Wine Time and Sourdough Sunday

I have so many Blackberries that I made wine, I have 10lb in the freezer for winter puddings and crumbles, loads of jam and vinegar but still they keep ripening. I'm still getting the hang of the camera, but the close-ups are amazing.

I figured it was time to bottle some of the bulk wine I had been storing, I had 27 litres variously stashed around the house, but was running out of room (clearly we're not drinking enough) so a bottling morning was called for.

At the same time, I'm making Sourdough Focaccia, a Chocolate and Vanila Sourdough loaf and I also needed to test my freeform flatbread for the Baker Boys project, so another quiet Sunday was in prospect.

I refreshed my sourdough on Saturday night, by 5am Sunday (Really!) it was bubbling nicely,

so I made both doughs and prepared to bake this afternoon.

Meanwhile I had 30 wine bottles to clean and sterilise ready for my bottling marathon.

 

and of course the wine

 

 

 

and without spilling too much, this was the result,

 

 

a mixture of Dandelion, Elderflower and Rose Petal, that will keep us going for a few weeks, months.

 

Next the Focaccia was ready to shape, I oiled a tray and spread it out.

 

 

 

 

and left it for a few hours (about 4) then into the oven for 20 minutes.

 

 

I couldn't resist trying it with a sprinkle of the Blackberry Vinegar I made a while ago. And was it good? What do you think?

 

In between all that, Yvonne peeled some apples, which I cooked in a little lemon juice and added Blackberries and sugar. That will be good with yogurt or on my meusli in the morning.

 

 

Wierd how the colour changed as the blackberries cooked.

 

Now I am waiting for the Chocolate and Vanilla Sourdough to finish rising and it can go in the oven.

 

Dough at 0745

 

Dough at 1430



After 45 minutes in the oven, I couldn't wait to try it.

Not a bad days work.