Intentional living and baking 2025

EcoIntent

Hi everyone, my goals for this year like many of us centre around a simpler intentional life. Part of this for me is to make as much of the bread we eat as possible, and to bake the sweet treats instead of buying ultra processed food. I’m proud to share that personally so far in 2025 with the exception of one bagel I have only ate bread I’ve made 🙂. 

I’m hoping there are other aspiring bakers out there who will share what you have made, and perhaps more seasoned bakers who would be willing to share some hints and tips? 

Today, I’ve made up a rye sourdough starter so hopefully before too long I can start doing sourdough once more. 

WickedLady4

I tend not to eat bread but yesterday I made the Nigel Slater spiced ginger cake, which is delicious. I cooked it in two 8" square tins so have one to give to a friend tomorrow.

EcoIntent

That sounds lovely! I think Nigel Slater is brilliant. I gave the kitchen diaries part 2 by my bed at the minute and read the relevant days before bed 🙂. 

No baking for me today, I have just fed the rye starter. 

For anyone interested. It was:
75g organic dark rye flour
75g organic light rye flour
150ml tepid water 
Then stirred together and covered with a tea towel. 

I am cheating this time and have stated a half teaspoon of yeast just to speed it up as would like it to be ready to use sooner. 

To feed you throw away two thirds away and feed with equal amount of the two flours plus tepid water. Today I did 40g of each and 80ml of water. 

bouicca21

I took up bread making a couple of years ago.  As a singleton who doesn’t each much bread, I only bake a loaf about once a month, the slice it up and freeze it so I can take out a slice at a time.  I don’t think I can justify the faff of a sourdough starter, so use commercially available yeast.  

I usually make a wholemeal loaf but recently tried Nigella’s recipe for a white one using sour cream and was impressed by the result.  I added sour cream to my last wholemeal loaf and again liked the result.

What I really fancy is making ciabatta but I need a reliable recipe.

Mollina_Girl

EcoIntent said:

That sounds lovely! I think Nigel Slater is brilliant. I gave the kitchen diaries part 2 by my bed at the minute and read the relevant days before bed 🙂. 

No baking for me today, I have just fed the rye starter. 

For anyone interested. It was:
75g organic dark rye flour
75g organic light rye flour
150ml tepid water 
Then stirred together and covered with a tea towel. 

I am cheating this time and have stated a half teaspoon of yeast just to speed it up as would like it to be ready to use sooner. 

To feed you throw away two thirds away and feed with equal amount of the two flours plus tepid water. Today I did 40g of each and 80ml of water. 

I too think Nigel Slater is brilliant. I have quite a few of his books, I must admit I buy them as much for his story telling as the recipes.

Can you tell me please why you throw two thirds of the starter away? Can you not keep that for another time? I would really like to try making sourdough, my limits so far are soda bread and white bloomers (both Paul Hollywood)

Rosa_Damascena

Mollina_Girl said:

EcoIntent said:

That sounds lovely! I think Nigel Slater is brilliant. I gave the kitchen diaries part 2 by my bed at the minute and read the relevant days before bed 🙂. 

No baking for me today, I have just fed the rye starter. 

For anyone interested. It was:
75g organic dark rye flour
75g organic light rye flour
150ml tepid water 
Then stirred together and covered with a tea towel. 

I am cheating this time and have stated a half teaspoon of yeast just to speed it up as would like it to be ready to use sooner. 

To feed you throw away two thirds away and feed with equal amount of the two flours plus tepid water. Today I did 40g of each and 80ml of water. 

I too think Nigel Slater is brilliant. I have quite a few of his books, I must admit I buy them as much for his story telling as the recipes.

Can you tell me please why you throw two thirds of the starter away? Can you not keep that for another time? I would really like to try making sourdough, my limits so far are soda bread and white bloomers (both Paul Hollywood)

I too balked at the idea of binning 2/3 of perfectly viable starter.

I am however now inclined to buy a block of butter and make a tasty cake

EcoIntent

Mollina_Girl said:

EcoIntent said:

That sounds lovely! I think Nigel Slater is brilliant. I gave the kitchen diaries part 2 by my bed at the minute and read the relevant days before bed 🙂. 

No baking for me today, I have just fed the rye starter. 

For anyone interested. It was:
75g organic dark rye flour
75g organic light rye flour
150ml tepid water 
Then stirred together and covered with a tea towel. 

I am cheating this time and have stated a half teaspoon of yeast just to speed it up as would like it to be ready to use sooner. 

To feed you throw away two thirds away and feed with equal amount of the two flours plus tepid water. Today I did 40g of each and 80ml of water. 

I too think Nigel Slater is brilliant. I have quite a few of his books, I must admit I buy them as much for his story telling as the recipes.

Can you tell me please why you throw two thirds of the starter away? Can you not keep that for another time? I would really like to try making sourdough, my limits so far are soda bread and white bloomers (both Paul Hollywood)

You need to at the start because it is unlikely to be 'active' enough to make your bread rise . However, there are lots of recipes you can make with the discard if you google them. I'm using my discard from today to make these: https://senseandedibility.com/rye-sourdough-discard-chocolate-chip-cookies/ . I'll send a pic when done. Mine has gone active pretty fast because I cheated and put a touch of yeast in!

WickedLady4

I'm currently reading the Christmas Chronicles; an interesting bit about bread in there plus at least one recipe.

EcoIntent

I am going to confess I haven’t made the cookies yesterday and threw the starter. Not an issue today as the starter was looking great so have started a loaf. I think I’ll be doing those tomorrow with the discard instead. 

This is the starter as of last night, today it was lovely and bubbly and smelt good to use. 

In other news I made focaccia today topped with rosemary, olive oil and seasalt (James Morton) great beginner recipe as no kneading and super simple. 

Nelliegrace

DH took over making the bread in the bread-maker. He makes our daily milk kefir too, and has mastered both. 
The bread is much better than anything from the supermarket. It is made from basic ingredients, nothing Ultra Processed. 

I like the fact that we never run out of bread, when it is almost gone he makes another 400g loaf, plenty for us to use up, for sandwiches or toast. 
He used a mix of white, wholemeal, seeded, or malted bread flours. We use Aldi cold-pressed British Rapeseed oil in bread, and fine sea salt, yet it is less expensive than a supermarket basic sliced loaf.

We were delighted when our son in law gave us a 16kg sack of strong white bread flour for Christmas, and last year DD bought DH a left handed bread knife, which is his most treasured possession. 

We don’t make sourdough, but I have made kefir bread. It took so long to rise that we named the dough, Patience. 

https://fussfreeflavours.com/kefir-raised-bread/

EcoIntent

@nelliegrace that is brilliant. I will need to look up a recipe for kefir would love to try making that. Like you we are trying to avoid ultra processed food.