21 to 23 were just normal loaves, I’ve been experimenting with the amount of liquid (water and oil), it is a lot easier to knead if you add more liquid.
Loaf 21
Loaf 22
Loaf 23
Loaf 24 – This is the first round loaf I’ve made in a while, it went a bit weird in the middle. I added quite a lot of pepper to this one to see if it goes better with cheese.
This loaf contained a mixture of poppy and sunflower seeds, which was nice. I think I might have left it to prove for a little too long, I think the crust dries out too much so it burns faster in the oven, I think 40 minutes is about the right amount of time to leave it.
This seems to have become a blog about bread, never mind. Here is my 19th loaf, this one was made specifically to make sandwiches from for a train journey, that is why it doesnt have seeds on the crust (they come off and go everywhere), it also contains linseeds which reduce the need to shit.
No.20 is currently proving.
Hello
Seventeen: This week I bought some Canadian bread flour and made the following loaf with poppy seeds.
Earlier today I organised my clothes and got rid of some that I dont wear. I started by making a programme to help. I only managed to get rid of 11 things, however, that was 16% of the contents of my wardrobe. I’ve moved the items that I’ve kept for sentimental reasons out of the wardrobe. I really need to buy some more clothes, someone should invent a more efficient system whereby you dont have to go to a shop or look at any clothes.
Eighteen: I used more of the Canadian flour. This is the first loaf that I’ve coated with seeds, I used milk to glue them on.
Good Evening
One of my unpublished aims of 2012 was to learn to make bread, it is going ok. So far this year I have made 16 loaves of bread and we havent purchased any bread since 21st January which was over a month ago.
I started with a soda bread recipe from the internet as I thought this would be easier, I encountered two problems; firstly, you have to do the mixing and stuff quite quickly and I prefer to operate in a slow and considered manner, secondly, it was quite a wet dough and I dont really like things sticking to me, this was the result:
My second attempt was also soda bread, this one didnt turn out as well as the first:
My third loaf was my fist attempt at proper bread with yeast in it, it didnt turn out all that bad, a bit dense though. Not really sure why it turned out kind of square.
Four: another proper loaf, it was much colder in the flat this time and it took ages to rise, I really didnt expect it to bake properly but it wasnt too bad, not sure why it was a ledge on one side.
Five and Six: After loaf 4 I purchased the River Cottage Handbook No.3 – Bread by Daniel Stevens. I made two loaves in one go, one with wholemeal flour and one with white, the book suggests putting boiling water into a heated baking tray to fill the oven with steam, this seems to have improved the crust. The slashes do seem to be necessary.
Seven: This was a mixture of wholemeal and white flour, it turned out a bit dry and seems to have nostrils. I dont think I added enough oil.
Eight: We were watching six feet under when I was putting this one in the oven and I forgot to slash the top, this seems to have lead to a cavity between the crumb and the crust.
Nine: This one was nice, it was about 80% white 20% wholemeal with poppy and sunflower seeds.
Ten: A slight variation on nine, less wholemeal flour but baked for longer.
Eleven: This one had slightly more oil, loads of seeds and higher quality flour. Better flour seems to make a difference, the dough is much more stretchy and it seems to produce a better flavour.
Twelve: more or less the same as eleven, I seem to have shaped it a bit better.
Thirteen: I left this one to prove for a little too long and the crust seems to have dried out a bit too much and burnt a little.
Fourteen: This was really nice, I used Alisons Premium Strong White Bread flour and loads of poppy seeds. The middle slash always seems a little squashed, I might experiment with 2 slashes or shallower slashes.
Fifteen: This was my attempt to make a simple white loaf to compare with loaves 3 and 4 (the first proper loaves) the shape was a bit rough but the crumb was much more even and it tasted a lot better. I think I’ve made some progress although I should really have used the same flour to make it fair.
Sixteen: I used the last of the premium flour with a bit of cheap wholemeal and some poppy seeds, it turned out pretty well, we will be having it with falafel burgers for dinner tonight, wearing sandals and reading the guardian.
Since 11th August 2011 I have been recording my expenditure in detail, as it is now time to spend loads of money at a variety of places I have decided that I probably cant be bothered updating the database with it all, so instead of having an incomplete dataset I have decided to abandon the log.
I have been recording my transactions in a mySQL database lent to me by a friend, updating my transactions through a webpage accessed on my phone. As of yesterday I had spent £2099.46. The log did not include money spent on bills.
From the final data I extracted 3 months of data, September to November, in total I spent £1272.20. Each entry was made under a category, the breakdown for the period is as follows:
As you can see the largest category was “coffee” which accounted for 24.87% of my expenditure, this was not unexpected but still slightly worrying.
I can’t remember when I last updated this, it certainly wasnt yesterday so I have failed at the One a Day thing, never mind. I will try and update more often starting with a rview of my progress against my objectives.
So there it is, not doing too badly.
I’m watching Hugh Laurie play piano on Later…, he’s ace.
Since my last post I have moved house, I now live on a light industrial estate in a flat above a carpet shop, it isnt the only flat, there are about 25, at least one other is occupied. I’ve got far too much free time now as I usually dont have to get up until after 8 and I can be home by 5:20, I’m gonna need a hobby.
I’ve also started booking accommodation for my walk to the Lake District, I’ve booked 3 B&Bs so far, none of which have taken card payments so I’ve had to post cheques to them. I asked one if they could provide meals, the lady said “no, but I will take you to the pub”. I’ve got a feeling I’m gonna end up in a burning wicker man.
For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to live on a houseboat, ideally one that I’ve renovated myself, there is someone on Grand Designs tonight doing it all wrong.
Apparently you can get an empty barge for about 40k, you could build everything in it and then just get an anchor so you dont have to pay mooring fees. It would be brilliant, you’d have to get some sort of 3g router, or get Virgin to provide you with a really long cable, maybe a coiled up one like a phone cord. Water wouldnt be a problem and I’ve seen boats with micro wind turbines before, so that’s electricity sorted. Sewage can just go in the canal, ducks shit in there, why shouldnt I?
I’ll draw up some plans.
 | Ste on Summer |
 | Dan Friel on Summer |
 | Arwell on The Royal Wedding |
| Dan on The Royal Wedding |
| Ste on Shops in order |
In Praise Of... 