Day 16 - Garlic and onion bread

Just over two weeks in, I suppose I should do a recap on the situation. For the month I'm eating Irish only produce and no foods wrapped in plastic. Although there is plenty of veg and meat farmers out there, since there is no major suppliers of sugar or salt from Ireland, there is very little produce in the supermarkets that's available. And outside of tinned and bottled food and drink, nearly all shop foods are plastic wrapped. I haven't been drinking alcohol so I haven't actually even checked the ingredients of the common Irish brewed beers and ciders, though I know Bulmers is off the list anyway. The things I've been missing most off the shopping list;

• Sugar
• salt
• caffeine
• tea
• a lot of fruits
• spices
• rice
• pasta
• olive oil
• lentils
• jams
• chutneys
• biscuits
  

In saying that I have discovered I seemingly don't have a very an addictive personality. Although it would be great to have a cup of tea or coffee when i'm getting lethargic in the evening and i'd LOVE a biscuit, I've haven't actually been too tempted to stray from the diet. Actually, since getting the honey, I've completely removed sugar as an exception, whereas at first I allowed myself a spoonful for my bread. Ou, I made a tasty garlicy bread the other day!

Mild Garlic and Onion Bread



3 cups of self raising flour
garlic (i used a whole shoot from the top of the garlic, but you could use a clove or two if you don't have the shoots or want a stronger taste)
two shoots of spring onions
few leaves of purslane (you can throw in any herbs really. Purslane's high in omega 3, i'm told. I'd sometimes go for some coriander or oregano either, whatevers in the garden)
2 teaspoons of honey
half pint of buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 180 (celcius) and butter up a 20cm round baking pan, or whatever else you have.
2. Finely chop the garlic shoots, spring onions and purslane.
3. Sieve the flour into a big basin.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients and make a well in the middle.
   
5. I would then get a glass and mix the honey with some of the butter milk and pour about a third of the buttermilk in.
   
6. You want to mix the flour into the buttermilk, pouring into the centre and mixing inward and around, add more milk if needed. Try not to over mix it, but get it so that its, you know, doughy. If its too dry add more milk, if its too sloppy... don't add so much next time.
   
7. Put it into the baking dish, cut a wee "x" on the top, so it rises nicely, then throw it in the oven for at least half an hour. If you can, leave the oven the door closed for the half hour. After that you can check it. It'll probably need another 5 or ten minutes. If you're unsure, take it out of the tin and tap the bottom, if it sounds hollow its done.
8. When its done, wrap it an tea cloth and leave it sit for 10 minutes.
   

I always find mixing the buttermilk into bread the tricky part. Everything else is straight forward, but its sort of trial and error mixing it enough, but not over mixing, putting in enough buttermilk but not too much. The measurement of a half pint of buttermilk isn't exact, I generally just pour it in while mixing until it looks right. If anything goes wrong it just won't rise properly, but it'll still taste fine. Obviously it tastes best though when you get it just right. If it doesn't keep its shape, leave it in longer or turn your oven up a few degees more.


The recipe is from the bread my granny used to make. Hers was just the flour, a pinch of sugar and buttermilk. Job done. Obviously mine doesn't taste as good. Nothing like nanny's bread. When I'm allowing myself other ingredients, instead of the garlic and onions, i'd put in a handful of mixed seeds, a spoon of crushed almonds, spoon of sugar, zest of half a lemon and a bit of dried dill. It's pretty darn awesome.


Yesterday's meals

• breakfast Pancakes and honey
  
• lunch tomato and cheese on toast with nettle tea
  
• dinner A potato and cheese topped veggie bake, with mushrooms, carrots, pepper, onion and garlic and a load of herbs.
  
• tea Slightly tastier cookie/cakes than the last time
  

In other news, meet Reuben;