A loaf by any other name… Or… Bread machine vs. by hand (Part 2) November 30, 2008

OK, no denying, the machine takes less effort – quelle surprise!

I can get my bread machine “loaded” in about 5 minutes. The only responsibility I have after that is to be around about 3 hours later to yank the bread out. OK, it’s easy. And it’s fast.

But…

30 minutes of labor, including clean up, and I had enough dough for two loaves of bread happily rising in the refrigerator.

The deal is, you have to let it rise for at least two hours… You can safely ignore it up to four hours at this point, before punching the dough down.

All pouffy and good... observant ones will note the difference in lighting... hmmm must fix that!

C'mon, admit it! The idea of punching down the dough sounds fun!

If it's stretching like that - it's a good thing!

A few more minutes was all it took to have the bread shaped… A few rolls for right now… a few for later and a loaf for later as well. You can actually leave the dough alone and unshaped for up to three days in the frig… Or you can shape it, and refrigerate or freeze it – it’s very forgiving that way.

Oh, that also makes it very convenient!

What would you call that? Golf ball size?

Muffin pan not required... you can also do these on a cookie sheet, but they'll spread out really wide... or bunch 'em all up in a round pan...

Now, you can either set these little babies on the counter (all nice and covered of course) to rise for about two to three hours. Or you can stuff ‘em in the refrigerator (again) and let them rise in there, which takes considerably longer. Either way, you’ve got some free time on your hands.

And the results?

Oh so worth it!

So, what do I do to keep busy while waiting for the bread? Depends on the day… Today, it was this:

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Bottom line… Total, actual labor was a bit over 45 minutes.

Big surprise – we all knew the bread machine was a time saver. But…

The enjoyment of making bread by hand, the results that are oh so much better… those are worth a bit more effort.

Sure, I’ll probably still use La Machina when I’m just too busy otherwise… But… I may jest get in the habit of Friend 2 and make dough to sit in the ‘frig ready and waiting for me…

A loaf by any other name… Or… Bread machine vs. by hand (part 1) November 28, 2008

This is the kind of day I’ve been having… I completed this post… posted it.. and in attempting to update it – deleted it. Whoops…

So here goes the rewrite..

I have a dear friend who loves his bread machine, swears by it. Even I have fallen prey to the ease of the silly thing: dump in ingredients, push the button, three hours later, voila! Fresh, hot bread.

OK, it’s not as good as “real” homemade, but it’s better than most store bought.

Another dear friend, however, swears the machine is really not that great and simply makes his dough by hand, keeping it in the refrigerator for when he wants a fresh loaf.

I’m no stranger to the joys of bread making, and I tend to agree with Friend 2 that it is a therapeutic process.

And so…

At 9:00 I gathered all the ingredients… by 9:30, the dough was in the refrigerator and the dishes were all washed… and note – no mixer was used, this was all by hand, baby!

Mis en place - it helps, really!

The start of the dough - look ma! No mixer!

Cup four goes into the mix

Next comes the fun part...

Getting your hands into it! This is a hands on job...

Getting there...

This doughball could use a bit more manhandling...

How can you tell if the dough is ready? Pooosh!

Look ma! No dough sticking!

Seriously – I’ve heard every thing from – dough is ready when it’s “elastic and smooth” (which is kinda like saying, “feel the clutch” when teaching someone to drive a stick) to the accurate, but icky, “it feels like a baby’s butt.”

How about something less subjective?

Push your fingers against the dough ball… then pull them away… they should leave a clear indent, and no dough should stick, or cling to your fingers. Simple? You betcha!

Now we know why I knead in a bowl - easy clean up!

The 10th circle of hell – a woman’s purse November 26, 2008

As purses go, mine isn’t too bad.

