Preparedness for when

JKJ

maryb wrote: »

Mar, check your yeast - my Panny produces lovely loaves right up to the point where the next one comes out like a lopsided brick. Fresh yeast always sorts it. I use the Doves Farm yeast in orange packets and I can't get through a whole packet before it goes off, even keeping it in the fridge. But it's still cheaper than buying those little foil sachets

Also try putting in just a small smidge less water than they say. I also use half and half milk and water and use the sandwich loaf setting rather than the basic setting. Seems to make the loaf lighter

HTH

I use Doves Farm yeast too...it's great! I keep it in the freezer though, not the fridge, it never goes off that way and you don't need to defrost it, just measure a teaspoon out or whatever you want and put it straight back in.

Mardatha I have had similar problrems recently with my normally 100% reliable panny and it was not the yeast, it was a bad batch of flour. Interestingly, it was Tesco AND Sainsbury bread flour, so 2 different shops but both same best by month date. Changed the flour and all OK again.

thriftwizard

Mardatha I have had similar problrems recently with my normally 100% reliable panny and it was not the yeast, it was a bad batch of flour. Interestingly, it was Tesco AND Sainsbury bread flour, so 2 different shops but both same best by month date. Changed the flour and all OK again.

JKJ, a wicked little imp inside me is wondering just what might have been in that flour, having read recently of flour being bulked out with chalk & bone dust. OK, it was back in early Victorian times, but it seems nothing changes... Lots of calcium, I suppose, but not much gluten.

elona

It has just started to snow here so I have renewed a couple of library books online instead of venturing out in the cold.

I got so disgusted by supermarket meat that I went to a local butcher on Monday and got special pack made up of chicken breasts, huge chicken legs which I marinated yesterday,sausages, mince and bacon chops. Going to make a shepherds pie tonight and have home made veg soup for lunch.

Butcher has some unusual cuts like "beast cheeks" or ox cheeks so got some of the beast cheeks to try in a casserole one day.

DH keeps asking if it is much more expensive than the supermarket but think that for the quantity and quality that we get from this butcher that it could work out the same or cheaper and at least we know what we are eating.

Have just ordered the book "On next to nothing" and then got tempted by a Mercedes Lackey book as well.

My panny does not seem to like the cold kitchen so I have been using it for dough and then baking rolls or fancy bread.

Lovely to feel I do not have to go out in the cold unless I choose to.

Hug to all and good luck to fuddle with the job and study.

JKJ

thriftwizard wrote: »

JKJ, a wicked little imp inside me is wondering just what might have been in that flour, having read recently of flour being bulked out with chalk & bone dust. OK, it was back in early Victorian times, but it seems nothing changes... Lots of calcium, I suppose, but not much gluten.

:eek::eek: arghhhh is there no end to it all.....scarey stuff, have you got a link please? Honestly you try your best by making it all from scratch and still we can't be sure.

Cake, I need cake!:mad:

southantrim3

Wish we got some more snow here,I know there are lots of bad side effects with it, but it does make the place look pretty instead of all the rain we're getting!

Butterfly_Brain

Mar...... I find that if I warm the flour and only use 400g strong flour and 100g white flour, a glug of oil, a tsp yeast and a tsp of salt I get a pretty decent loaf. Oh and I put the water in the pan first which has made a big difference to the way the bread comes out.

thriftwizard

JKJ wrote: »

:eek::eek: arghhhh is there no end to it all.....scarey stuff, have you got a link please? Honestly you try your best by making it all from scratch and still we can't be sure.

Cake, I need cake!:mad:

But only if it's home made...

I was reading about it in a book & it'll take me a while to track it down again, but in the meantime the Wikipedia entry for "adulterants" is quite illuminating! :eek:

boultdj

Mar, try bush tomotes you get lot's of small tom's,no tieing in or piniching out to do and best of all most are onlt about 18-24 inch tall.

2tonsils

Sorry been missing in action ...we had the most horrendous storms I have ever seen all night...thunder that literally shook the ground, lightning, four hail storms, torrential rain and storm force winds! It came back about an hour ago and looks set for tonight with even stronger winds...what the hell happened to the world's weather???? I have always enjoyed a good thunderstorm but these made me feel uneasy and threatened. They just didn't feel like normal storms. The one half an hour ago came out of a sunny sky.....

Sorry to hear how cold and snowy most of you are...its supposed to be heavy rain following it but if it freezes that will be a nightmare for anyone out and about in it.

Have to go to the hospital tomorrow to get my shoulder checked out. It is recovering due to the rest it's getting. Have been told it may be 6 weeks before I can go to the gym with it...oh dear! I will take the chance to restock the stores since I have to be out tomorrow no matter what the weather. It has helped me cope so much better with being prepped for the worst.

Being treated out to a nice St. Valentine's dinner tomorrow night at my favourite gluten free restaurant....Lovely!

BigMummaF

GreyQueen wrote: »

....Come the zombie apocalypse, they'll be moving sharpish and looking nervous, no more scrounging sarnies off the hillwalkers.

When I heard about those students hacking into a tv channel to do a modern version of Orsen Whells classic radio broadcast, I immediately thought of our little bit of Paradise here in mse :rotfl:

thriftwizard wrote: »

... and I remember wondering what was dripping on my head whilst using the outside loo (a two-holer with a mahogany seat, dead posh!) in an emergency, and looking up & seeing a brace of pheasants hanging there... don't think I ever used that loo again! And I won't eat pheasant that's been hung, to this day.

The Offspring often accuse me of leaving sheep in the bath. But it's not a whole sheep nowadays, just a fleece or two...

BOOM-BOOM :TUnexpected Surprise 1.
Scene: Parents live in third floor apartment, without access to a window box let alone an allotment. 15 yr old youngest daughter comes home around 10:30 pm after school disco..It was dark & I didn't bother putting on any indoor lights, as there were a few rays coming through the cracks in the curtains, from off the streets. Dad was on earlies so Ma & Pa were tucked up snug, I stuck my head round the door to exchange salutations & headed for the bathroom. One calm & collected teenager walked toward the toothbrushes, nonchalantly pulling the door closed (cuz the cabinet was behind the door) & instead of cold painted plywood I got a handful of deceased pheasant Dad had ''found" it on the way home from his committee meeting earlier that evening :doh:

Unexpected Surprise 2.
Scene: Visiting the future extended-family-in-law for the first time. Obviously embarrassed because I had to use the loo--new people, new place so you have no option BUT to ask --walked in being cautious, as you do to suss the layout, turned to close the door & there were thousands of the damned things :eek: Well, m'be three or four brace & a couple of wabbits, but it was the shortest visit I think I've ever made :rotfl: