The Bread Bond

Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile will recall my bread pledge a few years back (2010, actually) when, as part of Earth Day celebrations, I pledged to make all of our family's bread products for 40 days. It was a transformative experience. I gave a talk about it at church and also posted most of my recipes (search my blog for "bread pledge" or "rise up.")  I then posted a wrap-up.  Two interesting things happened during the pledge:  it brought my church community together as they rallied to teach me how to bake and shared their recipes with me.  And I was given a highly coincidental, perhaps miraculous, compilation of bread recipes--BREAD of all things, not just a cookbook--which was, unbeknownst to the person who gave it to me, compiled by the person who lived in this house in the 1950s!!

Well, the bread story continues.  Because yesterday, as the attic cleaners were carting junk out of the attic, I spotted a dirty only plank, with this sign screwed on it:

It had to be bread!

I Googled it and found that this dirty, grimy sign, when cleaned (and that's not rust but dirt!) sells for almost $500 on eBay!  It's porcelain on steel, dating to the around the 1930s, or about a decade after our house was built.  Bond Bread, founded in 1911 by the General Baking Company, was made by a conglomeration of bakeries in, at its height, 26 states, and was famous for its baked goods, such as streusel-topped cinnamon swirl bread and "bridge cookies" (they even held a contest to find the best homemade recipe!).  It was very popular, supporting radio programs and eventually Hopalong Cassidy's show (did you know I used to live on Cassidy Place and had a cat named Hopalong!  The coincidences multiply!).    Something like Pepperidge Farms, I think.  Anyway, the bakeries were dominant until grocery stores added their own bakeries; I think the company shuttered in 1972.

I can only guess that it's screwed onto what was once a portion of fence that was later used as flooring in our attic, where the sign stayed protected for half a century or so until I saw the attic cleaners carting it away to the junk pile of 50+ bags of insulation and garbage.  It didn't take a split second for me to know that I wanted to keep that sign, which is now safe in the garage until we can figure out how to get it off the planks.

We won't be selling it, even at that price.  I think it's some kind of lucky bread talisman so it will be going into our kitchen as soon as possible.  Sis and Bud were intrigued, though they don't recall the Bread Pledge (they were only 4 1/2 years old), and they've asked me to take up the homemade bread pledge again.

See, it's magic is working already.

A Beautiful Gift

I awoke to find this in my inbox and published on our local Patch this morning, by writer, blogger, poet Elizabeth G. Howard.  What a delightful surprise!  Thank you, Elizabeth.

This poem is dedicated to my lovely friend Jamie, who lives here, though we hardly see each other. 

-- 

Bread

Bread is as
Simple to
Make
As a friendship.
Isn't it
Just those few
Common ingredients?

Salt
Flour
Water
Yeast 

Just as easy as

Attention
Patience
Time
Room to grow. 

Almost a Year

I am Many Women

When sky and street merge in sullen grayness

and black trees stir in sleep,

my stove becomes a hearth.

I am many women who have looked at rain

through a flap of hide, from a hand hewn door,

and felt secure against a threatening world,

blessed within warm walls and sheltering roof.

Hands deep in flour,

powdered grain from a million fields

garnered in sweating sunlight,

I am many women who kneaded resilient dough

with strong hands . . .

brown, red, yellow and white hands.

Folding and stretching, shaping

smoothly contoured loaves

rich with the smell of yeast.

(Bread is like nothing so much as bread,

sacred in its own identity.)

The sky trades snow for night,

and the scent of baking loaves

is calm benediction for my home.

I am many women who have taken bread from an oven,

and breaking it . . .

felt consecrated.

--Patti Linn, from Gourmet Magazine, as quoted in Ada Lou Roberts's Favorite Breads from Rose Lane Farm (Hearthside Press, 1960)

It was almost a year ago that bread changed my life. For a project at church, I pledged to make my family's bread for 40 days, in commemoration of the anniversary of Earth Day. The catch was that I didn't really know how to bake. Thus began this amazing journey with bread as my guide--generous lessons from a person whom I now call friend, getting to know other people and their bread stories (including amazingly, the past owner of my house whose bread cookbook quite coincidentally came into my hands some 50 years later!), reviving my own grandmother's bread recipe some 35 years after her death, the acquisition of new skills from kneading dough to forming loaves with a better understanding of "doubled in bulk" and other hazy ideas, receiving a bread lesson and sourdough starter from my friend at Bloodroot, feeling more connected to women of the past (as in this opening poem), passing along a little knowledge and a lot of enthusiasm by teaching a workshop on no-knead bread and encouraging other friends to try it, plus educating our bread palates so to speak, decreasing our environmental impact with all those plastic bread bags, even protecting our health from high-fructose corn syrup and preservatives, which never go into homemade bread.

