Wok cooking. Hmmm. Do have a wok. Tend to cook everything in wok – spaghetti Bolognese, fried eggs, curry… anything that’s too big for saucepans. Look through book. Lots of recipes. But lots of recipes that need lots of ingredients. There’s no spaghetti bolognese. Delay cooking from book. Looks complicated. Is most modern book in collection so far. Wonder if modern day cooks put too much pressure on themselves to make recipes with lots of ingredients.

Week has gone by. Need to re-focus. Am still determined to cook from one book a week. Pick easiest thing in book.

Book 19 / The Complete Book of Wok Cooking by Vicki Liley, 2005 / Chickpeas with spinach

Have already got HUGE bag of dried chickpeas. Husband bought them after I made gammon chowder. Was convinced they’d be good for casseroles. Or making hummus. Bucket loads of it by looks of size of bag. Just need to buy tomato paste, spinach and mint. Consider buying mint plant. Decide not to. Haven’t needed mint since summer when I made jugs of pimms. Think we have cat mint in garden. Wonder if I could use that in emergencies. Not sure. Buy packet of mint.

Soak chickpeas overnight. Feel v.worthy that have gone to lots of effort to soak veg. Drain chickpeas and cook for 1-1 and a half hours. WHAT? Oh dear. Didn’t read full recipe. Was just looking at easy ingredients. Is already getting late. Am not going to have chickpeas for dinner. Belly is rumbling. Cook 4 minute pasta instead. Chickpeas take ages. Am due to go to bed. Husband asks ‘why do you love cooking so much?’ don’t know how to answer this. Could say:

1. Love baking. Is therapeutic. Can be quick. Cake tastes good. Neighbours love me

This is not baking. Answer does not apply. Mumble something about letting myself (and the chickpeas) down if I don’t follow through and cook dish. Am resenting chick peas. Have tasted them. Taste boring. 10 hours worth of cooking for boring chickpeas. Continue anyway.

Here comes the wok. Finally. Cook onion in wok. In lots of oil. Add all the fun stuff. Add chickpeas. Hoping special ingredients do for chickpeas what a full face of make-up does for me at 5am. Meant to chop up spinach. Can’t be bothered. Weigh spinach. Didn’t buy enough. Have only got one third of spinach required. Recipe must be wrong. Can’t fit any more spinach in wok. Unless there’s section at start of book that says you need industrial sized wok. Like those ones that people cook record breaking paellas in. Husband comes in kitchen. Says something smells good. Looks in wok. Says chickpeas look good – like an Indian takeaway dish. Yay! Agree. Spinach has completely broken down. Maybe recipe was right. Try chickpea concoction. Is delish. Not spicy, but v.fulfilling, good texture, v.yummy. Is like those little salad side dishes I pay £2-£3 for in supermarket. But there’s lots and lots of this. Decanter into boxes and leave to cool. Chickpeas. You’ve done me proud*

*but next time I won’t cook so late, I’ll buy correct amount of spinach and I’ll be v.patient.

No more spinach is fitting in here

Have so far discovered the following about original owner of books:

* they liked cooking with vegetables / may be vegetarian

* their fave shop was Sainsbury’s

* they liked baking

* they were interested in cooking quick and easy meals

* they had connections with Hampshire and Somerset

* they cooked for two people (ingredients for recipes for 4 peeps halved in margins)

* they were particularly interested in cooking during 60s 70s and 80s.

Slightly concerned about next book.

Cooking for one by Molly Perham, 2001

Wondering why they needed to only cook for one person during noughties.

Discover in introduction that ‘eating alone should be much more fun than cooking a solitary pork chop or heating a packaged ready-made meal in the microwave’. This is true. Book could be useful. Sometimes meat-eating husband eats one dinner. Sometimes I eat something different. Would be awful to just eat separate ready meals. Book seems to make things v.easy. Says ‘recipes in this book are as quick and easy as grilling (broiling) a pork chop.’ Book is obsessed with pork chop. Hope book is not actually book about 100 ways to cook pork chops. It goes on ‘they (recipes) are all cooked on top of the stove, so you don’t even have to turn on oven’. This is v.g. Mum always used to say putting on cooker for one small thing was waste of time and used too much electricity.

