Tag: bread

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Baking baguettes

As my baking things are still in boxes, and making sourdough without a Dutch oven, baneton and all the faffy but essential equipment seems a step too far, I’ve started experimenting with baking baguettes.

Inspired by Mairi at Highland Seedlings, who makes baguettes a few times a week, I decided to give it a go.

I’ve been using this recipe from Taste of Artisan https://tasteofartisan.com/french-baguette-recipe/ which is simple to follow and produces good results, even for a novice baguette baker like me.

The dough proves for a few hours in a warm place in a covered bowl to get the yeast active then sits overnight in the fridge for a further 12 hours of “cold proving”. There’s no kneading, just a few stretches and flips, which definitely gets my vote.

It’s a very high hydration dough, nearly 70%, so it’s wet and quite tricky to work with. Luckily there’s not much fiddling beyond shaping to do.

The crust is good and the flavour is exceptional.

I’ve even been up early to switch the oven on and shape and bake the loaves first thing so that we can enjoy them for breakfast.

I’m not sure whether that’s true love or greed, but whatever it is it means that we have warm, freshly baked bread with our coffee, which is a joy.

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Bread of the Gods

We are very blessed on this part of the island that despite there being no bread bakery within many miles we have two wonderful assets that between them keep us supplied with the Bread of the Gods.

Mallaig Bakehouse bread

The first is the Mallaig Bakehouse on the mainland. The ferry brings its fabulous sourdough loaves over with it three days a week on the morning sailing, and we can buy them at the local community store. You have to be quick though, as they invariably sell out within the first hour of delivery.

I love that the normally sociable neighbours who stop for a chat at the shop tend to make a very determined beeline for the bread baskets to ensure that they’ve scored their purchase before any kind of relaxed blether. Surely the mark of a divine bake..

The second source of our bread gratitude is that of our lovely neighbours Jonny and Beth. Jonny bakes a fabulous sourdough, deeply crusty and satisfying.

Delectably wrapped bread from Jonny

We’ve been fortunate enough to be the recipients of a couple of his bread bakes. They arrive as unannounced gifts, beautifully wrapped in layers of greaseproof paper, neatly secured with twine and rustling with anticipation.

Our latest surprise was a toasted oat loaf, and it was simply delicious. The crust is deeply baked, crackling and savoury, just as we like it best, and the bread is chewy, yeasty and satisfying.

Unwrapped toasted oat sourdough

There is something so warming and fundamental about the gift of home baked bread. As a baker myself I know how much time and love goes into the creation of a sourdough loaf, which makes it all the more wondrous. Its doubly appreciated as I’m unable to bake bread in the caravan.

Great Bread!

Thank you, Jonny and Beth, for being such kind neighbours and for the gift of this most delicious of breads.

I think I’ve found potential use number 456 for the little barn on the croft after restoration. A village bakehouse! What do you think, guys? 😊

Potential bakehouse/coffee/reading/craft room…
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Irres Cran

We love good bread. We eat a lot of it, especially seeded, malted grain bread.

So it was with great excitement that whilst shopping in our local Co Op on the island I spotted that they’d just put out a selection of speciality breads.

I read the ingredients. Irres Cran, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds. What the heck was irres cran?

Intrigued, but assuming that it was some sort of ancient Scottish grain, like Emmer wheat, I popped it in the trolley and brought it home.

I tried googling irres cran but nothing came up. There was nothing left but to try it.

It was cranberry bread.. 😂.

The bread range is called Irresistible and they’d clearly abbreviated the label to fit all the ingredients on.

Irresistible Cranberry. Irres Cran.

Priceless.

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Week four of lockdown

We are just going into week four of lockdown. We are all well, for which I remain eternally thankful.

Our small London townhouse houses us all plus Bertie the ancient spaniel, who seems perpetually confused by the presence of his tribe around him.

We are managing, despite the absence of outdoor space which is the biggest hardship. Evenings are Cards for Humanity games doing our absolute best to gross each other out. I bake bread when we run out. The kids are starting to go stir-crazy. There’s only so much Xbox a body can play.

Sleep patterns are totally screwed and new routines need to be forged before peace can return. All are trying their best, but grumpiness and flare-ups are happening, which is normal, I guess. The Easter eggs that I ordered didn’t make it in time.

I learned to make Waterford Blaa rolls, which seemed to go down well. I’ll be making another batch of these today as they’re relatively quick and easy to turn out.

The blossom is out. We have sunshine during our days and we are all well. In these times of extremity, there are a lot of people doing a lot worse. We have food. We have each other. I am grateful.

Once lockdown is over, our Skye life beckons, and seems tangibly close. Despite the news that no work could start and is delayed until people can move freely again, Francis emailed a photo of the house sign that he’s been able to carve whilst the island is in lockdown. It was a wonderful and unexpected boost to our spirits.

We will get through this.

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Wild yeast bread

I’ve been baking bread for years but have only recently decided to experiment with sourdough, bread made with wild yeast in the form of a starter, or “mother”.

My “mother” is feisty and active, and I’ve called her Fran after a certain lady I once knew of the same temperament. I started her several weeks ago. She sits in a jar in my fridge gradually maturing and is starting to provide the most wonderful bread.

My hope is that by the time we’re on the island and a fair hop away from the local shops that we won’t have to rely on them for fresh bread, especially if the weather is bad, but that Fran will be turning out a loaf every few days.

Sourdough is an ancient form of bread and is easy to make (starter, flour, salt and water) although there is a bewildering amount of conflicting advice out there on t’interweb.

As with all things, this will take patience and a gradual coming into what works for my oven and me over time. I’ve made five sourdough loaves so far, two rye, three with stoneground wheat flour, and I’m still working through the best way to do this. The latest attempt, shown above, was from a baking in a pot in the oven and looks the most successful so far ☺️.

I’m off to slice this for breakfast now. Have a wonderful Sunday!