Friday 26 April 2013

Walk on the Wild Side


I had a 'roasted garlic and herb' grinder from Sainsburys. I used it a lot for speedy seasoning, despite the fact I've always got garlic in the house and herbs in the garden. When I'd emptied the jar I was reluctant to buy a new one as they aren't cheap, and it got used up quite quickly. So I checked the ingredients and decided I could make my own blend up quite easily. Black and pink peppercorns, dried onion and garlic, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, celery seeds, and some dried herbs which seldom get used. A teaspoon of coarse sea salt - and Robert was indeed your father's sibling! This amount filled one and a half jars'



They now grace my newly tidied spice shelves, along with the basil, wild garlic, and mixed herb salts I made up a few days ago. I do love my shelves. I know that's sad, but I get great satisfaction out of seeing all my bits and bobs (there he is again!) lined up. I'm determined to pick blackberries this autumn and jam them.


 I went for a walk in the sunshine the other day, just round the village.


As I wandered nearer to the edge of the village I noticed a lane I hadn't been down before, which led into a small wood. There was a stream running through, with several planked 'bridges' to cross.


It wasn't a particularly salubrious looking stream, very copper - coloured so no doubt polluted with something or other.

However, it was a jolly nice walk, and good to find a little bit of village wilderness! Had it not been a beautiful sunny day I doubt whether the idea of walking through the wood would have appealed.


Here you see the results of my first attempt at sourdough. What a palaver! Luckily I didn't have to make the starter from scratch, my music friend Marj had one on the go - she is a recent trier-outer of this method. Next day I made the 'sponge', which was left overnight in the fridge.  The following day I added flour salt and sugar and water to the sponge and kneaded it - I have to say it is a beautiful dough to work with. This then sat to prove for 3-4 hours, knocked back and shaped into batons and left to rise a further 3 hours. Quick-bread it aint! Into a hot oven for 30 minutes. We had the result today for lunch - well some of it. I had a shop-bought sourdough loaf to compare it with. According to Jim and Mike mine was better but then they'd have to say that, wouldn't they! Personally mine could have been a bit lighter, less dense, though it wasn't 'solid'. Lovely flavour, which is what all the long proving is about.


This is the crumb - the shop-bought one had larger holes, less tightly packed as it were. I am quite pleased with it.However it isn't the kind of bread you make on a whim. I'm not sure I'd want to be trying to think ahead all the time to make sure I was at the right stage. But it is lovely bread. Well, I shall keep feeding my 'starter' and see how it goes. Anyone else have any experience of sourdough baking?  And here below we have a couple of plain white mini-bloomers. Bog standard, but just like a lovely crusty roll. 




Make the most of this sunshine I think we are in for a blustery weekend, to say the least!

PS I don't believe this! Having ten minutes read while supper is bubbling away to itself - reading a Katie Fforde book. The two girls are out for a woodland hack.

"Oh look, wild garlic," says Zoe. "It's late for that, isn't it?"
"I suppose it depends where it's growing. I made some great pesto with it the other day." said Jenny.

This stuff is following me about!!

14 comments:

  1. Tidy shelves filled with useful stuff are very satisfying aren't they? Lovely looking bread - how did you make your starter I had a go a while ago but it didn't work. Re the wild garlic - I too keep coming across it now that I have tried eating the stuff! Have a good weekend.

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    1. I think it might be a deep-seated thing, Jane, we feel safe knowing we have stores against possible famine!
      I was lucky with the starter, as I pinched some off my friend, but you just keep feeding it. I've never started one off myself.You too, don't know what your weather is going to be like, ours is windy to start with so I hope it clears up! Lx

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  2. Hi Lynne, your spice mix looks good I will have to give it a go when my mill runs out! So funny you reading about wild garlic after your last post :-) Rowen@Coastal Colours x

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    1. If you've got a few odds and ends, Rowena, you can easily make a seasoning mix. Yes, I know! it's every where! Lx

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  3. Spooky....I thought you were going to write that there was a mad hatchet man in the woods, not the picking of wild garlic! Your book choice is obviously mirroring real life! If my life was to be reflected in a book it would be about a mad woman banishing a paintbrush!!! Enjoy your bread! :) x

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    1. Ha! Ada, it was very sunny, very few leaves on the trees so you could see very far into the wood, so I felt quite safe - normally I wouldn't be wandering about places like that on my own - for fear of meeting that exact chap! Lx

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  4. Well you really are on a roll with the breadmaking! ha :-) The seasoning looks great, I love these mills they are just so easy to use and a quick twist can make all the difference to a dish. Never made sourdough bread but had some from an artisan bakers and it was lovely with feta and olives. I tried french bread baguettes and ended up with 2 rounders bats!! Oooh just had a thought if I make them again I could sell them to a border morris team lol

    Enjoy your weekend
    Karen x

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    1. I;m sure if you made them again they'd be fine, Karen (Thus depriving a Morris side of it's dancing tools!)
      Make sure you make the dough wet enough, I find I'm adding much more than any recipe says these days, I can handle the wetter dough - though I do find it easier to start it in my mixer until it comes together.

      Have a lovely weekend and I hope ou have some decent weather. Lx

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  5. I keep thinking I should start making bread again.... it would be a mini workout if nothing else! Been on one of the woods websites to find some more to have a wander through - maybe Roydon next week,Courtyard farm at Ringstead or Reffley. Want to find some specially for bluebells. I do know of one off the road to Norwich, t'other side of Fakenham, but apart from Reffley being listed as a good one for bluebells, not found any others nearby. Raining again.... and isn't it colder?

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    1. Hi Maggie, you will certainly get a work-out kneading dough - even if it's only one arm!

      We used to live backing onto Reffley Woods, but since they were bought by the two women I thought they had barred the public from walking there? We used to walk our Springer Spaniel Sam there every day.

      Has been lovely here since about 10am after a dull and blustery start. Jim is at the East of England Show both days so hope tomorrow is as good for them. I shall be ramsons hunting tomorrow and bread making and possibly furniture painting! Well, we'll see. Ironing is not on the agenda at the moment! Lx

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    2. It's listed as an 'open to the public' woodland and is owned by Woodland Trust, there are some gorgeous photos of it on the woods website I looked at. And Simple Things magazine which I've just been reading has a good feature on your ramsons! Can't get away from 'em.

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    3. That article in Simple Things is the one that got me started, Maggie, and funnily enough though I NEVER watch tv on Sunday mornings I'd been out and done a bit of this and that today and had a cup of coffee and a sit down, put repeat of yesterdays Saturday Kitchen, and what should they be talking about but Wild Garlic! It's obviously 'trending'!!

      All I can remember about Reffley was the uproar when they put notices up public keep out - things have obviously changed. Lx

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  6. I've tried several times to make a sourdough starter-- unsuccessfully so have given up. now I just buy it.
    Gillx

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    1. I am not having such luck with my second batch, Gill, the starter is fine, bubbling away to itself, but I made this dough without the sponge stage, just added a ladle of starter to my bread flour salt oil. It is really not doing much rising! I can't give up yet but it looks as if I will have to make the sponge again next time - oh dear, another step to go through. (But still very much cheaper than buying artisan bread!!) Lx

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