Better Bread Better for Us

The healthy eating programme has pushed me into even more bread making than usual, partly as the wholemeal offerings at the supermarkets are less than tasty, partly as it saves me going back for another loaf and ending up spending £20 on other stuff.

Yesterday's rolls were so good that even SC complimented them. They were not in truth wholemeal, as my 100 per cent wholemeal attempts have yielded somewhat dense results. Tasty but dense. Think any number of celebrities.

Reading about healthy eating has convinced me we need to eat more seeds, so armed with flaxseeds from Holland and B and sunflower seeds from Booth's I mixed dough per the following recipe:

1 cup s/s milk
0.25 cup lukewarm water
1 beaten egg
1 tbsp avocado oil
1 tbsp walnut oil
0.5 tsp salt
1.5tbsp sugar
0.25 cup seeds (mainly linseed)
0.75 cup wholemeal flour with seeds
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
2 cups unbleached white flour
7g dried yeast sachet

Mixed and raised in the bread-maker, then knocked back, formed into rolls and left on a floured baking sheet in a warm place to rise for two hours they more than doubled in size before being put in a cold oven turned on to 200C and left to bake for about 25 minutes.

The results are soft crumbed, really tasty (in spite of the reduced salt), and satisfyingly bitty with seeds throughout. A perfect breakfast roll with coffee.

Using flaxseed reminded me of something from my childhood. The grandfather of my best mate of those days, at whose house in the depths of Norfolk I was sometimes invited to stay, used to take a teaspoonful of linseed oil (aka flaxseed oil) every evening. I can remember thinking this odd, and mentioning it to my parents who said something rather deprecatory about old country remedies. We now know linseeds are packed with antioxidants and Omega-3. Not for the first time we find that such remedies had real benefits. But I won't be following my Gran's advice and putting a clove of garlic in my sock the next time I get a cold.

Savour Every Morsel - Upside to Imposed Austerity

In the post Upside to Austerity  back in December 2011 I wrote about how tougher times could prove to be a plus in culinary terms if we were pushed into valuing our food more. We had in times of more than plenty overindulged, and I felt that had made us blase (still can't do accents on this system) about what we ate. I'm feeling a similar thing on our alternative eating programme (and still refusing to use the D-word).

Not that we have been going hungry, or decided to live on crispbread and gravel. But taking into account each part of a meal in terms of its nutritional elements makes one value, say, mushrooms as a source of chromium (and they are far more delicious than car trim); or the multiple virtues of green leaves.

As second and third portions are perhaps what led to us needing to stick to the AEP for a while I'm being careful with quantities in my cooking. If you have one plateful you tend to make it last longer, and to savour what you have. So this just may be imposed austerity.

There are upsides to this version too. Considering our regime more closely has led to some interesting new finds. Black rice is probably top of that list: not an austerity item as a small box cost £2.50, though that will do the carbs for three of us for at least three meals. It's actually more purple than black, that colour showing it has the same antioxidants as blueberries, blackberries etc. The gourmet benefit is that it has a fine flavour, far more interesting than plain white long-grain. The AEP benefit is that it has a lower GI rating than said white rice. I'm guessing the Emperors and tyrants who 1000 years ago kept it all for themselves (or is that marketing tosh?) were more interested in how it tastes.

One definite austerity aspect to the so-called programme is that we are eating vast amounts of fruit, so I can't remember having to throw away a single soft apple, or any rotting oranges found at the bottom of the fruit bowl (a fruit bowl rather than the fruit bowl to be more accurate) for weeks. Another is that my bread-making has been to the fore, to ring the changes with plain supermarket wholemeal. It is possible to buy a loaf for less than one of my homemade efforts costs, but the cheapo bought version would be pasty and flabby and rubbery, the admittedly less than perfectly symmetrical loaves I turn out have become lighter and tastier as I've gained experience.

Garlic Bread to Die for - and from

The pizzas midweek were so good that I actually had a request (for which read order) from my angelic wife for more of the same on Saturday, for our regular weekend zonk by the fire meal. There was a rider to the command too, which was that a garlic bread should be included. So the quantities in the dough recipe were upped by 33 per cent to accommodate a massive GB.

For once I learned from a past mistake or three, and instead of putting the garlic on the raw dough to cook with it, I very gently fried about a dozen cloves (no exaggeration) sliced finely in some olive oil until the smell permeated the kitchen (dining room, next floor and some of the street outside). When the nicely risen dough was nearly done garlic and oil were tipped on and returned for a few minutes in the oven. A hefty pinch of Maldon salt was strewn on the finished article. The bread measured about 20 inches by six, and I got one slice two-by-two, it was that good. Hugely garlicky.

This by my very rough calculation cost about 40p. It was not a million miles from restaurant fare, and pleased both Sternest Critic and the capo di tutti capi.

Both recent batches of pizza have undoubtedly been better than previous versions because when kneading the machine-mixed and risen dough I have incorporated a tearing action along with the full-body knuckle massage move. You live and learn, if the garlic hit doesn't kill you.

Homemade Pizza

Homemade pizza is not supermarket bought then heated in the oven, nor even your own toppings on a readymade base. It is made from scratch, which with a breadmaker is simple. My recipe for enough dough for three thin pizzas is a cup of water, 2.75 cups of strong white flour, 2.5 tbsps of olive oil, a tsp of sugar, 3tbsps of milk powder, 4tbsps of sugar, 1 tsp dried yeast. Dough setting, wait for 90 minutes and then knock back, knead, roll into circles (that is the bit I struggle with, mine look like the outlines of Rohrschach blots), leave to rise for at least 15 minutes then add toppings and cook at or near your oven's max temperature till done - about 15 minutes.

We love a fishy version, made with a tin of sardines (backbones removed) and half a tin of anchovies, plus lightly fried onions and peppers (back to the Basics range) and a cheap Basics mozarella, so about £1.50 for that one.

Cheaper and still great is a version of Napoletana (I think) with half a tin of toms (JS Basics again, or Lidl's are excellent for all of 33p) cooked down to a paste with a teaspoon of sugar added, spread on the base followed by more of the onions and pepper, the rest of the anchovies, and some halved pitted black olives from a jar in the fridge that lasts a week or more of salads and suchlike.

The third uses slices of salami - I buy the JS £1 Try Me packs as they are enough for a whole pizza, or for a starter with crudites etc - the onions and pepper, sliced garlic and another cheapo mozarella, plus a few Parmesan shavings made with a potato peeler.

It's important to cook them on metal pizza plates or at a pinch a metal griddle sheet so they don't end up soggy (as they would with pot or glass carriers). So three pizzas for about £3.50 worth of ingredients, the cost of one from the shop or half a (decent) takeaway pizza. For us a Thursday night treat eaten in front of the TV - it's Big Bang Theory Night - instead of the usual family gathering round the dining table. It's a particular treat for me as I love making them and my careful side likes thinking about how much Pizza Express versions (which are admittedly good) would have cost.