Hi Everyone,
Even though 80% of the guests last Friday told me a storm was brewing, I didn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. Even at 4:30PM Sunday I thought it was a myth. Now I have a thick layer of ice on my windows and I hear we got off lucky. Oh well, I'm still thinking about how beautiful it was when we were baking on Friday.
Last Friday was an example of how troubles can compound over the course of the day but all work out in the end. We dealt with too-stiff dough, too-wet dough, an oven that was too-hot and too-cold at various times and a bitter undercurrent of having two bikes stolen from the garage during the previous night. BUT, we were able to adjust as we went and the bread all turned out really well. How about that 100% Whole Grain loaf? I'm a white flour fan but golly, that was a tasty loaf.
The adversity is mentally tiring though -- it took till sometime Saturday afternoon to get revved up about the coming week. That being said, we're fired up, ice or no ice, bikes or no bikes. The starter is fermenting, more flour is on order and we're ready to start the cycle all over again.
This week we welcome back two old favorites:
#1: Saskatchewan Sourdough (Pain au Levain) Don't be put off by the "sourdough" in the name -- our loaf has a robust taste with just the slightest yogurty tang. As a friend of our friend Marilyn says, "I didn't think I liked sourdough but I LOVED this bread." And if you can't trust a friend of Marilyn, who can you trust?
- Saskatchewan Sourdough, 650G loaf, $3.50
#2: Flax and Currant Bread: Shaped like a paver but light as a feather, this rustic loaf has a nice nutty/sweet flavour and is just plain good eats. Think ciabatta but healthier. This loaf was a huge favorite the first time we offered it so don't miss out!
- Flax and Currant Bread, 500g rustic loaf, $3.50
While the taste of our Country Loaf was pretty darn good, the shape isn't what I wanted so we'll be trying the final experiment this week. Might be really good, might be fit for croutons, but I'll share whatever I make again this week so long as it's at least crouton-worthy.
Best wishes this week!