Roll for the Soul

It has a ring to it, Rooollll for the Soooooul. But that's later.

However, my day started with this yesterday. It was quite warm, I fed my sourdough starter and went to work. Did anyone else love the Ladybird book of "The Magic Porridge Pot" as a child? I did, whoops! 

I mixed up my dough for my second loaf and left it to raise overnight in the fridge. What a calming and therapeutic way to spend Friday night, an hour between each fold and prove, so it fitted in with a lazy end of week evening fabulously. It may become a habit. Me and my sourdough like two peas in a pod.

The oven was pre heated with baking stone in situ fairly early on Saturday and I baked my second ever loaf of decent sourdough (see here sourdough loaf number one) It cooled for about an hour and made just the best ever bacon, mushroom and watercress/rocket sandwich.

After all those calories (bread and butter also!) we needed some exercise, the forecast was so good we decided to go and explore Bristol some more and be a little daring by trying to find the cycle routes in the busy traffic areas. Long Ashton to the Harbourside along the Festival Way is an old friend now, but I didn't know the cobbled section along by the river is called Chocolate Way, as the long section of squared cobbles is very chocolatey! Those cobbles are nothing compared to the boneshakers on Welsh Back alongside the harbour near Queen's Square. I'm not convinced that a) I still have any fillings or b) any bolt is still firmly bolted on my bike. We weaved and wandered and locked the bikes up and found the Corn Exchange and St Nick's Markets. I am slowly working out Bristol geography. I use an app called Endomondo for tracking some rides, it's good to have a history of where you have been, how far, how many miles and how much ascent/descent. I still find it spooky being followed by Big Brother though.

But we rocked up at Roll for the Soul community bike café. In a slightly out of the way location in Quay St but a great industrial feel. A mainly organic and moderately priced middle eastern inspired vegetarian and vegan menu with quality coffee and local beer and cider. They have cake.... we ate cake. It would have been rude not to, brownie and rhubarb tart. The workshop is surprisingly upstairs, but it was a lovely pit-stop with friendly welcoming staff. They have bands, and events and a big screen for biking events. Roll on Le Tour! I loved the poster wall too.

We went back across the harbour and looped off to find the award winning  Pump House housed on the waterside in Hotwells, a Victorian Pumping Station in a past life. Superb setting, and given it is the sister pub of Long Ashton's Bird in Hand we have to return to try the food. Today just a very pleasant chilled Ashton Press cider sat outside watching dinghies tacking and gybing in the harbour.

 We wandered home, a nearly 13 mile trip according to Endomondo, that didn't seem any distance at all.

 I love sourdough bread and cycling.

Cycling the Bristol to Bath railway path

Saturday was one of those perfect spring days, better than summer because it was warm enough to sit and enjoy a mug of tea outdoors but not so hot that I suffer with sunburn and heatstroke. Too hot for me, when I'm active, is over 20 degrees! I had to persuade the husband that really he wanted to go for a bike ride and not play golf. I promised a pub stop, and he played golf on Sunday.

From home we can cycle into Bristol centre on bike routes that are shared with pedestrians and not big bad lorries and buses and taxis and the like. We now also know that we can go all the way to Bristol Temple Meads station to catch a big train and Cabots Circus and then out to Bath without breathing fumes and risking our lives too. Somerset and Bristol are a dream for cyclists in the UK. Thank goodness for Sustrans and lottery funding. 

The 13 mile Bristol to Bath cycle path (mixed use) is tarmaced and so scenic. It's almost Disney themed with the artworks and sculpture along the way. Refreshments are available at regular intervals.Warmley station café is open weekend Easter to September and is great value for home made lunches and cakes and teas/coffees and ice creams. I loved the people on the platform, including a station master, waiting for a mythical train!

There was another tumble down halt with lovely modern artwork in the station arches. Transport past..

..and present. We didn't really stop on the outward track and continued after the end of the railway path to follow the river, past the university buildings and into Bath. 20 miles from home. It was too nice for city centre today so here is proof we did the extra couple of miles before heading back to Saltford for a Ploughmans and a pint at the Bird in Hand. So far 25 miles from home. Good for me, not anybody else, and there was a headwind all the way to Bath and it's definitely downhill on the way back!