Pick something nice. Winter warming. Veggie. For me. For one person. Just me. On my own. Not including husband. He can eat pork chop.

Courgette Soup – makes 2 servings

** confused **

Makes TWO servings. TWO. Not one. What happened to cooking for one?! Suspect naming book ‘cooking for one plus an additional serving to take to work for lunch the next day’ would not have been so catchy. Have got most of ingredients in house. Just need to buy courgettes. Feeling smug. Already have cumin in cupboard. And a parsley plant on windowsill (is looking slightly limp – is suffering in cold weather). Recipe is v.straightforward. Heat oil and butter and cook courgettes and onions for 5 mins. Add rest of ingredients apart from parsley and heat. Blend. Add parsley. Done. Looks good colour. Is delish. Tastes fresh. And filling. Take second serving for work lunch the next day. Colleague asks ‘what’s that smell?’ Tell her is courgette soup. Asks if it’s homemade. Take great delight in saying it is. V.cool.

Am v.busy commuting. Buying basic lunch in London town could be v.expensive. £5 a day x 5 days a week = £25 a week x 47 working weeks = £1,175 a year. Ouch. Trying to be good. Preparing lunch in advance requires planning. Decide to revisit own book (not one from auction). Think husband bought it from work book club years ago. Is a revelation.

Have discovered the joy of SEC = The joy of Slow Economical Cooking

Is marvellous. Chop up ingredients. Bung them in slow cooker. Switch on. Stir. Done. Makes lots. Is good value.

Have not been v.adventurous until recently. Mainly made beef casserole. Not really followed recipes. Husband gets bored with beef casserole every day for a week. Is starting to look like beef casserole. Must make different stuff. Must be more to life than beef casserole.

Ultimate Slow Cooker by Sara Lewis

Look through book. See nice recipes. Don’t have all ingredients in house. Photograph recipes on phone. Take phone to supermarket. Buy everything on list. No excuses. Much to be said for taking shopping lists to shop.

Make many things from book including this salmon chowder. Doesn’t go quite according to plan. Have no idea what fennel looks like so buy dried stuff. Fail to realise chowder is several stage process. Decide am v.hungry. Decide not to use slow cooker. Cook in oven instead. Doesn’t make much difference. Is well lush. Use fish stock made from cube. Not sure if this is right. Don’t cook enough fish to make fresh stuff.

Also make parsnip soup with chilli and stilton. Need lots of parsnips to make 625 grams. Will be well parsnipy. Have to add turmeric and cumin seeds to spice collection. Hope I use them again. Have to cook off parsnips, apple and spices first. Turmeric makes everything go nice colour. Oh dear. Needs to go in slow cooker for 4-5 hours. Is not good. Is already 6pm. Put that in normal oven too. Make stilton butter. Use stilton left over from cheese board at Christmas. Hope it’s ok. Can’t tell if it’s new mould or old mould. Enjoy making butter cylinder. Little time to chill. Bung it in freezer. OMG. Is best soup ever. Just so sweet and spicy and lovely and… words don’t do soup justice. Can’t wait for husband to get home. Stand there watching whilst he tries soup. Am like child bringing painting home from school. Must get praise. Husband has said in past I often add too many spices to things. Wait for verdict. He loves it. Yay. Think it’s best soup have made. Ever. Makes 5-6 portions. Take some for lunch.

Am on a roll. Also make smoked gammon & mixed bean chowder. Just need to think about it in advance. Have to soak gammon and country soup mix overnight. Drain country soup mix and cook with other ingredients. Put in slow cooker with gammon (gammon joint too big so use remainder to make gammon and poached eggs for breakfast at weekend – v.nice). Husband says it smells good. Gammon literally falls apart in to smaller than bite sized pieces. Take some round to neighbours Mick, Ann and Rob. Wondering if they find it strange me always popping round with random food samples demanding feedback. Hope not. They like it. Rob says he could taste cloves. Suspect he ate cloves. Did warn him about cloves.

