Granny square baby blanket

Another baby on the way. Not mine I hasten to add, but my nephew and wife will become proud parents this summer. It's not like me to be ready with a home made gift in plenty of time, but this time I can declare that a blanket for the baby is ready.....nearly. I needed a diversion from loop stitch which is quite hard on the fingers so inspired by daughter E's beginner foray into crochet, I started some simple granny squares with some wool designated for sheep (I think I have vastly over catered for the sheep......unless I want to make a truly impressive flock). Then I went wild and ordered some wool, but what colours to choose? I didn't want baby pastels but some colours with a bit of pop. I'm not sure my choices worked quite as intended, but it's done now so will have to do. I know I over analyse and become super critical. Sometimes I agonise for ages and then just flipping well get on with it and be done with it. I need to cut down on the agonising bit. Well, here is the almost finished blanket - just a bit of edging to finish, and it could probably do with some blocking, but I doubt it will get the full treatment........

It was very quick to make as it has no colour changes except for the last row. The last row in white was for two reasons; it provides a uniform frame for the different colours which allows them to stand out, and then it makes it easy to join the squares together so that you can do it quickly without worrying that the stitches aren't even. In other words it hides a multitude of sins (hee hee). I crocheted them together because it makes a nice ridged row on the right side. The final row is just a bit of shell edging for speed.

As usual I'm already planning the next thing, although I have some white (sheep coloured) squares which didn't make the final cut when trying out colour combinations. A white square with a white border just doesn't work at all. I did try a darker heather'y purple colour for a border and it looked really nice but it just didn't seem right for a baby blanket, so white it was. I also undid the last row of every square and replaced it with white row, the reason being that they seemed too big and out of proportion for a baby blanket. It would have been fine for an adult size throw or blanket, but all wrong for babies, at least in my eyes (yet more procrastination). This now means that I have lots of tiny balls of wool to use up. I made a trial square with two colours and might continue with this to make another little blanket or a cushion....argghhh, stop with the granny squares. I need to make sheep.........

Cromford Canal Walk

Beautiful sunshine and the need for some fresh air took us to Cromford Canal; one of our favourite places since the children were small. Cromford is a world heritage site and it still surprises me that the canal at Cromford was once joined up with the underground canal tunnel in the valley overlooked by our barns, even though I've grown up in the area. Anyway, Cromford is a lovely place to visit as there are tea rooms and shops in the old Arkwright mills and nice gentle walk along the canal suitable for anyone. We opted to walk along the canal and then cross over and head up the High Peak Trail towards Black Rocks. The walk was originally a steam pump driven railway used for transporting millstone from the quarries to the barges on the canal. It's a steep walk that really gets your heart pumping. There are fewer people on this stretch as well although there is always someone who runs past you when you are huffing and puffing just walking. We stopped at the top for a picnic of cheese scones and fruit, taking in the glorious view. You can see for miles across the valley. The weather closed in a bit after lunch so we hot footed down through the fields and into Cromford village and back to the car park. A nice brisk walk to clear away the cobwebs. 

Sourdough Cheese Scones

Instead of making a sourdough loaf this week I decided to make sourdough cheese scones. I have two sourdough starters on the go and I like to give them some attention, at least fortnightly, so that they don't die on me. This is based on a great recipe from the bakery bits blog. I've made the scones before and they always turn out light and moist, and they don't have the baking powder taste you get sometimes with bought scones, you know, where your teeth feel as if they are being coated with something nasty. I've adapted the recipe to make cheese scones because they are my favourite. Bakers preference applies in nearly all cases! I usually make double quantities in the hope that there will be some to freeze. Having a big family means that this rarely happens, but what is life without hope?  I used Shiptons Mill white bread flour (on this occasion, but it really depends on what is to hand or if I want to make wholesome wholemeal scones). Instead of buttermilk I used a mixture of homemade plain yoghurt made with raw (unpasteurised) full fat milk thinned down a bit with some more milk. I buy raw milk every week from a farm near to where I work. The milk is absolutely delicious, all creamy and tasty, although I know unpasteurised milk might seem a bit controversial. Normal pasteurised milk and yoghurt will also make delicious yoghurt (or scones). The sourdough starter works better if it is hungry (ie unrefresehd) as the remaining starter is a fed afterwards. I've stated 50g parmesan cheese, although I only used about 30g, because that is all that I had. It was a veeerrry ripe and strong parmesan anyway as it was a reduced price bargain due to short "use  by" date. I like to add a little mustard to my cheese scones as it adds an extra depth of flavour. I prefer to use Colemans English mustard powder as I think that "wet" mustards are a bit too vinegary. I think a good quality salt is also very important. I really like Cornish Sea Salt and found some garlic flavoured salt when we visited family in Cornwall and went to the Padstow farm shop. We bought a little pot for all the kids as a holiday present - makes a change from a stick of rock or box of sticky fudge!