On the shared use path we saw cyclists on bikes, stabiliser bikes, tandems, trike, a recumbent, with kiddie trailers and child seats. Then there were skateboarders, roller skaters, folk enjoying the sunshine in their electric wheelchairs and pushchairs and even promenaders! So lovely to see so many folk out.

Here is a statue of what we do well in Somerset....shame it was a water fountain not a cider fountain!

It's downhill all the way back into Bristol and a few hundred metres from home I managed to swipe one of those bike calmer posts, slowed right down, aimed for the gap and wobbled so I clipped my handlebar and ended flat on my back on the tarmac right in front of playing children. Whoops!!  It is true, Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving!  40.5 miles clocked at an average riding speed of 13.5 mph. In my defence there is a lot of weaving, and waiting for zebra crossing lights, and time taken to pick yourself up after falling off your bike!

Bike Snacks

We took these bike snacks to nibble on the ride, fabulously healthy tasty none crumbly trail bar recipe.

I added some honey to the mix, but they do work, and although not a sweet treat cake they really were fabulous on a bike ride, and transport easily! No butter/fat and just eggs and tea to bind and sugar from the dried fruits (unless you add a bit of honey too as I did!) Thank you Carl for the recipe, he has just published The Permaculture Kitchen and is a great fountain of knowledge on bread-making too.

Brioche for breakfast

Brioche for breakfast

Fresh home made brioche for breakfast is so easy with a bread machine. I have had one for 15+ years and very rarely buy bread as it takes 2 minutes to weigh out the ingredients, as I go to bed, so we wake to a fresh loaf in the morning. I always feel like I am cheating, and not an ethical hands-on baker, but we eat fresh preservative free bread that is a lot healthier/tastier and cheaper than bought. Panasonic are the best bread makers, my first/ current one is 12+ years old (Panasonic SD-252), and I really really want one with a raisin dumper but the basic model just keeps on going! Previous to that I had 3 different cheap ones that all lasted 1-2 years, two were replaced twice under guarantee.

I have known Karen for years on twitter, we have never met, but she owns a beautiful award winning Hopton House B&B on the Shropshire/Welsh borders that I'd love to stay at one day. Her tweets, about the funny side of her life as a BnB landlady, keep me amused. However, it is her pics and descriptions of the breakfasts she serves her guests that always make me drool. Karen is kind enough to share many recipes and I stashed away her brioche recipe and make it in muffin tins as she advises. So here is her recipe, with the brands I use for failsafe bread:

Hopton House Karen's Orange Brioche recipe

1tsp Dove's Farm Quick Yeast (the packets are orange and 125g of yeast lasts a couple of months, keep in fridge in an air tight container, sold in Waitrose)
400g White bread flour (Waitrose Essential Strong White Bread Flour gives brilliant results and is reasonable price for great quality)
1 tsp salt
4 tblspn sugar
Finely grated zest of an ornage
100g butter roughly diced
4 eggs lightly beaten
80ml milk
Extra milk or egg yolk for wash

At least 3 hours before bedtime layer the ingredients in the bread machine pan in the order they are given and put into the machine and set the machine going on the regular dough setting , which takes 2 hours 20 mins on my setting. Go off and knit for a couple of hours!

Once the machine has played its part remove the dough and knock back and divide into 10-12 portions. this is easier said than done as it is VERY sticky! Do not be tempted to add too much flour. Shape and fill a greased 12 hole muffin tin. I weigh them out so they are even.

Place the muffin tin in a carrier bag and "puff up" and tuck the handles underneath so the dough doesn't stick and has room to rise without drying out. Place the tin in the fridge or cold place (garage, cellar, larder) to rise, or prove, overnight. This slow proving makes for holier holes and a very light texture.

The first peep at your brioche dough in the fridge the following morning

Brioche ready for the oven

The next morning pre heat fan oven to 180 degrees C. Carefully wash the brioche tops with milk or egg and bake for 12-15 mins. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack and serve with even more butter and home made jam.

