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The literal meaning of the word companion is ‘the one with whom I break bread’. I feel that power – to bring people together – every time I make a loaf. I keep baking and trust that the future will hold so many potential around-the-table gatherings that it’ll make my heart sing; just like working the dough does. Love from my kitchen to yours. x

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The literal meaning of the word companion is ‘the one with whom I break bread’. I feel that power – to bring people together – every time I make a loaf. I keep baking and trust that the future will hold so many potential around-the-table gatherings that it’ll make my heart sing; just like working the dough does. Love from my kitchen to yours. x

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If you want to bake sourdough but aren’t, what is the biggest thing that’s stopping you? . I have spent a lot of the last year and a half teaching myself sourdough, focusing on wholegrains and local flour. It has brought me so much. And I want to pass that on. . So, if you’re struggling to bake it, tell me where you are having problems; what you’re struggling with. I’ll take that and try to figure out how I can mix it with my own skills and turn out something that’ll help people move on. . In addition, if you want to help me out, please feel free to share/re-post this. The more people I can reach, the better I’ll get at figuring out how to get more beautiful loaves out there. A big THANK YOU!

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If you want to bake sourdough but aren’t, what is the biggest thing that’s stopping you?
.
I have spent a lot of the last year and a half teaching myself sourdough, focusing on wholegrains and local flour. It has brought me so much. And I want to pass that on.
.
So, if you’re struggling to bake it, tell me where you are having problems; what you’re struggling with. I’ll take that and try to figure out how I can mix it with my own skills and turn out something that’ll help people move on.
.
In addition, if you want to help me out, please feel free to share/re-post this. The more people I can reach, the better I’ll get at figuring out how to get more beautiful loaves out there. A big THANK YOU!

… Read More

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I’ve always found the phrase ‘comfort food’ difficult. It’s because, as a child, I abused ‘comfort’ food. I turned to sugar to make life seem OK and was an obese teen who weighed 20 stone (280lbs). Comfort food for me then was anything sweet and creamy – think condensed milk (I used to eat it from the can with a spoon). . Despite losing half my body weight between the ages of 20 and 21, and not having had weight issues for many years, that energy hasn’t left me. Occasionally, on bad days, having a little honey, or a square of 90% chocolate feels like the panic-ridden edge of a slope; a slope where I just fall, fall, fall into the oblivion of how I used to be. . But I know that’s an echo and I remember who I am now. I choose to breathe, to create, to look at the hills, to play with my son. And with the space that those moments afford, I see just how damn far I have come. I have sweet and creamy foods regularly and enjoy them. Full stop. I express myself in all the ways I couldn’t even imagine doing when I was that ‘fat’ girl turning to a bag of ‘goodies’. And I’ve found other foods that bring me comfort – it’s not all about sweet/unctuous anymore. Here’s one: Whole spelt grains that I’ve sprouted, cooked and served warm with spoons of peanut butter and a big blob of miso. I mix it all together and watch the colours change. I hold the bowl in my hands and feel it’s warmth. I smell the salt, the peanuts and the grain’s earthy aroma. It’s comforting and beautiful. . Thank you @julskitchen for your comfort food podcast and the musings it brought out of me today.

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I’ve always found the phrase ‘comfort food’ difficult. It’s because, as a child, I abused ‘comfort’ food. I turned to sugar to make life seem OK and was an obese teen who weighed 20 stone (280lbs). Comfort food for me then was anything sweet and creamy – think condensed milk (I used to eat it from the can with a spoon).
.
Despite losing half my body weight between the ages of 20 and 21, and not having had weight issues for many years, that energy hasn’t left me. Occasionally, on bad days, having a little honey, or a square of 90% chocolate feels like the panic-ridden edge of a slope; a slope where I just fall, fall, fall into the oblivion of how I used to be.
.
But I know that’s an echo and I remember who I am now. I choose to breathe, to create, to look at the hills, to play with my son. And with the space that those moments afford, I see just how damn far I have come. I have sweet and creamy foods regularly and enjoy them. Full stop. I express myself in all the ways I couldn’t even imagine doing when I was that ‘fat’ girl turning to a bag of ‘goodies’. And I’ve found other foods that bring me comfort – it’s not all about sweet/unctuous anymore. Here’s one: Whole spelt grains that I’ve sprouted, cooked and served warm with spoons of peanut butter and a big blob of miso. I mix it all together and watch the colours change. I hold the bowl in my hands and feel it’s warmth. I smell the salt, the peanuts and the grain’s earthy aroma. It’s comforting and beautiful.
.
Thank you @julskitchen for your comfort food podcast and the musings it brought out of me today.

