Rye and Birdseed Bread

Cynthia over at *Solitary Cook first posted this recipe calling it Gold Nugget bread. I tasted it when I was down in *Oldfarm and was really impressed. It was nutty and delicious and so so light. Margaret uses Spelt flour. So of course I just had to have a go and waited (impatiently) for her to convert the American measurements. I just can't handle cups, sticks etc. I finally got the converted recipe and decided to have a go in the middle of watching the semi-final of the Six Nations. So basically in between terrorising the dogs screaming at Bod and the boys, I was running in and out trying to make the bread. Of course it was a bit of a flop (unlike the match thankfully.)

I tried it again a few times and to be honest I couldn't get it right at all. The spelt just didn't seem to rise well. Finally I decided to have one last go using wheat flour with added rye flour and a sourdough starter. And hey voila!

Rye and Birdseed Bread Recipe

150g of an active sourdough starter (my starter is quite liquid - 50:50 flour to water)
100g rye flour
150g water

Mix the above together and put in a bowl covered with cling film. Leave overnight or at least all day. If it looks like it's drying out pour a small amount of water over surface and swirl it to cover the surface. You need to prevent a crust forming.

Active sponge next morning

Next day when it's all bubbly and foaming pour it into your mixing bowl. This is your sponge. Add

300g strong bread flour
10g salt
2 tablespoons of milled linseed also called flaxseed
2 tablespoons millet
2 tablespoons brown linseed/flaxseed

100ml water (put in a jug and add slowly)

Add all the dry ingredients above to your sponge. Turn on your mixer and set to lowest speed. Begin to mix and slowly add about half the water. Leave to mix for 15 minutes. Then turn off mixer and leave dough to stand for another 15-20 minutes.  Start mixer again and add the remainder of the water slowly. Turn the mixer on to a medium speed for 10 minutes. If it is jumping about stand beside it and hold it. Do not worry about the dough being wet. Sourdough needs a wet dough. Add more water if necessary.

Test dough by pulling a piece out and stretch it. It should pull thin and not tear. If it tears continue to mix on a low speed for another 5 minutes and a high speed for 2 minutes.

Remove and transfer to a bowl sprinkled with flour in base. Rub surface of the dough with some sunflower oil and cover with cling film. Leave for 5-6 hours or in winter I leave over night to prove. The longer it proves the more the natural yeasts and the lactic acid begins to break down the wheat proteins to make the bread more digestible and to give the lovely sour flavours.

 Dough left to prove

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and gently gather it and fold it into the shape you want to bake it in. Place it on a baking sheet or a tin and rub water over the surface to prevent a crust forming. Sprinkle with some flax and millet and leave to prove for another 3-4 hours.

After 3 hours

Turned out after 5 hours for reshaping

Second proving

I have a steam function in my oven. I put it in the oven with steam at 40C for 15 minutes then turn the oven up to 220C with steam for about 25 minutes, turn the steam off and lower the oven to 200C for another 15-20 minutes or until the base sounds hollow when tapped gently. Sometimes I remove the bread from the tin and turn it upside down directly onto oven shelf for the last few minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

The rye gives this bread a dense texture but this works really well with the sour, nutty and earthy flavours. If you prefer a lighter bread replace the rye with all wheat flour.

*Check out both Cynthia and Margaret's blogs by clicking on the links above. They are fabulous.

Drawing with Light

A pastoral scene under a lime tree

Some valuable lessons learned yesterday. Every day is a school day, right?

1. The word photograph means drawing with light.
2. Clean your lens.
3 Forget all the bells and whistles on your camera, learn to compose your shot.



I went to a photography workshop with Suzanna Crampton on her idyllic farm in Bennetsbridge Co. Kilkenny. 

In my dark and distant past I did photography in university as an elective subject. I had used an old Canon camera for years and had a "fairly" good understanding of f stops, shutter speeds and iso. But my new "bells and whistles" digital camera was a whole new ball game.

I was grappling with a pile more settings and getting really bogged down. Not seeing the wood for the trees so to speak. Suzanna took everything back to basics. She showed us photos taken with disposable cameras that looked as if they had been taken by a top notch camera. I happened to mention that my iPhone used to take fabulous photos but the quality had really gone down lately. Straight away she asked if I had cleaned the lens. Talk about a "DOH!" moment. It was manky.

Then she told us put our cameras on "programme". This means it does all the thinking for you and you just shoot.

Here are the results.

Hosta

Pepper posed for me

Acer palmatum dissectum atropurpureum (couldn't resist)

Getting arty

All the triangles

Dove

I got it

You're not herself

She's after us - we're for it now

These are a few of the hundreds of photos I took. Many were rubbish but some were not. I had a really enjoyable day because despite the heavy rain overnight it turned out lovely in the afternoon. Of course it helps to have had the following props: fabulous gardens, plants and garden ornaments, dogs, horses, doves, Zwarbles sheep. Oh and a great teacher!

I also bought some black wool to knit (well attempt to knit) a long cardigan.

I'll be back.

Porter Cake

When I was a child one of my friends was not allowed to read Enid Blyton. I was an avid reader and I used to lend the books to her surreptitiously. She then read them by torchlight in bed underneath her covers. To this day I never knew why she wasn't allowed read them. But then she and her siblings were only really allowed to play with us and not the other children living on the road.

Her mother was a big, very grand Donegal woman who could talk for Ireland, lowering her tone when a child was in earshot (usually a very nosy me). Her husband was (I think) a senior civil servant in the Department of Foreign Affairs. I know now she had very influential contacts and she used to entertain at length at home. She was a great cook and her dinner party preparations usually involved a lot of whispering and lowering of tone whilst talking to my mother.

She gave this recipe to my mother years ago and my mother had it stuck in her copy of Full and Plenty. I was always asking mum if I could have it. She eventually gave it to me the other day.

I made the first cake yesterday (pictured above) and now I have wrapped it up in baking parchment and tin foil and it is stored in a tin for a month to mature. For this reason I can't show a picture of it cut.

I followed the first recipe almost exactly until I got to the dried fruit but I had different fruit and no candied peel. I also used 330ml of Guinness Foreign Extra. Well actually I didn't even pour it all over the cake, thinking it would make a very soggy cake, so I poured some into me instead.

Lady Iveagh's Porter Cake Recipe
225g softened butter
225g muscovado sugar
4 eggs
500g mixed dried fruit (I used sultanas, cranberries, raisins, dates and prunes)
100g walnuts
300g flour
330ml bottle of Guinness
1 teaspoon of mixed spice

Cream the butter and sugar well. Add in one egg at a time and a tablespoon of sieved flour to prevent curdling. Stir in the dried fruit, walnuts, spice and 4 tablespoons of the Guinness. Sieve the flour and add it in bit by bit (I use Spelt so you may need more or less). Transfer into a suitable tin lined or greased. I baked it at 130C for 2 hours. Check a skewer comes out clean to make sure it is baked in centre. Allow to cool. And here is the bit that confused me. It says in recipe to pour the remainder of the Guinness over the base of the cooled cake (after skewering a few holes in it). I was sure that this would make a very soggy cake and most of it was running through cake onto my counter top. I decided to pour it in several stages in small amounts and drank the rest. I left it out overnight and next morning it didn't seem remotely soggy.

I looked up a few recipes for Porter cake and none of them say to do this so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I couldn't even wait a month. I can confirm it's sublime with the taste of Guinness not obliterated by heat but instead infusing the fruit with the most unbelievable tang. This is the way to make a porter cake!

I intend making the Lady Killanin recipe next. But I need a couple of months to mature this one and eat it (being on a diet like).