Still don’t anyone who has remoska I can borrow. Sigh. Still can’t cook from book 16  ’cooking with the remoska’. Still not keen on idea of buying one - costs £140. Maybe fate will intervene. Maybe I’ll start interweaving it in conversation with random people. ‘Hello friendly postie, how are you today? You look like someone who enjoys hearty winter meals, do you have remoska?’ Hmmm. Remoska will not defeat me. Is just a blip in quest to cook through books. May find out more about person who owned books later on. Maybe there’s a name in one of books. Maybe I’ll track down original owner of books and they’ll have remoska but have since memorized all remoska recipes which is why they got rid of remoska cooking books. Probably. Sounds like a plan. Will just be patient. Until then. Next book.

Book 17 / The Book of Yoghurt – An International Collection of Recipes by Sonia Uvezian / Yoghurt Muffins

Like yoghurt. Don’t do too much with it though. Buy big pots of it in effort to be economical. End up throwing half of it away. Have never heard of book. Was published in 1978. Doubt anyone else in whole world owns book. Is very interesting though. Discover that ‘the mountain folk of Bulgaria and the Caucasus (where a large number of centenarians also exist, including the oldest people in the world) live long and healthy lives for several important reasons and not just because they are yoghurt lovers.’ Wahoo. Must mean long life is partly attributable to yoghurt. Throw out the anti-aging cream ladies, enough with the zumba… copious amounts of yoghurt here we come.

Book is packed full of yoghurt related recipes. Never realized how versatile yoghurt is. All 162 pages of it. With few pictures. Some pages have three recipes on. Could make persian yoghurt cheese with cucumbers. Or chilled senegalese soup with yoghurt. Or ghivetch. Not feeling adventurous. Need cake. Decide on yoghurt muffins. Sound tasty. Sieve and mix dry ingredients. Combine wet ones. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until moistened. Look at mixture. Looks like wall paper paste. Has same texture as wall paper paste. Eugh. Convinced it’s a recipe for wall paper paste. Need more wet ingredients. Hmmm. There’s only one egg in it. Add another egg. Is much better. Divide mixture in to muffin cases, not patty pans as specified. Not sure what patty pan is. Cake tin? Not keen on lining tin with mixture. May never get it off. Put in oven. Cakes rise well. Topple slightly. Keep close eye on them after frequently getting distracted and burning cakes. Leave to cool. Look good.

Try one. Tastes of nothing. Zilchio. Nada. V.boring. Terrible. Gutted. Waste of ingredients.

NB. Still ate all 12 though during week as had no other cake.

Enjoying admiring books on new book shelves. Have new problem. Keep being tempted to buy more. Is addictive. Went in to charity shop to deposit size 12 clothes that no longer fit (need to take inspiration from overweight cat Hiro – has managed to lose 0.25kg in 2 weeks despite catching and eating the odd cheeky mouse – vet says he can stay on current diet plan for next month) 10 minutes later still standing there looking at second hand Rick Stein classics. Opportunties keep presenting themselves. Is not like I’m looking. Mary-Anne Boermans from Great British Bake Off fame will be selling big stash on her website – v.temping. If only I had more shelves.

Book 15 / Buying and Cooking Vegetables by Mary Norwak / Simple Mayonnaise

Is confirmation owner of books loved Sainsbury’s. Is mostly book about information on vegetables. With illustrations. Appreciate illustration of fennel. Wasn’t quite sure what fresh fennel looked like. Read that ‘a few years ago, it was only possible to buy vegetables in season… now thanks to improved methods of cultivation and skilled buying from home and overseas growers, Sainsbury’s are able to offer most vegetables throughout the year‘. That’s fine. Book was written in 1980. Think our attitudes have changed. V.much encouraged to buy fruit and veg in season now.

