This is Day One of my new venture that is going to be a space for my reviews of Devon and Cornish cafes and restaurants, recipes that I attempt and random creative endeavours.
I am a busy mother, based in Devon, England, who cooks, writes and eats her way through the day. I am very excited by this prospect of actually recording some of the far-from-perfect results. I'll upload plenty of pictures to keep you entertained.
Welcome, glad you are here to visit and I hope I provide a moment's entertainment, information and, dare I say it, inspiration....
Cornish Sea Salt - is a great product and was on TV two nights ago. An organic baker, Tom Herbert was on a (rather contrived) quest in search of an elusive new recipe for prize-winning bread. The programme was not as satisfying as anticipated. He went down to The Lizard in Cornwall where they harvest and package the sea salt. Apparently you can use less of the salt than normal salt as it is more pungent. I enjoyed seeing Cornish Sea Salt on his programme as I try to cook with it when funds allow. It's extra pungency obviously means they can charge more for it. The area where they harvest it is one of the most beautiful places in the world and we try to go there as often as possible.
However, the salt may be top notch but there was something not quite ringing true about old Mr Herbert's presentation style. It was almost as though the director was telling him to 'big' it up (a la Hugh or Gordon) and he could manage it for the first half of his sentence and then the true Tom took over and....it all...just faded away...and he looked slightly embarassed about his phony quest to find this bread recipe for a competition. And he didn't win the competition...secretly pleased about that.
4 comments:
Oh, you are a hard woman. All true of course, but I was just so pleased that there are programmes getting out there about real bread. I'd love to be able to buy local sourdough, but have had to resort to making it myself.
You're right - I am a meanie, I can't help it -it just seeps out sometimes.
Do you do the whole sourdough thing that takes days and days? I once tried doing the Hugh F-W one that absorbs yeast from the air, therefore no added yeast required, and the end result was way too bitter - it kind of put me off trying again, especially when it was that labour intensive. I do make a Couronne (making the dough in the breadmaker and then into the oven to bake) from Sarah Lewis' 'The Bread Book' - it uses lots of yoghurt in the dough which gives it a slight sourdough flavour and a great texture without all the effort.
Years ago I tried making our own starter and like you found it unpleasant, so gave up. But I went on a fantastic bread course with Andrew Whitley and he gave us some if his 30 year old starter when we left. I now make a weekly batch of rye sourdough which is great as it doesn't require kneading - don't really have time or space for that. Once you've got a decent starter, it's easy - I just get it out the night before put in more flour and water, next day put some back in the fridge then add more flour, water and some salt (I use Cornish sea salt), put it in tins and leave to rise.
Really love the sound of the 30 year old starter and the fact that it's so simple. I'm a daily breadmaker girl, and then once a month I make bread from scratch - love doing it, but finding time is so difficult - rye sourdough sounds like the way forward - any chance you can post me some starter?! I'm only half joking....
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