#they will be baked into a nice loaf of sourdough bread

[marzipanandminutiae]

hi! i just moved to the boston area—i was wondering if you had any basic recommendations for things to do or places to eat that you’re willing to share!

Welcome! Some of my top recs include:

Any museum in the city! I may be biased in this, but we've got art museums, historical house museums, a museum of science and an aquarium...go nuts. Many have free or discounted admission days too, so keep an eye out for that. But if you see me at work when you visit, no you didn't.

Join a library or library network. For books, of course, but also for museum passes and other services

Speaking of libraries, the Boston Public Library is STUNNING. And they have a tea room where you can go and have high tea. It's pricey, but as a special treat, highly recommend

Dunkin has the cheapest Little Cafe DrinksTM in the city. Tatte (TAH-tay, local chain) has the best, in my opinion. Plus their London Fog is only $3.50, so that's nice!

"Locals don't go to Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market" is a filthy lie. QM is like a big indoor food court, perfect for feeding groups with different tastes. Plus...they have a macaroni and cheese stall. Heaven, IMO.

You do not have to take a stand in the Mike's vs. Modern "best North End Italian bakery" debate. Free yourself. Hipsters prefer Bova's anyway.

(But do go to some Italian restaurants in the North End. They're all pretty much excellent)

Do not go to Salem in October. It's insanely crowded.

Do go to Salem any other time of year. It's insanely fun.

Mount Auburn cemetery is gorgeous and garden cemeteries were built to be enjoyed by the living. Take advantage!

Like antiquing? Check out the four-story Cambridge Antique Market right next to Lechmere station. Fun Antiques in Cambridge is good for all your lamp repair needs. The antique stores on Charles and Newbury streets are good for window shopping and weeping internally at the prices.

Pandemonium Books and Games in Central Square is ideal for sci-fi and fantasy titles, as well as tabletop gaming supplies

Don't waste your time at Prudential/Copley mall. It's overpriced, full of chain stores, and depressing.

When Pigs Fly Bread stores have $3 loaves of normally $7 sourdough on Wednesdays. It's delicious and baked fresh daily, so get on that! You can call ahead in the morning to reserve a loaf if you want to be sure to get one.

I've probably got more, but that will be enough to start with. I hope you enjoy the city!

[marisatomay]

I was baking sourdough bread last night as one does and this first one turned out so good like just so beautiful and tall and crisp and look at it ugh she’s gorgeous

But then, in the middle of loaf number two, the power went out for about a minute. It was fine. It came back on. But!! I forgot that the power going out would turn off the oven until about 10 minutes later when my alarm went off to remove the cover on my bread to let it crisp up and I screamed so loud because my baby was probably RUINED! But!! Luckily!! Sourdough bread is baked at such a high temperature that the oven had barely cooled by the time I turned it back on. My bread was saved! She finished her bake and as she cooled she developed these nice little cracks in the crust anyway she’s beautiful I love her

[gauloiseblue]

Hearsay

Though he made the same mistake twice, he soon knew her name through other people's mouth

The town's people seem to take interest in her, as well as him. Whenever he walks through the market, one or two people will stop him, either to ask him about himself, or introduce themselves to him

It was nice and casual, until he told them where he lives

It's a wonder how people's face change when they hear it, and how her name immediately rolls out of their mouth, as if they're all under the same spell

Though he promised not to find out about her, he couldn't help it when people talk about her to an extent

"She's very strange, she doesn't talk too much either about herself."

"That girl is surely pretty. Pretty and mysterious. The kind of woman that mothers tell their sons to stay away from, don't you think?"

"She's a witch, I saw her feeding a black cat everyday, it must be her familiar."

"I think she's a mistress of some gang leader, or a politician. Have you look what's inside her house? You should, and you'll agree with me on this."

She's very kind, she bought my son a huge toy, telling me that it's rare for someone to like… what's that toy's name? Lego. She said it's rare for someone to like it."

"I heard she bought a bull for the cowman down the road, that's why the old man refuses any payments from her."

"She's up to no good. Did you know that she hired a young man to work in her garden? Oh, poor boy, he didn't know he'd get eaten by her."

"She's very misunderstood. Me and my husband almost closed our bakery because we couldn't manage our debt really well, but she helped us when I told her that. She didn't ask for anything, but people kept telling me that she's gonna take my husband. She's not! She just likes our bread. But people wouldn't listen. And because of that, she rarely visited us anymore."

"Oh?" He commented, "Have you talked about it to her?"

"Yes, I told her everything, I even told her that no matter what, I'd trust her more, but she dismissed me, telling me it's not wise." Her face heated up as she spoke, "You might think that I'm a fool, but sir, I can see people's heart. She's very kind, but she's lonely. I think she's been distrustful towards other people for so long, that's why she seems strange."

"Well, she does seem to be in her own world."

"But she's very kind, sir. I can assure you that. I hope you'll see it someday, because I think she really needs a friend."

He smiles, "She already has it. A good friend, in fact."

"Oh." She blushes at his words, "I'm not a good friend sir, I can't even defend her in front of people."

"But you did change my perspective on her." He told her, "I think that's enough proof."

"I'm glad if you do, sir." She smiles, which lets her innocence shine through, "Oh! If it doesn't bother you, sir," She then fumbles on the paper bag and puts a loaf of sourdough and other breads inside, "Do you mind if you give it to her? I know she's been baking her own bread now, but I want to give her something."

