The motivation
We should be in Niseko this evening, having had our equipment measured and fitted, tucking into some delicious sashimi and miso soup. The Japanese government thought differently, however, and on Thursday evening decided that flights to and from Hong Kong would go only to Tokyo; that Hong Kong and Macau citizens suddenly needed visas and that Hong Kong visitors faced 14 days’ quarantine in specific, though unspecified places. We decided that, rather than risk being rounded up and placed in a quarantine camp and unable to leave Japan for two weeks, it was probably better to cut our losses and not go. Late last night our airline cancelled our return flight so it was probably for the best. Ironically, it now feels that we’re more likely to catch the Covid-19 disease in Japan rather than transmit it from here, but there you go.
At a loose end then, and what to do?
I signed up for Sophia Handschuh’s online bread masterclass a couple of weeks ago, and decided that now was the time to take the plunge and make real bread with real yeast. Yes, I know I have a bread machine, but baking something with real ingredients and your real hands is a pretty, romantic picture, isn’t it?
As for the Viennese biscuits: I have loved these since I was a child but biscuits are pretty much a no-go area in my house now because I find them so addictive. Still, baking was always a go-to activity for self-care, so I thought I’d give these a go today. Is there an opposite to virtue signalling? Making these Viennese Biscuits was surely vice signalling because there is no nutritional value whatsoever in these biscuits. None at all.
The verdict
Actually I cheated and used my Thermomix for the kneading of the bread. It takes two minutes. You have to be careful with yeast in this climate because it becomes over enthusiastic and can overshoot if you’re not careful. My first prove that should have taken up to two hours was almost overdone after 45 minutes and I had to stop the second prove and put it in the oven before my loaf embarrassed itself. I’m pretty proud ofthe result. Yes, I know it looks ordinary but it’s just the start of making real bread at home. Of course the advantage of the bread machine is that you don’t have to hang around and keep an eye on it, so that will be my normal way of making my daily bread, but this was cool and worthwhile.
As for the Viennese Biscuits: the recipe is easy in the Thermomix but I’d never made them before because I’ve always been afraid of piping. This afternoon I felt that fear and did it anyway, and they’re not too bad, are they? It would have helped if I had pre-heated the oven to 180 deg as instructed, rather than 80 deg, which melted the butter so that it oozed out of the mixture. A Brexit analogy tugs at my sleeve but I’m ignoring it for the time being. I haven’t quite got the chocolate dipping right, but I’ll work something out for next time. The biscuits are supposed to keep for two weeks. Yeah. Right.