Vanessa's Recipe based on Sharon's Homemade Bread

This recipe is from Vanessa's personal cookbook. Here is a picture of her with bread she baked a few days before she baked bread for our writers' party:

Vanessa & Stacia at Cohousing

 

My Healthy Homemade Bread

1 loaf	2 loaves	Ingredients
1 ½ cups	3 cups	Warm water
½ cup	1 cup	Hot water
2 Teaspoons	1 Tablespoons	Yeast
3-4 cups	7 cups	Bread Flour
¼ cup	½ cups	Chia Seeds
2 Teaspoons	1 Tablespoon	Salt
1 Tablespoon	1 Tablespoon	Sugar
3 Tablespoons	¼ cup	Flax seeds or Hemp seeds
¼ cup	¼ cup	Pumpkin seeds or Sunflower seeds

Directions

One Loaf	Two Loaves
Put the warm water, yeast, 2 cups bread flour into mixing bowl & mix for 10 minutes or more.	Put the warm water, yeast, 4 cups bread flour into mixing bowl & mix for 10 minutes or more.
Put the chia seeds in hot water to soak until the water cools a bit.	Put the chia seeds in hot water to soak until the water cools a bit.
Once the water is cool enough, put the soaked chia seeds into mixing bowl.	Once the water is cool enough, put the soaked chia seeds into mixing bowl.
Put the salt, sugar, flax seeds or hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds into mixing bowl.	Put the salt, sugar, flax seeds or hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds into mixing bowl.
Put 1 cup of flour into mixing bowl and see. Put ½ cup more flour into mixing bowl and see. Put ½ cup more flour into mixing bowl.	Put 1 cup of flour into mixing bowl and see. Put 1 cup more flour into mixing bowl and see. Put 1 cup more flour into mixing bowl.
Set the timer for one hour.	Set the timer for one hour.
Once the timer dings, oil the cast iron pot.	Once the timer dings, oil the cast iron pots.
Create a flour bed for the dough.	Create a flour bed for the dough.
Knead the dough until it is not sticky on the outside.	Knead the dough until it is not sticky on the outside and divide in half and put flour on the sticky ends of the two loaves.
Put the bread into the cast iron pot and cover for half an hour or until it doubles in size. Whichever comes first.	Put the breads into the cast iron pots and cover for half an hour or until it doubles in size. Whichever comes first.
Set the oven to 425°F	Set the oven to 425°F
When the oven is at 425°F, put the pot into the oven with the lid on for 20 minutes.	When the oven is at 425°F, put the pots into the oven with the lid on for 20 minutes.
When the 20 minutes is up, take the pot out of the oven and take the lid off the pot.	When the 20 minutes is up, take the pots out of the oven and take the lids off the pots.
Put the pot back in the oven for 22 minutes.	Put the pots back in the oven for 22 minutes.
When that time is up, take the pot out of the oven and shake the pot to loosen the loaf so it is easier to transfer to a cooling rack.	When that time is up, take the pots out of the oven and shake the pots to loosen the loaves so it is easier to transfer to a cooling rack.
Place the bread onto the cooling rack and let it cool.	Place the breads onto the cooling rack or racks and let it cool.
Now it is ready to eat.  :)	Now it is ready to eat. :)

Summers End

When I was a wee sprat in elementary school, we knew – we absolutely knew – that each September our first assignment would be to write an essay: What I did on my Summer Vacation. Since I may be approaching my 2^nd childhood, I thought I’d best get a jump on it before Labour Day Weekend is come and gone. Herewith, the first installment.

July: Steve Hannamon and the Brown Bros in the Park.

This performance was in Pioneer Park, where the statue of George Gibsons always keeps a eye on us. Not that the older generation calls this space: Pioneer Park. The local kids starting calling it Needle Park after the 1971 movie The Panic in Needle Park with Al Pacino. I can’t say that I have ever heard that there was a huge heroin scene happening here, but had there been, a public washroom would have made it feel as if it could have.

On this Saturday. there were only two of the usual three Brown Bros: Bruce and Struan. They were joined by Steve Hannaman on vocals and guitar and John Bently, on percussion. Mike McMillan gave me permission to share his photos.

Graham Walker did a great job on sound. Each instrument came through cleanly, with warmth, and at the same time the volume was loud enough to make people feel like moving to the beat, but not so loud that my aging ear drums complained. Even babies were grooving to it.

