elainegrey

Last Monday i made a highly satisfactory loaf of buckwheat blender bread. I added rehydrated and blended dried figs from 2022 as part of the liquid, that worked fairly well but the previous loaf with chunks of dried figs and dates held promise.

This loaf included one packet of dated-2015 quick yeast. Maybe that helped a little with the fermentation. I also think i did a better job getting the oven warm enough to support fermentation without overwarming. The first rise of the batter went well, and the second in the pan filled up the pullman pan. The loaf is very moist and probably could have benefited from true baking instead of convection bake: it sank a little in cooling.



I continue to be happy with my toasted buckwheat groats as cereal.

This weekend i made barley out of well soaked and just barely sprouting grain. It's going to be a pleasant preparation for grain bowls, and i can imagine dressing in a minty chimichurri would be divine. I spent some time reading and discerned the easy to get pearled barley is the "highly processed" choice. You can get hulled barley, where the barley is processed to remove the hull, or there is hulless barley -- which come from a number of selections where the grain falls out and threshing and doesn't need to be processed. There's some black and purple versions with various stories behind them. My guess is that like corn and other grasses, the color genes are there to be selected and stewarded in multiple cases. I'm imagining growing a hulless barley someday. Let's get the sorghum seed grown fro dried flower arrangement, first.

The week was disjoint and frustrating with internet outage, an attempt to get a blood panel done that failed due to overworked doctor failing to give good instructions and put through the lab order, and general malaise. I took much of Thursday and all Friday off. I realized that with the nasal surgery, i wouldn't be able to distinguish between a head-cold and a sinus infection. A tele-visit concurred that i probably had a sinus infection, so i have antibiotics and an increase in the asthma meds to help me perk back up.

We have a couch from "Rooms to Go" which is probably a better quality than Ikea, but not by much. We've been using it very regularly for six and a half years, so it's been a bit worn out. I've been thinking about how to improve it. The springs are a little tired, so i've found seating slats that can distribute weight more across the springs. We've installed those: a clear win. I've bought foam to replace the seat and back cushions: that's in progress. I am uncertain about how satisfactory my plans for the back are. It's lines are not well matched to most current slipcovers, so that took a long time to sort out. I believe i have found some adequate solutions in grey. And i bought some spiral upholstery pins that may assist with keeping things from going too askew. So far it looks sloppy and terrible, and i have Internal JudgyJudgyJudgy Voice going on, I'm trying to remind myself that it's not done yet. But, wow, am i self critical.

Friday i met my sister and Dad and we went through some of Mom's jewelry and some of Dad's things. There were pieces that told stories about family: tie pins from one of my Dad's employers and pins and charms from my grandmother's long service with Ma Bell. Pins my grandfather gave my grandmother to show he was a submariner and a similar pin from my SeaBee father to my mother. My parents' wedding rings. Instead of trying to split those up, we decided to pool them and have them all mounted and framed together as a family history. Someday maybe the nephews and nieces will split it, or maybe one will have become the clear family historian.

My Dad apparently was left a little down by it, and i had mixed feelings too. Missing my brother a little, but also the -- frustration and judgement i feel about his family and their sense of care of things felt heavy.

I will try this week to post more often, and more briefly. We'll see! My follow through on self commitments is not what i would like, lately.

I am in the fuzzy place of "do i have a cold or is this allergies," but I'm not 100%.

I was in a happy place for Tuesday's therapy, and i was asked what had me so happy. New car? Lovely weather? Time with sister? Christine in good cheer?

Christine was in a terrible mood due to Some Other Person when i got out of therapy -- she only just pulled out of her funk well after 5 pm -- and i did find myself feeling more down. Also, strange tensions with my boss as i think he's feeling more uncertain about his role with the recent reorg. So up and down, with some evidence other's moods do affect mine despite my trying to keep a sense of "this is my mood, that is yours."

She ran an errand just as i was taking lunch, and i thought she'd be back, so i sat reading while eating, waiting. I finally went out to get mail at the end of my lunch break and found her sitting in the truck. My waiting wasn't really conscious; i only realized it when i was disappointed. I ended up working late on Tuesday so didn't get outside time. I hope to rake a little during the lunch break today.

--== ∞ ==--

Mom is home from the hospital, and Dad got a shout out in the visit notes, "Lovely husband providing phenomenal home care and support in setting of past CVA [cerebrovascular accident, aka stroke] w/ ongoing deficits."