Not sure what to make. Has some recipes for all veggie dishes. Farmer neighbour pops round. Is going through cooking phase himself. Has made veggie crumble with artichokes. Try crumble. Is very tasty. Calls me next day. Asks if I’m ok. Say yes. Says artichokes gave his guests bad wind. Nice. Google this. Seems common. Decide not to make all veggie dish. Think I’ll try mayonnaise. Not made it before. Like it very much. Ate a bit too much at university. With chips. And cheese. Discover it’s very simple. Understand why it’s fattening. Huge amount of oil and and egg and other seasoning. Not that cheap to make either. Mix egg with seasoning. Doesn’t make paste as recipe described. Blends well though. Gradually add oil. Looking good. But yellow. Is mayonnaise meant to be yellow? Decide posh homemade mayonnaise must be. Put into new jar bought from supermarket. Take round to neighbour Dave’s house. He likes it. Says it tastes less acidic than shop bought stuff. Take this as compliment. Serve with chips made from sweet potato. Lovely. Not sure how long it will keep for. Mum says until it goes green.

Next book: Cooking with a Remoska (or not, v.worried, still don’t know anyone who can lend me one, can not fake remoska, can not pretend slow cooker is a remoska, book is not ‘cooking with a slow cooker’)

Was doing v.well. Was cooking from one book a week. Then had to stop baking (husband and I both getting fat on cakes). Then went on holiday for 2 weeks. Then Christmas happened. Was very disorganised. Was still scanning photos for relative’s new digital photo frame on Christmas Day. Then work got v.busy. Then found out cat weighs 5.5kgs and has to go on diet (hasn’t affected ability to cook but has been life drama occupying potential blogging time). Enough excuses. Have to get back on track. Now have book cases which just house all 130 cook books (+ 20 or so we had before auction). V.excited books on display and not strewn over worktops/kitchen shelf/in cardboard boxes.

Fewer life dramas + new bookcases + eating some cake again = more cooking time.

Have not been totally bad. Have made some stuff from new recipes. Was inspired after holiday to US to make American style pancakes. Recipe says they’re fluffy. Oh boy was this mixture fluffy. Was also delighted to get book by Nick Coffer for Christmas (have decided am allowed to receive more books as gifts – can’t be helped – but won’t buy any more for time being as book cases can’t hack pace) and have since made this banana cake. Was well delish, v.moist, think I got distracted though as slightly burnt top. Still trying to track down person who had cheeky nibble before I took pic.

Book 14 / Burnt Cakes and Other Offerings. A Taste of Burrowbridge / Rumblethumps

Is not really a book. Is a collection of recipes made by a school. Don’t think my school ever did this. Start flicking from back. Children give quotes about their mum’s cooking. These are my favourites.

‘I love fish and chips – mummy cooks it all by herself, she gets it from the freezer’

‘My mum makes lovely sketti bolognese’ (love the word sketti)

Wonder where Burrowbridge Primary School is. Suspect it may be in Hampshire like Botley Mills was. Google school. Is in Somerset. Read further down google to this article. School is to close in March! Number of pupils has fallen to just 12. In shock. Either book is really old and lots of pupils used to go to school or book is not that old and pupils’ mums are v.g cooks and managed to come up with 59 pages worth of recipes. Oh dear. Didn’t see that coming.

Flick through booklet. Includes recipes for ‘wiener schnitzel’, ‘gerald’s athelney eels’ and ‘Beryl’s chocolate sponge’ among some classics like pumpkin pie and prawn cocktail sauce. Opt for something have never heard of but looks relatively simple: rumblethumps.

Mix all veggies together, cover with cheese and bake till golden. Is v.easy.

Nice enough way of serving veggies. Husband says it’s ‘ok, tastes like veggies with cheese’. Bit of an alternative to bubble and squeak. Next book is ‘buying and cooking  with vegetables’. That’s ok. VERY WORRIED about book afterwards. Book after is ‘Cooking with the Remoska’. Have had to look up what ‘remoska’ is. Is cooker from Czech Republic. Don’t have one. Know Lakeland sell them. They’re £104. Ouch. Have looked on ebay. Still sell for a lot second hand. Remoska may be brilliant. But not sure it’s investment purchase, and don’t really have cash post-Christmas. Have asked friends. No-one has remoska.

