lilith's dreams

bread and such

09:39, Sunday, May 28, 2006 .. 1 comments .. Link

i had just written a long post in ms word, intending to copy and paste it here, but apparently i can't past anything into the text box here. :sigh: perhaps i'm missing something or maybe it's a mozilla thing.   anyways, i guess i'll start over, lol.

i've been baking bread, on and off, for about the last 30 years. i'd stopped a while ago, for various reasons, but recently had a desire to do it again.   i just never seem to be able to find store-bought bread that i like very well.   i started to experiment with different recipies, and found one that i like. it's easy, reliable and tastes good. but the texture is a little 'crumby', if that makes sense.

a while ago richard, who's a chef, spent several years working as the bread baker at an italian restaurant. he made all of their italian bread, bread sticks, and foccacia (in addition to coffee sauce, creme anglaise and creme brulee), and his bread had such a nice texture...crusty and chewy.   it turns out that italian bread is made with a sponge starter, called a biga, which is sort of like a sourdough starter except that it doesn't ferment as long and doesn't have any of the lactobacilli that sourdough starters attract out of the air....   but anyways, it's the starter that makes the texture different from my plain homemade bread.    his recipes from his bread baking days are way too big (i just don't really want to use 90 lbs of flour per batch, lol), and i didn't feel inclined to do the math and experimentation involved in reducing the recipe down to the amount of bread we use per week.    so i googled.   i found a recipe that looks like it'll be just what i need.    i'd planned to make it today, but we're not out of bread quite yet. so it'll likely be in the next few days.   i'll post the results here. :-)

on a related note, i'm thinking i need to find out where i can go berry picking locally. and i need to find someone to go with me, since i don't drive (and that sort of thing really doesn't appeal to richard.).   i want to make jam, which i hadn't done in years. we just don't eat much of it, and storage space is at a premium in this little apartment (somewhere around 350 sq ft).   but i'm thinking that any canning i do could maybe be stored under the bed, lol
what got me thinking about jam was the trip we took to seattle in april.   there was a restaurant in port townsend wa where we ate breakfast a couple of times that had the most amazing red raspberry jam.   freezer jam, i'm thinking.    and then there was the jar of homemade blackberry jam that my sil gave me.   bread has become an excuse to eat blackberry jam, lol.    so i'm on a mission to find local berries this summer.     we DO have lots of freezer space. so maybe i'll make freezer jam.   and perhaps freeze extra berries for pie.

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10:11, Sunday, May 28, 2006 .. Posted by Nonni
to Homesteadblogger!! Blackberry jam sounds like a very good reason to eat bread, LOL. My first jelly was a dandelion jelly - and it's SO good, I'm definately inspired to try others. We have raspberries that grow wild in our yard, plus we're trying our hand at growing blueberries - I'm really hoping to get really good at making jams and jellies, lol.

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lilith's dreams

bread and such

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