Brioche

My first and maybe last brioche...it is too easy to keep eating - so soft and fluffy. Definitely not a good carb. I had lots of pictures of the sponge and the various fermentation stages, but they are on my other computer and it's just too hard to move things back and forth, especially with only one USB port. Couldn't they have squeezed on more on there?
The power of an audience: I am so motivated now to attempt the recipes that were too fussy...ie rye recipes. This weekend. I think I will start feeding my yeast each wednesday night for baking on Saturday morning. Easy thing to do when it's -22 outside (which it is)...but in the spring? The summer?
Will have a BooHoo Brunch on Sunday, while Nadia and Jim have their open house....how can they bear to leave us?

Artemis has been spending most of her free time lately in this position, and Nemy, mostly photographing her as she did here.

Yuverlakia

Or, yuverlakia with avgolemono. This is for you Pitsa, from that fabulous book you gave me. I'd like to have another blog just to platform all of those recipes...



This is the samali (almond and semolina cake with orange syrup).



And this is the little greco herself...feta-eating, olive-popping, spanikopita-loving girl that she is.

No baking today - Im giving the brioche an extra 24hr second fermentation..we'll see how that goes!

Walked the long route to school today, through the arboretum and it was so beautiful. To walk an hour through nature ever day to get to work, I would give up the gym, running, swimming, yoga...I'd give it all up. That's all a person needs. I'm becoming increasing dissillusioned with gym-culture. Tell me why we drive to a building to run on a machine? To lift weights? I'm becoming convinced that functional exercise is the only way to go. Thankfully, we are expecting 20 cm of the fluffy stuff tonight - providing me ample opportunity for functional exercise. That fluffy stuff is surprisingly heavy.

Seeded Sourdough

Sunday and the baking is on going. Brioche is now in its second fermentation and the seeded sour is probably the best bread I have ever made. It is delicious...perfect, light crumb, not a hint of sourness. I highly recommend it.



This is the sponge - it had a 4 hour fermentation at this stage.



I put it in the fridge for well over 12 hours - probably 18 at least.

Now Im making an orange semolina cake because Peter is coming from Montreal for a couple of days, and Pitsa gave me a fantastic Greek cookbook, The Food and Wine of Greece by Diane Kochilas.

And now, Artemis is sleeping, Nemy is Web-kinzing (or webskinz, according to her).

Had a catastrophic home-hair colouring event yesterday. Never do that on a Saturday - because you will have to wait until Monday to get an emergency fix-up appointment. It's horrid - MOUSE grey/brown. I used 6N Natural instincts. Anyone, anyone at all with a heart out there tell me what to do? I cannot keep up with my hair - I either have a 1/2 inch of roots, or grey out of control, or a flat, all over colour. Has anyone figured this out yet?

Pan de mie

Today I baked a 1-day 2-day and 3-day bread. The one-day is here, and all I can say is: when I found that pullman loaf tin in pan Paris for something ungodly, like 10 Euros, why oh why did I pass it by?














I cannot emphasize: the vessel is every bit as important as the knead, the rise, the ingredients.


I baked this pan de mie free form, and while it is still good and fluffy, it is a bit too dry, and has far too much crust.




Does anyone else have the experience that bread actually bakes in less than 1/2 the time in recipes?




Feeling morose about my new career - I can't see how I can contribute - viticulture is rife with molecular analyses. I think this new direction I found was actually a manifestation of seasonal affective disorder. Seasonal Affective Psychosis?







Artemis and I froze at the market this morning. My fingernails hurt from the walk home, like someone had pounded my fingernails with a hammer. Artemis cried all the way from St. Georges square.


BTW Kyr, you are a walking, blogging dictionary. How do you carry all that info around with you?

Family Day

A belated family day and its a miracle we made it through. Everyone is in a real stinker of a mood lately. I think the winter is too bloody long. We aborted a trip to TO today and went for a hike on the escarpment. Really though we just carried the girls around in the snow.

Yeast day two and its not growing spectacularly well - too cool in the kitchen? Im starting to plan my first study - it will require acquiring yeast from all over the world. If anyone has any suggestions for me, Im all ears.



The tart turned out well - it is so easy to cook without sugar! The prune syrup was positively unctous ( to use a word that has become so overused ) and added a real depth to the flavour.

As for the reunion, Kyr, why so gloom and doom? Im still up for a Sasquatch hunt - or a trip to the central thompson plateau....

