May 2020 – The Jolly Jaunts of Sarah Kooky Cook

May 15, 2020

My Sourdough Story

I have baked my own bread for a long time. I started doing this long before it became fashionable and so talked about. I like home made bread, in fact all home made food. I like to know what is in my food; the number of additives that go into the average loaf that you buy is alarming. For many years I was happy with using dried yeast. It is easy to purchase, works well and we don’t have any allergies in our family. I had experimented with sourdough bread a few years ago, as I like a challenge and the idea of a purer product. However, the results were not good enough to convince me. My loaves were heavy and too stodgy to want to eat on a regular basis.

In the intervening years, I have seen photos of others’ successful sourdough bread and been a little envious. How difficult could it really be? In addition, my brother Matthew visits on a fairly regular basis and we share lunches and dinners. He much prefers sourdough, as it seems to be better for his digestion and well-being. Many people say that sourdough is more easily digested. If I make bread as part of a menu, it would be great to be able to produce sourdough for Matthew.

The situation all came to a head recently when I, like many, found that my yeast supplies were running low.

I started to look up recipes online as well as study my books with sourdough recipes. I also of course consulted my helpful friends in my Archers Chit-Chat group on facebook! I came to the conclusion that I was just not being patient enough and that maybe the first time round I did not get the starter going properly. I have read many times that making a starter should take up to a week, but that it can take longer. One suggestion from Chit-Chat was really helpful, that maybe I could make life easier for myself and try making a starter with a lump of yeasted dough which I could then feed and develop. So in the end I tried two starters, one completely from scratch with just flour and water and the other with a lump of dough that I have added more flour and water to. Okay, you could call this cheating, but actually Doreen Dough has been growing so well that she cannot possibly have any commercial yeast left in her! Dotty Dough, made from scratch, was not as successful; I could have tried again, but decided that life was too short and I had made a working starter, albeit not one for the purists!

I decided to use my trusty friend, BBC Good Food. I am lucky enough to have a gift subscription to this magazine. I also make use of the online recipes if I cannot find quite what I want in my hard copies (I keep them for about 2 years and then throw them away apart from a few treasured ones which have particular recipes in!) After all the advice and links suggested to me, I went for the recipe from Barney Desmazery, with the slight variation that I put a small lump of yeasted dough in with the first measures of flour and water. After that I followed Barney’s instructions to the letter. As I have become more confident, I have known where I can miss out a step or not knead the dough and rest it for exactly the number of times suggested. Here is the link to his recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/sourdough-starter The full instructions for turning this starter into a loaf are here: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/white-sourdough

Here are some progress pictures of my starter and dough waiting to be turned into delicious bread:

It is testament to the popularity of sourdough right now that Barney’s recipe consequently turned up in the May issue of the BBC Good Food Magazine. The recipes had been in the magazine last summer and earlier this year.

I had a few disappointing moments with my first few loaves. In fact my first completed loaf was pretty good! I did as suggested in all of the recipes I had seen and baked my loaf in a cast iron casserole dish. The dough is pretty wet and baking it in the dish seemed to help. However, it did take a long time to cook. The second time I baked a loaf, it was a complete disaster and I ended up turning it into breadcrumbs. It was heavy and quite unpalatable. I am convinced that the dish was to blame! See the picture of my unsuccessful loaf below:

Stodgy, inedible sourdough loaf!

Despite having had success with the casserole dish method, I was not prepared to risk another disaster, particularly as I was now having trouble getting regular supplies of flour. I then had the great idea of trying to source flour from a traditional mill, and I have bought quite a few bags from this place on the Isle of Wight: https://www.calbournewatermill.co.uk/product-category/isle-of-wight-flours/ Anyway, to go back to my baking disaster, I took the plunge and just baked the next loaves on a baking sheet, free-form as I usually do with my yeasted loaves. Although the dough was really wet, it rose to the challenge and my bread was a success. The picture at the top of this blog piece was one of the loaves I made by this method.

I did consider buying a proving/kneading gadget from Lakeland, my favourite kitchen shop, but decided in the end to save the expense. The idea of this silicone bread maker is that you can bake an oval or round loaf in it. I was advised though that it only makes a very small loaf. I have also in the past given up on proving baskets. I bought one of these a few years ago as I liked the idea of making loaves with those very professional looking spirals on the top. However, despite using plenty of flour, my basket just kept sticking! So my equipment is really very basic. I use a very big mixing bowl, as I generally make two loaves at the same time; we do seem to be eating more bread in lockdown! If the situation changes, I can reduce the quantities or put a loaf in the freezer. I also knead the dough on my granite board. This board is not designed for the purpose at all, and in fact was purchased for chocolate making, which Jess and I both do on occasions. The reason I use the board is that sourdough making involves kneading and folding for a few minutes, then leaving the dough to rest. I do follow the advice and do this 3 times before putting the dough back into the bowl and proving it in the fridge for 18 hours. I just find it more convenient to not have my complete worktop sticky with bread dough. With the board, it is nice and portable should I need to move the resting dough and get on with some other cooking.

