The summer past

I did vaguely allude to a French summer holiday in my first post, and now that I'm stuck in cold dark Cambridge with only a glass of wine for company I thought I would reminisce about my time away.

As you might imagine we ate, and more importantly drank, our way around France squashed in the car between the tent and the rudimentary camping stove. One of my favourite days was an unorganised trip to a vineyard. We turned up unannounced late morning, thinking we could potter around and try a few wines, but even after a couple of weeks in France we still had underestimated the importance of lunch. Someone kindly explained that it was very nearly lunchtime but we could join another group for a tasting session and a bite to eat. I very quickly delegated the drive home to the girlfriend and tucked into the wine.

Then lunch was served by the lady of the chateau wearing a horrible yellow and orange satin jacket. Out came rillette, bread and salad. And, of course, a glass of wine. Thinking that this was it, we both, having paid €20, filled our plates and ate a lot. This was our second mistake of the day. This course was soon whisked away to be replaced by a dish of coq au vin. Feeling slightly full we struggled, but our frequently refilled wine glasses helped wash it down. Then the dessert of sobet made from, unsurprisingly, wine was delivered. By this stage I was pissed enough to agree to have more wine poured on top. All in all, a great afternoon.

The death of the levain

I haven't posted for a while, but I have been busy making bread. Several loaves have been quite good, and I have impressed people ranging from the scathing friend to two slightly worse for wear friends in search of a midnight snack. The new proving basket has made things look slightly prettier, even if they are still a bit mis-shapen.

In search of a quiet night in yesterday evening I switched on the tv and found "The Great British Bake Off". I'd never seen this before but it annoyed me from the beginning. Firstly Mary Berry is far too skinny to be a pastry chef and the other bloke, I can't even remember his name, had such irritating hair that I found it hard to concentrate. However I did learn something quite useful. When the guy with the hair was making focaccia the dough was really wet and loose. Apparently this is what you need for bigger air pockets and a lighter bread.

This got me thinking about my bread because often it is too dense and thick. I follow the recipes correctly, the ones with a higher ratio of levain are now my mainstay, and use the correct amount of water, but I always end up putting a lot more flour into the mixture when I am working it. I don't really think about what I am doing but it seems natural to chuck a bit flour onto the work surface to stop it sticking.

I woke up this morning and popped into town to get some wholemeal flour to try out a new mix with a higher water to flour ratio. Last night I had moved the box of levain from one fridge to the smaller older one (being students we have two small fridges rather than one large useful one) and when I unclipping the top off the levain smelt and looked terrible. As I had all the flour ready, and needed some more bread, I cracked on anyway and knocked together a much wetter looser dough. Unsurprisingly it hasn't risen at all but I'll bake it and see anyway. I think the crappy old fridge might have killed my levain.

Sometimes I hate being a student and having things that don't work properly!

Back to School

Term has started again so I now find I have less time for cooking and thinking about food. However I have found time to sort out the bread, even dashing home in the car from a friend's house to put another loaf in the oven and then going back in time to pick my other friends up, and it is getting better and better. It passed the girlfriend test, which admittedly is slightly biased, and I was even bold enough to give it to some friends. Either I have kind, sympathetic friends or they actually like it!

I now have an active strong levain tucked up in the back of the fridge and a new recipe. I attribute my recent successes to white flour and a larger ratio of levain in the dough. It seems to rise much better and is the right balance between chewy and light. Perhaps I am getting a bit carried away with my progress but today I thought I deserved a treat. After trying to get dough to rise in bowls lined with teatowels, and producing several odd shaped loaves, I splashed out on a proper wicker proving basket. The price slightly dampened my excitement but I'm chuffed.

The next big test for my bread has already started. I have promised a slightly scathingly, honest-talking friend a loaf of my bread. If this batch turn out badly I'm not sure if my nerves will take it! At least the bread should look nice after proving in my new basket!

