I hated Cookery at school. Nothing ever worked out for me. The
shortcake made that morning, of which I was so proud, arrived home as a mass of
crumbs in my tin. I came last in my Third Year exam because I’d forgotten my
very necessary egg. On another occasion I was ridiculed by the horrid Domestic
Science teacher for my choice of crumble – banana. It was the only fruit
available to me and at least I’d made an effort. It worked and tasted fine with custard. Looking
back, I don’t think she, or any of my teachers, was aware that my mother was
terminally ill and I was looking after myself and the family when my
grandmother couldn’t be there. Perhaps, she might have been more kind to me had
she known. When the ‘O’ Level options were announced, she geared me towards
needlework, not that I needed any help with my choice. If I learnt anything about cookery at school,
it was the importance of a flour dredger. It was the one thing I was going to
have when I had my own kitchen. Many
years passed before that happened and a flour dredger wasn’t included.
From somewhere along the years I’ve mastered enough cookery
skills to feed myself properly when I lived alone and raise my family on a
well-balanced diet and some home-baked treats,
Christmas cake, birthday cake, biscuits, flapjack and bread. There’s
usually something tempting by the bread bin.
As Covid 19 hit, a national shortage of all important things
happened overnight. It wasn’t just toilet rolls and domestic cleaning items
with the basic food stuffs, flour became impossible to find. I was in Dumfries & Galloway as lockdown
commenced and found an abundance of various flours in Kirkcudbright’s Co-op. I
bought one packet of bread flour and one packet of plain flour to bring home.
We came back into self-isolation, relying on shopping deliveries or family
members picking things up for us. I told everyone to look for flour and buy me
any sort, also baking powder, which had vanished from stock lists everywhere. Flapjack
became the usual home bake as porridge oats and syrup were still easily available.
I even blitzed some oats to make a flour suitable for melt-in-the-mouth oaty
cookies. They were so successful, that I’d like to believe the nasty Domestic
Science ma’am would have a tiny word of praise.
She will be quite old by now, possibly shaking her flour dredger in the
next world.
I have lots of flour now, of all types, even some organic
rye flour, ideal for making almond shortcake, according to the blurb on the
packet. I had to try out the recipe and it is delicious, as my disappearing
waistline can confirm.
Ah, flour dredger, a Fred one from Homepride. I’ll put it on
my birthday list.
My poem, Flour Shortage
And on the Home Baking aisle, shelves are bare,
Devoid of flour that's usu'lly there.
No bread flour, no self-raising, no plain,
Not even that fancy rye or whole grain.
The entire selection is out of stock
Because too many people ran amok
Filling their trolleys with endless supplies
Of bread and milk and beans and frozen pies.
And flour.
I brought some home from Scotland, back in March.
Some plain and some wholemeal flour, low starch.
I bake a lot and I like my own bread
Otherwise, Hovis is perfect, instead.
I use up my flour then need some more,
I'm shopping on-line like never before.
No rice, no pasta, no cheese? Human greed
Means there's no provision for what I need,
No flour.
Pamela Winning 2020
Thanks for reading, keep baking and keep safe, Pam x
