Simple Food: Round Two Knock-out

Hey there. I promise this will be the last bread / yeast post for a little while. Can you tell I have been obsessed with this?

I am thinking that Wednesday night / Thursday morning will work out best as my baking day. I have the least number of other obligations (i.e. driving my kids to and from stuff) during that time. It might not always work out, but knowing you need to use the start or loose it provides that extra bit of motivation when you don't particularly feel like putting in the time to bake. Last night I got home about 9:30 from a Relief Society thing. Luckily, the kids had followed through with dinner dishes and the kitchen was relatively clean, so I didn't face a 45 minute chore BEFORE diving into the process of making our bread. I still had to make kids' lunches...but nothing major. After getting the kids to bed, I started in making my dough. I had previously set out my yeast start to "warm up" (come to room temperature from the fridge). I could tell my start was in beautiful form this week: frothy on top, thick and full of bubbles inside, and sweet smelling. I had ground about 6 cups of wheat earlier in the evening, so I set straight to work mixing by hand. This time I added a little agave to the recipe too. I found that doing my kneading when the kids are in bed is ideal. I didn't have to contend with continually running to rescue, contain, comfort or entertain anyone (with my hands covered in sticky dough). It was me and my dough. I did wonder if the highly-recommended smack-down kneading technique I have been trying to perfect might bring the kids running upstairs to see what was going on. (It is SO loud.) I turned on a PBS Nova episode on Amazon Prime (like I said, it was ME time), smacking and kneading away... and before you know it, the dough was a lovely, soft ball, ready for proofing. I left it in an oiled bowl with oiled plastic wrap over the top. I thought up a genius way to keep the dough warm enough to rise over night (we turn the thermostat down a bit at night...). I grabbed a reading lamp from the office desk...one with a 40 watt bulb...and pointed in down over my dough bowl, and left it to do its thing.

This morning the dough was ready for shaping (btw, I have never seen loaves formed the way I learned to do it from my bread book. It's more like folding laundry than baking bread. I was kind of skeptical at first ..but seriously, it works!). Two more hours of raising under my little bread lamp, 25 minutes in the oven, and BAM! Bread. Perfect, natural yeast bread. Feast your eyes:

Not sour. Not dense. Just full of fluffy love. Also, SUPER healthy, and fully digestible.

I had to use up more of the start than the bread required, so I also tried some yeast pancakes. The recipe called for a proofing period too, but who plans ahead 10 hours to make pancakes? More like 10 minutes for me. So,  I wouldn't feed them to someone with a gluten intolerance... but man, were they tasty! (A side note. The book also had a recipe for yeast start pancakes with just this one ingredient: yeast start. I should try those too. That would work for gluten intolerant people who don't plan breakfast 10 hours ahead, because the start is already "proofed"). The recipe included some Kefir, which I had in blueberry flavor in the fridge. They were SO deliciously perfect. 

What will Millie (my start) and I do next?

Simple FOod: The Follow Up...week one

Just a few simple ingredients: my yeast start, water, salt, coconut oil and freshly ground wheat...

Possessed by the bread-making fever, I got crazy ambitious, and decided to try making bread right out of the blocks instead of the waffles or pancakes recommended for wild yeast beginners. I figured I was a whole wheat bread maker with advanced experience...so this shouldn't be THAT much more difficult...right? I was humbled. 

For starters, I thought I knew this before, but I know it better now: with natural yeast, timing is EVERYTHING. 

* I should have probably given my yeast start more time to get established before I asked it to do the kind of heavy lifting needed to leaven bread. Whole wheat bread. 

* I should have started earlier in the day giving the dough time to rise. Because after the 6-12 hours required  for "proofing" (rising/gluten digesting), it was like 11:00 at night, and I was too tired to put bread in the oven to bake for an hour. So I told Mike to just put the pans in the fridge over night. In the morning they looked sad and unpromising, but I decided I had come too far to not even attempt to bake them. In they went. And, to my surprise, they perked up a little in the baking process. (Way to go, yeast!)

* I realized that without instant yeast, kneading dough long enough to develop the gluten is more important than ever. And doing it the "right" way for long enough takes patience...and muscle. (I am bumping the Bosch I have always wanted up to the top of my wish list...in case you are reading this, Mitch-darling.)

Anyway...here's the finished product.  The loaves turned out a little more dense (and sour) than I had hoped. But I think I know how to remedy those issues...and we have been eating away at these first loaves. Not bad. I also whipped up some beautiful yeast waffles this weekend with my starter. They were DEE-licious!

Not too shabby for my first go. I am hoping for even better results next time. 

Simple Food: Get Ready for Something Truly Radical

For Christmas Mike's mom gave me  this book. She said she wasn't sure whether I would like it, even though I give 5 stars to this other book by the same author (which, giving credit where it's due, she also introduced me to). Thanks Jacque! I LOVE IT!

