Ellen’s mutton Pie
Our mutton comes from ewes at the end of a long and comfortable life and so is perhaps the most ethically acceptable of farmed meats. It has the richest flavour of any meat and when enclosed in this nutty pastry made from rye flour makes a delicious and substantial meal.
Pastry
- 500g wholemeal rye flour
- 1/8 tsp salt (adjust to your preference)
- 1 tsp dried mixed herbs or 1 tsp garam massala (optional but recommended)
- 250g fat (I use part organic sunflower oil and part butter but anything will do)
Tamarisk sour-dough bread
Sour-dough breads have long been common outside Britain, particularly Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Germany. The process is akin to that of making yoghurt from milk in that the flour is partially “digested” by the sour-dough culture and this is claimed by some to make it easier for us to digest and better for you. Some people who have problems eating conventional yeast breads find this acceptable. We love the distinctive flavour although for some it is an acquired taste. You can use wheat or rye flour, but it does particularly bring out the best qualities of rye, especially if you add a little caraway seed.
Ingredients
- 500g wholemeal rye or wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp salt (adjust to your preference)
- up to 300 ml warm water (about 45°C )
- 1 tablespoon sour-dough culture
- 1 or 2 teaspoon caraway (or any other seed of your choice)
Basic machine loaf
The breadmaking machine might be condemned as the lazy way to bake but the current fashion for them is encouraging a lot of people to eat better, healthier and fresher bread. Load the machine in the evening and set the timer instead of your alarm clock. Waking up in the morning to the smell of freshly baked bread has got to be the height of decadence!
Ingredients
- 500 g wholemeal wheat flour
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 280 ml water
Long rise rye bread
The distinctive rich flavour of this bread is similar to the traditional sour-dough common in Germany. It requires a little more time than wheat bread but the result is worth it. The caraway is optional, but when I dared suggest this in conversation with an elderly man whose father’s rye bread had been his staple food as a child growing up in Czechoslovakia he put up his hands in horror as if I had blasphemed and cried “But you must use caraway: you can’t make rye bread without caraway!”.
Ingredients
- 500g wholemeal Rye flour
- 3 tsp dried yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 – 1 tsp caraway seeds
- 350 ml warm water (about 45°C)
The Hungry Gap (Bridport Times, May 2018)
We write monthly for the magazine Bridport Times. To see this article as originally published, view the pages on Issue.
It’s May; in recent years the weather has been practically summer, and could be the best sun we get until September, but in terms of growing food, we are still in the notorious “hungry gap”. And if we were careless or unlucky we’d be at the end of our stores as well.
So what is the hungry gap, and is it still relevant to us today? It is the gap in crops between winter and summer. The time when Continue reading “The Hungry Gap (Bridport Times, May 2018)”
Simple soda bread
Soda bread is a traditional Irish wheat loaf, but we like to use rye or barley for ours. These flours don’t rise easily with yeast as wheat does but using a soda bread recipe works well to make a firm and tasty loaf. Soda bread is very quick to make and needs to be eaten fresh.
Ingredients
- 500g wholemeal Rye flour (or Barley flour for a variation)
- 1/2 tsp salt (adjust to your preference)
- 1/2 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
- 1 level tsp baking powder
- 300 ml warm water or milk or old yoghurt (about 40°C )