Long weekends,
call for longer sleeps,
longer conversations,
longer socks,
long sips of hot chai
and lemon cake.
Lemon and Olive Oil Cake
From here on in, all long weekends held in June will be marked by the baking of lemon cakes. (Best eaten in colourful socks, sipping chai and surrounded by excitable conversation.)
Baking your own sourdough bread from a little naturally fermented flour and water (starter) is one of those simple things in life that’s hard to move away from once you begin. Being able to dehydrate it and then rehydrate it, essentially bringing it back to life again is another handy additional skill to have as a sourdough baker.
Being a home baker, means that on the odd occasion I’m asked for a some starter to get people going with their own sourdough journey. It’s something that is forever growing and being used, so it’s easy enough to do and if it encourages someone to get cracking with baking the ‘good stuff’, well, I’d like to be a part of that.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to first, dry the starter if you are the giver and how to revive it if you are the recipient.
How to Dehydrate your Sourdough Starter
Sourdough Starter– refreshed and bubbling. The more alive it is, the easier it will be to trap that fermented goodness and revamp it again down the track.
Sun– you can use a dehydrator or an oven on low, but if you have access to sun, use it.
First up, spread some of your refreshed starter on a paper lined baking tray. Thick or thin is up to you, depends on how long you have and sun quantities. Obviously the thicker it is, the longer it will take.
If you can cover it at all with some fine wire mesh, or muslin do so. This keeps out any nosy bugs that might be keen to check out what’s going on.
Keep it in the sun until it’s nice and dried.
Break off into small flakes and store in a glass jar, or alternatively grind your dried starter in a blender and again store in a clean glass jar.
And now pass it on to someone who will love it as much as you will!
How to Rehydrate your Sourdough Starter
25g dried starter
80mls tepid water (1/3 cup)
50g flour (1/3 cup)
Mix the three ingredients together in a ceramic bowl (at say 6am.) Cover it, muslin and a rubber band, beeswax cover or a loosely fitted lid of a glass jar.
Leave it in a warm spot- top of the fridge is good during winter or just the kitchen bench top over the warmer months. At 6am the next day, add 80mls of water and 50g of flour to the mixture, stir it through and cover it again. Back to the warm spot.
At 6am the following morning, add a further 200mls water and 150g flour. Mix together and cover, leaving in the warm spot. As the day progresses check it for bubbles, if it looks a little sluggish leave it for another 24hours and if it’s got lots of happy bubbles action going on, you can make up a dough about 12 hours later- say 6pm.
Also, make sure you have a good smell of it. If it smells like flour and water it’s not ready, if it smells sourdoughy it’s getting ready to rock. Make sure before you make up your dough, you leave some aside to keep as your mother, which can now be stored in the fridge.
***************
If you are keen as a bean to get started with your own sourdough baking journey and can’t access any starter, I’m happy to post a few starters out if you would like to trade something with me. I’m not doing this for coins, but I would love in return a postcard, mixed tape of your favourite Wham songs, or picture of you at your favourite corner of the world- whatever you want! Drop me a line at…
cityhippyfarmgirl (at) gmail (dot) com.
Sorry international peeps, Australia only at this stage.
**************
If you would like more information on baking sourdough, there is a backlog of info within here.
How to bake a basic sourdough loaf
How to create your own sourdough starter from scratch…it’s easy, promise.
If you have any further specific questions please read through the comments of this post here. There are 95 comments, which equals to a whole bunch of potential information.
If you still have further questions, pop them into the comments and I will do my best at answering them a little further down the track.
Happy baking people!
Saturday May 21st saw the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield with a little transformation. Transformed into something quite appealing indeed for many of the locals and visitors on the day. What this tiny corner of Mayfield had gone and done on this Autumnal day in May was it turned itself into a, better block.
This wasn’t the first Better Block I’d been to. Long term readers might remember a post on the first Clovelly one in Sydney a few years back. While completely different in what they wanted to do, one thing was a simple theme. They wanted something better than what they had.
The Better Block concept was one that came out of Antonio, USA, a few years back. The concept was a common one for people around the world and adopted (officially and unofficially by many). Whether as permanent changes or simply playing with ideas and getting locals more connected, talking about what they would like to see done differently to the area.
