Spirit of the Kitchen (Element)
Traditionally the kitchen was a place of feminine nurture and sustenance, a place of safety and magic.  It was where people came together for food and family, to welcome friends and sustain soul as well as body.  Nowadays, sadly, our kitchens are often little more than status objects – some can cost as much as a small house!  As part of the Spirit of the Home series, Spirit of the Kitchen shows you how to reclaim your kitchen and turn it into the living, breathing centre of your home. 

This beautifully illustrated little book shows how to recreate the kitchen as the heart and hearth of the modern home.  It includes:

* How to bring out the potential of your kitchen
* Thinking about the history, mythology and psychology of the kitchen
* How to use colour, sound, scent and light in the room
* Furnishings and decoration, creative ideas and finishing touches
* Simple rituals and blessings for the room – kitchen altars and feng shui
* How to cook with spirit and soul – creating real “soul” food

Spirit of the Kitchen makes an ideal gift for anyone who loves their kitchen – or would like to love their kitchen!  It’s great if you’re moving home, considering a kitchen makeover or simply want to bring more thought and consideration into the way you prepare food. 

 

For Adrian, the kitchen god – and all who share our table

INTRODUCTION

What is a kitchen?   It sounds like a simple question but when you think about it, of all the rooms in the house, the image of “kitchen” is perhaps the most protean: it shimmies and slides like a lively fish.   A kitchen is a place for preparing and cooking food – that is a given.  But that food can be lovingly prepared and transformed into culinary alchemy – or it can be thrown into a microwave, zapped with rays and then slung on a plate.  A kitchen can be a place where the cook holds a solitary reign, either happy in his or her splendid chef-like isolation or miserable in banishment, enslaved by the cooker and the appetites of a demanding family.   Or, a kitchen can be the hub of the house; a lively place of discussion and debate; a gathering place for family and friends; a sociable space. 

It’s interesting that, over the last fifty years or so, the kitchen has become elevated in stature and prestige.  In the past, kitchen “design” as such barely existed.  Furniture and fittings were utilitarian:  people didn’t really think about the kitchen as a space to be designed and decorated.  As the age of science took over, inventions started to make domestic life easier.  Machinery took the toil out of housework – and nowhere more than in the kitchen.  Of all the rooms in the house, your kitchen is most likely the one with the battery of machines:  fridges, freezers, washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, ovens, hobs, grills, microwaves, blenders, mixers.  Not to mention the vast array of gadgets and specialist equipment:  bread makers, ice cream makers, waffle makers, toasters and toasted sandwich makers.  On the other hand, a wider knowledge of the danger of germs in the cooking process led to a fascination, almost obsession, with hygiene.   Maybe it was this invasion of science and hygiene into the kitchen that prompted a move towards more clinical design.  The kitchen mutated from a homely, haphazard room into a laboratory of food.

Nowadays a new kitchen can cost as much as a small house.  “Designer” kitchens come in a bewildering array of styles and colours and the “new kitchen” is a definite status symbol.  Why?  My feeling is that we are trying, desperately, to rekindle the heart of our homes.  In my earlier book, Spirit of the Home, I talk about how we have lost the serenity of Hestia, goddess of the hearth (of which more in chapter 1).  I still think that’s true.  In this hurried, hassled world, we have lost our connection with our sense of centre and also with the Earth, our Mother, and this fracture leaves us with a chill lonely feeling in the heart.

Somewhere, deep inside, we have the knowledge that we can rediscover this link, if not in the fields and forests, then in a small way in our kitchens (and, incidentally in our gardens – another boom area).  So we have deified the art of cookery, turned chefs into TV celebrities, transformed our kitchens into high-tech, high-cost temples of hygiene and efficiency.  We hopefully pray that, if we follow the recipes of our new-found domestic gods and goddesses to the letter, we will rediscover our sense of belonging.  Sadly it doesn’t happen.

