Setting and Rising

A day of rain, a brief respite at the end, a rainbow, a sunset of sorts, a golden light on white walls. But my snaps don't convey the joy of it

I've blipped my bread before - fresh from the oven, which is its picturesque moment, I suppose; the moment it is ready for sharing. But this is earlier in the process - its intimate time, all for me. The time when it is transforming from a mix of ingredients into a dough, with life and texture and structure and character

My fancy new camera has some 'art' settings, so I played with them. I think this is called "impressive". Maybe. At home I make bread in a scruffy old IKEA plastic bowl. Here in our borrowed house is a proper stoneware bowl, like everyone's grandma had. That's impressive

This dough has shop-bought packet yeast. Some people seek out live yeast. I've never found it makes much difference, though I feel that it should. Last year, for the first time, we made cider with 'proper' cider yeast; I think it made a subtler flavour, so we have used it again. Our next-door brewery keeps precious yeast off-site in cryogenic storage, and goes back to this source whenever they feel the batch of yeast they are using is drifting away from perfection. So bread yeast ought to matter as much, you would think

Children from a household that earns more than £7,400 do not get free school meals. Teachers report children turning up to school with mouldy bread for lunch. 100,000 more would be getting free meals if the £7,400 threshold had kept pace with inflation. Hungry children; words fail me