As many of you know, I am always required to have Kinga in my pocket when she is unable to attend such events. This is some of what she saw when she was peeking out of said pocket. Oh, and she also really enjoyed the gelato ice-cream that I bought for us. It was called Seven Layers of Heaven. Aptly named. Mike’s Gelatto in Lower Gibsons is where you go to get one for yourself. It goes with the music. Enjoy.

Steve - a bundle of energy and talent - the chemistry between him and my brothers is always great. He is infectious - in a good way.

Struan - whose riffs were hot. Often the harmonica isn't heard, but the sound balance was perfect this day. A man sitting next to me said That guy is good. Is he your husband?.

Bruce who not only recalls more lyrics than should be remotely possible, and also writes his own songs which are also well worth the candle.

L-R Bruce, Struan, Steve - and hidden behind Steve is John on percussion.

 

 

 

Fruit Fly Flan

This hardly seems worthy of a blog, but after all, it is summer.

After our invited guests left for various ferries on Monday, we were left with our uninvited guests: the dreaded seasonal fruit flies.

So, what’s a gal to do? I checked out the fruit which was mostly still sound, cut up the good bits, and came up with what I will forever now call a Fruit Fly Flan. Since no fruit flies were harmed in making of this flan, it is even vegan-friendly.  Even better - it was also the essence of simplicity to prepare.

This is all I did: I rolled out one pie’s worth of pastry and placed it in a pie plate. Then, I laid down a tranch of fruit and covered it with a very light dusting of flour and sugar. Then, I added another layer of fruit, more flour/sugar, and another layer of fruit, and so on. Bake at 375 F till done (about 45 minutes). Serve as is, or with yoghurt or whipped cream.

Stupidly simple. My kinda pie.

Summer Blogs

I will get back to blogging on weightier topics in a week or so, but hey – it’s summer, and yesterday, was so much fun, that I have to share it. My peak moment was when Vanessa showed up with bread she had baked to be served as part of our cohousing dinner that night. This was her first ever public baking. It was so good that one person even asked if she could give master classes.

L-R Angela, Vanessa, The Moi, Stacia.

As for The Sisters of Mercy, who cooked the rest of the meal for Cohousing that night, we also prepared and plated 36 servings of Salad Niçoise with corn on the cob & the aforementioned bread served as sides. Since we are rank amateurs - except for Stacia - I do feel comfortable bragging a bit about it. The three of us rocked – at least in my version of it all.

The Sisters of Mercy in the Coho kitchen.

Also worthy of note is that thanks to the availability of ample fresh produce, grown and harvested by the cohousing gardeners, we didn’t have to stint, and were able to include fresh tuna and anchovies without going over budget (NOTE: Smoked cheddar for the vegetarians). To top it off, we served Eileen’s Rhubarb Lunar Cake for dessert.

In spite of all of the above, it felt like heaven to be able to sit down after preparing this meal. It was so sweet that Ron had reserved seats for the three of us so we didn’t have to think about it. My sixty-six year old feet thank him. And as always, Angela and Stacia are amazing to cook with. Focused, fun, and indomitable. They always have my back, even when I make outlandish culinary choices, or – as is my wont - lose focus mid-way through the afternoon.

For those cohousers who were unable to join us, not to worry. A year from now, when we have forgotten how much work it was, we will likely do it again. Maybe I will even try baking our bread in my brother Struan’s new outdoor oven. His daughter has crafted the exterior so it looks like a dragon and the wood smoke comes out of its nostrils.

One more thing. I have a confession to make, even though Julia Child always advised: Never apologize. In a moment of distraction, I omitted adding the eggs to the cakes. In hindsight, this may have turned out to be a good thing since the result received rave results. As Louis Pasteur put it, chance favors the prepared mind. Let’s pretend for a moment that I possess a prepared mind.

Now, I realize that my discovery is not on a par with Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin. This came about when he didn't clean up his lab table before going on vacation one day in 1928. He returned to find that there was a strange fungus growing on some of his cultures. The next thing you know, we now all have penicillin. In my case, the discovery is a much more modest one.

My discovery is simply that I now know that I can probably adapt this recipe to a vegan friendly version.Baby steps. Always baby steps. At least for The Moi.