Sourdough Cheese Scones Recipe

• 450g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 150g butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp Cornish Sea Salt (I used garlic sea salt)
• 250ml plain yoghurt and whole milk mixed (full fat milk or buttermilk would also be fine)
• 200ml unrefreshed sourdough starter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 50g grated parmesan or other strong hard cheese
•  grated cheddar for the top of the scones

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
    
2. Mix all the dry ingredients with the butter to a bread crumb consistency. I used my Kenwood Chef. 
    
3. Make a well in the centre of your bowl. In a large jug whisk the unrefreshed sourdough starter and the yoghurt and milk  and lemon juice then pour into the centre of your dry mix. Bring the mixture together to form a sticky dough. I used my hands for this so that the dough is not overworked which will make it tough. If the dough seems a bit too dry, add a drop more milk slowly just a few drops at a time. Likewise if the dough is too sticky then add a dusting of flour to handle it more easily.
    
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and use your hands to press the dough form a round about 2.5cm in depth, but try to avoid overworking. Cut out shapes from this using your cutter and put them on a baking tray. I used a medium sized cutter which made 15 scones.
    
5. Sprinkle grated cheese on the top of the scones. You can glaze them first with some milk, but I was too lazy and didn't bother. Bake for 18–20 minutes until lightly brown on top and firm to the touch. I needed an extra 5 minutes for mine because the temperature gauge on the oven is a bit temperaturemental.
    
6. The scones can be frozen as soon as they are cool, which might be the only way I'll ever get some in the freezer, but will also taste nice the following day if they are wrapped in a cotton or linen cloth.

The final step is to feed the sourdough starter. This week I used my 'Derbyshire' starter which is mostly wholemeal, although it does tend to be fed with whatever is handy. This time it was white flour so I added equal quantities of flour and water (100g) to the remaining starter, stir it well and put it back in the fridge.

The freshly baked scones were perfectly timed for an impromptu family lunch at daughter J's house where some Dad DIY is underway.

My culinary efforts didn't end at the cheese scones, let me tell you. DIY Dad was going to need something tasty and preferably done by someone else after a hard day grafting so I put my thinking cap on and rustled up some store cupboard dinner (I couldn't be bothered to shop). So, based on only what was to hand I came up with a butternut squash and sweet potato risotto. I've got loads of brown risotto rice which takes an absolute age to cook so I set that cooking with some chicken stock. Not home made chicken stock because I checked and we didn't have any in the freezer, and not vegetarian because I had only had meaty stock pots thingies. I added some wild rice as well for a bit of variety and this also takes an age to cook. While this was bubbling away I fried some spices. I decided that cumin seeds and cardamom seeds were the way to go so I bashed them about a bit with the end of my rolling pin in a bowl (mortar and pestle is boxed up somewhere) and then added them to some heated oil in a frying pan. I added some paprika for a bit of heat and colour and let them toast for a little while. In the meantime I peeled and cubed some butternut squash and sweet pepper and stirred them about in the spice mix. When the rice had been bubbling for a while, I added the vegetables and spice. It did look like there was too much stock, but by the time it had simmered gently for about 50 minutes it had soaked in and reduced down. A little seasoning added and a tasty (and very easy) risotto was ready.

runny risotto

Mmmmmmm risotto 

Sourdough success....

Hoorah, success with the sourdough. We couldn't wait until teatime to try the bread so it made an appearance at lunch. The crumb was perfect; a little chewy, but light and tasty. Phee-ew!

 I'm just making a teatime cakey treat and just to prove that not all my culinary attempts are successful, I had a bit of a disaster.  I opted for 'Coconut, berry and walnut breakfast bars' a recipe found on 'don't feed after midnight' blog. I think the recipe is based on a Nigella recipe. Anyway, it has lots of oats, coconut, nuts, berry's and seeds and sounds so very healthy. It also has a less wholesome inclusion of a tin of condensed milk which has to be warmed gently in a saucepan until it is runny. The recipe says to be careful that the condensed milk doesn't burn. Well, guess what, I burned it. Bah. A multi-tasking failure for womankind. Fortunately, we have a Co-op shop in the parade of shops where we live and they came up trumps with emergency condensed milk. It's a bit like having a giant store cupboard next door. I'll report on the success (or otherwise) of the breakfast bars soon.