"Sure, I'll send your regards to her."

It seems to lighten her mood, and she shouts 'hope you'll come again sir' when he leaves

On his way out of the market, he replays most of his conversations in his head. Even though it's all just gossips, there should be a grain of truth in it, and it tickles him with the fact that he can easily find out about it

After 15 minutes of walking, he catches the sight of her home. It does look mythical from far, maybe that's the reason why the kids in town called her a witch

To his surprise, she opens the door when he knocks. She narrows her eyes when she sees his face

"You've visited my house three times in a row, do you like me that much?"

"Maybe I do." He gives her his smile, "Went to town today, someone from the bakery asked me to deliver this to you."

She picks up the paper bag from him, and furrows her brows when she sees the content

"Oh no… I just made bread today."

"You can always have room for one more."

"No, sourdough won't last that long." She said, "... Guess I have to give it away."

"Give it to me, then."

She eyes him and the paper bag in his hand, "Didn't you already buy one?"

"I always welcome free foods."

She looks at him, before chuckling, "So you're that kind of people." She said, stepping aside, "Come in then."

He takes the offer gladly

The inside of her house is as enchanting as the outside, with statues, colorful rugs, and artworks scattered around the room, making it almost like a museum

The kitchen is also the same, with different kinds of plates and mugs. The gramophone sits on top of the island, playing a familiar song

"You like Prince?"

"I do." She said while checking the oven, "You know him?"

"Big fan of him."

"I didn't take you as someone who likes Prince."

"What's your take on me then?"

"You like metal."

"I do like them."

"That's good." She takes her eyes off the oven, "5 more minutes, and it's done. Have you had breakfast?"

"Not yet."

"Does smoked salmon sandwich sound good?"

"Absolutely."

She pulls the ingredients and the plate, and cuts 2 slices of the baker's bread, lightly toasts them, before assembling the rest of it on top of the bread. He winces when she spreads the cream cheese on top of them, but he knows he has no right to complain

There's a change in her demeanor, as if she's no longer cold around him. Or maybe that's just his pride talking

"Here you go." She pushes the plate toward him, "Hope it's to your liking."

Which, surprisingly, it is. The cream balances the saltiness of the smoked salmon, and the leaves (he has no idea what those are) on top of it gives a slight bitter, but refreshing taste.

She takes the bread from the oven, and put it on a rack to cool it down

While he eats, he watches her unpack the bread from her friend

"She's too generous."

"Who?"

"Liv." She sighs, "I can't possibly eat this many breads. She even gives me brioche."

"You can always share it with other people."

"Yeah," She said, "Mr. Harris likes sweet bread."

She begins to wrap the bread with parchment paper, and ties it up. She then stores the rest of it, except for a small bread, of which she gives it to him

"Liv's brioche is good, you'll come to like it." She told him as she put it in the paper bag, along with her bread

"Thanks a lot, (name)."

"So you've learnt my name."

"Can't help it, everyone in town talks about you."

"Guess it's inevitable then."

Back at home, he unpacks his groceries, along with her bread

Out of curiosity, he slices himself a piece of bread to taste them, and although the sourdough he ate earlier was amazing, something about a handmade bread that makes him warm

Maybe he, too, has been alone for too long

《 Prev | Next 》

[power-handmaiden]

Day 207: The Sentient Bread I Just Baked Is A Lesbian And She Eats My Ass

Ah, back to the topical subjects of mid-2020. This one specifically starts with the rush on bread-making supplies when everyone who was confined to their homes wanted to try their hands at baking. (It brings back surprisingly nice memories for me. I make sourdough bread so it made me feel helpful in an otherwise helpless-feeling time to be able to share my starter when my neighbors couldn't find yeast at the store!)

This tingler also gave me something I wanted that I didn't know I would ever get, some outright discussion of the relation that living objects have to reality, and how they come in to the world with an understanding of it even though they haven't experienced anything yet. Well, on the timeline of this particular tingler, anyway. We've seen several different living foods which all have a different relationship to the idea of being eaten, from the peanut butter in "Bisexually Sandwiched By My Sentient Peanut Butter Husband And Our New Living Jelly Girlfriend" who can't stand the idea of consuming anything with any kind of nut in it, even non-sentient ones, to the handsome living corn (and the beets in the same tingler) who makes his whole living lobbying for his crop, presumably to be consumed. The bread, though, has an existence that transcends whether a single loaf is eaten.

Honestly, this was only discussed for a few sentences of the tingler and the bread only ends up being eaten in the sexual sense during the course of the story, but that existential discussion sparked something in my brain. It feels fitting to bread, conceptually. Bread is an incredibly important construct. The next loaf of bread I make will draw from a colony of microbes I've nourished for years, practice I've built over decades, and knowledge I've drawn from millenia of human experience. Some part of its essence was there in the last loaf, and after it's eaten, and some part of it will return in the next loaf. Just like how Grimla the sentient lesbian bread describes her existence in this tingler.

[avastrasposts]

Sourdough - A Baker's Dozen TedTalk

I’ve mentioned sourdough a few times in A Baker’s Dozen but I never dedicated a chapter to it even though it’s probably my personal favourite to bake. So to make up for that, I’m indulging in making a whole post about my other obsession, sourdough bread!

