Something way different this week from my usual blog topics and a special request from our Curator, Markus. Did you manage to catch our Wingham Bake-Off over lockdown? I didn’t win, mainly because I managed to make the worst cookies ever, but I had so much fun taking part… and I have since had another go at those pesky cookies and they were the best!
Where’s my link to birds I hear you say (as George primates asked me when I decided to write about baking)? Ever since I can remember I’ve loved animals and knew that I wanted to help them. After watching the legendary David Attenborough documentaries, I also fell in love with the Ocean and went on to study Marine Biology at University. As I’ve grown up my enthusiasm for birds has developed massively. I find that connecting with nature just makes me so much happier! My remedy to help with feeling blue or stressed and I feel so lucky that I can make use of this free therapy.
When I think about the damage we are doing to the planet, especially the ocean, it does genuinely worry me. Hearing about seabirds and other wildlife mistaking plastic in the ocean for food, chicks becoming entangled in it, plastic in the ice caps in the remote wildernesses of the Arctic and Antarctic… the list goes on. It all becomes a bit overwhelming doesn’t it?
When I think about how much the natural world benefits me, not just the food I eat but the effect it has on my mental health, I wish I could do more to help wildlife and our fragile ecosystems. And I’m not alone. A recent survey has shed light on this issue, with many young people now experiencing climate anxiety.
So about 5 years ago, I thought, how can I start reducing my single use plastic?! I had already bought a couple of metal water bottles, and some smaller ones for taking milk to work, oh and a reusable coffee cup! I also found some cute bee’s wax wraps at one of my local farm shops so I didn’t have to keep wrapping up my lunch in tin foil or clingfilm. I’ve found that shopping at my local farm shops (there are loads to choose from in Kent) for meat, fruit and veg has saved a bunch of single use plastic as you can take your own containers. I found that many of the farm shops also offer a refill service so I take all of my plastic washing up, laundry and cleaning bottles to be refilled and I’ve even swapped to palm oil free shampoo and conditioner bars too!
But when I really started to look at the household waste I was producing most of it was from the weekly supermarket shop. And bread, I eat so much bread! Every loaf, every few days another plastic bag. Yes, you can recycle these with plastic bags back at the supermarket but I find making my own bread so satisfying! In fact, I think it’s so outrageous how much single-use plastic is in our shops that I often write to my local supermarkets to ask why!
Over the years I’ve slowly seen the shops starting to tackle this issue. AMAZING! It would be so much easier to solve this problem if it wasn’t an issue to begin with, but what’s the incentive for these big companies to change when we keep buying this convenient throwaway packaging? People used to cope without plastic before it was invented, so why are we so dependent on it nowadays?
Another benefit of making your own treats from scratch is that you know exactly what’s going into the food you’re eating. Another big reason for making my own bread, cakes and other treats is that EVERYTHING tasty that’s premade seems to have palm oil in it! After visiting Borneo a couple of years back and seeing the destruction of this intense cultivation I really try to make sure that my ingredients are either palm oil free or certified sustainable.
My favourite recipes
So, before I think about the state of our planet too much for one day, let’s move onto my favourite recipes that I make all of the time… which for me means minimal time and effort. I hope you’re not too hungry as you’re reading this, you might even want to put the kettle on and who knows you could find yourself inspired to whip up a quick treat for yourself.
Easy yummy crusty bread
This is the recipe I followed to make my Turtle-shaped bread for our WWP Bake-off. It’s the first recipe I tried when I started on this venture. When I saw this recipe I invested in a Dutch oven, but the recipe shows you how to get on without one.
I now make this bread more often than I’d like to admit… I can’t resist dipping it in melted cheese! Yes it takes 3 hours, but most of that is leaving the dough to prove. I shove it in the airing cupboard then go for a walk or something and forget about it for a while. I usually buy a wheel of cheese and stick rosemary from the garden into it and drizzle honey on top. Pop it in the cheese in the oven for 15 minutes (still in the card box!) and that’s a great lunch to share with a friend.
When I first made this bread I did struggle with the dough at first… then I realised the water was measured in grams and not millimetres! I’ve since perfected my technique for a better rise by not shaping it too much after it has proved… and letting it cool completely before tucking in. Don’t ask me why that makes a difference, it just does some science stuff if you cut into it too early.
Loaves of bread
Crusty bread is great for dipping into meals and having on the side, but I’ve found that sandwich bread is a bit trickier to make myself. When I started baking my own bread my mum gave me an old bread maker that was my grandma’s… although I don’t think she ever did use it as a lot of the pieces were still in their packaging. I do love a second-hand find though, my wardrobe consists mainly of vintage grandad jumpers.
For the bread maker, I usually just buy a pre-made flour mix that has the yeast already in it and they even have instructions for baking in a bread maker. But I have found that it’s not quite as soft as sliced bread from the supermarket. I’ll get there though, after a few disasters with wrong settings at first, I think I’ve cracked it now. I’m just starting to experiment with making my own flour/bread mixes. One day I’ll have it as soft as the shop bought stuff!
Rocky Road
Okay, not technically baking, but for a beginner you can’t go wrong with rocky road. Melt some chocolate and butter, add some syrup, and mix everything all together. Chuck it in the fridge for a couple of hours to set and you’ve got a real tasty treat. I usually make mine whilst cooking dinner, as it only takes 10 minutes or so, and leave it in the fridge overnight. I also cut mine into little squares… all of this baking isn’t good for my waistline! Thankfully I also manage to get lots of fruit and vegetables into my diet as well as an occasional treat.
