No-knead bread in the Dutch oven

 What can I say?  Here it is, the second attempt at a no-knead bread baked in my Dutch oven.  I've made many no-knead breads in the past, and then forgot about the technique.  Saw Jim Lahey make his version of a no-knead, and thought I'd play with it again.  First dough was way too liquid, so I tightened this dough up a bit and here it is.  It's too hot for me to cut, but I'm looking forward to it.

Hungarian Milk Bread

Tejes Kolacs

A Hungarian family recipe from the 1800's!

Both my grandmas made this sweet bread, so I know that it dates from the late 1800's.  They probably got it from their own mothers.  They served it for Shabbat (the sabbath) and for other holidays during the year (excepting, of course, Passover, with its food restrictions).

When Tante Grete, my dad's sister, came here from the UK (where she and Uncle Longy lived as soon as they could get out of Austria),  she took over the baking from my grandma.  I remember that hers was always a bit dry and over-baked.  Then my mother started making it after Tante Grete could no longer do so.  Mom's bread was good, but she was never comfortable baking bread.  Me, I love baking bread, so I grabbed the recipe from Mommy and took off with it.  She immediately gave up baking it.  

On my mother's side, Zinn Grandma baked it too.  In her later years, she also had to watch her fat and cholesterol intake, so she modified the recipe, too.  I never had her recipe, but I do remember that it was just as tasty as the full-fat one.

 I only make it for Rosh Hashanah and for fast-breaking from Yom Kippur.  I've modified it for the way we eat now.  The original recipe called for lots of butter, whole milk, sour cream, and all those other lovely, cholesterol-laden goodies.   Here is my recipe, adapted for the bread machine, 'cause it kneads better than I ever can.

Note:  this is not totally exact.  I bake it the way the family did, a bit on the free-form side, but you can easily fix it up if you are so inclined.

• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 heaping TB low-fat sour cream.  (don't use the non-fat one; it's awful)
• 1 scant tsp kosher salt (kosher salt has less sodium than regular table salt and tastes better)
• 1/2 cup water - I put the egg and the sour cream into my measuring cup and then add enough water to make it to 1 cup.
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups all purpose flour (more or less, depending on humidity, too much liquid, etc, etc)
• 3 TB dark brown sugar.  You can use regular sugar but I like this taste better.
• 3 TB non-fat dry milk.
• 1 tsp sweet butter, cut up into little pieces.
• 1.5 tsp yeast.  I usually use only 1 tsp, but this takes forever to rise, so the extra half gives it a bit more oomph
• 1 tsp butter, melted.
• 6 oz mini chocolate chips 

1. Beat your egg, put it into your measuring cup.  Add the sour cream and enough water to make one cup liquid.
2. Dump into the bread machine.
3. Add the kosher salt, and the vanilla extract.
4.  Measure in 3 cups of all purpose flour.
5. Add the brown sugar, the milk powder and the sweet butter
6.  Make a little indentation in the top and put in your yeast.

• Put your bread machine on the "knead" cycle.  Don't even think of baking this in the machine.  Ever. 
• Watch it as it kneads.  If it's too wet, add little bits of flour until the dough cleans the sides of the machine.  I do this by sprinkling flour onto the soggy dough while it kneads.  You want it just to clear the sides, not too soggy but also not too dry.  As it's kneading, it should become as smooth and soft as a baby's bottom.  That's the egg at work here.  Yeah, egg!
• Let it rise to the top of the pan.  This will take considerably longer than when the machine dings.  All that sweetening gives it a long, long rise.  It's OK.  If you have to run out to do other things, you can always deflate the dough, and let it rise again.
• When it's risen, deflate it and place onto a floured dough board, kitchen counter, whatever you use to roll out either pie crusts or bread.

1. Spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray or grease it with butter.  Make sure you get into all the nooks and crannies; otherwise you'll have to scrub all that out.  Yech.
2. Roll out your dough.  If it resists, let it rest a little bit.  Because you are using all-purpose flour rather than bread flour, the dough will roll out so much easier.  
3. Spread that 1 tsp of melted butter all over it.  Yep, just that little bit of butter makes a big difference.
4. Spread the chocolate chips all over the dough.
5. Roll up tightly, if you can.  I never get it tight enough.
6. Press the ends together so that it looks like a giant doughnut.
7. Place gently into the Bundt pan, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise for 30 min.
8. At the end of the 30 minutes, begin heating the oven to 450 degrees F.
9. After 15 minutes, the oven should be hot enough.
10. Place the pan into the oven, shut the door, and lower the heat to 400 degrees.
11. Bake for approx 30 minutes.  
12. Check to see if the bread is done.  I use the "knock on the loaf to hear that hollow sound" method.
13. Remove bread from pan and onto a wire rack.  Cool off.
14. Enjoy.

