All We Need Is....Bread!

I haven’t been doing much in the way of cooking these days…I’ve been baking bread. A little bit obsessive I know – but with good reason I might add – I have been perfecting my wild yeast culture as well as my sourdough culture…

And it is pretty well – perfect! I just love the taste of the bread but more then that I really like the ‘feel’ of it when I am working with it – kneading it, the pulling and stretching as well as the mixing.

It just doesn’t compare to how bread feels when I have used commercial yeast. This feeling is the first thing I noticed about the dough when I first mixed it – it just felt so different in my hands.

Wild yeast gives the bread a softness and a lightness not found anywhere else and I just know it must also impart far more flavour (it tastes so good!) and along with that the vitamins and minerals that come from fermented grains.

This week I have been playing around with the culture – using different types of flours as well as varying the length of time I have let the dough rise (and rise again). Mostly I have treated it a bit like a sourdough giving it lots of time to develop.

As of right now I have 3 different breads on the go – one in the oven while the other two are at different stages of fermentation. Each one is completely unique in it’s flavour and texture when done but so delicious.

Who’d of thought that bread could be this easy to make, yeast this easy to grow and the taste so superior? And I couldn’t be happier! LOL

 April

Making Crackers...

If you have never made your own crackers, you don't know what you are missing! Anything else that you might buy from a shop is tasteless and bland by comparison. Homemade crackers are a delightful treat and so easy to make.

This is the number one item on my list (well, next to bread) when I ask myself, where has it all gone wrong for us to believe that we should be buying these foods? Something as simple as a cracker actually has flavour, taste, texture and life in it when it is made by hand and not by some machine. 

This morning I wanted to make a few for our lunch and set to work with a plan to make some spelt and oat crackers which are actually fun to make and everyone can get involved. The wonderful thing about nice crackers is that there are so FEW ingredients. 

Today the sun was shining (this is getting to be rare enough) and I did not want to spend too much time in the house baking - so these were made early in the day.

Measuring all the ingredients into the bowl

The type of crackers I made today are perhaps the most complicated ones that I make and even then there are only a few items that you will need. To make these crackers I used spelt flour, oats, butter, oil, milk, soda and then the toppings (poppy seed, thyme, sea salt).

Cracker dough ready to roll out

The element that I wanted to include here is one of fun - that was the word that I was trying to find for these last few weeks while I have been writing this blog and recording my experiences in the kitchen. Added into the taste, flavour,  and texture of these crackers is the fact that we always have fun making them, with the children watching the oven waiting for them to be done and helping out. 

Many hands helping out! 

Of course you will also get all sorts of interesting shapes, thickness, sizes and variation in the toppings which makes these fun to eat. I think they look great on a plate and at our house, they do not last long. The length of time in the oven will also give variation on the crispness, so each batch is likely to be slightly different, but always good.

Homemade crackers as they cool 

There are many kinds of crackers to make, and I also make a type of cracker from time to time with only spelt flour, oil, sea salt and water as these taste very nice with soft goat's cheese. A few weeks ago I was needing graham crackers for my son's birthday cheesecake, I refused to buy them, so, I made them myself. They were lovely also and I plan to make some more soon. 

When it comes to crackers, you have to give this a try - they really do taste much better homemade.

Have a lovely day,

April