bad blogger

Okay... so my pledge to write about something I learned every day didn't exactly work out. I am still learning lots, of course, and I'll do my best to get back to blogging regularly. But for now, I spend most of my (rare) free time either baking or curling up for naps with this kiddo (how can I resist when he makes napping look so amazing?)...

Winnie kills a sick

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread with Oats and Coconut

This one used up the rest of the flour in the house. I am sure burning through it! For fine french breads I like to use bread flour, which has about 25% more protein (aka gluten) which makes the bread structure stronger internally and lets it rise high. But, with breads with lots of additions like this I feel like it is kind of pointless and general flour works just as well.

I added egg in this time, and I can't really tell what it does to the bread. I think it gives it fluff by binding things together similarly to what the gluten does, but I can't find any information on this online. Anyone know?

Otherwise, I just let the raisins, yeast, sugar, and coconut soak for a while, then added the flour until it mixed right. But, I forgot to leave any for flouring the counter for kneeding, so I tried using the silicone mat Megan uses for chocolate and it worked great. A good thing to know for working with wet dough that you still want to work with.

Another nice tip I found for softer/chewier crusts is to just toss in a 1/2 cup of water into the oven while it is baking. The steam transfers heat well and it makes makes the crust not crumble.

I am also working on the cuttings on the top of the loafs, since they make them look so nice! And that works with my philosophy: good looking food tastes better.

Daily Bread

This is our 1000th post, and in an attempt to mimic one of our favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, I took some nicer pictures of my evening bread. Challenges in food photography! The bread itself is a whole wheat and oats cinnamon rasin bread with zucchini. I didn't know before I started making bread that most normal "whole wheat" bread contains just a fraction of whole wheat flour, 1/4th in this case. I have used the zucchini before and if you shred it it makes the bread lighter and moist, but it doesn't give it much flavor.

When making my bread I don't use any recipe, besides the basic ratio of flour to water, salt, and yeast. So far so good, and I have made about 10-12 loafs so far. My one complaint is I can not manage to get that big round artisan bread loaf look yet, and keep getting flatter round loafs. Still good, but that height isn't there. To fix it, I am going to allow more rising, drier dough, and use parchment paper instead of cornmeal.

Bread making like this really is just like brewing. Get the basics right and follow those rules very close. Then, throw in whatever sticks and try it out! Don't worry, the yeast will save you in both endevers.

State Fair 2010

Here are some of my photos from the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. I am also going to try and use Flickr more, to try and get facebook and the blog closer together:

Vacation!

I'm home! I've got six whole days off to enjoy the Minnesota State Fair, spend time with Chris and Winnie, see as many friends and family members as possible, and celebrate our one year wedding anniversary. So, no veterinary education for the next few days, but I'm sure there will be lots of pictures to share!

Here's a nice fair photo to start off with:


... and one from my walk with Winnie this morning. So nice to spend time with my puppy!

Blog changes

Blogger/Google has been updating the look and tech of blogger so I thought we should too. And since Megan has been blogging so much, I need to too! Here are just a few things that I am going to write about soon:

- My commuter bike project
- Pickles, both canned and soured
- Beer projects. State fair beer, cultured Belgian yeast, and a bad batch

More work on the template too. And you can now share stories on various media by clicking any of the links below each post.

Day 5

Well, I do get some time off, after all, so here's what I learned today...

Thanks to Netflix, I've been watching The Office for the first time. The subtlety of some of the humor never ceases to amaze me. For example, in season 5, there are three episodes in which there is a second office featured (I won't describe why, to avoid giving away spoilers...). The second office contains a goldfish in a bowl. But note, in each episode, there is a different goldfish- one calico, one black, and one gold:



Yes, I am a fish nerd :) Back to work tomorrow!