Formula Food: Borscht and Black Bread

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 15g butter
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 celery stick, diced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 450g of diced beetroot
• 1 waxy potato, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1.5 litres of beef stock - or veg stock if you want a veggie dish
• 1/2 purple cabbage, shredded
• 2 tomatoes, skinned, cored and chopped
• salt and pepper
• Dill

Instructions

1. Heat the oil and butter in a heavy earthenware pan, then add carrot, celery and onion. Cook gently.
2. Once soft, add the potato, garlic and beets, and fry.
3. Once well coated and the beets begin to soften, add the stock, salt and pepper. Blend if you want.
4. Simmer for 15 minutes and add dill to taste.
5. Add cabbage and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir well to help break up the tomatoes. Blend again if you'd like.
6. Serve with sour cream and a sprinkling of dill.

Recipe Notes

The blending at each stage is optional, if you wanna keep it chunky, don't. If you'd rather a smoother soup, blend to your heart's delight, or pulse a little. Dealer's choice. If you want a bit of spice, a twist of paprika wouldn't be a bad idea.

Recipe by

I did.

Ingredients

• 175ml whole milk
• 175ml water
• 2 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
• 450g rye flour
• some white flour for dusting and working on
• 1 tbsp ground sea salt
• 2 tsp caraway seeds - optional
• sunflower oil for greasing
• 7g of fast action yeast

Instructions

1. Mix the milk, water and sugar in a small saucepan and heat, very very gently. You want this barely above room temperature, stick a thermometer in to be sure. Just under 37°C will do fine. Stir well to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat, and leave to cool for a minute.
2. Pour into a bowl and stir in the yeast, now leave until the top of the liquid if fully covered in foam. This should be about 10 minutes, if needs be, give it more time.
3. Mix the salt and caraway seeds into the flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix, and pour the yeast mix in. Stir with a wooden spoon, and then with your hands until well mixed.
4. This should give a spongey dough, turn it out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. This will take a lot of effort, so give it some grunt.
5. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm and leave to prove for about an hour and a half or until it's doubled in size. And then allow it a little longer still.
6. Then knock back the dough and knead for a minute further.
7. Shape into a rough loaf shape, and score across the top.
8. Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
9. Cover with oiled clingfilm loosely and prove for a further hour.
10. Once doubled in size again, remove the clingfilm and bake in an oven at Gas 4/180°C.
11. Bake for about 40 minutes or until it sounds hollow.
12. Allow to cool once baked, and then serve.

Recipe Notes

For proving and baking, allow extra time, and keep an eye on it. Especially when proving, give it a little more time.

Recipe by

I did. After a lot of swearing.