It’s hard to believe that the shortest day is nearly upon us! With some good wet weather and some crisp, raw mornings it really feels like winter now. When we were children, our family and friends would some years celebrate the Winter Solstice with a gathering around a bonfire, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pies, marsh mallows and the best bit, a lantern walk in the dark carrying the lanterns we had made from tin cans punched decoratively with holes for the light to shine through, or glass jars pasted with tissue paper, lit with a candle and carried by a piece of wire on the end of a stick. These years, for us, this seems to have been replaced with a fire in an Alan Scott oven, a cap lamp, and a bread stick as the kids run around after school in the darkening evening while the baking is happening. I love the evenings drawing in, how it slows everyone down a bit and brings us all inside together a bit earlier at this time of year.
There are a few changes for winter in the bakery; with the addition of the Maize & Millet porridge loaf with pumpkin seeds, delicious with soups, especially orange ones; and the Wholewheat Raisin loaf, full of raisins and cinnamon, which is possibly best toasted with good butter and peanut butter! Tony and Wendy from Thorpdale Organics are still digging beautiful beetroot for the Beetroot sourdough, with great colour in a soft earthy loaf. It’s time to preserve a new batch of lemons, for more Preserved Lemon, Fennel & Rosemary loaves down the track.
The slow combustion wood cooker is always burning in the house this time of year, and these are perfect days for standing over it stirring marmalade or cooking pancakes. I am always amazed at the abilities of whole, stoneground, freshly milled flour. Given a little time, care, and thought, it will do almost anything a roller milled, highly processed, empty flour will do, and do it with flavour and nutrition! We had delicious, light, ‘rolly’ pancakes as the kids say on the weekend, made with flour milled in the bakery; fresh, stoneground wholewheat.
However, the fires will all be out for a bit soon, as we head away for a weeks holiday. So there will be no bread on the weekend of 30th June, but back again refreshed for the 7th July.
Take care, keep warm and well 🙂
Betsy.
