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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Succumbing to Temptation

Winston Churchill once said, "Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older it will avoid you." Thus, youth must be maintaining a little bit of its eternity here at Casa de Gumby because I did indeed mow the lawn yesterday. It doesn't show that much because the moles have been successful in their mockery of my attempts to maintain a sense of lawn and order out here on the edge of the prairie. There are multiple bare spots caused by the death of the grass root systems after the subterranean meanderings of the varmints. At least I resisted putting down the fertilizer with the crabgrass preventer. I continue to feel a great deal of empathy with Carl in the movie "Caddy Shack". Even though I can't eradicate them, I can annoy them with bigger and bigger firecrackers dropped into their runs.
If you ever have too much time on your hands, go to YouTube and look up a clip on the "Rodentanator". Now that's a real piece of work.
Visitors of note at the bird feeder over the past few days are some wrens, sparrows, and a downy woodpecker.
Today's loaf, I'm current here for once, is nice little whole wheat number. I was trying to use up the WW flour that I found at the Middlebury, VT Co-op so I could put another flour in the container. My attempt and the loaf worked out. I used the WW in the starter build rather than using a combination of the flours I planned to use in the proper ratios. No that that was necessary but it's a habit I usually follow. The starter build seemed a little bit slow at first but I do have a hard working yeast colony in the "Madre" or "Master" starter so I charged ahead. As has become a standard practice of late, I soaked the WW for the loaf simultaneously with the starter build. For this loaf, I used a floured- rye and all purpose blend- towel to line my oblong banneton. It has a good crust, good, and good taste. I can repeat this formula successfully now.
I think that I'm going to indulge in some flatbreads for a week or two. They don't require bread flour, only all purpose, and I can slip some white whole wheat or whole wheat in and stay within style parameters. I can use up some more of my Active Dry Yeast or continue with a sourdough starter.
There may be pita bread in my near future.

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