Easy Sponge Cake - with citrus, rosemary and thyme

this week  is the FWDR Blog Birthday week! it's been an whole entire year since the first post 52 weeks ago, and how far we've come. the year has been a good one, with lots of sun (and rain) and great home grown food. when FWDR first posted the Homegrown Bloody Mary post, it was also THE Julia Child's Birthday, and what a day to begin a food blog! So, in honour of Julia and the big birthday, I've taken from Julia's, Baking with Julia Cookbook, a cake recipe I've used time and time again with great results. I tweaked it a little to give it an FWDR spin, by adding lime zest, rosemary and thyme. its a perfect sponge recipe made even better with freshly whipped cream and homemade jam.

 

I've added a lot of pictures of the sponge making process, as I feel many people are afraid of making sponge cake. it really is easy, though. the one trick is to use a light touch, and not to be scared! the only leavening to this cake is the air you whip into the eggs, so an aggressive hand will knock out vital air and lend to a dense, lifeless cake. this is a traditional French genoise recipe, using the cold technique. don't skimp on whipping time, you need to whip the eggs and sugar until a ribbon sits on top of the mixture for 10 seconds, so beat those eggs for at least 5 minutes.

 

 

Gooseberry Elderflower Pie

 

Last week was a glorious week of balmy summer weather. the gooseberry bush (that we adopted with the house) was heaving with bright green fruits. screaming: "hey, pick me! don't forget about me like last year!" the big question was: what do you do with all those gooseberries? gooseberry fool pops into everyone's mind but, what else? after browsing my Bookshelf, I came across recipes for savoury uses like, a sauce for pork or mackerel, and sweet ones like: a pie, jam or chutney. the pie recipe jumped out at me, as well as a seasonal pairing of elderflowers. its that time of year too! bring on the elderflower champagne! 

Rhubarb Jelly Doughnuts with Lavender Sugar

 

here's another spirit lifting recipe for those of you experiencing this crazy 'spring' weather. its been mostly windy and rainy the past week, but the soil has warmed up. there's new life emerging in the raised beds at last! all the garlic is up with some radish, beetroot and frilly red mustard, too. we are also due for the hatching of some new chicks, from our lavender pekin bantams. so these doughnuts are also a little tribute to them, too.

is spring here, yet? it better be!

 

 

i wanted to call these dough nuts: 'rainy day rhubarb doughnuts' because they are perfect for a rainy day afternoon spent in the kitchen. these doughnuts may seem tricky to make but with a a couple hours, a few basic ingredients and tools - you'll be in jelly filled doughnut heaven. i've always wanted to make jelly doughnuts, mainly because im a sucker for deep fried foods, and who isn't? (i even tried beer battered bacon once!) but also because a good jelly doughnut is complete bliss and as it turns out - very obtainable in the home kitchen.

i couldn't wait to put rhubarb on the blog, either. after the winter we've had its a welcomed bit of colour and tang to the gardener's kitchen! im fortunate to always have friends or family who grow rhubarb, so i've never planted my own crowns. the crowns take a year or so to establish before harvesting, which doesn't really fit into a semi-nomadic lifestyle. but saying so, every working veg patch should have a couple rhubarb plants, for a 'hungry gap' fruit boost. maybe this is my year to plant my own?

this recipe is completely from scratch, all the way to making the rhubarb jelly filling. but you could use any jelly or jam you have in the house, just beat it a bit before piping into the fluffy doughnuts. the lavender sugar coating is super easy to blend up, so give it a whirl. but if you don't have lavender buds plain sugar will do! or maybe a different herb (i.e: rosemary or thyme)?  the lavender has a calming effect for when you really want to be outside but the weather won't allow it.

doughnuts as medicine? why not!

 

Garden Chive Fiesta Muffins

looks like i spoke too soon about the beautiful spring weather! the past two weeks have been sub zero and snowing! again! oh well, i guess we have to wait a bit longer. the snow has slowly evolced into more rain and flooding. my garden looks a bit like a swamp at the moment and the hens are hiding under the hen house. i can't blame them one bit.

to lift some spirits i wanted to pep up easter sunday with these warming Garden Chive Fiesta Muffins. they'll transport you straight to that sunny mexican beach holiday you're dreaming of. i also posted them as chives seem to be the only crop in the garden at the moment, along with the purple sprouting brocolli. but i decided that maybe 3 back-to-back posts on PSB would be too much.

these muffins look impressive, taste impressive and whip up in impressively no time at all. 15 minutes in the oven is all they take to double in size and cook through. i love the kick that the pickled pepperoncinis give to the muffins and married with chives, cheddar, and sour cream makes for one big fiesta of fun. their texture is airy and moist, almost popver-like. they bake perfect everytime.

Cookbook Review: Flour Water Salt Yeast: the Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza

it's taken me awhile to write this post. mainly because of all the research and baking i've done with while reading this book! im well on my way to my fourth bread recipe, and i can't wait for the next baking day at home.

i bought Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast: the fundamentals of artisan bread and pizza, after searching for new baking books to read. the name instantly jumped out at me, for obvious reasons! it seems we (the authour and I) were on the same wavelength, as far as titling our projects go! after a a little detective work,  i realized i've actually been to the bakery this book hails from and indulged in their lovely breads. it was serendipty. i bought the book immediately, with baking and a book review in mind. i'm so glad i did.

the concept: 'flour water salt yeast' is highly apt for the art of bread baking, taking a few simple good ingredents with the help of invisible microrganisms and fermentation creates- bread! the alchemy of bread never ceases to amaze. in this book, the recipes rarely stray from the above 4 ingredients, except for the 'Pan au Bacon,' but who can leave out bacon?

