Cooking geeks, behold!

So, this weekend I decided that I wanted to try my hand at a home-baked loaf of bread. We got some flour and yeast and, already having the other two ingredients on hand – water and salt – forged ahead with my plan.  Many thanks to my friend Dave who, as a professional cook, had some sage advice about making bread.  He gave me a really simple recipe to try, and I did so.  The bread, while EXTREMELY crusty (too much steam in the initial stage), was also extremely tasty.  I had sort of forgotten how much I really like super-fresh homemade bread.  Also, I really liked making it.

I saved half of the dough from this batch in the fridge to bake later, which I did last night, and which also turned out remarkably tasty.  I still have some of that bread left tonight, so, instead of making a freash batch of dough tonight, I am in stead trying my hand at (Dun dun DUUUNNN!!!) a preferment.  This is where you mix up some flour, water, and a little yeast ahead of time and let it fizzle and bubble and soak together.  The intention is to give your bread a more complex flavor and a somewhat longer shelf life, though I’m not sure how this latter is achieved.

Instrumental in my learning even this much were the lessons over at The Fresh Loaf, which I intend to read more of and experiment with unashamedly in the kitchen

So, tomorrow I will mix up another batch of dough and bake some more bread.  This time, my intention is to use about 1/3 whole wheat flour, and to add a little molasses to enhance the flavor of the whole wheat.  I put the whole wheat flour in the preferment, thinking that if any flavors were going to be enhanced it should be that of the flour with more flavor.  Make sense?  I’m totally excited!

In other cooking and homesy news, since it is going to be super cold tonight (well, cold for Florida) I brought my outside plants indoors, including the earthbox.  The last time it froze, while we were in Mexico in January, almost all of my tomato plants died and the larger of my basil plants was mortally wounded and died just this past week.  Having a box full of dirt in a house full of cats presents an unexpected challenge.  There is now dirt all over the floor and a severely chastised cat under the table in the living room.  I’ve moved my fragile basil plants to a higher place where I hope they’ll be less attractive to inquisitive cat feet.  Compounding matters somewhat I can’t seem to locate our broom and so the dirt remains on the floor.

The rest of the night is for studying math and watching the wife play Dante’s Inferno.  And maybe checking on my preferment somewhat obsessively.