We need to reclaim the real heart of the kitchen and turn it into the living, breathing centre of our homes.  It’s interesting that many people are now combining kitchens and living rooms into one open-plan “living area”.  At an unconscious level, we’re seeking to integrate our psyches with our homes.  We’re looking for a way of finding the hearth once again. 

I’m writing this book almost in tandem with another in the series, Spirit of the Living Room, because they share many concepts.   If your kitchen is tiny you will automatically need to transfer some of its duties onto the living room.  If you don’t have a living hearth in your living room, you will have to honour Hestia in your kitchen.   This isn’t some cunning marketing ploy, but I’d suggest you read the two books together if you want to feel the total overlap of these domestic spaces.

My own kitchen is a madcap space.  We inherited a dark, gloomy north-facing kitchen, peopled with pretty ghastly wood effect units and absolutely disgusting tiles.  The previous owners had split the room in two and routed a staircase through part of it, so you had to duck to sit down at the table.  The only redeeming feature was a bright red AGA cooker.  Monty, the boxer dog, immediately decided this was his long-lost twin and set up residence in front of it.  Our budget was virtually zero but we realised that, if we wanted any kind of peace in this house we needed a fully functioning kitchen.  So down came the connecting walls and the staircase and immediately we had a much larger working space.  We couldn’t afford to buy new units or tiles so we took up our paintbrushes and painted them white to reflect some light.   Looking outside on a fresh spring morning I noticed the colour of the brand-new beech leaves and decided this had to be the colour for our kitchen – pulling in the spirit of outdoors and the wild.   Our old scrub-top pine table fitted in just fine and provides a good place for family and friends to sit and talk (or interfere) as Adrian, my husband the super-cook, prepares food.   We battle furiously with clutter and I confess our tabletop is rarely clear but tends to accumulate papers, books, bills and a fair sprinkling of toys.  Since the arrival of James, our son, the kitchen also serves variously as playroom and artist’s studio (James’ easel stands ever-ready in a corner waiting for inspiration to strike).  His daubings also decorate the large food cupboard. 

Our kitchen is a noisy place.  We don’t have a utility room so the washing machine usually provides a background hum (or thud).   We gently battle over music:  at any time our kitchen soundtrack could be obscure classical, early church choral, Irish folk or anguished acoustic rock.   We sit at the table for our meals and talk, debate, argue, laugh.  When friends come round, we often don’t make it as far as the living room and the formal dining table – we can’t prise our guests away.   But add a few candles, some aromatherapy oils and a vase of flowers and the table is transformed. 

Sometimes I fantasise about hand-crafted wood units.  I certainly dream of a beautiful new floor.  I would undoubtedly adore a huge American fridge.  But I can live without them because the spirit of our kitchen is just fine and dandy as it is. 

This is not a kitchen design book – if you need to debate the precise siting of a cooker or discuss the relative merits of gas and electric hobs, there are plenty of other books which will merrily engage with you.  This book is more a musing on what a kitchen is – or should be.  It’s not prescriptive – and I hope it takes into account the physical and financial limits many people will have.  Above all I hope it makes you think about your kitchen space and tempts you to find ways to make it a more comforting, hospitable place for the soul.  

 

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM YOUR KITCHEN?

Imagine your dream kitchen.  Do you conjure a picture of a cosy, comfy farmhouse room, with worn flagstones on the floor, an old range with a kettle singing on top and a scrub-top table with jars of wild flowers atop?  Or are you musing about a minimalist paeon to high-tech, all gleaming white and chrome with industrial flooring and metal splashbacks?  Do you see sunny Mediterranean colours – or neon pink or acid lime?  Stop!  At this stage it’s too early to think about precise details like this – we need to muse a little on how we want our kitchens to FEEL and what functions they need to fulfil.  Once we’ve discovered that, the practical bits will come far easier.  Kitchens can be expensive rooms to fit and furnish so it’s well worth spending time working out what you really need. 

