New Ingredient

I think I'm getting this baguette thing down pretty well now.  My latest bread-related purchases were heavy duty reusable bread bags and of course the diastatic malt powder, and I tried them both out this weekend.

Yesterday, with diastatic malt powder added.

I wanted some kind of bread bags for freezing and for transporting, like taking bread down to my Mom, since I was using so much plastic wrap.  I think what I got will work well, but I may try to make the loaves a bit shorter as the standard bag length seems to be 18" and the baguette is about 16".  They fit, but barely enough left to twist and tie well.  

I tried the malt powder for the first time yesterday and it did seem to make the crust more golden and, well, crustier.  It is very good bread and we couldn't help but snack on a whole one yesterday.  The other two are in the freezer in one of the new bags along with the last loaf from what I made a week ago.  The malt powder package called for 1/2 to 1 teaspoon for every 3 cups of flour, and this recipe calls for about 3 1/2 cups so I used a full teaspoon, but I may try using just a half next time.  On a side note, I much prefer recipes in grams and weigh my flour and water, plus the other ingredients when I can, but I do use the teaspoon and tablespoon for smaller amounts.  Overall, I am very pleased with the results and it has me wondering what other bread I could make and use this in.  I'm open to suggestions!

Last weekend's bread.

I don't have a baker's lame but I'm finding a sharp serrated blade works well.  You can see how I've been trying different cuts.  I've found that the longer cuts tend to flatten the loaf a bit and I should try to keep the cuts above the 'shoulder,' as well.  The shorter cuts in the middle loaf of the top picture are less dramatic looking but seems to work out the best

I've also decided I'm not going to spend my time on hamburger or hot dog buns as what we get from the bakery is good so I just don't think it's worth my time and effort.  I've been making baguette almost every weekend recently and can still make other breads when I feel like it, and that's enough for now.  Cheers, everyone.

Weather, Baking and Work

Today's weather report is seasonable temperatures and mostly cloudy, still long pants and jacket weather.  On Sunday we had very light snow flurries at times, still.  But the plants know what time of year it is and are coming in well.  I've even seen signs of mowing around town the last couple days.  Our lawn is getting green but always begins getting longest around the edges, so I will be strimming before mowing, but not until the weekend, maybe.

I've been baking baguette lots, even took some down to my Mom the other day along with some jam swirl bread that I made with orange marmalade this time.  I'll be making more baguette this weekend, almost a weekly thing now, but I ordered some diastatic malt powder to try adding this time.  It's supposed to help the rise, crust and flavor.  If you've baked with it let me know what you thought!  I'm hoping to keep improving and I hope this helps.

Here are our red tulips, flowering amidst tiger lilies in front and alium in back, both coming in nicely.  I took yesterday and today off to get away from work.  Things have not been going well and I have been looking at other jobs.  I just hate to have to start over somewhere else but I can't see staying where I am, either.  Not sure what will happen, only time will tell.

Have a good week, everyone.

Sun, Wind, Snow, Now Hail

No matter what the month, the weather this spring has certainly been interesting.  This was the start of the hail about 11 this morning.  It went on for a few more minutes but it was cold and I was getting wet!

I know I've been mentioning the weather a lot lately, including 4 days in a row now, but it seems it's been more noteworthy for us than normal this year.  We don't often have 12 inches of snow in a day any time of year, let alone in March, and hot summer days in April are just as rare.  Tornado season is coming soon, let's hope we don't get one of those.

Has your spring seemed pretty normal where you are?  Have you had anything like these extremes?

Garden Trail Camera Video

I brought in the trail camera from the garden area to see what it may have captured, and it did capture a few interesting shots.  I changed the setting to just video hoping it would trigger better and it seemed to work.  So here's a few shots from the past week or so of critters small and big and other minor activity.

The squirrel at the beginning is just being very still, it seems the camera must make some small sound when activated as I've seen all animals notice before.  It didn't capture any of the snow the other day and the sun angle gives it a funky hue in the afternoons.  I didn't take any pictures of the firepit last Friday night, but the trail camera did.  The large flames are when I throw the black walnut leaf twigs on the fire, the same stuff I was raking up earlier in the video.  And it ends with an unknown cat on the prowl in the back yard early this morning.  I don't really like the background music, it seems to jump a bit for some reason between clips. But I'm no editor and don't want to spend any more time so it is what it is.

Now, where to place the trail camera next?

Snow Lately

This is what we woke up to this morning.  It started snowing yesterday afternoon off and on, not sticking until overnight, and it continued until about midday when it also started melting faster.  It's almost all melted by now, but still a very chilly day out there today.  It will get more reasonable starting tomorrow, but it may be some time again until we see real nice weather like we had.

No Snow Lately, Anyway

It was another beautiful day yesterday, enough for us to do a few spring things outside.  First off, the gnome has been put out again on the decaying tree stump.  I'm not sure that will be his home for the summer yet, but he signifies the belief that winter will be gone and the hope that comes with spring.