I love baking with sourdough because the process behind it is like magic to me. Flour, water and salt, three ingredients, and you can get the most delicious bread. The magic, unseen, ingredient is of course those wild yeast bacteria that live around us. 

My mum was always the one who baked sweet things around the house when I was a kid, my dad made the bread. When he first got into it he produced bricks. You legit could’ve used some of his loaves as a foundation for a house. And I’ve produced my fair share of bricks in my baking career too… But he got better and for most of my life I had the luxury of having fresh, homemade bread for breakfast. That’s where my need to make my own bread came from and once I got past the novelty of being “allowed” to buy bread from the store after moving out of my parent’s house, I got into making my own bread pretty fast.  

I started baking with sourdough about ten years ago when I stumbled on a blog about it. My first loaves were flat as pancakes and it took A WHILE before I graduated from baking in bread tins to managing to make loaves that actually held their shape. Sourdough dough does not behave like regular yeasted dough… But when I did manage to make my first proper levain, you know one of those beautiful golden loaves with nice holes and crunchy crust? I ate the whole loaf in one day. I couldn’t stop. Just butter, some sea salt and that was my food for the whole day. I’d never tasted bread so good. It’s tangy and flavourful in a way that yeasted bread just can’t imitate. 

I’m no expert but here is how I make and manage my starter and my bread. Important to remember is that flour, water and climate, especially the humidity, has a HUGE effect on the dough and the bread. No recipe will have the same results and to a certain extent, it’s a process of trial and error and learning how to bake in YOUR kitchen. 

In order to make sourdough, you need a starter and it’s surprisingly easy to make and maintain. I have a tiny starter, only about half a cup in size. The starter is your “yeast”, a small colony of yeast bacteria that you feed and culture so that you have enough for whatever you want to bake. 

The starter takes about 5-7 days to make and once you have it, you can keep it in the fridge and just feed it before you want to bake. 

So to make it you need: 

Organic whole wheat flour, stone milled if you can find it. 

Organic will contain more yeast spores and make the process easier. Don’t use old flour, check the expiration date of the flour you have at home. Flour can actually go rancid and wreck your bread. 

Water

I use tap water but if you live somewhere with chlorinated water, use bottled water. The chlorination will kill all bacteria, the good and the bad. 

A clean jar with a lid. 

It doesn’t have to be a clear glass jar but it’s pretty handy because it makes it easy to see what’s going on. 

Ok, now that we’ve got everything, let’s start. 

Day 1 - Evening

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons tepid water (roughly body temp, maybe a bit cooler)

The amount of water you need to add can vary depending on how your flour has been milled. The mixture should be like gruel, not porridge. If two tablespoons isn’t enough, add a little bit more water until you have a fairly loose and liquid slurry. 

Mix together in the jar, put the lid on top but don’t screw the lid on. Leave for 48 hours in a warm place. Inside the oven (turned off) is a pretty good place. 

You can check on your jar after 24 hours. It’s pretty liquid and should smell warm and a bit sweet, almost like honey. If you see any brighter colours in it, red, yellow, orange, I’m sorry, but you have to toss it. That’s mold and that’s not what we want. So throw it out, start again (this is one benefit of this method, all you lost was a tablespoon of flour). 

Day 3 - Evening 

Ok, so if your flour/water mix is looking good, a bit liquidy, maybe it’s separated a bit, maybe a bit bubbly and frothy, we’re all good for the next step. 

Add 1 tablespoon of flour and mix in. Leave it overnight. 

Day 4 - Morning 

If the starter is on the right track now, you should begin to see small bubbles on the side of it, inside the glass jar. It should smell sour and yeasty, “bready”. 

Add 2 tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of water and mix it in. Leave until evening. 

And that’s it! By evening you might/should see that there’s activity in the jar, bigger bubbles forming, the starter will rise up in the jar and expand, just like a dough. If it doesn’t, feed it 1 tablespoon of water and flour again and leave it overnight. Like I said at the beginning, lots of different factors are at play here so despite the fact that it’s all chemistry, it’s not an exact science (well it is, but since we can’t measure all the factors in each individual kitchen, we need to depend on a bit of trial and error). 

So now you have a starter and can start playing around with making bread. I won’t go into that because there are so many good instructional videos online. I can really recommend Claire Saffitz’s video, I’ll link it below. 

Obviously this starter is very small. Many recipes I’ve seen online call for much bigger starters and then discard half of it when they feed it but that always seems very wasteful to me. So what I do with my tiny little starter is just keep it in the fridge in its jar. When I plan on baking I take about 30 grams of starter and put it in a bowl and mix with 100g water and 100g strong bread flour. That is then the base for my bread the next day. To that mix I add whatever flour I’m baking with. The starter gets fed another tablespoon of flour and water and stays on my countertop overnight. That replenishes the starter and gives me enough for the next time I want to bake. In all, I usually have about 150-200 ml of starter in the fridge at any time. 

If I’m not baking, the starter stays in the fridge. I’ve had it there for a month without feeding (I was away travelling) and when I got home, I just fed it like above and left it out overnight. I had to feed it a couple of times before it got back to full strength. But the yeast bacteria don’t seem to die very easily, they just go dormant and are easily revived with flour and water. 

