Our Daily Bread....

I know I have talked before about making bread.  I still make it every week or just about – depends on what is happening in the house but also the need of it.  Sometimes we often find breads I don’t make (like a wholemeal rye or seeded) reduced that we’ll pick up just to have a go at it.  We usually never buy just bog standard white nor do we buy any of the normal ‘sandwich’ type pappy fluff.

But I saw in May’s issue of Saveur magazine Bread made the cover and how it is being made more and more at home in America – after all it is an American publication.  I usually fondle all the US magazines I can find at the newsagent just to have that small connection of what is going on there – see all the new stuff, etc.

Anyway, Bread!  The article was an interesting one and talks about the slow food movement at home.  It also talks about baking bread and the person who wrote the article about how they grew their own wheat, etc.  I naturally haven’t taken it that far and I don’t see the need to really unless you are a glutton for punishment. 

However, they go on to talk about starters and how this is the next level of baking bread but never give you an idea of how to start your own.  I suppose to be fair it was about making bread and they did include recipes on how to do just that – some jargon for those not familiar with baking terms, etc. 

As I’ve stated in a previous posting I started my starter now about 2 years ago.  I must say it’s going as strong as ever – I cannot kill it and it comes back no matter how long I ignore and don’t feed it.  I know BAD!  But in a way it has relaxed my attitude towards the starter.  At first when you are beginning one – you cannot ignore it.  It does need your attention for the first two weeks and after that every week I fed it and after a few months I just fed it when I was ready to bake.  It now consistently out grows its container.  When it’s exceptionally warm – well it’s even more active! 

Last night I did my first ever overnight rise – no real special reason other than I had some time to do the kneading and thought I’d do it.  I think it was a bit better tasting than if I didn’t but to us the real difference is the starter. 

Bread before I used the starter was OK and even good.  But the starter improves it to that bake shop quality.  Everyone has their opinion on the crust, or the way to knead but it doesn’t matter.  You can even make bread I hear without kneading.  I really do not put a lot of time into making bread.  I spend perhaps 3-5 minutes dumping the items into a bowl and mixing around to get the flour to absorb the water.  I then let it sit for 15-20 minutes – this is the autolyse. 

I then come in and knead it for 5-7 minutes – sometimes longer if it needs it but this is usually sufficient.  I then let it proof once – depends on the day and warmth (1.5-3 hours) and then form it into the loaf or basket and let proof again, the same amount of time – just depends and then bake it.  Now that is by my time clock perhaps 6.5 hours total but I’m not there watching it and certainly if you let it rise overnight in the fridge then you are certainly not attending to it all that time.

So go on now and begin your loaf or make your own starter if you don’t know anyone who has one.  I’m sure they would share it and really it does make all the difference in the world.  Enjoy!

Been a while...

Sorry - have been really super busy with some projects both at work and at home that have to be accomplished. I've been getting the bargains when I can and hope to show some of that when I get a few moments to compose/document them. Check back soon!

Mother Nature’s Way of Decorating...

You would think being in England that we’d get a lot of snow – perhaps they do in the north but as close as we are to water and the South East we have only had it a handful of winters that I’ve been living here. In 2010 we had a boat load over a few days that took ages to go away but so far this winter has been exceptionally mild. It’s only been in the last week that we’ve gotten the really cold temperatures (below freezing) with the cold front that came in from Russia and Eastern Europe.

In any event, last night just shortly after 10pm the flurries began and Mother Nature decided to do some of her own decorating. I always marvel at how she does it. Like rain that can fall on one half of the street – one side of the street got more snow than the other.

Here’s a picture of the tree across the road from my flat – all pretty in white – ready for the ball. However, the poor cousin across the street wasn’t so lucky and seemed to be half-undressed on this occasion.And at last my favourite picture all the roofs all shiny and white! At the very end is the estuary we see from our windows – needless to say no boats or ships travelling today.Nothing about cookery today but just had to share this wonder – we don’t see it often here but when you do you are always amazed. Enjoy!

