I'm back to posting over at the daily notes blog. I actually have a plan up there this morning instead of just the jottings of what we did. I've had a little too much fun with Google Calendar in the wee hours of the morning lately. We'll see how long this lasts;-). Stop in over there, say hey, and let me know what your planning tools are this year.
This is for Jen:
I made this every other day for years, using a Bosch mixer. And yes, it was way too much of a good thing. I am now very allergic to wheat flour. But it is wonderful bread and a very reliable recipe.
Daily Bread
4 cups water -- 110 degrees
2 tablespoons yeast -- SAF instant is best
about 9 cups whole wheat flour, more or less (I sometimes use a
multi-grain
blend) I grind my own flour from Golden 86 wheat
½ cup vital gluten
½ cup olive oil
½ cup honey
2 teaspoons sea salt
In a large mixing bowl (I use a Bosch) place warm water, SAF yeast,
honey, oil, gluten, and 5 cups flour.
[If you are soaking overnight, just add water flour, honey and oil to
the bowl. Be prepared to use a little less flour than otherwise in the
morning. You have to play with this. Then add the yeast and gluten in the
morning and proceed.]
Stir to mix well, then cover and let sponge one or two hours, more time
makes the bread sour and sort of rancid and not in a good way. The
shortest sponge time is about fifteen minutes. I've done this in a pinch. Any
shorter, and the yeast won't be developed enough.
Stir to punch down; add salt. (I tend to forget the salt-without salt
your bread will over-rise. Salt checks the yeast. So, put the salt bottle on top of the covered bread while it's sponging, that way you won't forget.) Mix to blend; add 2 cups
flour and turn mixer on low. Add flour by 1/2 cupfuls until dough
cleans the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky. Knead on low speed 6-8 minutes. The
flour amount is approximate; use only enough flour to cause the dough to
pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl. Do not add more flour. The dough
should be a little sticky and you should require oiled hands to work with it.
Let dough rise in covered Bosch bowl about 30 minutes until doubled. Turn
machine on to punch down, let rise again in the bowl, then remove from bowl to
oiled counter, divide into four pieces.
Form loaves and place in greased and floured loaf pans (the smaller
ones, not the real big ones).
Let rise in warm oven (turned off) until 1 1/2" above the rim of the
pans.
With loaves still in oven, turn oven on and bake at 350 degrees for
about 30minutes.
Remove from oven and cover with clean towel to soften crust, if desired.
We've just come to the end of the first week of school for children in our town. Since we don't send our children to school and we don't "school at home," it wasn't our first week of school--at least that's what I keep telling myself. This week:
We celebrated Grandma's 80th birthday with the cousins. It was a very sweet time. It just so happened that it was Karoline's last "month birthday"--she's officially eleven months old. The next one is a biggie!
The college boy came home for a quick visit. He reclaimed his Sox hat and tried to claim the block stacking title. He was pretty impressive, but Christian reached the highest heights.
Everyone came down with a nasty cold. The nebulizer once again took up its seasonal song. I met the new doctor in our practice. My dear, veteran doctor and good friend is fighting a losing battle with breast cancer. Please pray for her.
The new doctor and I became buddies. I made several trips to the doctor and spent a several hundred dollars on medications to ensure my children will breathe through the fall. I willfully brushed away my irritation at having to pay to breathe and instead prayed for two friends whose children's breathing problems are not so easily fixed with medicine.
The washing machine broke on Monday night. Three or four times a day, all week long, I drove my laundry up the street a mile and lugged it up two flights of stairs to wash it at my friend Mel's house. Then, I lugged the wet laundry back down the stairs and back home. I have biceps. And triceps.
I called the washing machine guy no fewer than six times this week. His voice mailbox is now full. I filled it with desperation.
I bought paper diapers.
Nicky was devastated by his inability to build block towers of any commendable height. We distracted him with Connectagons. Way cool. 