The best part is that I've continued to make and learn about bread in the months following my pledge (I could use some metaphor about my interest growing like yeast but will refrain). I really am just a beginner, with so much more I want to try. And it feels good that my creations are nourishing, to both body and soul (which I've recently realized is important for me in choosing a hobby). If people are coming over, I bake a loaf or make biscuits. If the kids want a snack, they like warm bread with honey. If there's a potluck at church or a friend in need, I take bread. Sure, a lot of it comes from my bread machine these days because kneading dough for 10 minutes or so is hard on my back, but no one seems to mind. And yep, all that refined flour isn't healthy in excess, but I'm incorporating more whole wheat and grains.

Anyway, it all came to mind recently when we picked up a used book at Bloodroot, one of the owner's old cookbooks, and found the quote above. She and I talked salt-rising bread, which recipe clipping she'd inserted in the book but never tried. I bought the book and know I'll be making that bread soon. It's a great journey, this bread thing . . . .

. . . but I wonder, if I could do something like it again this year for 40 days--not something Lenten like giving up chocolate or eating out or the like--what new thing would I like to try? What would you do?

Thanksgiving 2010: Rise Up!

Yep, it's baking time over here. We're making KAF guaranteed Soft White Dinner Rolls, a new recipe for me. In the bread machine. Goo's in charge, though he's never used the machine before (and so, out of curiosity, is trying it). I'm just overseeing.

And Sis sat on the butter. A very important part of the recipe because we needed it room temperature.

Rise Up: Asked And I Did Receive

Remember my post yesterday about how much I missed baking?

Well, a friend of mine who doesn't read this blog and thus didn't even know I'd sent that wish out into the universe, came over today to help with lunch. She mentioned that she wanted to learn how to make no-knead bread and could I teach her someday? No time like the present. So she and Sis did most of the work, while I gave hints and suggestions. And now I have bread dough to bake for dinner!!!!!! Thanks, Miss B!!!!

P.S. Actually, I gave the bread dough away. I think it was enough just to make it.

Rise Up: I Dream of Baking

There are several things I miss right now, from sitting down to eat to being able to pick up things I drop on the floor. But one of the most affecting lacks in my life right now is my inability to bake. From making sweets with Sis to baking the family's daily bread, I long to pull out my flour, sugar, and butter to make something delectable. Sis misses it too. She made monkey bread with Gommie, but that was weeks ago. What has she baked lately?

It's not that we're lacking in treats. Friends bringing dinner or visiting have showered us with delicious muffins, cheesecake, and cookies, which have sustained us through our baking drought. (So, please don't stop!) I don't think Sis and I have gone 5 weeks without baking since she was old enough to stand on a chair and hold a spoon. Mama has done all she can. She even made a loaf of bread in my machine which was like manna from heaven, only lasting a day or so. She has also made several trips to the store to make sure we have enough ready-made meals and snacks (we're rather embarrassed by our reversion to, or in some cases, introduction to, prepackaged foods--like ramen or "Ponyo noodles" and even those little fake cheese packets with crackers! The kids love them--it'll be a hard habit to break when we go back to healthier, fresh, homemade foods). And when she shops with the kids, she comes home with more than she bargained.

But it's not the same. First, homemade beats store bought almost any day (well, except perhaps where cheesecake is concerned!). I almost can't bear sliced store bread. Second, I do like eating my friends' baked goods (and getting their recipes!) but I miss making things myself--combining the ingredients, smelling the baking, checking on the increasingly golden crusts. One friend brought a baguette and the kids loved eating what they referred to as "croissant"--and all I could think of is, wait, we have a baguette pan and I know how to make French bread!!! Alas . . . . And then this morning I had to feed my sourdough starter which has been sorely neglected but not quite yet to the point of dying. Just measuring and mixing in the water and flour was a siren call that was hard to resist. And while I'm not nearly ready for making my beloved sourdough biscuits, with all that assembly of ingredients, mixing, kneading, rolling, cutting, and putting them in the oven, I briefly toyed with no-knead bread. I mean, Sis could help me pull out flour and water and yeast and salt. She could stir. And then by the time we needed to shape and bake, Mama would be home to help. Like she has nothing else to do. Then I had this crazy idea of roping in one of my baking friends to come over with a box mix and make brownies or cupcakes with Sis. We'd both love it.

