lavash crackers

As bread recipes go, this was quite easy. First of all, it did not require a sponge or a soaker, so that meant that we could eat the crackers the same day I started making them. Of course, the crackers in the picture below look exactly perfect. Now that I'm a cracker veteran, I'm thinking that the cookbook photographer gave an extra spray of water--or shellac--to make them look so shiny.


the ideal basket of crackers [picture from the book]

The hardest part was rolling the dough out to approximately 12x15 inches so that it would fit in my sheet pan. I had to trim some of the dough off because it hung over the edges of the pan.


my 12 x 15 inches of dough--exactly!

One disappointing thing--other than the lack of shininess--was that the crackers didn't brown evenly. The edges browned more quickly and in the center, the crackers were just not as crisp. Next time I will roll the dough out even thinner and then bake it in two shifts. That should make for crisp crackers!


fresh from the oven

Here's the finished product. The topping is a combination of sesame and poppy seeds and kosher salt. Since I didn't have a wire basket, I put them in my kauri wood bowl that I brought back from New Zealand.


bowl of crackers

here comes the bride

My cousin's daughter is getting married soon, so my mom and Kathy hosted a wonderful shower for about 26 people. As you can see, they really outdid themselves when it came to preparing the food.

Of course, there were pictures of the guests, but the tarts and strawberries granted immediate permission for me to post their likenesses on the internet!


pie!--special request of the bride-to-be

slight diversion

Over the past couple of days Colin and I have been collaborating on his webpage. Colin has provided the content and I am providing the design. Warning: this is a work in progress. Some links do not work,and I have posted to the web even though the site is unfinished.

panning for gold

Here's what $1.76 will buy: a vast improvement on my previous sieve. This device makes it much easier to extract the wheat bran from the germ. Since wheat bran is a main ingredient in the current family favorite Multigrain Extraordinaire, it only made sense to shell out the dough (pun intended . . .)


my new sieve

bit by bit

It's official. I've paid my $5 and have committed to running a triathalon at the YMCA. Oh, by the way, it's done "bit by bit." Here is how the game works: in six-weeks, I will swim 2.5 miles (88 laps), bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles. Everyone's progress is kept on huge charts by the front desk, so anyone who walks by can keep track of each participant's commitment.

It's a big step for me, but it pales in comparison with our friends Tom and Lydia from California who run half-century races. That means that they run as many as 50 miles without stopping--even for basic bodily functions. (I vividly recall one memorable conversation where we discussed the logistics of "going while on the go." Mmmmmmm.)

french bread redux

the finished product

This is the first time that I have repeated a bread recipe. It is also the first time that I have made a mistake. Fortunately, with my vast baking experience, I was able to recover from the potentially catastrophic consequences by "mama macgyverin'" through the crisis. [see prior post on this subject] The stakes were high, as bread baking goes--after all, I had already invested a day in the pate fermentee and the bread was expected for a family dinner in Springfield that same evening.

My mistake? In an effort to follow the directions precisely, I had taken the temperature of the water I was to add to the dough; because it was a little cool, I added hot water, thinking to myself that I would get rid of the excess. The next time I thought about it, my dough was swimming in nearly twice as much water as the recipe required. It was one of those moments where time slows down--as does sound. Noooooooooooooo. Keeping in mind that ancient peoples did not have measuring equipment to make their daily bread, I added flour and what I thought to be a proportionate amount of yeast and salt until the dough was tacky but not sticky, as the directions indicated.

Now I had way too much dough for making baguettes, as planned (constrained by the size of my oven, only two racks, and the single sheet pan that I own). Plan B: make two boules and hope that they don't merge into each other while rising.


parchment paper proofing

P.S. the bread was . . . excellent!