I had a few e-mail discussions with my brother Matthew to see how he was getting on with his sourdough experiments. He found that using a proving basket worked for him, and I believe he also bakes the loaf in a casserole dish as suggested.

I am now so happy and confident with my bread making. I usually add some spelt, rye or granary flour to my dough and I sometimes make sourdough pizza. I can also offer a loaf to my mother, as she enjoys my home-made bread. I am happy to say that Jess is now more prepared to eat home-made bread. It is probably partly to do with being kind and considerate during lockdown, and making limited visits to the shops, but she did used to insist on having a loaf from the supermarket for her sandwiches – she now happily eats the bread I make and I like to think that this is because it tastes so good!

Here is a picture, hot off the press, of today’s loaves. I shall be making some sandwiches for lunch. Oh, one further word of advice. Do try to resist the temptation to cut your loaf too soon. Hot bread squishes and goes rather doughy if you cut it too soon. It is best to wait at least a couple of hours before eating it! After a couple of days, sourdough bread is perfect for toast.

May 7, 2020June 14, 2020

Sarah’s Handy Guide to Shopping for Multiple Households

All ready to go and shop for five households!

Jess and I have been in a routine of shopping for up to five households a week for quite a number of weeks now. Her role is to drive the car and take one trolley round the shop. I don’t drive (well, I do a bit but it’s complicated!) so I organise the lists, take another trolley and do all the talking. We now have the task down to a fine art and have compiled the following bullet point list, which may or may not help others!

Request the shopping lists from friends and family at least a day in advance. Most people will change their minds about what they want a few times, or write down items which are not clear – ice-cream (any particular flavour?), grainy mustard (French or English?), organic chicken (will free-range do?)
Insist on lists being e-mailed to you, as you can then copy and paste onto sheets and print them out. Our system is that I do our own shopping, plus one friend. Jess does her grandmother and one or two friends. You need to be able to attach your list in a single sheet to your trolley. We used to get given hand-written lists (saves paper apparently! Oh no it doesn’t and it is just a faff! One week Jess had three hand-written lists attached to her trolley!)
Make sure the car you are using is not full of bags of recycling that you need to take to the tip when it reopens! If it is, just dump the bags into another car or a shed!
To go back to lists, your clients need to specify if they are not happy with substitutes for particular products. If they don’t specify, just buy them something similar! This is so much more flexible than shopping online, when I think you have to either say substitutes or none – not specific to each item! The first week we went shopping after lockdown, we bought quite a few alternative vegetables , as there was not much available! So people had to put up with sweet potatoes when they had asked for ordinary maincrop! Cabbage will be fine instead of broccoli of course?! Coconut flour was all that was available that week! Today one friend asked for either self raising flour or sultana scones. Neither were available, so I used my initiative and bought her plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar.
Only two forms of payment should be acceptable. Either they pay you online afterwards, or you take their credit/debit card. Am I really going to be dishonest with someone else’s card?! Cheques are an absolute no no. I don’t have time to go and cash them and I want the money now!
Use quick check with a scanner taken round the shop. In fact, gather together all the My Waitrose cards you can, and get lots of scanners – one for each client! (other supermarkets are available!)
One new trick we tried today was putting a named sticker on each scanner; it saves getting the scanners muddled up! It is a good idea to remove the stickers afterwards.
Using quick check means that you can pack the bags as you go. You can allocate different bags in your trolley for each person. With my own trolley, I start off very organised and then have so much shopping for our own household that I end up with a complete mess that I have to reorganise in the car afterwards.
You must go to the shop not being stressed about having to queue up. Treat it as a fun outing. Sometimes we chat or shout across to other people in the queue. Jess usually brings a book. You can always catch up on facebook and bring a cup of coffee in an insulated cup.
If you are shopping for several households, by all means queue up with the other member of your family who is helping you. If staff ask why there are two of you, it is simple enough to explain. We then tend to split up and take our trollies when we get towards the front of the queue.
Make sure that you are not going to end up starving hungry, so pick your time for shopping. We usually go mid-morning and end up having a late lunch at about 2:30 when we get back, but that suits us fine.
Another trick with the list is to take a clip or clothes peg to attach it to your trolley.
If you are going to forget items on a list, make sure that it is your own list. I hate failing to buy someone’s complete list of groceries.
Always talk to the staff and greet them with a smile. I always chat to the staff on the fish and meat counter and comment on how good the supplies of meat and fish have been during this crisis. It is also tremendously helpful to let it be known that you are shopping for several households; otherwise our trollies can make us look very greedy!
If you take a young person with you and they have alcohol on their list, make sure that they have age ID with them! You can read my other blog piece all about what happened when Jess forgot to take her ID – not fun!
Lastly, if you are buying items for the food bank, make sure you drop them in the crate at the end of your trip. Twice now we have forgotten to do this, so have to store them in the car for the following week.

