Friday, November 14, 2008

A Foolish Consistency

Ralph Waldo Emerson said "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
How right he was. My favorite breads to bake are sourdough breads and probably they always will be, but they take time, lots of time. What if you're struck with the desire to bake some bread and all you do is sourdough, then you're stymied unless you planned a day in advance. Recently I've overcome my sourdough fixation, and when no one is looking (just joking) I'll sneak a teaspoon of dehydrated yeast into my bread mix, and...well you know what that does. Or, I'll make some tortillas (yes, they're bread) with just flour and water. There's always a way. Rigidity is a dead end.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Bread That Disappeared

Straight From The Oven

Long ago I read about a Buddhist meditation where one visualizes one's body after death and imagines its deterioration as it goes back to its source. That is a very serious meditation, but in a lighter vein, I thought we could look at the transformation of a loaf of bread. I had wanted to leave the bread in one place and that was on the stair by the front door. However, there was quite soon, a discernible lack of visitors, and this was easily attributable to the horrendous smell and the presence of very nasty looking flies. So the bread was moved.
To watch a slide show of the disappearing bread, go here: www.breadhunter.com

Then click on Disappearing Bread

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Movable Oven (potential problem)

The interior baking height of Chuck's oven is only 9". Normally, an oven height of 15"-16" is about standard. Chuck and I discussed this potential problem, but he felt that since the oven could easily be dismantled (no mortar used), then if there were a problem, it could quickly be corrected.
I was concerned at first that we might even have trouble starting a fire because of the low oven height, but our first fire started right up.
I don't see a problem making flat breads and pizzas, but a raised loaf might be a different story.
We will see.