The cows

I went to the Food Festival at the weekend and was a little disappointed. It seemed slightly gimmicky and even Warburtons were there handing out slices of buttered toast. I thought that was a bit bizarre.

But there was something that was a bit exciting and I managed to track the lady in question down. For the past week I've been working with a vet who specialises in canine reproduction and it has been great, partly because it has sparked my interested again and inspires me to be a vet, but also because she owns the beautiful red poll cattle down on Midsummer Common in the centre of Cambridge. And she sells all the meat at farmers markets at the weekends. I used to cycle past these cows on the way to town sometimes and now I can eat them! It doesn't get much more local than that. Who needs city farms with a few pigs and four cattle when you can have a whole herd on your doorstep!

The lady who was at the market on the stall was lovely and the meat itself did look fantastic. I can even get hold of cuts like the blade, flank and skirt to make some cheap steak dinners. Check back for the all important taste test.

The next batch of bread is also in the oven as I speak, and hopefully it should be more promising. The chef and levain actually rose this time so I'm cautiously optimisitic.

Have to go now, off to move the red poll cattle with the vet to do some AI. I think I might have found my dream job.

Attempt #2

Looking back I think I was a bit hard on myself. The bread hadn't risen and was too dense but it tasted good and had a crunchy but chewy crust. The start wasn't a success but it had promise.

A couple of days ago, after my initial attempt I decided to tweak a few things. The main problem with the first batch, I think, was the lack of yeast. I could start right from the beginning again with the raisins in the fermenting jar, but I'm inpatient and will always take a short-cut if there is one. I had the remain yeasty water from the first jar in the fridge and having decanted some off I decided that the yeast cells might need a bit more food to get them growing again (several years of a veterinary education has taught me something). Raiding the cupboards I found some honey and spooned in a dollop. I gave it a shake and forgot about it.

A telephone call and a chat about my bread earlier today reminded me that I had something brewing in the bathroom so I quickly ended the conversation, such is the importance if my bread, and went to investigate. Twisting the lid off the contents nearly fizzed all over me. I definitely think that there is more yeast in there now! A quick ten minutes later and a new mother is sitting comfortably in the warm. After another trip to the pub tonight I'll prepare the chef. Fingers crossed for bit more success this time.

I have also started a proper soughdough culture too, potentially to add to my baking woes. This relies on cultivating the natural yeasts that occur in the flour. Apparently whole wheat flour is ideal to start this process off so my Cornish gift is useful once more. I started the culture using 50g water and 50g flour on the same day I fed the yeasty water for the pain levain. Rediscovering it again today bubbles and a sour smell were obvious so I fed it again with the same amount of flour and water. The idea is to feed the culture every couple of days when there is signs of life and dispose of half each time. Give me a couple more days and hopefully it might get a bit more exciting.

On a different note all together I found out something very exciting today. Well something exciting if you live in Cambridge and like food. I'll tell more once I've done a bit of research, and taste testing, at the Cambridge Food, Garden and Produce festival tomorrow.

This is my cat Christopher who decided to come home after two nights away on an adventure. He has nothing to do with bread or baking, but he does like spicy sausages!

The results of the first attempt

I made the levain yesterday morning and added the final batch of flour, water and salt to make the final dough for the bread. My initial enthusiasm with the chef, maybe because I was a bit merry from the pub, had waned once the levain was made and had left to rise. Supposedly it was meant to double in size, but even after a whole night in the airing cupboard not much had happened. Nevertheless I ploughed on and mixed and kneaded until my arm hurt.

Knocking back the dough twice during proving was almost unnecessary as there was very little air to squash out. I had read that you can leave the final dough to rise in the fridge overnight for an even better aroma so as a last ditch attempt I tried this.

After a night of dreaming about light pillowy bread I got up early to bake my loaves before work. Optimistically I hoped something had miraculously had happened in the fridge but nothing had. I had got this far, I thought, so I might as well bake them. Taking them out after thirty five minutes I was surprised at how appealing, if small, they looked. Cutting into them, however, was as I imagined. Thick, compacted crumb with few, if any, holes. I am disappointed.

