last meeting

Ceesa, my baking bread on Tuesday buddy, and I celebrated our last meeting  yesterday.   Well, not our LAST one, just the last one with the kids still out of the house and in school.  We have loads of evil fun plans for the summer.  Yep, Thelma and Louise will be road tripping with the kids to all sorts of fun and educational places.  Mostly touring small farm operations, checking out local water parks, geocaching and whatever else we can wrangle up to keep ourselves and the kids entertained.  If you are interested in hooking up with our posse, give me a call!

Before I list all of the various bread and bread related recipes we made over the past year, I will provide a recap of our celebration day.

The morning began with a trip to la mie bakery.  We arrived in time for brunch, but decided we would have rather come for an early breakfast, back for lunch, once again for a mid-afternoon snack, and finish it off with a dessert for supper.  Oh well, next time!  Ceesa ordered the spinach quiche (which was actually more of a frittata) and a mocha.  I opted for an avocado tartine (deconstructed egg sandwich) and some hot tea.  The food went fast ....... very fast.  We left with an Epi loaf and some dinner rolls in order to appease the family.

la mie sets their bread bounty, hot and fresh from the basement ovens, on a reclaimed marble counter.  You pick the bread you want, slide it in a paper bag and pay at the register.  Good luck getting home before sneaking in a bite or two.

After brunch, we waddled over to a consignment shop a couple of doors down called WORN.  I found a new/used wallet and a pair of capri's for Maddi, all while filling up a dressing room of clothes for Ceesa to try on.  I got a little antsy while she was trying on all those outfits, so I sneaked a picture from my bench.

 

If you have the opportunity, check out this store.  They really do have a great selection of quality consigned clothing.

Next up on the agenda was to visit a T-shirt shop, Raygun, (formally SMASH)  in the East Village.  The sarcastic and humorous (sometimes inappropriate ..... don't click on the link if you don't like naughty language) tees provided ample laughs and entertainment.  As did this sign:

Really? 
On a downtown street? 
With traffic? 
Ack. 

Kitchen Collage was the next store we needed to go and pay a visit.  I seemed to have a mild attack of ::squirell:: syndrome the moment we walked in, but rest assured, I was cured by the time ........... well okay; I was never really cured, but we did have a good time.  Oh! And, I had an opportunity to wax poetically about the benefits of soaking your grains.  Seriously! The owner was interested. I swear! 

I was so focused on the goods in Kitchen Collage I forgot to take photos.  So, here is a web picture of an item I purchased:

10 points to the first commenter who knows what this is used for.

Our final destination was La Tapatia (no link), a small Mexican market in DSM. 

We were searching for a tortilla press to share between our kitchens, and were pleasantly surprised to find some on the cheap; so we splurged and each bought one.  Now we can have fresh baked and relatively circular tortillas anytime we want!

You know, circle ones.  

Not um ........ bear-skin-rug shaped ones like we made the first time.

Sadly, time flew too fast and it was time to get back in order to pick up the children on time.  sigh 

And that is the end of my story.  Well, it could be if I really wanted it to be, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the utter and complete strength it took Ceesa to not whack me over the head with a cast iron tortilla press.  You see, sometimes I have a bad very bad habit if taking my silliness to the next level and crossing over to the dark side.  Luckily for me, Ceesa knows this about me and dutifully warned me before heading into the Mexican grocer that I needed to b-e-h-a-v-e myself.  Harumph.  I didn't even DO anything when Ceesa spun on her heal and left me in the produce section.  What? 

 I was simply admiring the produce

Now I can end the story.


Shoot, no I can't because I haven't listed the things Ceesa and I made while meeting on every other bread baking Tuesday during this almost past school year.

- glorious and bountiful white bread (loaves and rolls)
- not so glorious and bountiful pumpernickel loaves
- perfectly holey ciabatta
- 10 minute french loaves and rolls
- tortillas
- butter! (I know ..... this shouldn't count but hey; we made butter, people!)
- pizza dough
- and the pièce de résistance:  the CONFIDENCE to do it on our own!  

*all were made from basic ingredients and kneaded by hand.


If I had the time or energy at this point, I would go into and explain the theory that we have only just begun.  This project is BIGGER than us and is LEADING us to keep our minds open and the patience to see where it takes us.


Now, go break some bread with someone!

road trip

It's 'baking bread on Tuesday' here at three thirty three!  As you may recall, my friend Ceesa and I get together every other-ish Tuesday to learn together the art of making homemade bread.  Now, we are talking flour in the hair, muscles sore from kneading, proofing yeast kind of bread making.

