We’ve been really busy these past few weeks!
That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped baking – in fact, spending a little time in the kitchen is both therapeutic and time efficient. When things are really frantic, I can always pull out a loaf of sourdough from the freezer and serve it with really good extra virgin olive oil and cheese, and nobody complains…
What it does mean, though, is that I haven’t really tried anything new for a couple of weeks now. So here are photos of some old favourites that have been been gracing our kitchen benches this past week.
I made a large batch of sourdough bagels – the enormous joy these bring to our ex-New York neighbours Jane and Bernie always makes the effort worthwhile…
I couldn’t find any poppy seeds in the fridge, so these were topped with a mix of sesame seeds and black salt. I wrote a yeasted bagel tutorial here, and added the sourdough version a few months later…
When I’m really busy, the breadbaking goes large scale – I made a 3.75kg batch of dough using my basic shaping dough, and turned it into eighteen rosetta rolls and three fat baguettes…
The good thing about rolls is that the teenage wolves take one or two out of the freezer at a time, rather than defrosting (and then eating) a whole loaf…
There are always eggs from the chooks, raspberries in the freezer and chocolate in the pantry, and therefore there are always friands in the kitchen…
Finally, Pete and I were out of Wednesday night, so I baked a quick slab pizza for the boys – half with olives and anchovies for Small Man, and the other half with Spanish onion and prosciutto for Big Boy. They’re both very fussy about their pizza toppings!
How are you all traveling? I hope things are calmer at your end.
I sometimes wonder whether it’s the time of year, or whether being in our late 40s with teenage sons means that this is simply a busy time of life. Either way, tomorrow is Saturday, and I’m looking forward to a little downtime.
Wishing you all a brilliant and hopefully restful weekend!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 