Friday, April 11, 2008

Hail and Bread

It's thrilling to us here in Michigan to see the little signs of spring rising from the ground. Here are a few of those tiny daffodils (Jack Snipe?) that I have bought in pots for Easter other years and transplanted later to the herb garden visible from my kitchen window. Year by year the numbers slowly increase, though I didn't add any this year.



I saw a few of these beginning to open today, so I rushed out and cut back the Rue and the Thyme plants that were overhanging them. Flung away some soggy tree leaves too, so I could get a better look at them close-up AND as I stand at the kitchen sink.

Then this afternoon I heard rain pelting against the windows, but it was HAIL, not rain. It was over in about four minutes. Good thing that nothing more was blooming so far--the blooms would have been beaten down to the ground!
(But not these tough iris leaves.)



Some time ago Melody Johnson (http://fibermania.blogspot.com/) mentioned making bread from a book called something like "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes" . I put in a HOLD at the library, and received it yesterday. I spent a lot of my reading time yesterday going through it, and buying some of the supplies.
I couldn't find a "covered, but not air-tight, 5 quart container" here at home, and I needed yeast.

Here is a photo of the dough that I mixed up in about 6 minutes, once I had all the necessary parts assembled. It sat on the counter for three hours "until it began to flatten", and then the closed box was stored in the fridge.

Today I made a foccacia-like bread with olive oil and za'atar seasoning sprinkled on top with one quarter of the dough on a cookie sheet. It only had to rise for 20 minutes before baking. But I forgot to take a photo of the loaf before we ate it all!

For REAL artisanal bread one needs a baking STONE and a bread/pizza PEEL. So I ordered these from a cooking emporium. Meanwhile I am making note of the recipes that don't need those items--most of the sweet breads! I can make these even before the stone gets here. More home baking in our future.

Sara

Gratitudes:
Spring sprouting
FRESH bread
Laundry done

1 comment:

Sandy's Quilter's Block said...

Yes, make homemade bread! It is sooo much better than the tasteless stuff in the grocery. Looks yummy, well done! :o)