Start noticing kitchens.  Look at other people’s – in fact, don’t just look but feel, smell and listen to them as well.  Use all your senses.  How would you feel in such a kitchen?  Would it work for you?  Perhaps parts of it would while others wouldn’t.  Notice kitchens in magazines too:  start clipping out pictures that appeal.  Not just whole kitchens but maybe colours, or images which suggest the ideal mood of your kitchen.  You can stick them in a journal (it’s a great idea to start one specifically for your kitchen) or put them on a large sheet of paper as a kind of collage (the “treasure map” I’ve discussed in other books).  Keep adding (and subtracting) from your image bank – you will probably find your ideas do change as you work through the processes in this book.

KITCHEN MEMORIES

Often we unconsciously seek to recreate the atmosphere or physical reality of our own childhood spaces.  If an early kitchen is a potent and happy memory, you may well find this.  Take some time to answer the following (you might like to record your answers in your journal – or on a piece of paper if you feel this is safer).  If you’re not a writing type, try talking to a tape recorder – and then play it back.

NOTE:  although this is a simple exercise, you may find it uncomfortable if you had an unhappy childhood.  If any disturbing feelings or memories emerge, it may be better to work through this with a trained counsellor or psychotherapist.

Allow yourself to muse, to dream, to go back in time and really remember.  When I look back over the houses I have lived in, I realise that the most important element of the kitchen for me is always the big table.  Everywhere I have lived (bar the odd bedsit) has enjoyed an ample table – and so did my childhood homes.  I don’t really remember ever using formal dining rooms – we would “hang out” in the kitchen.   What stands out for you?  Is there a mood, a feel, you would like to recreate?  Maybe you even fancy recreating the décor of those childhood kitchens.  The utilitarian forties kitchen?   Fifties’ pastels, florals, rounded shapes and whimsical wallpapers?  Sixties’ pop-art, geometric shapes or wild psychodelia?  Seventies’ streamline, coffee and aubergine colours, café art and murals?  Eighties’ chrome and high-tech, gleaming with gadgets?    You don’t need to follow the crowd – or the kitchen designers – a kitchen can be whatever you want it to be.  If your favourite design is not “fashionable” there’s nothing to stop you calling on the services of a local carpenter or cabinet maker to translate your desires – and it isn’t any more expensive than buying most ready-made kitchen units.

WHO USES YOUR KITCHEN?

The next important question to ask is “Who uses your kitchen?” and “What do they need?”  We’re told that every kitchen basically requires the same ingredients and we buy into the belief that we all need long runs of cupboards and a triangle of cooker, fridge and sink.  Not necessarily.  Start by drawing a roughly to scale map of your kitchen space as it is.  Put in all the various cupboards and appliances.  Now colour them in according to use.  Pick a separate colour for each person who uses the kitchen and shade in which bits they use (some will obviously become striped as several people will use them).   It may be useful for everyone to do this exercise (as different people will have wildly different ideas of who uses what – and how much they use it!).    Certain areas may be completely oversubscribed; others may barely be used at all.   What are in those cupboards or drawers which remained clear white?  Are they necessary?   How could you make more space in the over-used areas?  You may need to think about time-share schemes – the kids get between certain hours for their home-work, then the table is cleared for family dinner, then everything is cleared away so mum can get out the laptop or dad can write his novel. 

If you have all come up with wildly differing views of who monopolises the kitchen then use your diagrams as a launching pad for a civilised discussion – allow everyone to have their say and try to figure out reasonable and fair compromises.

WHAT’S YOUR TYPE?

It may sound strange but the kind of kitchen your soul craves may be decided by your very personality.  The psychologist Carl Jung believed that we can all be described by a system of four personality types and two modes of behaviour.  You’re probably already familiar with the concept of extroverts and introverts – extroverts always reach out to the world; introverts instinctively draw back from it.  If you’re an extrovert, you will probably care a lot how your home (and particularly your kitchen) is regarded by other people (as you will undoubtedly entertain a lot and usually be highly sociable).  If you’re an introvert you will be more concerned about what feels comfortable for you and you alone.

