Chapter 35. Daily Bread

I took some time out from digging (well, really I've been killing my shoulders with picking, stacking, and arranging slabs of granite) to make some sprouted wheat bread. It's a long, drawn-out process that I totally enjoy, and yesterday I decided to take pics of the whole thing. The following blog is extremely picture-heavy, but here goes nothing!

First, I soak two cups of whole wheat grains and then rinse them a few times a day (takes maybe 36 hours, depending on time of year and temperatures) until they look like this:

 Just the tiniest bit of root showing. Any more than that
and the bread'll be too wet!

Then I start grinding them in the processor. At first the kitchen is filled with microscopic screams as the tiny living things start spinning around! I then add half a cup of milk, ignoring the ruckus.

About 30 seconds later, the grains are quiet again, which is actually nice. LOL.

But there's lots more grinding to do before they are ready. They will never be as smooth as flour, but it's the slight chunkiness that makes sprouted wheat bread seem like sprouted wheat bread. (You know what I mean.)

Then I add 2-3 tablespoons of honey and a teaspoon of dry yeast. I squirt in maybe 2 tablespoons of oil (I like safflower but coconut oil or sunflower oil or flax oil would be fine, depending on taste), and a teaspoon of seasalt. 

Add one cup of organic unbleached white flour. *I like to have a tablespoon of gluten flour and a pinch of dry ginger (as flour conditioning) in that flour.* Then lots more mixing, like 30 seconds or so. Each of the following four pictures represents about 30 seconds of processing.

More mixing! 

Oooooh look, starting to get gluten strands!

Even better ones!

And now it's turning into a dough ball in the processor:

Time to turn the sticky but cohesive glob out of the processor

and onto my floured canvas

I like to add 1/2 cup of raw sunflower kernels
at this time, but it's totally optional.

Knead until you get a nice smooth ball. I never knead enough; knead as much as you can stand! Ten minutes would be great. Then oil a bowl and roll the dough ball around to coat it with oil. 

....and prepare to wait for like 90 minutes, 'til it doubles.

ALMOST!

OK. When it's big, you will turn it back onto the board. It'll be airy and soft 

but definitely a cohesive ball.

Then I knead it just a little and put it into a pan. Two small loaves would be great, but for some unknown reason I decided to put it into a square baking pan. Just playing around with the form!

I cover it and try to find a warmish spot for it to rise again.

And then it's time to stick it into the oven. I have to set mine at 365 to get 350. The darned things all seem to have their own sweet spots.

Finally it's done...about 65 minutes later, for mine. 

Probably less if it was in the two small loaf pans. 

No, I have no idea why I opted for weird shaped slices!

It's a tad gluey-looking because the smell drives me up the wall and I CANNOT wait until it's cool! What is the point of baking bread if you don't get to eat it hot out of the oven??? Especially this stuff...OMG, it's a whole new bread experience.

Chapter 34. Ground Zero

Look here:

The darn thing is in the ground!

Now, I know perfectly well that the rim is supposed to sit up on the ground, but that's not how I'm doing it. I am sinking it rim and all--which actually is kinda cool because it'll have even more water in it--and then I am bringing the granite pieces right up over the edges, like an overhang. The black plastic rim won't show. Like this, at Wet Web Media:

I'll be lucky if mine looks nearly that good.

Of course, there's no flooding going on right this minute, but I saw a little of it yesterday. It's right at the bottom of those steps up onto the retaining wall. Not enough to actually be standing water that will dribble into my pond. That's ok. I saved a LOT of rainwater to put into it. I will also get a handful of mosquito fish and some cattails for it.

I will dig my pond hole a couple inches deeper tomorrow...so I can put a layer of sand down there before I start backfilling around the edges.

Chapter 33. Catching Up

I haven't lapsed in work, much. I have lapsed in posting. OK I have done a lot of work that involved digging and planting in the front yard....filling in areas that are not mosaic with succulents and aloes and pebbles and broken bricks.

I have.....gotten in broken pieces of granite to pave the entire yard except a few small areas of lawn...

 

This is going to take 

a really long time!

I have dug the pond liner in nearly deep enough...I think it has 4-6" to go before I start filling in the loose dirt into the sides:

AND I have been planning my itty bitty brains out, all in the effort to make this place 1.salable and 2.politically correct, what with water conservation and all.

PLUS the new house floors are in and the van is running like a champ! 

Thanks Ed! My floor-and-van hero!

And I've been working on my book

                 and training my dogs!

Here is Diana learning not to take up very much space,
surrounded by new flooring.

Busy, busy, busy.