This is a community model of care that I whole heartedly embrace. Watching the whole day come together and seeing the excitement on people’s faces as they begin to visualise something different to what they currently have. It’s exciting and quite inspiring to watch.
Best of luck Mayfield. I think you’ve got something quite wonderful going on.
See here for more pictures from the day.
With 10 days to go before winter technically starts, Autumn isn’t looking overly well…autumnal.
As I write this it’s a sunny 26C, the sea temperature is as lovely as it was in peak summer. The tomatoes are still flourishing, again like mid summer. The sun is still with a bite to it that makes you seek shade, sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat, (responsible sun use in this country is not something to be taken lightly.)
While a recent trip to the Blue Mountains saw lots of beautiful Autumn colour changes, this isn’t particularly evident closer to sea level. It’s simply too warm, too dry and with that I have a garden regularly gasping for water.
I live in an area where there should be seasonal changes showing by now, and when those differences are rather minute?
I can’t help but be a bit worried.
***************
How about you? Are your seasons as they should be? Is there rain?
The clock on the wall says,
morning sun,
the plants say water me…please.
The unsung tomatoes say,
nearly there.
The protestors on the beach say
time is running out.
The kids beg for dinner,
it must be dinner time.
The pup at the door says
time to let her out.
The piled books by the bed side
say there’s not enough time.
The stars in the sky remind me
of infinite time.
A pile of letters both written and received,
whisper,
it’s simply been too much time…
What time is it?
****************
More protest photos from the Newcastle Break Free 2016 event here.
My mum gave me this book last Christmas, The Nordic Cookbook. It was one of those presents where you unwrap it and have a small excited titter just on running your fingers over the front cover. (Much like the time when she gave me a Figgio plate without knowing what it is was, just knowing that I would like it.)
On reading the book, I wasn’t disappointed. Skimming the pages, and I feel like I’m sitting in some snug Nordic kitchen drinking tea…
…there’s a soft snow gently coming down outside, the kids are calmly playing a board game, while we all wear (similar in pattern) knitted reindeer sweaters. With a tidy plateful of almond bars on the kitchen counter I reach for one to deftly dunk into my steaming mug of tea, I catch a cheeky smile from my loving partner across the subtly decorated effortless styled room…
Ahh, wait. Hang on a sec, seems I got carried away. That last part must have been an IKEA catalogue I’d seen.
Back to the chaos of reality.
The kids are tearing around laser blammering each other, the dog is sinking her puppy teeth into a couch leg once more. Everything is completely mismatched, the autumn weather is unseasonably warm for this time of year (thank you climate change), partner has disappeared under several piles of washing needing somehow to be dried before tomorrow, and tea may yet have to be rewarmed (again) due to distractions and time constraints of drinking it hot within a 15 minute advisable time frame. (Tepid at best on a regular basis.)
Thankfully I’ve been playing with my own Nordic Almond Rusk recipe, and no one has managed to break the Figgio (as yet.)
Nordic Almond Bars
150g softened butter
150g sugar
150g almond meal
2 tablespoons of honey
2 eggs
300g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp almond aroma * (if you love it, omit if you don’t)
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Then give a quick knead on a lightly floured surface.
Divide mixture into three even fat log shaped rolls, lay on a lined baking tray and bake at 200C for approximately 25 minutes. Take logs out, and allow them to cool (this part is important) for about 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 180C, then carefully slice on the diagonal with a serrated bread knife, and lay them back on the tray.
Continue to bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until just a light golden. Swapping sides mid way through.
Eating these will guarantee crumbs on any nordic themed reindeer sweaters.
Today is International Permaculture Day and I thought I would have a little look at the basis of what permaculture actually is, and what it means, in an every day living kind of way?
Whether you live in a tiny busy city apartment or 1000 hectare farm out the back of….well, somewhere well out the back. Permaculture is something that can be easily infused into every day living.
In nutshell, it’s a way of living that designs and builds a system that incorporates 3 ethics- Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share.
Connected productive living within ourselves, our families and our communities…without the destructive environmental cost. Sounds pretty good right?
