m not a great fan of the bread.

Sorry if that’s heresy amongst bread makers, but it’s the truth. The flavour of a proper sourdough loaf is too intense for me and although I know there are good reasons for making sourdough, I can’t, in truth, be bothered with all the messing about when you can buy perfectly good tinned yeast from the supermarket.  As an aside, I do have a use for a starter, because I use it in my presentation for schools when we show them dried yeast, fresh yeast (often identified as chicken or cheese when I ask what they think it is) and a sourdough starter. I did it last week and, as it hadn’t been opened for a while, managed a very pungent experience for the visiting kids. There were definite smells of beer and vinegar with a particularly noticeable smell of nail varnish remover.

Talking of thoughts on bread flavour, we have done several bread tastings with schools using a variety of bought and home-baked bread. The favourite is always – white, spongy supermarket bread. I’ve even bought TESCO’s cheapest white sliced and it still beats the good stuff. Makes you wonder what you need to do to promote real bread doesn’t it?

The newly made starters won’t be as strong as mine yet (or the one pictured below), and definitely won’t be covered in black liquid yet, but it should still be an interesting session.

Just a short post to start the week, as it’s a busy week and I am supposed to be working.

Correction: Due to a change in plans Sourdough Thursday has been put back by a fortnight.

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Back to Basics – Soda Bread

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Bread Group again today and we were back to that old favourite – Soda Bread. I’ve made a lot of soda bread over the years, and, as chive soda bread scones, it formed the basis of my early teaching sessions in the kitchen. It’s quick and easy to make and, as scones, it bakes quickly. You can also include cheese or sultanas (when it is known as Spotted Dog).

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However, the bread can range from stodgy to downright unpleasant (if you don’t get the baking soda distributed properly) and pizza is a lot easier to eat. On top of that, it’s not really much of a learning process for people who are used to making yeasted breads.

Fortunately, It’s always fun in the Bread group, whatever we make and there were plenty of stories and photos from India now everyone is back. so everybody got on with the job, even though a number of people declared in advance that they didn’t want to eat the end result.

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Ironically, the person who asked for it wasn’t able to come today.

The trick with soda bread is to have the oven ready, the dry ingredients mixed thoroughly and sieved, and then pour in the buttermilk, mix it, shape it, cut it and bung it in the oven as quickly as possible. The reaction between buttermilk and baking soda is quite quick and you need to be as organised as possible to ensure you get the maximum benefit from it.

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If you want the recipe it is here.

There are plenty of other recipes out there if you want to look – including those using plain milk or yoghurt.

 

A puppy comes to visit…

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We had a visitor this morning, looking considerably larger and less puppyish than she did a couple of weeks ago. After that it was all doomed to be an anti-climax.

The sick ewe died (we think it was twin lamb disease), despite us dosing her with the appropriate drench. The worst thing about twin lamb disease is that I always feel it is avoidable.

We had home-made Leek and Potato soup (with the leeks being home grown, as you could probably guess from the clumps of soil on the roots), but it was a bit glutinous. I remember seeing something about the problem before when I started making soup but can’t recall what the cause was. All I can find now is that the potatoes were over-worked (and you shouldn’t use a blender) or that I used the wrong (high starch) potatoes. Neither of these seem to be what I remember from the previous time, which I though was something to do with ratios.

I always use the cheapest potatoes in the shop, I always use a hand blender, and I don’t usually have a problem. Maybe it’s the way the soup-maker works. Does anyone have any ideas?

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Blue tits are using the nest box by the centre entrance, but as my wife pointed out, they did that last year and the year before – they just like to torment us.

Things picked up a bit towards the end of the day when we cleaned the store cupboard (which we had been putting off for months) and one of the group baked chocolate chip cookies. A fresh warm biscuit for afternoon break was just what we needed.

 

 

 

The calming effects of bread

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We had our regular Monday meeting after I posted last night. I was planning on slipping away before it started but I was a little slow off the mark and ended up cornered by a man with a clipboard and a mission. That mission was to have a meeting about the meeting we are having today.

There’s no helping some people, they just need meetings. They have a naive belief that meetings get things done.

Don’t get me wrong, the procrastinator in me adores meetings; you can waste so much time arranging pencils and cups of tea that by the time you hand it over to the natural-born filibuster (and all groups seem to have one) their job is almost done. However, procrastination is about me killing my own time. Meetings are about people stealing my time, which is quite different.

So, with another meeting in prospect this afternoon, I am despondent, to say the least. I am also dismayed, downcast and depressed. And downbeat.

In order to raise my spirits I am meditating on bread.

I’m thinking of running a class to make wheatsheaf loaves nearer the time of harvest festival, because several people have mentioned them and everyone seems to like them.

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Wheatsheaf loaf

 

Bread doesn’t waste your time, it doesn’t talk over you and it has no secret agenda. You can punch it, you can cut it and you can stick it in an oven without fear of a custodial sentence. And above all, you can speak your mind to it and it won’t sulk.

I like bread.