Our daily bread

Here's the easiest everyday recipe that I've come during my 27 years of making bread for daily use. Its appeal lies in its simplicity, its versatility and economy of ingredients. Do factor in that it's not an instant bread: this slow food recipe needs at least a 24-hour waiting period to 'prove'. The dough can be kept for a couple of days in the fridge, then taken out when you're ready for a bake-up.

               

Start with  6x250ml cups (one and half liters) brown flour. Mix in a good teaspoon of salt and no more than 1/2 teaspoon instant dried yeast. Toss and stir together. Optional - throw in seeds of your choice: chia, linseed, sunflower. It uses no sugar as the slow-ferment action consumes the sugar in the flour. 

 

  

 

With a spoon, stir in up to about 750ml warm water to make a sticky dough. Stir and mix thoroughly. If it feels too wet, bundle in another handful of flour until it feels just right (ie holding together without being too 'gooey').

 

When it feels ready ie not too sticky, abandon the spoon and use (clean) hands, scooping in extra handfuls of flour to add to the dough to attain a pliable consistency. Knead like a cat! It should come away from the sides of the bowl; incorporate all bits into the dough ball. Enjoy this bit..

Keep kneading - it's a push-pull-fold-over movement using the heel of the hand - until it forms a soft ball, like playdough, which does not cling annoyingly to your skin; your hands should come away clean and floury. 

      

Place the whole bowl containing the dough ball in a plastic packet and put in a warm spot - sun if you have it. Tie or fold the opening to create a closed, steamy, draft-free, warm environment  for the flour and yeast to do its magic. Leave it overnight and further up to 24 hours. During this time open the bag and find that it's spilling up and over; give it another knock-down knead: great therapy! At this point, use a palmful of non-gluten flour (barley or rye) to dust hands and deal with any excess stickiness. It should scoop away from the sides of the bowl as you pummel it back into a glossy, malleable ball using the heel of your hand. You can repeat this process a couple of times while the bread is on the rise. You 'knock it back' and it rises again. 

To prepare it for baking, put the dough in greased pans after a final thorough kneading, place back in the packets for its last rise in a warm place, then bake at mid-temperature (180 degreesC) for about 30-50 minutes, depending on your choice of tin.  Instead of baking at this point, the dough ball can be kept in its plastic bag in the fridge for a couple more days.

unbaked and.............................................baked

            It can also be baked in an iron 'potjie pot' on a fire - delicious crusty fire-bread cooked in the coals! Try and keep the ash out. As with many slow- food recipes, one develops a 'feel' for it rather than following a precise set of instructions.

                    If you are partial to daily bread, this one is well worth a try.

Liz Campbell is the sole writer and composer of all the published material on this blogsite, unless otherwise stated.

She has further blogsites:

   songs for children http://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/

   a collection of songs, poems and prose on the experience of loss, grief and recovery 

                       https://epitaph-lost-found.blogspot.com/

Essential vs non-essential crisis of lockdown

One of the knock-on effects of lockdown for some is a crisis of essential/non-essential (a step on from an existential crisis). So much of daily life suddenly becomes inconsequential; things that were of utmost importance now lose significance. Covid-19 has stopped nearly every human on this planet in their tracks, giving us pause as a species to reassess and adjust the way we live to some degree.

On a purely material level, we've had to pare down as shops have been barred and certain goods unavailable, ie consumers are curtailed, finally! In the light of this, here's a document of shortcuts that have been my household staples over the years, a product of my rebellious streak that looks for ways to circumvent using the plethora of heavily promoted and ill-advertised STUFF that clogs up shop shelves and then our homes. Most of this stuff is damaging or even toxic to the planet via water systems or as air pollutants; it adds to our growing heaps of discarded, unnecessary packaging, and most certainly depletes our purses. 

As ESSENTIAL is now the current buzzword, useful questions to ask are: is there anything less I can use or do without? Is there an easier way to do this? 

Here are my go-to's, small ways of undercutting the consumer system. These essentials cover many bases, don't cost a lot and may even be available in bulk using simple packaging if you sleuth around your area. 

Bicarbonate of soda (BICARB)
This base powder extends way beyond its use as a raising agent:
~mix with a few peppermint drops and use as a gentle tooth cleaner
~make a paste and apply to bee stings to neutralize pain
~shake into toilet bowls and spray with diluted white vinegar. The base+acid mix makes an effective fizzy cleaning medium and leaves the loo fresh.
~mildly abrasive, it cleans ovens and pots with the added fizz of vinegar.



VINEGAR - white or apple cider 
Dilute plain vinegar with water and use in spray bottles to clean loos (with bicarb) or surfaces. 

Add CITRUS peels/ pieces, put in processor with vinegar and chop it all up together. This soapy, squishy liquid can be used for washing hands, faces, hair, cups and dishes. No longer need we discard used lemon peels!
If you do not have a food processor, simply cut the pieces fairly small and push into a jar , top up with vinegar and leave to soak. I've heard the liquid works effectively in dish-washers.

