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the first day of march


Beautiful spring daffodils



 in honour of our Welsh friends, for whom this is St David's day.

However, there is another reason why the first day of March is significant.
According to the meteorological seasons, today marks the first day of spring.
The meteorological seasons splits the year into four equal parts of three months each and spring starts on the first of March each year.
In contrast the astronomical seasons are governed by the equinoxes and this year the spring equinox, when the length of day and night are equal, falls on March 20th.

See here for more detailed explanations.

But since today has been a beautiful sunny day, I am going with the meteorological seasons and declare spring officially sprung!
( By coincidence, I noticed when flicking back through my blog, that I had posted on March 1st last year and that was a beautiful sunny day too!)

Of course, if I was really celebrating St David's day, I would be making Cawl, a traditional stew made from those most Welsh ingredients - lamb and leeks-

but instead I made bread!


An oat and linseed loaf, made following Dan Lepard's no knead method.


It has to be the easiest, most relaxed method of making bread there is.
No difficult kneading, but instead just some gentle folding and resting of the dough.

The recipe and method for his easy white loaf can be found here.


Happy Sunday everyone!




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Comments

  1. love those cupcakes1 March 2015 at 16:47

    Freshly baked bread and a bunch of daffodils sound perfect for welcoming March (and that loaf looks exceedingly delicious). Big fat snowflakes are falling here in the north east as I write this comment but that's okay with me!

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    1. annie2 March 2015 at 11:23

      Snow! It's amazing how much the weather can vary on this little island of ours!

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  2. Debs Dust Bunny1 March 2015 at 16:48

    Happy St. David's day. I can't think of a nicer way to celebrate than with a slice of your gorgeous bread!

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  3. CJ1 March 2015 at 17:03

    Mmm, delicious. It's been a wild mixture of spring sunshine and horizontal icy rain here today. I'm still calling it spring though. CJ xx

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  4. Streetcomber2 March 2015 at 08:23

    Lovely. I am a big fan of Dan Lepard's baking books. x

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  5. colleen2 March 2015 at 10:12

    I think I incline to the astronomical seasons, though timing of the seasons seems to fickle when it comes to growth and temperature these days. But really it's all about the light isn't it? Bring on that Vitamin D.

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    Replies
    1. annie2 March 2015 at 11:21

      You are right about temperatures being fickle. I sometimes think summer shifts later each year. June can be quite cold and by comparison October can be sunny and warm. On the 31st October last year we sat in the park eating ice-cream! I remember because it was the first trip out with new little granddaughter in the buggy :)

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  6. Sarah2 March 2015 at 16:29

    There was baking going on here too. Despite the constant coughs and sore throats, you can't help but feel optimistic: a new month and the approach of spring. The days are gradually lengthening. Not a minute too soon - these grey skies are getting very tiresome now.
    Have a great week.
    S

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  7. ...Nina Nixon...3 March 2015 at 21:00

    I'm so happy it is March and that bread looks very interesting.

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  8. Gina5 March 2015 at 14:02

    I like the idea that spring has sprung already. That looks mighty fine bread.

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