Wintering

I have now successfully made the Basic Soda Bread I mentioned a couple of posts ago twice. So I feel safe to share the recipe with you!

450g flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

125-250ml buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients then gradually add buttermilk. On a floured surface knead the dough into a flat round loaf shape, about 20 centimetres in diameter. Cut a large cross shape into the top of the dough. Place on a baking sheet (and baking tray!) and bake for about 35 minutes at 220 degrees celsius.

It is so good. We've been having it warm with just a little butter. No need for any fancy toppings! The bread speaks for itself. I found the recipe in The Complete Australian Homemaker (1976).

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The Mocha Cake from The Barbara Pym Cookbook that I made on Friday night was rather a disappointment - pleasant enough but not a really strong coffee taste and the cake itself just wouldn't rise. The Daffodil Cake from New Australian Cookery Illustrated (1950s?) that I made on Saturday was altogether more successful - I think the addition of walnuts were the key to what otherwise could have been a similarly bland cake.

I bake a lot in the winter. Is it some sort of primal way of providing for the household, of stocking up against the chill? Or is it just a good way of staying warm, in front of the oven?

What's been going on in your kitchen?

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In more sad news, the death of Amy Winehouse on the weekend. I was never an enormous fan of her's but I certainly enjoyed Back to Black. There has been some really cruel commentary since she has passed away but I do agree with what many others have said that addiction is not an affectation but an illness. Whatever you think, there's no denying that this is one great song -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAfLE39ZZ8&ob=av2n