So there you are, my slightly tongue-in-cheek guide to shopping during lockdown! I think I am going to miss these trips in a funny kind of way when this is all over….

May 6, 2020

Boredom in Lockdown? Not in our household!

You are never too old to enjoy the fun of a large box!

I cannot understand the concept of being bored at home. I just love my home and my family and am in danger of getting too used to not having to go to work. I am very fortunate in having a job as a school librarian. This means that I am able to work from home, albeit in a limited way. I am also on the rota to go into school and support our vulnerable students; this happens once a fortnight. I was able to help with our school holiday club too.

I am very lucky in being so close to my immediate family. For Paul and me this is our second marriage and I was very careful not to make a mistake the second time round. We have always spent a lot of time together during the week. Paul works from home; he has not done anything but work from home in all the time I have known him. With my driving phobia, he has often had to take me to work or to the railway station. Then there have been times when I have worked from home or taken time off, for instance on both of the occasions on which I was made redundant. So being together for much of the time during lockdown has not been a big change for us. My work in recent years has been part-time, albeit nearly full time in my current post. Jess and I have always been close, partly because, well that is just the way we are; we are lucky in having some similar interests. In addition, I think an only child naturally spends more time with parents than children in bigger families. I was close to my parents, but grew up as one of three, so spent much time playing games with my brothers. Add to that the fact that Jess’ father is not with us as part of the family and it all adds up to many hours and indeed years of doing craft activities and playing board games together. I am by nature, I like to think, a fairly creative person and did not need much excuse when Jess was younger, to buy craft kits, science experiment sets and fun toys such as a rocket operated with a bicycle pump! In this time of lockdown, it has been very therapeutic to do more of these activities together. Before lockdown, Jess and I used to enjoy shopping together; she came to love Henley, the beautiful town where I work, and we often went to the shops after she had collected me from work. We also made many trips to the cinema and theatre as a a family. Another interest we all have in common is a love of walking and the countryside; it was inevitable that Jess would come to love walking, as although over the years she has lived in quite a large number of houses, for the past 15 years (so since she was 7) we have lived in our little rented cottage in the woods.

So now we spend time together playing games, painting furniture, clearing cupboards and walking along our many local footpaths. Cooking is another interest that Jess and I share; she works as a chef in normal times, so that is something else that we can enjoy together. These activities have to some extent replaced the shopping and visits to the cinema and theatre, as well as our trips to the leisure centre in Henley. We also just enjoy eating meals together and sometimes just having a laugh. Witness the climbing into boxes episode in the above pictures. Today Jess received a parcel; she had ordered an Oodie online! An oodie is a bit like a hoodie and, to my mind, much nicer than a onesie. You can see us both modelling this in the following pictures:

Does the sloth oodie suit me?

I think that really I just manage to fill the time that is available with activities, and that I don’t always want excitement in my life. I love looking out of the window whilst I am writing; the trees change their colours with the seasons and I can see the results of all that hard labour in the garden, mainly Paul’s hard labour. I have never watched daytime television, although I can quite happily put off a task which requires complete concentration and no background noise by saying to myself: ‘I’ll just listen to 2 hours on the radio and then I’l make that phone call or write that article that I need to do.’ I also love doing domestic tasks such as hanging out the washing and watering the pots in the garden. At the moment I also have to do a certain amount of cleaning in the house, as we have paid our cleaners not to come for the forseeable future.

We do have a new weekly event in the household, which is Friday film night. Each week one of us will select a film and we all settle down to watch it at about 7:30pm, accompanied by whatever dinner I have decided to cook. Friday is usually fish night, but there are endless variations on that theme. The first week, I did make a selection of tasty snacks and canapes, but it was hard work clearing it all up and having everything safely back in the fridge afterwards (I always cook too much when it comes to snacks!) so now I just make a regular meal such as fish pie or fish cakes.

Although I always do a lot of cooking, I can happily do more when I have more time. This inevitably means more washing up of course. Jess says I bake too much. I like making cups of tea for everyone in the afternoon and asking what kind of cake or biscuits they would like with their cuppa. I have always made our own bread, but somehow we are eating more at the moment with us all being at home. I have finally perfected the art of sourdough bread, having run out of yeast recently. I shall tell you more about that in my next blog piece! For the moment, I am a little apprehensive about the announcements to be made on Sunday. There is bound to be some news about schools and what will be happening for the rest of the term. Much as I love my job, I also love being a domestic goddess and am wondering how I shall readjust to this next phase….