No remoska = no blog post = blog failed at book 16

Help.

Veggies topped with cheese

Is a sad week.

Cake baking is on hold. There. I said it.

Take deep breaths.

Love baking cakes. Too much it seems. Husband and I have put on muchly weight in last couple of years. Lots recently due to discovering old recipes. Find baking therapeutic. Love creativity of baking. Love sharing cakes. Have not been sharing enough cakes though. Don’t think it’s all down to cakes. Love chocolate too. And other cheeky snacks. But cakes are part of the problem. Has to stop. Have got family portrait being taken in a few weeks. Concerned I will have cake oozing from pores.

Exercise more + eat fewer cheeky snacks = way forward

Will continue cooking recipes from books but focus on savoury more fulfilling-dinner-type recipes. Make next recipe last cake recipe. Below is homage to successful and not so successful cakes cooked in last year.

Book 13 / Be-Ro Home Recipes Scones Cakes Pastry Puddings / Macaroons

Book is falling apart. Must have been well loved. Book does not have date. Suspect it’s from 1950s. Google Be-Ro. Very excited. Picture of book is on website’s ‘about’ page. Also discover that ‘In the early 1920s, plain flour was the flour most commonly used. Self raising flour was considered a novelty – consumers bought plain flour
direct from the miller and self raising flour was only sold into independent
grocers. In a bid to make self raising flour more popular among the general public,
the company staged a series of exhibitions in the early 1920s where freshly
baked scones, pastries and cakes were sold for a shilling to visitors. Fascinating. Discover Be-Ro still produces recipe books. Is now up to 41st edition. Twitter followers say they remember books. Some still have them. Others threw them away. See that some people sell old ones on ebay. Tempting. Not sure where I’ll put another 39 books. Husband instructs me to move away from computer.

Flick through book. Not sure what to cook. Then spot macaroons. Macaroons not like modern macaroons / rons. But do have almond type paste. Have never made modern macarons. Suspect these may be completely different. Look much easier. Mix almonds and sugar with beaten egg. Recipe is quite correct. Do not need whole egg. Recipe for pastry is straight forward. Don’t use lard though. Don’t like lard. Use marg instead. Roll out pastry. Add jam. Look like jam tarts. (Made jam tarts with puff pastry once. Bad idea. Very bad idea. Jam went everywhere. Ruined tin) Add almond mixture. Then pastry strips. Put in oven. Get distracted. Am a v.distracted cook. Almost burn macaroons. Decide to photograph from good angle and not show burnt ones. Neighbours Mick, Rob and Barbara taste test them. (See I do give some cakes away, just not enough). Verdict: very tasty, like bakewell tart, much appreciated, thanks.

Macaroons taken from a flattering angle

Homage to cakes: not such a success

No more fishy cakes for me

Cake stand now in storage

Back in July I bought 85 cook books at auction. Was a random purchase. Auction is once a month. Is like a house clearance auction. Have been back every month. Have since bought cappaccino maker, foot spa and coffee table. But no more cook books. Until now. Discover there’s another box in this month’s auction. Look closer. See there’s a Mrs Beeton. Or maybe two. And someone’s own handwritten recipe book. Other people seem interested in box. Not sure what to do. Can’t stay for whole auction. Taking mother-in-law back home after village firework display. Should I even buy more cook books? Have nowhere to store them. Do I need more books? Husband seems concerned I may take over living room with books. Decide to leave it to fate. Place maximum bid I think books are worth. If I’m outbid then was not meant to have them. Wait several hours. Miss a call. Check answerphone. Discover mother-in-law won three handbags she placed bid on. And the books….? Yep got them! Was close though.