I wonder what we'll make first. Sourdough biscuits? A loaf of bread? Sis's favorite chocolate crinkle cookies? Our favorite Swedish apple pie? Sis has also started asking for pumpkin pie. And then there are cupcakes, which we love to admire in our various cookbooks.

But, it'll wait a week or two or three. And taste even better because we waited so long.

(I'm just hoping that the wait has ruined all sense of moderation!)

Rise Up: Mindful Baking

Though it seems crazy to bake in this weather, I led service at church this morning focused on baking bread mindfully. Of the small group who were there (because UUs don't usually gather in large numbers in the summer months), the children in the congregation had the most fun, one girl saying that church was finally fun! Of course, children bake mindfully all by themselves, wondering at the smell, texture, sight, and taste of all the ingredients, engaging in the processes with passion as they stir and knead and shape. When kids cook, they cook--they don't talk on the phone or wonder about something that happened earlier in the day; they are fully engaged. And so, baking with the kids and the adults at service today, despite the hot weather, made for a wonderful and tasty morning.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mindful Baking Service

Gathering: Volunteers help shape existing dough into loaves, covering them and setting them aside (hang signs asking participants to wash hands first).

Chalice Lighting: "We who gather here come for sustenance--we come to break bread together. we come bearing the ingredients of and for creation--we bring ourselves. With the blending of hearts and minds, we join in the work of loving hands which learn to knead the dough. And in the warmth of fellowship will rise the staff of life." --Bread-making Rite, Part One

Making bread, one cultivates generosity.

Making bread, one cultivates patience.

Making bread, one cultivates mindfulness.

Making bread, one cultivates concentration.

Making bread, one cultivates effort.

Making bread, one cultivates wisdom.

--adapted from The Lotusland

Opening Words: "The Kitchen"--Gunilla Norris, Becoming Bread

Familiar and strange,

the kitchen is a holy place--

alive with possibility.

A place for the elements.

Water in the tap,

fire in the stove,

earth in the food,

air--between, around, above, and below.

Behind the cupboard doors

are the pots and the pans,

the bowls and the dishes,

the measuring cups

and the measuring spoons--

holy things

that lie ready for use,

much like our dreams

that lie waiting

behind our eyelids.

The kitchen is alchemical,

a place where we cook--actually

and spiritually. We come to it

for nourishment and ease.

We come to it as to a center--

the heart of the house,

the heart of the dwelling.

In the kitchen we are one,

linked by hunger--

actual hunger and spiritual hunger.

We go to the kitchen to be

nourished and revealed.

It is a holy place.

Opening Music "All I Really Need" by Raffi

Candles of Community

Silent Meditation:

Breathing in, I select,

Breathing out, I slice.

Breathing in, I sautee,

Breathing out, I simmer.

Breathing in, I serve,

Breathing out, I savor.

--Janice Lynne Lundy, Awake is Good blog

Homily

Inspired by a pledge to make all of my family's bread for 40 days, a pledge that I made right here in this pulpit on April 18, I have spent the last four months learning how to bake. With recipes from friends, a lesson from another friend, and several cookbooks, I embarked on a path which I am still following. I bake bread two or three times a week, even now with the pledge officially over. And each loaf is another learning loaf, as I understand more about yeast and flour, kneading resting, which recipes are good for sandwiches and which for toast, which recipes the kids will eat and which ones Mama and I prefer. More than all of that, I understand more about myself, more about life. I am becoming mindful about and through my bread baking.

But what does that mean? Famed cook and cookbook author as well as Zen Priest Edward Espe Brown writes and talks often about mindfulness in cooking, starting with Suzuki Roshi's advice: “When you wash the rice, wash the rice. When you cut the carrots, cut the carrots. When you stir the soup, stir the soup.” Or quotes Zen Master Tenkei, "“See with your eyes, smell with your nose, taste with your tongue.” In other words, do what you are doing. For me, it means making my bread instead of buying it. It means feeling the flour, sniffing the sourdough starter, seeing the dough spring back when I press it. I smell the bread baking, I see the crust browning, I feel the warmth of the cooling loaf, and finally I taste the bread. It also means I try not to just follow a recipe blindly but try to understand rising and proofing, gluten and yeast. So that I am really making the bread. I make small changes to express myself, using honey for maple syrup, whole wheat flour for half of the white, oats sprinkled on top to indicate oatmeal bread. And when the bread comes out well, it's good; and when the bread comes out unexpectedly, it's still good because I learn.

