One of my favourite eating places for birthdays and other celebrations is the
Bush Inn at Morwenstow in Cornwall. In summer we sit in the garden and look at the fantastic views and in winter we stay in one of the snug bars with their flagstone floors, oak beams and roaring fires. The food is really good; so good that we have to go for a walk afterwards. Not one of our Long Country Walks but a short stroll down to the church where the Reverend Robert S Hawker was the incumbent from 1834 to 1875. Reverend Hawker was
a very eccentric man but he is remembered for risking his life to bring the bodies of drowned sailors up from the beach to give them a Christian burial and also for introducing the Harvest Festival that is celebrated nowadays in English churches and schools.
We held our Harvest Festival in my church last weekend. Sadly, there was very little homegrown produce to bring this year as the gardens and allotments have suffered greatly from the months of heavy rain and flooding. I didn't have a single vegetable or piece of fruit to take but I was reluctant to resort to shop-bought goods. I decided to try my hand at making a harvest loaf instead. I've had a copy of Paul Hollywood's
100 Great Breads* for several years but never had the courage to attempt the harvest bread. Necessity is a great spur, though, and this is how mine came out:
I was especially proud of the little mouse!
*
I tried to make a link to this book on Amazon but it refused to work.
The harvest loaf is spectacular. Well done you fabulous baker. I love eccentric pastors like the man you mention; my husband is closely related to Lord Soper, the Methodist minister and pacifist who preached in London (on the Hyde Park soapbox) until he was 90 or so.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Terra. I'm not such a great baker but the instructions in the book are very easy to follow.
DeleteI was a great admirer of Lord Soper although I never saw him at Speakers' Corner, just on TV. Eccentrics are good to have around to keep us all on our toes!
Wow that is fantastic.When i first glanced at the picture before reading i assumed it was a bread shop display.
ReplyDeleteWell done.You must have had some fab comments about it in church.
Yes, it went down well. As I said to Terra, the instructions were surprisingly easy, I wish I hadn't waited so long to try.
DeleteWow! I am SO impressed!
ReplyDeleteYou could do it, Nan!
DeleteThat looks lovely...the mouse is a great touch.
ReplyDeleteThe girls say they would like to eat the loaf ...please :0)
Shall I send the recipe, Val? Or would you rather I hadn't said that? Tell the girls it is too bulky to download!
DeleteThat's a really good bake, M. Are those plaits over two and under one, or something approximating to that? (Apologies to your readers beyond these shore, M - these are deliberate Paul Hollywood references that only your UK readers who wouldn't dream of missing The Great British Bake-Off, will spot.) Oh, and I'm so pleased to see that you are blogging regularly again . . .
ReplyDeleteActually, D, I followed Mr H's instructions carefully and they were to take single strands each time from centre to right then centre to left - the book is rather old now!
DeleteAs for my blogging, regularly is a relative word!
Hello Maureen
ReplyDeleteI'm only just getting round to visiting my 'blog friends' so a belated hello to you - thanks for dropping in recently and for your comments. I did pop in this morning and wrote a comment but where it went I know where.
I do like the look of that loaf and if anything was to remind of am English harvest festival that would be it. Would it be OTT to say the plaits and the teeny mouse are just devine lol
As mentioned above its good to see you writing again - regularly would be good, once a week would be regular wouldn't it?
Take care
Cathy
It's nice to see you, Cathy. I really will try to put in more regular appearances here but Life just seems to keep on getting in the way!
DeleteYour missing comment is probably chasing my attempted link to Amazon around the internet. I seem to have a lot of problems uploading photos, making links and leaving comments on other blogs. Perhaps the more refined the technology, the more likely it is to go wrong?
I'm glad you liked my little mouse - I didn't want to let it go.
BE STILL MY HEART! Seriously Maureen, that bread is making me swoon. What a work of art. I get very excited about food-stuff, which is why I refer to myself as a Hobbit. I wonder if I could ever make something like that. You've really inspired me. Thank you for sharing. xx
ReplyDeletehaha..BE STILL MY HEART! Seriously Maureen, that bread is making me swoon. great contoh paragraf induktif
DeleteOops, I almost forgot. Last Saturday we had a Hobbit party at our house, celebrating Biblo and Frodo's birthday (yes, I am a nerd.) I made your mushroom pie. It was a hit.
ReplyDeleteJodi, I left a reply here but it seems to have joined the other comments and links in the mysterious Google other-world. Perhaps it's all that talk of Hobbits!
DeleteI'm glad that you like the bread and I promise you that if you had these instructions you could. Would you like me to send a copy?
I had a look at your Hobbit party and left a comment there - I hope that had more staying power than the one I wrote here! I felt really proud to see the mushroom pie and felt as if I'd been invited to the party. xx
Congratulations on that wonderful bread. Coincidentally I have just finished a re-read of the wonderful Jamaica Inn and have started Lorna Doone. Happy - maybe the wrong choice of word there - reads before bed.
ReplyDeleteThe bread has been a hit with lots of people so I am glad that I had a go after about five years of dithering!
DeleteIt is good to go back to old favourites, isn't it? They sometimes disappoint or make you wonder why you were so scared first time round but those classics should still be thrilling. I hope you are enjoying them.