You can see from my pics that the dough split.  I always manage to do this, but the taste is fine, and you get to eat any chocolate chips that escape as the bread cools.  MMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm!

Whoops

Here is the bread in the bread machine.

 Here is the dough hook (blurry).

Guess what's not in the machine.  Guess what kneaded (???) for 7 minutes.  Guess what's not working.

Yep, you got it.  I forgot to put in the dough thingie.  Whoops.

Guess what is now kneading.
Silly me.

Dough ingredients: 

• scant tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup warm water
• maybe 1 TB caraway seeds; some is on the bottom of the pan
• 3/4 cup graham flour
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp yeast

That's it.  Going to the gym where I hope I don't forget my brain.

Crying over bread, of How to make the most delicious bread you've ever tasted.

So you know that the basic bread formula is flour, water, salt and yeast, right?   Yesterday, I made a loaf that will make strong women weep and men beg for more. 

Secret ingredient - Potato water.  The water you've used to boil up some potatoes.  That water.  Next time you want a bread with an indefinable taste that will have your family in a swoon, use a bit of potato water.  Yeasties love a bit of starch to grow on, so when the starchy water and the yeasties meet each other, heaven happens.  Now don't salt the water when you boil the potatoes.  You don't need the extra salt, and your bread doesn't want too much salt; you want the fool thing to rise and salt impedes it.

Next secret ingredient - Chives.  Common ordinary chives.  Cut from your garden, or go to Penzeys and buy some.  They really are excellent dried.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup of potato water heated until warm to the touch
• 1 tsp kosher salt.  Don't use table salt; it's way too salty for your bread.
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp yeast  Yes, only 1 tsp.
• 1-2 TB chives

That's it.  Mix it up however you like, give it a good knead, let it rise, gently deflate, shape into one gigando loaf, place on parchment paper onto top of a cookie sheet, cover and let rise for 1/2 hour.  Nah, I don't even put it into a warm area.

Put oven on to 500 deg F.

Set timer for another 15 minutes. 

Slash bread.

Brush with water. Trust me on this; it gives the bread a lovely crust and you don't have to play with the ice cubes, spraying the loaf with water thingie.  Just gently brush with cold water.

Put in oven.

Reduce oven temp to 425 deg.

Bake for 32-33 minutes until nicely golden brown.

Remove from oven and immediately brush again with cold water. Do this right from the oven.  It'll give you more of that crackly crust that you can't resist.  You'll actually hear it crackle.  Place on a cake rack to cool off.

Eat and eat and eat.  Toast it.  Eat plain.  Butter bread or toast.  Cheese melted on top of it.  If your family is good, allow them to have a small piece.

When you slice your bread, gather up the crumbs and store in the refrig.  After a few loaves, you'll have the nicest dried bread crumbs going.  And all for FREE!

If you and the gang don't like the ends, slice them up into crouton shapes, let dry or not, and put on top of your salad.

Yeast note:  I've been using only 1 tsp of yeast forever.  That's all you knead need.  Trust me.  And the more you bake bread, the more wild yeasties live in your kitchen and the better your bread will taste.  If you bake a lot of bread, go buy a 1lb bag of Fleishmann's yeast at King Arthur flour.  Keep it in the freezer, and it lasts at least a year.  Don't waste your money on the packets.  First of all, you don't need all that yeast in a single loaf, and wow, is it ever pricey.  If you buy it in the jars, it's better, but if you bake bread 2-3 times a week, buy the lb.

Kneading the dough:  I've done it all, from totally by hand to the Kitchen-Aid to the food processor to the bread machine.  The bread machine kneads it the best, and then provides a nice warm area for the first rise. The machine is not infallible; you must pay a bit of attention to the dough for the first few minutes to make sure that it's neither too soggy nor too dry.  After that, you can go out to the gym and for a long walk and ignore it all.  If you want incredible bread, however, do NOT bake in the bread machine.  It can't do awesome crusts, and the bread doesn't begin to approach the wonderfulness of an oven bake.  Anyhow, knead it however you like. 

You don't need vital wheat gluten, sugar or anything like that for a simple white bread.  If you're playing with rye or whole wheat, vital wheat gluten gives your loaves a nice boost.