Not that there is anything wrong with bread machines or pre-made mixes!  We just wanted to start from scratch and bake like the old days.  Learn a new-to-us skill while nourishing our families. Baking in community of a friend is a powerful thing, people.  Mistakes oven happen in double and successes are celebrated with jumping high-fives.

Ahem; back to today, Tuesday.  Ciabatta was on the menu and I had already planned to make a white chili to accompany the bread.  The bread requires an 18 hour (yes HOUR) first rise, so we had to plan ahead accordingly.  Since we wouldn't actually need to bake together, Ceesa and I decided to take a road research trip to seek out the freshest ingredients possible for our meal.

Thelma and Louise, mommy style with minivan and MapQuest, we headed north to Wheastsfield Coop.  We ooooooo'd and aaaaaaaa'd and fondled the freshest produce we'd seen since summer.  

So many colors and textures and smells and all NOTHING like Wal*Mart.  The prices surprised me, some higher than I'd expect while others much lower than I would have thought. It was good to see, though.  All a part of my baby-step plan to change how I purchase and prepare foods for my family.

I can't quite go the ToFurky route just yet, but I will say Ceesa Louise may or may not have purchased something of the like to fake out her family tonight.

 

HeHe.  Teese = fake cheese.  HeHe.  Neither Thelma nor Louise purchased any teese.  I promise, Honey.

As you can see, our research was both difficult and strenuous.  We needed to refuel at the deli counter with 'garlic lovers pasta salad' and 'blackened chicken salad'.  We sure took one for the team by trying out all of these healthy new foods on ourselves before serving them to our families.  Selfless servitude, yup.

I did find it funny that we had to be home by a certain time to prepare our ciabatta bread for it's second rise.  I mean, what would the purpose of our road research trip BE if in the process we ruined our bread.  We may be wild, but we are not crazy.  

 

Mmmmmmmmm.  This was mighty fine bread.  Look at all of the nooks and crannies just waiting to be filled with butter or jam or cheese or garlic or mayonnaise or ..............  you get the point.  

As Ben would say; this bread is goodness.

rise and fall

(this post was written on Tuesday, however, not posted until Wednesday)  
 

Today is Tuesday.  It also happens to be the 'other' of every other Tuesday.  Do you remember what that means?  

It's 'Baking Bread Tuesday' with Ceesa!  On the menu today is Creamy Tomato Soup from the recipe pages of Panera, served with homemade asiago cheese rolls.  For desert, a piping hot loaf of white bread.  Can we say carb coma?

For our base dough recipe this week, we are following instruction from an extremely intelligent and famous source ......... YouTube.  Specifically, Connie Q's Cooking How to Make Home Made Bread parts 1-4.  Now, don't be going and giving Ceesa credit for this fantastic find.  I stumbled upon it all by myself, thank you very much.  If I learned how to cut layers in hair from YouTube, the bread baking tutorials must be fabulous.

Looking good so far!  

Hey, I never said it was pretty.  Apparently you must have arms of steel to be able to hand mix the dough with enough flour to avoid this sticky mess.  Little side note here, I left Ceesa in this messy predicament in order to drive back to my house for some more flour.  This is why you must never bake bread alone.  Far, far too dangerous.

While the bread dough was rising, we moved on to the soup.  Well, actually we stopped to rock out to LEGO Rock Band.  Then we ate some lunch.  THEN we moved on to the soup.  Ahhhhhhh, creamy tomato soup ........ I can taste it now . 

Wait, why does the recipe call for baking soda?  And, what happens if the milk DOES curdle?  Season to taste?  I doesn't say how long to simmer?  Why is the 'soup' pink instead of red?

Yeah, not so much what we expected. At some point Ceesa turned to me from the stove and asked if we could give up and 'call it' now.  HA!  This was what was left once the soup hit the sink.

Time of Death:  1:47pm ish

Plan B.   ALWAYS have a plan B

Really though, the soup was just an accessory to the main players of the day.  It didn't stand a chance against these gorgeous buns.

Asiago Cheese Rolls.

And last, but certainly not least; the one who started it all, the reason we meet on every OTHER Tuesday, the star of the show, may I present: (drumroll please)

Our big, bountiful loaf of bread.

Now, I must excuse my self to go and break it.  Then smoother it with buttah.