Fun fact, the actual science behind the yeast bacteria is that they eat the carbs in the flour and then convert that into energy and emit the gas carbon dioxide. The gluten strands in the dough traps that gas and makes the dough rise. So essentially, farts make the dough rise, tiny bacteria farts. I love science :D 

What else did I want to say about sourdough? Oh yeah, TIME! Time will make your bread taste better! And this goes for regular yeasted bread too.  By letting the dough cold proof in the fridge the yeast activity is slowed down but at the same time, flavour develops. With sourdough, you get a tangier, more sour bread. I usually keep my loaves in the fridge for 24 hours before baking them, same for my pizza dough. 

So thanks for coming to my TedTalk about sourdough! It’s amazing and frustrating and a real pain sometimes but when you get it right and you get to cut into that perfect loaf that YOU MADE and it tastes better than anything you’ve had, that’s real magic. 

[becomingkatie]

I spent the holiday in the kitchen baking all day. I made english muffins to use up sourdough discard, and I made Kenny grill brats so I could have an excuse to try making hot dog buns. Not pictured, I also prepped a high hydration boule to bake either tomorrow or Sunday.

Long-winded baking summary below the cut.

English muffins were up first. The discard, flour, and milk were mixed together the night before. Even though it was discard, sitting for that long woke it back up so there was a nice dough in the morning. Then added salt, honey, and baking soda, rested the dough, then cut into rounds and rested again before cooking. I made some mistakes here - namely, not putting enough cornmeal down to keep the dough from sticking to the counters, so when I went to pick up the rounds to cook them they became deformed and I had a rough time. Also, having the skillet too hot at first. They came out a bit tough. I don't buy english muffins regularly so I couldn't tell you how they compare to store-bought, but I'm medium-happy with them. Before bed I scrambled some eggs with cheese and baked them to cut into squares and pre-make breakfast sandwiches to freeze and reheat later.

After the english muffins were done, I had about two hours until my starter was nearing its peak and it was time to make the two recipes using active starter - hot dog buns and a plain ol' loaf of bread. The bread calls for an autolyse, mixing just the flour and water first and letting it sit a while to start the gluten formation before you add in the starter, so the gluten is already formed when the yeast in the starter begins to consume the sugars and produce the gases that will be contained by the gluten and raise the bread. (I think that's how it works?) So I mixed up my flour and water, set my timer, and then raced to get the hot dog bun dough ready before I had to do more stuff with my regular bread dough.

The buns came out feeling a little dense. Also ugly, but that part's less important. The recipe uses both active starter and commercial yeast, but my yeast was really old and may not have been A+, and I may have baked them a little long. Anyway, just like with the english muffins, medium-happy.

The regular bread was making me so happy all day long. During its bulk fermentation stage every time I came by and stretched and folded it to promote gluten development it was just the best texture and so beautiful. But then I went to pre-shape and shape it and it was... a wet pile of mush that did not want to be a ball at all. I basically slopped it into the banneton and now it's in the fridge for a 2-3 day cold proof. My goal there is to get a nice sour flavor. The longer proof is supposed to help with that. But I'm anxious I under-did the bulk ferment trying to keep it on the shorter side since I'm doing a long cold proof. I don't know. Sourdough is one of those things that can be so easy and simple, or you can get really precious about it and try to make everything perfect, and it's still just a tasty loaf of bread. I really want to be able to bake sourdough with a higher water content to get a thinner crust and increase its shelf life, but it's definitely harder to do this higher hydration loaf than my typical "go-to, just need to get a loaf of bread on the table" loaf.

I have a journal where I take notes during my bread baking. I note the ingredients, process, timing of everything. Kitchen temperature. Impressions throughout (how the dough was feeling in my hands at the different stages, how much rise in both proofs, etc.) and then results at the end, and what variables I might want to tweak for the next bake. I can't have a hobby without also turning it into a lab report, I guess! We'll see how this one turns out over the weekend. In the meantime, it's time for me to go eat one of those breakfast sandwiches.

[shoku-and-awe]

New attempt to bake with commercial yeast (instead of sourdough). This bread has a great taste and very nice crust, but I'm not impressed with the crumb and will have to experiment a bit.

I was concerned that we'd just end up eating a whole loaf of (very dense) bread for lunch, but I managed to throw together something really delicious with minimal effort. Sauteed onions and garlic in butter and olive oil, added cherry tomatoes, white beans, stock, a bit of fish sauce, lemon juice, and lots of chili pepper, then once it started tasting good, some chopped spinach.

It is SO good with this bread. If there's leftovers, I might try to thin the liquid and turn it into soup. Soup sounds really good.......

[hummelig]

NOOOOOOO I MEANT BREAD

but yeah sure I'll memorize this valuable information since I wouldn't want to leave such a wonderful creature without a caretaker

Thanks!

Now onto my second try of writing an essay about German bread, because Tumblr deleted the first one :(

First of all, bread is a very integral part of German culture. We have more kinds of bread (over 3,200) and more bakeries than most other countries and our bread culture is party of the UNESCO heritage list.

Bread is traditionally eaten in the morning and on breaks ("breakbread" is the term for anything you eat in work/school breaks"), also in the evening ("evening bread" is also the term for everything you eat at dinner). You also sometimes eat bread for lunch, especially together with soups or sausages.

(stereotypical German breakfast- but let's be real noone has time for that regularly)

So now onto the ✨History✨

Germany was not the country we know to day until unification started in the 19th century, but rather a cluster of small kingdoms and duchies, all with their own culture, dialect and... bread.

