Only 10 weeks to purchase and install a woodburner!

Wow!..things move s l o w l y.  Especially peeved as my intent when I purchased in February was to avoid the rush as other buyers did the same in preparation for Winter. Installed 2 days before we had a freak frost - within 2 days the temperature was back up to 18C..now I can focus on the washroom conversion...

About time I caught up with the last month (May)

Apart from fixing parts of the house I indulge myself and wander into my enjoyment of food - well cooking to be more precise. I'm not passionate about cooking at all, more determined to eat nutritious food and not pay through the nose for it. Bread, to be exact bread made with organic strone-ground wholegrain flour : not my favourite food in that short of having a gluten intolerance I don't like how it makes me feel. However, my mind is always full of images..for example toasted herb bread with cheese and wine or as I was trying recently toasted with organic lime marmalade, sharp and tangy. Recently having a large crop of fresh figs, my search for recipes had me finding and Italian one (see previous entry) whereby poached figs spread over bread with Goats cheese or Mozarella is given as a great Winter snack. My imagination has my mouth watering; my experience has me thinking indigestion.

However, I'm now making my own bread and deep-freezing. I so liked the morning treat of this bread with butter and my own marmalade that I had it almost everyday for 2 weeks, with strong delicious coffee. The flavours were wonderful - n ot so much the extra 3 kilos-odd I seemed to gain. So that stopped. Still, here is the bread and I'll still make it from time to time; it really cannot be simpler and it needs no kneading..

 I've put the recipe below as much to remind my self, although it isn't hard to remember yeast flour and water!

The trick is to keep the mixture moist as wholemeal needs more liquid, can't be kneaded the same way as white and needs less cooking time - unless you like eating bricks.






Recipe for one loaf: (see Delia Smith 'Easy Wholemeal Bread')

350-380ml hand hot water

1 teaspoon raw sugar

2 level teaspoons dried yeast

450g wholemeal flour (ideally stone-ground)

2 teaspoons salt

Additional by choice: flax seeds, pumpkin and or sunflower seeds.

Oven 200C for 20 – 30 minutes

In a bowl or jug, mix the water with the sugar and yeast. You can whisk at first to ensure the dried yeast is mixed but then leave with cling film over the top until it forms a ‘head’ – similar to old fashioned beer. This is called ‘proving’ which essentially shows the yeast is ‘alive’.

Whilst the yeast develops (takes about 20 minutes or so) mix all the dry ingredients together. Then prepare the tin you will use by greasing with butter – I use an oblong tin but a round tin works as well.

Make a hole in the centre of the flour and gradually add the liquid; depending upon the type of flour more or less liquid is needed. This recipe does not require kneading, so you mix until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. If it’s too dry and a little bit of liquid.

Once mixed place onto a floured surface then shape and place into the tin to rise. A tip: if you ‘tuck’ the edges under at the base of the mix, as the dough rises it will give a more rounded shape to the top. This is also the time you can design how it looks: if you score the top with diagonal lines they will increase in size as the dough expands. If you scatter oats or seeds on the top they’ll stay there. Leave covered with oiled cling film to rise for about 40-60 minutes depending upon warmth; your guide is the mix should be almost double and almost at the top edge of the tin you’re using. Once cooked, the loaf will ‘set’ at the size when first in the oven. Cook at 200C for 25-35 minutes, but test at say 20 mins by using a skewer; if you over-cook this mix it just gets harder Remove from the tin and if tapped it should sound hollow; you can return the bread to the oven without the tin if you want an extra few minutes and if you do this upside down it will help the crust form if it’s not already crispy. I’ve not had to do this yet however. Once cold, you can freeze what you don’t wish to eat within 2 days.

Useful notes: yeast needs warmth, not heat to grow. High temperatures stop and kill the yeast. Yeast feeds on sugar so honey or some such can be used to replace sugar. Salt can inhibit yeast growth so if you increase the salt component you may have to increase the amount of yeast. Wholemeal flour compared to white flour is quite different in how it behaves. It needs more liquid to make a suitable dough and by my experience takes less time to cook. Because there is more of the grain in the flour it will never reach the same elasticity after kneading as white flour does. The idea of kneading dough to the elastic state is to create gluten and use it to trap the yeast activity and so allow the yeast gases to expand the flour – this is why white flour produces the lightness and size in bread that wholemeal does not. So when converting recipes that use white flour and substituting wholemeal adding extra yeast is a factor as is the amount of liquid you use – and the cooking time. As mentioned I’ve found a reduced cooking time works better. Otherwise you can end up with a brick! If in doubt try the usual skewer in the bread to see if it’s dry and if in doubt go for a shorter time then put it back in for a few minutes extra.

