My very first Sourdough Bread

I love sourdough bread and have been wanting to make my own for ages, but it always felt like the most advanced of all the bread making techniques and I wasn't feeling too confident. I have been baking my own bread for close to a year now - I make several types of yeast bread as well as Irish soda bread. But it wasn't until a couple of weeks ago that I finally felt up for the sourdough challenge.

I began by making my sourdough starter - I mixed equal amounts (about 1/3 cup) of rye flour and water and left the mixture to sit in my warm kitchen. I fed it every day with 1-2 tablespoons of flour and water and watched it bubble away as the wild yeast began to work its magic.

It looked pretty much ready after 3 or 4 days, but there never was a right time for me to bake the bread, so I gave it about 2 weeks total. I was pretty certain at that point that my starter was mature enough.

I wanted a really simple recipe as it was my first time after all, and finally used the following:

5 heaped tablespoons rye sourdough starter

300g wholemeal rye flour

300g plain wheat flour

500-600ml very warm water (not boiling)

1 tablespoon salt

100g favourite seeds (I used linseed and nigella seeds, however sunflower or pumpkin seeds would work well too. Or can be omitted altogether.)

Mix all the ingredients with a spoon in a large bowl.

Prepare your loaf tin: this recipe is for a large loaf tin, 35cm x 12cm. If using a metal one, grease it and line with baking paper. I used a glass one so I greased it with butter and sprinkled with wheat bran.

Transfer the sticky mix to the loaf tin. Wrap it tightly in cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 4-6 hours. Yesterday was a very warm day here, so I left mine outside in the sun. If after 4 hours you don't see any signs or rising, you can heat the oven up to 50°C, turn it off and place your bread mix in the warm oven for about 1h.

The chemical reactions in the mixture will release a lot of gas, so the cling film on the tin will probably look like this after a few hours:

And here it is all risen and ready to go in to the oven:

This needs to be baked in 240°C for 10 minutes; after 10 minutes turn it down to 200°C and bake for another 1 to 1.5 hours. I baked mine for 1h 15min but will probably only do 1 hour next time, as I found that it was a bit too crispy for me. The bread is ready when it sounds hollow when you knock on its base.

And here's the ready loaf!
Important note: you need to let it cool completely before you cut it.

I am really pleased with this; given that it was my very first attempt I can't complain! It tastes really good and I will definitely be making it again.

Bran muffins

**This is copied from my old blog I had back in 2013. I thought this recipe was worth re-sharing.**

Here's a recipe for great bran muffins that I made this week. This is an excellent breakfast food, especially good with peanut butter and a glass of milk. Also perfect if you want to grab something quick for lunch - one of these saved my life the other day at work when I didn't have my usual packed lunch and was too busy to go out and buy something to eat. They may not be the prettiest-looking things ever but are tasty, filling and contain bran so can't be all that bad for you!

INGREDIENTS:

75g wheat bran

250ml buttermilk

150g plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1.5 tsp baking powder

small pinch of salt

150g soft brown sugar

75ml vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD:

In a bowl, combine the wheat bran with the buttermilk and set aside for 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, the oil, the egg & the vanilla extract - beat well until smooth.

Add in the bran and buttermilk mixture, then sieve in all the dry ingredients and mix well with a spoon.

Distribute the batter between muffin cases - this recipe makes 12 smallish or 8 large ones.

Bake in 190°C for 15-20 minutes, then leave to cool.

Micro-steps to self-sufficiency

Complete self-sufficiency looks wonderful on paper but in real life it's unattainable to most of us. Own wind turbines, solar panels, farm animals, large gardens or fields are all rather big and costly projects. Partial self-sufficiency is different. I would absolutely love to get as close to it as possible, but there are certain things I cannot do at the moment, such as keep livestock for example. That doesn't mean I shouldn't try to be self-sufficient in other areas. I follow a few homesteading/self-sufficiency blogs and truly admire those people, some of them have built their own houses, some keep chickens and goats and bees, others have beautiful, lush vegetable gardens, make their own clothes, soap, candles or boast a number of other great skills. All of them are hard workers and passionate about the idea of being able to create what they need just with their own two hands.

I am nowhere near as advanced as most of them, but I am taking baby steps. I think anyone can find at least one area of self-sufficiency they are good at, and build on that. Find online resources, talk to people, read books, take workshops and build the ''portfolio'' of your skills.

Sometimes we already have skills we take for granted and don't even think of them in terms of self-sufficiency. If you cook your own meals from scratch most days, you are already a big step ahead of the person who only shops the ready meals isle. If you have a pot of basil growing on your kitchen window sill, you are more self-sufficient than the person who buys the dried stuff every time they need it. The examples are countless.

I tried to think about my own skills, mostly to feel better about myself but also to motivate myself to learn more. Here's what I came up with:

My micro-steps to self-sufficiency

- I can cook. I know how to cook from scratch using simple ingredients; I don't need to buy ready meals. I can cook using recipes but also improvise a lot.

- I bake my own bread, I have a few types I have pretty much mastered and am still learning new ones. Right now I have my very first sourdough starter bubbling away in the kitchen and will soon try to make my own sourdough bread.

- I know how to bake my own cakes and cookies.

- I know how to make such things as butter or mayonnaise or flavoured oils.

- I know how to recognise a few edible wild plants.

- I know several medicinal herbs and know how to use them.

- I know how to recognise and pick edible mushrooms (this used to be our favourite family pastime back in Poland).