Previously, I had read a little about the idea of the benefits of natural, wild yeast strains, in tempering the grains in our diet. They pre-digest gluten, and help in the absorption of nutrients. Apparently, wheat can be a tough nut to crack (literally and metaphorically) for human digestive systems. Which is why some people have a hard time with it, especially whole wheat.  Current levels of gluten intolerance and a host of related gastrointestinal problems coincide with the introduction of fast-rising/instant yeast, developed in the early 1980's. As I read more about wild yeast, I became more excited about the possibilities.

So, feeling inspired, I sent away for a natural yeast start. I waited impatiently for it to arrive (only 3 or 4 days, but it seemed like forever). On Saturday, I spotted the envelope in the mail...and felt a little giddy as I carefully opened it and examined the tiny plastic bag containing my precious yeast. There it was, a little living thing, waiting to be nurtured and fed, in order to feed us in return. I couldn't help feeling attached to it. It was almost spiritual. :)

I wasted no time in designating a canning jar for its new home, and getting to work feeding it.

Such a little thing...

First feeding....crossing my fingers that it will be a success.

Random picture of Mitch-darling ...just because he happened to be standing there in the kitchen  while I started the yeast. (And he looked cute.)

And PRESTO! 2 days later, after a second feeding, it is just about ready to go (see those tell-tale bubbles forming against the side of the jar?). I think I will give it a go tomorrow with something simple, like waffles.

I am pretty excited, but also a little nervous. I have never really cooked with natural yeast, and I know there will be a learning curve. In the book (which is sitting conveniently in the background of the picture above), the co-author suggests taking a month just to practice maintaining the yeast start, without trying to coordinated baking days (because with wild yeast you have to time it just right with yeast-feeding days). That's good advise...especially for busy, BUSY moms like me. Otherwise, I could be looking at a giant fail.

I am hoping this will be a nutritional boon to my family, specifically those with digestion probs (I'm looking at you, Mike). I will keep you posted on my baking (mis?)adventures.

Drops in the Bucket

Recently, Mike came across this blog post that someone had shared on FB or something and decided that I needed to hear it. (You should read it too.)

http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2012/12/19/drops-of-awesome/

The author talks about how she tends (as do so many others, including me), to immediately undo every good deed with critical self-talk. This just happens to be one of my very worst vices. If you ask Mike, he might go so far as to call it an OCD neurosis with me. I have a hard time allowing myself to be completely happy.

This weekend I was feeling content and pleased and at peace with my life. I spent time at the temple on Friday with Mike...and enjoyed every minute. I felt the spirit so strongly all day yesterday...not always easy for me...
But then, for some reason today I found myself looking around and noticing that the neighbors' houses are finished so beautifully & comfortably, that a friend of mine has endless patience, offering to have my child come over for hours, and always finds ways to serve people in the neighborhood, other friends' kids practice their instruments willingly, other people have lots of friends that they get together with often, or manage their finances with precision...I could go on.

This is my point (and I am having a hard time making it clearly, because Sully woke Abner up and he is now screaming from his crib in the next room, and the dishes are piled in the sink, and ....you see what I mean?): when I allow my thoughts and self-talk to focus on my failings (past and present) the good I might do becomes just another thing to feel guilt about, because it comes mixed in with all my failings.

"Yes, I am doing this good thing, but who cares when I stunk at that other thing."
-or-
"Took you long enough to get around to THAT..."
-or-
"You might have managed 30 minutes of exercise today...like that's going to make a big difference."
etc.

I recognized myself in the words of that blog post as Mike read it aloud to me. "Wow, that's totally me!"

 I LOVED her point about changing our perspective. EVERY good choice, every selfless act, every small victory remains in the positive column of our eternal balance sheet no matter what we have in the negative column. And recognizing every seemingly insignificant  success gives us more power to do the next good thing.
I am telling you, one of Satan's most potent weapons is the one he uses to get us to discount the good that we do, so that we feel unworthy, that our efforts are futile and pathetic: "Why try? I can't measure up."

So, for the last few days Mike and I have been heard to say, "Drops of Awesome" to each other when we (I) might otherwise start listing caveats.

"We bathed the dog...only took us 5 months...(PAUSE) ...'drop of awesome'."

Jupiter in his "winter quarters" / dog palace. He gets to spend cold winter nights sleeping in his warm kitchen bed...now gated in with Grace's old fold-out doll castle.

"We ate super healthy today...after all the junk we've been eating for the past month....No wait, 'drop of awesome'."

"A hundred neighbor kids felt at home playing/eating dinner/being nurtured at our home today......but then I got maxed-out and overstimulated, sent kids home and banished our own kids for the rest of the night so I could recoup......'drop of awesome'."

Our entry-way  piled with all their shoes and coats, Saturday afternoon/evening.

"We spent some time in the morning snuggled up, reading to the little boys even though we had a million things on the to-do list...'drop of awesome'."

