A Chip Butty Loaf

I haven't had much time for baking, although I have had time to write down a list of things I would like to have a go at.  

Some of it is weather-dependent.  
The flowers I require should be gathered dry and in the sunshine.   I live on the east coast of Lincolnshire where the weather has been far from summery and sunshiney.   Right now it is very cold, grey and breezy.   Darn it.
 

I was stuck at home, waiting for a parcel to be delivered so I decided to have a go at making a recipe which I had seen in a Dan Lepard book.    (Despite my definite preference for browsing around and playing about with the recipes from my old books, I do own quite a few modern ones.)

The recipe was for Flash Bread, or Bread in a Flash - something like that.  It can be found in Dan's book, Short and Sweet.     It took about 2 hours from start to finish and was very easy.

What I loved about it was that the recipe called for malt vinegar and grated potato...need I say more, you know how much I enjoy using vegetables in my baking.      I have a wide range of vinegars in the pantry but I used bog-standard malt vinegar.

The resulting loaf had a wonderfully crisp crust.    The bread itself was moist and delicious.  I can't say that it really tasted of potato and vinegar, for it didn't, although the flavour was excellent for such a quick loaf.

I had a good slice of it decently slathered in butter and it was really tasty.   It didn't taste of potato, nor did it smell of vinegar.  

However, my brain kept feeding me images of chip butties (years since I had one of those, perhaps it is time for another) so perhaps you wouldn't want to eat it with jam or lemon curd on top, but served with butter or cheese, or perhaps with soup, it really adds flavour in a subtle way.

I will be making it again, it was quick, easy and tasty.

A Simple Meal

Last night I began making a loaf of bread; I followed an old favourite recipe in my Dan Lepard 'Short and Sweet' book.   It was a very simple white loaf which required me to make a sponge starter and leave it in the fridge, overnight.

I woke up and knew that I wanted to change horses half-way through, I wanted to bake it using the Jim Lahey method, baking it in a cast iron pot in a very hot oven.   I've only done that once before and the result was a crusty and wonderful loaf.

I dithered and dathered, but in the end I decided that I was being ridiculous, if it didn't work it wouldn't be the end of the world, I would just have to get a loaf out of the freezer instead.

I baked it covered, for 30 minutes, then uncovered for another 15 minutes.   The result was a very pleasing loaf with a very crisp crust and full of flavour.

We had a slice as soon as it was cool enough, but I had plans for the rest.  Toast!   Nothing beats toast made from real bread.   The better the bread, the better the toast.

Our six hens have been laying well, so that was teatime sorted.

Boiled eggs and soldiers.  Simple and delicious.  

Nursery food perhaps, but sometimes that is all that you need.