Christmas Rose and Tree 2012
Christmas Rose and Tree 2012
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We were supposed to be doing this on Saturday, but had to delay as we had such a sad day yesterday having to put our special and much-loved cat Shuffles to sleep, and sort out a suitable burial in Ingram Valley beneath the Cheviot Hills.
Our neighbours, Anna and Mark came round this afternoon and we enjoyed a pre-Christmas Feast, of essential Mediterranean bias. Whilst I made lots of food, Alison decorated our very impressive Christmas tree; quite the finest tree we have ever had here in Ananda. Here are a couple of photos:
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We had Rosemary Roast Potatoes and Fassolia, which used Borlotti Beans and was cooked slowly for several hours to pack in the flavour. I also made Spanokopita, with home-made filo pastry; Breadsong’s take on the “Christmas Rose” took the table centrepiece.
I used the formula posted by Breadsong, with a couple of significant alterations. Firstly I used a Biga instead of making a Straight Dough. I also used Fresh Yeast instead of Instant Yeast, no sugar, just a tad less salt, and a trifle more water. This is my formula:
Material/Stage | Formula [% of flour] | Recipe [grams] |
1. Biga |
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Marriage’s Organic Strong White Flour | 33.3 | 200 |
Fresh Yeast | 0.3 | 02 |
Water | 20 | 120 |
TOTAL | 53.6 | 322 |
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2. Final Dough |
|
|
Biga [from 1] | 53.6 | 322 |
Marriage’s Organic Strong White Flour | 51.7 | 310 |
Marriage’s Organic Strong Wholemeal | 10 | 60 |
Bacheldre Organic Dark Rye Flour | 5 | 30 |
Water | 45 | 270 |
Salt | 1.7 | 10 |
Fresh Yeast | 2.5 | 15 |
TOTAL | 169.5 | 1017 |
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% pre-fermented flour | 33.3 | - |
% overall hydration | 65 | - |
% wholegrain flour | 15 | - |
FACTOR | - | 6 |
The link to her post is here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/31325/rose-christmas [4] Compliments also to the original poster who Breadsong references in her post.
A few photos of the food and the bread are below:
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Well, it’s not far away now. We still have much to do in this household before the holiday season begins. Alison has a busy week at work. I have a lot of baking to do. It’s Alnwick Christmas Farmers’ Market on Friday. Anna has agreed to help me out on the stall, and she is great at selling. So I’m going all out to make more than ever to offer for sale. Stollen and mince pies are the festive offering to accompany the usual range of breads which I have posted many times on TFL before: Gilchesters’ Farmhouse and White, Moscow Rye, Black Pumpernickel, Eric’s Favourite Rye, Spelt Hadrian Bread, Sourdough Seed Bread, Five Grain Levain and the Brazil Nut & Prune Bread.
The exciting news for the New Year:
Firstly Nigel and I are doing Hexham Farmers’ Market twice a month. Additionally I have more work back in Leeds and hope to be up in Dunbar soon again too. Additionally there is work aplenty to do expanding the bakery side of “Bread and Roses”.
At long last an image of a Rose made into a loaf of bread to publicise “Bread and Roses”. Breadsong, thank you very much for posting this.
Very best wishes to you all
Andy