The Good....

Today I made my best loaf of bread ever using a new recipe I found in Nourishing Traditions...  I get the concept and science behind NT, but I still have a hard time with it personally.  I am much more of an instant gratification kind of  person and to start something and not have it be done for a day or 2 makes me nuts....

I did vary from what the recipe said, and I am writing what I did......

4 cups of ground hard wheat and spelt (and maybe some kamut... I forgot to write it all down, but it was mostly the wheat)

1-1/2 cups of buttermilk

1/2 cup of melted butter

2-1/2 teaspoons of yeast

2 tablespoons of honey

1 teaspoon of sea salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup of unbleached white flour (I did not have this and used 1 cup of hard white)

.....................

Combine the 4 cups of flour with buttermilk and butter... recipe says use food processor, but I used my Bosch with a cookie dough attachment, not the dough hook.  Blend until it forms a ball... I kind of helped it along when it looked mixed well....
THen let it sit for 12-24 hours covered at room temperature.

Then... combine water, yeast and honey and leave for 5 minutes until bubbly.  Add salt and baking soda and mix it well.  Add this to the flour mixture you prepared before along with the additional 1 cup of flour.  Mix well until smooth... I used the dough hook this time.

Cover and let rise for 2 hours, or so, until doubled.  Punch down and knead by hand or in the mixer for less than a minute... I just did by hand...  Form into loaf/loaves and put in prepared, buttered pan and let rise, covered for 1 or 2 hours until doubled.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes... cool on rack...

The Bad...

I also made the Jamaican Red Beans and Rice also from Nourishing Traditions....

I am asked on occasion how I get everything done in life and how it looks like things turn out so well for me and that is why I am putting this here...

I normally prefer to keep my flops to myself....

The recipe looks great and I went and bought what I thought was coconut milk in a can... not the best, but I wasn't in the mood to be cracking any coconuts.

Well... I soak my bean, soak my rice and add all of the ingredients and it smell HEAVENLY... until you taste it... It is SICKENINGLY sweet...

Apparently I bought a sweetened coconut cream that is the base for Pina coladas.

The whole thing is now in my septic tank via the garbage disposal... I'm just glad I made a very small batch and not my normal feed an army amount....

The Ugly....

I went and got a hair cut this week and changed from my normal style, if I actually have a normal style, that is....

so far I've had sweaty, in the garden while it rains day, hot-flash at the hospital day, or too busy to try and figure out what to do with it day...

Let me just say that for now... it's just kind of ugly...