Everyone goes through a bread making phase sometime in their life. For various reasons I got through mine in the 70s and haven’t yet succumbed to Round 2, which I’m sure would involve one of the marvellous bread makers on the market these days. NO, family and friends this is NOT a Christmas or other occasion gift hint !!
Staying in Busselton WA last weekend with almost-life-long friend Kitty, as I mopped up an unfortunate spillage in her kitchen we had a good laugh remembering my flour incident, 1970. In Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, in those nickel boom days no one ever phoned ahead, we just dropped in, and the kettle was always on as long as you weren’t going out or something. We drank a lot of tea. Well, during the day, anyway. One day Kitty and Caroline walked in through the back door to find me and much of the kitchen covered in flour. The then new Kenwood Chef mixer came with a glass bowl which I’d just smashed catching the base on the edge of the bench moving it from one part of the work area to the mixer stand. It’s likely I was still swearing but she’s never mentioned it. Like blood, a little flour goes a long way, and 1/2lb goes a very long way indeed.
A few days before staying with Kitty, Mike and I packed up our stuff from the house we recently sold in Perth. Tempting as it was to keep that replacement stainless steel bowl I bought, as the Kenwood itself had died anyway, I donated it to Vinnies and it will appear on one of their Perth stores soon, possibly in time for Christmas. Phone around if you’re wanting one!
In my time I made lovely breads including some herby and nutty loaves in interesting shapes, including braided fancy shaped little dinner rolls, all of which went down well. Ivan was a baby at that time so he has no recollection of my bread phase. When we left Kalgoorlie and entered our Northern Territory “Tent Period” there was a camp cook, so the habit died a natural death and somehow never revived.