Category Archives: Thoughts

Some of my thoughts, ideas and other text based entries

Pictures, Snippets, Thoughts

Wholemeal Fruit Bread

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A mid December long weekend is well placed for some home baking (and my first steps with the new Gutenberg editor). Today I’m planning to make some Bremer Klaben and possibly some bread. Tomorrow I’ll definitely make some bread. Yesterday I improvised some Wholemeal Fruit Bread:

Wholemeal Fruit Bread freshly cut (phone camera picture)

The ingredients:

  • 300g strong stoneground wholemeal bread flour
  • 150g strong white bread flour
  • 250g mixed fruit (sultanas, currants, raisins, candied mixed peel)
  • ~15-20ml Sicilian Lemon Extract
  • 6g ready zest / powdered lemon peel (yes, I’m lazy)
  • ~10g fast action bread yeast
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 pint warm water

Mix, knead, let rise as appropriate, then bake at 220ºC (fan assisted oven) for just over 35 minutes.

Eating it this morning while writing this blog post, tastes nice, fresh and fruity. And I’m starting to get used to the new Gutenberg WordPress editor. I’m beginning to grasp the block concept and I think with a little bit more experience I’m going to like it.

Snippets, Thoughts

Trying Gutenberg with WordPress 5

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Having used WordPress for a number of years now it’s time for a new chapter. This is the first of my three blogs I’m upgrading to WordPress 5, which includes the change to Gutenberg as the editor.

Before I upgrade the other two blogs I’m going to gain some initial experience using Gutenberg on this blog, just to make sure I’m ready before upgrading the other blogs.

Very first impression is positive, it looks fresh and clean and at least writing a simple post like this one seems quite straightforward.

Only minor ‘issues’ I’ve spotted so far are that there is no tag cloud for frequently used tags (which I quite liked in the old editor) and so far I haven’t found an easy option to insert special characters.

More to come as learn about the new editor.

Book review, Thoughts

Recently read: In A House Of Lies

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My goal of reading more books this year still isn’t going as well as I’d like, but I’m going to keep trying. Still, I did manage to finish a book yesterday I had bought two weeks ago. The latest instalment in the Inspector Rebus series by Ian Rankin.

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After over a decade and over 20 books in the series there isn’t an awful lot new happening, a lot of the usual suspects and storylines make another appearance. Two main strands/cases are interwoven through the book, not linked yet still linked. But I felt the story flows well and it’s a nice and easy read. Some new characters are introduced I suspect we might hear of again in the next book in the series. Oh, and judging from a passage near the end there might be some Brexit influences as well, as there’s a good chance that Brexit (and the related Border and customs issues) will provide rich pickings for criminals real and fictional.

Pictures, Snippets, Thoughts

Hemp and Walnut Bread

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It was time for some baking again last Sunday (but I only find time to blog about it today), time for another experiment. I decided to make an alternative version of the Hemp and Almond Bread I first made back in June (and have made again since), mainly replacing the almonds with walnuts. But as the walnuts came in a slightly strange packet size I also played around with some the of volumes.

These are the ingredients I used (I decided to also include some sunflower seeds):

  • 400g strong stoneground wholemeal bread flour
  • 200g strong white bread flour
  • 125g hemp seed hearts
  • 130g walnut halves
  • 50g sunflower seeds
  • ~15g fast action bread yeast
  • 3 table spoons olive oil
  • 400ml of warm water

Mix, knead, let rise as appropriate, then bake at 220ºC (fan assisted oven) for just over 30 minutes.

Taste test? Similar to the almond version, a nice slightly nutty taste, as expected from the hemp and the walnuts. Crunchy when you bite on a walnut. Also tastes very nice toasted.

Pictures, Snippets, Thoughts

Hemp and Almond Bread

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Decided to experiment with some bread baking again. While doing my shopping yesterday I spotted some ‘Hemp Seed Hearts’ (described as ‘pure unrefined hemp seed kernels with a delicious light nutty flavour’ and that among other things they are perfect for baking), so I bought some to use them in some bread to be baked for the weekend.

(click on the pictures for larger versions)

These are the ingredients I used (I decided to also include some almonds):

  • 300g strong stoneground wholemeal bread flour
  • 150g strong white bread flour
  • 75g hemp seed hearts
  • 75g toasted chopped almonds
  • ~10g fast action bread yeast
  • 2 table spoons olive oil
  • 1/2 pint of warm water

Mix, knead, let rise as appropriate, then bake at 220ºC (fan assisted oven) for just over 30 minutes.

Taste test?

Has a nice light nutty smell. Taste also light nutty (as promised), bread turned out quite light but also crunchy with the seeds and the almonds. Yes, I’ll almost certainly make this again.