Introducing new hens to the flock

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I like to buy three new hens each year and the three newbies arrived on 15th April 2025.

With the introduction of any new birds, the pecking order must be reestablished, and it always takes a bit of time for things to settle down, for the others to get used to the new arrivals, and for flock harmony to be restored. I find it helps to separate the new hens from the rest of the flock, and for the first four days, I keep them apart in a cage in the chicken coop with food and water so that they have their own space and to help them get used to their new surroundings.

When the hens are younger, it is fairly easy to identify them as they normally have smaller crests but as they grow and get older, it becomes more difficult. I thought it would be interesting to be able to identify each hen so this year, I fitted an identifying ring on each of their legs before releasing them. The three new hens are number 021, 022 and 023 with red rings.

It is now the 15th May and today one of the new hens laid her first eggs (so 30 days later). It has taken about 4 weeks for them to settle in and get used to the other hens, and this has improved a lot in the last couple of days. For the first two weeks, they would spend most of the time on the perches, coming down to the ground for food and water but then going back up onto the perches. The third week they would spend most of the day on the rocks in the corner. Today was the first day they had all met me at the entrance.

My Sourdough Bread

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Like many people, I started making my own sourdough in the COVID lockdown and it has been a learning experience. This is my tried and tested recipe and method for 50% brown flour/50% strong white flour loaf.

INGREDIENTS

  1. 250g strong white flour
  2. 250g brown bread flour
  3. 320g warm water
  4. 15g salt

EQUIPMENT

  • a hand blender or food processor with dough hook
  • a large stainless steel bowl
  • a spatula
  • a plastic bowl with a lid (for mixing the starter)
  • a loaf tin (this is one I buy from Amazon)

AUTOLYSE

In order to strengthen the gluten in the brown flour, I mix the flour, water and salt beforehand. This is called AUTOLYSING and it softens whole wheat flour and produces a better texture loaf. You are not supposed to add the salt at this stage but I kept forgetting it the next day so I now chuck that in too.

STARTER

Your starter is the most important thing in sourdough breadmaking. I keep mine in a small WECK jar with a wooden lid on the top shelf of the fridge, right at the back, so that no one will take it out to get to something and leave it out. It’s a good idea to have a loose-fitting lid but found that I kept breaking the original glass lids that came with the WECK jar:

3 tapas de madera Weck medianas, bonitas tapas de madera de haya. Tamaño mediano = 80 mm. Compra especial. Solo para adaptarse a tarros WECK.

FEEDING THE STARTER

I only feed my starter when I make bread. It is perfectly happy left in the fridge until then, and there is no problem if you go away for a couple of weeks. It might be a bit sluggish the first few times you use it, but it will soon pick up.

METHOD  

PREVIOUS AFTERNOON:
Take your starter out of the fridge and leave it on the counter.

PREVIOUS EVENING:
MIX THE STARTER:
I always keep back 63g of starter. When I want to make bread, I transfer it to the plastic bowl and mix it together with 63g of organic white rye flour and 63g of warm water. I then put 63g of the mixture in a clean jar and put this back in the fridge. The remaining 125g of starter mix is then covered and left overnight somewhere not too cold.

AUTOLYSE THE FLOURS:
In your large stainless steel bowl, use a hand blender or food processor to mix together the white flour (250g), the brown flour (250g), the water (320g) and the salt (15g). Cover the bowl with a large plate and leave overnight. 

BREAD-MAKING DAY
07:00: MIX FLOUR AND STARTER
I mix together the flour mixture and the starter using a hand blender or food processor.
My method for this is to spread the flour mixture as thin as possible up the sides of the bowl using the spatula. I then add the starter to the middle and fold over the sides to completely cover the starter. I then combine it thoroughly using the mixer. This is then left covered for 60 minutes.

08:00: 4 STRETCHES + 4 STRETCH&FOLDS
I first stretch the dough four times. You are basically pulling it apart between your hands. You then do four stretch and folds. Rather than explaining how to do this, it is probably easier to show you what I mean by this, so here is a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFaKId5ijNg

You then repeat the stretch and folds four more times every 30 minutes:

08:30 STRETCH&FOLD 1

09:00 STRETCH&FOLD 2

09:30 STRETCH&FOLD 3

10:00 STRETCH&FOLD 4

10:00 PROVING THE BREAD – 3 HOURS
Once you have finished all the stretch and folds, you prove the bread for 3 hours. For this, I place the bread in the loaf tin and put it in a warm place with a cloth over it.

Fortunately, I have a bread rising setting on the oven which keeps it at 40ºC. You should not use any higher temperature as this will start to cook the bread. 

