Episodic Monday

Foggy Monday morning at the Cat Farm:
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I have a rosebud!

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Monday. The fog’s burned off and the morning is sunny and cool.

I’m a little drifty this morning, for some reason. OTOH, yesterday did have its Moments.

Breakfast et — the last two slices from the loaf, toasted, with cheese, and the last of the cherries. A theme. Bread, I can do something about — all the ingredients are measured out and sitting on the countertop, warming to room temperature. I’ll commence in mixing and kneading and whatnot after I sit with my notes and glower at the screen. Cherries will wait on the morrow.

I’m nearly finished writing the scenes I had, ahem, “plotted” and now I need to sketch in some scenes going forward, so I can go forward.

Why is writing a novel like crossing a stream on stepping stones?

Started reading Dragon in Exile last night, which — the beginning is a little rockier than I recall. Of course, I recall that the first scene I wrote was of the traveler arriving at the front door amidst a light summer snowfall, and taking a moment to decide if it would be better to use the palm plate or pull the bell rope.

And! That’s the bell for the third cup of tea, which shall accompany me back to Steve’s office to assist in the Glowering at Screens.

How’s your Monday starting out?
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Did some glaring, did some editing of what I wrote yesterday, added some new words. WIP currently stands at 13,610 words, more or less.

Bread’s in for the first rise, and I? need to find something to eat.
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And Useful Internet Find of the Day: King Arthur — how much does it weigh?

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Does anyone here trade with crows? I seem to have a family in the big pine tree and we might as well get to know each other.

How do I set up a trade station?

What are the drawbacks?
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Yeah, this’ll do

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OK! By request, this is the recipe for the loaf I made today, and by Gumby, Imma make it again, so this is for me as much as it’s for you. Again, I have taken a “Harvest Grain Bread” recipe from King Arthur and adapted it by (1) decreasing by .5 cups the unbleached flour, (2) increasing by .5 cups the wheat flour, and (3) subbing in 1.25 cups of lukewarm milk for .25 cup of dry milk and 1.25 cups of lukewarm water.

If you want the actual recipe, it’s here

BELOW IS WHAT I DID; reflecting the changes discussed above.

2 cups (240 g) (King Arthur) unbleached bread flour
1 cup (113 g) (King Arthur) golden wheat flour (this is what used to be called white whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup (74 g) (King Arthur) Harvest Grain Blend
1.5 teaspoons (9 g) table salt
2.5 tablespoons (28 g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1.25 cups (283 g) lukewarm milk (I used skim, cause that’s what I had)
3 tablespoons (43 g) unsalted butter, softened (OR 3 tablespoons (35 g) vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients and knead (via hand, electric mixer or bread machine) until the dough is smooth, elastic, and satiny.

Put dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover bowl with lightly greased plastic wrap, allow the dough to rise for an hour (or let the bread machine complete its cycle). The dough will be puffy, but it will not have doubled. That’s OK.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, shape a loaf, put it in a lightly greased 9×5 loaf pan, cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let the bread rise until the top is about an inch from the top of the pan — between 1 and 1.5 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350F

Bake bread for 35 minutes or until an internal thermometer registers 190F. Take the bread out of the oven, and out of the pan to cool on a rack.

Try not to slice it before it’s cool.

Store leftover bread (yes, there is such a thing), well-wrapped, at room temperature for three days. Freeze for longer storage.

NOTE: The foregoing is canon, but honestly, after the loaf’s cool, I put it in a plastic bag and tuck it in the fridge. If I know I’m gonna be slow on bread use, I sometimes cut the loaf in half, put half in the fridge and half in the freezer.