Another photo or two

I will get back to recipes, promise!

A wholemeal sourdough loaf, proved overnight in the fridge (in a small pudding bowl lined with a muslin and well floured) which seems to be the way to go as it baked very nicely this morning from cold.

It certainly smells good!

Sourdough bread - just a picture.

Straight out of the oven and smelling wonderful.

No idea how it tastes though!

Edited to add - I do now.  It's delicious.  Nice open crumb too.

A message . . .

 . . . from Google was waiting for me in Blogger this morning.  It said this:

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

So basically, if you don't have a Google account, in a short while you won't be able to follow my blogs or any other Google based blogs.

Obviously, I'm not saying get a Google account, but if you don't have one and enjoy reading Google based blogs including this one, you will need to sign up for an account.

(I've posted the same message in my other blog, Diary of a Teacher)

Spiced carrot and lentil soup

Google Images

I made gallons of this today - oh, OK, 2 litres of it - to help to use up a big bag of carrots I got for 25p (yellow sticker, of course).
The rest are now diced and in the freezer, 'open' freezing.  Thanks, Diane, for the idea!

It has made a lovely, golden orange soup, smooth and creamy tasting with just a hint of spice about it!

Ingredients to make 2 litres
some oil or butter
half tsp cumin (or a bit more, if desired)
1 good sized onion, peeled and diced
550g carrots (but hey, what's a carrot or two between friends), topped, tailed, any manky bits cut off and discarded, and diced
1 outside rib of celery (more flavour than inside ribs), sliced - no need to de-string as it's all getting blended anyway
a squeeze of both garlic and chili purees (to taste)
100g red lentils
1 litre of hot veg stock - I used 4 tsp Marigold vegan vegetable stock powder (because that was what I had) with a litre of hot water.
125mls milk
a grinding of black pepper

Method
In a large pan heat up the oil/butter and add the cumin, onion, carrots and celery, stir well and saute for about five minutes or so, stirring to prevent sticking.
Add the garlic and chilli, stir well and saute for another two minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients, put the lid on the pan, bring to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are soft and the lentils are cooked.

Cool slightly and then blend until smooth in a machine or using a hand held blender.  Check seasoning and adjust if necessary.  I added just a little salt but the stock provided most of what was needed.

Serve piping hot with a dollop of yogurt.

OR:
The Thermomix way

Add the oil/butter, vegetables and cumin to the bowl and saute on 100, speed 1 for 10 mins, adding the garlic and chilli in the last two minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on 100 for 20 mins or until the veg is soft and the lentils are cooked.
Cool slightly.
Zizz on speed 10 for a minute.  Put a tea towel over the lid in case any splashes through the top.
Check seasonings and adjust if necessary.  I added just a little more salt but the stock provided most of what was needed.

Serve piping hot with a dollop of yogurt.


This will freeze.

Red lentil and potato dhal

 I thought I might make this today, for the freezer, as an accompaniment to a meat based curry.  I've made it before and it was jolly tasty but this time, as I have fresh spuds to use up, that's what I will use. If they mush down, tough!  Also I will probably add some chilli as I have some frozen chillies from the garden.

Not too hot, I hope, but with plenty of flavour.

Ingredients:

1 smallish onion, peeled and finely chopped

a knob of butter

100g - ish of red lentils

4 or 5 value tinned potatoes, more if they are small, (they don't have to be value or tinned, of course, but that's what I used) finely diced.

Spice/seasonings:

1/2 tsp each of crushed garlic, crushed ginger, turmeric, garam masala

a good pinch each of cumin, coriander and cinnamon (all ground)

4 or 5 cardamom pods, slightly squashed with a knife blade

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp marigold bouillon powder

a little splash of white wine (needed using up) - optional

water

Method:

Melt the butter and saute the chopped onion gently until soft.  Add the potato and the red lentils and stir well.

Increase the heat a little and add all the spices.  Cook them out, stirring continuously.

