Flutterby Patch

Bread - the staff of life

Who invented the automatic breadmaker? Give him/her a prize. I have always been too busy (and lazy) to make bread the traditional way but since buying a breadmaker I have been making up for lost time. There are so many machines out there to choose from but eventually I opted for the Panasonic and cannot fault it. Making a standard loaf takes about 5 minutes to prepare and 4 hours to bake and there are many mouth watering variations to try.

For my standard loaf I like to make 50% wholemeal (ingredients above). I use milk instead of the recommended water (if I have enough available on the day). Pop all the ingredients into the pan, starting with the dried yeast, then the flour and finally the liquid. Place the pan in the breadmaker and switch on.

Four hours later the loaf is ready, light brown and delicious.

I use Carrs breadmaker flour which is reaily available from all major supermarkets. Carrs have an excellent web site with some mouth watering recipes to try.  

Happy Nutting Day

Traditionally, on this day years ago children would comb the woods and hedgerows looking for hazel nuts. At the moment the nuts are plump but not yet fully ripe and I'm wondering if the wise children gathered them before squirrels stripped the trees bare. The poet William Worsdworth lived in this area 200 years ago and he writes about the fun of nutting.

Nutting, from 'The Prelude' by William Wordsworth

– It seems a day
(I speak of one from many singled out)
One of those heavenly days that cannot die;
When, in the eagerness of boyish hope,
I left our cottage-threshold, sallying forth
With a huge wallet o'er my shoulder slung,
A nutting-crook in hand; and turned my steps
Tow'rd some far-distant wood

Tea with Miss Mitford

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday in northern England we were bathed in sunshine and today its back to the same old dismal dampness. Our annoying drizzle though is nothing compared to the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Gustav as it swept across the Caribbean and on through America's Gulf coast states. Worse still, adding insult to injury, hurricane Hanna is gaining strength in the Atlantic apparently and tropical storm Ike is following suit. What a nightmare for the people who could be in the 'firing line'. Watching the mass exodus from the city of New Orleans on TV was like watching a movie. I can't imagine what it must have been like for all those thousands to leave their homes behind.

I have a little book that I often pick up entitled 'My Village' by Miss Mitford. This charming description of life in a Berkshire village 200 years ago makes a very calming read and is a welcome deviation from our 21st century problems.

Reading the entry for 9th September you realise that, although we live in very different times, nothing has changed over the years regarding the English weather. Miss Mitford writes..... 'We English are accused of talking overmuch about the weather; but the weather this summer has forced people to talk about it. A summer of coldness and cloudiness, gloom and rain. Worse than November! Never was known such a season. Hay swimming, cattle drowning, fruit rotting, corn spoiling and the river Loddon running about the country fields, roads, gardens and houses....'

'Our Village' has been reprinted many times over the centuries and is still readily available from antiquarian book sellers. My version was published in 1893 and contains dozens of evocative pencil sketch illustrations by Hugh Thomson.

1). Walking in the rain 2). A chat with the Lord of the manor
3). The charity-school  4). Boys games

Mary Russell Mitford (1787 - 1865)

There is a charming air of Jane Austin about Mary Mitford's writing but few Austin style love matches. The reader spends a year sauntering through the village in the company of Miss Mitford observing her neighbours and their cottages and then on down country lanes looking for primroses and violets. All very polite and civilized!