The girls fell in love with Cicely Mary Barker and the little boys discovered Elsa Beskow. I think we are about to ditch the Colonial America plans for a woodland fairy rabbit trail.
I watched my friends' little boys on their packing day. And their moving day. Sure hope they didn't take our colds with them to Florida.
Christian did some math. I am certain of this because Teaching Textbooks allows me to check his progress with a click of the mouse. I think I have found math heaven.
I managed to make Indian food on the feast of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
We read the book for the feast on the morning after the feast.
We had the tea and sweets for the feast at 9PM on the evening after the feast. We never got to the craft. Oh well, I get points for trying, I think.
In an act of utter insanity, I decided this was a good week to get Karoline's first set of shots. A faraway friend's recent tussle with Pertussis and the counsel of the new doctor led me to go ahead and do it. News flash: Karoline is 1 in 1000 who would scream for three hours or more. What's the chance of three of my children being those 1 in 1000 children? This is a purely rhetorical question. Please don't attempt to teach me math. Whatever the chance, that's the reality. I'm just grateful it wasn't worse.
We spent an hour or so of quality time drafting for Family Fantasy Football. I'm glad we made sure to do the important stuff;-). Yes Michael, you missed it. No worries, Katie picked for you;-).
The long awaited art supplies arrived and I fell in love with Lyra pencils.
Mike hit the road for the first installment of Monday Night Football. Yep. It's officially the beginning of a new season. School or not.
And Monday will come again, right? And we can start "real school" then? Maybe not.
Karoline received a package in the mail yesterday--her first pair of shoes with soles! Her feet were very happy and she sends along a smiling "thank you" to Mrs. Quigley.
Now, I really look forward to Michele's promised tutorial!
If I am lucky, I can be outdoors on a rare late summermorning and I can feel just a little hint of autumn in the air. And it will make me smile. I’m not doing the jig the lady did the other day in the supermarket when she was asked how excited she was to send her children back to school. My children don’t go to school. But I am thrilled to be settling at last into the rhythm of the autumn.
St. Michael and the archangels are celebrated on September 29th, which happens to be my son Michael’s birthday. Devil’s Food cake served with tiny cocktail swords and cinnamon hot chocolate are standard St. Michael’s fare at our house.
On the evening of this feast, I'm halfway through birthday week. And I am so looking forward to a long soak in the tub with this soap and this lotion and this candle (St. Therese Scent). These were gifts from a very kind person who might have heard my six-year-old mention (sort of loudly) that Saintly Soaps were the raffle prize I wanted most at the conference. Oh my! These are truly heavenly. Honestly, I'm not much on cake and sweets, but I have a weakness for nice soap and this might just be the nicest soap I've ever used--worthy of a feast day of my favorite saint of all. If St. Therese has a smell, this is it. When i use it to wash my baby's hair, every time I kiss her sweet head, it reminds me why we named her Karoline Rose.
Honestly, by October 2, we’re beginning to tire of cake. But
cake again it is, because Patrick was born on the Feast of the Guardian angels.
We have angel food cake, topped with chocolate mousse because Paddy loves
chocolate mousse. I think we’ll try our hand at making wool fleece angels that
day and hang them over the children's beds.
Finally, the end of birthday week brings a new twist to our family celebrations. Last year, the Feast of St. Francis on October 4th took on a new significance. Karoline was born that day. We are going to celebrate with an animal themed birthday (thanks to Matilda for the idea). Kara loves dogs, so the children have decided she’ll have a cake decorated with a dog theme. They are excited about painting faces with animal characters. Nicholas was a bit skeptical as we brainstormed, though. He’s wary of St. Francis. “No one will have to get naked on the town green, right?” he asked, looking for assurance. Nope. Not this year.
I'm Elizabeth. I'm a happy wife and the mother of nine children. I grab grace with both hands and write to encourage myself and others to seize and nurture the joy of every day. I blog here with my daughter, Mary Beth, a wholehearted young lady on the brink of adulthood.
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