Bread machine honey and walnut loaf

I haven’t baked quite as much this year as last but I have tried to stick to my goal of a different loaf each time I bake. This loaf was an experiment which turned out so nicely I may find myself having to repeat it before the year is out. With a warm, rich flavour from the heather honey I used, this is a comforting loaf for cold, damp days.

To make a medium loaf

• ¾ teaspoon dried yeast
• 10oz strong wholemeal flour
• 4oz strong white flour
• ½oz butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 280ml water
• 3oz walnut pieces

Add all the ingredients except the walnuts to the bread pan of your bread machine, in the order specified by the manufacturer.

Select the Whole Wheat Raisin setting.

Add the walnuts at the raisin beep.

Enjoy the aroma that fills your kitchen as the bread bakes, try not to eat it all in one go!

Cat Appreciation Day, October 2015

We have new visitors to the garden.

Stuffed Marrow Part 2: The Subtly Spiced One

The second marrow I had to stuff this autumn was enormous; about 18″ long and with much of it’s diameter 6.5″, I knew I was going to need a lot of stuffing.

I made double quantity of my cheesy, nutty stuffing but it wasn’t enough; about a third of my marrow was still unstuffed. In desperation I trawled my cupboards to see what else I could make a stuffing with, the result was more successful than I had dared to hope. The recipe should give enough stuffing mix for most store bought marrows.

Ingredients

• 4oz/115g wholemeal breadcrumbs
• 6oz/170g ground almonds
• 2 chunky carrots, grated
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 1 tablespoon fresh or frozen parsley
• 1 tablespoon fresh or frozen coriander leaf
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed

Technique

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.

Mix all the stuffing ingredients together and set aside.

Slice marrow into 1.5″ to 2″ rounds, scoop out seeds and pith.

Place marrow rounds on a lipped baking tray or in a roasting dish, stuff, bake for about 1 hour.

Stuffed Marrow Part 1: The Cheesy, Nutty One

Marrows seem to be a much neglected vegetable. When I mentioned to people recently that friends had given me two beautiful, and in one case giant, marrows from their garden the typical response was “that’s nice, but what will you do with them?”. I did consider making marrow rum but in the end both got stuffed.

This is the first stuffing I came up with, this was enough for the 7 rounds I got from the first marrow and would be plenty for any of the marrows I’ve seen on sale in supermarkets and greengrocers. I almost forgot to photograph it so the picture shows a leftover slice a little bit squashed to fit in a tub ready to put in the fridge…

Ingredients

• 1 average size marrow
• 8oz/225g mature hard goat cheese, grated 
• 4oz/115g wholemeal or spelt breadcrumbs
• 3.5oz/100g chopped roast hazelnuts
• 4 tablespoons/60ml milk or milk alternative
• 3 teaspoons dried mixed herbs
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the cheese I use St Helen’s but there are goats’ cheddars and goudas which would work.

Breadcrumbs; don’t buy dried! Use fresh or do what I do and make a batch in one go when you get a nice stale loaf and freeze them in useful portions.

Milk; personally I’d use a nut milk, macadamia or unsweetened almond for preference.

Technique

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.

Mix all ingredients except the marrow together in a large mixing bowl, it’s easiest just to get your hands into the mix than try to stir it all together with a spoon.

Leaving the stuffing to stand, cut the marrow into 1.5″ to 2″ rounds and scoop out the seeds and pith.

Place the marrow rounds on a lipped baking tray or in a roasting dish, fill with stuffing, bake for about an hour.

Any spare stuffing can be baked in a small pie dish or ramekins.