Next time?  Maybe a bit of a biga loaf or perhaps Tejes Kolacs.  We'll see what I feel like baking.

Brrrrr. It's chilly.

I caved in.  Every year I try not to put the heat on until Oct. 15.  No good reason, just an attempt to be frugal.  I almost made it this year except that it is 62 deg F in my house and I'm chilly.  So, I just put it up to 65, and I can smell that warm air, and it's getting a bit warmer.  But I came close to that Oct 15 moment.

Yesterday I finished up the bagels.  Well, old bagels get like hockey pucks, at least they're supposed to get that hard, and I didn't want my tasty bagels to get to that point.  So, I sacrificed and ate the last couple of them.  And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Then I baked some cinnamon bread.  We're about half through it, and it's wonderful!  Mmmmm.

The normal bread pattern plus I added 3 TB of nonfat drymilk powder for extra tastiness and nourishment, and dumped in a bit of Ceylon Cinnamon, and then rolled it out when it finished rising, and spread a little bit of melted butter and sprinkled on some cinnamon/sugar.  We are talking delicious here.

Here's my formula for my everyday bread.  I knead in the bread machine, but you can do it by hand, in the KitchenAid, in the food processor.

1 cup warm water
1 tsp Diamond Kosher salt (less sodium than table salt, and still as good)
3 cups flour, either all-purpose or bread flour, depending on what kind of bread I'm making.            
1 tsp yeast, the kind that goes into a machine.  Nope, you don't need more. 

I add biga, or nonfat dry milk or buttermilk powder, or different flours, herbs, seeds, whatever I want.  I use King Arthur flour almost exclusively.  It's good stuff and employee owned.  White, brown sugar, or honey if I want a sweet dough.  I haven't tried agave syrup, although I should since it's very low on the glycemic index.

I use only one tsp of yeast.  Many, many years ago, I would use a yeast packet, and my bread always tasted too yeasty.  So one day I got brave and went down to a teaspoon.  Bread tastes wonderful, rises well, and I never add any more yeast unless I'm making a very sweet dough, in which case I add maybe 1/8 tsp more.  I buy my yeast in bulk, also from King Arthur.  One pound of Fleischmann's yeast runs me about $7.95, and easily lasts a year.  I keep some of it in a jar in the refrigerator, and the rest in the freezer.  If you bake a lot of bread, buying in a one-pound package is the way to go.



I generally use white flour, but will substitute white whole wheat flour, or rye or semolina or oat or whatever is around.  I don't like whole wheat bread.  Really don't like it at all.  I know, it's good for me.  Piffle.  I eat bread because I love it, not as a form of medicine.  And besides, when I snack, it's not because I'm stomach hungry, but becase I want something in my mouth.  Ergo, I make bread that I love.  Food police: too bad.

So, I mix up my dough, let it rise until it is where I want it to be, knock it down, shape it, cover and let rise about 45 minutes more.  After 30 minutes, I heat the oven to 500 deg. F.  Yes, 500 deg!  When the bread is fully risen, then I slash it, smear something on it or not, put it on a piece of reusible parchment paper, which is on top of a cookie sheet, put it in the oven, shut the door, REDUCE the heat to 425 for regular breads, and 375 for sweet breads and bake it.  When it's done, I give it the "knock" test, i.e. I rap it with my knuckles and if it has that hollow sound, it's done.  Take it out of the oven, put it on a cake rack and let it cool.  The parchement paper comes in sheets and is totally reusible.  I have had my original 100 sheet batch for many years.  I don't bake cookies often, so it really lasts a long time.

Yes, I know all about baking stones, own one in fact.  And I do sometimes spray water to give it that steamy moment.  And I often let the dough or shaped loaf rise in the refrigerator to get that extra taste, but honestly, my parchement over cookie sheet gives me a great crunchy crust, and the bread really does crackle when I take it out of the oven.  I don't like very dark crust; it tastes burnt to me, so I don't bake my bread forever.  In fact, I don't do half the rules about bread baking.  I've been doing this for 35 years, and I think I have it pretty much down pat.  Except for getting real bagels.  That eludes me, but I love my crunchy bagels so much, that it's fine.  I read bread books all the time, and own a few amazing ones.  But the truth is that I never weigh ingredients, or follow formulas except for mine.  However, I do pay a lot of attention to the dough when it is beginning to knead, and add bits of water, or flour as I think the dough requires it.

