No bread is an island

...entire of itself. (With apologies to John Donne!)
I live and breathe breadmaking. I’m an evangelist who would like everyone to make his or her own bread. I want to demystify breadmaking and show it as the easy everyday craft that it is. To this end I endeavour to make my recipes as simple and as foolproof as I possibly can.

I call my blog 'No bread is an island' because every bread is connected to another bread. So a spicy fruit bun with a cross on top is a hot cross bun. This fruit dough will also make a fruit loaf - or Chelsea buns or a Swedish tea ring...
I'm also a vegan, so I have lots of vegan recipes on here - and I'm adding more all the time.

Monday 30 April 2018

A PERFECT DAY FOR DUMPLINGS

20 minutes, and this is what you get - light and fluffy dumplings
There I was, this afternoon, watching Somerset vs Yorkshire - and, gripping as the cricket was, there was no denying that we were cold! 

I had on 6 layers, plus a scarf, hat and gloves - and I was still freezing. I found my mind wandering towards dinner: my wife had made me a veg stew, and I thought, what I really need when I get home, would be some dumplings to go with it. Perfect for this weather.

The stew was full of flavour - half a dozen local, in-season veg + a tin of chopped tomatoes gives a wonderful result. All it needed were some dried herbs and some garlic powder. However, I'd purchased a packet of Morrison's vegan sausage and quite fancied a couple of these cut into chunks in the stew. I also added a handful each of green lentils and butter beans from the freezer. The sausages are quite soft, so I dry-fried the chunks to harden them up. (Better to chop them when they're still partly frozen.)

Dumplings: Here's the proper recipe, with all the measurements, but today I simply put 3 heaped dessertspoons of self raising flour in a bowl, along with 1/2 teaspoon of bouillon powder, some garlic powder, a shake of mixed herbs and a teaspoon of nooch. I added a little cold water and a dsp of olive oil and mixed into a soft dough. I divided this into 4, and shaped them into bun shapes, which I then lowered into the stew.



After about only 10 minutes, the pot is steaming - and they've doubled in size. 
I gave the dumplings about 20 minutes, took one out and very carefully - because they're very delicate at this stage - sliced it in half to see what it looked like:

And here they are, light and fluffy.
I had the stew and a couple of dumplings with some new potatoes and spinach (I've just read somewhere that spinach releases more nutrients when it's cooked then when eaten raw), and it was just what the doctor ordered! Absolutely full of flavour, and it reminded me that I should  have dumplings more often.

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