Week 48 - Make Sourdough Bread

I love bread, I really do - but what I do NOT love is the pappy cotton wool bread that you get by and large in the shops.

The alternative to spending an outrageous sum for a 'proper' loaf of bread is, of course, to make your own. Having had a bash on a couple of occasions in the past, though, any bread I have made has been pretty brick-like - I suspect I haven't got the knack of kneading.

So I have a bread maker. This is a pretty good move, as you can chuck into the pan any permutation of bread flour, honey, malt, oil, butter, salt, seeds, bran etc etc and get a pretty respectable loaf.

But earlier this year, my godmother sent me some instructions on getting a sourdough starter going, and to make bread from it pretty much in perpetuity, all without commercial yeast. Intriguing!

I gave it a whirl last week, and spent a week with a jar full of flour and water paste which despite my skepticism, eventually when frothy and I had my starter ready to make bread.

Well, not quite - the starter has to be primed with more flour and water, and left for another 24 hours. And then you can make your bread. Brilliant!

My first go was categorically not a success. I used rye flour, which - if you think of how solid rye bread is - was always likely to be heavy going. A total failure, this went in the bin before it was even dough. My second go was more like it - I did half quantities and ended up with a perfectly edible loaf. Ha!

And this weekend, I've gone for the full thing. The starter was taken out of the fridge, part measured out and primed for 24 hours. Today I added flour and salt, kneaded the dough, let it rise (hours more), and tonight I have knocked the dough into shape and left it to rise AGAIN, and then into the oven.

I must say that it is utterly gorgeous, and I can see that the initial faff factor will soon become routine. But you do have to think ahead!

A success - eventually - and my week 48 Challenge is completed!

Week 47 - Grow a New Vegetable

Having had a half plot at the Hill for 7 years, I try to grow all sort of tasty fruit and veg. I do tend to grow pretty much that same thing year after year, though - partly as I know what I like, partly as I know what I can grow well.

But precisely because I have settled into growing mostly the same things year on year, it is a good challenge for me to have a go at something a bit different.

Following a discussion on the Grapevine at the beginning of the year, I decided to have a go at celeriac - I don't think I've eaten in more than a couple of times - but enjoyed it - and I certainly haven't grown it before.

The seeds are like dust, but they came up in their little pot.











I pricked the seedlings out into modules, then planted out in June.










They did well, as I kept them well watered, and kept the weeds down, and stripped a few leaves off the top of the growing bulbs each week or so over the summer.

And today, I dug my first one up. It might look like an ood, but peeled, boiled and mashed with potato and butter for tea tonight, it was delicious!

It might be the first time I have grown celeriac, but it will not be the last - and that's my week 47 Challenge completed!

Week 46 - Visit a New Town

The annual Christmas shopping trip with Mum tends to be a tootle over to Solihull - it's about the right size, with enough shops that we don't have locally, and the right distance away.

We've experimented with other towns over the years - Sheffield Meadowhall (too far away), Worcester (too open air in the cold weather), Telford (too soulless), Merryhill (surprisingly difficult to get to, given the proximity to home), and tend to gravitate back to Solihull.

But this year, we went to Derby. I've not been there before, although it used to be a popular trip out for Mum and Dad, and Mum was keen to go back and have a look round.

It's just a straightforward 45 minutes from home, and having a look online beforehand would appear to consist of a new shopping centre (Westfield), an enormous indoor market and an old shopping quarter by the Cathedral.

We parked at the shopping centre, wandered round the market, then had coffee, looked at the chain stores (most much larger than their counterparts in our town), and found an independent kitchen shop.

Then to the Cathedral, which we had a look round before going to the shop for Christmas cards, and having a look round the independent shops there - the prize being the wonderful Bennetts department store.

We were out of time - we should not have lingered in the shopping centre at the expense of the independent shops. Derby is certainly worth a return visit.

The camera conked out, so the only pic I have is of the Cathedral, but that is my week 46 Challenge completed!

Week 45 - Do Some Knitting

The execution of this Challenge is - I confess - a slight cop out. The original Challenge read 'Finish knitting that beautiful sage green cable jumper that you've had hanging round for years and stopped just because you've got to the tricky armhole bit, you lazy mare'.

But obviously, that was far too much of a mouthful, and so I went for knitting a little scarf instead.

I recently bought a lovely new (to me), green corduroy coat, and it really needs a matching scarf.

So a couple of ounces of wool later, and here's the result.

So that's my (modified) wk 45 Challenge done!

Week 44 - Make Sweets

I don't think that I've ever made sweets before (except some rich chocolate truffle/fudge thingies as part of my International Cookery course, which turned out just a bit solid, and just a bit big - a whole one made you feel sick), but with the festive season (almost) upon us, I thought I'd better have a go to see if they will make good presents.

You can't have an easier recipe than peppermint creams, so I gave them a go.

Whisked egg white and icing sugar went in the bowl and was kneaded to the consistency of plasticine, then I split it and added green colouring and peppermint to half the mix;and red and yellow food colouring and orange essence to the other.

I punched out tiny rounds with a cutter, chilled them then melted chocolate to brush on top.

Verdict - peppermint, excellent if a bit overly green; orange, bit of a funny taste but ok.

Overall - yep, as 'homemades' go, these are better than the bath bombs (wk9), and on a par with the tree decorations (wk43). My week44 Challenge is done.

Week 43 - Make Christmas Decorations

There's a Christmas Fair at mum's church at the end of November each year, and they are always looking for donations for the various stalls (books, china, cakes etc), and as ever, she asked if I had anything that might fit the bill that I could contribute.

Well, I'd recently chatted with my colleague about Christmas crafts, and we'd been thinking about making Christmas decorations - I am a member of a monthly on-line sewing circle - and we're looking at all sorts of Christmas projects at the mo.

I figured that if I could donate some hand-made Christmas decorations from a design that we thought up between us for the sew-in; then they could be sold on the 'handicrafts' stall.

So this weekend I have been gathering fabric, ribbon, beads and bells; and cutting, sewing and embellishing.

This is what the finished tree decorations look like hanging from a makeshift tree - a couple of dozen more to finish, but in essence, that's my week 43 Challenge done!

Week 42 - Catch a Falling Leaf

Back from holiday, and all of a sudden, it's Autumn! Although I love the crisp mornings, the sunshine, the beautiful colours of the trees, what I DO NOT love is the nights drawing in the cold, and the rain. Pah!

Let's focus on the positives, though - I'm really fortunate to live a five minute jog away from Sutton Park, and it is very beautiful at this time of year, with its ancient woodlands, heaths and lakes. Well, it's lovely at any time of the year, but Autumn is particularly good. 

As I know from the forty odd Autumns that I have walked through the woodlands in the park, catching falling leaves is deceptively difficult - those lazy, drifting, golden flakes have a life of their own and skitter away from your outstretched hand and tumble to the floor leaving you snatching at thin air.

I was determined not to be beaten this year, though, and headed this morning in the glorious sunshine to one of my favourite woodlands.

Half an hour later, I moved to a less favourite, but more secluded woodland, as I was starting to look like the local loony and was getting some funny looks from the good folk of Sutton who were out in force enjoying the day.

My tenacity paid off - no action shot of me actually catching it, of course, as I had enough trouble with the damn leaf as it was, but here is the leaf, and it's tree. 

And my week 42 Challenge is done!