In order to stop the dough sticking to the tin, I line the loaf tin first. You can use greaseproof paper for this. However, I prefer to make my own liners from BBQ silicone liners so that I can reuse them.

Here is a video to explain how:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnVogHJ5kFM

This is a photo of the bread once it has been proved:


13:00 BAKING THE BREAD – 60 MINUTES
Remove the loaf tin from the oven. Heat the oven to 180ºC and then bake the bread for 60 minutes.

Remove the bread from the tin and leave to cool.

Honey and Onion Homemade Cough Expectorant

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HOME-MADE COUGH MEDICINE RECIPE

This recipe was  given to me by the chemist in the village. I’ve no idea whether it works or not but thought we would give it a try.

 

METHOD

Cut two medium-sized onions into quarters and place in a bowl.

Spoon over 4-5 dessertspoons of honey.

Mix well and leave until the next day.

Strain off into a light-proof bottle.

Take a teaspoon of mixture every 4 hours.

French Onion Soup

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FRENCH ONION SOUP

This is my version of a French onion soup. We’ve just harvested this year’s onions at the cortijo so I thought it would be a good idea to cook this to mark the harvest.

French Onion Soup

The secret is to cook the thinly sliced onions for a long time so that they caramelise thoroughly. You can start the pan on a fairly high heat at first as the onions will have a lot of water and then you can adjust the flame as the onions dry out.

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 large onions, cut into quarters and then thinly sliced in a food processor (the sliced onions weighed 1100g)
  • 2 vegetable stock cubes
  • a splash of balsamic vinegar
  • a splash of soy sauce
  • a splash of Worcestershire sauce
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • a teaspoon or so of salt
  • a large knob of butter

METHOD

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan.
  2. Add the sliced onions and fry.
  3. Cover with a lid and leave to fry, on quite a high flame at first before turning the heat down gradually, checking them every 5 minutes to see that they temperature is not too high.
  4. The important thing is for the onions to caramelise slowly so that they turn a dark brown.
  5. Add the stock cubes and the butter and continue to fry gently.
  6. After about 5 minutes, pour in the water and the other ingredients and bring to the boil.
  7. Serve with croutons and grated cheese.
  8. To make the croutons, cut some stale bread into cubes.
  9. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle over some olive oil.
  10. Cook in an air fryer on 200ºC for 5 minutes or so, tossing in the bowl half-way through the cooking time.

Vegetarian Paella with Tofu and Hard-boiled Egg

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VEGETARIAN PAELLA

The paella is cooked over the flames shortly after the fire is lit. The idea is to use the heat from the flames to fry the onions, peppers and tomatoes before adding the rice and the stock and then cooking over a more constant heat once the fire has died down a bit.

We lit the fire at 13:00 and the paella was ready at 14:00.

One of the secrets to making a good paella is to get a beautiful layer of the caramelised socarrat on the bottom of the pan. You can see how much liquid is left and by cooking the paella for a final 10 minutes on a gentle flame when there is not much liquid left, you should get the socarrat of your dreams.

Vegetarian Paella

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 large red pepper, roughly chopped
  • 1 green pepper, roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • saffron
  • 1 block firm tofu
  • 4 tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • frozen artichoke pieces or baby artichokes
  • 60g paella rice per person
  • a couple of handfuls of cooked butter beans
  • a couple of handfuls of flat green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 2cm pieces
  • 3 vegetable stock cubes
  • 2 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced
  • water
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil

METHOD

  1. The day before, pound together the crushed garlic, saffron and a pinch of salt in a pestle and mortar.
  2. Add the water and transfer to a small jar with a lid. Leave overnight, shaking hard every once in a while.
  3. An hour or so before you are ready to cook the paella, cut the tofu into cubes and marinate in a bowl with a good splash of soy sauce, some Tabasco and a drizzle of olive oil
  4. To cook the paella, heat some olive oil in a paella pan on an open fire.
  5. Add the onion, red and green pepper, season with salt and fry until soft.
  6. Add the chopped tomatoes and continue to fry.
  7. Sprinkle in the rice and stir well.
  8. Add a litre of water and the vegetable stock .
  9. Add the green beans and butter beans and stir well.
  10. Cover with a large lid and continue to cook over the fire for about 15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes to see that there is enough water.
  11. Arrange the tofu cubes on the top and pour over the marinade.
  12. Check the stock for seasoning, adding more salt if necessary.
  13. After about 30 minutes, check to see if the rice is cooked. Cook for longer if it needs more time, sprinkling water over the top if it looks as though all the water has evaporated.
  14. When the paella is almost done, arrange the sliced egg on the top. 
  15. Remove the lid and leave for another 5-10 minutes to caramelize the bottom of the pan for the socarrat.