Oh dear. I have more books. Will have to add them to list. No longer cooking my way through one person’s collection of 85 cook books and pamphlets. Now have 135. Only one duplicate. Now to find somewhere to put them…

100 Ways with Cheese, Maggie Black 1976,

100 Ways with Eggs, Anne Ager, 1976

Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1989 edition

The Book of Garnishes, June Budgen, 1986

The Book of Salads, Lorna Rhodes, 1989

Cake Decorating, Janice Murfitt, 1986

Chicken, Linda Fraser, 1997

The Chocolate Lover’s Cookbook, Patricia Lousada, 1987

The Colour Book of Low Fat Cooking, Carol Bateman, 1981

Colourful Entertaining Cooking for the Hostess, Audrey Ellis, 1975

Cook & Book, Swiss International Hotels

Cookery in Colour, Marguerite Patten

Cook Happy, Josephine Terry, 1946

The Dairy Book of Home Management, 1980

Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course 1996 edition

Delia Smith’s Cookery Course Part 1, 1981

Delia Smith’s Cookery Course Part 2, 1981

Delia Smith’s Cookery Course Part 3, 1981

Delia Smith’s One is Fun, 1985

DK Pocket Encyclopedia Herbs, Lesley Bremness, 1992

Dutch Cooking, Heleen AM Halverhout,

Egon Ronay’s Guide to the Best in Freezing, 1975

English Electric E70 Self Clean Cooker Book

Essentials Pasta, Christine McFadden, 2001

Exciting Flavours of Asian Cooking

Farmhouse Cooking, Liz Trigg, 1997

Fast Fresh Food, Louise Pickford, 1998

Fondue Cookery, Alison Burt, 1973

Food and Cooking in Roman Britain History and Recipes, Jane Renfrew, 1985

Food and Cooking in Medieval Britain History and Recipes, Maggie Black

The French Farmhouse Kitchen, Eileen Reece, 1979

Good Housekeeping’s Cookery Book, 1966

Good Housekeeping Kitchen Log Book, 1985

Handwritten Recipe Book

Italian Farmhouse Cooking, Judy Bugg, 1994

Jill William’s Book of Freezing, 1974

Just for One, Katharine Blackmore, 1988

The Lean Plan, 1984

Lesley-Anne Ivory’s Spice Jars cards

Low-Fat Cookery, Wendy Godfrey, 1990

Mrs Beeton’s Cookery Book

Novelty Cakes & Other Novelty Food, Janice Murfitt, 1987

Pasta, Anna Del Conte, 1998

Pasta, Linda Fraser, 1998

Rick Stein Cooks Fish, 1987

Slim and Healthy Cookery

Stanford and Westenhangar Golden Jubilee Recipe Book, 2002

Sweets without Sinning, Gwyneth Dover, 1990

Thorn Cookery Book

Woman’s Own Book of Casserole Cookery, Jane Beaton, 1967

Am starting to learn more about person who owned collection of books bought from auction. So far have identified:

1. They liked Sainsburys (many books in collection are from supermarket)

2. They once cooked for two people (ingredients for recipes for 4 people have been halved in margins)

3. They were a busy housewife / working woman (many books have this theme – cooking nice things quickly)

4. Had some connection with Hampshire (must have, were once willing to go to Botley to get flour)

Like last book, next book is also connected with a product. Whatever happened to company’s which produce baking ingredients also publishing books of recipes? Am sure mum’s favourite recipe book was one she got free with something, or she sent off for it. Hang on. Will phone and ask. Estimated duration of call to ask question and get response = 7 mins. Stay there.

Am back. Was 17 minutes. Got slightly distracted. Mum started telling me about man she saw at bus stop other day laughing hysterically. Went to have a nose. Said ‘I was never going to believe what she saw’. Saw man with big dog with goggles on in sidecar on motorbike. Said to mum ‘am sure I’ve seen that too’. Turns out article on dog is today’s metro. Think mum should be journalist. Get back on to book. Mum recalls being given Stork margarine recipe book at school in 1967. Learned to cook from it each week. Was told by teachers she had to buy Stork margarine. Says she used to try and buy cheaper one and disguise it as family didn’t have much money.

