Now, the garden... oh, it is not easy this year, after really good holiday season last year, we hoped for more. At the moment the garden lives it's own life - some plants are growing very slow (in comparison to last year), some don't grow at all and others - like grass and weeds on it - growing like mad. I had 2 attempts at radish and so far this second one is not looking great - due to lack of constant sunshine. Tomato plants this year are growing, but slower than last time as well. Apart from that there's not much to be proud of yet. Flowers were either eaten by bugs or soaked and devastated by rain. So I better stop complaining and pray with hope for better July and August...and if the Sun will not come here, we will chase it, whatever it takes to feel the Summer! :)
Apparently the Summer is already here... we couldn't notice it in the last 2 or 3 weeks, as the rainfall has reached the peak. There was more rain in 2 weeks than in past 2 months altogether. Obviously we cannot complain as some parts of Europe (France for example) has experienced the floods, while we were safe in high altitudes of Yorkshire, UK. However the moods were down a bit, partly as it was hard to get out anywhere without being soaked in water, and partly due to overall greyness and darkness around. It is much better now, this week temperatures are touching over 20 Celsius. Sun is still very shy here, but it is a massive improvement and hopefully it will stay bright and warm for longer this time (while writing this I've noticed that sky is covered with greyish cloud and it's not that bright any more...). I'm craving for proper Summer, hot and breezy. This must be result of recent skype calls to families all over the globe, as there was Sun blinding us through the camera from everywhere we called recently... at least they can enjoy the Summer, perhaps we have to wait a bit more for Sun here in UK, or getaway to some nice place in Europe. Now, the garden... oh, it is not easy this year, after really good holiday season last year, we hoped for more. At the moment the garden lives it's own life - some plants are growing very slow (in comparison to last year), some don't grow at all and others - like grass and weeds on it - growing like mad. I had 2 attempts at radish and so far this second one is not looking great - due to lack of constant sunshine. Tomato plants this year are growing, but slower than last time as well. Apart from that there's not much to be proud of yet. Flowers were either eaten by bugs or soaked and devastated by rain. So I better stop complaining and pray with hope for better July and August...and if the Sun will not come here, we will chase it, whatever it takes to feel the Summer! :)
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After not very cold but quite wet Winter, after hail showers and snow-sleet fall at the end of April - finally the good, warm weather arrived to Yorkshire, UK.
Hopefully the sunshine will stay here or long and it's not only few days heatwave... we need Sun, so as the plants in our gardens. The salad leaves and the tomatoes are germinating later than last year, because it was simply to cold and not enough Sun yet. But just now, when much needed warm energy is causing some of thermometers to go mad - the first little sprouts appearing, causing me smile. I hope for good harvest, as last year tomatoes were superb, having enough Sun we picked the last ones in very late September and beginning of October. However I'm not going to go for large amounts this year, as last one proved that apart from the Sun they also need a lot of care and looking after everyday. And this year we need to go and visit 'places', some countries in the continental Europe where the weather should be great as well. I wish that in this September I can show you pictures of tomatoes and other goodies from the garden, along with great shots from France and few other countries around. So far, few up-to-date pics of this Spring - below. I have made quite few of them already, so it is time for recipe - and I know you can this recipe 'everywhere', but I will post it as after few experiments I am now confident to say it is easy and good recipe! As I'm writing this there is another 'one' in the oven already;) - it's really better to bake your own, it makes the difference to your breakfast, lunch or any sandwich.
Before you start mixing anything - prepare oven by setting it to ~130 Celsius and once it reached the temperature - turn it off. If you using White flour only - sieve it to bowl that you will use or mixing (wholemeal flour is hard to sieve, better used as it is, so if you mixing white and wholemeal - sieve only the white one). Add all dry ingredients - salt, sugar (if it's used instead of honey), dried yeast and garlic powder. Mix all dry things roughly with tablespoon or fork. Place bowl in warm oven for 2-3 minutes so dry ingredients get same temperature, don't worry if you used plastic bowl - it will not melt, oven was on only few minutes and it's not that hot. While the bowl is there, get your 'lukewarm' water right - I'm mixing 1 part of hot water from the kettle to 2-3 parts of already boiled water that's cooled to room temperature (we've got the jug for cool boiled water). Remove bowl with dry ingredients from the oven, add olive oil (or butter), add about half of your lukewarm water and start mixing by hand. Do it using one hand, to have the other one clean when you need it:) start adding more water but not all that was left, do it in steps while you mixing to make sure you didn't put to much at once (300-310ml should be enough but I'm always ending with a little bit unused on the bottom of jug). You should get (within few minutes and some patience) a nice ball - smaller shape of bread, however if you end up with a mix which don't want to peel off easily forming a ball and it's more like a glue - just add a touch more, small handful of flour and keep mixing. On the other side - if it comes to dry, adding water will sort it. Whatever you do - you need to get a ball that will not stick any more to your hand.
Cover it (in same bowl) with a cloth damped in warm water, it's best when the cloth is stretched around the bowl and not touching the 'bread'. Back to the oven (turned off) or other warm place, where the bread will not catch any draught. After about an hour it should 'raised' enough (doubled it's size). Remove and turn on the oven, set it to 200 Celsius (for fan assisted) or 220 Celsius (conventional oven). Uncover and beat it! Yes, really. Punch it in the middle- once is enough:) dust it with a little bit of flour, so as your hands and 'peel it off' the bowl forming the shape of bread that you want, you can do it in your hands or on the table (workspace has to be dusted with flour). Prepare baking tray (flat or loaf-tin) by covering it with grease-proof(baking) paper and rubbing some oil onto it. Place you bread in the middle of warmed oven. 35 minutes for fan oven, 40-45 in normal one. You can turn the bread half way through the baking so it's evenly baked (depending on your oven). After this time it should be baked properly - remove it, place upside down on some heat resistant surface and 'knock' the bottom of bread - if it sounds to hollow it needs to be back into the oven immediately for another few minutes. If the bottom is nice and crisp too, not to soft you will know it's good. Enjoy! (after it has cooled down). When it comes to "love" I don't mind gluten:)
Home made heart-bread, try next year as it's late now + it was my idea for Valentine's this year ;p --- Jeśli chodzi o miłość to nawet gluten mi nie przeszkadza:) Domowy chlebek w kształcie serca, spróbujcie za rok bo już chyba za późno na pieczenie(?) + to mój pomysł na walentynki w tym roku ;p Gratuluje ukończenia Pierwszegomixtejpu, POZDRO SAJMON i wytwórnia oraz pozdro dla wszystkich co mu pomogli, wspierają i wierzą zawsze że się uda! ---- Congratulations to Sajmon aka SAY (S.A.Y) and thanks to MPRORECORDS, thanks to all who helped, to all who supporting him and to all faithful believers! All the Best, B. |
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