I just realized I haven't posted really this week which is quite out of character for me! But, there's been a lot going on around here. Things like: an ongoing-stay-on-the-couch-with-heating-pad backache, parent teacher conferences, having Indian food for lunch four days in a row but don't tell anyone, my friend Katie's baby being born!, hunting for the perfect pair of boots and going to see Mama Mia the musical, not the movie.
As always, the baking must go on despite all of these mostly wonderful things. I am reaching a point in my skill level where I am developing an instinctual feeling for the bread. It's not all the way there yet, but that's what I'm telling myself! It gives me confidence. The confidence to start trying out a few larger tweaks here and there without having fear struck into my heart. (Also, poring over various bread books from the library in attempts to decide which ones are necessary helps too.) It seemed as good as time as any to take my sandwich bread recipe and convert it to a Honey Wheat version.
While having breakfast for dinner today it occurred to me how I could solve my bread tumor problem.* Bread tumor, you ask? This is when I bake the bread recipe I've tweaked until it suited me perfectly for making pbjs for school lunches, it liked to develop a big bread bulge (aka the bread tumor) on one side. It still tasted fine but it was very unsightly.
A few days of no bread baking must have cleared my head sufficiently because suddenly the answer to my dilemma jumped into my head. Maia waving the lame while I stirred the pot of steel cut oats simmering on my stove top earlier and announcing that she knew what it was for helped too. Kind of like how remnant thoughts from one's day can linger in the mind and spill out into the night's dreams.
Score the bread, duh.
*I really do think about bread at odd moments. Is that weird?
