California Dreamin’

Sourdough & Pickup Trucks

There are two things I miss from my time in California, old Chevy pickup trucks and sourdough bread. I can’t do much about the truck here in the UK, but I can the sourdough.

At Hydro2Plate it’s not only important to us that we grow as much of our food as possible, be it hydroponically or conventionally, but that we make all our food from scratch. 

The humble loaf of bread is no exception.

It’s relatively simple to start your own sourdough starter with some flour, yeast and water. That being said I was looking for something with a bit more heritage and authenticity. Everyone has probably heard of the original San Francisco Sourdough culture and I would have been happy with that, until I stumbled upon a place that specialised in all sorts of cultures. I was spoilt for choice.

In the end I chose the following, they are all slightly different and have their own unique personalities.

Yukon Culture – the story goes that this was passed down from a Yukon prospector.
Red Sea Culture  – from one of the oldest ethnic bakeries in Egypt on the shores of the Red Sea.
French Culture – from a small 150 year old bakery on the edge of Paris.
South African Culture – a culture strong enough to leaven wholewheat flour and has a good sour taste.

As wholemeal bread is healthier, I brought the South African culture to life first. Adapting a recipe from the Knead Bakery cookbook (a cafe/bakery located in Cape Town), I substituted the recipe’s ‘rustic poolish’ for my sourdough starter. The bread did rise, but not as much as I expected.
More practice is needed!

Slightly disheartened at my fist sourdough attempts I dug out my favourite french baguette recipe and using my steam oven for the first time, the bread came out quite well. 

I can’t wait to bring another culture (or as they are affectionately known ‘my bugs’) to life as the sourdough adventure continues.

French Baguette Recipe
I use dried active yeast (readily available in UK supermarkets) instead of instant yeast for all my bread making. So the recipe has been adapted to work with dried active yeast.

Dried Yeast Prep
1 tsp white sugar
150ml warm water
1 tbs dried active yeast
Dissolve the sugar in the water. Whisk in the yeast and leave in a warm place for 10 – 15 minutes

Bread Ingredients Starter Dough
2 cups Canadian strong white bread Flour (112)
350ml warm water
Prepared yeast mix
Add yeast mix and water to the flour and stir well
Cover and let rise for 3 hours.
If using an electric proofing box set temperature to 21 degrees centigrade

Bread Ingredients Step 2
2 cups Canadian strong white bread flour (112)
1 tsp salt
Mix the salt and flour together
Add the dry ingredients slowly to the starter dough and mix ingredients together on minimum to incorporate.
Once incorporated turn the mixer to 1 and mix until smooth and pliable
Rise for 1 hour and knock down.
Cut the dough into 3 and shape and let rise for another 20 minutes
Cook for 15 mins at 230 degrees centigrade.

“The VegiVows”

How Does My Garden Grow?

As an avid Margaret Atwood fan I devour her novels almost as soon as I can get my grubby gardener hands on them. But what with the move to, and all the renovations at the small holding I’ve not found the time to read. With all the major DIY projects finally behind us this year, the new garden season not yet in full swing and the dismal, Fifty Shades of Kodak Grey skies, I finally picked up Atwood’s The Year of The Flood. An aptly titled book , since it hasn’t stopped raining?  In the book we’re introduced to the “Gardeners” a vegetarian eco group who take Vegivows and cultivate secret roof top gardens to grow their own food in preparation for the coming of the waterless flood that will destroy civilisation.

Even though Atwood’s “Gardeners” were not great fans of technology, I feel hydroponic technology is a great way to produce your own food when space is limited or you do not have access to a soil garden or allotment.  You can even do it on a window sill!

So how does a hydroponic garden grow? Simply put, plants grow in oxygenated water containing dissolved nutrients. 

I’m experimenting with a few different hydroponic methods to see what works well and will be cost effective. Currently our winter herbs and salad leaves are growing in an enclosed aero-hydroponic system. 

The plants sit in small net pots filled with clay pebbles with their roots growing in the air.
A water pump then pumps nutrient rich water through a sprinkler system that sprays the roots. Surplus water drains back into the tank to recirculate. The water is currently heated to 20 degrees centigrade. We didn’t have to do that in the summer.

On the book tour for the The Year of The Flood, Atwood said they would follow what she called the “Vegivows” – a list of things to make the tour as green as possible. One element of these vows was to eat locally produced and if possible organic food. 

I guess the reason we moved to our small holding was to abide by our own set of  “VegiVows”

Grow as much of our food as possible.
Make everything from scratch.
And what we can’t – Know it’s provenance. Be it sourced locally or from small independent suppliers that grow or raise their products naturally.