Thinking about where I might have gone wrong it seems obvious to start with my yeast. In my yeasty fermentation jar there was an alcohol smell and bubbles so I thought that it would be ready. This initial stage to encourage the yeast to grow is quite a delicate process, I think, so I might have done something wrong. I have read in other places that spring water should be used because tap water can be chlorinated and this can kill yeast cells rather than encourage them.

My next plan is to tinker with my raisin yeast. I drained the raisins out and have the yeasty water in a jar in the fridge. I think I'll try and cultivate this further because there must be some yeast cells in there. I have also started a sourdough culture, just flour and water, and hopefully that might yield something. I have discovered that this process is a lot more complex and challenging than I first thought. The airing cupboard will be full of experiments for a while now though, I'm not giving up until I make something that can be described as bread!

Returning from the pub....

I made it home in one piece and now the mother has turned into the chef.... It's looking pretty good and my biceps are burning so I'm happy.

The chef. He is already springy and growing.

Beginnings of bread

My latest project, which I have been planning and researching for a while, coincidently follows on nicely from blackberries. Having made the jam, what I now need is bread! I have eaten enough crappy cheap bread to last me a while and now that even crappy bread is no longer cheap I thought I should make my own. I have in the past made simple loaves with dried yeast and they are always great but this time I want a bit more of a challenge.

After a recent holiday to France, which I am sure I will write about in more detail at some point, I lived off bread, cheese and wine. Quality, variety and various levels of sobriety helped avoid repetition. However what was always the highlight for me, after the wine, was the fantastic chewy wholesome bread. This, I thought, is what I need in my life. And finally I have got off my arse and have begun to do something about it.

A couple of years ago I found a book all about baking. Flicking through the pages the photos jumped out and first inspired me to make some bread. It is a Swedish book, luckily translated into English, written by Jan Hedh. Having read about the varying types of bread and varying ways to make them I realised that baking can be a lot more complex than it looks. Also the different temperatures, ovens, kneading methods and flour types can all such a huge impact. Because I am a student and only have a fan rather than a woodfired oven for example there is inevitably going to be limits to what I can do. So I am going to base my bread on Jan Hedh’s methods with my own shortcuts and innovations thrown in.

Yeast, surprisingly, is a must and I have decided to attempt to make some sour dough. Sour dough apparently is the oldest proving method involving wild natural yeast. I’ve read lots about how to capture this wild yeast, from leaving a bowl of flour and water out to using yeast already present on the surface of fruits, and I made my mind up on what to use when I turned the page and saw “pain levain”. As this is the traditional method used in France and uses raisins, which I found in the back of the cupboard, I went for it.

The first stage is to encourage enough yeast cells to replicate so the bread will rise. This involved pouring raisins, sugar, water and honey into a sealable jar and leaving it to ferment. As always I didn’t quite follow the recipe and used up all the remaining amounts of the different sugars at home to add to the jar rather than white sugar. From this early stage my bread should already be unique. Also my fermenting didn’t quite go to plan. There wasn’t really a warm enough area at home, a constant 30-35°C, so it took a move to my new house and an airing cupboard to really start the process going.

Today has been the day I have decided that enough is enough and my sticky soupy raisin mix is ready to make bread. It has been over a week and smells distinctly alcoholic. The next stages in my bread involve several odd names and terms but it seems to me that basically you add more flour and water, nutrients required for the yeast to replicate, and leave to prove. First comes the “mother”. She is made from the yeasty raisin water and flour. She is left for four hours then more flour and water to make the “chef”. He, once made, can then live in the fridge for a week or two and still contain enough little yeast cells to make bread rise. Adding more flour and water to the “chef” gives the “levain”. This is the basis of many different types of bread and I see it as the equivalent of the 3g packet of dried yeast that you would add to flour and water to make bread. At least I think this is right.