I had a friend over on Friday night for the first fire pit of the year.  I didn't take any pictures, but fire is fire.  I did notice that I hadn't cleaned out the fire pit at the end of last year, I'm not even sure if I had another fire or not after getting another face cord of wood late last year, the way the weather went.  So no pictures of Friday night's fire but I cleaned it up nicely yesterday.  It still has some loose blocks that I haven't done anything about yet.  They haven't been a problem, but there seems to be more so I should probably try another adhesive and get it done this year.

I also took the cover off the garlic and got most of the straw out that covered them over winter.  We still have to do that to the strawberry bed, but there is time.  The raspberries are coming back well, and already escaping the garden so will have to keep them in check.  And Kate got the bed with the monster oregano plant cleaned up after this picture.  That oregano plant got moved when we remade the gardens and didn't even get replanted but just set down on the dirt in that garden.  It has gotten huge but Kate has talked about cutting it down to a reasonable size this year.  In the top middle of the picture you can see where the trail cam is set up currently, attached to the fence and overlooking the gardens.

Lastly, the skies were interesting on Friday night as the conditions must have been optimal for contrails, shown here across much of the sky.  At least two more were being created at the time of this picture, and a plane had just taken off, upper left, to join in, it would seem.

Today is much cooler and getting colder as the day goes on.  It's been raining off and on, but will turn to snow soon and continue through tomorrow morning so we'll see how much we have when we wake up.  And the foreseeable forecast after tomorrow is seasonable with high temperatures in the fifties.  So the last several days were real nice for us, but also unusual for this time of year.  Okay, time to turn the heat back on...

Spring Weather, Prescribed Burn

The weather is absolutely beautiful, sunny and clear with temperatures in the upper 70's (about 25ºC).  All week looks like we'll be nice until more seasonable again this weekend with temps in the 50's and rain.  But for today, the windows are open and I'm finally in bare feet, shorts and a tee shirt again!  If you want a reminder, just over two weeks ago we had this.

I was able to call in to a meeting during work today so I could walk about the neighborhood for a while, and I discovered that they were in the process of burning off the dead brush along the creek.  I couldn't stick around and watch it all, but I did get a few pictures of the process.   We couldn't even smell it from here, as close as we are, as the wind was blowing the other way, but it is now all blackened and ready for the new crop of wildflowers and other plants to grow.

I'm eager to plant sunflowers, but must wait still until the threat of frost is finally passed, so depending on the weather that may be late this month or sometime in May yet.  But I have plenty of seeds so if I plant early and lose some I can still plant more.  

For now, I'll take these nice spring days when we get them, but I'm so looking forward to more.

Spring Blogday This-And-Thats

It's starting to really feel like Spring around here.  Plants are coming up, trees are budding, and there is a new green hue starting in the lawn.  Even some crocus have survived the foot of snow and hungry rabbits.  I should really have been outside last night having the first fire pit of the year.  I can touch upon that in a bit, but I think there's a few different things in my head to come out.

• Allergy season is upon us, and after years of escalating allergies I'm using Flonase this year.  I started on it about a month ago and it seems to be working as my wife has mentioned her allergies several times recently and so far and I haven't noticed anything, really.  When I think of how miserable I got at times the last few years, well, I really hope this works well for me.
• A month or two ago I was notified by Google that I was halfway to my free storage limit.  A lot of storage left, but it has drastically changed how I take pictures.  I take much fewer and take the time to delete the bad ones now, when I just snapped away without a care before.  But I think my worry may be misplaced.  I'm years away from the current limit at this rate, and my time is finite.
• Okay, weather.  We've taken a turn for the best and will have temperatures up into the seventies later next week.  Yesterday was alternately clouds and sun and got into the fifties, today should be similar.  I considered having the first fire of the year last night but I was tired, it's still pretty damp out in the yard and firepit, and the wind was pushing my limit for a fire.  This evening looks to be better, but I might make other plans on the fly today.
• Also this morning, I'll be making baguette for the 3rd weekend in a row.  Good practice, and really good bread.  If time allows I'm considering making a second kind of bread, as well.  But it being early on Saturday morning it may not happen, honestly.
• And THIS was interesting recently.  First time that's happened to me, has it happened to you?

Oh, and as of today when this posts I've been blogging for 14 years.  In some ways it feels like longer, in others not so much.  I'm glad I still do it, I enjoy the outlet of writing and being somewhat creative at times, and I'm thankful for the few connections I've made that encourage and support what I do here.  After all, it wouldn't really be worth it if no one read or provided occasional feedback.  Thank you.

Snow Removal Time Lapse

I've been pretty frustrated with the trail camera recently, it seems to pick up only what is immediately in front of it and not all the time.  The critters eating the pumpkin worked out well, but several others I tried haven't.  I watched a couple videos on the subject so will have to keep in mind some hints, like not having something closer in the frame than where I want it to look, and I was reminded this trail camera has a time lapse option that I've never used.