And so, instead of talking to you about being mindful about breadmaking, we're going to make bread and be mindful about it in the process.

Simple Crusty Bread
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough
Cornmeal.
1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).
2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.
3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.
4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.
Yield: 4 loaves.
Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.

Dr. Jeff Hertzberg, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

(Procession by a few selected congregants to kitchen to begin baking loaves so they'll be ready by fellowship hour.)

Lastly, Brown notes, "“Cooking is not just working on food, but working on yourself and other people.” And more than anything, that is why I bake. It's not just because of creating a homemade, more natural product and avoiding unnecessary packaging and questionable ingredients. It's not just to learn a new skill and share the loaves of my labor. It's not just to preserve tradition and to resurrect my grandmother's recipes for my children. Though it is all of those things, too. It is to spend some part of each week being. And expressing that being through doing. And to share that doing and being with those around me. Zen Priest and author Karen Maezen Miller writes in Hand Wash Cold about life being a kitchen,

"Every day, I found my daughter's scorched breakfast left on the table, and my husband's crusty oatmeal bowl on the counter. I found shelves of food that no one but me would cook, cabinets of dishes no one but me would wash and put away. I found a near-empty milk jug, overripe bananas, and moldy bread. I found out the same way you did that a self-cleaning oven absolutely never cleans itself. In all this mess, I found the ingredients for the next stage in the spiritual journey: the opportunity to move beyond myself and into compassionate care of everything and everyone that appeared before me morning, noon, and night. I found myself in the very heart of life, an ordinary life, the best spot to give and receive pure love."

As Julia Child wrote in her memoir, My Life in France, "the pleasures of the table, and of life, are infinite - toujours bon appétit!"

Offertory--"Earth, Air, Fire, Water" by Libana

Closing Words: "Working in the Kitchen"--Edward Espe Brown, Tassajara Bread Book

What is it, closer than close?

Not impervious or distant, not

stiff or unresponsive. A get-down-

in-the-mud mind, a root-around-in-the-weeds mind: Food comes

alive with your presence, reaching

out, laboring, taking the time

for flour, salt, water, yeast

to come together, for a bowl

that breaks, the dirty dishes,

a leaky faucet, always more

to cooking than meets the eye!

Each thing asking to be seen, heard,

known, loved, a companion in the dark.

"Take care of the food," it is said,

"as thought it was your own eyesight,"

not saying, oh that's all right, we

have plenty, we can throw that away.

Table, teapot, measuring cups, spoons:

the body within the body, the place

where everything connects.

Ripe, succulent fruit, leaves, stems,

roots, seeds: the innermost mind

awakening, fully manifesting. What

are you up to, after all? What is

a way of life that is satisfying,

fulfilling, sustaining and sustainable?

Cups, glasses, sponges, one

body with a hundred faces,

a sticky honey jar, the half-

empty cup of coffee, each asking

to fulfill, each offering the touch

of the beloved.

Enter, plunge into the heart

of the matter: an unknown destination,

an unknown adventure unfolding

with you wits about you and your

not-so-wits. Things emerging in life,

Life emerging in things, no separation.

Concentrating on food, concentrating on

myself, with heart opening, hands offering

may everything be deliciously full

of warmth and kindness.

Coming form the earth, coming from the air,

a cool breeze, a spark, a flame, go ahead:

Cook, offer yourself, hold nothing back.

Cooking is not like you expected, not like

you anticipated. What is happening is unheard

of, never before experienced. You cook. No mistakes.

You might do it differently next time, but

you did it this way this time. Things

are as they are, even if you say too much this

too little that. And if you want things to stay

the same, remind yourself they have no unchanging nature.

"Wherever you go, remember, there you are." O.K.?

Go ahead. Keep moving. Watch your step.

Closing Music "Simple Gifts"

Blessing on the Bread in Fellowship:

• This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard work.
• May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive it.
• May we transform our unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed, and learn to eat with moderation.
• May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that we reduce the suffering of living beings, preserve our planet, and reverse the process of global warming.
• We accept this food so that we may nurture our sisterhood and brotherhood, strengthen our sangha [community] and nourish our ideal of serving all beings.

