Primrose, it sounds to me as though someone is playing a trick. I don't know.

Westi, about bread going dry. It's often the fat content that prevents that. But real sourdough doesn't have any fat (you know, butter or whatever) like many breads have. So, it will go dry more quickly. You could try cutting the large boule in half and freezing a half of it. Maybe that would be a p...

Sorry if I've posted similar before but I've no memory and am too depressed to challenge myself. A baked tattie is a very nice thing but a twice-baked tattie is more than twice as nice. :D Yeah, you can cook them in the meecrowavvy but they're better in the oven where the skins crisp up. Compromise ...

Our nearest High Street - 5 mins walk away for a fit person - is a dead loss. There was a downmarket supermarket - now closed. There was a butcher - now closed. There was a Post Office - now closed. Are you seeing any pattern here? There are charity shops, but praise to people who are doing their be...

Our place is residents parking only. Residents can pay about £30 for an annual parking permit and also if you have guests or tradespeople you can buy vouchers for about £2 per day. Seems fair enough to me. Actually £30 a year seems very cheap! But the daft thing is your vehicle must be registered at...

Husband dived out briefly for shopping/whatever, came back and said good news and bad. The bad news is that someone has parked in front of our house The good news is s/he's got a parkiing ticket.

That car is now gone and I hope they enjoy their parking fine.

It's starting to look better - little bit of bubbling on the top, nothing like the vigorous activity I'd been led to expect. Even so, I'd not trust it to make a decent loaf. Either I'll feed it again or perhaps use some of it along with dried yeast. I have (had?) a lot of respect for Richard Bertine...

OK, sitrep on the sourdough starter. Husband fed it yesterday, according to my instructions. I wasn't very well. It is showing a little activity, ie some bubbles on the surface and a nice tangy smell. Hmm, I still think it's too dry. If I was a beginner who follows instructions to the letter I'd be ...

Colin, you made me laugh - even though it's not a funny joke. People with good brains wouldn't thank you for the job. But a self-serving millionaire would jump at it. :evil: I didn't win the lottery again yesterday. To be fair, we're OK, but I just want to escape from this current scenario. Are we h...

This is very inspiring.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... or-charity

Gee, I find it hard enough to go up and down the stairs after living in a flat for several years.

Yes, using dried yeast is the norm really. In ye olden days, you used to be able to ask for a bit of bakers' yeast from supermarkets' in-store bakeries, and they would usually give you a bit for free. But these days are long gone. I tend to think of sourdough as being a bit of a hobbyist thing, just...

In the news today. All 400 stores to close and 12,000 jobs lost. How can this be a good way to run a country? I'm disgusted. And all these people turfed out of their jobs, probably having to go on benefits, on the poverty line, having to use food banks. It sure as heck doesn't make me proud to be Br...

And, with a name like Old Herbaceous, are you some kind of herb? Nah, I'm not going to believe that. You can't fool me.

Nope, they're fruit. Just like tomatoes and gawd knows what else that we normally use as veg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zucchini

Well, yeah, but the whole infrastructure of the city has changed. No more rookeries (I hope). We now have motorised transport - trains and buses (and cars) - instead of horse and carriages. So there's no need to design inner cities according to Henry VIII time. The location and layout of these big m...