What to do with reduced blueberries?

Well again I have gotten more reduced produce to tell you about. I know it is just sometimes how things turn out that make it enjoyable. I was at the store and found a rather large punnet of blueberries and on a whim I got them. I was trying to figure out what to do with them – have them on cereal or just eat them plain when J suggested blueberry muffins. I thought yeah, why not?

I had some single cream left over from the week that I’d gotten reduced (this was used to make two other dinners – so this was its third use now) and also a few teaspoons of sour cream that could be useful as well. I also happen to have gotten a bunch of muffin/cup cake cases yes, reduced! You see where I’m going don’t you?Anyway, I found a recipe in one of my recent cookbook acquisitions – The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and while it did call for buttermilk I didn’t have any. So I used the sour cream/single cream and milk with a bit of lemon juice to be my substitute instead. I know – not same taste but I did have some buttermilk in its dry form so was hoping this would make up for the ‘real’ thing so to speak.

J was quite pleased to have them for breakfast with his coffee and I must admit they came out quite good, despite making about 20 of the said muffins instead of the usual 12. I’m not sure what muffin pans they use but mine were my mother’s so I’m thinking they are by now quite old! Theirs must be huge but in any event I brought a few into work for some colleagues who are always happy to get my leftovers.I liked the recipe and will use it again – especially for other fruits but I’d cut the sugar in the recipe a bit. It was OK with these blueberries as they weren’t too sweet but when they are in season it would of course be too much. Enjoy!

Salmon as is the fish....

I have a friend and one day we were talking of the bargains we get at the grocery store. Money is tight for everyone and I’ve never hidden the fact that I buy things all the time reduced. Its how I’ve learned to have a varied diet but also to try things I could never afford full price. So we were talking and he was hoping to find some whole salmon at one of the famous stores here in the UK. So being the ‘use everything type of person’ I asked ‘What do you do with the bones?’ To which I got this very weird look like I just spoke in a foreign tongue – ‘What do you mean? I don’t want the bones I just want the salmon fillets.’

OK, now I know I am weird but I try to use everything – I too have gotten this whole salmon and I must admit the fish monger gave me quite a stare when I said ‘Please wrap up those bones for me too.’ Hey – you paid for them why not use them?! So when I heard he didn’t ask for them much less used them I said ‘Next time you do that bring me the bones – I make a soup with it.’

Mind you we had this particular conversation ages ago but this past week my friend said ‘I’ve got something for you in the fridge – come collect it.’ Not having a clue what this could be I went and lo and behold there were the fish bones! Awwwww...so sweet!

So today I made the stock and took what fish was still clinging to the bones and added this to the stock. Now for those of you who think – you don’t get much from bones – check out this plate of salmon I got from the carcass! Yes, I will admit it took me about 20 minutes of picking through the bones to get at the meat but that was really about the most tedious thing I had to do.I then added one onion, some crushed garlic, celery and two carrots that needed using from the larder. I can quickly peel and chop the veggies and pop those into the stock – I let that simmer about 10 minutes – they aren’t done but since I’ll re-heat the stock to cook my homemade pasta noodles it will cook further.

I made some pasta noodles for it as well so now it’s really quite a substantial evening meal. I must admit I don’t like canned soup. Over here everything is puréed so that it’s nearly baby food. To me soup has have some substance to it – you actually have to chew! So all in all I spent probably an hour getting the stock ready, picking the bones out for the meat, peeling the veggies and chopping them, preparing the pasta dough and then rolling it on the pasta machine plus doing the dishes in that time. If you add the time it took to cook the pasta in the stock – you’d have to add another 5 minutes but I don’t count that as I made the pasta ahead of time and left it on the counter until dinner time (covered with some cling film and a tea towel) so that when I got home from shopping I just had to add when it was boiling.

