I had grand plans for making progress on some photography and blogging projects over the break but there wasn’t quite enough time to fit it all in.  Nevertheless I’m aiming to use the upcoming long weekend to kick start a new series of 30-day challenges.  The bread making in January was fun and I know that I’ll build on that more.  Cheese making is February’s culinary challenge and already I’ve tested out what I learned at a home cheese making course last weekend.  I don’t think I’ll be bothering to buy ricotta cheese any more as it’s so easy to make your own and tastes so much better. The true test will be this Friday when I will be making mozzarella that will of course be centre-stage on our home made stone baked pizza.

With this in mind I’ve been devouring bread making books, blogs and articles in newspapers to find the secret to good home made bread.  After trawling through acres of information about the art and science of bread making it became clear what I was looking for was less a methodology of how to make bread but more a way of creating a bread making routine.  A way of baking bread that would a regular habit and not a weekend luxury.  Just as I was starting to despair I found a revolutionary no kneed approach to bread making.

“What no kneed?” you might be thinking.  That’s like bread without butter. But yes there is indeed a way to make tasty bread at home with just a few minutes of active effort and without clock watching or rising before dawn to have freshly made bread for breakfast.

This month I’ve been using the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day methodology using a book that I got for Christmas.  This approach to bread making has been around for quite a few years with quite a food blogging frenzy caused when Mark Bittman of the NY Times posted a recipe created by Baker, Jim Lahey.  But this methodology was not without it’s controversy best summarised by Michael Rhulman who after his initial dismissal was converted to a no kneed approach.

In a nutshell, you make a bread dough that has a high water content which after it’s initial rise can be kept in the fridge until you want to bake.  You then pull out some of the dough, shape it and let it rise again before baking for around 30 minutes.  The dough takes a bit of handling but with practice it get’s easier.  The beauty of this method is you get really tasty bread with the minimum of fuss.  Every time we’ve had consistently good loaves with our most recent bake the best yet after I fiddled with the flour and water ratio to give the dough more body for shaping and resting before baking.  We’ve tried plain white bread, wholemeal and brioche using the same methodology and the recipes have been consistently successful.  I’ve been tweeting about the results.

The Brioche bread dough was a total revelation to me.  I’ve rarely eaten brioche but now I’m hooked for that special weekend treat.  And for the holiday weekend we lashed out and used the brioche dough to make a chocolate bread make using a delicious chocolate ganache.

Although I haven’t yet tackled “proper” bread making I feel more confident to give it a go so we can make a comparison with the no kneed method.  For now though we have a tried and tested method that goes fantastically well with our latest batches of jam and marmalade. The bread maker still makes a perfectly good loaf of bread and is ideal for his Lordship’s lunch sandwiches but I’m looking forward to extending my no kneed repertoire further as well try out the varying bread making techniques.

Oh, if you’re interested in trying out this method – here’s a link to the main recipe which I’ve found to be so reliable.   Next month I’m moving into cheese making as I was given a voucher for a home cheese making course which I’ll be attending this coming weekend.

From my teens to my thirties, I was an avid tennis fan glued to the sofa for a fortnight with a large punnet of strawberries gorging myself on Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Andre Aggasi with a side helping of Chris Evert, Steffi Graff, Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova.  Oh those were the days when tennis was fun to watch before it slipped into a frustrating oblivion of technology and tantrums and I switched off.  Whilst I’m not the tennis fan I used to be I haven’t shaken the strawberry habit one little bit although still can’t get my head around the fact that strawberries are in season for Christmas.

One indulgence in the kitchen garden is a large strawberry bed which lies fallow much of the year but for a few weeks reigns victorious bringing me strawberries galore.  Such is my love of strawberries I was in a total funk when I thought the recent rains had ruined this year’s crop. Thankfully they were not and once again we are overflowing with strawberries in the kitchen.   There’s been a hive of culinary activity to make use of the crop – strawberry ice cream, strawberry jam and strawberry purees – all to preserve this highlight of summer to enjoy once the strawberry flush is over.

In a bid to create new kiwi associations to my favourite foods, I am declaring Wellington Anniversary Weekend as our official strawberry celebration.  And what better way to mark this auspicious occasion but to gorge on strawberries and cream with a touch of cake.

It won’t take you long to realise that I am still on a quest to master the art of baking a victoria sponge.  My previous attempts have been as equally unsuccessful in different ways.  I have looked for the holy grail of cornflour and gone for the scientific approach. This time I wanted to go back to the traditional route but with more precision in my baking inspired by Mary Berry who is making a revival in Britain on the Great British Bake Off.