--the Five Contemplations of the Order of Interbeing

Rise Up: The Bread Miracle

It's been about a month since my bread pledge ended, but I'm still baking. Sure, not every other day, as I was in the throes of enthusiasm and experimentation, but still at least 1-2 a week. And there are still so many breads I want to try, more even than when I first conceived the idea. We haven't bought a loaf of anything since early April, only some refrigerated biscuit dough and saltine crackers. And I'm still loving it. With a lot less stress about it than when I started. I have learned so much about the feel of dough, the texture of bread, what I like, what I don't, what works best for sandwiches and what works best for dinner. It's opened up a whole world to me--the history of bread, the anthropology of food cultures around the world, the science of yeast and leavening and gluten, the sociology and psychology of communities of and also individual breadbakers, even the spirituality of the homemade. Along with kids and my experiences in physical therapy (and all I've found out about my musculoskeletal issues), meditation/mindfulness and vegetarianism, even blogging, my bread pledge is one of the most positive transformative events of the last five years.

Lessons Learned

Philosophical:

• Grown ups become childlike in the face of a loaf of warm bread.
• Rarely does a loaf of homemade bread go uneaten.
• Giving the gift of bread is a great way to express your love and appreciation of someone.
• The breadbaking community is diverse--it's not just stereotypical grandmotherly types.
• Bakers can say it's easy to bake bread but then they say something like "you just have to know," which, for a beginner, absolutely contradicts the "easy" part.
• It seems like breadbaking might be like riding a bicycle: once you get the hang of kneading, recognizing "smooth and elastic," etc etc, you can do it even with a long time since your last loaf.
• It doesn't matter how it looks--it's what's "inside" (how it tastes) that really matters.

Practical:

• Don't bother with taking the temperature of the water: if it's too hot for your finger, it's too hot; if it's not warm to your finger, it's too cold. Basically, yeast likes the temperatures we do. Also, tap water is generally at 120F at its hottest. Way too hot for yeast. And my finger.
• I messed up the order of the ingredients a few times when forming the dough--forgot to proof the yeast and thus added everything together from the start (as long as it wasn't a sponge-making recipe), added the salt before the flour (some say that yeast doesn't like the salt right away and the flour helps as a buffer)--and, at least for me, I couldn't tell at all.
• I'm not religious about measuring flour. Yes, officially 1 cup of flour is 4 oz. Lots of books recommend weighing it. Barring that, you're supposed to spoon flour into your measuring cup gently and then level it with a knife (thank you, Fannie Farmer). Big bother. Look, I bet my great-grandmother didn't have a measuring cup. I stir up the flour, scoop a cup, perhaps a little less than full to account for the packing from the scooping. Voila. No worries.
• I've found that times are just a suggestion. And also really forgiving. To navigate proofing and such, just know this: bread is well-kneaded when you poke a hole in it and it bounces back quickly; bread is well-proofed when you poke a hole in it and it doesn't bounce back quickly or completely. Remember that and you need not watch the clock so closely.
• If you are trying to convert a bread machine recipe to conventional baking, mix it altogether, knead about 6-8 minutes (see tip above), rise about an hour, then preheat oven to about 350F, finish the top as you like (i.e. washes and slashes), and bake between 25-45 minutes, depending. You're looking for golden brown on top and a hollow sound when thumped (which, I must add, is about the dumbest instruction because you can't thump the bottom of a loaf of bread until you've "de-tinned" it, which means it's out of your oven. Are you supposed to put it back? I thump the top and it sounds pretty hollow there too). I usually make dough in my machine and then bake it off in the oven--I like the shape and crust better but it saves me the kneading.

Favorites (As I Remember It Today):

• All-time favorite loaf: Oatmeal Molasses
• Hardest recipe: Bammie's Bread
• Easiest recipe: 2-hour No-Knead Bread
• Family favorite: "the twin bread," or Butter Bread
• Worst loaf: Guinness and Molasses (but I'm thinking my molasses had gone old or something)
• Best crust: 18-hour No-Knead Bread
• Most tender crumb: Greek Bread or Butter Bread
• Best wheat: Buttermilk Whole Wheat
• Best for dinner accompaniment: sourdough bread
• Best dessert loaf: Chocolate Challah or Mexican Chocolate Bread
• Best Toast: Bammie's Bread
• Best Non-Bread Recipe: Grilled Pizza
• Best Breakfast (besides toast): Orange Cinnamon Bread

Resources:

• To learn the art of breadbaking, my first recommendation would be anything from King Arthur Flour: from their website to their cookbooks (my favorite being the 200th Anniversary Baker's Companion) or even to the back of their flour bags, I learned the most from their step-by-step instructions and dependable recipes. They also, of course, make great flours and sell other wonderful baking accoutrements (I got my sourdough crock from them). Of course, the best resources are friends who bake, but KAF is a close second!
• All my wonderful bread machine recipes come from the indispensable The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger. I love the ease, simplicity, and variety of her recipes--and without fail they come out deliciously!

