The Great Witton Hill Bake Off

ROUND II - Ciabatta Bread

Artisan loaves!

Joan fighting with a very wet dough

After a successful bake off last week at Joan's house, we decided to do the same at PTC. This week we tried Paul Hollywood's ciabatta bread. Now - he said that the dough has to be really wet and it very definitely WAS!  He didn't tell us how we should handle it, he merely says use plenty of flour. As soon as we saw the large proportion of water we were very suspicious! Our suspicions were more than well founded!  The dough was impossible to handle.  Having dragged it onto baking trays and, after leaving it to prove for about 15 minutes, we popped it in the oven. Now Joan had had a very clever plan and baked 3 of her loaves on a baton tray which has 3 concave channels.  It was just as well  as the the dough was prevented from running. Luckily, my dough was not quite as runny and the loaves were baked flat.

Quality control!

Hey Presto! Perfect ciabatta bread!  Joan is definitely a very bad influence as she nearly climbed into the oven to taste it.  We ate half of one of her loaves on the spot and then Al ate most of a whole one with home made soup for lunch. We all agreed that it was also the perfect accompaniment to the home grown lemon marmalade. Both batches were equally good. In a word: RESULT!! See the Bakers at Work!

Yes, I know this is a garden blog!  Sometimes on a cold and dull winter's day, it's nice to get creative in the kitchen and I did arrange some flowers!

3 for the freezer.

Enjoying some sunshine in February

Midwinter Fire

Colour in the old stone sink

Following on from all the gales and storms - how lovely it is to have a really clear and sunny day! The snowdrops, Hellebores seem to have survived the few really sharp frosts as well as the really wild weather.  AND, it's not just colourful flowers popping up.  Oh no!  We mustn't forget the Dogwoods.

Stinking Hellebore - Hellebore Foetidus

The Midwinter Fire is the firm favourite with stems of bright orange & yellow, it really lives up to its name.  even the few Gillies (Wallflowers) in the old stone sink look so cheerful on a winter's day - not to mention their scent.  These should have been planted out in a larger pot although,  I'm quite enjoying them where they are.  Here are a few more photos:   Pear Tree Cottage Garden in February

Happy Valentine's Day

There's a whiff of both spring and romance in the kitchen at Pear Tree Cottage!!

An old pewter teapot

Genever Tulips

A Valentine's rose!

Looking Emptier!

Not much left now!

A freshly mulched Woodland Border

I can't even remember if this is the 3rd or 4th Saturday we've been emptying the compost bay but it seems as if we've been doing it forever!  The trouble is; pushing full loads means an uphill journey every time as the compost bays are at the bottom of the garden and it weighs so much heavier than wood chip (which is the only other medium we use as a mulch in this garden.)  Anyway, more progress was definitely made this week and the borders and hedges are not only looking better for it but, more importantly, will 'do' better for a good mulching.  We reckon about 4 or 5 barrow loads remain and we plan to weed the top lawn border and rose borders before they get their share of mulching. We had planned to do this so much earlier but, it's just been far too WET. It was tricky mulching around Snowdrops and Hellebores in full bloom but, we neither trod on nor buried any! Triumph!

Winter Job - Rustic Labels

 A nice idea spotted on Pinterest. Cheap, practical and nicer than plastic!

Re-using breakages.

I took this shot outside the greenhouse - for no particular reason!  As the saying goes: waste not, want not!  The Victorians had a machine specifically designed for grinding down broken clay pot pieces and they would mix it in with various potting mediums.  It looked rather like an over sized and old fashioned mincing machine - the sort that clamped to edge of a table top. They knew a thing or two about recycling even back then!  As for me (and lacking such a machine) I break them down and use smaller pieces for drainage in other (unbroken) clay pots!  Our rule being: Absolutely NO plastic pots allowed other than inside the greenhouse or cold frames!

Recycling PTC style.

While the storm rages outside...

Grapevine awakening.

New toy made light work of these.

.........there are only 2 places to be. Either the kitchen of the greenhouse!  Having checked to make sure that the greenhouse hadn't blown away, I retreated to the relative calm and safety of the kitchen.  Having said that, I spotted signs of life in the greenhouse - the grapevine is showing a couple of new shoots. Back in the kitchen, I had the perfect excuse to play with my new toy!  some bread rolls, a Canterbury Tart (courtesy of Mary Berry), some rustic savoury red pepper tartlets and a few cheese straws (using the left over pastry.) The largest of my pastry cutters just wasn't big enough so the cases were all cut using a knife - hence their rustic appearance and one really dainty tartlet!

It's now become very trendy to give these depressions names and the latest has been christened "Storm Imogen."  Maybe someone who gives machines names shouldn't grumble!

All thanks to another storm!