photo: Unsplash Revd Anne Priestley: Every loaf has turned out well with this recipe! 5 cups flour (3 wholemeal/rye, 2 white: or use all white) extra flour for kneading 2 teaspoons brown sugar or honey 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon dry yeast 2 cups lukewarm water 2 tbs vegetable oil * Reactivate the yeast with sugar and one cup of the water. * Meanwhile, in a large bowl sift and mix the flours and salt. * When yeast is frothy, add to the bowl, along with the other cup of water and the oil. Stir well, then tip out the dough onto a floured surface and knead it till the dough has become resilient (springs back if … [Read more...]
Baking Bread: a spiritual act
Revd Anne Priestley Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Matthew 13:33) Bread became one of the themes of life in lockdown. Even before Level 4 arrived, loaves were disappearing fast from supermarket shelves - flour and yeast likewise. But I’d managed to lay in basic supplies, because for medical reasons our little family went into lockdown early. I planned to bake most of our bread - and can report success! Beautiful loaves, golden brown, hot from the oven, scenting the kitchen. They’d be eaten up within a couple of days, and then the … [Read more...]