Slow Living in Rural England: Baking Bread & Traditional Homemaking

Hello and welcome to English Rose Cottage. This week is a little different for us. We are staying in a rural cottage in the English countryside, embracing a slower pace of family life this week away from our usual home. From simple homemaking and time together as a family to enjoying the quiet rhythms of country living, we're making the most of this peaceful, lovely escape. So put the kettle on, settle in and join us for a cosy week here at English Rose Cottage. I'm quietly because my baby is asleep right above me. These are the stairs but I'm just mixing together some sourdough starter, water and some leftover porridge that we had this morning to make an oat loaf cake. This is pretty spontaneous and I also don't have any measuring cups or scales so I'm going to use just a mug. So we're going to mix together sourdough starter and water with some porridge and then I don't think I have honey, oops, but I might use a little bit of syrup. I'm just going on based on what I feel like the dough should feel like. Thankfully I work with dough enough to have a sense of what it should feel like. So this week we are in a rural cottage which means everything feels a little unfamiliar. It's absolutely lovely and cosy. We're having such a wonderful, wonderful time but it does mean that time in the kitchen and doing the usual providing for the family and nourishing meals on the table feel a little bit off and I'm trying to figure it out as I go here so do bear with me. But today I'm making bread for the family with equipment that I don't usually use. I kind of assumed that they would have all the things that I have at home for some reason so I only really bought a cast iron skillet with me which I'm glad I did that but I should have brought other things. But never mind, here we are. We're making bread and I'm having to slow down and work things out as I go and kind of adapt my usual routine to what's available here which is absolutely fine and it's been quite nice actually to see how homemaking changes when you're in a new place and the basics stay the same, feeding the family and taking care of the home but what you do and the way you do it looks a bit different and it's definitely less about doing things perfectly and more about just kind of getting on with it and making space still feel homey even though it's so easy to do in this beautiful place that we are staying in. But just caring for the family and doing the usual homemaking in a new place even if it's just for a short while. I've always absolutely loved being in the countryside. I'm passionate about being there with my family and I love opening the door and just walking out into these beautiful grounds, these lush fields, the green space, the crisp winter air. It makes me feel cold inside and makes me want a hot cup of tea but I just want to stay in the fields just a little bit longer and I just love it and spending time outdoors is something I really value for our health and especially for my children. The fresh air, the movement and the space to explore makes such a difference. Even in the winter we just kind of wrap up warm, pull on coats and boots and head outside anyway and I think those quiet cold days can be just as restorative as the sunny ones. And now I've had a moment to step outside and enjoy the peace it's time to come back in and check on the bread. So this dough turned out to be quite wet. Do not give up on your wet your wet doughs. All you need to do is just kind of scoop it up from the middle and let the dough fall over your hands a little bit and then put it back down and just keep doing that and it does tighten up after a little while. If you're working with fresh milk flour don't be tempted to add too much flour back into it because with fresh milk you need just a little bit less flour and you're working with quite a wet dough. Anyway I wasn't working with fresh milk but it was a wet dough so I did need to stretch it up and now I'm just going to feed my sourdough starter ready for the morning. I plan on making some yummy scrummy sourdough pancakes for breakfast but it's time to enjoy a cozy and quiet very very quiet evening at the cottage here in the heart of the English countryside. I haven't used baking powder in this because I've used self-raising flour because I'm out of ordinary flour so I'm leaving out the baking powder or bicarb whatever it's supposed to be Anyone else a really messy cook? I just get out everything and explodes with mess. I do tidy up after at least. Except this isn't our home! So that's been a little glimpse into our week here in the countryside. It's been really nice slowing down enjoying the quiet and settling into a different rhythm for a few days and I've loved adapting our family life and homemaking to a new place too and bringing familiar routines like baking bread into a space that isn't usually ours and next week we'll be back at our usual home getting back into everyday family life traditional homemaking and the slower seasonal rhythms I share here on this channel. I'm really looking forward to seeing you there. I hope you're enjoying this wonderful Christmas season and I look forward to celebrating it with you next week. Thanks so much for being here and I'll see you next time.