More bread than you can shake a stick at

We resume our narrative where we left off, with the flatbread rising, and rising in the fridge. It turned out fine: softer than I had expected, more like a focaccia, and more mildly flavoured - I may have erred on the side of caution when adding the oregano (that is not the side on which I naturally err, but I make an exception for dried herbs). It was impressively light - whether this is the effect of the beer, a sign that I caught the starter in its prime, or some other unidentified variable, I don't know.

Here's the recipe, because I'm quite likely to do it again - with a note that yes, the pearl barley really does cook that quickly, and 100 grammes will cook to a suitable amount.

One grouch about Dan Lepard's instructions: both recipes in that wek's column require 300g of cooked pearl barley, yet the preamble tells you that "125g of the stuff will give you about 450g of cooked, tender grains." By the time I had worked out how much I needed, adjusting for my sourdough recipe, my head was so spinning with figures that I cooked one ounce instead of one hundred grammes, and had to cook more. [ETA: the recipe tells you to use a single baking tray, of which the dough initially covers two thirds, and is then stretched to cover the whole. I divided mine between two trays, and made one large and one enormous loaf. Possibly my dough was too wet, but I don't think so - the result was good, and anyway, it's called flatbread, surely it's supposed to be flat. Next time, more smaller loaves (and logistical problems with the oven, but even so...]

Also, the wholefood stall at the market has barleymeal flour, which would be an interesting addition.

The next loaf was another brick, my least successful to date, though the flavour is good and it toasts well. But it's a bit dry, and has a crack down the middle. It has quite a high proportion of buckwheat flour, which msy have something to do with it - and the flour is quite old (it won't surprise anyone who has seen my book stash that I also have a flour stash, which I am working on; but I did throw away a German bread mix with a use-by date in the last millennium).

I bought a loaf from Tesco - I know, I know. But when they first moved into the Market Place they stocked La Brea branded bread, including a wonderful sour soudough. The walnut was good too, but the sourdough was exceptional, so naturally it vanished first, and I miss it. So when something claiming to be sourdough, and looking very similar, appeared, I had to try it. It was - uninteresting. Rather than dwell on it, have some pictures of a sdurdough starter made the La Brea way, with grapes. I'm trying not to be tempted.

The latest batch of baking was based on another Dan Lepard recipe, this time Chelsea buns with a twist. I have - in the bad old days before I had a shoggoth - made the version in the recipe, with marmalade. This time I thought it would be interesting to try using a jar of sugar-free raspberry jam, which was perfectly good jam, but I felt I could spare it. I think I'm beginning to get a grip on converting recipes, allowing both for using slightly smaller quantities, and starting with a mix which already contains some liquid - at any rate, this dough soon became pleasant to handle, not too sticky despite the egg and raspberry jam. We sampled the buns at breakfast, and they were light and moist and tasty, but not quite as good as the marmalade version.

I do like bread; you can't have too much bread!