The best bread EVER...

and probably the easiest.
This is the no-knead bread from Jim Lahey's 'My Bread' cookbook with a few tweaks made by Ayse to make it the yummiest, crustiest bread I may have ever eaten.

Ingredients
3¼ cup organic unbleached flour
1¼ cup Spelt flour
¾ tsp dried yeast
1½ tble salt (we use Kosher Salt so it may need adjusting to taste)
450ml cold water

You'll also need a cast iron pot.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. You may have to add some extra water to get a nice sticky consistency.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave it for 18 hours at room temperature. It should be nice and bubbly and have risen after 18 hours.

Turn out onto a well floured surface and round it into a ball, incorporating some of the flour. The dough will still be quite soft.

Lay onto a well floured dish cloth, cover with the cloth and leave to rest for 1 hour. Make sure there is plenty of flour on the cloth or the dough will stick to it (and it will be messy).
Place the cast iron pot, with lid on, into the oven and preheat the oven to 475℉ (250℃). Once oven is at the right temperature remove the pot and drop the bread into it.

Replace lid and bake for ½ hour. Remove lid and bake for another ½ hour. The bread should be a lovely caramel colour. Remove from oven and pot and place on a board to cool long enough to be able to handle and cut. Eat it as soon as you can because it is DELICIOUS!!!

If you go down to the woods today...

beware of rednecks with guns!

I managed to get down to the woods before the trees lost all their leaves and hunting season started. We actually had snow last Thursday - I was a little excited. It had melted by Friday afternoon but there will be more to come eventually. So until then, here are some Autumn (or Fall) photos from the woods at the back of the farm.

September, September, September...

I blinked and missed it completely. I think it may have been swallowed into the time warp here at Marvellous Edibles Farm. Being as slack as I am at updating this blog lately here's one big post to summarise the whole month. 

Between dealing with a cold (yes, when I get a cold it's like a man cold) then some kind of stomach bug (non-alcohol induced - I swear) I managed to get back to work after my 'Summer Holiday'. The mornings started getting colder and the sun rising later giving me plenty of opportunity to catch some amazing sunrises.

We took a trip to the Orangeville Rodeo - cowboy hats, bull riding and steer wrestling - the usual fair, yeeha!!

I started helping at the Bloor/Borden farmers markets in Toronto on Wednesdays. 

I gained a new obsession - bread making. Maybe one of these days I'll post the recipe for the best bread EVER - stay tuned...

I ate an extraordinary amount of food at the Harvest Party. A party using mainly food grown on the farm to celebrate the years harvest - delicious! Luckily for me and my waist, the treadmill has now been installed in the Automobile Palace and I can go for a run whenever I like.

And finally, to top it all off, I got a cat. Well, I didn't exactly but he lives in the Automobile Palace and I look after him. His name is Slasher and he is totally cute (when he isn't waking me up early by purring into my ear).

So that pretty much sums up my September. Hopefully my next post won't be too far away.

Summer Lovin'... Had Me a Blast...

Well, Summer is officially over and I was fortunate to be graced with the presence of my beautiful girlfriend, Soraya, all the way from Australia to see it out in style.

We kicked off our trip in Toronto, catching up with our amazing, talented friends Celeste and Matty, who both had to work but still managed to spend a lot of time wining and dining with us.
First stop after Toronto was a day and night in Ottawa, where Soraya and I mastered the art of the Bixi Bike (that's right - $5 for the entire day - oh yeah) and took in the sites and some of its impressive architecture.

Then it was onto Montreal where we were joined by Celeste for what can only be described as a girls weekend away. Shop, eat, drink, shop some more, eat some more, drink some more and get into a whole lot of mischief - oui! oui!

Escargots on the right - tasted like chicken - haha, not really!

After the city hopping we decided to get some fresh air and go camping at the Bruce Peninsula. On the way there we stopped in at Lifespring Farm to visit Ken and Anastasia and see how their adorable animals were getting along.

Then we stopped for a night at Marvellous Edibles Farm where they kindly loaded us up with some extra camping gear, some super tasty tomatoes and of course, my favourite pesto. Thank you Ayse and Jens (and Cengiz for making me feel guilty about not being there to help you pick tomatoes :)
Thank you Soraya for these photos of Marvellous Edibles Farm - they are awesome as always.

So then it was off to set up camp in the midst of a tornado warning. We were a bit worried at first but when we got there we thought we'll just set up the tent, open a bottle of wine and hope for the best. Turns out we had nothing to worry about.

The Bruce Peninsula was absolutely gorgeous. I don't think I've ever swum in such crystal clear fresh water in my life and we couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. It is definitely going down as one of my all time favourite camping trips.

As we still had the hire car for one more day we headed down to Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake to sample some of the local wines and of course, the ice wine, which is especially good as a slushie.

Back in Toronto, Soraya and I spent the last few days of summer hanging out, eating, drinking, relaxing and even getting some more ink (well, Soraya did anyway).

It does look kind of gross but blue cheese on a burger is the only way to go...

Thank you Soraya for such a memorable holiday - I'm going to miss you heaps!!! Thank you too Celeste and Matty who always make me feel right at home whenever I stay in Toronto. I'm so lucky to have such amazing friends in my life - love you guys!!!

Friends and ice cream...

and I think the same can be said about friends...

Things that lurk in the greenhouse...

other than food for my lunch. I came across these little guys nestled amongst the tomato plants.

All Photos Above © Noeleen Warman