Break the word down and you’ve got PERMANENT AGRICULTURE, that doesn’t mean you have a permanent collection of farm hands and cattle roaming over your fields. That means you’ve got a system in play that means you’re accountable for your own living, (well as much as possible anyway. )
Still with me? Right so what does this all mean to me and for our family of five living in a regular every day kinda urban city setting?
First up, let’s look at the 12 principles that permaculture is based on. I’ve found some will be used more than others depending on our context at the time and on the day. Basically this is daily living stuff though.
As you can see, this isn’t just out in the garden. This is life living skills, numbered beautifully from 1 to 12.
Exploring all the options and making sure everything is reasonably adaptable. What works for me now, might well, need to work differently in the future. Things are constantly changing and tweaking things are necessary dependent on what’s going on around us at the time.
Also, what’s your context? What works for me, may not work for the next person.
A tiny example which up until lately, I hadn’t considered a whole lot was the environmental impact of having a dog or a pet in general. Sure I knew the pet food industry was just as crap as our own mainstream food in many ways but until I was actually standing there in the pet food aisles, I didn’t realise just how ridiculous things really were. Sugar, salt, colourings and food miles for our beloved fur beast? You betcha.
Dog food I manoeuvred my way through and poo is now being collected in cornstarch bags (if out) and deposited into a worm tower in an untouched corner of the yard if at home. (#6 Produce no waste.)
Worm towers are also favoured within our wicking beds (with an addition of compost and food scraps rather than dog poo.)
While we are still relatively new to our current living environment, permaculture is a system of living that in some shape or form I have been happily living in different contexts from the very beginning.
Some things have changed, some things will quietly remain very similar and some, will simply grow and expand like a 10 year olds legs over summer holidays, (or something like that.) It’s exciting stuff and most of the time it feels really positive to be moving forward like this, (and when it doesn’t, there’s always a wonderful clean slate called tomorrow.)
Here’s five minutes with David Holgrem (co-originator of the permaculture concept) on how we can change the world with permaculture thinking…what a lovely man 🙂
****************
If you’re new to permaculture and not sure where to dive in, here’s a few places to kickstart a whole new way of thinking, living and celebrating life in general.
International Permaculture Day
Permaculture Principles– I adore their yearly calendar. The pictures are inspirational, moon planting incredibly helpful and the little squares are big enough to scribble all your daily ‘stuff’.
Milkwood– whether it’s a hands on course or the goodness of online info.
Pip Magazine– Permaculture in a wonderful magazine format.
Loving…
Small paws that have joined our 95% of the time chaotic household. It made no sense what so ever to get a whippet pup, none. Often things in life really don’t make sense but you surge forward anyway. People say having a pup, is like having another child, (and dear readers, it really is.)
Loving…
Autumn light. I will never, ever, get tired of the magical light of autumn. Whether it’s early morning sunrises or afternoon shadows. It’s divine, and I can’t get enough of it.
****************
What are you loving at the moment?
[“Often life’s pleasures pass us by simply because we don’t take a moment to focus on them… Make a point of noticing everyday something that uplifts your spirit or tickles your heart… Stop to breathe in the joy of this moment and then tell someone about it. Share your joy and revel in it. When your joy is savoured, and then shared, it is magnified…” ROBIN GRILLE]
When you are creating a garden from scratch, and prior to that, most of your gardening glory has been generally from the potted kind. Lessons are going to be learnt, and swiftly so. I thought I would share ten recent lessons, (and I’m sure as eggs, there will be ten more waiting in the wings.)
10 (City Permaculture Patch) Lessons Learnt in 3 Months
* I recently did another post all about becoming a compost geek over on the Milkwood if you are interested. Compost, it’s damn important stuff!
Not super sweet, uses your favourite seasonal apples and is a little different to the regular cake like Apple Tea Loaf of times before. These apple baked goodies were eaten 77 times quicker than what it took to make them (or something like that anyway.)
Baked goods have long been a regular in my kitchen (and blog pages) with a steady stream of hungry bellies constantly on the look out for something else to eat, these were made to fill that role. If only momentarily. Something slightly different to my usual retort of…well if you are hungry, go eat an apple.
Or today, eat an apple tea bread!
Now, the traditional Apple Tea Loaf is something that conjures up imagery of proper tea cups, rainy afternoons and a little polite conversation.
