Day 3 - The last day of the Conference - as I arrived, was happy to be greeted by dew-kissed apples in the orchard, 
and another beautiful, sunny breakfast :^) 
I have baked and baked. Through a long winter I baked. Early mornings in my cold dark kitchen I baked. Every weekend I baked. For my friends I baked. For my family I baked … it was the same bread that I baked.
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1971, when I was a student, I traveled with my best friend, Andrea, through England, Cornwall and Wales. We didn't have a fixed itinerary, we just followed our nose to places we had read or heard about.
We didn't stay in hotels (only once, and that was as dusty as it was expensive), we preferred B&Bs, always looking for interesting old buildings. We slept in grand manor houses, rustic inns, cozy farm houses, and even a water mill from the sixteenth century.
Another gorgeous day for the Skagit Valley, and a sunlit breakfast waiting for us as we arrived for Day 2 :^)
…and, if you wished, you could have pie for breakfast! 
***
I've been absent from TFL for about a month. I had a rotator cuff injury that kept me out of the kitchen. Then a couple busy weekends. So I've only baked once or twice in the last 5 weeks, and didn't take any photos.
This weekend, we were home and I had time to bake. I decided to try Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough with Whole Wheat for the first time. A very nice bread. As you can see, I baked boldly. Thick crust and tender crumb. Very wheaty flavor. It would be a good base for a seed bread.
I am lazy sometimes. Well, most of the time in the last few weeks. Family still has to eat, though, and after fajitas were a hit last night, I threw the rest on a basic 75% hydration pizza dough thusly:
Yay for chicken, bell peppers, onions, and cheddar pizza. :D
This mixed-starter sourdough has become my favorite style of light-ish sourdough. It has proven itself capable of standing up to my "creativity", and that alone counts for a lot. The rye flour takes some of the chewiness out of the crumb and prefermenting it lends the flavor of the bread a distinct tang. If sour isn't your thing then this probably isn't the bread for you. But, it really works for me. 1/3 whole grain gives it some substance and 70% hydration keeps it easy to work with. I started the dough in the mixer, just until it came together, th
Over the last few weeks I have been experimenting with making different styles and recipes for baguettes. A couple of weeks ago I tried TxFarmer's 36 hour sourdough version but I had some issues transferring the rested baguettes to my oven and the results were less than stellar.&n
I'm in the process of starting a new starter. I decided to try it without raisin water or pineapple juice or anything special, just whole wheat flour and water.
At the end of day one, no activity but no problem. Similar after day two. At the end of day three it smelled nice when opened the cupboard, so I removed the plastic covering the bowl and...
Ew.
