Month: January 2021

York, United Kingdom

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date January 30, 2021

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York

I was working in Northern England last year in the Scarborough area (also a beautiful spot) and had time for a quick day trip to the ancient city of York. Founded in 71 AD by the Romans, York has a plethora of history presenting itself in multitudes of architecture at every turn.

From Scarborough it is easy to hop on the train in the morning, spend the day wandering around the city, enjoy a meal and a pint and catch the late afternoon train back to Scarborough.

Very close to the train station is the National Railway Museum – a must see for anyone remotely interested in the history of rail.

Next wander into the heart of the city past York Minstrel Cathedral and if lucky enough to be there when the bells are ringing it is absolutely breathtaking!

Wander further into the centre along the narrow cobbled streets and if a cat lover, the Cat Gallery is a quirky little stop and if you have time there is a self-guided cat trail taking you into various sections of the city including the Shambles where the goal is to find cat statues that have been placed in odd and curious places such as on the sides of buildings.

https://www.visityork.org/explore/york-cat-trail-p801381

The Shambles is a very old street in the heart of the city with old timber framed buildings and cobbled streets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shambles

There are some lovely chocolate shops making fresh chocolates daily as well as a multitude of fine tea shops with a variety of local blends.

Tags Cat Gallery, North Yorkshire, Rail Museum, Scarborough, Shambles, UK, York, York Minster

Food Recipes

Basic Bread

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date January 30, 2021

This recipe is for 2 loaves of what I call basic bread. It is similar to what I learned to make from my Mom growing up on the farm. It uses dry yeast and is made on the same day as baking; there is no levain or poolish although it is easy to separate out a portion of the flour / water and the yeast the night before if you want to try it.

Makes two large loaves approximately 700g each or three smaller ones just under 500g each or make two decent sized loaves of 550g and use the extra dough to make a large cinnamon roll or deep fried scone – a treat for the baker!

1 tbsp yeast (~20 g)

Bloom in ~1/3 c of warm water

175 g milk

40 g sugar

75 g butter

Heat milk , butter and sugar to scald; remove from heat and add 175 g cold water to cool the mixture.

Add 1 beaten egg to the cooled milk mixture.

Weigh 730 g flour – can use a mix of bread flour and All-purpose or all of one or the other. In this particular case I used 400 g of bread flour, 280 g AP and 50 g dark rye flour.

20 g salt

If using a mixer, weigh flour and salt into the bowl, add milk mixture and bloomed yeast. Mix on low with bread hook approximately 10 min. Scrape the sides of the bowl; a few grams of extra flour may be needed but do not add too much.

Turn out onto floured surface and lightly knead until soft and smooth, not sticky, about 5 minutes. Place into clean bowl, cover and set in a warm place to double about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Turn onto floured surface and fold into itself to remove the gas and return to the bowl, cover to rise to double about 45 minutes.

Turn onto floured surface and separate into portions for loaves (see above weights and options).

If using metal loaf pans, grease the pans before shaping the loaves and placing into the pans to proof. Cover to proof before baking.

Heat oven to 425 F whilst bread is proofing.

Bake to golden brown about 35-40 minutes. For the first 15 minutes of baking the oven can be sprayed with a mister every 5 minutes to enhance the golden crust.

Bon Appetit!

Tags Basic bread, Bread

Food Recipes

MB Sourdough Bread (1 cup starter)

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date January 20, 2021

MB Sourdough Bread (1 cup starter)

This recipe for sourdough is denser than the traditional sourdough with many ‘holes’ in the bread. I wanted to experiment with various additions to get a loaf with less holes that still retained a nice sourdough flavour.

Day 1 Evening:

Make a poolish the night before planning to bake bread:

230 g (about 1 cup) of fed sourdough starter

200 g bread flour or All-Purpose (AP) or mix of both

200 g warm water

Mix together well, cover and place in a warm place for 10 to 14 hours.

Day 2 the Bake:

Method:

Heat to scald but not boil:

250 g milk

40 g sugar (about 2 tbsp)

Remove and add:

250 g Cold water to cool the mixture

Pour the milk mixture into mixer bowl and add flour:

780 g flour – can use bread flour or AP or a mixture of both

15 – 20 g salt

Add the poolish mixture.

Mix with bread hook on low about 5 minutes then increase to medium-low speed for another 5 minutes.

Dough will still be sticky, do not keep adding flour.

Turn out onto a well-floured surface and fold the dough over itself to work in the flour on the surface.

More flour is needed at this point – maybe another 1/3 cup but do not add too much. The dough is soft and very flexible but should not stick to your fingers.

Place into a clean bowl, cover with a towel and put in warm place to rise for 2- 3 hours.

The dough should double in volume in 2 – 3 hours.

Once doubled, turn out onto floured surface and degas by folding over upon itself. It is not necessary to ‘punch down forcefully!’

Return dough to the bowl to rise a second time approximately 1-2 hours.

Degas the dough on a floured surface by folding over and into itself and cut into two portions (or three smaller ones). Let rest 5 – 10 minutes then form into loaves by folding and place into bannetons upside down seam side up. The loaves will be turned into the hot pans thus the bottom of the loaf becomes the top of the loaf.

Cover and let rise in a warm place approximately 45 minutes to one hour or enough for the loaves to almost double in size.