Never one for convention, I thought I’d shake that up a bit. With waiting mugs, slurps of hot chai, coffee and cold milk. A warm sunny morning, celebrating another birthday gone by for a loved one. Snatched noisy conversations were had between mouthfuls of Apple Tea Bread, (this is more how we roll round these parts anyway.)
Apple Tea Bread
300g sourdough starter (*add an extra teaspoon of dried yeast if you aren’t using sourdough)
1 tsp dried yeast
4 1/2 (675g) cups strong bakers flour
375mls water (approximate)
100g softened butter
100g (1/2 cup) raw sugar
1 tsp salt
Middle Part
about four apples thinly sliced
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tblsp raw sugar
approx 50g extra butter into 16 small cubes
Add all ingredients together except softened butter and salt- either by hand or mixer. If using a mixer, do so for about ten minutes. You want that dough really worked before adding the butter in, the gluten needs to be well-developed.
Gradually add your cubed softened butter into the dough, also adding the salt. Continue to mix for a further ten minutes. If doing by hand, work it in well.
Dough should look smooth and coming together off the sides of the bowl.
Place a damp tea towel or plastic shopping bag over the top of the bowl. This creates a gentle humid environment for your bread to rise. Leave it for an hour or so.
On to a really lightly floured surface, give your dough a brief three-way fold or knock back. Back into the bowl for another hour or so.
Divide your dough into 32 equal portions, (this recipe makes roughly 16 apple tea breads.) Rolling 16 of them into balls, which are then flattened and rolled into round discs, placing them on to your baking trays.
Divide the other 16 portions in half again, creating 32, and roll each portion into long sausage type shapes. Gently twist the two snakes around each other, in a rope like fashion placing them around the edge of the round dough disc.
Place finely sliced apple in the middle and allow to prove for roughly another hour or so, (this really depends on the season, if it’s hot, it’s quicker!)
Place a tiny cube of cold butter within the circle of the dough and sprinkle with a little extra sugar and cinnamon.* Bake at 200C for approximately 20 minutes.
* If you would like to have these for breakfast, just make them up the night before, pop them on a tray, cover them, and leave them overnight in the fridge. All ready to be baked in the morning.
I’ve had a few questions over time on how I seemingly get so many things done in the day. I thought it might be easier to do a post, dispel a few illusions and set the base line once more.
First up stop cleaning, really just stop. Keep things generally tidy if you need to, or have one corner that is deliciously tidy, but apart from that, there are a whole lot more important things to do. Just leave it unless it’s absolutely necessary.
So what’s necessary you say?
Well that’s up to you, but scrubbing the toilet on a daily basis sure isn’t one of them and I’d rather be defined by the way my creativity breaks out rather than how well I keep the bathroom clean, (really, no one else cares.)
Secondly, work out what’s important to you, (hence the dropping of any excessive cleaning). If you really want to design a website, paint a ten foot canvas, draft a novel, draw up a permaculture garden, join an acapella group, or take pictures then do it. Don’t just talk about wanting to do it. Follow those words, and walk that talk. I know it’s not easy, (and it’s really not!) to find and make the time but if you nudge yourself closer and closer, five minutes here and there, make the plans, and start, it’s a beginning, and everything has a beginning.
Third point, set aside time each day/ once a week/ once a month to do what makes your heart sing and makes those excited bubbles in your belly pop. This is fuel, creative fuel and for me, no matter in what shape or form it is, it all goes into my own personal bank.
I like writing, and I like taking photos. I also up until recently have always had a child or children at home with me all the time. A long with the regular activities during the day that we do, I always set aside ‘time for me’. While it sounds indulgent, it’s what I can do at this stage, so I roll with it. I make sure she’s had her lunch, my coffee is ready and there is a dvd or activity ready to roll. This doesn’t hold her long, she always wants more food, and the interruptions can sometimes be every 30 seconds. But I do what I can within that allocated ‘me time’. If that means she’s sitting on my lap, head butting me like a young goat and placing her hands over mine as I (we) type well than that’s the way I get things done. Clearly I’m not going to win any Pulitzer prize winner novel-writing done in this manner, but…it gets some things done. Tiny nibbles of things done anyway. If I get to feel even just a teensy bit that I’ve done something I’ve wanted to do, I feel better for it. (Even if it’s just editing some photos…or a photo. I did it, and hooray!)
