The sun came out a short bit yesterday but this afternoon, as I was returning home from Whitefish, it came out in earnest. There is a stiff breeze, a bit of sunshine and another night forecast to stay above freezing so hopefully some drying out!
Karl and I had a nice walk in Whitefish, by the soccer fields, in the fog – but the footing was grand! And then, on the way home, a little sunshine.
***the heavy duty fence is enclosing Glacier Park International Airport
The temperature has stayed above the freezing mark since last Thursday morning.
At this point, I am rooting for it to stay warm until everything melts…we might as well start Winter over from scratch!
Karl has been mostly taking himself for his walks while I watch from the safety of a snow patch. And even he is walking gingerly with his toes splayed out for a better grip.
Bob is fairly happy as the melt has opened up more area around the house and trees for latrine digging :)!
Yesterday, although it was raining, dripping and mainly I wanted to stay by the woodstove, I also needed a walk. I warned Karl that it might only be a car ride as I was not going to risk an ice walk.
We headed to Somers. I thought the asphalt trail walk might be our best bet and if not it is on the way to the grocery so I’d gather a few items.
Montana Highway 82, the “Somers cutoff” borders the northern end of Flathead Lake. I turn south toward Somers on Somers Rd. past a favorite farm pictured in the photos from Frosted Farm and Frosted Farm and the Summer Version posts.
Just past that farm, the road curves 90 degrees to the west and continues along a bit of the lake….
…before arriving in Somers.
The green field – a beautiful contrast to the dark sky, misty clouds and gray lake.
The walk trail was dry and clear…a relief as Karl was watching excitedly and kissing my ear as we approached the small parking area. It was not raining when we arrived. We enjoyed a brisk walk because for the first time in days we could walk briskly. Pleasure in the simple things…a bit of green in Winter and finding a place to walk.
These boys…my heart.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, when I was very, very young I was reading a young woman’s magazine and a tutorial – with photos – of how to make your own bread caught my eye. I can vividly remember working through that first tutorial and the ecstasy of a that first beautiful fresh loaf of bread made with my own hands. And I loved the entire process of mixing and kneading and rising and how good that little apartment smelled.
I’ve continued to make bread – sometimes often, sometimes not. And I started making my own pizza dough a bit later, when I was young…ish.
Fast forward and getting to late October or early November of this year when Linda Carson of The 7MSN Ranch tweeted about baking some bread and provided the link: Bermatopia’s Artisan Bread Awesomeness.
Coincidentally, I had just failed at my first attempt to make an artisanal Ciabatta recipe. Being not so young any more and needing reading glasses and assuming I knew what I was doing with 35 plus years of baking experience behind me, I used the wrong flour.
Anyway, this recipe looked so much easier and Linda made it and raved about its ease so I plunged in….and it changed my life!!! I am not kidding.
Not only was the bread good with that custardy crumb and crisp crust of a bakery ciabatta or boule, as I did some research on the high moisture doughs and bought Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day I discovered the thing that provided further enlightenment and the real life changing part. The dough can be refrigerated and you can pull out what you want on any given day and bake a fresh loaf of bread: elapsed time from frig to table is about an hour, hands on baker’s time is about 5 minutes. The time to mix the dough and get it in the frig in the first place is about 10 minutes.
It is not only the short time involved. Bakery artisanal breads are expensive and taste best the day made and as I prefer to not weigh 900 pounds AND I moderate gluten intake, paying $4 or $5 for a loaf of the bakery bread that mostly gets converted to croutons or bread crumbs gets spendy. The dough can be refrigerated for 7 days and the longer it is in the frig the more “sour” (as in sourdough) it tastes – without dealing with a starter!
I’ve stuck with the quantity in the Bermatopia’s Artisan Bread Awesomeness recipe (vs the larger amount in the book) and that works fine for me to make a little loaf to have with soup or stew, hot pockets or pizza crust and use up the dough within 7 days.
Linda at The 7MSNRanch did 2 step by step posts of the night before mixing and the baking day process:
7MSN Baking Bread Part 1
7MSN Baking Bread Part 2
I don’t do the add flour until the spoon stands up thing that she does. I stick to 3 cups of flour, 1 3/4 cups of water, 1 1/2 tsp sea or kosher salt, and a packet of yeast (I used bulk yeast equivalent to a packet). Lately I’ve been making a combo of 1 cup of cornmeal, 1 cup of Semolina flour and 1 cup of Bread flour – my customization of “Artisan Bread in 5 Days'” Portuguese Broa recipe. I use store bought bread flour but any specialty flours I buy online from King Arthur flour. My favorite for rye bread is King Arthur’s “Perfect for Rye” blend and I combine 1 1/2 cups of that with 1 1/2 cups of bread flour for my rye. Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day – either the site in the link or the book contain varieties, techniques and troubleshooting for high moisture doughs.
Bake this bread, change your life! Seriously, for any who decide to try this method and particularly if you are an experienced traditional yeast dough person…put aside all you think you know about yeast dough and just go with it. If you don’t give up what you think dough should look and feel like, you will be sure that this will never work and that the very sticky dough can not possibly become bread. But it can, it can – Halleluhah, Amen, Happy Sunday :)!
Day 3 of this week’s Winter Storm: 40F at 5:30 a.m., Wind high in the trees.
This freeze/melt/freeze/melt cycle we’ve been experiencing is not my favorite example of a good Winter. To date, the extreme cold has been of short duration and the melt downs followed by new snow.
This morning, as drippy, messy and non-Winterlike as it feels, the almost warm wind, the sound of it whooshing through the trees – it speaks of the still far-off blustery Spring and I can go there.
Pepperoni pizza on a rainy night.
A little about the Portuguese Broa dough used for this crust. The Broa dough is part cornmeal and makes a wonderful pizza crust thin or thick as well as the hot pocket wrapper or a nice crusty bread to go with soup or stew. I mix 1 cup cornmeal with 2 1/4 cups bread flour, 1 3/4 cups water, 1 packet yeast, 1 1/2 tsp sea salt – mix well, cover and let rise for 8 hours, then put it in crock in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. I grab a small peach sized piece for a hot pocket, an small apple sized amount for a one person pizza or a large apple sized piece for a mini-boule bread. The dough is VERY moist. I add enough flour to hands, board and/or rolling pin to shape the dough.
Hot pockets bake for 16 minutes.
Pizza – I pre-bake the crust for 7 minutes, add toppings and bake for another 7-8 minutes
A small boule or ciabatta for 20 minutes.
All at 470 with a pan full of water on a separate shelf to crisp up the hot pocket or little bread.
***YIKES!…one more “detail”… for a boule or ciabatta or any shaped bread, shape the dough and let it “rise” for 30-40 minutes. The “rise” for this high moisture dough is more of a flatten out than a rise. Slash the puddle of dough several times before putting it in the oven. Automagically, that little puddle of dough will rise during baking and come out looking like real bread! No rise for pizza crust or hot pockets/calzone.