Breaking in a new toy

A while back, before Christmas actually, I treated myself to a little present. It's something that I've been looking for here and there, but it hadn't ever presented itself at the right time. This time however, during a trip to Ikea in Salt Lake City, I found this awesome clay cooking vessel and it was gonna be mine!There were only displays left of the shelf but I would not be deterred. After not taking the standard "We don't sell the displays" line to heart, I found another member of the sales staff and HE agreed that they would since it was the only ones left. I had to pay full price, but really all I was missing was a box...no biggie!

So, what's the big deal? Bread baby...bread. Last year, along with I think everyone in the homesteading blogosphere, I got hooked on the NY Times no knead bread. My problem was, my cast iron pot was 1, too stinky to use in the house (don't ask, long story.) and 2, too big to use in the oven very easily. I have heard of a "la Cloche" to bake in, but that's a tool that can only be used for baking where as this one can serve multi purpose. Also it was cheaper so that was a big selling point as well.

So tonight I christened it, and it baked a bread with a crisp crust, that looks great. I can't wait to get into it.I've been reading about the five minutes a day bread recipe too, any one have any experience with it? I'm not sure it would really fit our needs as a day to day bread. We have three kids in school that need lunch time sandwich bread mostly, but I'd still like to try it out perhaps.

I look forward to playing with this further throughout the year. I'll keep you posted.
Till tomorrow.
P~

Plan your NY times no Knead Bread

So maybe it's just me, but every time I decide I want to make some of the NY times no-knead bread, I have to try to count ahead and figure out exactly what time I will need to turn it out to rest, and then put it in the oven to bake. So what's a hopeless geek to do?
You make yourself a one look chart to tell you what time to turn it out, and when (approx.) that it will be done baking. Click to enlarge and you'll see on the left column a listing of start times. This would of course be the time that you mix the flour water and yeast together, cover and set aside for a long period.

The next three colums are broken into two times each. The left side is the time, after either 15, 16, 17, or 18 hours (depends on temperature and preference) that you will turn it out and prepare to bake it. This means letting it rest for approx 2 hrs. Then you bake it for nearly an hour so I added the right side to show you what time it could be done cooking.

I know it's a bit anal, but I like to be able to think about when I want to have the bread and know when I need to get started, or vice versa, so Ifigured there must be others. If your inclined, feel free to copy, print or link to this post for others to use. Consider it my gift to you. Aren't I generous? LOL.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

P~

100ft diet update

This post was a little late getting put up as I got sidetracked telling My Story of Food last week. This was one of the meals that we had last week. I loved it, and wanted to share. I think I raved enough about A~'s homemade buns last week to her that she made them again this week. They really are so good. It's no wonder shy our kids look at us funny when they get store bought once and a while. We're spoiled. Onto these she made a vegetarian Sloppy joeesque filling. I bought some TVP a little while back so that we could experiment with it and see how we liked it. She's really gotten to like making homemade meals with it much better than some of the pre-made vegetarian products out there.
Onto this I put some of my homegrown sprouts and voila, tasty meal. Now does it really qualify as a 100 ft diet meal since neither the flour nor the TVP are from my back yard? No, probably not to the purist, but I look at this as an excersise in producing as much of our own food as possible. Do we do that all the time, no. Do we a couple times a week, yes. Is it progress, definitely yes.

I hope as we share our progress and lives with each other, we keep in mind that we're all on a journey, some are further than others, but none of us is perfect. In fact what may be perfect to one would likely not be to another. I haven't heard anyone nit-picking or anything, at least with regard to "the 100ft Diet", but I think we've all seen it before with other such collaborations. To build a community, we all have to be a bit flexible with what others are willing to do, and encouraging of the things that they DO do.
I wanted to let everyone know I've been really enjoying getting to read some of your post as well. With the garden season just kicking in for many of us, and lots of people getting an early start, it looks like we'll all have lots to share in the upcoming months. Plus I'm really looking forward to the 100footdiet.org site launch on the first day of Spring next week.

P~

BEWARE: Carbs on board!

Am I am freaking lucky or what? I'm the only guy that I know who gets to bring to work fresh home made donuts to share with his coworkers. I don't know if I've said it lately, but I am very thankful to have such a "Sweet" wife. We made some cake style donuts last year that were OK, but these are the bread style risen ones. Oh, man! I swear they're like Krispy Kremes.

Since we have begun to enjoy almost exclusively home made bread, rolls, sourdough pancakes and waffles, and now donuts I have to say I've been transformed. I have never really been a big bread eater, I just never got it. I would much rather have filled up on all the other stuff. Bread was just "Sucker food"; fills you up to fast you know? Has my tune changed! I know why bread became such a staple of mankind's diet no matter where on earth he lives. The smell of fresh bread, the soft texture, and the taste, Mmmmm. OK, I'm officially getting the midnight munchies... If you are not a big baker, take it from me, bread is not that difficult, doesn't take all that much time, and there is really very little else that you can do for your family or neighbor that says they are special to you like a fresh warm loaf, or in this case, some homemade tasty treats.

Question though, how is this supposed to help me reach my 190 lb weight goal??? All things in moderation I guess.
P~