Microbial Gastronomy

Day 0 for yeast. If I aim to realize my dream, I must begin HENCEFORTH. Thus, be prepared for an odyssey: a journey in to Microbial Gastronomy. I sincerely believe I am the first to coin that phrase, and that I am pioneering a new, scientific discipline. I will guide you on this journey - to a world where microbial ecology/gastronomy/ethnobotany collide.

Baby steps. So first, we will look at wild yeast in bread...a typical loaf from my original starter culture.

If I feed it regularly, it might be ready on Saturday morning. Of course, the bread itself won't be ready until Sunday night, but we can't rush art (or science).

Writing this feels somewhat futuristic - somewhat surreal...Im using my new MacBook Air (thank-you Canadian tax payers, I know who you are), and have just installed Office 2008...it's very different. Very gadgety.

Using up a bushel of old apples - the apple season is truly waning - can't find a decent apple - making an apple pie with Alice Water's recipe. Though I've take the 2L of prune juice that Y bought for Artemis (the bottle is bigger than her - what was he thinking?) and reduced it into prune syrup. Will use that as a sugar substitute. Stay posted for the results. Suddenly, I have the gumption to try harder with my recipes, make them more beautiful since I know they will be photographed.

One thought - is there to be no reunion this summer? There is a distinct apathy going around. I for one am up for one that occurs late in August.

Convocation

So I lied. This is a food blog. Honestly, though, food is my currency: breakfast, lunch, snacks, supper, snacks snack snacks. I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about it, preparing it, reading about it, shopping for it , cleaning up after it....

These are the crackers that I wrote about last time. They turned out well and were very good. Probably won't make them again, unless I cross over the bridge and become a completely self-sufficient local eater.

On Theresa's advice I started buying as much local/organic as I can. I was doing veggies and yogurt before. But considering most toxins are fat soluable, shouldn't organic butter and cheese be a point of order? Unfortunately, organic meat is harder to come buy at Zehrs, so Im currently treading water with wild fish and tofu (Hey, Yianni, what did you think of that organic beef last night?)

Today I processed in convocation, sat right behind our Madame Chancellor Pamela Wallin. I enjoy pomp and ceremony, so I was well positioned. Yianni's talk was good - he was very earnest - something that doesn't come across when he talks science. And he only mentioned fungi twice.


Still haven't decided on a theme for this. Thinking Molecular Gastronomy? (PS Theresa, the sun rises and sets on that book you gave me...what'll I do when I run out of stories?)

And Henry, Shirley is the larger-than-life neighbour who used to live in my house and somehow, over the period of about 2 years, acquired my dogs.

Day two

This feels awkward still? Does it go away? To be so conscious of an audience, and not just one person -like a letter or an email, but to an unknown, unseen ?

Showdown with Shirley today. It was painful. I retreated to the kitchen to roll out cracker dough, paper thin, while Y did his best Kofi Annan in the living room. It is getting worse, as she is becoming delusional, hysterical, morbidly obsessive about her health. It came down to one thing, as far as I can see...we are not paying her enough attention. She is very angry with us; how we could abandon her like that? (read: me. How could I abandon her like that?)


But she will retain the dogs, and will be attending to their vet bills in the future.



Feel a real urge to give this forum some focus - a theme. What could it be?

Maybe un/like Bridget Jones I could chronicle my sugar units, exercise output and weighins?
Or maybe if I put down my obsessive menu making thoughts here, I could drive them out of my head? ( On Monday we're having butter chicken, I can use the rice on Tuesday for the spinach and then on Wednesday I'll have to finish off the rutabagas before they go completely rancid....)

I dont think the world needs to experience my inner world.

Must go - these Crest White Strips are burning a hole through my gums, but man I feel like a movie star!

Inaguration

Dear Melissa Catherine Theresa and Sandra,
I have capitulated, here is the evidence. It is 630am and Im waiting for Artemis' cry and can't get it out of my head that maybe I should be blogging instead of reading so many others.

So for the first blog, a new invention that I think Melissa will like and maybe others. But this isnt going to be a food blog.

Miranda's Sugar free, flour free, all natural Power Bars

1 c. oatmeal (not quick)
1/2 c. skim milk pwdr (instant)
1 c. nuts (any kind)
1/4 c. ground flax seeds
1/8 c. wheat germ
1/8 c. poppy seeds

Pulverize in food processer.

Add:
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c. agave nectar
Stevia to taste (you can also add honey if you like)
2 eggs

Pulse again. Add some olive oil if too dry.

Press into a greased 8*8 inch pan, and bake 10 -15 at 325.
When its done, sprinkle choc chips on top and dot with butter (very little). Put back in oven until chips melt (3minutes). Then spread the chocolate into a smooth, continuous layer.