However the process is more subtle than that.  Jung realised that, aside from this basic division, people fell into four further categories, depending on how they approach life.  Some deal with life by thinking, others by feeling.  Some rely on sensation, the information we receive through our senses while others use intuition (information received directly from the subconscious). 

Each of us tends to use a mixture of two or perhaps three of these “functions” while there is usually one (or sometimes two) with which we don’t identify.   Let’s see how this will apply to our ideal kitchens.  You’ll probably recognise yourself quite swiftly.

SENSATION:  if you have a strong sensation function you like things to work – and work well.  You don’t care if it’s pretty as long as it gets the job done.   A kitchen is there for cooking and practical chores and it needs to be perfectly ordered, with everything in its right place.  If a gadget doesn’t do its job, out it goes.  You’re probably very “handy” around the house, great at DIY and a firm believer in order.   Every kitchen tool and implement will have its rightful place – and you will hate it if anyone interferes with your perfect plan.

INTUITION:  you’re less worried about how functional your kitchen may be than if the energy is flowing well.  You’re the kind of person who is naturally drawn to feng shui, space clearing, angels and divinities.  Practicality isn’t really an issue – your kitchen needs to evoke a mood, a feeling.   Yes, you cook in it, but a kitchen is far more to you:  a temple, a yoga space, a painting studio.  You’re probably wildly impractical yet incredibly inventive and artistic.  Your kitchen will always invite comments.

THINKING:  you have probably never even thought about your kitchen – unless a cupboard falls down or the cooker stops working.  Thinking types are more concerned with ideas than things, and as long you have somewhere for your books (your kitchen probably has at least one bookcase if not more) you’re usually happy.  You don’t give a fig for fads and fashions and so rarely even think about upgrading or redecorating. 

FEELING:  You notice everything in your kitchen – and you like it to look and feel right.  It matters very much to you what colour your kitchen is, how the units look, what the stove does, how your floor feels underfoot.  You like your home to look and feel good to you and to others.  You will go for comfort above all – but it needs to be fashionable comfort.  Of all the types you’re the most likely to call in a professional designer – or to pore over design books yourself. 

These key-note sketches should give you a good idea which function or functions you rely upon most heavily – they will also give you some valuable lessons.  Let’s look at what each type should watch out for:

 

THE ENERGETIC KITCHEN

Even the most avid feng shui fanatic often comes unstuck when confronted with the kitchen.  After all, if you need to move your living room furniture around, it’s not too tricky.  But how the hell do you cope if everything is clamped to the floor and walls in a fully fitted kitchen?  Let’s take a look at how you can make your kitchen feng shui friendly – or at least cure the worst calamities.

If you’re not already familiar with feng shui (you’ve been holidaying up the Amazon for the past ten years perhaps?), the concept is relatively simple (although the practice is far more complicated).  Basically feng shui developed thousands of years ago in China (there is an Indian version which may be even older called Vastu Shastra, but I won’t confuse you by going into that).  People found that, by building in particular places and siting rooms and furniture in particular places that they could affect the energy of a building or room.  This, in turn, caused marked effects on the fortunes of the people using those spaces.  Fanciful it may sound, but if you can accept that vital energy (such as the kind experienced in acupuncture and healing) exists, then it becomes logical that our spaces, as well as our bodies, can be affected by its flow.

Good feng shui can bring myriad benefits:  people have found that, purely by shifting their living spaces, they have become healthier, happier, more wealthy and even able to find love or conceive a child.  So don’t dismiss it as mumbo-jumbo until you’ve tried it for yourself.  You’d be in good company:  many huge corporations, including banks and hotel chains, use it regularly (if quietly). 