Number four, if I want absolute solitude time I have to either stay up later at night once everyone else has been tucked safely into bed or get up earlier than everyone else. I alternate between the early or late depending on what’s been happening. I’m naturally more of a morning person, but sometimes I just need more sleep. Again, I roll with it.
Which brings me to the very important number five point. Coffee. None of this instant stuff, but instead pure coffee. A simple stove top coffee pot is the highlight of my day. Just the one cup mind you, and it’s all perfectly timed that caffeine hit. Like I said, I get things ready before hand if I can at all. If that means grinding beans the night before in order to get that coffee made and sipped while the opening credits are being rolled out on the kiddo’s dvd or colouring in session. Well then that’s what needs to be done.
This book was a huge eye opener for me, in terms of reading how other creative woman juggled motherhood and creativity.
And this book too was also a huge eye opener as the comparison between the two books was bloody incredible.
Now I promise there’s no creative mother sainthood here, some days it all seems to slot in beautifully and other days…well there’s always tomorrow right?
These precious kids aren’t small forever and but then again life isn’t particularly long either. So for me it’s about squeezing as much into the cracks of the day as possible, because while my children are incredibly important to me. So is my creativity.
***********
This post is part two in a series on creativity.
Loving… that moment when your son happily tells their father that they’ve eaten hot cross buns for three meals in a row! Not loving the fact that I kind of hadn’t noticed, but loving I was told after it all, and hey they were fed weren’t they? And that’s surely the main thing, right?…errr right?!
Loving…growing cosmos, lots and lots of them.
Loving…Exploring new places along old country roads.
Loving…late night visits to closed sea pools with full moons rising over the sea, and opportunities for wild kids to run just that bit wilder. Doing that, is seriously soul filling stuff after a week of things being fairly rubbish. (Now, did I mention that I had fed my kids unknowingly hot cross buns three meals in a row?)
Loving…new days.
This years Hot Cross Bun Recipe…juuuussst in case, you too run out of meal ideas.
Hot Cross Buns
300g sourdough starter
1 tsp dried yeast
4 1/2 cups strong bakers flour
375mls water (approximate)
handful of chopped dried apricots (or whatever dried fruit you like)
handful of chocolate buttons (optional)
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
100g (1/2 cup) raw sugar
100g softened butter
1 tsp salt
Add all ingredients together except softened butter and salt- either by hand or mixer. If using a mixer, do so for about ten minutes. You want that dough really worked before adding the butter in, the gluten needs to be well developed.
Gradually add your cubed softened butter into the dough, also adding the salt. Continue to mix for a further ten minutes. If doing by hand, work it well.
Dough should look smooth and coming together off the sides of the bowl.
Place a damp tea towel or plastic shopping bag over the top of the bowl. This creates a gentle humid environment for your bread to rise. Leave it for an hour or so.
On to a really lightly floured surface, give your dough a brief three way fold or knock back. Back into the bowl for another hour or so.
Divide your dough into equal portions, (this recipe makes roughly 16 portions) rolling them into balls and then on to your baking trays. Allow them to prove for roughly another 1-3 hours, (depends on the temperature- dough should neither spring back or leave an indent) or overnight in the fridge. Again covered by either a damp tea towel or plastic shopping bag.
Crosses
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
100-125mls water
2 tbls raw sugar
Mix ingredients together and use a piping bag to squeeze out crosses just before popping buns in the oven.
Bake at 200C for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until golden.
Sugar Glaze
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup water
Heat the glaze and brush buns as soon as they are out of the oven.
Eat with enthusiasm.
****************
Ever given your kids the same meal three times in a row unknowingly? Had a bit of a rubbish week, with the weekend being the perfect antidote?
Tell me, what are you loving at the moment?
[“Often life’s pleasures pass us by simply because we don’t take a moment to focus on them… Make a point of noticing everyday something that uplifts your spirit or tickles your heart… Stop to breathe in the joy of this moment and then tell someone about it. Share your joy and revel in it. When your joy is savoured, and then shared, it is magnified…” ROBIN GRILLE]
****************
cityhippyfarmgirl 
