In My Kitchen, October 2014

In My Kitchen, I am surrounded by things starting with the letter ‘B’. No, this is not an episode of Playschool or an eye spy game, although there have been a few bambini hanging out in my kitchen lately.  It all happened by chance I promise you. And thanks to Celia, host of this monthly event and bread making enthusiast, I seem to have caught her bread making bug.

The ceiling is beamed, the floor is brick, and there’s a Breville on the bench. Big bowls are often left standing on the bench, waiting for some more bread dough, while my starter, who lives in the fridge, (who is affectionately known as Celia), begs to be fed. The ‘Feed Me’ instructions are left on the fridge door.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABread dough. I’m slowly learning about very wet doughs and hydration. This one looks too wet, but still made a reasonable loaf of bread. Thanks to Celia’s bead making tutorials, help is close at hand.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABig Bucket. This empty plastic bucket turned up at the Whittlesea Monday market last week. I should have bought more: at $2.00 a piece, they are a steal. Large enough to store all the odd flours. The baker’s white flour has its own big bin.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABoys Art on the fridge. This arty stage doesn’t last long, so must be embraced. Hiding their iPad helps! Blink, and they’ve turned into teenagers.

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Books, old and new. The four oldies were found in a second-hand store and I once owned three of them. Talk about deja vu. For under $10.00 for four, it cost the same price as a new magazine! Now I am re-visiting my cooking past.

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Three new books:

Book 1, Local breads by Daniel Leader, purchased via the excellent book buying search engine, http://booko.com.au, which sorts books for sale throughout the world, listed by lowest price first, delivered.

Book 2, The Handmade Loaf by  Dan Lepard, bought from the  Book Grocer,  in Brunswick, a shop too hard to pass by.

And book 3, yet another Ottolenghi cookbook bought cheaply at Big W.

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Biscuits. School holidays means baking biscuits with the bambine and the little blokes. The girls made these last week and the simple recipe is here.

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The brandy was bought duty-free. Purely for medicinal purposes. It invariably ends up in all sorts of cakes and custards and so lives in the kitchen, unlike its other friends who have their own hiding place.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAll the ‘B’ veggies arrive in Spring. Some pickings here include beetroot, broad beans, brocolli and borage. If I include them by their Italian names, the biete ( silver beet) and the barbabietola ( rhubarb) are in abundance too.

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59 thoughts on “In My Kitchen, October 2014”

  1. So fun, Francesca! I love your ‘B’ theme! It is wonderful that some of your lost possessions are returning to you, bit by bit. The Verdura book looks very interesting, as does everything in your kitchen! Gosh, I must get to work on IMK for this month… am so slow at the moment.

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  7. More B’s… Bountiful! Beautiful! I read Celia’s IMK post earlier, and am now for 2 for… book adds that is, for my cook book shelf. Of your selection, the Big W Ottolenghi. Due to your inspiration I’ve been looking for but not yet found vintage-retro tea towels, and now I’ll add biscuit tins and big buckets to that also 🙂

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    1. Op shops are a great source of vintage teatowels and tins. I found some beauties on my recent SA trip. Lovely old linens with daggy ads for towns from the 1970s, spotless and, of course, ironed. Oppy hunts break up long drives. Time to make some banana bread. F x

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  13. Everything is lovely but I am in love with your bowls. My gran had bowls exactly like that and I haven’t seen one for years. I remember baking with her and mixing up dough in her bowl.
    Have a wonderful day.
    🙂 Mandy xo

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  16. Yummy things in your kitchen Francesca including those beautiful veggies & also the chocolate biscuits. And I’m having covetous thoughts about those bread-baking books.

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  18. Bread bread bread I love making bread but no one eats it here. You will never find a more enthussiastic bread teacher than Celia , hands down. Such beautiful vegetables and who can ever go paste a book with cooking in it?

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    1. Since making real sourdough, I can now eat bread. I was having trouble before- not becasue I am wheat intolerant but I couldn’t digest it. The good loaves cost more than $7.00. I can make them for $1.00- and they last for 3 days. Yes, Celia is a national treasure!

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  19. Hi Fracesca. I still haven’t got to Big W. I hope Ottolenghi’s books are still cheap. That’s storage bucket was a bargain. I keep all my flours in similar buckets. Your slice looks fab as does the artwork it’s a nice stage.

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  21. I am yet to try my own sourdough starter… But it is on my list! I love that you include all the wonderful produce you grow… I think it makes all the difference when you grow your own food! Thanks for sharing! Liz x

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    1. My life has changed since I started making bread, I enjoy eating it , which I didn’t before. The produce is the basis of most meals at home. I can eat well for 50c often, then splurge a bit on holidays. Thanks for dropping in Elizabeth.

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  23. Love the B theme in your kitchen this month. Mum used to have that beige bowl and I always admired it, my sister has it now. Enjoy the kiddies and their cute drawings… they grow so fast. Home-made bread is such a treat and love how you call your sourdough starter Celia 🙂

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  27. Lovely collection of Bs! That big bucket looks perfect for bulk proving large doughs in, and you’ve got some fabulous books this month – love the Maddhur Jaffrey one, and the Handmade Loaf is a treasure, both for the stories and the bread inspiration. If you’re using any of Dan’s sourdough recipes, you’ll need to change the change the hydration of your starter a bit, as he uses quite a dry one. I do this by taking a bit of our regular starter and feeding it up at a ratio of 80g water to 100g flour (it usually takes a couple of feeds). That gets the starter close enough for most of the recipes in the book.

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    1. Thanks for the tip Celia. Haven’t started on that book yet as the little blokes are keeping me busy. But I did make Craig’s loaf the other day and it is superb. It is hard to move away from it, and uses your 100% starter. If you don’t have his recipe for his Finn loaf, I could send it. ( tell the boys it is impossible to taste or sense any wholemeal at all).

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    1. Hahhahaha. It’s a sickening thought! I’m sure it was a caterer’s pack. You know if you eat at the Lebanese places in Brunswick, they get throygh a ton of the stuff in those yummy pies.

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  31. Hi Fran, love your bowls, I have the fake ones in blue ; ) I sued to have a Herrman the German cake starter that I lovingly fed, talked to and stirred for weeks and he/she bubbled away merrily, until I went to Bali and hubby forgot it was there and it dried up like a sponge 😦 Anyway, maybe bread will be my next project? And your brandy is perfect for the upcoming Christmas baking period.

    Nice beek into your kitchen.

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