Polish Sourdough - 1.0

My first attempt at sourdough was borderline success. The consistency and crust was good but somehow it lacked the real bite and bitterness of the bread that I remember. There are a couple of things I think I may have done wrong.

My starter sprang into life with such vigour that I decided not to feed it or refrigerate it and when the time came to use it, it had developed a hard crust on top and apparently ceased to ferment. I could not understand the logic behind the feeding regime described in the recipe, so I decided to change it. A mistake evidently, recipes are sacred things.

On to version 1.1...

How to lose at online poker

Like everyone else it seems, I have been swept up by the online poker boom. As a graduate of mathematics and psychology I'm suprised that it took me so long to get involved. I've got to the point now where I can pretty reliably get into the money on a $10 PartyPoker single table sit & go.



Last night I was playing just before bed time in a tournament which was going pretty well for me. We reached the bubble with me the overwhelming chip-leader and I was sitting back and watching the unseemly scramble for third place. Every now and again I would step in to crush someone's hopes with a brutal all-in just to show them who was boss but mainly I was just watching. I was pretty confident that little short of an earthquake would prevent me getting in the money.

Then there was an earthquake. I've never experienced anything quite like it. I was on the top floor of our 3-story house and could barely stand as we shook from side to side. There was a horrible crashing sound of what sounded like the chimney collapsing (actually just debris falling down inside it) and I ran downstairs and out into the street. My neighbours were congregating in the street in various states of undress and distress. We shared our stories and I embraced a trembling girl from the student house next door.

Then I went back to my game. I arrived just in time to see the big blind send me to the rail in fourth.

The Staff of Life

No, not the pub.

After years of hearing people talk about how great automatic breadmakers are and not believing them, I finally acquired one and have to admit that I was wrong - they are fantastic.

I've been gradually working through the recipe book and the best so far was an olive bread with oregano.

Now I'm starting to get a bit more adventurous and the quest is on to find a viable method for Polish Sourdough. Until I tasted this bread, from a Polish bakery in north London, I assumed that all the best bread in the world was French. Not so - the Poles make the best bread in the world.

Given that there are now so many Poles in Nottingham, I wonder if we will soon be getting a Polish bakery.

Anyway, I'm trying to create the "starter" in my office. I'm keeping it in a plant incubator since the house is too cold. It's definitely alive and there is an intersting fermentation smell and some bubbles. So I'm probably going to go for my first loaf in the morning.

Iberico

Our friends said to meet at the tapas bar by the Galleries of Justice. I thought I knew the place that they meant - it had to be La Tasca on Weekday Cross. Dreadful, the last time I visited but our friends assured us that under the new management of World Service the restaurant had been transformed into a world class venue.

We arrived in good time and told the waiter that a table for 4 was booked in the name of Jim Waters. He consulted his paperwork and then guided us to an unset table in the corner. We passed a sign which said "ALL YOU CAN EAT!! £10!!!"

I began to suspect that I had made a grave error and reached for my mobile...

"Are you mad?" yelled Jim down the phone. "It's called Iberico - it's underneath the Galleries of Justice! It's round the corner!"

There is indeed a restaurant underneath the Galleries of Justice - I had no idea. Apparently it's been there for a year but I never heard about it. World Service have applied the same eye for design that worked so well in their main venue. The vaulted ceilings, Moroccan tiles and wooden lattices creating a pleasing Moorish simplicity.

I have not encountered this food concept before - "World Tapas." There are no "starters" or "main courses" as such. You graze from a menu consisting of small dishes from Spain or from "The World".

We had a charcuterie board from Spain and a cheese board from The World to get us going. These, together with the sourdough bread and olive oil with distilled balsamic vinegar dip were excellent and raised our expectations for the dishes to come.

We were not disappointed. A saddle of rabbit with girolle mushrooms, razor clams in a lime jus, black cod (almost as good as from Nobu), pumpkin risotto and wonderful stuffed courgette flowers followed in qiuck succession.

As foodies we shared everything but the fact is that this is not sharing food. The dishes are too small and difficult to divide by four. It's not bad value - you just need to make your choice and keep it to yourself. The ladies loved their desserts while the gents took Armagnac and coffee.

The bill came to £117 for four, with two bottles of wine and including a tip. Definitely a place to go back to.