A Nice Yeast Bread Loaf. 1.26.22

I haven't been making sourdoughs for a while and the culture died. I decided to try a yeast pizza crust using the refrigerator method - flour, water, yeast, salt. Nothing else.  Mix, knead, put into bowl, let rise to double, cover and refrigerate. Can use any time in two weeks, and has better flavor and texture after several days to a week.  The chilling makes the dough more workable and holds in fermentation bubbles for a nice texture.  I made a batch, then thought I'd make a second batch for a loaf of bread, but refrigerate in loaf pan. Otherwise the same recipe.  After taking Rufus for a walk, it was already completely risen so I sprinkled on bagel seed topping and baked 375 for 45 min. This had a great texture and flavor. Even though the topping is just sprinkled on, the flavor is present in the bread slices.

This reminded me of why I always made my own bread. It doesn't keep as long as store bought but is so good, it is used up before molds have a chance to spoil it.

An Orchid Flower.

Last summer, I divided this cymbinium and repotted it. Then it didn't get much care. Nice flowerto cheer up the winter days.

MaltoMeal Muffins. 1.25.22

My mom used to make these many years ago. They were my favorite breakfast muffin. These are made using Malto Meal hit cereal and the usual other muffin stuff (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, oil, egg, milk). The recipe is on the box.

I like to use cast iron and preheat the pan. That gives a crispier muffin bottom and sides. This tasted exactly like I remembered, and brought back memories of being in the kitchen with my mom.

Tabasco Pepper Seedlings. 1.25.22

This is a sign I've been watching seed packs entirely too close. Here are two, barely visible, tiny, Tabasco seedlings beginning to emerge.

It took them two weeks, which isn't bad. I was spoiled by the zesty Jalapeño seeds that took off running so quickly. Maybe they sensed I was discoraged by their slowness :-) I did plant new ones yesterday, along with new Thai Dragon seeds. By the way, just while planting the Thai Dragon seeds I could taste and smell the hotness. That never happened before. Now it's a matter of normal seedling care. They'll stay on the seedling warming mat another week or two, to see if other seeds germinate.

Onion and Shallot Seedling Update. 1.24.22

 The onions and shallots are doing pretty well.   About the same as previous years.

Unknown Shallot, seeds from a planted grocery store shallot.

Ambition hybrid Shallot.

Red Whethersfield heirloom onion. I might plant more of these seeds. They are a long-storage onion.  Edit:  Why think about it?  I went ahead and planted a 2nd container.   That way I wont say, later, "I wish I had planted more".  :-)

Yellow Spanish Sweet Onion, also heirloom variety. Some more seeds germinated. I think they are just old seeds and it's harder for them to wake up. Like me. :-)

Camelot Shallot. These were also old seeds. This is more than enough shallots, but they should keep many months in a cool dry place, so we'll eat all we grow.