We even bought a set of new cake tins to avoid previous issues of using the wrong size.  I also weighed everything out meticulously sorting through my egg stock until I found the right combination of four eggs to match the flour, butter and sugar quantities.  I even leveled the baking powder in the measuring spoon using a knife rather than my usual “that looks about right” measure.  Alas, I failed to achieve the classic dome shape which I deduce is done to one of two things – the oven or the baking powder.

After a momentary gloom I perked up knowing that the perfect way to make up for the gap in cake was to fill it up with more strawberries and cream. Despite appearances the cake was delicious and with some careful photography my baking shortfalls were disguised.

My stubborn nature is starting to kick in with this cake.  I’m determined to get it right and wonder whether I should take up a challenge similar to Cath Webb, a teacher in England who has is baking a Victoria Sponge Cake every day and giving it away. Now that sort of discipline would either improve my cake baking or ruin my mental health.  Aside from that it seems a remarkably generous thing to do and not dissimilar to the Baking for Hospice venture a kiwi food blogger has embarked on in memory of her father.  My first batch of home made strawberry ice cream and Friday’s strawberry harvest was packaged up and dropped off at my neighbours as a small thank you for them filling up our wood shed last weekend.

One of the books I got for Christmas was Harry Eastwood’s book on healthy cakes.  Yes, I know it sounds like an oxymoron but she’s perfected baking using vegetables as an alternative to sugar and butter and also uses rice flour.  For her Victoria Sponge she uses potato which sounds intriguing and I shall make it soon to see if it works better than the more traditional Victoria Sponge recipes. If it does it will be the perfect baking route for my backyard pantry.

PS – any bakers reading this blog please feel free to share your Victoria Sponge baking secrets in the comments below.  Thanking you in anticipation!

In the spirit of being sisyphus I am under no illusions that the list won’t be rebuilt rather quicker than it gets ticked off but it is rather a good feeling to know that progress is being made.  It’s the small things that matter.  Like being able to open and close the gate without having to fiddle and jiggle because the wind has blown the latch all out of alignment.  Or having the courage to reshape my prototype obelisk initially built with a dear friend just after Christmas which was subject to much ridicule for it’s wobbly charm and lack of straight angles.

I’ve made hay, staked almost every crop growing in the kitchen garden, retied trees and mended fences.  All in themselves sound simple tasks but with over 50 young trees it’s a slow and often backbreaking task to weed, feed, mulch and tie.  The sad truth is that I’ll be doing the whole thing all over again such is the nature of life in the country.  This is why New Zealanders call a small holding in the country a  ”lifestyle block” for this is the sort of life you sign up to when you become custodian of your own country acres.  And, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

It’s hard to believe that we are heading towards our 6 year anniversary living in New Zealand and just over 4 years living at Kaitoke acres.  But over that time we’ve learned from both bitter and sweet experience what it takes to enjoy the “good life”.  Much is written about the delights of living off the land and a self sufficient life but hidden amongst all the inspiration and hyperbole is hours, days and weeks of hard work and seemingly limitless heart ache as nature plays cruel tricks and can wipe out all your efforts and dollars in the gust of a gale force wind or deluge of rain

Luckily memories of such horror and disappointment is quickly forgotten and put into perspective leaving the good memories, experiences and pleasurable experiences to linger longer and be the constant reminder of why the heck you do all of this in the first place.  I shan’t forget in a hurry the delicious taste of my home-made pesto made this week with the first ever successful crop of basil I grew from seed and nurtured in the greenhouse. It’s the simplest things that make the biggest difference and why I’m looking forward to creating a new to do list that will start the cycle of work all over again.  For this is the  good life!

A deliciously light but definitely show off gooseberry fool was pride of place as our Christmas Day dessert.  It was also the fruit I used to christen my new ice-cream maker creating a frozen yoghurt that was most definitely the fanfare of gooseberry taste experiences so far.  Turning some into jam will I hope bring back the bitter sweet taste long after summer has gone.

There are plenty more berry adventures to come this year with raspberries, blueberries, worcesterberries (that are apparently taste like a cross between a gooseberry and blackberry), tayberries (cross between blackberry and raspberry) and blackberries all starting to show their colours alongside the red and blackcurrants.  There is nothing more comforting to be reaping the rewards of your own growing efforts.

