Monthly Archives: November 2013

Airing

Climate, Energy, ,

DSC00982 Airing the bedding!DSC00983 On a balmy November day!

Something that they always did in Hungary was air the bedding by an open window every day possible.  This was an opportunity to exchange the air in the house.   Both of these linked practices were to reduce the risk of getting tuberculosis, and generally improve the air quality.

Here on the Gulf Coast we can go one step better, and actually place our bedding in the fresh air and sunshine, so the sunshine can kill bugs.  If the house is partly to blame for the reduced light to the kitchen garden, then at least we can take advantage of the sunshine this way when the sun is out, which it usually is.    This saves the energy and water of washing these items, and also makes the bedding smell very fresh.

Unbromated Bread Again NOV 13, 2013

Kitchen,

DSC00977 Unbromated flour bread DSC00975 with a coarse, buat light, texture.

This recipes is the Classic White recipe from the Kitchen Pro Breadmaker Guide and Cookbook.

Ingredients

  • 9 – 11 ounces         water  (I used 11 ounces, substituting 3/8 cup milk for the same volume water.)
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter (I used 1 tablespoon butter and one tablespoon olive oil.)
  • 4 cups unbromated, unbleached bread flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 package active dry yeast

Assembly

  • Add ingredients in order to the bread machine
  • Set the machine to the large, light loaf (1) or the large dark loaf (2) setting on the bread machine, I use the latter, which bakes for 60 minutes which is 10 minutes longer than the setting (1).
  • This bread overflowed the bread pan, and collapsed in the middle.  So it has too much liquid.  I also do not know the effect of substituting olive oil for part of the butter.

Comments

This bread came out well except that it puffed up too much.  Next time I will try 9 ounces of liquid, total with the milk to see if the bread stays in the pan after rising.

King Arthur bread flour is unbromated, and non-GMO, as are all of their flours.

One package holds nearly enough for 5 such loaves.  Each loaf is about 16 servings.

 

 

New Plantain Flower, Early Fruit

Garden, Plantains, Words, ,

DSC00716 My newest plantain flower.DSC00716 - Copy  If you look carefully, you can see a couple of bees, which is reassuring.

DSC00714 Another picture of my flower with little plantainlets.  This makes it clear that both male and female parts of the plantain live closely together.

DSC00932 This is the same flower two weeks later than the above pictures.  There are four “hands” of plantains.  This plant does not shade my garden, so I will leave the plant standing for awhile.  It has become fallish today.  The temperature is only in the mid-60s.