(map of "The Holy Roman Empire" aka Germanys predecessor in 1789)

This federal trend continued throughout history- Germany got more and more unified but until today we have 16 federal states, which are also segmented in smaller regions, with their own dialect, culture and food.

Since Germany doesn't have that much sunshine (as opposed to France eg), wheat didn't really thrive here but rye and spelt did!

Bread served as nourishment for the often cold and harsh weather for farmers and also nobles, which is why the heftier and heartier the bread was the better. And we still make bread this way: "sourdough bread made with rye, spelt and wheat flours and packed with grains and seeds." (source at bottom)

Also, something I only learned today is that this trend never really spread through Europe that much! And German settlers apparently also didn't bring it to America because as far as I know, this thing is called bread:

(we call that toast and it really doesn't deserve the title bread)

Today every supermarket (especially by chains like Aldi, Rewe, Edeka, Lidl, Netto etc you get it) have a local bakery in the front of their store.

(They all usually look like this and are at the front of the store. Through another door you enter the actual supermarket. Sometimes they are also in the actual supermarket with no separation.)

They not only sell bread, but usually also pastries and ✨pretzels✨.

"The variety of baked goods can be a little perplexing when encountered for the first time: there’s farmers bread, mixed bread, stone oven bread, sunflower bread, pumpkin bread, five seed bread and so on." (source bottom).

We also honor the "bread of the year"! This year it was Pumpkinseedbread :)

But I think we can all agree that the best German loaf is unarguably my cat, Ruby. <3

Because I will leave Germany to go to Japan for a year, I vowed to learn to bake bread, because in Japan they obviously don't have German bread and also their bread is sweet, apparently. Also it's nice to be able to create things from your culture and also gift it to others!

That said, when anyone here visits Bavaria hmu and if you're not that far away you'll get a free loaf of bread! <3

(I structured this along this text along this article which is also the source for the quotations:

[rj-anderson]

Sourdough Q & A - Open!

A comment from my dear friend @tsfennec​ has reminded me of the pressing need to tell the world that Paul Hollywood and his ilk can take a flying leap with their autolyses and levains and hydration percentages, and anyone else who makes it sound like baking sourdough bread is a terribly delicate and precise art and that your starter will die if you look at it funny. It’s that kind of talk that made me terrified to try sourdough for ages. But now I’ve been baking a loaf a day for the past two years and saving a ton of money -- not to mention sparing myself and my family a lot of yucky stomach-upsetting commercial additives -- I’m only mad that it took me so long.

Among the many myths that have grown up around sourdough, it’s not true that you need to feed your starter daily and throw out 3/4 of it if you aren’t using it right away. If you have a decently active starter, you can feed whatever scrapings of it are left after baking and then bung the jar in the fridge for a couple days, a week, or even more until you’re ready to bake with it again. Unless you neglect it for so long that it turns black and oozy (which can take a month or more), it will be fine.

It’s also not true that “real” sourdough bread has to taste sour. That was another thing that made me reluctant to try it, because I don’t actually love that acid flavour. Turns out, though, the sour tang is easy to avoid if you don’t want it!

It’s also not especially labour intensive. I spend about ten minutes a day in total making my sourdough, and that includes feeding the starter for the next batch. The rest of the time it’s just quietly proofing on the countertop or fridge, or baking in the oven. I can go from flour, water and starter to a nice crusty loaf in about 18 hours, or stretch it out to as much as 30 hours if the last loaf isn’t used up yet. It all turns out tasty in the end!

Anyway, if you’re in the place I was a couple years back, and thinking somewhat wistfully that you might like to try making sourdough but it seems somewhat Complicated and Worrisome, I am here for you. Send me your questions and I shall do my best to help!

[ladycheesington]

Levi goes to a bakery for you and him! What's he getting for following? One for him and one for you in each category.

Bread

Pastry

Tart

Cake

Muffin

Cupcake

Doughnut

Yum yum 👀

Baked things! I HC that Levi doesn’t like overly sweet food, and would prefer savoury things instead. When it comes to desserts, he likes things that are light or made with fresh fruit and isn’t very keen on anything with a lot of chocolate or caramel.

If he had to choose, I think he’d buy the following:

Bread

He likes a nice loaf of wholemeal sourdough bread. He lightly butters a slice for you and serves it with some soup. 💕

Pastry

He likes a classic buttery croissant for himself and he’d bring you a nice fruity danish.

Tart

I imagine that Levi would like apples, so he’d bring home some mini apple tarts or pies for you. He doesn’t often eat tarts though as they can be very sweet, so he’d likely just share one with you.

Cake

His favourite cakes are lemon drizzle slices and Victoria sponge. He likes them because both pair well with a cup of tea. 💕

Muffins and cupcakes

Again, I think Levi would like lemon flavoured desserts, so he’d choose either a lemon and poppy seed muffin, or a vanilla cupcake with whipped cream and strawberry on top.

Doughnut

I might get lynched for this, but I don’t think Levi likes doughnuts very much. The fillings and glazes are a bit too sugary for him and he doesn’t like how sticky his fingers get no matter how careful he is. If he had to choose, I think he’d go for a classic glazed ring doughnut. 👀

Bonus

I think Levi would very much like a nice scone with clotted cream and jam! He’d have it with a cup of Earl Grey tea.

[george-weasleys-girl]

Hi, I'm back with another ask 🤭💗🌳🌻

From J. Frakes show haha:

Are you planning a trip soon?

