Saturday Sourdough
vanessa kimbell style sourdough bread
bread
Ransoms again! Wild Garlic Bread
The Ransom Season is Here Again The ransoms season is rather short, so take advantage while you can! At this site in southern England they are approaching their best in early April, but I have seen fine ransoms in Scotland at the end of May. Two weeks after this first picture was taken, the bluebells …
Nettle Season Once More – Nettle Bread revisited!
Not far away from here is the Nettlebed Folk Club and I can’t help but think about this every time I consider making bread from the new season’s nettles. The folk club is renowned for a long history of showcasing the best folk music in the UK. Unlike its near namesake, nettle bread is far …
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‘Tis the season of the Nettle! Time for Nettle Bread
One of the first herbs to appear in the spring is the common stinging nettle. Foragers everywhere start on nettle soup. But if you leave it many weeks those temping bright greens turn grey-ish and dusty, agressive looking and stinging. This year I managed to investigate before the moment had gone – not with soup …
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Gather up Them ‘Erbs
Everything is growing like crazy. Oregano sprouting up all over the place. Rosemary waving in the wind. Chives clumping here and there, not to mention a bit of sage and thyme. Gather up a handful or, rather, and armful and add it to your favorite bread recipe. Four loaves here made with a sourdough starter …
Friday Bread
2x 1.6kg loaves (large). Made with 50% strong stoneground whole wheat flour plus 50% strong white. Poolish from natural levain with wholemeal flour 6-7 hours to mature. Short mix. 2 hour bulk ferment with 2 folds at 40 minute intervals. 20 min bench rest before shaping into bannetons. Retarded overnight in fridge for 9 hours. …
Nettles are in Season!
The stinging nettle as food has always intrigued me, but upto now their handling has been a mystery. ‘Young shoots’ are usually required but, as I remember, new or old they always sting. And so, year after year, I have postponed trying them. Well, this spring I assigned a couple of hours to nettle research …
Friday Bread – with lift!
The first sourdough bake of the year! Dough overnighted in the refridgerator before shaping this morning. Then a couple of hours resting at room temperature in bannetons. Slashed and sprayed before baking. Oven at 250C, steam from a roasting tin in the bottom for the first 15 minutes. Lift helped with granite slab on one …