rustic free form loaves

What a gorgeous morning! I woke at 2am last night to a sky filled with northern lights, like fringe dancing across the whole sky. This morning it’s bright and sunny, the flag out front slowing drifting in the breeze - thank goodness there are no gail force winds! Yesterday wasn’t as bad as the day before but it was still pretty nasty at times. I was hauling water in the morning and I had almost finished when I turned around to look down the lake and I could see the wind slowly making it’s way over, this big fizzy white cloud drifting over the ice. I was pretty much done with my outside stuff so I didn’t have to stay out to long, but Travis was on the cat plowing the road on the big stone, so it was him I was thinking about. Being on an open lake, on a big hunk of frozen steel at -20 with 20km winds doesn’t really sound to lovely. He does have the ranger with him and a hot thermos of coffee so he’s able to go warm up if he needs it and I imagine that he needed to yesterday. I’m going skidoo down the lake and take him hot soup for lunch today – nothing like a picnic at -25 J

While I was waiting for travis to get home last night I knit up a little felted headband. I always keep my eyes open for cool headbands but never seem to find one that I actually like to wear. But I’m definitely on a roll with these! I made one the other night with two i-cords attached with a hair elastic at the bottom (so they are nice and stretchy!), then I felted it and it worked amazingly! I found the original pattern on ravelry, but I added the felting part. Last night I decided to take it a little further and I knit a strip about 1.5 inches wide by about 22 inches long and felted it the same way. Travis keeps singing “lets get physical, physical”…but whatever - I think they are cool! I made these bangles last week and I might do something similar with the embroidery thread on the headbands, but I have decided yet. Felting is just amazing though! The projects are endless!

You may have seen the loaf of my dreams that I posted last week. But I’ll post it again here, with the recipe. I think next time I may modify it a little. In the original recipe, you start by making a small batch of dough, you let it sit over night, add more ingredients the next day and bake the loves. I wouldn’t mind trying it out using a three day process, making the poolish the first day, adding more flour etcetera the next day and then baking on the third day. Which would mean I would have to start it tonight I guess, seeing as we’ll be cutting into the second and last loaf at lunch today. so...

Start the preferment the evening before you want to bake the loves:

1 lb. bread flour (3 1/2 cups)

9.5 oz. warm water (1 1/4 cups)

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast

Dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand for 5 minutes. In a medium sized bowl mix the rest of the ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until the flour is properly hydrated, use more water if you have to.

The next morning (about 12-18 hours later):

10 oz. bread flour (2 1/2 cups)

6 oz. whole wheat (around 1 1/2 cups)

12.5 oz. water (1 1/2 cups)

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

Dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand for 5 minutes. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a medium sixed bowl. Chop up your preferment and mix it into the flour mixture, add the water mixture. Kneed on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes, making sure that the preferment is fully incorporated.

Place the dough back in the bowl and let rise for 50 minutes. Invert it onto the table and gently degas, by flattening it into a large rectangle, fold it in thirds, like a letter, then turn it and fold it the same way again. Place it back in the bowl and let rise for another 50 minutes and repeat the folds. Let it rise again for 50 minutes then cut in two and shape your free form loaves. Let these rise for about 1.25 to 1.5 hours. Halfway through rising preheat your oven to 450F. When your loaves are perfected proofed slash the top and place them in the oven and bake until a thermometer, when inserted reads 200F (I'd never done this - it was kind of exciting!) or about 35 minutes. To increase the humidity of your oven, in order to create a better crust, you can put a bread pan filled with water in the oven the same time you put your loafs in, or you can use a clean mister – whatever works best for you!

I made french toast out of a loaf the other morning and it was divine! I cut the bread nice and thick, so it could absorb the egg/milk/vanilla mixture to the greatest degree and topped with a slab of butter and maple syrup when it was done – yuuuum! Today’s eggs and hash browns, seemed just so so.