Meanwhile, I'll share a few of our holiday photo's. As reported on the  barn conversion blog we had a research holiday in a holiday cottage that was a converted Victorian stable near Beverley in Yorkshire. We had one damp day in Beverley with no photogenic opportunities in the rain and a day with beautiful sunshine which we spent at the seaside. More specifically, we visited Spurn Point, which is an unusually long spit of sand just above the Humber estuary. It is formed naturally by the sea pushing sand and debris down the coast and is a national nature reserve run by the Yorkshire wildlife trust. There are cottages and a lighthouse at the end which are serviced by a road, or at the moment only part of a road as bad storms and a high tidal surge in December 2013 washed part of the road away and is now only accessible by foot or land rover.

Our last morning was spent in Beverley, thankfully in sunshine this time. Unlike our first visit where we couldn't view the minster due to a wedding, this time it was open for business and very interesting too. 

And finally,  the coconut, berry and walnut breakfast bars were a complete success, despite their inauspicious start. Hoorah.

Sourdough Loaf

I decided to try a different method for the weekly sourdough. For some reason, recent loaves have been a bit dense, even when using all white flour. This time I've tried some different flour and a different method. I used Shipton Mill flour (bought from local artisan bread shop 'The Loaf' when we enjoyed scrumptious pizza's at their weekly pizza night), and Laura Hart's sourdough recipe and method (click here for this). It makes quite a wet dough and is really easy to make. It feels a bit like cheating because you don't actually do any kneading, it's all in the stretch and fold method, which I did in the mixing bowl so there was less washing up. I did have a bit of a hiccough when I came to tip the dough into the 'La Cloche' because it stuck to the basket, so I had to scrape it out and then reshape it and then prove it again for about an hour (in a very well floured basket). This time it plopped easily out of the basket and after a quick slashing across the top, it was bunged in the oven. It did look as if was going to spread out and become a bit flat so I was quite pleased to see that it had risen quite a lot. I'm looking forward to trying it later today when the family come around for tea. Now I just have to make a cake of some sort.....

Cheese and Corn bread

Cheesy corn bread makes an ideal addition to a salad; it adds a  bit of stodge and makes a nice change from bread or baked potatoes. It is also really easy to make, which is an added advantage. The recipe I used was from the River Cottage Everyday book. I've tried a lot of the recipes in this book and have enjoyed many of them. They don't include loads of hard to find ingredients and a lot of it is 'store cupboard' type recipes which are my favourite sort because I'm more of an impromptu type of cook, usually starting with a rummage through the fridge and thinking 'we need to use this up so what can I make from it?'. Having a flour mill helps because it means that I can keep a variety of grains eg spelt, barley, maize, wheat, rye, oat groats, millet, buckwheat, and quinoa in the cupboard and they have a much longer shelf life as grains instead of flour or polenta. The corn bread was made from maize and spelt with the addition of eggs, milk and cheese and bicarb of soda. It's really like a giant scone and made a very tasty bit of stodge, if I say so myself!

On an entirely unrelated subject I am absolutely amazed that my two remaining house plants (after moving house) are actually thriving and both in bloom. I've never had such success with either the Christmas or the Easter cactus, but they must like it here in our bijou temporary home as the Christmas cactus is flowering for the second time this winter.

Mechanical Knitting Mill

As promised a picture of my lovely knitted cord.  The wool used was from my stash and is Riot from King Cole. I bought it initially for a slow burning project I have underway  (ie unfinished) and it was rejected because it was a little thinner than other brands of double knitting wool and I was getting inconsistent results. It has beautifully blended colour changes and and was just too nice to throw out (as if I throw anything out).   It was perfect for the knitting mill as it is not too thick or hairy. I had wanted to use the rug wool to make a cord to use as embellishment for my basket, but it was too hairy and was not releasing cleanly from the needle hooks and so it just became a horrible knotty mess. I've found another ball of Riot but in a slightly different colour blend so will make some more cord later. Oh such fun to be had with a ball of wool!