Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

The larder was empty when we got back from the US.

Well, at least it was empty of the essentials - no milk, no bread. Milk we could do without for a while, but bread, well, I needed my toast. San Francisco sourdough is lovely, but there's something about a British wholewheat loaf that means toast to me. Nice hot toast with plenty of melting butter and perhaps a little marmite.

Luckily we have a bread machine, some flower, some yeast, some olive oil, and warm water. Put the later in the former and you have (a couple of hours later) bread. I've been baking my own special bread for a while now, where I just tweak one ingredient to give us something with a little extra kick. Instead of straight olive oil, I use some we found in San Francisco's ferry building. Stonehouse Olive Oil make a range of different oils - and I'm particularly fond of their Persian Lime.

It's my secret ingredient for bread. Use it instead of your usual fat, and you'll get a bread that's got something of a tangy kick. It's just a hint of extra flavour that works rather well.

There's a rather nice smell while it bakes, too.

I've also taken to using olive oil/fruit oil mixes when baking cakes. Try putting some that's been made with tangerine oil in your chocolate brownies - I can guarantee an excellent response to your new chocolate orange sensation...