On the needles:  My 2 latest projects.  The little blue scarf that I showed you yesterday.  I would have more done, but I needed a nap.

And the Janus Scarf, which is motoring along very speedily.  And it lives in this adorable sock bag that I got from ZigZag Stitches.  Cute, huh?

And now the house is warmer and I'm a happy camper.

Scrabblequeen - I am so sick and tired of "eat this; it will let you live 100 years more".  I want my food to be healthy and tasty, but I'm not going to eat 1/4 cup of something I don't like to live longer.  Enough already with the food scare of the week.

itsJUSTme - You just wish.  There are never any leftovers.  

Biga!

It's bread baking time again!  I love baking bread and have been doing it for 35 years.  This summer was too hot to put on the oven, so I baked the bread in the bread machine.  Not bad, but not great, either. (I use the bread machine to knead the dough; it does a much better job that I ever can, plus it doesn't hurt my cranky wrist.)   I missed handling the dough and shaping it and slashing it and all that other good doughy stuff.  But now that it's chilly again, I love having the oven on, and I'm back to baking with a vengeance.

I just put up a biga, which is an Italian starter.  I mix it in the machine for about 10 minutes, stop the machine and let it hang out there for 5-6 hours until it has done a lovely rise.  Then it gets stored in the refrigerator and I use it as I want to.  It lasts about 7-10 days, and each time I use it, it is more fermented than the last time.  Mmmm, fermented dough.  What a nice flavor it adds to the bread, and I don't have to futz around with sourdough.  Then, when it's either died, or used up, I just make another batch.  Since I bake bread 3-4 times/week, my kitchen is alive with lots of yeasty organisms, and all that, plus the biga, makes for a tasty loaf.

This is the biga 10 minutes ago.  A nice round ball, somewhat kneaded and about to happily rise. 

I've been baking all sorts of bread, from my caraway rye to crispy bagels to tejes kolacs (a Hungarian babka).  The bagels are little guys, very very crispy with very little doughiness inside, not like store-bought bagels at all.  They are beyond addictive, even better than potato chips, and I adore chips.  Next time I make them, I'll show you pics.  I think I should change their name to crispels, rather than bagels.

I ended up making a boule of rosemary bread.  Tossed in about 1/4 cup of biga into my regular dough, added lots of rosemary, and now I'm consuming it nonstop.

Here's what I toss in for my regular bread:  water, salt, flour (bread or all-purpose if I'm doing a sweet bread), yeast.  That's it.  Then I add whatever I'm in the mood for, in this case it was rosemary.  Sometimes I substitute with other flours, as in caraway rye bread, where I use some rye and tons of caraway seeds.

And now that I have biga, it will get put into everything I bake.  Just before the biga is all used up, I'll pull off about a walnut size piece and add that to the new biga.

Me - Yep, I did that all last year.  This year I seem to be back into biga and other modes.  Isn't making bread fun?

Ruth's Basic Ribby Socks

Ruth's Basic Ribby Socks

No fancy, schmancy socks for me.  I'm into ribbed socks in a big way.  Right now I'm into showcasing the dyeing, not the patterning, so ribs work very well for me.  And, I know they fit perfectly.  This is true auto-pilot knitting, perfect for TV moments.  Complicated stuff gets done in the afternoon when it's quiet and no one is around to distract me.

This is yarn from my stash, bought way before I started dyeing.  It's a skinny something or other (the label went missing), and I love the way it flashes.  Sometimes you just have to go with what the yarn wants to do, and not try to impose complexity on a forceful colorway.  I tried it every which way in crochet, and it was a disaster, but here, on ribby socks, it's rather pretty.

My basic rib pattern:  k5, p2.  That's it.  I make a 56 stitch sock, use 2 circs, and 4 repeats on each needle works perfectly. 

Here's the basic pattern for you.

Ruth’s Basic Ribby Socks

Auto-pilot knitting at its best!

Size: Small, for medium – large sizes, add pattern repeats and/or use a larger needle.

Style:  Cuff to toe

Gauge:  7.75 sts over stockinette

Needles: size 2.50mm (size 1.5); 2 circulars, or whatever you’re comfortable with

Yarn:  350-400 yds of sock weight yarn

Pattern repeat:  7 stitches  

Cast On:

Cast on 56 stitches loosely.  Divide your sts up as follows:  28 on needle one, and 28 on needle two. 

Work pattern until leg is as long as you wish.

Heel: 

Heel flap is worked on 28 sts on needle two. 

