Monday 20 March 2017

Harvest Monday - 20th March 2017

This week my harvest has been confined again to .... (yes, you guessed it!) Purple Sprouting Broccoli. My "Rudolph" plant has just about finished cropping now (it gave us enough for 3 meals), and most of what you see here is from "Red Spear".













I also want to take this opportunity to show off some bread I made recently. I can't claim that it is anything to do with home-grown harvests, but my reasoning is that people who appreciate home-grown veg will probably also appreciate home-made bread! This loaf is made from a recipe in Paul Hollywood's book "Bread":



The flour used in this bread is a mix of Rye (40%), Spelt (40%) and White (20%). The Rye gives the bread a pleasant slightly sour taste, and the Spelt is distinctly nutty. The White is there just to lighten the texture.



The recipe calls for a "sponge" to be made the day before - in effect a short-term Sourdough. Yeast and water is added to some of the flour and left to ferment overnight, and it becomes soft and bubbly. It certainly works, because this bread was a winner in every respect - extremely tasty, with a good texture. I was pleased with the balance between crust and crumb too, which I think is a sign of good kneading technique.




Paul Hollywood is not my favourite person in terms of personality, but he certainly writes good bread recipes!


I'm linking my post today to Harvest Monday, hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.

8 comments:

  1. So nice to be harvesting! Months away from that here.

    That loaf looks mighty fine too!

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  2. The PSB is lovely, and so is that bread! I don't think I've ever tried spelt and rye together, but it sure sounds like a tasty combination. And it looks like the bread got a good rise even with all the rye. It makes me want a sandwich, or toast and jelly.

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  3. Considering the proportion of rye that loaf looks like it has a nice texture.

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  4. Yes , it really is so worth growing Purple Sprouting Broccoli and your bread looks great .

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  5. It looks like you got a nice thin crust with that loaf. It's great that your overwintered broccoli is doing so well.

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  6. I'm afraid I'm not a Hollywood fan either. Oh dear more PSB for me to drool over.

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  7. Looks delicious. My broccoli is just starting to produce spears - and the pigeons have discovered them. Sigh. Will have to cover them with fleece or something.

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    1. It's a shame about the pigeons. I must be very lucky because in all the years I have been growing PSB, the pigeons have only once taken an interest in it. I had to put a net over it that year.

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