I spied a punnet of gooseberries tucked away on the top shelf in the supermarket and gasped at the price.  A small punnet was almost $6 dollars making me realise once again of the long term benefits of growing your own berries. We’ve recouped our initial investment in the plant already and I suspect treated our berries with more reverence than I ever would have with something I’d bought from the shop. That said it dawned on me that I might need to buy some strawberries to buy for this year’s jam supply after the recent rains have ruined the possibilities for a continued home harvest.

It’s was the strangest feeling recognising that I felt a disappointment to not be self sufficient in strawberries for jam.  If I were a a person truly committed to self sufficiency I’d be doing without strawberry jam this year but instead I’m wrestling with levels of self indulgence I’ve not recognised in myself before.  As a next best thing to growing my own strawberries I could buy locally sourced fruit or perhaps I should buy locally made jam.

If you were me what would you do?

A: do without home made strawberry jam this year

B: buy local strawberries and make my own jam

C: buy locally produced jam?

As we end 2011 under a large black cloud and pelting rain I’m in no mood for positive reflection nor inspiring new year’s resolutions. I know I shouldn’t complain but the temperature drop of 15 degrees has been a  shock to my system.  I’d rather be facing my gargantuan harvest of strawberries with a large dollop of ice cream and a grin like a Cheshire cat.  Instead I’m wondering how wet I might get if I dashed out and brought in some rhubarb and make a crumble with them instead.

It can’t rain forever, can it? No, really?

Whatever the weather, I hope that the transition to 2012 will bring you high hopes for great things in the coming year.  My head is brimming with ideas and aspirations for the rest of the summer and indeed for 2012 but right now I feel I need all my energy to stay warm as a southerly brings us a polar chill.

Whatever you are doing this New Year’s Eve it’s full of good things and cheer.

This year I used the recipe from the River Cottage Bread Handbook as their recipes have never let me down.  Making croissants is not for the feint hearted.  It takes time, stamina, patience and a complete absence of a hungry crowd until baking is complete.  But the results are oh so delicious and the ultimate in Christmas indulgence.

If you are wondering where the ham and cheese is in this photograph, I have a confession to make.  These were my second batch of croissants this year.  The first on Christmas Day had an accelerated process on account of the fact I had not read all the way to the end of the recipe and missed out an entire phase of resting the dough and allowing it to rise.  Ophs!

The croissants still tasted delicious but I was determined to see how much better they could be by running the full baking marathon rather than flaking out two-thirds of the way through. Anyway, we had a special house guest and it was only right that we should offer something special for a sunny breakfast on the veranda.

Only days before Christmas his Lordship was bemoaning the fact that these are a once a year special treat. If they are to become a regular treat I need to experiment with a recipe that will allow me to do all the work and leave them for their final rise in the fridge overnight otherwise it requires a very early start on the day you want to serve them for breakfast!

They are so worth the effort even if it does mean you have to run a real marathon to work off the amount of butter in these beauties.

If you’re keen to give them a go – one of my favourite food bloggers has the full recipe on her blog and you can go get it from there.  Like Jules (aka Baker and Butcher) I halved the quantities in the recipe to make half the quantity.  Having proved to myself that home made croissants are a possibility I’m keen now to explore the possibilities for some of my favourite flavours – pain au chocolate or almond croissant anyone?

Yesterday Christchurch was hit with another wave of large earthquakes and immediately I thought of all the people I know in Christchurch wondering how they were coping as nature indulged itself to another earthly roller coaster ride.   Since any vulnerable buildings in Christchurch have already been shaken down by the months of relentless wobbling but once again some people were picking up their broken possessions and reaching for their shovels to clear up the streams of liquefaction that submerge neighbourhoods.  Newly laid sewage systems commissioned only this week for some residents are now fractured so the army of portaloos will be returned to people’s backyards.  For some people these most recent quakes are the final straw.  These quakes have had more emotional impact because they are a couple of days before Christmas.

Since being caught up in the 22 February quake I certainly count my blessings every day.  Even when the going gets tough and I’m tired and cranky I know I am safe, sound and life is rich is so many ways.  If you follow me on Twitter you might notice some of my daily snaps with the hashtag #lifeisrich which is one of the ways I count my blessings and journal them online. I like to look back at the iPhone photographs and indulge myself in the good things I enjoy.

