Weekly wrap-Getting my pretty on and No Weddings here!

This week I thought I’d venture out of my comfort zone and try going pretty. Ann Gabur over at The Bread Journey  does the most amazing, detailed, well proportioned and meticulous scoring on her loaves that I thought I’d have a go. I’ll probably have another couple of attempts but it just isn’t my style. I much prefer the rustic, bold look of big oven springs, bursting out through minimal scoring. I do however appreciate her talent and can see a place for it in certain loaves and that it would suit many people. This pic was was my first attempt. For someone who gets bored going up and down in straight lines when mowing lawns and tries to write my name with the mower in the grass, I was pretty impressed I managed this much continuity.

 The loaf I tried this on was a very quickly thrown together loaf using the 1,2,3 method. This is – 1 part starter, 2 parts water and 3 parts flour, add a pinch of salt and in this case some chopped rosemary, mix, let sit for a couple of hours, toss into the fridge overnight, shape, throw into a banneton and bake. I wanted to test out how using a good old Aussie Bedourie Oven worked. These are basically a camp oven but made of spun steel and they not as heavy as the cast ones. The lid can also be used as a pan and the quality is beautiful. This is a 12″ one so you could fit either a round or an oval loaf in it. The big bonus is that the Dr Livingstone ones are Australian Made by Southern Metal Spinners and can be bought online either direct, or at really good prices from many camping/RV stores. I believe we need to support the little bit of local manufacturing we have left while we can. May not be as pretty as some ‘you beaut’ DO’s, but it certainly did the job well.

This lovely little loaf didn’t take long to be devoured by a couple of seagulls!I’ve been referring to Emilie Raffa’s wonderful Book ‘Artisan Sourdough Made Simple’ for inspiration with flavours and haven’t been disappointed. This dough is based on her olive, parmesan, thyme and lemon zest loaf, but I changed the flour, the hydration, salt and fermenting times to suit me. Handy tip on how to grate a 2kg bloke of parmesan into small bits when your hands don’t work- use your meat grinder. Works a treat! I would however next time leave the parmesan much chunkier, it does melt into the loaf.

I would also recommend leaving the loaf until the next day to eat. It was delicious freshly baked, but superb when left to mature over a day or 2. I had another wonderful Simply Sourdough Introduction to Sourdough Workshop today. Gee they are tiring, but I really enjoy getting together with like-minded people, having a few giggles and exchanging knowledge. Everyone keeps asking about the chick pea dip I make so I’ve recorded it. Into a food processor throw a can of rinsed chick peas, juice of 1 lemon (may need a bit more), couple of garlic cloves, bit of chilli if you like it, a huge hunk of parsley, a pinch of salt and in this case I had an end bit of parmesan from the olive bread so that went in too. Blitz the lot and drizzle olive oil in as its going until you get a nice smooth texture. Serve in a bowl with olive oil drizzled over. Nice on bread, toast, crackers etc. That’s it at rear right of the platter we had in class today. Other sourdough bits from L to R are baguette, roast capsicum focaccia, pizza with tomato & pepper paste (sulca biber), labneh marinated in oil, garlic, chill, pizza cheese and green capsicum. Then there is some of the olive/parmesan bread and my wonderful parmesan and rosemary sourdough crackers.

Nice to just be able to pick through the session. The kitchen space is working really well for classes, didn’t look like this at the end of the day though! Everyone is smiling except for the mad woman holding a mini baguette looking like she’s going to turn maniacal with it! She is smiling on the inside, trust me. Great group, great day! One place in this class was donated to One Planet Classrooms to use as a prize at their major fundraising event. I was thrilled to be able to offer this tiny bit of support to the cause.Finally, I have deliberately not watched, seen nor heard much about ‘The Wedding’,  but a friend of mine loves stirring so sent me a load of pics. The only thing I took notice of was that in this one I thought the poor boys shoelaces were undone. On closer inspection I realised it is probably a shadow from the end pin of his cello.  What do you think? I much prefer thinking it was his shoelaces undone theory. Am I evil?

The Mixing Bowl, pizza and seed saving all wrapped up.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a demo for making French afternoon tea scrumptiousnesses (I know that’s not a word) with the lovely Anne at The Mixing Bowl Hallam. I deliberately went to the class as it was the last session Anne was running before the imminent closure of this business, which I have been dealing with for nigh on 27 years. The first class I went to with Anne, was when they first changed their business to ‘The Mixing Bowl’ and she ran a class making Hot Cross Buns at the old Buln Buln Shire Offices. Been lots of Hot Cross Buns under the bridge since then and all of them delicious!

A business doesn’t stick around for this long by chance, Anne and Geoff have always offered premium goods at extremely reasonable prices, have a great range of flours, every baking gadget, tin, and accessory you could imagine and have given out more information than you’d find in an Encyclopaedia Britannica when it comes to baking. On top of that, they have always been on top of the ladder with customer service, although my kids will never forgiven them for not stocking the same mint leaves we used to always stop and buy on the way to Melbourne, they still whinge about losing those! I will be extremely sad to see this wonderful business go and where on earth can I recommend to my students to go to for bread making supplies?

