Sunday, January 01, 2012
Dancing water and baker's cramp
It occurred to us last night that an appropriate first activity for the New Year would be to make the water dance (see September 30th 2010). So up reasonably early to give the thing a go. Using warm water, got it to dance straight off on the tile. Then thought to try without the tile, just on the small paving slab, on which I could sustain a fast vibration which generated a high pitched hum and a small version of the desired action on the water, but not what could be called dancing. Back with the tile and we were in business again with a slow vibration. Counter intuitively, or at least counter my intuition, you get a fast vibration on a soft surface and a slow vibration on a hard surface. Did sprog 1 ever know enough about fluid dynamics to explain what is going on?
It also seems appropriate to have a stock take on the bread baking front, an activity which has been going on for just about a year now, the first bake being on 8th January and the last of the year, the 94th on 30th December. Will I make the ton this year?
The full story can be found at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8152054/Bread-20110120.xls but I offer a few more highlights here.
By the end of November I was making white bread which ate well, if not too much like good quality English white bread, of the sort usually available at Cheam before I decided that I was spending too much time on a bicycle for the good of my back. I then switched to brown for the good of my guts and found, like most people who talk about baking bread, that brown is easier than white. That one can make decent brown bread which, as it happens, is much the same as good quality English brown bread. Perhaps best though to lay off the serious wholemeal flour, the sort of stuff made in a ragstone quern by druids in a shed next to a stream in darkest Cornwall; a place where the druidesses dance while the druids quern. The local duke - aka the Prince of Wales - taking a benevolent interest in the proceedings and sometimes, graciously, allowing for a fee the flour to be sold under his 'Duchy Originals' banner.
Most of the year I was using Hovis Super Strong Premium White, in part because it comes in handy 3kg bags but have now moved off that and am using half Sainsbury's Strong White and half some kind of wholemeal or other. Both bready ladies that I have consulted said that it should not really matter what flour one uses; no need to be precious about it.
Tried various things in the course of the year, generally failing to stick to the sensible advice that one should only change one thing at a time. So we made progress by continental drift rather than by scientific method, progress which leaves us in the following position.
Sieve 1lb 4oz of white flour, including half a level tablespoon of salt, into large stainless steel mixing bowl, catching the occasional foreign body. Add 1lb 4oz of brown flour (too coarse to sieve). Add a level tablespoon of rape seed oil. Add a sachet of dried yeast pellets. Use hands to stir it all up. Add 24oz of warm water - roughly half cold tap and half boiling - and blend with hands. Turn out onto formica table and knead for 15 minutes, the detail of the action depending on mood. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a wooden lid and put in the airing cupboard for around 2 hours first rise. Turn out, knock back and then knead for another 5 minutes. Dough quite damp feeling at this point but workable. Grease two 2lb loaf tins (Linea) with butter. Cut the dough into 2 2lb lumps, roughly shape the lumps into fat sausages and place in tins. Place each tin in a propagating tray (the things used for starting seeds and which come with clear plastic lids) and place the propagating trays in the airing cupboard for around 2 hours second rise, by which time to dough should have risen to smooth round humps, well above the sides of the tins. But not drooping down said sides. Remove and then bake for 20 minutes at 210C in a fan oven. Remove and turn out from tins onto a cooling rack, taking care not to boil the eyeballs when opening the hot oven. It helps to wear spectacles.
Rising in the sun, when available, is rather faster. Greenhouse effect on the lids of the propagating trays and all that.
It also seems appropriate to have a stock take on the bread baking front, an activity which has been going on for just about a year now, the first bake being on 8th January and the last of the year, the 94th on 30th December. Will I make the ton this year?
The full story can be found at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8152054/Bread-20110120.xls but I offer a few more highlights here.
By the end of November I was making white bread which ate well, if not too much like good quality English white bread, of the sort usually available at Cheam before I decided that I was spending too much time on a bicycle for the good of my back. I then switched to brown for the good of my guts and found, like most people who talk about baking bread, that brown is easier than white. That one can make decent brown bread which, as it happens, is much the same as good quality English brown bread. Perhaps best though to lay off the serious wholemeal flour, the sort of stuff made in a ragstone quern by druids in a shed next to a stream in darkest Cornwall; a place where the druidesses dance while the druids quern. The local duke - aka the Prince of Wales - taking a benevolent interest in the proceedings and sometimes, graciously, allowing for a fee the flour to be sold under his 'Duchy Originals' banner.
Most of the year I was using Hovis Super Strong Premium White, in part because it comes in handy 3kg bags but have now moved off that and am using half Sainsbury's Strong White and half some kind of wholemeal or other. Both bready ladies that I have consulted said that it should not really matter what flour one uses; no need to be precious about it.
Tried various things in the course of the year, generally failing to stick to the sensible advice that one should only change one thing at a time. So we made progress by continental drift rather than by scientific method, progress which leaves us in the following position.
Sieve 1lb 4oz of white flour, including half a level tablespoon of salt, into large stainless steel mixing bowl, catching the occasional foreign body. Add 1lb 4oz of brown flour (too coarse to sieve). Add a level tablespoon of rape seed oil. Add a sachet of dried yeast pellets. Use hands to stir it all up. Add 24oz of warm water - roughly half cold tap and half boiling - and blend with hands. Turn out onto formica table and knead for 15 minutes, the detail of the action depending on mood. Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a wooden lid and put in the airing cupboard for around 2 hours first rise. Turn out, knock back and then knead for another 5 minutes. Dough quite damp feeling at this point but workable. Grease two 2lb loaf tins (Linea) with butter. Cut the dough into 2 2lb lumps, roughly shape the lumps into fat sausages and place in tins. Place each tin in a propagating tray (the things used for starting seeds and which come with clear plastic lids) and place the propagating trays in the airing cupboard for around 2 hours second rise, by which time to dough should have risen to smooth round humps, well above the sides of the tins. But not drooping down said sides. Remove and then bake for 20 minutes at 210C in a fan oven. Remove and turn out from tins onto a cooling rack, taking care not to boil the eyeballs when opening the hot oven. It helps to wear spectacles.
Rising in the sun, when available, is rather faster. Greenhouse effect on the lids of the propagating trays and all that.
# posted by Jim @ 6:24 AM 