Shocked at school’s attitude to corporate sponsorship of domestic science lessons in 1960s. Mum says she’s thrown book away now. Probably a good thing. Must have spent thousands of pounds over the years buying Stork margarine.

Feeling nostalgic. Remember having bacon roll as child. Suspect now this may have been from mum’s Atoria suet recipe book she also had. Decide not to use Be-Ro flour. Rebelling against brand names. Use supermarket flour instead. Suet pastry recipe v.straightforward. Mix flour, salt and suet in bowl with cold water and roll out. Feels fatty. V.worried about fat content. Am not going to be eating it (not eaten meat since was 16). But husband is. Worried about husband’s belly. Starting to discover cooks of many traditional recipes from 40 or 50 years ago were less concerned about fat content of recipes. Read with interest article about Mrs Beeton by Xanthe Clay, thinking that old recipe books are fab, but times and tastes do change.

Cook bacon, onion and parsley. Roll out pastry, spread on bacon mixture. Roll up tightly. Cook. Take out of oven. Looks v.fatty. Warn husband. Husband is hungry. Doesn’t care. Says to serve with tomato sauce or a good brown gravy. Picture is of peas and carrots. Husband wants neither. Serve with chips. Husband’s verdict, is very tasty, stodgy, would eat again, but not often. Salad anyone?

** WARNING this blog post has taken me 2 weeks to publish due to big embarrassment factor. Have finally stopped cringing. Only continue to read for entertainment value **

Am in an adventurous baking mood. Oh yes. Have been gaining confidence with baking. Have no idea what ‘Botley Mills’ is though. Discover very quickly. It’s a type of flour. Mill is in Botley in Southampton. Book says ‘all flour named in these recipes may be purchased from Botley Mills in 12kg or 32kg packs. These can be delivered on a C.O.D basis or purchased by personal call’. Sounds like a lot of flour. Not to worry. Use a lot of flour. Ask husband if he fancies trip to Southampton. Asks why. Say it’s to collect big bag of flour. Husband doesn’t reply. May need to check they have some in stock before planning flour road trip. Google Botley Mills. Puzzled. Says it’s a pet food seller. Look up heritage. Says this ‘Commercial white flour production continued at Botley until 1990 and stoneground flour until 1993, when for economic reasons production ceased’. Is a shame. Tell husband we’re not going to Southampton. Husband is not disappointed. Decide to use supermarket flour instead.

Week 11 / Baking with Botley Mills by Kate Easlea / Croissants

Sieving flour and salt, making well and adding wet ingredients seems v.straight forward. Very similar to making Jamie Oliver Pizza dough. Roll dough into oblong? How big an oblong? My oblong is not very big. Kitchen work surface is small. Get distracted. Day dream of more kitchen work surface. Write mental note for Christmas wish list.

1. kitchen island (will tell husband it can live in living room)

Cover with dots of butter. How many dots? How big should dots be? My dots are about

On Christmas wish list - kitchen island

half an inch big. Fold pastry. Refridgerate. Add more dots of butter? Doesn’t say. Add more dots for luck. Keep folding. Put in fridge again. Take out. Is it meant to expand? Roll out dough. Cut in to triangles. Roll each triangle? Confused. Not following recipe very well. Feeling baking disaster is imminent. Place on baking tins. Decide to cook anyway. Maybe they’ll puff up in oven. Don’t puff up. Throw in bin. Feeling deflated (me and the croissants). Have since seen Great British Bake Off. Seems copious amounts of butter is needed for croissants. Even the lovely Holly who did them fabulously admitted they weren’t the easiest things. Need a lie down. Follow some deep breathing exercises.

Was looking forward to croissants for breakfast. Need to boost baking confidence. Must bake something else. Google bagels. Find recipe for these. Cook like doughnuts. Is good fun. Come out looking ok. Breathe sigh of relief. Will revisit Botley Mills when have had more practice. Until then, croissants are meant to be bought, not baked.