My partner Steffan usually calls dibs on trying my creations for the first time and boy has he eaten a lot of my disasters… I have not got on well with lentils in the past for example. And at work I’ll often bring in a slice for Matt as he returns the favour with his wonderful bakes as well. You’ve seen the cakes he makes for the animals right? I think he should do a blog about his wonderful creations sometime! I really need to get his orange cake recipe off him…
Dumplings
The easiest swap I’ve found for pre-baked goodies. I’m super lazy so this recipe doesn’t use any suet, in fact it just has two ingredients, flour and butter! My kind of cooking that. Anyway, I usually use half the ingredients as I often make them for just the two of us and that Dutch-oven I invested in for making bread gets used for most of my meals. I love a one pot dish, minimal effort, minimal washing up… although I still manage to trash the kitchen whenever I cook anything!
Crumble
My partner Steffan loves a crumble. My friend has an apple tree so it’s great to put the apples I’ve picked into a crumble. And there are sooo many blackberries around where I live at the moment so I’ll be baking another crumble very soon. I always make sure to leave plenty for the birds though. Blackberries are excellent fuel for our migrating birds in autumn.
I do however get a bit annoyed making the bread crumb topping and often throw a wobbly halfway through. However, it is worth the arm ache in the end and I can sometimes persuade someone to help me when I get tired. If not, I just leave it and come back to it after some quality time outdoors. That always helps make me take a more positive outlook on things. Once it’s done it’s the perfect winter pud. I’ll have custard with mine please yum!
Flatbreads
I make these flat breads every time I make a curry or tagine, but you can make them into naans by using yoghurt instead. Again, cheating because there’s no yeast in these, but I’ve also found the less you knead them and shape them the fluffier they turn out. I also leave mine to prove for another ten minutes after I’ve rolled them out… mainly because the curry is usually still on the go and I’m not ready to fry them. The ones in this picture were my second attempt and a bit too flat. Now when I make them they’re so much thicker and a better colour. Practice makes perfect right? I’ve found by using a good non-stick pan and no oil they turn out perfect every time.
Brownies
If you’re going to try one new recipe after reading this try this one. This is my go-to recipe for when I want to bake but can’t be bothered to do anything fancy. EVERYONE loves my brownies and I’ve been asked for this recipe so many times. I’m actually a bit shocked that mine came so mid-range in the WWP Bake-off! Although I did leave them in a touch too long in the oven that time. I now set my timer for 28 minutes then give the tin a shake. If it’s still wobbly in the middle then they go in for another 4 minutes before another wobble check. To avoid disaster DO NOT try to take them out of the tin before they’ve completely cooled! Let’s just say I made a right chocolatey mess the first time round.
Cookies
I was determined to have another go at baking the cookies that I spectacularly failed at during the WWP Bake-off. If you want a laugh watch Markus and Tony’s reaction to eating my cookies. Oh dear, how embarrassing! I think I’ve even found the secret recipe that they gave us to follow. My downfall was that I didn’t realise that the ingredients weren’t all weighed out already so I just tipped everything in… I was using my stand mixer so by the time I thought “oh that was quite a bit of salt” it was too late! A whole shot glass of salt too late. Ooops!
Anyway, the only thing I’ve not perfected about these cookies now is the ratio of cookie to chocolate chunks… you may notice that the cookies on the left only have one chocolate chunk in, I gave those to my house mates haha. Maybe I need to invest in an ice cream scoop! Also, I’m never using chocolate chips again, whole chocolate squares are the way to go.
Victoria Sponge
I’m still not that great at cakes but this recipe was so easy to follow you can’t go wrong. I’ve also tried Lemon Drizzle and Coffee and Walnut cakes which were edible but I still need to tweak the recipe to be 100% happy with it. I’ve come to the conclusion that my oven is really old and sometimes changes its mind as to what temperature it thinks it should be cooking at! One day I’ll have a go at making my own Jam as I cheated with this one and used a jar. The farm shops really do have such a great selection of local produce though I don’t even feel guilty.
Sweet Potato Cakes
After I started baking I found that actually a lot of the things I’d usually buy pre-made for dinner I could make myself. My favourite fancy recipe is this one for sweet potato cakes and I often make them if I’ve got people round for dinner. I sometimes switch the sweet potato out for carrot and courgette and use sweet chili sauce instead of harissa. And if we’ve got fish I just poach it and mix with potato and roll in breadcrumbs for easy fish cakes!
So, the next time you do your shop, ask yourself if any of the items you’ve bought in plastic you could have a go at making yourself. Yes it might be more expensive at first if you haven’t got the ingredients and slightly more effort but it’s actually quite fun once you get into it. I know I feel a sense of achievement making food from scratch. And it can still be quick and easy too!
A lot of the time with food like the flat breads or dumplings I make LOADS of them and freeze them. That way when I do want a quick dinner I can just whip them out of the freezer as and when I need to. I started off as a terrible cook, and still have lots of cooking fails when I try something new. I once tried to cook a whole FROZEN chicken, and one time I even managed to turn baked potatoes into black charcoal. If I can do it anyone can, honestly ha.
I know I’m only one person, but I really believe that if we each gradually start to reduce our plastic consumption it will actually make a difference, and our planet will surely thank us for it in the long run as well. Let us know if you try any of my favourite recipes. Let’s flip eco-anxiety around and strive to be eco-warriors! Happy baking everyone.