So my interpretation of this whole processes, which admittedly might be far too simplistic, is that I am going through all these length and drawn out stages to produce live yeast cells that modern technology can kindly make and deliver in little foil packets. But it is much more natural, more fun and creates more mess so I’m convinced. However the variations that will occur in my bread making, from temperature to the raisins I used as the yeast starter, will add a unique flavour and texture, hopefully.

I’ve just made the mother using the stone ground whole wheat flour from Cornwall that I received as a present. I don’t know why but I always get given food when family return from holiday. Anyway, that is happily proving, I hope, in the airing cupboard ready to be made into the chef in four hours. But I am going to the pub in a bit so my chef might be a bit clumsily made on my return. I’m sure it will add to the unique flavour of my bread!

 The Cornish present.

The last few days in the countryside...

The timings of these posts might seem a bit odd but I've been writing for a while and have only finally got round to sorting out a blog. Happy reading!

 After a few days of pottering in the garden and foraging I now have ample supplies of blackberries and sloes but disappointingly few mushrooms. I did find a Death Cap, or maybe a false Death Cap (as the name implies they are quite hard to differentiate) which was exciting due to their remarkably toxic properties, but luckily I still have plenty of dried mushrooms from last year to beef up my casseroles over this autumn and winter. Despite the lack of edible mushrooms it is always fun to wander about a wood convincing yourself that you have discovered something tasty only to turn the page in the mushroom book and see an equally similar picture of a fungi with a name like the Sickener.

Blackberries are always abundant at home probably due to our relaxed and somewhat “hands-off” approach to the garden. We even have, after several years of diligent cultivation, a whole greenhouse full of brambles with berries the size of your thumb which are testament to my family’s ability to grow these wild plants. With the help of a faithful, ageing mutt, who only found one compared to my two rabbits, I managed to gather a large bowlful which weighed in at 2.5kg. It is always satisfying when your bowl becomes so heavy that it cannot be held in one hand for long. Thoroughly pleased I have already put them on to simmer and they are currently being strained, ready to be made into jelly in the morning. With Mum’s contribution too I will have plenty Bramble Jelly to go round. What lucky friends I have.

I love blackberries. Partly due to the struggle that sometimes is required to pick them, the largest and juiciest looking berries are always the most inaccessible, and most importantly that they are free which greatly appeals to my student outlook on feeding myself. But remember when picking them to always leave some left over for the local hedgerow inhabitants. I don’t know if rabbits eat berries, I don’t see why not, but I like to imagine mum, dad and multiple baby rabbits nibbling on the remaining berries in the sun on autumnal afternoons.

Also the jelly is fantastic. Have a slice of toast with this and shop-brought jam will seem so disappointing and unsatisfying in comparison.

Sloes, of course, are made into Sloe Gin. With the help of Grandpa, a gin consuming machine, I have, in a surprisingly short time, gained two empty 1.5l gin bottles. Give me two or three months, time for the sloes to infuse the gin, and I’ll have a boozy early Christmas tea party with cake, scones and of course my Bramble Jelly.

 Four of my jars of jam. I promise that they are home-made and not full Bonne Maman.

Hello

I am a vet student starting my last two years of vet school and as everyone in my year seems to be more enthused and motivated, I feel less excited and more unoptimistic about my potential future career. I am not the first person to have doubts of this sort, and certainly not the first to write a blog about it, but perhaps the combination of my studies and my other interests might make a tired subject a more original read.

I have had a passion for food for a long time, so much so that as a sixteen year old it was a close decision between subjects required for a veterinary degree and chef school. That I had to make this career defining decision, when I could hardly decide whether to get out of bed or not, seems a bit ridiculous but I will save this rant for another post. I have always cooked at home, from meagre beginnings peeling potatoes with Granny, to cooking Christmas dinners for the whole family and I have always loved it. Put a packet of noodles from Thailand or a bottle of peppery olive oil from a small orchard in France in front of me and you will be surprised how excited I can get.

I would write more but it is time to get dinner on the go.... Check back for posts on my first project.