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I am totally in love with the recent podcast series ‘Cereal’ from @farmerama_radio. Yesterday I listened to episode 5, about sourdough and bakers who are championing local flour, community projects and real bread. . Two threads from it are filling my thoughts right now: . 1 – Removing commodity from our food system at every level. . This makes me want to ask, how can we get more people making sourdough at home? I think the *making* is the key, as when you start doing that you are naturally led to questions such as ‘where does my flour come from?’ . 2 – Around 1/3 of bread in the UK ends up in the bin. . This astounds me. I moved from the UK to Italy recently – a country that has an incredibly rich history in its ‘cucina povera’ of making stale bread taste a.m.a.z.i.n.g. in thousands of ways. I am reading a book by a local food author/historian which includes recipes like this right now. It might not solve all this problem, but we need to get people cooking with old bread. . Can you tell how fired up I am?! I am so passionate about local food and there’s nowhere I feel that more than in my bread-making. If you’ve any thoughts, experiences or advice to share, I’d welcome it. I’d also really recommend listening to the Farmerama podcast. . And, yes, almost forgot, I posted a picture here. This is today’s local spelt flour loaf. I am totally in love with not scoring my bread. Look at the beauty of that burst!

by

I am totally in love with the recent podcast series ‘Cereal’ from @farmerama_radio. Yesterday I listened to episode 5, about sourdough and bakers who are championing local flour, community projects and real bread.
.
Two threads from it are filling my thoughts right now:
.
1 – Removing commodity from our food system at every level.
.
This makes me want to ask, how can we get more people making sourdough at home? I think the *making* is the key, as when you start doing that you are naturally led to questions such as ‘where does my flour come from?’
.
2 – Around 1/3 of bread in the UK ends up in the bin.
.
This astounds me. I moved from the UK to Italy recently – a country that has an incredibly rich history in its ‘cucina povera’ of making stale bread taste a.m.a.z.i.n.g. in thousands of ways. I am reading a book by a local food author/historian which includes recipes like this right now. It might not solve all this problem, but we need to get people cooking with old bread.
.
Can you tell how fired up I am?! I am so passionate about local food and there’s nowhere I feel that more than in my bread-making. If you’ve any thoughts, experiences or advice to share, I’d welcome it. I’d also really recommend listening to the Farmerama podcast.
.
And, yes, almost forgot, I posted a picture here. This is today’s local spelt flour loaf. I am totally in love with not scoring my bread. Look at the beauty of that burst!

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I am extending the #ancestralcookup to cover the whole of April. If you want to join in, it’s a beef and barley stew, and there are tonnes of options for you to use what you can get hold of in your part of the world. . The template recipe is linked in my profile here. Check that out, cook it up and then post a pic and let me know how your version turned out. It’s a fun way for both me and you to feel part of a community of awesome homecooks who love nutrient-dense foods. . We are lunching on it again today. Because I really love crunch, I got my 6-year old to be in charge of frying up chucks of my sourdough bread in lard to top it. It was yum!

by

I am extending the #ancestralcookup to cover the whole of April. If you want to join in, it’s a beef and barley stew, and there are tonnes of options for you to use what you can get hold of in your part of the world.
.
The template recipe is linked in my profile here. Check that out, cook it up and then post a pic and let me know how your version turned out. It’s a fun way for both me and you to feel part of a community of awesome homecooks who love nutrient-dense foods.
.
We are lunching on it again today. Because I really love crunch, I got my 6-year old to be in charge of frying up chucks of my sourdough bread in lard to top it. It was yum!

