January

When I was four or five, my brother and I were sitting on a hillside near our house, watching the Tucson sky change colors as the sun set, talking about when we would be grown ups.  He said in the year 2000, he would be 45, and I would be 43.  We thought about that for a while, watching a rabbit run from creosote bush to sage brush below us.  Wow, that seemed like forever from then!  To actually achieve that ancient age, in a new millennium!  

    Well, that evening seems like forever ago, and here we are in 2023.  I've just retired, and he's waiting for his wife to retire, so they can start new adventures.  Where is my new adventure taking me?  I have finally convinced my supervisor to schedule me only 20 hours a week, and I am filling the rest of the time with stuff I love doing.  I pick two tasks a day that I don't want to do but must do, and spend the rest of the day doing what I want to do.  Finally, I get to act retired!

    I've spent some time knitting outdoors on a lovely week of 70 degree afternoons, huddled inside knitting when it's too cold, even knitting at work!  It's fun to knit teeny-tiny socks with all the leftover sock yarn I've accumulated through the years.

    But the best thing I've done in the past two weeks is finish the lovely sheep yoke sweater. Knitting baby sweaters is so fun, because they're so fast, even when I didn't pay enough attention to the increases in the yoke and had to start over again.  I duplicate-stitched the faces and feet on the sheep, and laid the sweater on the table for a few days to admire and run my hand over when I was near.  And then, I put the buttons on, with one vintage ceramic sheep button, and the others a sky blue-pink marbled type.  I'm not sure about the non-sheep buttons yet, and I might need to go shopping for better buttons, but I do love this sweater!

I've started another sweater, too, a Gansey-inspired sweater from One Skein Wonders for Babies.  No photos yet, because I'm not sure where I put it.  My current projects are usually on the end table by my favorite chair in the living room, but this weekend, my sister and I are painting the living room.  My sister says she doesn't think she's ever painted the living room, meaning it hasn't been painted in over 25 years.  So there's priming first, and painting next.  

     

      

And this is the living room!  Most of the projects were put in the studio, but a few are somewhere under all that plastic.  It's going to look fresh and lovely when we're done, but that won't be until tomorrow.  I'll find one project to take to the knitting guild meeting this morning, whichever I come across first, I suppose.  And this afternoon, the room will get its second coat, a warm cream called Betsy's Linen, the color I've used all over the bedrooms and bathrooms already.

    I have also had time to take classes.  I went to a Beginning Beading class at the library on Thursday, and we made simple necklaces.  It was a good group, really good teachers, and a lot of fun.  I kept it simple, black and white, and it's not really something I'd usually wear, but I think it will spice up a black or gray turtleneck sometime this coming week.  Then on the following week, I'm signed up for Basic Batik, something I've wanted to learn for a long time.  Our library, Chesterfield County Library, has classes all the time, for all ages, and they're free!  All the supplies are donated by Friends of the Library, so this necklace was free.  Pretty awesome, I'd say.  

    I haven't been cooking or baking at all since the holidays, but I'm thinking about making some bread today.  My go-to bread recipe for at least the last 45 years has been based on the book, The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown.  I tried to get enthusiastic about sourdough during its COVID heyday, but I just don't like it.  I don't like being chained to a starter, feeding it, caring for it... I already have 4 pets!  I don't need another one.  So, I altered Mr. Brown's recipe, and it continues to evolve every time I make it.

Basic Bread 

In a stand mixer bowl, stir together:

    1 cup bread flour

    1 cup whole wheat flour

    1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast

    1/2 teaspoon sugar

    1 1/2 cups warm water (105'-115' F)

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a thin cotton towel and let rise for 3-4 hours.

Put the bowl on the mixer with the hook, and add:

    1 cup whole wheat flour

    2 teaspoons kosher salt

    1 tablespoon molasses or golden cane sugar

    2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter

    

Mix the dough with the hook until the dough pulls away from the bowl.  You might need to add a little more bread flour, depending on the humidity that day.

    Flour the countertop and place the dough on the flour.  Knead for a few minutes until the dough is smooth. Place the dough in a buttered or oiled bowl that is at least twice the size of the ball of dough.  Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let rise in the warmest place in the kitchen until doubled in size, about 2-3 hours.  

Form the dough into either a loaf for a loaf pan or a Boule--a round ball.  Cover with that towel again and let rise until double, usually 1-1 1/2 hours, depending on the warmth of the room.  

    Preheat the oven to 400' F.  Slash the loaf with a good sharp knife, about 1/4" into the dough.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes, until the bread is firm all around, medium brown in color and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.  Although I have never successfully heard that hollow sound. Not on melons, either.  

    For the second stage of the recipe, you can substitute half the whole wheat flour with rye flour, old fashioned oats, semolina flour, anything you think might be delicious.  You might need to add extra bread flour to make the dough come together, but just add a little at time, so the dough doesn't come out too dry.

    Yes, this takes a long time!  but the active work time is very little, and so worth the effort.  You still have a slightly "sour" taste, without that pesky starter always asking for your time and flour.  Have you ever watched Little House of Horrors?  That's how I feel about sourdough starter.