I observe my mother's voice in my mind, bitterly dismissing any praise of Dad. "He snowed them, fooled them. They don't know him really." So glad that's the only place i hear that voice now. I do wish i could evict it. I used it to bolster my faith in Dad's care, and try to downgrade my worry about the toileting difficulties.

My sister reports my brother is going to help my dad re-structure bits of the house to make things easier for him. This will be fantastic. AND my sister is not going to be angry about my brother keeping his stuff in the house: what a win!

--== ∞ ==--

Kitta grau, the rye sour culture, is being refreshed. In our cold house i am putting the jar of culture on top of a mug of boiling water and wrapping with a towel. I've decided that just in general our house is too cold. Rye bakers probably had a stove that was pretty warm even if their houses were generally colder.

So, attempting a Vilnius rye today. The techniques for the all rye (well, no wheat) breads i admire generally involve souring -- fermenting -- much of the dough in stages. I started the first stage this morning. Again, i had the experience of the texture seeming not quite right and lacking water. I added more culture and water maybe a third of the way into the time, and i think i will "restart the clock" then. Except i am not waking in the middle of the night to start the second sponge. It can ferment until i wake.

This probably doesn't spell success, but we'll see.

I did make waffles from the discard from much of last week. I added molasses: yum! I do wonder if i should bother trying for loaves, and just waffle the fermented rye flour.

In other challenges, I have a big container of rye flour that had been sitting in the bottom of the pantry -- think ten or fifteen pounds or so, at least. It's from a 25 pound bag from right before the pandemic. At least five gallons if not larger. Last week i opened it to decant some for use. Today when i opened it, weevils were at the top. UGH. They aren't in a clear plastic bag of flour that i filled when i filled the bucket -- i guess they got in when i opened it? I took the bucket outside and scraped off the top inch or so, hoping that the problems went with the surface layer. I'll know soon as i can check the containers i decanted into today.

And, in roasting old malted rye, i went pretty much past toasted. But, whatever.

My 2021 harvest from my selected purple popcorn! Progress! Everything was purple toned this year. I still lost some whole ears to mold, tops of ears to worms, but it wasn't too bad. Growing later in the year worked and not rushing to get a crop in. Can imagine planting more with sweet potatoes. The sweet potato failure this year i blame on the rabbits. Fie. And, i say failure, but i won't really know until i harvest. The vines haven't been crazy rampant.

Monday went pretty well personally, meh at home. I got things done according to my to do list; less so at work. A little overwhelmed by minutiae plus a "yam" (ie: something that has become unpleasant to an outsized amount.) I am spending lots of time on to do list management: i hope it's productive and not creating more to keep up with (record) than i need to. Today, Tuesday seemed about the same. A significant yard thing was mowing the steep banks up by the road and eradicating the stilt grass. I'm not sure that any wildflower plants survived under the blanket from last fall's seeding. I'll see about scattering seeds from the "meadow."

In the evening i started a new sourdough starter, Kitta Grau. I tried a 50-50 mix of water and rye, it seems far too stiff. Tonight i adjusted to 50-25-25 water, rye, previous starter. If that works, it will soon be essentially two parts water, on part rye. I guess rye flour's hydration properties are significantly different than wheat's.

( Things weighing heavily on me )

 I'm rising bread on the deck. I guess i should have refrigerated before the rise per random internet advice for yeasted wheat bread. It should be "done" "rising" in another hour (my rye starter doesn't seem to have that much strength when mixed with all the seeds and the packet of "cheating" yeast i'm using expired in 2015). I can't decide about turning on the oven until it starts cooling off, and should the dough go in the fridge then or can it just sit inside? Choosing to make all rye bread without a raft of Nordic contacts for advice has been ... well, so very much like what i do.

I think i'll call Mom and Dad now....

--== ∞ ==--

Monday morning

The 2 hrs plus rise in a WARM place seemed to actually go well: it was 90°F in the shade yesterday. I guess i will try to create warm spaces next winter. Baked at 360°F for 2 hours and let cool in the pan (as the instructions say). Next time i will let it cool in the air: the loaves were damp when i took them out of the pan, so i let them dry out overnight. The Pullman pan loaf (without the cover on) looks wonderful. I may buy another of those pans. It occurs to me another writer described leaving the loaves covered to bake: i'll do that next time. Getting there.

Dad is set up for Zoom but desperately needed someone to talk to so just he and i chatted.

