Just loafing around... 'tis the weather!

Yesterday Ken blogged about making bread...
this is based round an expanded comment I left on his blog.
Nowadays our "machine a pain" has become just a glorified dough maker.
Mainly because I hate the hole in the bottom!!
What follows are a few of my observations...

The Bread Machine makes better dough than I do by hand...
it has a load more patience for a start...
and the temperature is probably more constant...
but I still knock back after it comes out...
seems to give that bit extra to the texture...
and NO HOLES!

I try and experiment with the breads I make...
to ring the changes, mainly...
but also to try and make breads to go with different meals...
or to be had with jam, marmalade or peanut butter and redcurrant jelly!!

I use different blends of flour... but almost always include 100 to 150g spelt [épeutre] as it gives a better rise. And the base is usually one of the "off the shelf" strong flours...
Monday tends to be a fairly regular bread-bake day... no bakery!
Yesterday I mixed
175g Pain de Campagne flour,
150g of Epeutre mix,
and made it up to
450g with a local farmers multi-grain mix...
I then added 50g extra grains...
mainly linseed.

These are the ingredients mentioned above...

Lidl's Ciabatta mix is perfect for pizzas.
The Bread Machine recipe book says use Olive Oil for the Ciabatta, Focaccia and Pizza doughs...
and Butter for almost all the others...
so I started substituting Groundnut or Sunflower oil for the butter...
but now use Vigean's Fruity & Nuts... the 30:70 mix of Walnut and 1st press Colza [rapeseed] oils...
it does give a moister, longer lasting loaf.
 
Using a pre-mixed packet....
such as Lidl's Ciabatta mix...
for one of the ingredients, means that you need to cut back on the salt...
I add half a teaspoon now when using it as part of one of my "blends"!

Pauline complains about the number of different flours and grains that I have on the shelves because they take up so much room [but she loves the bread!]

There are a lot of mini-moulins in Centre...
you can get their flours at the farmers markets...
and some of the weekly ones...
you just need to keep your eyes open....
Susan commented, after me, on Ken's entry that Angelique has stopped doing markets...
but you can still order stuff from her at her home...
[thank goodness... I've not seen those grain mixes that she does anywhere else]

When you get to the bake stage...
my tip to pass on is get the oven up to 250 Centigrade...
put the loaf in...
cancel the oven and reset for 200C...
bake for normal time...
this is meant to replicate a traditional bread oven...
some small artisanal bakeries apparently use this method regularly.

And this is the loaf that came out of the oven!

A foodie post. {Especially for Simon...}

Auntie Beeb had a News Magazine article this morning called "20 of your tales of vegetarian woe" about the difficulties faced by people trying to eat veggie in places where it is "likened unto an illness!"

The Allotmenteer's Stir-Fry

These are a selection from the quotes:

I liked this one...

Angus Gafraidh, London, UK:
The French are overwhelmingly in favour of animal rights, in that every animal has the right to be eaten by a French person.

And the next two made me think of Simon...

Otto Gross, Boonton Township, New Jersey, US: 
On my first business trip to South Korea, the response to telling people I was vegetarian in Seoul was, "Vegetables are what they feed animals before they kill and serve them."

and I've heard Simon say this...

Demarest Campbell, San Francisco, US: 
In South Africa, requesting vegetables is like swearing at the wait-staff.
One bewildered waiter told me haughtily, "But, vegetables is what food eats."

"We show what we Grow... We don't grow to Show!" - our allotment show's catchphrase.

 To read the full article click on the "20 of your tales" link at the top.

Oh! And while all the Irish and English supermarkets were clearing their shelves of Silvercrest Economy Shergar Horseburgers... LIDL in France put up the price of their Silvercrest Burgers!
And re-labelled them... Gourmet!!

Only joking... I hope!!?