It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood. Finally. It's the only one for several more days, cuz guess why? More rain. I know, a bit of complaint is creeping in, but it's been raining daily, often all day. Instead of complaining, I'll try to enjoy the day and get the rest of my planting done. June 19th, Juneteenth, when I wrote June 19th I realized what day it is. You know, so much of our history has been hidden behind our notion of exceptionalism. I'll leave it at that.
So.........as I said, a beautiful day in the mid 70s F. Mark is stuck in his office completing his CPE (continuing professional education). Part-time retirement sometimes doesn't seem like retirement at all. Then I remember the long hours and, yes. It does. His corporate clients have now all sold their companies, so audits are now a thing the past. Those clients still rely on him heavily, they have said they hope he will continue working. As long as the brain works, he says he will. He would make me crazier than I already am if he didn't have his office work. He can't sit still if he isn't occupied.
I have been baking bread for decades, yet this is the first time I tried the autolyse process. It's simply adding only the flour and water and letting it sit for a couple of hours before adding yeast and salt. It allows the whole grain flour to soften and develop more gluten, giving it a better rise and a more open crumb. It works! This is 100% whole wheat. Amazing to me. I'm going to try buckwheat next. I like the flavor of buckwheat but the bread is very dense. Ah, the excitement of the kitchen.
That's the news from my little corner of the planet. Ciao.
13 comments:
Yes, been such a rainy spring. Really appreciate the days of sunshine...or even partial days--lol!
Sounds like it is a good thing your hubby has work to keep him busy. ;)
Never heard of that breadmaking method. Looks wonderful! And offers more variety of grains to make lighter breads--whoohoo! Nice!
Gosh, that loaf looks so delicious!
Rita, it has been wet! It's really nice day and I got all but some flowers planted. Nothing like waiting until the third week of June. My stamina needs to build, I'm afraid. I'm worn out.
Yes, I really like spelt and buckwheat but I need to use so much white flower it doesn't seem worth the effort. It's still more dense than a white loaf, but it's a good dense.
Mark iis a high anxiety guy. He does a lot of pacing and getting up and down. His work occupies his mind which takes away the compulsion to pace.
Miss Merry, it is really good!
I'm totally going to try that bread making method. Do you then, after adding yeast and salt, wait again for the rise? Maybe I will Google this rather than ask you to explain.
Boud, yes you do wait a couple of hours or so. Next time I'm going to try the 20 hour ferment and see how that goes.
Glad to read that your weather is cooler than ours as right now it's 95 degrees with severe thunderstroms predicted. At least it may break the heat wave. The bread looks unusual and I was curious as to the taste and texture as I'm not familiar with this bread making process.
Dorothy, it's just whole wheat bread. Mixing the flour and water is simply to allow the whole grain flour ro soften and creat more gluten which help with the rise and openness of the crumb. It tastes like whole wheat bread, the kind without all purpose flour mixed with it. You can do all of the flour, which I did, or part of the flour to add into the rest of the mixture.
Bread looks so yummy.
What delicious looking bread! It was cooler here yesterday also, but still very humid.
Too humid to open the windows as the other half has breathing issues.
Thanks, Dora.
Val, thanks. We weren't humid, it was like a no"normal" Minnesota June day. The past 3 years I have had only a couple of screens put on the windows because it was hotter and more humid outside than in.
Yummy looking bread! We will get more rain too, good thing we have sandy soil:) Sometimes it is a good thing to have husbands that can keep busy:)
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