I didn't consider using it for the snowfall the other day since we were only expecting a few inches and it started about 3 in the morning, but I did think about it when it came time to clearing that snow.  I didn't post the video earlier because I couldn't figure out how to blur the license plate when I pulled my wife's van into the driveway, but last night I sat down and edited the video to cut off before you can see it, slowed it down a bit, and added some free music in the background.  I know I made a similar video before, but it wasn't quite this much snow - at all.

I placed the trail camera on its little tripod on top of my car in the garage, sorry it's at an angle.  I also just brought it outside so don't believe the temperature - but do see it go down quickly as it acclimates.

You can see I wasn't trying to get it perfect, since I was expecting to have to do it again later.  And when I disappear out front I'm shoveling the walk to the front door, then knocking the snow off the heavily weighed-down arborvitae and clearing the snow off the van which was parked right in front of the house.  It would have been in the driveway to begin with if we knew we were getting this much, but it wasn't so I wanted to get it in the driveway before a snow plow came by.  It took several attempts of forward and reverse to get it back far enough (slightly uphill and through all that snow) to turn into the driveway, but I did it.

About 80% of it is melted already but we are expecting some more overnight as we sleep.  Not sure how much, but it will melt soon from the temperatures and the rain coming in the days ahead.  Out like a lamb, hopefully.

Here We Go Again

There was no snow on the ground when I went to bed last night, and I woke up this morning to heavy snowfall.  The last I heard was to expect 1-4 inches, but we were on the edge so hard to predict.  I mentioned recently that we average 7 inches of snow in March, but it has been an above average year.  We got that in one snowstorm earlier this month, then a few more inches here and there, now about another 9 or 10 inches on top of that.  That's as high as the opening on my snow blower.

This picture was taken just after 8 this morning.  I went out to clear snow about 9, and it finally stopped falling about noon.  Thankfully the ground is warm enough that it's melting now on the pavement so I don't have anything more to clean up.  I expect all of it will be gone in a few days, but as for today, it's a good day to stay in and bake bread.

My last attempt at making baguette was a different recipe and did not turn out that well, it was bland bread shaped like a baguette, so I went back to the recipe I used the first couple times.  My technique has improved in that when I split the dough I weighed it to get it more even between the 3, and my dough handling and shaping technique I feel has also gotten better.  

But I think the biggest improvement is that I had bought a spray bottle so I could mist the loaves and the inside of the oven at the start of baking.  Between that and the pan of boiling water in the bottom it seems I finally got enough steam in the oven to get the golden crispy crust that I've been striving for.  We've just been snacking on one of the loaves, and I should wrap the others and put them in the freezer now.  I'll put a couple more baguette pictures after the break.

*Edit:  Officially, we had 12.1 inches of snow in 9 hours, a new record here for a day in March.

Badgers And Harmony

The Badgers men's basketball team is still playing, even if it is just the NIT, and they played today at 11 a.m.  Today is sunny and finally supposed to get above freezing again after another temperature plunge, so I thought I'd get out of the house and go watch the game at The Harmony Bar and Grill, that I've mentioned here in the past.  A good neighborhood bar, and not too busy during the daytimes, usually.

It was cold when I set out, 25ºF/-4ºC, and I wasn't even actually positive I was going to walk at first, but I didn't do the treadmill yesterday and I felt this was a good alternative today.  A brisk walk, with what breeze there was coming straight down the bike path at me, but in less than 20 minutes I was there.  It was early yet, they open at 11 and the game started immediately at 11.  There were no other customers until at least quarter past noon, and I wasn't even a paying customer until just after 12 when I got food and drink.  The Badgers were up a couple points at halftime by that point, but it was a back and forth game.

I took advantage of no other patrons and got about a 240º or so panorama of the place.  I was first here about 30 years ago, but more often in the last half of that since we've lived nearby.  I won't say his name here, but I don't think the bartender will mind me posting him in this picture.  It continued to be a close game until the end when the Badgers held on to a slim lead to win and extend their season by at least one more game.

On the walk back it was a bit warmer, 35ºF/2ºC, and there were lots of people out and about, on and off the bike path.  Still cold, but we're used to it and I'm sure most have spring fever like me.  Still too early for any activity in the community gardens, which were covered in several inches of snow just a week ago and some dustings since.  The seeds I saved from some type of tall wildflower around here last fall went moldy, so I bought some sunflower seeds I plan on growing this year for the first time and hope to document here.

The rest of this Sunday looks to be a lazy day, relaxing and catching up on reading, videos, or whatever.  I hope you're having a nice weekend, too.

March In Pictures

The day before yesterday I noticed one of the first telltale signs of Spring - crocus coming up all over the back yard.