Minutes

Highfield WI, September 2019 members’ meeting

Monday 23rd September 2019.

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25 members and 3 guests joined us for our first meeting of the Autumn on a very rainy, dark Monday night. Members collected a name label and bought raffle tickets as they settled.

 

Julia welcomed everyone and updated members on HamWIc goings-on, mentioning the upcoming HamWIc Autumn meeting, entitled ‘Hats, hats, hats’ and noting that a few members attended the recent ‘Foraging’ event – apparently the tea and cakes at this event were great!

 

Clare thanked everyone who had provided a planter to the Refuge.  12 pots were taken down over the course of the summer and Clare & Julia saw for themselves how successful the make-over had been.  Unfortunately, we aren’t able to share any photos due to the nature of the premises.

 

Cath requested members check out the Noticeboard for details of upcoming WI events, and congratulated Alison Shelly and Chris Benning on their successes at the New Forest Show.  Clare Price had framed our collaborative Committee Cup ‘Maypole’ entry.  Cath thanked Clare for all her work around the New Forest Show.  She asked if anyone was able to attend the Shirley WI birthday party to come & get details from her.

 

Cath then introduced Jo Bisseker-Barr, our speaker for the evening.  Jo is a therapist and counsellor with a passion for sourdough bread baking.  She explained it is a slow process, you can’t hurry a sourdough loaf!  It starts with a simple ‘starter’ of flour and water which needs plenty of time to develop.  She recommended ‘refreshing’ this starter twice, which means throwing 80% of it away and adding more flour and water.  To check when the dough is ready, drop a teaspoon into a glass of water; if it sits on the surface it is ready to move on to next stage.  Jo recommends the lift & stretch method instead of kneading either by hand or using a mixer.  Baking is a at a high temperature for 10 mins, followed by another 35 mins or so at a lower temp.  She told us some of her preferred equipment; a plastic dough scraper, proving baskets – which give an attractive pattern to the dough, a special knife for producing the distinctive slashing on the top of the loaf and a large Le Creuset dish with lid to bake the bread in.  She recommended the website bakerybits.

 

It was an interesting talk with plenty of questions from the floor. Jo accepted a £30 cheque which she will be passing on to Crisis charity.  The evening concluded with soup and sourdough tasting.  Members were able to compare Jo’s own sourdough along with some of our members’ offerings and one from Sainsbury’s.  Members had kindly provided a great selection of home-made soups.

The raffle was drawn and the evening came to an end around 10pm.