Happy Baking!

Rise Up: A Sweet and Sour Day

Today is day number 40, the last day of my bread pledge, (which I will wrap-up in a post later this weekend complete with all the recipes and lessons I've learned). I decided to commemorate today by making a traditional Sourdough Bread. I received the starter from my friends at Bloodroot, who have kept their starter alive as long as they've had the restaurant, for 34 years. It sounds old, but my understanding is that it is young for starter--apparently there are some starters kept alive by dedicated bakers in New England that are as old as our nation; in Europe, I've read that some starters can be traced back to the Middle Ages. Of course, the actual ingredients of the starter aren't that old, per se, but the same yeast has been kept growing with new additions of flour and water for centuries. I don't know how long I'll have mine, but I'm looking forward to using it for years to come (and in the meantime, I hope I learn to like sourdough bread, which is sometimes too sour for my taste; but I like the idea of it so that's a start). I even bought it its own little ceramic crock, from King Arthur Flour, for it to live in inside the fridge. The crock arrived today, which is meaningful. And so, the end begets a beginning, a continuation, not only of the last 40 days, or even of a 34-year old starter, but of a tradition of bread baking that has gone on for thousands of years. And there's a crock of starter and a rising ball of dough and me in my kitchen, participating in this community of bread . . . .

Many, many hours later: the bread is amazing! I really liked this sourdough. Not too sour, not at all tangy, just crunchy crust and dense, uniform loaf. Wonderful with butter. And a whole extra loaf to take to church on Sunday to share with everyone. What a great way to end the pledge, with a gift from friends, a hand-kneaded dough, two beautiful loaves, and a yummy nighttime snack.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Sourdough Bread

1 cup sourdough starter (my note: not fed within last 12-18 hours)

1 1/2 cups warm water

5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoons sugar (optional)

1 teaspoon baking soda

cornmeal to sprinkle on pans

ice for oven (my adaptation)

Making the Sponge

When you take the starter from the refrigerator it probably will have separated. Blend it thoroughly with a fork or wire whisk. Pour one cup into a glass or pottery mixing bowl. Replenish starter by adding 1 cup flour and 1 cup water and leaving out to bubble at room temperature for 12 hours before returning it to the refrigerator.

To the starter in the mixing bowl, add the warm water and about 3 cups of flour. Beat vigorously with a spoon or wire whisk.

Cover the sponge with plastic wrap and put it aside to begin to come to life and work. This timer period can be very flexible, from 2-24 hours. (I did it about 5 hours). The longer it has to work, the more yeast there will be for the second rising period and the more pronounced the sour flavor of the finished bread.

Making the Dough

Blend the salt, sugar, and baking soda into 2 cups of flour. Mix this into the expanded and bubbly sponge with a large spoons. When the dough begins to hold together, ,turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it for 3-4 minutes. Add flour as needed to make a fairly stiff dough (today, that was about 1-1 1/2 cups more).

Give the dough a rest while you clean out and grease your bowl (actually, I grease my big 8 cup measuring cup not the bowl so I can see how much it has risen). Continue kneading for another 3-4 minutes. Place the kneaded dough back in the bowl turning ti to grease the top. Cover it again to let it expand and rise for anywhere from 2-4 hours (I did about two hours).

(I skipped the second rise, mainly because I don't like a strong sourdough).

Shaping and Baking

Knock down the dough and shape it into 2 long French-style loaves. Place them on a cornmeal-sprinkled baking sheet (I used my baguette pans with cooking spray) and let them rise for another 2 hours or so.

Toward the end of the rising period, place a baking pan on the oven bottom (or on the lowest rack) and preheat your oven to 450F.

Just before it's time to bake, slash the tops diagonally with a knife every couple of inches, about 1/4" deep, and brush with cold water. (Then my trick I read somewhere, instead of pouring boiling water on the pan: throw 15-20 ice cubes on the baking pan in your oven and proceed). Put the loaves on the rack above the steaming water and bake them for about 25 minutes.

The crust will e very hard when you remove the bread but in 5 minutes it will be soft and chewy. To make the crust hard and chewy, turn the oven off and leave the bread inside for an additional 5 minutes. (I wanted to do that but my loaves were already too brown).

This bread apparently tastes wonderful the next day.

