Bread Matters

I'm not huge on posting food pics here because I'm not that good a photographer or food stylist. However, lately I've been making the BEST bread that I feel like boasting about. I got Bread Matters on Sandra's recommendation and apart from being an enjoyable, revelationary and revolutionary read it's opened new doors in my bread making. I cranked up a rye flour sourdough starter and use that with our home-ground wheat flour and usually some soaked grains to make a tasty, filling, long-lasting Vogels-like loaf. I do feel revolutionary making bread using no commercial yeast, just the wild beasties I've cultivated in my kitchen;-)

Nothing better than topping it with M(nearly)10's homemade grapefruit marmalade!

I use a fancy schmancy French loaf tin. It's double walled which helps give a nice evenly cooked, lovely crusted loaf. The finish is polished for non-stick-ness rather than the gross teflon non-stick stuff that eventually chips off into your food to poison you;-) I need to get a couple more so I can cook a weeks worth of bread on one day. One major benefit of the bread is its long-lastingness.

I love how our children's literature reflects stuff in our family life - as it should. The Giant Jam Sandwich baker doesn't add any strange preservatives to his huge loaf.

The only filler the In the Night Kitchen dudes try to add is Mickey;-)

Pointless Crafting?

I'm not sure if this falls into the realm of pointless crafting or not? Is there such a thing? My fancy was greatly tickled when I came upon a pattern for knitted olives ages ago. As I delved into my wool roving last night, deciding what to do while watching The Kite Runner, I discovered I had just the right colours to be able to needle-felt some of these babies. Husband gave me that look, you know, the "uuuuuuummmmmm, okaaaaaaay, interesting project dear" look. But he's happy to have his jar of olives sitting on his desk. And they make me happy too - not so pointless after all;-)

I made real preserves yesterday too. Pickled Gherkins from the one plant in our garden.