How superstitious are you?

How much money would it take to make you to spend a night in a cemetery?

Have you ever had the desire to to write your initials in wet cement?

Extra random questions ♡

Are you a prankster, yourself? What have you pulled before or like to do?

George Weasley: long hair or short hair?

How do you prefer to close your loaf of bread: twist tie or knot? + what kind of bread do you like?

Do you close jars and bottles tightly?

How did you discover Tori Amos? (I'm still on my way to send you a proper message about the album).

Do you recommend a specific live version of one of her songs?

Are there any other artist ways that you express yourself other than writing?

I wish you a lovely Sunday, I hope you're doing okay! I'll have an extra slice of pizza, myself, on your behalf 😄🍕💌

I LOVE the little collage! 💖 All the pretty gardens 🌺🌳🪴 I need that entryway for when I have a place with a giant, grand garden. Like all of it. The stone and everything just transported to me.😅 🪨 The little orange kitty is so adorable! 😻 Ty 🩷🫂🌹

Are you planning a trip soon?

Sadly, no. I'd love to go somewhere warm and sunny and just bask in the sun like lizard all day. 😆🐊

How superstitious are you?

I was pretty superstitious when I was a kid. I'm not so much anymore.

How much money would it take to make you to spend a night in a cemetery?

Maybe a nice meal and some camping gear for the night. Unless we have a zombie apocalypse, I figure I'm pretty safe. But if someone wanted to pay me to do it, sure, I'll take their money. 😆

Have you ever had the desire to to write your initials in wet cement?

Ha,ha! Yes. I didn't, but it was very tempting.

Are you a prankster, yourself? What have you pulled before or like to do?

My brother is the prankster in the family. I've snuck a few whoopee cushions onto chairs, but that's about it.

George Weasley: long hair or short hair? Long.😍 I loved his long hair in GOF.

How do you prefer to close your loaf of bread: twist tie or knot? + what kind of bread do you like?

I prefer a knot. I love sourdough. Any type of crusty/rustic bread, like baguettes and boules. I taught myself how to bake bread just so I can have it whenever I want. 🥖🫓🥐

Do you close jars and bottles tightly?

Yes. Very. I've regretted this on occasion. 😆

How did you discover Tori Amos? (I'm still on my way to send you a proper message about the album).

My college roommate was a big Tori Amos fan.

Do you recommend a specific live version of one of her songs?

Little Earthquakes, Live in Montreux

Are there any other artist ways that you express yourself other than writing?

I dabble alot. Painting, sketching, photography, knitting, weaving...I'd love to get more into weaving. I used to make these little creatures for family and friends, but it's been ages since I made one.

[newpartnerincrime]

taurus, capricorn, 1H, and 9H!! :D

taurus ⇢ what's your favorite food?

soup!!! soup all the way, most kinds except fishy soups. also bread which goes very well with soup >:) a good crusty loaf of warm sourdough with butter yum

capricorn ⇢ what's your ideal job?

truthfully my ideal job is none like i would be happy to stay home all day, bake bread, make jam, and tidy the house lol. but with the way my life is going right now i think i’ll be happy either teaching psychology and/or being a therapist :) maybe working with kids and families

1H ⇢ describe your style

i have been told my style is librarian and grandma. which is fair. i like vintage styles, chunky sweaters, and long skirts. also more muted/neutral tones– vibrant colors don’t really suit me methinks

9H ⇢ what languages ​​would you like to learn?

i’ve been learning spanish for a few years so my goal right now is to get better at that!! i’d love to learn more in the future though especially if i plan on traveling. i was learning french and while i don’t love the language i still might just because, and portuguese would be fairly easy after learning spanish. it would be nice to have a whole arsenal of language knowledge under my belt so we shall see how that pans out lol

EDIT: ASL. I FORGOT I WANT TO LEARN ASL.

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 1/24/2023

Well, I had my break. Mostly, what I did was download a new phone game where you run a restaurant, and wasted an enormous amount of time on that. No regrets.

I said last week was my break, but it's not really a break because I'm trying hard to only do stuff when I feel like it. I did start a new art piece which is going...slowly. It's going slowly because I'm taking my time, though, and I spent a million years on hands.

I would like to write, and I have two different things I am enthusiastic about working on, but unfortunately, if I sit down and try to write, my head just goes completely empty. This happens sometimes. Hopefully it will pass. It usually does. I've been trying to take care of other chores in the meantime, so that if my inspiration eventually returns, I'll be able to take advantage of it.

I've been trying to re-read some of the older parts of Heart is a Muscle, in preparation for writing a new part. I used to really like re-reading my writing, but I haven't been feeling it, to be honest. In art, there's a thing where your eye improves at a different rate than your hand, so sometimes, all of sudden, everything you draw looks like shit, but it's because you've leveled up in the ability to perceive art, not because you've gotten worse. I don't really ever think about myself as getting better at writing. I am a lazy writer and I do what I want, and I do not strive to improve my craft. I think I maybe have improved (or maybe just changed?) over the last three years, though, which is why my old writing feels so crusty. It's also possible that I'm just sick of my own voice. Kinda surprising it took that long to happen, tbh.

