These really are crazy times. We have a disease spreading across the world killing thousands. It may not kill a large proportion of us, but health services will struggle to cope and many families will lose loved ones. China, Italy, Spain and Iran have already lost thousands. So we in the UK now find ourselves told to stay at home. Before we got to that point some were already clearing out the supermarkets of certain goods. As well as toilet rolls and pasta they also tool a lot of the baking stuff. I could find no flour or yeast recently.
Luckily I had some stocks. A friend is a miller and supplied us with some sacks of white bread flour. His other half works in a supermarket and got us some yeast (see below). So I was able to bake this loaf in our Panasonic machine.
I have been exploring some of the recipes beyond the basic loaves. This inspired me to add some porridge oats to add some flavour. The dark crust setting makes it really crispy.
As for the yeast, I usually get the dried sort that lasts for ages. What I got this time was fresh yeast that comes in a huge block. I only need a few grams per loaf. I read that it keeps for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, but that you can freeze it. I think this is what they use in the bakery where they will make hundreds of loaves each day.
There were various opinions expressed online. Some thought you needed to mix the yeast with some water and sugar, but I just crumbled some in the bottom of the pan. Last night I did a loaf on timer using the same method and it came out fine. Having the water on top of the flour seems to keep the yeast dry as you do not want it to activate too early.
The family demolish a loaf in a day so I will be making another tonight. This still leaves me with far more flour and yeast than I will get through soon so I put out an offer on the local 'good neighbour' Facebook group in case anyone was desperate. One lady came for some of each. I also have my old bread maker that I am willing to give away and I offered that too.
There is a lot of good work going on to ensure everyone is okay. Some cannot get out to buy supplies.
There is extra respect for our National Health Service that is doing all it can to care for the sick. It is such a shame that Tory governments have tried to run it down for years. They are all in favour of private enterprise, but it should not be about profit. As a gesture of thanks someone proposed that we all go outside this evening and applaud the NHS workers even if we cannot get together. We were out clapping and could hear many others doing the same. It is going to be interesting to see if there are some policy changes when this is all over.
Enjoy your bread, but think of others. I hope everyone is well and has what they need to get by.
At least staying at home all day doing nothing in this lockdown will not be good. One must do something to get engaged
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I have never done it, but if you find yourself getting low, you can always hold a portion of your dough aside and use that as a "starter batch" I think it is called. They do this with pizza dough all the time. There are some places that are still using the same yeast that are decades old. I'd do a quick Google of it first just to verify I am not talking out of my "you know what".
I was looking into sourdough starters. May try that some time, but okay for yeast for now. I'm hoping the panic buying will settle down a bit, but it looks like the restrictions could go on for months.
Whooooo Hoo. My loaf will be ready in about hour and a half. I don't have CV19 cause I can already smell it.
People around here just went crazy buying stuff. I haven't been able to buy flour or yeast for two weeks. I'm down to about 2 loafs worth of flour. I ordered some from Amazon but it's considered non essential and will get here around the 10th of April. Sigh.
Enjoy it. I know I will!
Enjoy your bread. I would hope people will look out for neighbours so nobody goes short. This crisis may bring us closer together in the long run.
Same in Germany, flour and yeast are missing. I've never appreciated freshly baked bread at home than now. Talking about fresh yeast (I was smiling to see the size of your yeast), I just put it as it is as one of the ingredients. It works fine for me.
And I really like "good neighbor Facebook group". I would like to have one in here too :)
Stay safe & keep on baking!
We are used to having everything available, so it is strange to see empty shelves.
The good neighbours thing just needs someone to start it. With ours they put a leaflet through every door to let people know help was available.
we struggeled in Wales my partner has been a Baker for over a decade and finding flour and yeast has been hard, we still haven't got any, but at the same time we are trying to avoid the shops!
None again in Sainsbury's today. Had to queue to go in this time. I've got enough to make a lot of bread. Would love some granary flour though.
There’s nothing like home baked bread!
There really isn't. It's great to munch on it whilst still warm.
I managed to grab some wholemeal flower from the Coop this morning so will make a few batches over the next week or so. I quite fancy trying some rolls. I have a small amount of strong white flour left so may try a 50/50.
I found full wholemeal to be too heavy, so I generally mix. I won't run out of white for a while.
Lockdown in SA for 21days kicks off 10 minutes from now in the hope of curbing the virus.
Enjoy your bread and stay safe
Not sure how long ours will last, but we are allowed out for essentials. I still get to go to work, but hardly anyone there. Stay healthy.
When I looked at the numbers of dead this covid-19 has cause, it is always terrifying