At the end of needle two, turn work so that the wrong side is facing you. 

           

Row 1.  Sl 1 purlwise, purl to end of row.

Row 2.  *Sl I purlwise, k1*.  Repeat from * to end.

Repeat these two rows until 27 rows are completed.  You are now on the right side of the heel flap.

Turn heel:

Note:  Sl 1 = sl 1 purlwise

                Row 1:  (Right side) K 15, ssk, k1. Turn

                Row 2:  Sl 1, p3, p2tog, p1.  Turn.

                Row 3:  Sl 1, k4, ssk, k1.  Turn.

                Row 4:  Sl 1, p5, p2tog, p1.  Turn.

                Row 5:  Sl 1, k6, ssk, k1.  Turn.

                Row 6:  Sl 1, p7, p2tog, p1.  Turn.

                Row 7:  Sl 1, k8, ssk, k1.  Turn.

                Row 8:  Sl 1, p9, p2tog, p1.  Turn.

                Row 9:  Sl 1, k10, ssk, k1.  Turn.

                Row 10:  Sl 1, p11, p2tog, p1.  Turn.

Row 11:  Sl 1, k12, ssk, k1.  Turn.

                Row 12:  Sl 1, p13, p2tog, p1.  Turn.  You will have 16 sts on your needle.

Heel Gusset:

Work across the heel flap sts on Needle two.  With the tip of Needle two, pick up 14 sts along the side of the heel.  Pick up a stitch from the row below the first instep stitch to prevent a hole:  15 stitches picked up.

Needle one:  Work across the 28 instep stitches in pattern.  From now on, the instep only will be worked in pattern.  The sole will be worked in stockinette.  You will have 28 sts on needle one and 28 sts on needle two.

With the point of needle two, pick up a stitch from the row below the first heel st to prevent a hole.

Pick up 14 sts along the right side of the heel: 15 sts picked up.  Place a marker half way across the foot sts.  This will help you count your decreases accurately.

Work across the foot sts and the instep sts.  You are now ready to begin decreasing for the gusset.

Shape Gusset:

Dec. round:  At beginning of needle two (foot sts), k1, ssk, work to 3 sts before the end of needle two, k2tog, k1.

Work the instep in pattern.  Do not decrease here.

Work the next round without decreases on the sole.

Continue to decrease on alternate rounds on the foot sts.  Work until 28 sts on the sole remain.

Foot:

Needle one:  instep

Needle two:  bottom of foot.

Continue working in rounds in until the sock is about 1.5 inches from the end.  Decrease one stitch on instep at the end so that you have 28 sts on each needle.

Shape Toe:

Round 1: On needle one, k1, ssk, knit until 3 sts before the end of the needle, k2tog, k1.  Repeat on needle two.

Work the next round plain.

Work these 2 rounds until a total of 20 sts, remain.  10 stitches on each needle.

Finishing:

Holding needles one and two together, graft sts on them together using the Kitchener st.

Weave in ends on inside of sock.

Work the second sock.

Henya - Yep, it's my kind of knitting these days.  Pretty, simple and fun.

DJNL - This one is even more mindless than the k3, p2 one.  More knitting, I guess.  Can't wait to see one of those browns turned into socks!

The Yarnarian Weathers the Storm.

Whoa, did we have wind yesterday. I'm talking serious wind. No rain, just wind. Fortunately I was cozy inside when it all took off. I timed it right. See all those little brown objects on the lawn? Pine cones, from the pine tar tree.






And then the interesting mess on the patio. Yes, I know the patio, built in 1952, needs to be redone, so just ignore the slates. Notice that the light weight plastic furniture did not fly anywhere at all. There's some law about this, maybe a variation of Murphy's Law.



And the umbrella that was in the table and flew away. Poor large umbrella.



Bread: I always mean to take a pic of my breads and never remember to. This morning I remembered. Here it is. Deep slashes and you can see a teeny bit of the filling. Just a normal semolina bread. This time I patted it out, and sprinkled with sesame seeds and an herbal shake or two. A few days ago I put the sesame seeds on the crust, and of course they fell off as we sliced the bread. So, I'm not a dummy; I put the sesame seeds on the inside. Mighty tasty too. I did cut into it when it was still warm. The inside had fully cooked, but it still retained some heat. Oh my, is it delicious! I think I could single-handedly finish it all by myself.



