Yesterday, we had flour, sugar, yeast, salt, kumquats, clementines, lemons and water. Tonight, thanks to the magic of heat (and a few other processes as well), we have a lovely loaf of no-knead bread (made with 2/3 white flour and 2/3 spelt flour) and not one but two batches of marmalade: kumquat with clementine and lemon, and straight-up clementine (which does have some lemon, but not so’s you’d notice).
While I have baked several loaves of bread since the end of our kitchen transformation in November, this weekend was my first experience with making preserves in our new kitchen.
Oh my. What a difference a range makes. Sure, the pot filler was nice (and I used it every time I needed water while making and canning the marmalades), but the new range was revelatory. For the first time since I began making preserves, the boiling mixture of fruit and sugar reached the gel stage in the amount of time indicated in the recipe. My old, underpowered electric stove took forever to bring fruit mixtures to a boil, and 50-75% longer than recipes stated to achieve a proper set. I always checked the set at the time indicated, but never expected that the preserves would be done. Imagine my delight when the first teaspoon of hot marmalade I dripped onto a cold plate today thickened right up, forming little wrinkles on its surface when I tilted the plate.
I will resist going on more about the pleasures of the new stove, about kumquats and marmalade, about variations on the bread recipe, as it’s late and I have to be up early tomorrow.
Just one more thing: I’m looking forward to breakfast tomorrow morning.
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John Lennon was mocked for being a “househusband”. But I distinctly remember him saying something like, “You should try taking care of the baby and the house and making sure things get done. Baking bread alone is difficult if it is done right”. Well said!
My mouth is watering !
Ah- the colors and textures here are delectable. Thank you for this bread recipe! I can’t wait to try it and now I have an idea for a valentine’s treat for Rich- he love’s fresh baked bread.
Now I have to go and see if that low carb bread we feed my mom can be made into something even remotely like this. You have no idea how much I love orange marmalade and Clementine no less…. Yummm!