10 replies on “Friday [11 to 15]”

1. 11. Flour of the unfortified type. 🍞🥖

   https://www.rattonpantry.co.uk/collections/unfortified-flour-unenriched-flour-non-additive-flour

   ……

   JH: Think I’ll try this.

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   • They also sell French flour which is unfortified. Ooh la la!

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     • I’m getting spelt flour from Morrisons. M&S also don’t fortify their flour or bread mixes yet, or just aren’t telling us. I hand made a white loaf the other day from a bread mix, yeast etc added. Turned out nice. Next time I’ll bake two or three, good way to fill up corners of the freezer.

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       • If we make bread for the freezer we cut it into toaster sized slices first then it is always ready for breakfast or snacking. Nothing worsethan fancying a piece of toast and having to wait to defrost the whole loaf.

         ……

         JH: Well of course.

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2. “What is to be done?”

   Vladimir Lenin published What Is to Be Done?1 — the operational blueprint for the Bolshevik Revolution — in 1902.

   It’s typically read as political theory, but it’s actually more usefully read as a description of how to shift a population from passive discontent to active revolution — without the population understanding where it’s ultimately being taken.

   And this knowledge is highly relevant in today’s charged environment.

   By the turn of the twentieth century, strikes were common, and discontent was widespread in Russia2. Lenin argued that none of this was sufficient on its own, because workers could only develop ‘trade union consciousness’3. They could sense that things were bad and organise around grievances at the local level, but they did not ultimately grasp why things were bad, nor determine what to do about it.

   Lenin didn’t claim the workers were stupid. Rather, he observed that ‘correct’ analysis doesn’t emerge naturally — it has to be introduced by people who have already arrived at the ‘correct’ framework: the vanguard.

   The vanguard’s job is to interpret grievance through the ‘correct’ lens and guide the population toward the preferred conclusion. To Lenin, revolutionary consciousness ‘could only be brought to them from without’; the workers provide the energy; the vanguard provides the direction.

   But if the vanguard should guide the masses toward ‘correct’ consciousness, it would logically also have to protect them from the ‘incorrect’ sort — because these would lead elsewhere but the ‘correct’ destination. To this end, Lenin identified a type of opposition leader whom he called ‘economists’, who channel people into non-revolutionary directions through ‘incorrect’ prescriptions.

   The economists are worse than outright enemies, because they occupy the space where revolutionary consciousness should develop; they hoover up the discontented, and thus prevent actual transformation.….”

   Read on MacDuff…🔽

   https://escapekey.substack.com/p/what-is-to-be-done

   Interesting comments thread too.

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3. As a child I used to watch my Nan make her own bread. It was that rustic type; a large loaf too, amazing taste. She learned to cook from her mother and took that knowledge with her when she applied for a job as a cook’s assistant. This was Upstairs, Downstairs stuff for those who remember the TV series from 1971. The interview took the form of a test, to make a meat pie, and she passed. She was in service to well-to-do family for about six years before she met my grandfather on a rare visit back home in South Wales. Back then if you wished to marry you had to leave your employment, so she did. Moving to a small house in a Welsh village from a very large house in Harley Street was a bit of a jolt, but if she hadn’t I wouldn’t be here. My Mum was also a cook: a school cook. Lucky me 🙂

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   • Lovely story Steve. Back then going into service was the only way for many girls to go. Boys worked the land in rural areas, girls found whatever they could. My mum worked in the Royal Bucks Laundry, eventually as a fancy ironer, doing those flapper dresses with pleats and wotnot. Being the eldest of five she did a lot of the housework including cooking. Every boy says he had the best mum ever, mine was one of the best. Making clothes, the Singer sang every night that she wasn’t clicking the knitting needles. Cooking up marvels on a shoestring. They don’t make ‘em like ours any more, well… not enough to go around.😢

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     • I’m sure we could share stories all day, Andy. You’re right, they don’t make ’em like that anymore. Never will, probably. They were the best of us.

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   • The petition:

     End the mandatory fortification of white flour with folic acid immediately | https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/769589

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4. Another place in the UK to get flour without folic acid (white or wholemeal) is . https://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/
   But I like the look of Ratton Pantry too. I will have to investigate fully as they seem to have a range of unusual flours.

   I’m enjoying making bread but I’m unhappy with the breadmaker now because the loaves have a hole where the paddle goes. So when I have a bit of time I might try making a no-knead bread and see how that gets on. We don’t normally eat a lot of bread, but with this homemade stuff, it’s very hard not to just sit and scoff some bread and butter. Yummy!

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