Spring Fever

I hope everyone's been enjoying this "Spring" weather. We've been playing in the backyard, playgrounds, the woods, and the sidewalks... anywhere outdoors! Ramona's favorite outdoor art is painting windows (we replaced our house's windows and saved many of the old ones) and drawing with chalk.

Lately she also enjoys collecting rollie-pollies (I have no idea how to spell that), helping with the chickens, and riding her tricycle. Over this hot spell she has been donning her swimsuit and playing in the sprinkler!

Astrid likes to paint, too.

But more so she enjoys opening and closing the containers of paint. She also loves the birdbath.

I think her favorite outdoor activities are running up and down the sidewalk and climbing everyones stairs, "riding" Ramona's tricycle, and playing with the gravel in our driveway.

All you need is love...

We've entered a new era in hiking with the kids. Ramona can trek for a couple of hours without usually complaining about being tired. The only hitch is that she wants to play hide and seek the entire time we're hiking. So one of us must run ahead with her to hide, while the other must look the opposite direction and wait. Here's Ramona climbing up some tree roots that run down a rocky face.


And here's Andrew rescuing her like a cat up a tree.



The river was beautiful and made us want to try fly fishing.


Here's a cool tree.


Looks like a beaver borrowed this tree.



Some of you were interested in the recipe for those 4 loaves of bread I pictured in the last blog entry. Here it is from "Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World" by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (My favorite cookbook authors).

This is a slow rise bread and need to start 2-3 days before you want to bake, timing is flexible. Makes 4 large loaves, each weighing 2+ pounds.

large-batch whole wheat pan loaves

Poolish
3 cups lukewarm water
Scant 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour

Bread
6 cups lukewarm water
11 cups whole wheat flour
3 tbsp salt
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
About 2 tbsp unsalted butter or mild veg.oil to grease the pan

Make poolish at least 12 hours before using:
Place lukewarm water in medium bowl and sprinkle on yeast and stir to dissolve. Add flour and stir well to make smooth batter. Cover with plastic wrap or tight lid and set aside to ferment for 12-36 hours, whatever is most convenient. The batter will develop bubbles and look lively.

When ready to proceed, place lukewarm water in a large bowl. Add poolish and stir to dissolve. Add 2 cups whole wheat flour and stir in, always stirring in the same direction. Add another 4 cups whole wheat flour and stir in the same direction until smooth, then stir for 1 minute longer. Now you have a sponge. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to ferment for 8-18 hours.

Stir the honey into the sponge, then sprinkle on salt. Add the remaining 5 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring and turning the dough to combine it completely. The dough will become heavy and difficult to stir. Sprinkle about 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour over a wide area on your work surface and turn dough out. Use a dough scraper to lift one side of the dough and fold it over, and continue to use the dough scraper to knead by folding the dough over on itself. You will soon need to add another 1/2 cup flour or more to your work surace, and soon thereafter you will be able to knead using your hands, as the dough gradually gets less sticky and more smooth. Use a dough scraper to keep your work surface clean, and knead for a total of 10-12 minutes, until the dough is very smooth but still soft and a little sticky.

Place dough back in clean bowl, cover, and let rise 4 hours, until doubled.

Lightly flour work surface with all-purpose flour. Turn out dough and fold over on itself several times. Use a large knife of dough scraper to cut the dough into 4 equal pieces (weighing about 2 1/4 pounds each). Loosely cover dough and butter/oil four 9x5 inch bread pans.

Gently flatten 1 piece of dough in to an oveal about 12 x 8 inches, then roll from narrow end into a cylinder. Pinch the seam closed and place seam side down in pan. Repeat with remaining.

Cover loaves with plastic and a cloth and place in reasonably warm place (68-75) to rise. After they have proofed for 1 hour, start preheating over. Place rack in lower third of oven and place baking stone or sheet on it. Preheat to 425. Fill a sprayer with water. (I just use a bowl of water and fling it with my fingers)

When the loaves have proofed nearly 2 hours they will have risen a little but will not have doubled. Slash one loaf two or three times diagonally with sharp knife, spritz generously with water, and place in oven on stone/sheet. Repeat with all. Then spritz them all again generously. Close door and reduce to 400. Spritz generously every minute for 10 minutes, then bake for 35 minutes. Lower the heat to 375 and bake for 30 minutes. (I lower the heat after only 25-30 minutes and then bake another 30 minutes, I guess my oven cooks faster) Remove the loaves from the pans and place on stones/rack and bake a few more minutes, until corners are very firm when pinched. (Sometimes I forget to do this and it doesn't make much difference.) Let cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Note: Let stand 12 hours before wrapping in plastic to store at room temp or freeze. Defrost by leaving out overnight at room temp.

Enjoy!