THE WEALTHY, WELL-PLACED KITCHEN

Ignore your kitchen feng shui at your peril.  In Chinese terms the kitchen is equated with wealth and prosperity so the state of your cooking space can affect your finances in no uncertain terms.   Energy does not care if your kitchen is wildly expensive and in the best possible taste; if it is situated badly your finances will suffer.

It also affects your health.  Once we are born, food is our form of sustenance, our way of taking in vital energy.  How and where the food is prepared is of extreme importance – if the energy of the food is bad, then we are receiving low-grade sustenance and vitality (more of this later in the book).

Unlike other rooms which have specific ideal locations in feng shui, the kitchen can be sited in most areas.  In fact, as it is considered such an auspicious room it can augment a part of the house which would otherwise be deemed tricky or difficult.  However there are some exceptions.  The kitchen should not be situated in the centre of the house (good practical reasons for this – how are the smells and steam going to escape?).  It should not face your front door either – as harmful energy coming in from outside could affect it.   Equally it should not open onto your living room or bedroom (as smells will hang over these rooms).  If your kitchen is sited in such as way and you can’t change it (or don’t feel inclined to) then ensure that the doors are kept shut and you have good ventilation.  If your kitchen faces the front door, place a small mirror on the kitchen door facing towards the front door to deflect harmful energy.

THE BA-GUA

The ba-gua is a map of energy.  Place this template (See Feng shui pages) over a plan of your house – your front door (or the door into your own apartment) will lie on the bottom line (in the areas known as either Knowledge, Career or Helpful People).  Now check where the kitchen falls in your space.  If your kitchen is kept clean and clear (and follows the guidelines in this chapter) it will give an energetic boost to the area in which it falls.  If it’s cluttered, dirty and ill-working, that area will cause problems in your life.

THE CLUTTER-FREE KITCHEN

You’ll notice the word “clutter” is coming up again.  Clutter is anathema to feng shui.  Energy becomes stuck where there is lots of “stuff” hanging around.  So do follow the guidelines in the previous chapter.  As far as possible keep your work surfaces (and all other surfaces) clear.  A touch of minimalism in the kitchen is no bad thing.  If you leave things out they will quickly become greasy and dirty and will need constant cleaning.  Far better to have everything stowed in cupboards within easy reach so you can take them out as needed.  It’s fine to have “things” in your kitchen but keep them away from the food preparation side of things. 

In particular make sure knives are kept safely stowed in a drawer.  It’s common to see knives displayed in kitchens, in racks or along the back of a butcher’s block.  In feng shui terms, knives (and all sharp objects) throw out “cutting qi” which can cause arguments, unease and general bad luck.  Remember, if you have children, to keep all sharp utensils in inaccessible places with childproof locks on them. 

PLACEMENT IN THE KITCHEN

The most important part of your kitchen is your stove.  Remember this is the symbolic hearth, the heart of your home.  Unfortunately, feng shui rules for siting stoves are often hard to follow in the modern home.  In an ideal world, your stove would be placed so you could see people coming into the kitchen as you worked.  It would not be placed opposite the sink or fridge (as this direct opposition of fire and water is considered inauspicious).  An island arrangement is a good solution but don’t completely block the central part of your kitchen which is considered to be the home of the “snake”.  Equally there should not be too much space for people to walk behind the chef. 

If you find your stove or any area where you spend a lot of time is in a tricky spot (ie your back is to the door) then place a mirror so you can see the door behind you (I foresee a huge rise in the number of mirrors in kitchens).  You can usually incorporate an attractive mirror into the design of the kitchen – and a mirrored sheet or reflective metal behind the stove is considered highly beneficial in its own right as it symbolically doubles the number of cooking rings you have.  The more rings you have, the more auspicious for your finances.  But make sure you use all the rings – don’t just stick to your favourite one or the ones closest to you.

If possible your cooker should not be placed on a north-facing wall (as it can create conflict) or on the south-facing wall. 

