Another leg of the same track we took earlier this week.

NW 1.02a Viersen-Dülken – Schwalmtal-Waldniel – Brüggen

Glorious sunshine, the wind was still fairly cold. The track followed the river Schwalm. Green meadows, small towns. A pleasure.

Over the last two years we discovered the joy of converted railway lines. Yesterday we went from Kaldenkirchen to Kempen, one leg of the BahnRadweg Kreis Viersen, and back again. N1.02.

The weather was great, the route scenic, typical Niederrhein, and Kempen seems quite a nice town to visit post pandemic.

The farm where we buy seasonal stuff is preparing this years oil. Great in a #pesto with parsley, garlic, hazelnut and pecorino.

No 16.2021 #sourdough

Nice cycling trip. We crossed the Rhine with the ferry at Langel and returned to our bank via the Leverkusen bridge. Nice views over the river.

At St Amandus on the way back we had some Tee from the thermos.

Great weather during the first halve of the trip. Now grey in grey, though warmer than at the start of the week.

No 15.2021 #sourdough

No 14.2021 #sourdough

Daughter baked an „Osterzopf“

No 13.2021 from one side a bit tame

wild oven spring from the other side

#soudough

We cycled to Schloss Hülchrath today. Nice tour, but after 4 days of glorious sun today it was overcast and cold. But we took hot tea, so everything was fine.

Another one done from the list

Photo not from today

Lorry sign of the week: 50 Jahre Innovation in Kalbfleisch

It’s that time of the year again. Wild Garlic (Allium Ursinum) is spreading in the garden. To be made into pesto #BärlauchPesto #recipe.

100 g Parmesan 100 g Walnut Bunch of Wild Garlic Leaves Olive Oil to desired consistency Salt Black Pepper

No 12.2021 #sourdough - last time the cust was VERY crusty, so baked a big shorter this time.

We took out the bikes. Glorious sun, spring having sprung. But it was COLD. Good to be cycling again, though.

No 11.2021 - #sourdough

and done #focaccia

#focaccia waiting for the oven

No 10.2021 #sourdough - need to work on that rise, otherwise tasty

Dinner: Lemon risotto with prawns

This cloud makes me shiver

Sitting in the garden, getting some sun, reading a book …

And hike I did. Very nice in the sun, quite chilly in the shadow.

There’s a bit of a moral dilemma this morning. I’d like to take the bike for a spin. The sun is shining. But, still -3 C outside.

Brrrr

Cycling is no fun if you alternate sweating with freezing.

Compromise with a hike?

No 9.2021 #sourdough is quite different. The difference started with me grabbing the wrong organic wholemeal flour in the supermarket. Wheat instead of rye.

• it is much easier to clean wheat starter off utensils
• the rasise of the starter was the same
• mixing the dough, basically no difference
• kneading the dough, very different. My bread has 600 g of flour, of which 100 g are in the starter. With only 100 g of rye the dough remains liquidy. The whole wheat version comes together as a “ball”

Colour and texture of the crust were also different. But that might have been my impatience which shortened fermentation.

Taste is great though.

#sourdough has done its thing