Lemon and SALT
Mix roughly chopped lemon with coarse salt - enough to cover the lemon pieces generously. Leave in a covered jar for some weeks before using:  
    in cooking to add flavour
    as a rub on troublesome skin spots 
      (some have used it on rashes)
    as a rub to clean the scalp and hair - 
        then rinse out 
    to clean nails/ hands after rough work

Use just plain salt water to gargle as soon as there's a sign of a sore throat. Salt cleans and disinfects. Use as an everyday gargle/ mouthwash to look after gums and teeth.

Soap
All those small left over scraps of soap can be put in a jar with water and a toss of vinegar, covered and left to soften and then used in dispensers as hand wash. 

Rat poison
Rats are survivors. We could learn from them! The available rat poison is totally toxic to owls and raptors that feed on these critters. We keep a bowl of cereal (like pronutro) mixed 50/50 with cement mix in their territory, safely hidden from domestic animals. Put a bowl of water nearby. It's a nasty underhand trick passed on - use with discretion and caution.

Shampoo
One of the greatest liberators was to stop using shampoo and see that the world did not fall apart! In fact, once hair is settled into the new ph-friendly management, it feels much the better for it. Helpful applications: a little bicarb initially (just a teaspoon) rubbed into the scalp, thoroughly rinsed with some diluted apple cider vinegar and lots of water. Once settled, it's best not to use bicarb too much because of its abrasive action. The citrus/ vinegar mix is great to use a cleaner, or even some lemon salt. I also soak rosemary and lavender herbs in apple cider vinegar to use in the hair wash. 

Eco-bricks
A kitchen corner set up with bottles, pusher-sticks and a container for suitable waste keeps the task manageable and even enjoyable. Visiting children often take it up - there's something satisfying about watching your rubbish magically disappear into the bottle neck... It certainly makes the household more aware of our daily disposable habits and can foster more responsible purchases. Useful stuffing material: old used sponges, plastic wraps, chip and tea packets, foil, bubble wrap, old nylon rope. Remember to pack them down firm and hard.
 see  https://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/2019/08/plastic-bottle-eco-brick_22.html 

Hot box
These are fantastic for cooking food with minimal gas or electricity. Make 2 large floppy cushions that will sit on top of each other in a box. The pot goes inside with its contents brought to the boil (great for rice, porridge, beans, yogurt making). The cushions are stuffed with soft plastic that won't fit in your eco-brick bottles. You can also just make a large beanbag with a zip opening (as in photo), and over time stuff it with discarded plastic. You will be astounded to see how much you can squeeze in. Your cat will love you.

Maas 

This is not a recipe site for food, but my one exception I'll include is MAAS! Making it oneself means no longer buying endless plastic containers each time. Maas is the term for thick, soured milk popular here in South African, and used as an equivalent to yogurt. 
Heat to lukewarm about a liter of milk in a glass jar; add about 2 generous tablespoons of maas that you have, cover, put in a warm spot (sun is great) and leave for up to 24 hours until milk is thick. Stir and refrigerate. It's great for drinking, for adding to food, for baking; use like yogurt.

Lemon tea
For those lucky enough to have a fruitful lemon tree- keep a perpetual-pot of lemon tea, changing it each day. Add boiling water to a chopped lemon in a pot and top it up as the day goes on. Drink hot or cold. Add ginger and cayenne pepper to further spice it up and use it to ease flu-like symptoms. Dig your nails into the end of a lemon peel for super-cleaning.

Diatomaceous earth
Since discovering this element, courtesy of word-of-mouth, and located it in quantity, super-cheap, at a local agri-outlet, it remains an essential in the storeroom. The grey, fine powder is added to pet's food in small quantities from time to time and keeps internal parasites largely at bay. Sprinkled and massaged into their fur, it controls fleas and soft-bodied ticks. Added to chicken bedding, nesting boxes and dust baths, it controls mites and lice.

A fascinating natural, non-toxic product, it works by penetrating small soft bodies with its microscopic needle sharp abrasive properties. 

Wood polish
To look after and maintain old wooden surfaces mix in 3 parts: vinegar, linseed oil and turps. Shake up and apply generously. This old recipe was passed on (like others) word of mouth from old carpenters who knew about wood. They also spoke highly of plain white wax floor polish.

Cheat 'paint'

Regular paint just does not adhere

On very old walls, partial to damp, paint just doesn't do the job, barely sticking to the ancient plaster. 
Living with 180 year old stone walls, I've discovered a useful trick: melt wax floor polish, add paint tint for colour and apply to walls with a soft cloth. The bright green

or red floor polish comes with a ready vivid colour which can be diluted with melted white wax. 

takes on an arty, distressed look

a mixture of yellow tinted and green polish 

Best of all, it's durable over time, easy to touch up when needed, impervious to damp and doesn't peel off as paint would. 

yellow tinted wax polish around an inlaid mosaic

Now can someone tell me, please, how to brew beer or more from MOLASSES??!

Liz Campbell is the sole writer and composer of all the published material on this blogsite, unless otherwise stated.

She has further blogsites:

   songs for children http://connectsongdance.blogspot.com/

   a collection of songs, poems and prose on the experience of loss, grief and recovery 

                       https://epitaph-lost-found.blogspot.com/