Add the bay leaf, some salt and pepper, the marigold powder and some water to cover.

Bring to a simmer, almost cover and allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until everything is very soft and thickened.  Add more water, if necessary.  Check the seasonings and add more water if necessary.  Long, slow cooking is the name of the game.

Before serving, remove the bay leaf and the cardamom pods (if you can find them)

An easy pizza base

I first heard about this on Facebook, looked it up on Google, watched the video and had a go.  It's very nice and no hassle at all.  Quick too, compared with the yeast based base

The original states Greek yogurt.  I didn't have any, just my home made 'normal' kind, which changed the proportions.

Ingredients:
SR flour and natural yogurt in the proportions two to one - e.g. two cups flour to one cup yogurt (if it is Greek yogurt it is 1.5 to 1)
Pinch of salt

Method
Mix the ingredients together to form a dough.
Knead the dough gently on a floured surface until the gluten has developed and it feels 'doughy'.
Divide into however many bits you want, shape each bit into a round and roll it out thin.
(my two cups to one cup made two pizzas)

Place on a baking sheet (I put mine on baking parchment too), add the toppings and back at around 200C for 10 to 15 mins, until done.

Barley bread

I found a recipe, fiddled about with it, reduced the quantities by half with a bit of jiggling and had a go.  Dead easy and very delicious, so here it is.

First of all I ground pearl barley into flour as barley flour in bags is flippin' expensive and pearl barley is cheap.  Because it was being used for bread, I didn't sift it.
Then I used ordinary salt and ordinary sugar (the recipe said sea salt and caster sugar).
Also I used ordinary oil, not olive oil.
All in the interests of frugality. of course.

The most different thing was that the original said it was best baked in a Dutch oven.  I had to look that up and they are like those Le Creuset casserole pots.  I don't have one but I do have a hob-to-oven pot so I used that and it was fine.

It's a free form, rustic looking loaf and when my sourdough starter is ready I shall have a go with this recipe because I reckon it will taste even more wonderful.

Ingredients to make one smallish loaf
135g pearl barley, ground into flour as fine as it will go
80g strong wholemeal flour
75g strong white flour
5g instant dried yeast
just under 1 tsp sugar (about 4 mls)
15mls oil
under half tsp salt
175mls warm water

Method
In a bowl, add the flours, the yeast and the sugar and mix well.  Make a well in the middle and add the oil, the salt and the water.  Mix into a rough dough and knead until you have a pliable dough that is not sticking to either your hands or the bowl but which is still slightly sticky to the touch.
(or do it in your mixer/processor/Thermomix as I did!)

Shape into a ball, drop into a bowl, cover with cling film and place in a warm place until doubled in size.

Just before the dough is ready, turn on the oven to 225C and place the Dutch oven in to heat up.

When the dough is ready, take it out of the bowl, knead it for literally just a few seconds, gently, on a clean, unfloured surface.  Shape it into a ball.

Take a large piece of baking parchment, scrunch it up, wet it, then open it out and shake off the droplets.

Place the loaf on the paper,  and carefully slash the top, gently place the paper and dough in the Dutch oven, put the lid on and put it in the oven.  Immediately turn the heat down to 180C.

Bake the bread, covered, for 30 mins, then remove the loaf from the pot, place it on the middle rack of the oven,  and bake for another 25 to 30 mins, until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Place on a cooling rack until cold.

You can bake it on a baking sheet but be careful the bottom doesn't burn.

I had it warm with butter, Beth had it cold with butter, I had some with my lunch soup (ham and veg) and I had some more with butter and cheese and it was, believe me, absolutely gorgeous with  a crusty outside and an open crumb.  Nothing tight about this loaf.  It has a nutty, rustic flavour that would go well with savoury toppings and accompaniments.
I don't know about sweet spreads because I didn't try, but I bet that would be nice too.

Another one to go on the list of bread to make again.