King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook, with a few notes by Mommy Hungry

Rise Up: Here Today

I'll be blogging today even though it's Thursday. This will keep me from thinking about the MRI this afternoon and the wait until initial results next week. Also, I'm again attempting the loaf that started it all, Oatmeal Molasses Bread (aka the loaf that I ruined) which is doubly apropos because the woman who gave the recipe to me is getting married this weekend. And so I will make her bread and send loving thoughts to her and her bride. Only change: I'm making it with my stand mixer and dough hook, not wanting to put any additional stress on my back (the recumbent MRI, with legs straight, is stress enough).

I'll keep you update, with additions to this post, so check back.

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So far, so good. The dough doubled, was punched own, rose again--almost sounds religious! Two loaves are in the oven right now, ready right before my MRI, so I probably won't try any until I get home. Perhaps that will be my reward! And it'll give me something positive to think about.

By the way, thanks to everyone who has emailed and called. I'm hanging in. And have played 3 games of CandyLand and two of Chutes and Ladders today.

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The MRI test went smoothly; now we just have the wait until Tuesday.

But the bread wait is over: the loaves were a huge SUCCESS!!!! It's the right taste, color, crumb, crust--just like Rev. M's!!!!! So good. So marvelous. And I have 2 loaves. One for us. One to take to church to share on Sunday as part of our 40-40-40 wrap-up celebration. I'm so excited, so proud. Even though I don't know what went wrong the first time--bad molasses? overproofing? too much kneading? I have no idea. But I've done it right once now and plan to do it many more times.

Blessings on you and yours, Rev. M! Your bread is great!

Rise Up: Too Hot to Bake

Oh, mercy, it's hot in CT today. Sun glaring, humidity high. UGH. Bud said of his sweat-soaked head, "My hair is crying!"

And so we had ice cream for lunch, straight from the convenience store! Bud had cherry Italian ice, Sis wanted Haagen Dazs chocolate, and I got coffee ice cream which I made affogato (that's just hot coffee, usually espresso, I think, poured over ice cream, as I understand it).

I had thought of baking cookies today--oatmeal with Craisins and chocolate chips--as both a treat for our playdate and something fun and distracting to do with the kids. But, even with central AC on, I'm not turning on the oven today.

And our poor contractor, who has been replacing our old sliding patio doors and is now framing in the ignored AC pipes upstairs, is sweating bullets in what is apparently a heat index in the mid-90s. That's fine for you Texas folks, but those of us up here just aren't ready.

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

¾ cup margarine/butter

1 ¾ cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves

3 cups oats (actually, I left this ingredient off when I transcribed it and don’t know how much exactly)

1 cup raisins (or 1/2 cup each Craisins and chocolate chips, approximately)

In a mixing bowl beat butter on medium for 30 seconds. Add about half of the flour, brown sugar, sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla, and baking soda. Also cloves and cinnamon. Beat until thoroughly cominbed. Beat in remaining flour. Stir in oats and raisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoons 2” apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool cookies on wire rack.

Rise Up: Pie in the Sky

I was in the freezer today and spotted blueberries, the ones we picked last summer. Blueberries + bread pledge = blueberry pie!!!! I made pie crust . . . my own flaky, buttery, tender homemade pie crust!!!! No bitter aftertaste. No gummy bottom crust. I think it was the best pie I've ever made. I'll never buy refrigerator pie crust again.

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Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup butter, unsalted and chilled, cut into pieces

1/4 cup ice water

In a food processor, pulse flour with salt and sugar. Add butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces remaining. Add water; pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if needed, add up to 4 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix. turn out onto a work surface; knead once or twice, until dough comes together. Chill dough shaped in discs in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.

Everyday Food

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Blueberry Pie

2 pie crusts

2-10 oz bags of frozen blueberries (approximately 4 cups)

1/3 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

cinnamon, nutmeg

1-2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350F. Place crust in pie plate. Place blueberries (still frozen) in bowl with flour and sugar. Mix together and slightly mash. Spoon blueberry mixture into shell. Cover with other crust, piercing to vent. Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar over crust and dot with butter. Bake at 350 for approximately 1+ hours, until golden brown crust and bubbly, covering rim of pie until last 15 minutes.

Mommy Hungry!