Buttering the tins hardens the dough where it touches the metal and if you add a bowl of water when baking, the steam produced helps make a crispy crust. As a final comment, wholemeal flour is better than white; the best is stone-ground wholemeal. Every part of the grain is used this way. If roller-milled wholemeal is used, not all of the husk bran etc. is included.

A wonderful blog...

http://jury.co.nz/2014/04/28/the-jury-camellia-legacy/

I read this as much as my time allows and now Winter is developing it will encourage me to continue planning.

I haven't had the time to sit down and continue my diary, being involved with continued 'fixing' projects - firstly a new woodburner and secondly converting the old pantry to a new washroom. In between I've been trying to keep the garden a bit less than an unruly jungle - and have not succeeded. The new drive gravel now has patches and the edges are becoming overgrown. Never mind on the bright side it is giving me more time to plan what I'd like to achieve in this future garden. One of my hurdles is that I did not start with a 'blank slate' and so tended to alter what is already here. For example having inherited so many fruit trees I sent myself on a pruning course so I could handle these correctly. Having been inundated in late Summer with so much fruit, pretty much all at the same time I know have a more pragmatic perspective: remove a few of the trees. As a default I have huge guilt when removing any type of healthy tree and then I recognise that stone fruit trees for example are not so long lived and as the previous owners planted some slap bang in the middle of a lawn - in a diagonal line no less, then they will have to go if there is to be any type of decent structure. I want to plant more trees, especially on the periphery.The idea of sitting in dappled light, shaded from the heat of the day is a great incentive. I'll miss the fruit blossom to a degree; there are other trees that provide this. As said I've planted some Michelia 'Fairy' (see http://jury.co.nz/tag/michelias/) and 'Inspiration' as a hedge to separate the vegetable area from what will be the garden, so there'll be enough blossom to compensate I think in the interim

OK..I've been really slack with this Blog...time to get to work on it again..maybe today

Raining today! First time in weeks

Has me realising that Winter will hit quickly; we have a true Indian Summer with daily temperatures still in the mid- 20's. I've even planted more beans a few days ago to see if they'll grow with the remaining heat. But the rain is so welcome; so pleased I finished one part of the new garden borders and whilst I'm still up to my neck creating a guest washroom and struggling to have an installer finish putting in  the new wood burner I know I've only a few weeks to prepare and tidy the vegetable garden for Winter in preparation for Spring. I've asparagus raised from seed ready to go out and have potatoes ready to go in. hoping this rain will help the avocado grow larger. Makes me think I've got to get to the duck pond though very soon if I want to re-build it before the continuous rain we get during Winter..otherwise it'll be full of water...

A final farewell to Dolphin...

It's been almost a month since Wayne (Dolphin) left us and 2 weeks ago we gave him a farewell that was appropriate as well as moving. Being a surfer all his life and traveling the World to indulge his love, his wife Adrienne chose a Hawaiian tradition, a Surfer's Farewell to confirm his place amongst the element he loved the most: Water. In this tradition surfers paddle out with leis and form a circle by holding hands and within which memories are shared and the individual is fondly remembered.

 The leis are tossed into the sea together with the ashes. It could not have been a better morning: crystal clear with sun bright upon the water....

Just found this..so many ideas..check for the link at the end

And I have to try and catch up today with so many things. Converting the pantry to a guest washroom, finish renovating the laundry and one of the garden beds. Trying to get a new wood burner installed..such a protracted affair with the local council taking 20 working days to process 1 piece of paper i.e 1 month! So the new burner is sitting in the middle of the living room floor.

Autumn is hiding - we've stunning weather still reaching 25C or thereabouts everyday so when Winter comes it will be a real 'smack' of change. This morning was a typical Autumn start - misty with a hazy sun.

 
Yesterday was cool so took the time to continue with one of the flower borders and I felt good when I'd seen how much was done..the whole garden looks rough to my eyes though mostly due to my impatience. The last garden I made took 3 years so why I should expect to have achieved more I don't know..

 Don't like the bright yellow of the wood mulch but it won't stay this colour for long once the Winter weather has had it's effect. And it works: I've lost a few shrubs due to the drought and most are hanging on. That one weekend of cyclone weather managed to fill all the tanks so I can water without being too concerned about how much water is left. I've a separate tank for the garden which is ideal; I've seen two water truck drive past to my neighbours in the last week as they haven't enough left, given the weather pattern shows a fe weeks of hot weather still to come.

I tend to wake up with thoughts of what I'd like to do to the garden next or with what I need to fix inside the house. My dreams still veer towards and it's potential. It's a mix of different components and I keep thinking about building a wooden pathway through the dell on the other side of the drive. It slopes away to what used to be the old road so could be ideal to have a few wooden terraces would be great. Have to build it myself though.

And I found this wonderful website - now I'm thinking of a Summerhouse. look for the Architecture link and the Wildlife photgraphy

http://www.demilked.com/