Christine's home safely. There are crazy people out there: open carry folks at Best Buy, more Confederate flags and Trump (??) flags.

HVAC guy called at 7:30 am, trying to do triage on his 11 calls. He doesn't really want to come in the house. We don't blame him. And don't really want him to come in. Maybe i'll volunteer to do the work if he'll talk me through things.

Daily "stand up" messages between my sister and i, ( Read more... )

Mental exhaustion. Trying to make decisions is hard.

Anyhow, i am sorry to hear of everyone's bread flour woes, and feel a little guilty because i had just place an order for 25 lbs of rye flour. Last night i was transferring from the big paper bag into a 12 quart tub and a bunch of saved ziplock rye flour bags. I was also roasting my sprouted rye grains -- i didn't get a dark roast, because i don't know what i'm doing. I hope i'm not developing a nice strain of ergot. I soaked more rye berries and sunflower seeds overnight so they're ready, and i'm soaking a cup of the roasted sprouted rye.

I dunno if this bread is this good or if i am just a little nuts. This morning i started the sponge with Hans and a packet of yeast that expired in 2015 from my mom's kitchen. The "short cut recipe" i've got suggests a few grams of yeast with buttermilk as a starter.

Doing all this against the backdrop of global reaction is odd.

Anyhow -- i continue to have waves of not feeling well and feeling well. Our thermometer is "mechanical" -- mercury free fluid in a tube -- which i got after a stack of digital thermometers failed to consistently measure temperature. This one isn't impressing me either. I don't think i have COVID-19; if anything i'm fighting off the Flu-B my niece had or whatever special strain of cold virus Christine and i have been raising between each other for the past few months.

But do i go see Mom & Dad? I saw them and hugged them on Sunday.

And meeting is a little over 10 people: what do we do about that.

Well, late for work. Life is essentially unchanged for us so far. I think we will do our usual Wednesday grocery run. I wouldn't dare go today as i imagine there's a wave of worried shopping happening, but Wednesday may be less reactive. Or not.

Yesterday was a food day. I met some friends at the Sunnyvale Farmers Market for warm drinks and chatted for a long while, then we went and wandered the market. As usual, i came home feeling like i'd bought food enough to prepare for a nuclear winter.

The bulkiest of the purchase were the veggies for stock: a bundle of carrots with their greens, leeks, and a celery that was over three foot tall, mostly leaves and gone somewhat pithy in the stalks. The carrots and leek roots i've reserved for later, but a rich celery based broth is ready for the next few weeks.

Once all the greens were chopped up (along with a lingering half onion and the sad limp carrots from the bottom of the veggie bin) i went to making a fruit compote with the sad grapes and the persimmons i brought back from my parents tree and the blemished fifty cent a pound apples at the market. I was impressed how the grapes plumped up and the apples shrunk in the cooking. The mollasses and honey sweetened fruit should keep while we're away over the middle of the week.

Beets sit in the drainer. I couldn't decide on red or orange, so i've both. I need to cook the greens today, but the beets along with the winter squash, pomegranate, and celery root will keep for next weekend.

Dungeness crab were only $5/lb at the grocery, but i learned last year (or the year before?) that i don't want to be messing with crab that has sat a couple of days in the fridge. We didn't die, but no point testing the limits.

At the grocery i indulged in everything but the crab so that we can have festive meals when we get back from our anniversary trip. Most of the indulgences were in cheeses: i refrained from repurchasing the aged provolone that delighted me over Thanksgiving and chose an English cheese with cranberries. I also bought a roll of gingerbread cookie dough and icing and sprinkles as a half step towards holiday baking.

A little later, after a run to the grocery to get more mollasses, i worked on the steamed brown bread (Original recipe here). The recipe calls for three grains: whole wheat, corn meal, and rye, in equal proportion. Remarkably, while i did not have rye flour, i had the gluten free rye substitute, teff. Given the cornmeal, i substituted corn flour for the whole wheat, and added a touch of xanthan gum to make up for the lack of wheat. I think i could have left it out, actually. I didn't have a can but had a vintage aluminum baking mold that held the volume of the dough made. I forgot to butter it, but even remembering that would not have helped resolve the issue of letting the water all boil out of the pot.

Still, scorched pot and all, it tasted right and good, and i will make this again. I'm tempted to try without the brown mollasses and teff and just make a steamed cornbread this way. The texture is lovely, the fat content is just that of the milk used, it's very satisfying.