We've been on a low carb diet for the last couple of years, with good success. The current situation, with supermarket shortages, difficulty getting delivery slots (still!) and having quite a stash of unused pulses etc had already lead to us ditching the preferred way of eating for a while. Not having eaten this way for a while, though, I don't feel like I'm in control of what I'm eating suddenly. It's probably a little late as things seem to be lifting, although that doesn't necessarily mean supplies etc will get better instantly - especially for those of us in remote rural areas, still under lockdown.
Anyhow, we're starting tomorrow. The allowance, based on stuff I found on t'internet, for two people, for one week, is as follows.
Butter: 100g
Mary’s blend: 150g
Cooking fat/lard: 150g
Sugar: 440g (Erythritol and/or inulin - we don't use sugar these days, except for wine or beer making)
Bacon or ham: 225g
Meat or fish: 900g
Milk: 3000ml (we'll use almond or coconut milk)
Cheese: 225g
Eggs: 12 (the actual ration was 2 plus dried eggs, but it said rural areas often got more - we may not use them all but we get a dozen weekly from a neighbour, so I'm not going to disrupt that)
Tea: 70g
Jam: 100g - unlikely we'll use this but it's there if we fancy it. Plus, I've just been given a jar of marmalade in exchange for a couple of masks I made for a friend
Chocolate: 100g - the allowance was more than this but we decided to keep it to 1 bar 90% dark chocolate and use it in cookies etc, with ingredients from elsewhere, to make it go further
Flour: 1000g - there was no rationing on this until after the war, but we need some limit so I can count the calories etc
Potatoes: 1000g - again I've had to put a figure on these, they weren't rationed and seemed to play a part in everything!
Veg will come from our veg box delivery and anything we grow. Fruit we haven't eaten much of for ages, but I've added some apples and some dried fruit.
This comes to about 1400kcal/day. Pulses will have to be counted on top - they were rationed but apparently could be bought as a special item (as with the dried fruit). We won't be eating huge amounts though, despite the allowance being 8lbs every couple of months! I'm not sure we'd eat that much in a year.
Anyway I've started my prep today, making a meal plan for the coming week and making the dough for the "National loaf" which I'll bake in the morning. I hope mine will be better than the original recipe - I don't think they did slow fermentation. The plan is to use the rationing as a guideline to amounts and I'm quite interested in trying a few of the recipes I've found, but not use it to punish ourselves.
The original National loaf recipe
1 ½ lb wholemeal bread flour
1 ½ tbsp salt
1 ½ tbsp dried yeast
1 dsp honey or treacle
450 ml tepid water
Mix together all the ingredients and knead for about 10 minutes until you have a soft dough. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave until dough has doubled in size (around 2 hours).
Knock back the dough, give a short knead then cut into two equal pieces. Place in 1.5 litre loaf tins, allow to rise for a further 2 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 200°c then bake loaves for 30 min. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
National loaf 2020 style
578g white flour it was all I could get, to which I added 102g oat fibre - to make it similar to the 85% wheatmeal flour in the original. 680g = 1.5lb
15g salt (I use grey salt, which isn't very salty, so if using ordinary salt cut this down to 7-10g)
2g dried yeast - much less needed because of slow ferment
1 dsp blackstrap molasses (I wouldn't normally add any sweetener but thought as a first go I'd stick as close as I could to the original. It's unlikely I'll add it again)
510 ml cold water (70% hydration. I started with the advised amount but it was far too stiff, maybe due to the fibre I used)
Mix together all the ingredients and knead for about 2 minutes. Place in bowl and do 4 stretch and folds at 30 minute intervals. Cover bowl with clingfilma and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
Next day, remove from fridge, cut dough into two pieces and shape into 2 loaves. Allow to rest in parchment-lined baskets to come up to room temperature - about an hour or so.
Pre-heat oven to 200°c fan, with two cast iron casseroles inside. When dough is ready to bake, take lids off the casseroles, drop dough (on the parchment) into the casseroles, put the lids back on and put back in oven. Bake for 20 mins then remove the lids, rotate casseroles 180°and bake for a further 20 mins. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
I'll let you know how we get on!
