A new mustard yellow enamelware jug

All the rest of my enamelware is the traditional white with blue rim, and over the years I’ve added various pieces. I’ve pie dishes, pie plates and tumblers and I’ve got my eye on a baking set, if only the traditional colour way were to come back in stock.

I’d spotted the mustard yellow items and my head was turned. For a while I pretended not to lust after it, but in the end it was no use. So when MOH asked what I’d like for my birthday I spotted my opportunity. He did say another jug, but that wasn’t too surprising. And then he said, not the blue and white - he knows me well.

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It arrived this past week, and it is gorgeous.

I’m still a white and blue rim enamel kind of girl, but now with a branch out into mustard yellow!

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For me its primary purpose will hopefully be flowers, and I knew I’d have some in the garden that would work. I cut the allium heads and set those in the jug alongside some of the longer stemmed clematis which is in full flower on our patio. Don’t they look great?

The colours of the sweet peas also went well but sadly it’s not a sweet pea kind of jug.

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I’m hoping they do a smaller version if I’m honest!

PoCoLo

More bubbles in my sourdough

I’ve long been a sourdough fan and back in 2015 I shared how I made my loaf. It’s always made a fairly dense loaf and that’s been ok. Recently though I’ve been experimenting and have made a bubblier sourdough on more than one occasion, so today’s post is all about that.

It may be different to your sourdough recipe, or those of the sourdough artisan bakers - but this is my new way of making my sourdough. And part of the reason I’m sharing it here is so I can remember the quantities of the ingredients - sadly, true.

The ingredients are:

  • 500g white bread flour

  • 300g water

  • 150g sourdough starter

  • 8-10g salt.

Now having just compared that to my previous recipe I’ve realised that my experimenting has led me to swap the water and sourdough starter quantities. How strangely peculiar.

Anyway, the method is pretty much the same - combine all the ingredients until they come together, and leave in a warm place.

At this stage it is a bit bumpy and lumpy - but don’t lose faith. Every 30 minutes or so I use the flexible dough scraper to “turn” the dough, making sure I scoop from underneath and fold that into the top. I usually count 20 turns on each attempt.

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Gradually it looks more like the dough you were expecting. Then I cover it and leave it in a warm place until I’m ready to cook it several hours later. The trick is to leave it long enough so the dough rises, but not too long that it over-prooves, as an example - if I start this around lunchtime, I’ll cook it between 9-10pm. If that tells you anything about me, it tells you I’m a night owl.

For cooking times - I heat the oven to 220 degrees and put a small ramekin of boiling water in the oven once it’s at temperature to help with the crust. I’ve taken to cooking the loaf on baking powder, but mainly so I know it will be easy to get off the small baking tray.

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This loaf had a bubble at the top of the dough, and I learnt that that will burn. Next time I’ll make sure the bubbles are less obvious, I think.

It still tastes good though!

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Post Comment Love 25-27 June

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’re here.

I’m going to be terribly British this week and talk about the weather. Just as my shopping started to reflect the warm weather, the weather got its own back and took a turn for the worse. My freezer is now full of foods that could be barbecued, and so I’m ready for when the weather returns. Now just as we’re planning those colder weather type meals, there’s talk of a heatwave coming back. I’m ready either way!

I’ve even bought myself a small desk fan for my home office. I know from experience to buy in advance - leaving it too long could mean disappointment. One good thing about the warm weather has been a steady stream of home grown strawberries, which have supplemented those we’ve bought. Happy days!

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