… Read More

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This is the view from my kitchen window. We found this place to live about 4 weeks before the corona lockdown in Italy. Before that, because of an unforeseeable disaster, we were without a home for 2 months. I am so, so grateful we found this place before everything shut. And I feel so, so blessed that I can see green, trees, hills and birds whenever I want.

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This is the view from my kitchen window. We found this place to live about 4 weeks before the corona lockdown in Italy. Before that, because of an unforeseeable disaster, we were without a home for 2 months. I am so, so grateful we found this place before everything shut. And I feel so, so blessed that I can see green, trees, hills and birds whenever I want.

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Breakfast is the one meal we don’t usually eat together as a family. Both my hubby and I practise intermittent fasting: I go from 6pm until 10am not eating and he does 6pm till 11.30am. There’s no way my little boy can do that, so he usually eats earlier. Habits are good to break and Sundays we usually have a ‘special’ breakfast together. . Today it was fermented spelt porridge. I soaked the spelt berries for 24 hours with some whey, then let them sprout. When they had tails, I blended them with a little more whey. I then left them overnight to ferment. We cooked them up with this morning. My hubby added goat kefir, apple and soaked/dehydrated walnuts. My son had banana, miso (yes, I know, with banana – he’s bonkers :-)) and cashews. I had ground flax seed, walnuts, miso and a spoon of peanut butter. We all added copious coconut oil. . Eating together, consciously, makes the start of a special day even specialer. Easter love to everyone who got (and didn’t get!) this far into my ramblings!

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Breakfast is the one meal we don’t usually eat together as a family. Both my hubby and I practise intermittent fasting: I go from 6pm until 10am not eating and he does 6pm till 11.30am. There’s no way my little boy can do that, so he usually eats earlier. Habits are good to break and Sundays we usually have a ‘special’ breakfast together.
.
Today it was fermented spelt porridge. I soaked the spelt berries for 24 hours with some whey, then let them sprout. When they had tails, I blended them with a little more whey. I then left them overnight to ferment. We cooked them up with this morning. My hubby added goat kefir, apple and soaked/dehydrated walnuts. My son had banana, miso (yes, I know, with banana – he’s bonkers :-)) and cashews. I had ground flax seed, walnuts, miso and a spoon of peanut butter. We all added copious coconut oil.
.
Eating together, consciously, makes the start of a special day even specialer. Easter love to everyone who got (and didn’t get!) this far into my ramblings!

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Yes, they’re banana skins! Cool, weird, amazing, hey? I’m making #bananaskinvinegar. It’s tucked away nicely now in my fermenting nook; going to be there a couple of months, I think. Thank you @mark_diacono for the idea. I used honey, not maple syrup. And @soilassociation I’m carrying on saving my skins to make the banana skin curry soon.

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Yes, they’re banana skins! Cool, weird, amazing, hey? I’m making #bananaskinvinegar. It’s tucked away nicely now in my fermenting nook; going to be there a couple of months, I think. Thank you @mark_diacono for the idea. I used honey, not maple syrup. And @soilassociation I’m carrying on saving my skins to make the banana skin curry soon.

… Read More

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There is still time for you to join me in the #ancestralcookup. We are making beef and barley stew together! At mine, we are enjoying it again for lunch – with home-made soda bread, goat’s butter and some sauerkraut. Check out the link in my bio for all the details of how to join in – I’d love to cook with you :-)

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There is still time for you to join me in the #ancestralcookup. We are making beef and barley stew together! At mine, we are enjoying it again for lunch – with home-made soda bread, goat’s butter and some sauerkraut. Check out the link in my bio for all the details of how to join in – I’d love to cook with you 🙂

… Read More