With an insane amount of packages under our Christmas tree tomorrow will be for sure a day of indulgence.  I shall also be sneaking one of these chocolate beauties that were extras of the chocolate truffles I made to give as gifts to our neighbours and friends this year.  I hope that they have as much fun eating them as I had making them.

From wherever in the world you may be reading this post, I wish you a very happy Christmas and hope that all the indulgences of this festive season are full of fun, love and laughter.

With a rare tropical heat wave without a wisp of Wellington’s characteristic wind it was a pleasure to be able to laze out on the veranda and enjoy the views as well as the company. Almost 24 hours later I am still buzzing from the experience, the sheer decadence of it all.  Sure the company was fantastic but in truth it’s the extreme sugar rush around my body that’s making the memories linger on.

The moment I’d issued the invitation I started to wish I hadn’t.  What folly and vanity to set myself the challenge of afternoon of baking afternoon tea from scratch.  This wasn’t the first time I’ve done it but there was such a controversy the first time about what should constitute an afternoon tea and the second time I stretch my wings and possibly erred on the side of sweetness. Since this was a summer celebration I aimed for a lighter and fruitier affair although couldn’t help holding back on the cream, eggs and sugar too.

The main cake event were superb Roasted Cherry and Almond Cupcakes (adapted from a British Larder recipe – I used a cream cheese frosting instead).  I roasted the cherries the night before and was hard pushed not to scoff the lot before baking started!

For the essential touch of chocolate I adapted the British Larder Chocolate and Cinnamon Cookies by skipping the meringue discs in lieu of cream and raspberry jam filling.  There is only so much stress a domestic baker can make, especially one leaving things to the last minute.  I’d definitely give these another go in their full glory next time.

Taking the fruity flavours one step further I rustled up a pile of sweet tarts al la Ottolenghi and then filled one batch with marscapone cream and the other with home made lemon curd.

Matched with the obligatory fresh scones, egg mayonnaise sandwiches and cream cheese and cucumber our feast was complete.

Having appreciative guests makes all the effort so worthwhile.  It was compulsory to stretch out the eating though over several hours, a couple of bottles of wine and several pots of tea.  I love the civility of afternoon tea although think my ambitions for retraining and starting a new career opening a patisserie have been tempered in the haze of cream and sugar. Another lesson from his baking adventure is that food blogging on a real gig is a recipe for a camera caked with sticky finger marks!

We normally buy marmalade made by David and Gary who run the local neighborhood restaurant Taste in Khandallah but they don’t last very long as they are so delicious and since we no longer live across the road it is not that convenient to keep restocked. After expanding my jam making efforts from earlier in the year to include apricot and plum, I thought it was time to spread my preserving wings and make marmalade but it was only after researching the possible recipes I came to realise the variety of ways you can make marmalade.

Some people cook the oranges whole and others chop them up.  With the bedazzling array of options to choose from I opted for a recipe from one of my favorite food blogs The British Larder who as always have a nice twist on the standard recipes.  In this case Madalene and Ross have surpassed themselves with an edgy Marmalade with Vanilla Bean which produced a light marmalade with the perfect balance of bitter sweet.  I do however have enough oranges left to try something a little more traditional.

I’m thinking perhaps I’ll try the recommended Marmalade recipe by Pam Corbin of River Cottage Fame and also head judge in the World’s Original Marmalade Awards which clearly are a must for all marmalade making aficionados. And who said Marmalade was dying?

As marmalade making virgin I was a little apprehensive of how things might turn out but Madalene’s recipe didn’t let me down.  I did however feel like I had done 10 rounds in the gym forcing the fruit through the sieve until I started to use my pestle instead of the back of a spoon making it easier to force the mix through.  I liked the one stage approach to making the marmalade although I will try the two stage approach and compare the results.

As always the key to preserving is finding the setting point and although the consistency of the resulting marmalade is fine, I would rather a slightly thicker set next time although I know you have to be careful that you don’t go too far as instead of going solid the marmalade won’t set at all!

The first batch has passed his Lordship’s taste test which is a relief since he is quite the connoisseur when it comes to marmalade.  I am curious to see how the next batch turns out so we can do a run our own mini marmalade awards.

Marmalade Recipes to try from my favorite chefs and bloggers

How to Make the Perfect Marmalade

Nigel Slater

The British Larder

Dan Lepard

Delia Smith

Fiona Neville – Cottage Smallholder

David Lebvoitz

Waitrose

Toast NZ

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