The pasta thickens up the stock and I have never been one for a clear soup – to me that is BoRiNg! I have also used this stock to make the Greek Egg/Lemon soup as well and while not authentic to the recipe it certainly was delicious. As usual no complaints in this house!So go off and find your bones and make soup! It's about the best winter dish I can think of and warms your body as well as your soul. Enjoy!

American as Apple Pie!

I understand after years of living in England where Americans get their love of apple pie from but I have to say we improved it immensely. I was quite disappointed when I first moved here to and found out that the English variety of apple pie was very tart and absolutely no spices. Imagine – the spice trade made England yet it uses so little in their foods. Most strange......

So imagine how popular my apple pies were when I made them for a friend who ran a cafe. They always sold out and what is even more amazing...I hate pie crust or did, I should say. I never was a pie person – each year I’d eat the filling but leave the crust as most I found to be horrid and bland tasting. It wasn’t until I’d been asked to make them that I said ‘I don’t make pie crust often but I’ll give it a go.’

So with that I soon learned how to make a successful and even tasty crust. But it ultimately was the filling that won people over – it seems that American Apple Pie is a big hit in England. Fancy that!

So for Thanksgiving this year since I didn’t obtain my usual pumpkin reduced (usually I get one the day after Halloween but this year wasn’t able to do that) and I thought time for a change. Usually it’s always the traditional – pumpkin or sweet potato and while those are nice – sometimes you have to shake it up. So in came the apple and of course it ran into a lemon, some zest, a bit of sugar along with some wonderful spices cinnamon, nutmeg and a bit of clove; add an all-butter crust and well you have a wonderful dessert!
This is a picture of the filling and the crust that I rolled out – ready to top the lovely filling. I then brushed it with some water and sprinkled some sugar on top along with some nutmeg which I had grated for the pie but ended up having too much for the filling thought it would flavour the crust. Also I must admit when I make crust – depending on it being savoury or sweet I added a bit of vanilla sugar to the mixture – wonderful! This is the final product both before oven and after. It certainly was lovely and I made a nice custard sauce to go over it as well – something that as Americans we should have kept from the English. They certainly do know how to top their puddings! Enjoy!

Fall and those lovely apples....

Every year since I’ve moved here and found this lovely orchard out in the wilds of Essex I’ve made my own apple sauce. I think the English gave us Americans our love of apples but we made it better! By this I mean if you buy an apple pie here in here in the stores you’ll find it quite bland and absolutely NO spices in it of any kind. It is simply apples – tart in taste – and little in the way of sugar. Their apple sauce is similar except no crust.

So now you can see why I love to make my own as it is so much better than just plain apple. I love to add cinnamon with some nutmeg and depending on my mood some cloves as well. Each year I end up with something different – one year less sugar due to the sugar in the apples used – as I mix it up and use whatever the orchard is selling that year.

Unfortunately, this year our car died and that means no trek out to the wilds of Essex to our apple lady (as I call her!) to fetch our tree falls (this is what naturally falls to the ground and they sell them cheaper!). Oh dear...I’m missing it more now that I type that.

Well anyway, that cannot happen this year so I’ve had to depend on what can be found cheaply in the store. Thankfully, I brought my nanny cart (this is a term from my friend Vicki – when we went out on our treks we used Nanny’s old cart to carry around our finds – hence the name nanny cart!) on this particular day in October which I found big bags of Kent apples for one pound!So ever the glutton (I have to make this last all year you know!) for punishment I got five bags – so yes, 25 huge bramley apples! I had to make two batches of said apple sauce but it was worth it and really will last me throughout the year. So in the mists of spring I’ll be enjoying a free-range pork roast with my lovely apple sauce.I usually share a jar or two with friends and I still years now after my friend who ran a cafe and sold my apple pies get asked if I’d bake them a special one. So it must be true that while the British gave us our love for apples Americans took it to new heights! Enjoy the spice of apple today!