StillGotSomeSpace

Noooooo don’t talk about Delta Rune I haven’t played it yetttt!!!!!

I did this yesterday instead-

Here’s @dduane​’s first take on it and the finished product. We’ve made even more photogenic batches since.

Kneading is easy as well; either let your machine do it, or if you don’t want to or don’t have one, get hands-on. It’s like mixing two colours of Plasticine to make a third. Flatten, stretch, fold, half-turn, repeat - it takes about 10 minutes - until the gloopy conglomeration of flour, yeast, salt and water that clings to your hands at the beginning, becomes a compact ball that doesn’t stick to things and feels silky-smooth.

Here’s what before and after look like.

My Mum used to say that if you were feeling out of sorts with someone, it was good to make bread because you could transfer your annoyance into kneading the dough REALLY WELL, and both you and the bread would be better for it.

Then you put it into a bowl, cover it with cling-film and let it rise until it doubles in size, turn it out and “knock it back” (more kneading, until it’s getting back to the size it started, this means there won’t be huge “is something living in here?” holes in the bread), put it into your loaf-tin or whatever - we’ve used a regular oblong tin, a rectangular Pullman tin with a lid, a small glass casserole, an earthenware chicken roaster…

You can even use a clean terracotta flowerpot.

Let the dough rise again until it’s high enough to look like an unbaked but otherwise real loaf, then pop it in the preheated oven. On average we give ours 180°C / 355°F for 45-50 minutes. YM (and oven) MV.

Here’s some of our bread…

Here’s our default bread recipe - it takes about 3-4 hours from flour jar to cutting board depending on climate (warmer is faster) most of which is rise time and baking; hands-on mixing, kneading and knocking-back is about 20 minutes, tops, and less if using a mixer.

Here ( or indeed any of the other pics) is the finished product. This one was given an egg-wash to make it look glossy and keep the poppy-seeds in place; mostly we don’t bother with that or the slash down the middle, but all the extras were intentional as a “ready for my close-up” glamour shot.

I think any shop would be happy to have something this good-looking on their shelf. We’re happy to have it on our table.

Even if your first attempts don’t work out quite as well as you hope, you can always make something like this…

A quick, hearty and spicy soup perfect for a busy night.

Recipe: 1 tbsp of olive oil 1 package of spicy Italian Roma sausages 1 onion (cut in cubes) 10 cups of chicken stock Fresh thyme 1.5 cups of small soup pasta (we used stars) 2 cups of mixed frozen vegetables

Method: Remove the sausage from the casing and roll out meatballs about ¾ of an inch in diameter. Each sausage should make 4 or 5 meatballs. In a large soup pot, add the olive oil and heat. Add the onion and lightly brown. Add two cups of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Gently drop the meatballs into the boiling stock. Let cook for 5 minutes and add the rest of the stock to the pot. Add the fresh thyme sprigs (you can directly add the branches with leaves. They leaves will fall off the branches with cooking and you will be able to remove the empty branches at the end). Turn down the heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add the pasta and let cook for another 10 minutes. Add the frozen vegetables and let cook for 3 minutes more.

¼ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (optional)

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

8 vegetables that you can regrow again and again.

Scallions

You can regrow scallions by leaving an inch attached to the roots and place them in a small glass with a little water in a well-lit room.

Garlic

When garlic begins to sprout, you can put them in a glass with a little water and grow garlic sprouts. The sprouts have a mild flavor than garlic and can be added to salads, pasta and other dishes.

Bok Choy

Bok choy can be regrown by placing the root end in water in a well-lit area. In 1-2 weeks , you can transplant it to a pot with soil and grow a full new head.

Carrots

Put carrot tops in a dish with a little water. Set the dish in a well-lit room or a window sill.  You’ll have carrot tops to use in salads. 

Basil

Put clippings from basil with 3 to 4-inch stems in a glass of water and place it in direct sunlight. When the roots are about 2 inches long, plant them in pots to and in time it will grow a full basil plant.

Celery

Cut off the base of the celery and place it in a saucer or shallow bowl of warm water in the sun. Leaves will begin to thicken and grow in the middle of the base, then transfer the celery to soil. 

Romaine Lettuce

Put romaine lettuce stumps in a ½ inch of water. Re-water to keep water level at ½ inch. After a few days, roots and new leaves will appear and you can transplant it into soil.

Cilantro

For the dough:

450 g flour

1 Teaspoon Salt

3 Tablespoon Olive oil

250 ml warm water

1 pack dry yeast

Put the flour and the salt in a big bowl, stir the water, yeast and olive oil until the yeast is dissolved. Add into the big bowl and knead. Put a dish towel (a clean one) over the bowl, let sit for one hour at a warm place. Done.

For the sauce:

Get sieved tomatoes, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.

This is a bit long but today I made my signature breakfast! Steps and pictures below the cut!