'I've got one of these' said the checkout lady. They are prone to comment on your shopping in this store, a habit I find particularly irritating. I do not want to know that the other brand is better or asked if I really eat that. Nor do I want to get into a discussion on how I cook this that or the other, I just want to pay for the messages and go home to put my feet up.
So there I am now engaged in a conversation about my purchase and feeling older by the second as I hear how much easier it will be to tackle the stairs at my age! And then the couple behind me in the queue chipped in as well. Apparently they bought one of these cordless things in a rival store at a very good price and it has a handle too. There followed a list of all the things they use it for which I will not begin to tell you. Some of it was rather more personal than I'd like to publish here. Meanwhile the queue was building behind us and I was getting glares for holding everything up and all I was doing was trying to buy one of these hand held vacuum thingys for cleaning the inside of your car, which incidentally was never mentioned as a valid use. I shall chip that in the first time I'm behind someone who's buying one.
Thank goodness for a return to my little dough ticking over in the kitchen and waiting to be turned into a Cheese and Cumin Loaf.
Ingredients
500g strong white flour with a tablespoonful of rye if you have it
5g yeast
salt to your taste
350g water
250g grated cheddar cheese
2g ground cumin
2g cumin seed.
Method
Make a dough from the flour, water, salt and yeast and rest it for about an hour. Turn onto a floured board and use your finger tips to flatten to a largish rectangle. Sprinkle the cumin powder and seeds over the dough and spread cheese over the bottom two third of the rectangle. Press everything into the dough then fold the top third down over the cheese and then fold again over the final third. Shape the dough into a ball and leave to rise for another 30 minutes. Divide the dough into three. Shape two of the thirds into small loaves and place end to end into a 1kg loaf tin. Leave covered to rise until the loaf reaches the top of the tin then bake at 210C for about 40 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped on the bottom. The other third you divide into four pieces, shape into rolls. Leave to rise until the loaf goes in the oven then bake for 15-20 minutes.