Bake yourself happy

When we first moved out I had a beautiful kitchen to use with two ovens and all the pots/pans and utensils anyone could possibly want but hardly any ingredients. This isn’t a vegan kitchen either so those few ingredients that were available weren’t always useable. While I’m perfectly happy to eat roasted vegetables or a vegetable risotto I don’t necessarily want it every night of the week.

I didn’t want to take too much with me as I’ll only have to cart it back home again when this is all over but I needed to cook… not being able to cook was driving me mad so I gave in and bought some bread flour and yeast.

Armed with just a mixing bowl (I couldn’t find any scales) I made a loaf of bread by hand. 500g of flour is 1/3 of a bag, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tbsp of dried yeast, a drizzle of olive oil and about 350ml of water. Mixed and kneaded until smooth and left to rise on a baking tray covered with clingfilm.

I make bread a lot but I throw the ingredients in my mixer and then leave it all day while I’m at work to rise. While I’m going through the act of baking bread I’m not really doing much. Making it by hand, guessing the measurements, kneading it for what seemed like forever, leaving it to rise in the sun… it’s the most satisfying loaf I’ve made in a long time and it made me feel fantastic.

We’ve been in our home from home for over a week now and I have accumulated a very small pantry of ingredients so that I can make all my basic recipes. While I might be exhausted by everything that needs to be done (and Jiji waking me up at silly o’clock every morning) the simple act of cooking makes me feel better each and every time.

Home is where the heart/kitchen is and nothing is more comforting than a home cooked meal.