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Tuesday

Afternoon treat

At the weekend I managed to walk through snow to village shop for provisions. Its a tiny place with an interesting mix of foods on offer. As you'd expect a good showing in the baked bean and Shipham's department, but also a very passable selection of wine, well chosen and not too pricey. I also came upon a bag of local walnuts from Mildred's garden down the road. They are smaller than the average Californian, but particularly sweet and nutty. Andrew has been working on a good shelling technique with a split log on the edge of the hearth. The knack is in the correct application of pressure - I have some way to go yet! Anyway my contribution was making some walnut bread as shown.
85g walnuts (in rough pieces)
250g Doves Farm wholemeal flour
150g white Plain flour not strong - otherwise it comes out too poofy and light.
3/4tsp salt
just a little less than 1/2tsp dried yeast
320g water
1 tsp sugar.
Put all above ingred.s in bread maker (adding the walnuts at pinging sound so they don't get smashed to smithereens).
Delicious with stilton, but my favourite is with unsalted butter and honey eaten in front of the fire.