Rise Up: Final Stretch

I have five days to go on my bread pledge. Though, I know already that the baking will continue after the 40 days are over. I'm not sure I could eat a grocery store loaf of bread again (now, bakery bread is different!). I won't wrap up here just yet, saving that for the end of the pledge. Particularly because there are a few more loaves I want to make, namely sourdough with the starter I got from my friends at Bloodroot and the Oatmeal Molasses Bread recipe from Rev. M that kinda started all of this, plus pie crust--I want to make a pie crust. But today, I have Sour Cream Bread in my machine (and Maple Baked Beans in my slow cooker), having some backaches from too much fun and not enough rest this weekend.

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Sour Cream Bread

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water

1 cup sour cream

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 teaspoons gluten

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Place all ingredients in pan according to manufacturer's instructions, with the water and sour cream put in first, and adding the dry ingredients on top. Set crust on medium and program for Basic; press Start (not suitable for delay timer).

When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Beth Hensperger, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

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Maple Baked Beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 cups navy beans or Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup tomato paste mixed with 1 1/4 cup hot water

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onion, cover, and cook until softened, after 5 minutes.

Transfer onion to 3 1/2-4 quart slow cooker. Add all ingredients and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

Robin Robertson, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

Rise Up: Bakerwoman God

In honor of our "Celebration of Bread" gathering at church last night, during which I shared my tips for making no-knead bread, with two compound butters on the side, and our minister talked about bread and spirituality, sharing this poem:

Bakerwoman God,
I am your living bread.
Strong, brown, Bakerwoman God,
I am your low, soft and being-shaped loaf.
I am your rising bread, well-kneaded
by some divine and knotty pair of
knuckles, by your warm earth-hands.
I am bread well-kneaded.Put me in your fire, Bakerwoman God,
put me in your own bright fire.I am warm, warm as you from fire.
I am white and gold, soft and hard,
brown and round.
I am so warm from fire.Break me, Bakerwoman God.
I am broken under your caring Word.
Drop me in your special juice in pieces.
Drop me in your blood.
Drunken me in the great red flood.
Self-giving chalice, swallow me.
My skin shines in the divine wine.
My face is cup-covered and I drown.I fall up in a red pool
in a gold world
where your warm sunskin hand is there
to catch and hold me.
Bakerwoman God, remake me.

--Alla Bozarth-Campbell, U.S.A In ‘No Longer Strangers’, WCC Geneva1986

Rise Up: This Day's Daily Bread

I needed a bread that fit some very specific criteria of a friend who would be coming over: no cheese and no white sugar. The first criteria meant that this would be a sweet not a savory loaf, the second that the sweet would need to be honey or maple syrup or something. Along came a recipe for something called Lou's Daily Bread. With orange zest, olive oil, honey, and whole wheat flour, I was intrigued. And the bread is intriguing: not really sweet, despite the orange and the honey, which were perhaps balanced by the oil and the whole wheat (can't wait to try walnut! Could you guess that Lou is Greek? And she uses the whey of homemade yogurt instead of the milk apparently). A gorgeous golden-orange sunset color, this bread had a pretty fine crumb and a soft crust. I liked it, my friend liked it, but the kids didn't. There has been another request for "twin bread." Which I've decided reminds me specifically, in smell anyway, of croissant. Anyway, it might be Lou's daily loaf, but it won't become ours unfortunately.

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Lou's Daily Bread

zest of two oranges, cut into very thin strips (I just zested with a grater)

1 1/4 cups fat-free milk

2 tablespoons olive or walnut oil

2 tablespoons honey

1 5/8 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon gluten

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Place all ingredients in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer's instructions. Set crust on medium and program for Whole Wheat cycle; press Start (do not use delay timer).

When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Beth Hensperger, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

Rise Up: The Twins

It's raining, it's pouring, and so I'm baking. Made Butter Bread, choosing it mainly because I had all the ingredients on hand. The dough was so soft, as a baby's bottom, you might say. And the final bread is very, very tender. And oh so buttery. Bud had two huge slices with jelly. Sis hasn't had any yet but liked the name of it, which is also les gameaux, or "the twins," because traditionally this bread is two loaves baked side-by-side. Kinda looked like a big baby's bottom, too!

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Butter Bread

1 1/8 cups water

1 large egg

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

4 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon gluten

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon bread machine yeast

[Note: there are long instructions about making les gameaux, or "the twins," by stopping the machine midway, making two separate pieces of dough, and baking them side by side in the bread machine pan. I used the machine for dough and then divided the dough, made two long loaves, put them together in the 9 x 5" bread pan, rose again for 45 minutes, and baked at 350F for 40 minutes. I also had brushed the top with a tablespoon of butter.]

adapted from Beth Hensperger, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook