Quick Hit: Bread success, goals, and wintery mix

Today is just a quick hit because I'm unprepared for today in general. The Critter was up and down all night very happy, and wanting to talk about it. I didn't get nearly enough sleep, and forgot to get photos for the blog this morning. All I have right now is the photos of the bread that I baked Sunday that I was happy with. I got tired of the stuck bread bottoms, so I just went with parchment paper that I reused from having baked cookies for the Lady of the House's birthday.

The Top pair of chunks of bread are actually intended to be bread bowls, I thought they turned out picture perfect, unfortunately the lighting did them no favors. They're slightly over large bowl sized, and I hope they work out well for bread bowls which is what the Lady of the House wanted them for. The other bread I baked this weekend, also sourdough, is more normal loaves. I tried making slicing shaped bread for sandwiches, and that turned out beautifully. The slightly smaller cross section has lead to darker colored outsides, but a good solid crust has nothing wrong with it in my opinion. I'm glad to feel like I'm finally getting things good and settled in making sourdough. Now the trick is going to be making the sourdough more sour, and it sounds like setting the bread in a cooler area of the house is actually going to be good for increasing the flavor. To do that I'm going to rise the bread in the kitchen instead of near the stove which is what I have been doing. We'll see how that works out.

For the time being, there isn't much to report, we didn't get seeds started this weekend due to this being a lean time, and not having starter soil. We're hoping to do that not this weekend but next perhaps. Thursday, I'll have more of a post, if nothing else on getting out from under our next snow storm, which promises to be the worst of all storm types, snow and rain mixed.

Warm and cold, inside and out.

Today I'm thinking warm thoughts because after one delightful day of 30 degree temperatures which felt positively tropical, we're back to double digit temperatures on the other end of the zero.  I'll get to outside the house by the end of the post to talk about chickens, but I'm starting with bread, and heat. Obviously, starting with bread. I'm making sourdough regularly now, and over all I'm very happy with how it's coming out, especially when baking in the dutch oven. The catch is that I'm having problems with the bottom crust peeling off and not coming up easily even when using plenty of cornmeal below the dough. I think I'm going to just have to use parchment. That said, that should work fine, and for now I'm not feeling creative, I just want the crust to stay on.

Snow at greater than dog depth, and success in sourdough

It just keeps snowing here, and while we are certainly able to handle it, snow has reached greater than dog depth in non drift areas which is officially too much snow on the ground, we need a break. Mind you, we aren't as bad off as Worcester for instance. That said, looks like we Might have another good solid snow fall Thursday into Friday. There are good parts about this of course, especially when it comes to having a drought free spring.

Quiet snowy day, and Sourdough Mk. I and Mk. II

As most of you probably know, snow was the call for today in New England, and we were prepared for a serious storm. So far, we only have about 12" of snow which is very pleasant compared to 2'+ of snow. The wind has been fairly significant, but I'm not going to complain at the difference between an exhausting sort of storm, and simply one where staying home and being safe is a wise choice rather than an absolute necessity. Before I discuss the snow further though, I have some bread to discuss! Sourdough to be precise.