Sweet Potato and Pear Pizza

Ken's Artisan Bakery is run by Ken Forkish, who studied at the San Francisco Baking Institute, he also apprenticed with renowned bread baker, Chad Robertson, of Tartine Bakery (san francisco).  Ken opened his doors in 2001, in Portland, Oregon. the bakery specializes in long fermented breads with high hydration content and well rounded flavour. these breads have been adored since they were first baked in the bakery 11 years ago. since then, Ken has opened a pizza spot, there are 4 different pizza base recipes in the book to choose from, and are equally as delicious as the bread recipes.

bread recipes in ths book are wetter than most and require folding, rather than kneading

since getting the book i've read it front to cover and baked three bread recipes - two with commercial yeast  and the other sourdough. being a long time baker myself, i went for a sourdough recipe (Country Brown), and since then, i've been short on time, tried out the simpler recipes (the Saturday White Bread and White Bread with Poolish). every recipe has been memorable and highly addictive.

i love Ken's in-depth writing style and way his book is meant to bring newcomers to the joys of bread baking. by starting small (with one day recipies) and working up to intermediate, then advanced recipes - some taking days to prepare, this book is for everyone wanting to bake bread. the chapters and recipes are written in a timeline from easy to advanced, so you can work your way through the book, like a bread cookery course. after which you should be a bread baking master, there's 19 recipes in all! most of the bread recipes provide handy timelines for the working person to go by, so you don't have to be home the whole day waiting for your bread to rise, like the 'saturday white bread', (which im getting ready to take out the oven as we speak), this bread was developed for days when you need bread fresh bread in a few hours, begining at 9:30 am and finishing the bread at 5:00pm in the evening.

shaping the wet doughs into loaves

the book itself is broken down into four parts. Part 1 being an introduction to bread baking and the tools needed. Part 2 is a collection of 'Basic Bread' recipes, like straight doughs, and breads made with pre-ferments. following onto the more the advanced Part 3: levain bread recipes, with understanding the levain (sourdough) method in hybrid and pure levain breads, as well as making your own sourdough from scratch. Part 4, contains 3 chapters dedicated to the art of pizza and focaccia making, favouring homebaked pizzas baked with a super high heat and pizza stones.

baking with a cast iron dutch oven

when attempting the bread recipes in this book do try and seek out a cast iron dutch oven to bake in. this is a much celebrated method of home bread baking, and is essential to creating a crust with crispy caramel colouring. breads such as these rely on steam captured in ovens to allow the loaf to rise thouroughly in the oven, and gelatinize starches in the crust. it may sound complicated, but in practice the bread does all the work for you! this method has been adopted by many professional bakers and written about in books like, The Bread Builders, and Tartine Bread. everyone should do it! look at the bread you could end up with! it's amazing.

Saturday White Bread

 

the final conclusion is: i'm totally inspired by this book. f you're interested n everything there is to know about bread or want to learn how to make better bread, this is the book for you. the recipes may take some time to finish, but really only involve minutes of actual active time, wth stunning results!

No-Knead Focaccia Loaf- and a garden tour

 

i started this blog as a way to share my garden, the food i cook from the garden, with more people. i feel like now is a good time, the end of summer, to show-off this years veg plot at the height of its glory. i started this plot in march of this year, creating the raised beds with recycled scaffolding boards. a friend of mine found a great source for them at a .50 cent a foot for damaged or unusable boards. these were cut to shape, with a jig saw and screwed together with a bit of galvi-band. the finish on the boards is with an outdoor mahgony coloured furniture stain, which i've used on everything stainable, veg crates, doors, garden furniture, you name it. after that we (me, my other half and 4 friends) filled the beds with a third topsoil, then another third with really old sheep manure (a thoughtful gift from friends of mine!), then the top third with compost from the local recycling center, in bandon. it worked out at 40 euro for all the compost. all in all the beds cost around 80 euro to fill and build. not bad.



clockwise , beetroot and rainbow chard, red russian kale plants

old spud patch (they grew 6foot long)

 

i was inspired by joy larcom's book, Creative Vegetable Gardening (see side bar), for my garden design and all of my planting scheme. i wanted to create a small space within the garden to be able to use for entertaining, eating and enjoying the garden. i went for a square 'C' shape, with a willow arch over the entrance. its my favourite garden i've had in the dozen or so i've created in the past. from joy's book i tried to add intrest by interplanting different textures and colours of plants and planting crops on the diagonal instead of straight lines.



purple sprouting, and red russian kale

leeks, seeding radishes, and squash, lots of nasturtiums

 

i didn't actually want  or need this garden to meet my eating needs throughout the year, i dont have time to grow all that veg! but rather to just be able to grow the interesting veg i want, enjoy the process of growing them and create an outdoor space to be in. and to my surprise i've had loads of veg, almost more than i need! since the begining of the lettuce season the beds have been giving me loads of choice: from beetroot, to romanesco, spuds, mangetout, onions, courgette, beans, chard, celery, lettuce, herbs, and loads of sweet peas - and theres even more to come!

celery, courgette(front corner), celeriac, beetroot and chard

more purple sprouting, asparagus, purple beans, celery