just ignore her

Sam & I were arguing recently over breakfast - I was talking passionately & crying. Four year old Mr Z leaned over & whispered in Sam's ear "just ignore her daddy"!! Sam managed not to laugh and to (kindly) whisper "no i love mummy and i want to listen to her." later Sam told me what Z had said ... when i was ready to laugh! I think I have said the phrase "just ignore her" to Z when Little Miss M is winding him up on purpose... Eg. "if u ignore her, she'll probably stop. she's doing it to make u cross."  maybe he's learning lessons about relating to women... learning to switch off.. hmmm we'll have to see about that.

a great comfort food after an argument is bread. 

we all know that bread can be a killer to the waistline and make us feel lethargic and full of wheat! but if i am going to eat bread, homemade is soooo much tastier.. and cheaper... and without all the preservatives, sugar, salt and crap. so i decided to dabble in becoming a bread maker... and thus a proper fully fledged housewife right!? i have to say i loved it ... the process, the satisfaction, the taste... and delicious lunches like this...

after trying various options i have come up with a good easy recipe. i love making loaves that i can pull out of the freezer for a saturday lunch with soup. or having a big bag of home-made bread rolls in the freezer for the weeks packed lunches. 

this was my first attempt... a simple white loaf. it looks really impressive but was a bit dense and my son came home from school saying he wanted brown bread because it was healthier!.. ok.. can't argue with that!

So this is what i came up with and i think it is really tasty. You can play around with the different flours that you use as long as it add ups to a total of 550g of flour

Gather:

150g spelt flour

100g strong white bread flour

300g brown bread flour

1 tsp salt

1.5 cups warm water

2 tbsp honey

20g/2tbsp dry yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

optional - 50g toasted sunflower seeds, 50g poppy seeds, 50g sesame seeds

1. whisk the yeast and honey in to the warm water and leave until really frothy

2. measure out the flours & salt in to a large bowl and stir

3. toast the sunflower seeds

4. add the oil to the frothy water

5. pour the wet ingredients in to the flour and mix well. mix in the seeds. you want the mix to be doughy and kneadable without being too dry. you can add extra flour if it is too wet and sticking to your hands or extra water if it feels too dry and won't come together. 

6. on a floured surface knead the dough for 10mins

7. place the dough back in the large bowl, cover with a damp tea towel away from draughts and leave until it has at least doubled in size.. usually a couple of hours. the warmer the spot the quicker it will rise. if the house is cold you can just leave it for hours which is fine.

8. punch the risen dough down (my kids love doing this bit) and knead for 2mins

9. shape in to a loaf or bread rolls (or have the kids make plaits) and place on a floured baking tray

10. cover with a dry tea towel and leave for an hour, preheating the oven to 200C when necessary

10. place the bread in to the hot oven and bake for 20-30mins (time varies according to how large your loaves/rolls are - you might have to do some guess work. if the bread feels hard and sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of it, then it is ready)

here are our giant loaves that we made for lunches when family were staying for christmas