Tree Canyon

 

Playing around with baking bread

I have started to bake bread, mostly looking for an easy way to incorporate this new habit I 'm trying to establish into my already way-too-busy life. I really like the slow cooker bread recipe located here. However, the 3 hour baking period isn't always the most practical for me. I am going to test out a loaf that stays on warm for five hours and tell you how it goes!

My next attempt will be at following the instructions of the Five Minute Artesan Bread, by by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois . Mother Earth News provides an their master recipe online here, but you should really check out the whole book. It's worth it.





I'm interested in flatbreads and really like the ease of making chappatti's.

The recipe I like is this:

2 cups atta flour or whole wheat sifted flour

1 tsp salt

1cup warm water (Or more as needed)

Mix the flour and the salt. Make a well in the mixture and pour in the warm water. Mix. Turn out and knead for 8-10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper and let stand for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Divide equally into 8 pieces which you then roll, and flatten into 8 inch rounds.

Heat your skillet (I use cast iron) to medium high. Place piece into skillet for ten seconds, then flip over. Cook on this second side until there are small bubbles (approximately one minute). Turn back to the first side for about a minute. It should start to balloon. Apply pressure evenly with a clean potholder when the ballooning starts so that the pocket of air forms evenly. This is sort of fun! If it doesn't work out even, don't worry. It will still taste good. Remove from pan, cover with cloth on plate, and start the next one!

These are yummy for sandwiches, cooked rice and veggies, hummus. So simple it is hard not to have fresh bread every day!

The Silent Depression

United for a Fair Economy has published State of the Dream 2009: The Silent Depression. There is no creativity in direct quotes but since my time is very limited today, this is the background they give in describing this report:

"While the general population has been in recession for one year, people of color have been in recession for five years. By definition, a long-term recession is a depression.

We detail additional evidence that shows the current racial economic inequity, including poverty rates, wealth and assets and economic mobility. While racial barriers did not prevent an African-American from becoming President, they continue to impede many people of color from achieving the same economic success as their white counterparts."

Check it out at: http://www.faireconomy.org/news/state_of_the_dream_2009_the_silent_depression

Overall, 24% of Blacks and 21% of Latinos are in poverty, versus 8% of whites. I hope that we do not choose to remain blind to issues of race simply because we have elected President Obama. Painful issues are still there, obviously.

"Every gun that is made........

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children… This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

— Former U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a speech on April 16, 1953