Making bread

Last weekend, Eloise and I went to Batemans — a National Trust property, formerly the home of Rudyard Kipling, author of The Jungle Book.

There had been a mill at Batemans for many years. Kipling then converted the mill into a small hydroelectric plant to generate electricity for the estate.

In the 1970s, the National Trust restored the water mill to working order, where it now mills twice a week. The flour goes on sale in the shop. We bought some.

Our first loaf didn’t go very well. The recipe we followed was for regular bread flour. Ours was a wholemeal spelt. The result was dense.

Our second attempt was much better. The dough was still quite wet and sticky, and after cooking we lost a bit of the crust to the bottom of the bowl we baked in.

The bread was much more edible, though, especially with some butter on.

For the next attempt, we’ll probably let the mix sit for longer — we gave it ten minutes before kneading, it probably needs closer to thirty — or try a recipe that mixes the wholemeal flour with some lighter bread flour.