Well. It’s been a while since my last post, I have been working on my new look website and I’ve come up against a few problems which have resulted in me feeling very frustrated, good news though, I should have an exciting new look site in a few weeks time, fingers crossed.
I had an exciting start to this week, I was invited onto Mid-Morning Matter, Food and Drinks Show on Marlow FM with Donna Thacker, I spoke about Nordic kitchen stories, my Swedish background and my addiction to sourdough baking, it’s so inspiring talking to other foodies. I had a fabulous morning.
Baking has been a passion of mine for some time now, especially sourdough baking. It’s not easy to master, you have to learn how to treat your starter and read when is the optimum time to bake your bread, I’m still discovering new techniques all the time. I mentioned that I would like to do a sourdough workshop in the near future. If this is something you would be interested in doing then please contact me.
I know there are lots of people who are intimated by baking bread, all I can say is, practice really does make perfect. Exact measurements are crucial too, I even weigh liquid as it is one hundred percent accurate.
If you fancy giving bread baking a try, start with Soda Bread, it’s not a yeasted loaf, the raising agent is bicarbonate of soda. It’s a lovely dense loaf, made with wholemeal plain flour, plain white flour, oats and buttermilk.
The cross on the soda bread has several explanations, legend has it that people did it to “let the fairies out” others say that it made it easy to divide into 4 pieces. It was also a symbol of a cross during Christian holidays.
Quick, Easy and Delicious Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients
- 250 g Plain flour
- 10 g Fine sea salt
- 15 g Bicarbonate of Soda
- 250 g Wholemeal Plain Flour
- 150 g Jumbo Oats
- 11/2 tbsp Clear Honey
- 1 tbsp Black Treacle
- 500 ml Buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Make a well in the centre and then mix in the honey, treacle and buttermilk, working everything together lightly with your hands, until you have a loose, wet dough. With floured hands, shape the dough into a round and lift on to the lined baking sheet. With a knife or a wooden spatula mark a cross on the top.
- Put into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer to a wire rack, drape a damp cloth over the top and leave to cool.
Rhubarb and Blood Orange Curd
Leave a Reply