Nostradamus Award
Nice Newsweek op/ed from 1995 explaining how that whole internet thing is overblown. The author’s response to the crazy people who thought that some day people would buy things over the web, and maybe even books and music? “Uhh, sure.”
Way to go there, Nostradamus!
Little piggy goes to Market
It’s a recession, in case you haven’t heard. Time to save money. But, it’s also a time to eat better, stay home instead of going out, and get some enjoyment out of simpler things.
Last year I started going down to Detroit’s fantastic Eastern Market for groceries. This worked out somewhat well in that I ate a lot of fresh vegetables. But it was hard to make it a weekly habit because it’s a half-hour drive, the parking situation is a pain, and it’s just not convenient enough for it to be a regular errand.
This year, I found localharvest.org, which will tell you about all the farmers markets in your area, what vegetables you can get at what times of year, whether it is a co-op, growers only, etc. This worked out much better for me. I don’t do well with schedules, so sometimes I do my shopping on Saturday, sometimes I don’t feel like going that day and I wait until Sunday. Now, I know where several growers markets are near me, and I can go when I feel like it.
My daily bread
The famous “no-kead” bread recipe has been making the rounds for a while now, and let me tell you, it’s awesome. I’m lazy. I don’t want to knead, I don’t want pots, pans, bowls and mixer parts to wash. So, this recipe is perfect for me. I tweaked a little to make it even easier. My version takes a TOTAL of about 5 minutes of work and the entire process uses ONE pan:
3 cups flour (I use regular old enriched flour because that’s what they sell at Aldi)
1 5/8 C water, room temperature
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry yeast
Equipment needed: A large oven-safe pot (I use a big Pyrex glass bowl – it works GREAT. Others use a dutch oven), a spatula, a fork, and a clean surface.
1. In your bowl or pan, dump in all ingredients and mix with a fork. You will have a wet dough, about the consistency of biscuit dough. Cover the bowl with plastic and put it in the oven overnight.
2. The next day, after the dough has sat for at least 12 hours (I let it sit for 18 hours) take it out of the oven. It should have taken the shape of the bowl and at least doubled in size. Sprinkle flour on your work surface and then gently scoop out the dough with a spatula. Do NOT rip or tear the dough…just gently work it out with the spatula. Once you get it out, sprinkle it with flour and fold it over on itself three or four times. Congratulations, that’s all the kneading you’ll be doing!
3. Place the bowl upside down over the dough so that it’s covered. Let it rise for 90 minutes.
4. After it has risen for 90 min, turn on the oven, set at 450. Take the same bowl you’ve been using, rinse it out and put it in the oven. Loosely cover the dough with the plastic wrap to keep it from drying out, and let it sit for 30 more minutes while your bowl/pot heats up.
5. After 30 minutes are up, take the bowl out of the oven (careful, it will be HOT HOT HOT) and place the dough in it, again being careful not to rip or tear the dough. Don’t worry about how it looks – you will not have a smooth, round ball of dough in the bowl. It’s going to be ugly, but that’s just fine.
6. Bake for 30 minutes with the bowl covered, and then for 15-20 more minutes uncovered, until you see a beautiful golden-brown crust. Once it’s done, take it out, shake the bowl a couple times and the bread should come right out – no sticking. Let it cool for about 30 minutes and you have delicious fresh white bread.
Some tips and things I like about the recipe:
- You can turn right around and make another loaf in the same pan. I like to do that…after the bread is done, I let the oven and bowl cool for about 30 minutes and then your next dough can go right in and has a nice, warm rising environment. (Test the oven….if the inner wall is too hot for you to rest the back of your hand on, it’s too hot for your dough to go in.)
- Pay attention when you take the bread out. Listen closely and you will hear an awesome crackling sound of the crust cooling. To me, that sound is like being hugged by a thousand kittens. The crispy crust and soft inside is my favorite part of this bread.
- I use a big cutting board for my work surface; this way I can take the dough out of the bowl, fold it, cover it, and put the whole thing back in the oven.
- You can experiment. I have added in flax seed just to add some fiber – the bread was still very good, but it was slightly more dense and soft inside. Next I’ll be trying to add in some wheat flour.
- This bread will not stick to a smooth pot or bowl, so there should be no need to spray, grease, or flour the bowl before you bake in it.
- I mix my dough before I go to bed at around midnight. This way, I get home from work the following day and can immediately pull the dough out for the fold and second rise. The fresh loaf is finished at around 10 pm, which is just enough time to let things cool and start another loaf. My household will not go through a whole loaf in a day, so I give them away, or skip days. If I end up with a surplus, it can be used for french toast, it can be seasoned and re-baked to make home made croutons (which are delicious), or you can let it get more stale and then use it to make dressing or stuffing.
- I like that this recipe is forgiving. You don’t have to sweat over the exact amount of flour, the humidity in the oven, the minerals in your tap water, etc. As long as your yeast is not too old, this recipe is completely reliable.
You really can’t beat it. 5 minutes of work for an upscale bakery quality loaf of bread that only costs about twelve cents. Why pay ten times more for a lame-ass loaf of wonder bread?
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