Tuesday 26 March 2013

Bread Day

It's a wet and windy Saturday in London, what do you do? If you said 'shopping', 'cinema', 'museum', or 'pub' - you'd be dead wrong. Normal, perhaps, but wrong. Obviously you spend it with four close friends, half a tonne of flour and a boat-load of brie. (And, embarrassingly, Magic Mike buffering on a movie streaming website in the background. I've torn up my man-card.)
Emily - who organised the day of dough - was bouncing off the walls when we showed up. When I tell you she'd thought of everything, she'd thought of everything. Eggs, herbs, spices, sugars, oils and so much flour we've now all got shares in a local mill so that's pretty cool.
This dough has got a lot to prove...sorry.
With it being Easter just around the corner I thought I'd make some hot cross buns. Plenty of fruit, some good kneading action and a whole lot of time to prove is what you need.
The first loaf! Emily and Sophie (shoutout) done an Irish soda bread. They even made their own buttermilk. Skills. This was really tasty. Rustic, rich and satisfying. Boom.
Thom made these. Yeah. Thom. I know. Anyway he made these stilton and thyme rolls. I have to say they were good because he walked to the shop all by himself to get the ingredients. And because he thinks it was a competition and that he won. It wasn't, he didn't. But these were good, they really were. A solid C+ I think, and he'll be proud of that.
This one was made my girlfriend/fiancee/future minder and I couldn't be more impressed. Proper artisanal stuff that, with a great looking shine. And it tasted great too. Bit of pate, bit of spicy tomato soup...ain't nothing wrong with that.
Sophie (shoutout #2) and Emily brought also these guys to the party. Classic bread rolls that tasted as good as they look. Strong contributions from a pair who, I'm pretty sure I heard ask 'what's kneading?' Legends.
This was a big loaf I made with stout and wholewheat flour, then made a flour paste and spread seeds, herbs and minced garlic on top. So you know it's good for you.
Finally, my hot cross buns came out pretty good as well. Glazed with golden syrup then halved, toasted and served hot with butter - all of your dreams come true. So that was my Saturday. I made a load of bread with a load of good friends. Can't be beat. C'est incroyable. (#3)

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