Feng shui follows the standard practice for siting a sink – ideally position it in front of the window so you can look out and the steam can safely evaporate.  Curiously stainless steel is considered auspicious and symbolic of prosperity (so don’t race to replace yours).  Make sure your sink is always spotlessly clean and unblocked.  In feng shui terms plumbing relates to your intestines and (once again) finances – blocked plumbing of any kind may translate into sluggish bowels and a sluggish bank balance. 

Fridges ideally should not be placed on south, southwest or northeast walls as this can encourage arguments.

Complicated, isn’t it?  And I have barely touched on the technicalities of feng shui kitchen design.  However these are the main points and if you can manage these you’re well on the way to having a harmoniously energetic kitchen.  There are a few other points which are easily followed so do try these in your kitchen space:

 

THE ALCHEMICAL KITCHEN

Alchemy is the art of transformation, of changing a set of ingredients into something entirely different and new.   The medieval alchemists were supposedly searching to find a means of transmuting base metal into gold.  However a more subtle explanation is that they were actually looking to transform their very selves and souls:  to shift themselves from the base material of earthly life to a purer, more spiritual state.   I think that, for our purposes, it’s worth keeping both ideas in mind.  Cooking is an alchemical process – of that there is no doubt.  You take a bunch of diverse ingredients, chop them, cook them, blend them, season and spice them – and they emerge from the oven transformed into something quite different.  Good cooking is more, far more, than mere culinary sleight of hand, it’s not that kind of magic.  Good food is soul food – it nourishes us not just physically but on a deep emotional, psychic and, yes, magical  level. 

It is quite fascinating that scientists are now turning their attention to the links between food and consciousness.  It seems that how we prepare our food is just as important as what we choose to eat.  Dr Larry Dossey a scientist investigating the link between science and spirituality says, “That our consciousness affects matter (including food) is not in doubt.  HOW it happens is a huge mystery.”

Physicist Fred Alan Wolf PhD, says it is insufficient to ask, “What nutrients are in the food?”  “Rather, we should be asking: “What were you thinking about when you were eating?”  A new scientific field is in the making - one that may give us a prescription for creating an as yet unidentified “nutrient” that manifests through the wisdom and awareness we bring to our food.  Numerous experiments have shown that healing can increase the energy and growing capacity of seeds and can even keep milk fresh longer. Dr Laskow, a leading researcher in the field and author of Healing with Love (Harper SanFrancisco) discovered that by combining intention, visualisation and healing energy, food could be transformed - it could literally contain more vitality, more healing powers.  Projecting loving energy to an orange actually changed the taste and texture of the fruit - it peeled more easily and was juicier and sweeter.  “Spiritually imbued” cheap wine took on the taste of a classic vintage. 
Try the following to test the potential of spiritually imbued food.

CREATING FOOD WITH LOVING ENERGY

Here’s how to infuse food and liquids with loving, spiritual energy.

1.   Become aware of your breathing.  Give yourself permission to relax in both mind and body. 

2.   Focus your attention on the area around your heart, imagining you are breathing in and out through that chakra (or energy centre).  Bring to mind deep, loving and caring feelings (you may remember a time with a special person, or how you feel when you listen to a particularly moving piece of music).

3.   Now envision a shimmering sphere of light several inches above your head (at the crown chakra).  Imagine the energy from this glistening light entering through the crown of your head, cascading down to your heart and hands, then overflowing out through your heart and hands. 

4.   Now have the intention of projecting this energy into the food or drink.  Visualise the light coming out through your heart and hands and infusing the food, like a searchlight.  Surround both sides of the dish or glass with your hands and imagine energy coming from both hands into the food or drink.

BAKING BREAD

To my mind, one of the most magical and alchemical of cooking practices is that of baking bread.  It may be time-consuming and I’m not advocating you do it every day although you can buy bread-makers now  which will provide you with bread with minimal effort.  They are a nifty invention and one of the exceptions (along with juicers) to my general moratorium on gadgets, but every once in a while do make your bread the old-fashioned way as it is way more therapeutic.