In other news, my aluminum plant cuttings have been growing roots! I'm so proud of them! I might repot them soon, and try to take some cuttings from my fittonia, and possibly my daughter's peperomia (because I want one). She's going on this houseplant journey with me, plus her room has some of the best light in the house. She took one of the pups her paddle plant made to school and gave it to her teacher. 😭😭😭 You have to understand that this is possibly the first time either of my children has had any interest in the things I care about. It's nice.

I made a sourdough bread today that was significantly better than last week's sourdough. I did make the mistake of proofing it in the oven, because the house was cold. I guess it was still a little too hot (I had heated it up to as low as it could go, and then turned it off again), or I should have spritzed my loaf with oil instead of water, or maybe just re-spritzed it every ten minutes or so, but the dough dried out a little and formed a skin, which meant that it couldn't rise and caramelize properly when I baked it. It was pretty ugly, but it tasted good and was very soft and squishy on the inside. The children, apparently, really like the dense, gluey rock I baked last week; they said both loaves were equally good. Whatever, my tasteless children.

I have been trying to keep my sourdough starter fed more regularly, so I've been looking for more things to do with discard (I already do pizza, pretzels, waffles, English muffins, and bagels). This week was sourdough morning glory muffins, which were very good, as morning glory muffins go (Mr. P loves morning glory muffins). It looks like that blog has lots of good discard recipes, so I may try out some more of them.

I guess that about covers it for this week. Will I do anything next week? We'll see!

[nameless-brand]

MagicHermes(lmao): Turn your phone brightness up all the way and press the [BREAD] button there to get your own lil sourdough!

>>Upon pressing the bold word, visible, projected artifacts will begin to manifest from the brightness of the phone/computer screen this is being taken from. The cloud of colorful pixel-flakes will condense in the same eyeblink that they'd form in, piecing themselves together on a molecular scale and taking from the digital, something physical.

>>Hovering on a dark green plate, above the screen/keyboard of the summoning device, is a steaming-hot (fresh-baked when he digitized it so it would be brand new whenever it was summoned) ball of sourdough; this thing is a little pale, as though the crust didn't quite brown right, and the whole thing has a minor blue tint. A dull light seems to pulse from the center of the x-shaped scoring on the top, and it seems to hover itself an inch over the hovering plate.

>>Worst of all, it smells delicious, and comes with a side of soft, salty butter that's practically gold-colored, in a little green cup, hovering in a slowly-rotating orbit around the honeydew-sized bread loaf. Once the bread has fully summoned, one can almost hear the dual-snap of two fingerguns faintly. The plate, which digitizes when set down, says in glowing purple letters on its center, "Don't forget to turn your brightness back down!"

She's soaking in the bathtub with her training clothes on, reevaluating her life decisions, when the mailbox icon on Tunglr blips red. It's from saintworks - Hermes - that person? AI? account? that had been posting a number of things lately on Tunglr that she can't quite understand.

He's always been a person of interest, not simply from his uniqueness, but also from the fact he seems to own and run an inter-galactic company specializing in weapons and body-modification. Obviously not on her world, but she can't help but be fascinated. Business on Earth is already a pain in her heinie - and now upscale that to light-years and spaceships and planets. She'd probably pull out her hair in frustration or just give up and let the people handle their own mega-corporation problem.

Though they haven't officially gotten acquainted - Hermes seemed a bit busy with the whole restructuring of his company as a whole - she has to admit she'd been entertained.

She still has his video queued involving his station's machine gun skewering a spaceship. Accidentally cheered in the Zoom meeting involving the Tesla shareholder monthly meeting at that - luckily no video - and she got away with it because no one in the meeting would believe "Iron Maiden Sato" would do anything like that.

The liking the post for Bread was more out of a whim than anything else - except now the consequences of her actions were now here. Somewhat perturbed, she turned up the brightness on her phone and pressed the [ Bread ] button. What occurred made her scamper back into the bathtub in a panic, only to realize she's not going anywhere with every part of her body telling her to go lie down and die.

And so she had first-hand perspective of the brilliant light show that eventually settled to become a slightly-bluish-tinted yet steaming hot and tasty-looking sourdough bread on a nice plate - a nice pair of slashes in X to match. She pushed the soap and shampoo into the bathtub to accommodate for the plate.

And it's in that moment, her stomach grumbles from the delicious smell being emitted; she hadn't eaten lunch mostly because training with Crow with a full stomach...was unadvisable. She glances over at the slightly-blue bread.

Had that bread simply appeared on her dining table without vetting, she'd immediately just get security on it right away. Scan it for poison, explosives, and radiation. But in this case, it had obviously crossed worlds which means it had to pass through the World Boundary that's still in effect, which restricts certain things from crossing - primarily weapons which poison would've constituted. And well - if it's able to get through the Boundary while being dangerous, she's up excrement creek without a paddle anyway.

Sooooo....

Guiltlessly, she tore a piece of the strangely-tinted bread and used the bread's texture to scrape the butter in a cup onto it.

It was delicious.

[transmalewife]

Bake bread with garlic. Here:

idk like, 1-2 tablespoons of live yeast, put into warm (NOT BOILING HOT) water, probably like a half a cup. wait 5ish minutes for it to foam up a little. if it doesn't foam, your yeast was dead (rip).

add about a cup of flour. maybe a little more warmish water. some salt, like a teaspoon or two. crumble up some parmesan cheese if you want. MINCED GARLIC! be as generous as you want. I do like, a big ole spoonful.

mix all that shit up. add more water or flour if the spirit moves you. google a picture of bread dough if you don't know what it should look like. move it from the mixing bowl into a loaf pan (some will say to let it rise in the mixing bowl, but they are wrong and should be gently shushed).

let it rise for like an hour. stick it in the oven at about 350-375 F, convert it to C bc I know you're European and use the other unit, you're probably better than me and it's fine. leave it in the oven for something like 15 minutes.