I tend to keep it fairly neat and organized, and I can usually find what I need with a minimum of “mm, wait a minute, I know it’s in here… somewhere…”

Then the other day, I almost slicked my lips with the wrong stuff…

To understand that – you have to know that I live with lipgloss on. I mean, nearly all the time. You also have to understand that I’m slathering some scar treatment goop on my arm at least 4 times a day, which means the tube goes with me everywhere.

The 10th level of Hell

See, lurking down there in the darkness? That’s what I was reaching for… but grabbed the wrong tube… Fortunately, I noticed the problem as I was uncapping…. whoops….

Hmmm... see my problem?

The joys of the Junction… November 25, 2008

I live in a relatively small city that sits on the eastern edge of the civilized world.

The grocery stores around these here parts are not exactly full of exotic stuff. In fact, finding anything other than white button mushrooms requires a 20-plus mile drive. The vegetable section of the local groceries are ah… fairly unimaginative.

Thus, imagine my surprise when, over the summer, I took the kids to the local library, expecting it to be a small, boring and barely adequate space (similar to the one closest to where we had lived in La Mesa, California – it was a tiny branch).

What I found instead was a huge, modern building, featuring a glass enclosed teen section, with cool seating, internet access and lots more. The library has a terrific kids’ section fashioned to look like a castle, a permanent book store, a cafe (yes, you read that right – a cafe – that serves coffee), lots of reading areas, comfy seating, plenty of helpful staff and handy little computer kiosks at several strategic locations.

Huh, color me shocked!

Life being what it is, I’ve not had a lot of time to go back to the library… but took the time the other morning… and was once again surprised.

C’mon, how many public libraries boast a view like this:

The Superstitions from the AJ Library parking lot

Some smart designer had the wise idea to build a large wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in the main reading area of the library, and then orient the library building to look out on that view. Smart, doncha think?

Yep… I’m gonna be back…

My reading (and listening) material...

Oh and by the way: shameless plug… that kinda funky, retro-looking brown leather thing? That’s my purse, and I love it! I had to wait nearly three months for it, since Coronado Leather makes most of their stuff to order, totally worth it!  I’ve got a growing list of “I wants” from them…  This one has been my faithful companion for 8 months now, wonderful thing.

The strange comments I get… November 24, 2008

First off – I am not going to make fun of this comment… Really. I’m not.

I’m used to getting a variety of interesting spam comments thanks to my odd posts. I just tend to delete them.

Sometimes, they’re either funny, or for some other reason, worthy of comment back.

I really wish ole Sean had stuck his comment on the actual post, Ergonomic Schmergonic, rather than my contact page, but…

My curiosity got to me, I admit… and I clicked just to see.

The first thing I saw:

Cool - a bubble chair!

OK – I’ll admit – I had two almost immediate thoughts.

One was well… let’s just say “adult rated” and the other was a flashback to high school and how, in a deliberate attempt to piss off a particular teacher, a good friend and I designed an entire house where all furnishings were suspended, hung on tracks so you could move them easily. It was a complex system, and though it would have been outrageously expensive to do, it was, in fact, possible.

The teacher was not amused, but we still got a good grade on the project.

Then there was the one that made me think of the movie, Men in Black…

C'mon, it's the Men in Black chair and you know it!

This one just had me wondering how in the hell you were supposed to sit in it, is it even comfortable, and well… yeah… left me with more “adult” images in my mind. (yeah, yeah, so my mind is perpetually in the gutter… quelle surprise!)

Anyone else having interesting thoughts here?

Finally, feedback on that Hanging Egg Chair (since I am a “home decor-modern design connoisseur” and all!! Don’t believe me? Go read the comment on my Contact page… LOL)

My grandparents had one of these things hanging on their patio. And I know darn good and well it got used for a variety of purposes from entertaining small children by spinning them in it, to ah… well, yeah, you guessed it.

‘Nuff said.

Somehow - it just looks better hanging from the ceiling without the stand

So there ya go Sean… Thanks for stopping by my little spot on the web, and thanks even more for giving me a good laugh… I think that alone is worth the linky love.