I wish Anne & Geoff a very happy retirement, they deserve to put their feet up and enjoy their family, have holidays and be free of flour dust. All the best Anne & Geoff, its been a delight.

Anyway, this tart is the result of the demo Anne did, an apple, Frangipane tart which was absolutely delicious.

I made it as a little treat to myself for mother’s day, and of course you must have double cream on the side. It was lovely having all the gang (apart from one son-in law who was saving us all from the bad guys in the world), to lunch. We set up a pizza making station outside my little bakehouse and then baked them in my Rofco microbakery oven. The pizza dough was not sourdough as I find yeasted better for pizza, but I am working on perfecting a good sourdough one!

When we planned the microbakery we had envisioned the space would double as a kitchen for using when entertaining outside too. This was put to the test today and it worked really well. Pic on the left is looking out onto the courtyard and the one on right is peeking in to the Rofco as the pizzas bake.

 The pizzas baked up beautifully, they went in on trays for first few minutes than were placed directly onto the oven sole for finishing off. Delicious. Where were the olives Em?

I can see that painting and cleaning up the outside of the microbakery is now on my short list of jobs!

   My daughter in law gave me some bees wax wraps as my Kris Kringle gift for Christmas and I love them. I have been using them for all sorts of things since Christmas and they have proved to be extremely versatile. Little Bumble Wraps is a local business and also run workshops on making wraps so support local and check them out. They also offer on-line shopping. I used them yesterday for wrapping croissant dough in between folds and also for the tart pastry while chilling.

The little tacker and I spent a few quiet moments saving bean seed from this years crop to have for planting next year. I treasure these moments dearly.

Exteno Update-In My Kitchen

It has been an amazing journey, sharing the transformation from having no kitchen, progressing through to a lovely kitchen, through to having 2 kitchens (my bakehouse), works in progress on the exteno (never-ending)  since my first In My Kitchen post  a few years ago, (read it and weep or laugh)! I don’t get a lot  of time to do regular posts now, you know, I’m retired “too busy watching day time TV and napping”!  This month for IMK I thought I’d bring you up to speed, don’t expect display home glitz, that’s not our style.  Thanks to Sherry over at Sherry’s pickings for linking all us IMK’rs up.

So IMK news.

Well the kitchen is not finished! Surprise surprise! This is my version of the ideal  display home, flour tubs out, wine bottle open, 5kg of corn for milling in bag on bench, oh and Celia, the 2018 jar of peanut butter I bought today. We can have a race!

Not a lot to do, tiling behind the beautiful Falcon oven, fixing the range hood to the wall, a couple of timber display benches and not much else. Lighting bright as its nighttime, not so harsh with subtlety added.

The ‘family room’ end of the kitchen, or the dining area,  is finally getting the lick of paint on the doors and windows, and floor and take and probably light fittings!

The first thing I set for myself as a goal to do when I retired (my term is “re-directed”), would be to paint the windows and doors that were part of the exteno (its off the kitchen). How long has it been? 18 months, that’s not too bad is it? I finally painted the windows in the back ‘vestibule’ (I don’t like saying back passage!). The door at the front of pic is one from the original house that is still on the to-do list. I’m having trouble rating with the gold……

There s a tub of end of season tomatoes in my storeroom. Did you know if you pick them green and put them in a dark place they will slowly ripen over several weeks?

Because I am a wannabe croissant perfection tragic, I just had to buy this locally, hand turned Blackwood French rolling-pin to ensure I mastered the lamination technique. Didn’t help, but it will next time! I have to say that I have been having a lot of fun playing with different grains, rye, corn, barley and wheat. I can really see a new grain mill being added soon. These are a couple of rye loaves made entirely from rye, water and a smidge of salt. Took about 10-11 days to make. The leaven starter was made from fermenting rye grain, then using the fermented water to make the the starter, which was built up by regular feedings and then the dough was made. Amazingly tasty, overtones of all things chocolate, but I got beer…..

 I have started a test bake which has fermented polenta, freshly milled corn flour and whole wheat in it. I have been so inspired by a lovely baker in the USA, she just blows my mind with her combos, her down to earth approach and willingness to share. Nicole used to run the Blackbird  Bakehouse until recently but is now visible through Instagram as @nmuvu She is so very creative, generous and quirky . I am constantly inspired by her creations that take me out of my comfort zone. This is my freshly milled cornflour that hopefully I will be able to present as a stunning looking, golden loaf in 24 or so hours. There is also polenta fermenting  away which will be added to the dough as well.

 And for the money shot! This is our little almost 8 month old grandson. Loves his tucker just like his big brother. We never take for granted how fortunate we are to have these little tackers in our lives, more precious than gold!