GARLIC BREAD. also mix some garlic salt (or salt and garlic powder) into butter. spread that shit on your nice bread.

you're welcome, I love you, I have never measured shit in my life and I will not start now

Sadly, I'm allergic to gluten and it's genuinely so funny to me that you can fit a bread recipe in a tumblr ask bc gf recipes are like 20 pages with recommended extraneous reading and also take a week to make. 15 minutes in the oven i'm gonna cry.

I just realised i forgot to add garlic naan to that poll which is unforgivable

I was mostly aiming for quick and dirty methods to get your garlic fix, like if i'm going for something fancier i'll make some garlic butter but rubbing a crisp garlic clove onto crunchy toast is its own special thing. however I do appreciate this ask a lot, I love that you took the time to write it out and I really hope someone who sees this uses it and I'm also gonna try the parmesan and garlic in dough method. it could also be good in pasta dough i think

I really really respect the no measurement baking I'm also like that. never understood ppl who are like you can eyeball cooking but you need a lab scale a candy thermometer and a higher power on your side to bake. idk that sounds like a you problem. maybe yeast just likes me more. I can make apple pie in a rice cooker with no scale or measuring cups

I cannot, however, make bread. or at least I couldn't, until last week. Like I have never achieved anything even remotely edible when making gluten free bread, let alone somthing actually good, but then suddenly, out of nowhere I managed to make something that looks and tastes exactly like sourdough rye, and my delight at being able to eat garlic toast again is what inspired that poll. I made it twice now, and I fully expect this to become a weekly thing I can't remember when i last enjoyed eating bread. all gluten free bread you can buy is either basically plastic wrapped cardboard or vegan ridiculously healthy with the taste and consistency of the last pickle on a platter of finger food that has been laying on a table and warming up all night

So, here goes the recipe, if only to show how hilariously complex gluten free baking is (though if someone actually makes this I'd be overjoyed):

mix 1 cup teff flour, 1/4 cup brown rice flour, 1 tablespoon almond flour and 1 teaspoon ground flax seed (I just put flax seed through a food processor so it's pretty coarse) in big jar with enough water to make a paste. put the lid on loosely and leave to ferment at room temp.

after 2 days pour off the water that gathers on top. mix one cup of clean water with like idk 3 or 4 tbsps of the paste and cook stirring continuously until it gets dense and gel-like. leave to cool. mix 1/4 cup of brown rice and/or buckwheat flour with enough water to match the consistency of the paste. add it into the jar with the cooled mixture, mix everything, put lid back on loosely and leave for another day.

attempt to make teff injera and fail miserably. (yes this is an essential step, I did it both times. Idk if I have a bad recipe or my teff is not right. I'm gonna try to get dark teff flour and leave it for longer. anyway). give up and decide to use the rest as sourdough starter. I do think this could be a quick and easy alternative to proper sourdough starter for gluten baking as well. t

from now on I'm following a bakerita gluten free sourdough recipe, but with some pretty major changes. mainly in the amount of water, I had to nearly halve it. I know my flat is pretty humid, but I wasn't expecting it to affect baking this much,.

for the preferment: grab whatever's left of the teff batter, probably around 200g, add enough brown rice flour and water to get it to the 330g from the recipe. leave it to grow for 1-3 hours (I'd like to try longer at some point but i'm impatient and my schedule's tight)

instead of the psyllium husk: mix 10g ground flax seed with 20g honey and 150g boiling water, leave covered to let the flax seed gel a bit. when it cools down to blood temp add about half a teaspoon of yeast bc you don't really trust your starter.

mix that with the preferment and add 15g of olive oil

for the dry ingredients i switched some types of flour with similar ones, i'm also using potato flour not starch. I've been using them interchangeably in baking for years and it really doesn't matter much, potatoes are mainly starch if you exclude water. as most you'd just use a little less starch than you use flour.

so: 10g guar gum, 12g salt, 100g potato flour, 60g tapioca flour, 80g buckwheat flour (don't have sorghum) and 80g brown rice flour. whisk really, really well or the gum will cause clumping.

mix your dry into your wet, stiring with a spoon. then keep adding buckwheat flour until it pulls away from the sides and you can sort of almost manipulate the dough with well floured hands for a couple seconds instead of instantly sticking to it horribly. then dust with corn flour (not corn starch).

form it into a ball by rapidly moving the bowl in a circle and making the dough roll inside it. (touching gluten free dough only brings misery.) line bowl or collander with teatowel, dust with corn flour and put the dough in there, cover with edges of tea towel, leave to rise in the fridge overnight

preheat oven to 220C with cast iron pan inside, transfer bread into hot cast iron, cover with something (i use upside down stainless steel bowl) bake 45 mins with cover then another 50 uncovered, leave to cool completely either in oven with cracked door or on cooling rack. don't even look at it until it's cold

understandably, you are then too tired to put anything on your delicious bread more complicated than just rubbing a garlic clove on it

[hajit0]

im not live laugh loving but they sure are