Of course we all need to be working to change the things that we fall short in, but, seriously, I think zeroing in on those things can magnify them beyond their actual importance. It can be a selfish and potential-sapping exercise. Satan wants us to believe that it's useless to try, that it's too late, that we are too weak, that we are not making progress, that no one cares. Sometimes, when we step back and look at ourselves with a fresh and positive-seeking perspective, we notice that the faults/mistakes we thought were insurmountable don't have the power over us that we imagined. That we cannot only overcome, but do so without endless hand-wringing and self-flagellation. Because Christ's grace is sufficient. We can move forward doing GOOD. And that is what it is all about.
Drops of awesome.

I Asked Mike,"What's Our Destination?"...

...as we tried to gather children and supplies for the snowshoeing excursion I insisted we take the family for New Years Eve morning. I was thinking a quickie to Yellow Fork, but he thought Millcreek would be better. So, according to plan...

Hoping to get an early start after breakfast New Year's Eve, we loaded the Yakima and prodded children to move, find socks, stop bickering...stuff like that.  I don't know if it was the inertia of lounging around for days, but getting everyone into their snow gear, packing food, kids, dog and equipment... and getting to the mountains was like turning the Titanic around. Slow and cumbersome. I think it took us about 2 hours to get up there, including that time we had to turn around and come back to get Mike's cell phone, so we wouldn't miss the appliance repair guy who was supposed to come and fix our oven (we ended up missing him anyway, we were out of range). 

Life with the Melton's. 

Even the dog, historically hyper for any adventure, was reluctant this time. What can you say? He's middle-aged now, and when we stepped out into the very nippy morning air, he acted like he just wanted to get back in the car, and go home...along with about half the kids.

But we did what you do...

press on.                

It paid off.

We were rewarded with the stunning beauty of the forest in winter. The kids and dog warmed up (literally) to the idea as we went along.

Heading up the trail, into the woods.

 Later, we reaching a bend in the trail with a view where I thought we could take some good pictures. Then I promptly dropped the camera in the snow. I may have ruined it.

(Our camera was already hanging by a thread. This may be the incident which forces us to buy a new one.)

 Here's our blurry family.

I eventually got it relatively dry for this shot, taken by a friendly lady passing by.

 I took this one last photo before it died. Maybe permanently.

It was so cold that the air was filled with those  super tiny water crystals, making everything sparkly. It was LOVELY. I hope the kids will look back on these outings fondly. Even if we had to drag them occasionally.

Sunday night at Family Home Evening we made a list and talked about the miracles our family and friends have experienced this year. The hand of the Lord in our lives. Then we pulled out the folded up sheets of paper we have kept our New Year's resolutions on for the past 3 years running, and made new goals. (It is so fun to look back at past years' resolutions side by side with the new ones...especially for the kids. You can really see them growing up. Some of the old  ones are pretty funny, like: "shower every other day" - I won't mention which of the kids wrote that one a few years ago. ha ha ha...)

New Year's Eve night Jess hit the stake dance with her friends. (She gets SO excited for them.  I almost die laughing every time she goes because she wants to show me her dance moves in advance, and talk about strategy, etc. Oh my goodness, I can hardly keep myself from busting up just thinking about it....) Noble went to a friend's house, and we hosted Grace's buddies here for a night of wii, and Barbie princesses and munchies. Tillman & Sully sacked out upstairs with Mike and I for a movie. I totally fell asleep on the couch at about 11:00, and I was a zombie when Jess came in at 12:45 AM and gave us the post-dance run-down. I am going to need a lot of naps if we are going to have teenagers around the house.

Yesterday we put away Christmas decorations, took care of some nagging errands, Mike and I went out for lunch together (one last day-time date before returning to our routine / the chain gang), and had a family dinner all together at home (Mike is usually gone for week-night dinner because of his work schedule). 

We had a good break. But it is always refreshing to get back on track... in many ways.

Some of the kids weren't sold on going back to school this morning, especially when we woke them up for 6:30 scripture reading. But by the time we got on the road, I think they were even excited.

A hilarious story about Jess on the ride to school this morning...

A little background: Jessie has been accused regularly of being WAY too perky when she answers the phone. Like, you-might-think-she-is-being-sarcastic-and-rude perky. 

So, I was talking to Noble about bands and drummers (he got a set of electronic drums for Christmas), and Jessie interjected, "How about Neon Trees? Their drummer is a girl. She's the only girl in the band..."

Me: "Yeah....I just have a hard time listening to their lead singer. He's SO intense. I think he's trying too hard."

Jess: "Well, maybe that's just how he is. Maybe he can't help it...Like me on the phone." It was a good point.

I was laughing so hard I could barely breath. For the rest of the drive we were all (including Jessie, lest you think we were having fun at her expense) making jokes about Jessie's phone voice. (She is seriously so awesome.) 

Anyway, happy New Year!

I couldn't resist sharing this rad photo of the kid next door who came to play with Sully. She was standing there like this when I opened the door. Awesome.

I'm not sure what the year will bring for us, but I do know that if we just  keep pressing on a little farther, it's going to get good.

First day of post-Christmas break...the big kids gone to school. A quiet morning with these two angels.