Next time you find yourself ready to explode, don’t take it out on the family - beat up some bread!   Baking bread is about as primal a therapy as you can get.  Honestly, there’s nothing that matches pounding your fists into the bouncy dough; slapping it down onto the table with a resounding thwack; chucking it around the kitchen (with accompanying grunts, groans and gripes!)   It beats kick-boxing any day - and is much safer.

There’s something miraculous about bread.  It’s about as earthy as food gets yet is also highly spiritual fare. “As a source of sustenance for thousands of years, bread signifies an essential, basic food, the “staff of life” that provided spiritual nourishment and sustenance for the human soul,” says nutritionist Deborah Kesten (see resources for her book).   Most of the great religions consider bread sacred fare.  Christianity is nourished by bread - not just the miracle of the loaves and fishes but the Last Supper which was the original Holy Communion.  At a typical Polish wedding feast, the priest will bless the kolacze, a flat plaited loaf of bread that symbolises all bread, the staff of life.  Muslims hold bread to be God’s bounty - deserving of respect and veneration at all times.  Likewise in the Jewish tradition, unleavened (yeast-free) bread is seen as a gift from God.

Yet I like bread-making for more basic reasons:  primarily because it has the capacity to bring you back down to earth in minutes.  If I’ve been stuck in my head, working for hours on my computer and feeling  somewhat “spacey”, bread-making is the antidote.  It’s physical in the extreme but also wondrously magical.  Bread is pure alchemy:  it rises before your very eyes and I like to imagine all my stupid angers and petty irritations rising with it until they become so light they simply float away. 

A few years ago I used to spend a lot of time at a wonderful place called the Pelican Centre (now sadly closed).  Run by Jungian psychotherapist Jane Mayers, it hosted silent retreats, art therapy courses and other forms of therapy.  One thing Jane always insisted on was fresh bread every day.  In fact, if you were feeling really low, she would sneak you out of whatever you were doing and pull you into the kitchen to bake.  She reckoned it was soul therapy in itself - and I heartily agree.  Here’s her recipe for Pelican rolls which produces nutty, earthy, totally delicious bread (and they really are virtually fool-proof).

1.      Put a small handful of yeast in a bowl and add a spoonful of sugar and a little warm water (from a measured pint).  Mix and hear it bubble. 

2.     Light your oven to gas mark 6 or 180C. 

3.     Put a packet (1kg) of granary malted flour in another bowl.  Scatter half a tablespoon of sea salt over the flour and add around two tablespoons of olive oil.  Now add the rest of the warm water. 

4.     Pour the yeast mixture over the flour mixture.  Squeeze and knead the bread together (this recipe doesn’t need masses of kneading if you are short on time). 

5.     Leave to rise (in a warm spot) for ten minutes.  Break into rolls (if you’re feeling clever you can plait them or make mini cottage loaves).

6.     Bake for 20 - 24 minutes.  To test, take one out and tap the bottom:  if it sounds hollow, they’re done. 

7.     Now all you have to do is eat them (preferably still warm) with a comforting bowl of soup, a slab of sharp tangy cheese or just – forget the diet for this once – a dollop of butter. 

COMPOSTING

Another alchemical process comes at the end of the cooking cycle.   If you possibly can, try to compost your kitchen waste.  Any organic matter (vegetable scrapings and peelings, left-overs etc) can be put into a composter and left to break down into lovely garden fertiliser.  Technically you can compost anything (bar potatoes which will sprout) but many people prefer not to compost meat as it takes longer to break down and can attract scavengers.  You will need to turn your compost regularly (or buy a wormery in which the worms will do all the work for you).  If you have a garden it’s a great way of saving money.  If you don’t – donate it to someone who does!