Brioche fresh out of the oven

A lovely variation is to enclose a square of chocolate in the dough balls before baking, and you have your own home made pain au chocolate! Sainsburys Basics plain chocolate is fabulous for baking.

Close up of open brioche crumb

After breakfast the weather didn't seem as bad as forecast, in fact it was clear blue skies if windy, so we jumped on our bikes and pedalled down to Bristol Harbourside to wander through the Harbourside Market to browse the stalls and have a coffee (him) and Earl Grey Tea (me). It was a very quick 4-5 miles downhill with a following wind so we worked a little harder coming home. We even stopped off and got some groceries in the village Co Op on the way back, how green were we?! My new panniers hold a lot! After packing the panniers the rain returned, luckily it's only a few hundred metres home from the "coop." Leek and potato soup was quickly made with the stock I made from last weekend's roast chicken, and a cosy afternoon of blog writing, knitting and 6 nations rugby has ensued listening to the wind howling and the rain lashing, again.

Here is a sneeky peek at a very quick knitted project I started yesterday at Knit and Natter and I should finish today or tomorrow. The yarn is Sirdar Indie and super bulky, and I am knitting in garter stitch, doubled up, on 15mm needles!

Autumnal cycling....and cake

I had last weekend off, and was determined to get out on a decent bike ride, not just my 5 mile each way commute to work. I have really enjoyed cycling this summer. I started commuting back in April and steadily increased from twice a week to 4-5 times a week. Not startling but on top of a 39 hour physical shift work job it has been a sense of achievement to get much fitter. Of course the fabulous weather this summer has made it a lot easier. I have now reduced my hours but getting on a bike at just after 6am in the pitch black is also taking some determination. Especially now that it is regularly raining!! The upside is coming home in daylight at lunchtime, with time to do the cleaning knit in the afternoons, and no late shifts.

I bought myself a new bike for my birthday back in August as a reward for my staying power. It has an aluminium frame but is a road hybrid. My old one was a very heavy steel mountain bike. My route is mainly tarmaced cycle path but it can cope with grit paths too. I christened her Gertrude Lush, or Gert Lush for short, the highest form of praise in Bristolian slang! Here she is ready for the commute. She cost me the equivalent of three months of posh gym membership, never mind the saving on fuel=more yarn funds and a fitter me!

We live 3 miles south of Bristol city centre and can get there on cycle paths. My route to work is in the opposite direction across the north Somerset countryside. We are very lucky to have such good cycling routes here as mostly in England the roads are just far too busy and dangerous for cyclists. Bristol has just received funding for the first Dutch style cycle lanes in UK too!

Back to the excursion. OH was booked to play golf on Sunday when the weather was to be stunning, Saturday was forecast to be wet in the morning drying up at lunchtime. For once the weather agreed with the forecasters. Off we went.

We set off towards Bristol on Sustrans route 33 and headed off under the suspension bridge to Route 41, following the south bank of the River Avon from Bristol to Portishead. It was fabulous being off road and the autumnal leaves were stunning, but we could hear the urban existence of cars on the Portway on the other side of the river. After a few miles along quite remote forested path we came out  at a stunning angling lake.

Then out into the open and through the village of Pill. Here we are looking downstream to the west to Avonmouth docks and the motorway bridge....

 ....and in an easterly direction upstream back towards Pill and eventually Bristol.

We're cycling over the motorway bridge in a minute!

 Thank goodness for a big barrier separating us from the thundering lorries heading south on the M5!

We then found our way down to the Portway to follow the cycle lane on the north side of the river back to Bristol, admiring the climbers  climbing in the Avon Gorge. A fairly urban ride overall but very enjoyable.

When we got home, 21 miles later, I iced the cherry and almond traybake, I had made the night before, and we devoured a large hunk with a pot of tea, yum! It has grated marzipan in it and I should have used my brain and washed, dried and floured the halved cherries that were placed on the sponge, before baking, as I normally do to stop them sinking. It tastes good though. I am eating a slice now writing this!