Dyeing news: No pics, but I dyed like a crazy woman today. Certain customers, and they know who they are, have been at me to do Halloween yarns. So I did. Witch, Vampire, Ogre, Sorcerer, Troll, you name it, I dyed it. I was pleasantly surprised at how nicely they came out. Evil yarn! Mwahahahaha! Pics tomorrow.

That's it, gotta go and rinse the cooling yarn, and then eat a bit of supper. Hmmm, toast and an egg, my everyday favorite.

Heathwitch - These are right up your alley. Witchy and saturated colors. And ebil, of course. Not totally ebil, we have a few nice folks here too. Well, maybe not.

Ria - That really was a scary storm. I'm glad you kid got home OK. I was so gald to be home and off the road! No jam on this bread; it's a savory loaf. I just put up an egg bread. That one I might roll out and spread some apricot preserves on it. I love apricot preserves. Oh, yeah verily forsooth, I did mention Halloween yarn. Pics tomorrow; they kind of soggy now. And bamboo takes forever to dry. forever.

DragonYady - I'm going to throw that yarn at you right now, soggy as it is. Here it comes! Duck!

itsJUSTme-wendy - You had the wind too! Interesting that none of the trees lost their leaves; it's too early here for that to happen, but now part of my back yard is covered with pine cones. Sting is growing on me; I've put in an order for that CD.

I rise; therefore I am.

The baking/cooking mojo is coming back. Finally. I thought that I would do a lot of fooding when I retired. Not. 10 months after I retired, I'm finally starting to cook again. I think I got inspired during my Minneapolis visit. Maybe it was helping out DD make supper that kicked my butt into gear. Whatever it was, I've made nice suppers every day since I came home.

Before you get excited and say: "Whoa, this woman is making gourmet meals every night", relax. I've made allowances for leftovers. I'm not totally nuts.

So Sunday I made this delicious chicken with avocado dish. Monday it was pasta e fagioli. Tuesday we had the leftovers. And yesterday, I made this amazing meatloaf dish in the crockpot. I'm not from the canned mushroom school of cooking; I like from-scratch food. So this meatloaf recipe has no weird stuff in it except for ketchup, and that's sort of normal food.

Here's the recipe in a nutshell: 3 russet potatoes, peeled and cut up into 1" pieces and then mixed with some olive oil on the bottom of the pot. Make a nice meatloaf mixture and pat it on top of the potatoes. Top the meatloaf with whatever you like. Put lid on, turn on to high, and let cook for about an hour. Then turn heat to low, and cook forever. Wander into the kitchen now and then to smell the deliciousness of this dish. Serve and sigh contentedly. I got the recipe from Beth Hensperger's Not your mother's slow cooker recipes. (No caps on the title because librarians capitalize first word only.) Moist, almost like a meaty bread pudding. And I hate meatloaf. Not any more.

So, what's with this rising thing? I love to bake bread. I started out doing all my kneading from scratch. This was about 30 years ago. (Hey, I'm an old broad.). So then I bought a Kitchen Aid, the big one, and kneaded in that. Then I got a Cuisinart and used that for kneading. Notice the progression here: kneading is very hard on my hands. Then, about 6-7 years ago, after I said that a bread machine was the last thing I ever wanted, Hubbo convinced me to try one. OK, I baked a couple of loaves in it. Eh. Where's the gorgeous crust? the shaping? the patting the thing? the slashing the loaf with my lame? No fun at all. But, does that machine knead. Much better than I ever could do. So now I use it to knead and do my first rise. Then I get onto the meat of the matter: I shape, roll out and fill if I want, rise, slash, spray with water if I want, bake in oven. Go wild over the smell. You get the picture.

I used to bake a couple of loaves every week while I was working. So I retired and have baked bread exactly 5 times since. But the mojo is coming back. Tomorrow I'm going to make up a starter, and off I go into baking heaven. I've been using a biga to add flavor, but Daniel Leader has a new book out, and in it he has a small starter that I want to try. Takes about 10 days to get it going. Levain, biga, sourdough starters all those variations on a theme, add terrific flavor and oomph to the bread. So a nice long rise to aid in that flavor, and I'm baking again.

Now if I can get that gym thing going again... Well, one thing at a time.

Roundabout Socks seems to be a hit. Lots of people messaged me in Ravelry, and on my email. It makes me want to post another pattern. Not yet, though, I started one, and I don't like it. So I'm busily playing with ideas. Eventually I'll post another one.

I'm writing this at 4:18 in the morning. But I can sleep late if I want. Be jealous all you young working chippies. Ah the joys of retirement.