- I can ride a horse. Not that I have one, but you never know what skills might come in handy.

- I can milk a goat (and could probably easily learn to milk a cow as well).

- I can shoot an air riffle.

- I know how to use a hammer, a screwdriver, an electric driller and can put together simple furniture.

- I know how to clean, prep and paint walls.

- I grow my own herbs and vegetables. Previously only grown in containers, next year I will finally start planting things in the ground as I finally have my own garden - I can't wait!

There are many more things I want to learn, such as canning my own produce, fishing and gutting fish, pottery, soap making etc. There is a small room in our new house, currently full of boxes, which will eventually be turned into a craft room. Mostly to accommodate my papercraft hobby (scrapbooking and card making) and my partner's fly-tying, but there's no reason why it shouldn't be used for other crafts. I would love to do more upcycling; the internet is full of wonderful ideas (THIS site is one of my favourites at the moment). There are many ways to learn practical skills and I can't wait to add more to my list!

Orange & Almond Cake (clean eating)

**This is copied from my old blog I had back in 2013. I thought this recipe was worth re-sharing.**

I love the concept of clean eating and although I cannot say I follow it religiously, I do my best to stick to it whenever I can.

I have recently found a fantastic recipe for a sugar-free & flour-free orange & almond cake, which I have already made a couple of times and still cannot believe how easy yet delicious it is. You only need 5 ingredients! (All credit goes to this Polish youtuber, whose recipe I only tweaked a little bit).

INGREDIENTS:

250g (or 1 3/4 cups) whole almonds*

6 eggs

2 whole oranges**

150g (or just under 1/2 cup) honey

1 tsp baking powder

*you can also use ground almonds however they are generally much more expensive.

** I use organic oranges for this recipe because they are used whole, with rind and all.

To garnish, I use a small handful of almond flakes.

METHOD:

Grease a large baking tin, line it with baking paper and grease again. I use a round 23cm (9in) tin.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (356ºF).

Boil a kettle of water. Place the oranges in a colander and rinse well with boiling water.

In a food processor, grind the almonds (be careful not to turn them into almond butter!), then set them aside.

Beat the eggs into the food processor, add the honey and pulse a few times. Add the whole oranges and process everything until smooth. Add the ground almonds and the baking powder, process again  until everything is combined.

Pour the mixture into the baking tin, top with almond flakes and put into the preheated oven. Bake for 45 minutes, then let it cool completely before cutting.

This is a lovely recipe and has become one of my staples, but I plan to experiment with adding some spices such as cloves and cinnamon, or maybe replace the almonds with some other nuts... So many tasty possibilities! And for those who don't need to worry about excess calories, chocolate topping may take this recipe to a whole new level ;)

So apparently I'm terrible at being systematic

I started this blog hoping to get a much needed outlet for my thoughts and feelings as well as share all the good and interesting things in life. But then life happened and I just couldn't find the time for blogging. But lately I've been in so much stress (work!!) that a friend suggested I should start writing again, even if only to vent, so here I am.

A lot has happened since my last post. Rural life is good :-) The house we moved into in 2015 was an old cottage in the middle of nowhere, with lots of charm and gorgeous views. We loved it there, but it wasn't ours, we couldn't do much in there, we couldn't garden as the landlords weren't happy with that, so my gardening ambitions had to be reduced to 20-odd containers in the porch. The usual joys of renting.

And then something happened.  As it often happens in life, a good change was triggered by not so great events. Our landlord told us in December 2015 that they were selling the house and we had to move out. We started looking at other rentals, went to view a couple but there wasn't really anything in our area that we liked. I was starting to worry, but then a family member asked - why don't you buy your own house? Well, the answer was, because we didn't have any money for a mortgage deposit.

And that's where the miracle comes in. Once we redirected our thinking from renting to buying, over the course of a month we managed to source just enough money to get a 95% mortgage on a decent house. I won't go into detail here as it involved a lot of good will from other people rather than some magic money-making trick, but the point is, we got approved for a mortgage and started looking at houses.

We viewed many, we loved a few, we bid on some and had our hearts broken when we didn't get them (after having mentally moved in). We briefly considered buying the house we were renting, but decided that long-term it wasn't really for us, as it was too far from civilisation for someone who doesn't drive (me), with not a single shop, bus stop or any other facility within walking distance. And then we found THE house.

Nothing went quickly or smoothly, on the contrary, it took many months (thank heavens for our patient landlord who kept on extending our rental instead of kicking us out) and many nerve-racking situations before we finally got it. But we did. We moved in on the 8th July 2016. We have a home... It's not just a roof over our heads. It's my life-long dream. I have lived in 14 different places spread over 2 countries and 7 cities. I hated every single move, I wanted nothing more than to put down roots, make a place my own, have a permanent home, settle down. And now I have just that.

I really hope to get better at blogging, I feel that I need this. I am hoping to write a lot about our house, as it's work in progress, and my garden, which isn't huge, and not much of a garden at the moment - it needs a lot of work done. Getting the house sorted was (is) our priority when we first moved in, so I decided not to rush with the gardening, instead get it ready for next growing season and start then with plenty of time for planning and preparation.

Our house isn't quite as rural as the cottage we were renting before, but it's still in the countryside. We live right on the edge of a village, in a small cul-de-sac with views from our garden onto open fields and woods. It's beautiful and I can't believe how lucky I am to live in such an amazing place on earth.