(no subject)
Wow, it been two and a half years since my last post....
Well, might do it more regularly now.
This post was inspired by nemmy.
Monday was Lamas, which is a Pagan Sabbat (one of eight in the wheel of the year.) And for each sabbat, I like to cook a really big meal. This time, with it being harvest time, I made bread, used fresh veg and beef.
First course, home made bread and Vegetable soup!
Bread is easy, everyone should make it.
half a kilo of strong white read flour
350g of blood temperature water (I tend to weigh water, its more accurate)
15g of yeast
10g salt
Put the whole lot in a bowl, mix with a spatula till it starts to form one lump, then tip the whole lot out onto the kitchen bench. DONT dust the bench with flour first, there's no need, and its adding more flour to the recipe. Just start kneading it, anyway you like, fold it, roll it, pick it up and slap it down again all you need to do is make sure its well mixed. The dough may seem very sticky to start with, but dont add more flour, it just takes a little time for the individual grains of flour to absorb the water.
Now, dust the inside of the bowl with flour, and put the ball of dough into it, cover with a teatowel and place somewhere a room temperature. Nowhere cool, not ontop of a radiator or hot cooker too, just room temp!
Leave for one hour to rise.
Take dough out and 'knock it back' this means different things to different people, I personally dont beat the daylights out of the dough, I just pull a portion of the edge, and fold it over to the centre, I go around the ball of dough like this a few times till it starts to take on a nice round shape.
Now put the ball of dough either into a loaf tin or onto a baking sheet and leave it for another hour to prove.
Put it into an oven, pre heated as hot as it will go. leave it there for about 30-40 mins or untill it looks like bread.
Take it out. Savour the smell.
Cream of Vegtable soup.
(sorry for the imprecise amounts, I was making this up as I went.)
equal parts of Carrot, Parsnip, Green beans and potato.
enough chicken stock to cover the veg + about 1 inch
cream
tablespoon of olive oil
tablespoon of butter
salt
pepper
Chop the veg into fairly small cubes, and fry in a saucepan with the oil and butter.
When the veg start to brown, add the chicken stock, salt and pepper and cover for 2 hours.
When thats done, take it off the heat and let it cool a little. If you have a hand held blender, put that in the pan and blend the lot. If not, put in a regular blender. Add the cream at this point, to taste, to give a nice rich soup. Let it rest for a while and heat it up again before serving (soup is always better on its second day.)
Well, might do it more regularly now.
This post was inspired by nemmy.
Monday was Lamas, which is a Pagan Sabbat (one of eight in the wheel of the year.) And for each sabbat, I like to cook a really big meal. This time, with it being harvest time, I made bread, used fresh veg and beef.
First course, home made bread and Vegetable soup!
Bread is easy, everyone should make it.
half a kilo of strong white read flour
350g of blood temperature water (I tend to weigh water, its more accurate)
15g of yeast
10g salt
Put the whole lot in a bowl, mix with a spatula till it starts to form one lump, then tip the whole lot out onto the kitchen bench. DONT dust the bench with flour first, there's no need, and its adding more flour to the recipe. Just start kneading it, anyway you like, fold it, roll it, pick it up and slap it down again all you need to do is make sure its well mixed. The dough may seem very sticky to start with, but dont add more flour, it just takes a little time for the individual grains of flour to absorb the water.
Now, dust the inside of the bowl with flour, and put the ball of dough into it, cover with a teatowel and place somewhere a room temperature. Nowhere cool, not ontop of a radiator or hot cooker too, just room temp!
Leave for one hour to rise.
Take dough out and 'knock it back' this means different things to different people, I personally dont beat the daylights out of the dough, I just pull a portion of the edge, and fold it over to the centre, I go around the ball of dough like this a few times till it starts to take on a nice round shape.
Now put the ball of dough either into a loaf tin or onto a baking sheet and leave it for another hour to prove.
Put it into an oven, pre heated as hot as it will go. leave it there for about 30-40 mins or untill it looks like bread.
Take it out. Savour the smell.
Cream of Vegtable soup.
(sorry for the imprecise amounts, I was making this up as I went.)
equal parts of Carrot, Parsnip, Green beans and potato.
enough chicken stock to cover the veg + about 1 inch
cream
tablespoon of olive oil
tablespoon of butter
salt
pepper
Chop the veg into fairly small cubes, and fry in a saucepan with the oil and butter.
When the veg start to brown, add the chicken stock, salt and pepper and cover for 2 hours.
When thats done, take it off the heat and let it cool a little. If you have a hand held blender, put that in the pan and blend the lot. If not, put in a regular blender. Add the cream at this point, to taste, to give a nice rich soup. Let it rest for a while and heat it up again before serving (soup is always better on its second day.)