[Mike Nolan]

The Clonmel Kitchens Double Crusty bread that Paddy L posted on the old BC (and is here) makes an excellent sandwich bread when done in a loaf pan, though I prefer to do it as a free-form Vienna-style bread (substituting butter for the oil.) And it is one of the easier recipes to do.

I've done it in a 4x4x13 Pullman pan as well, but I scale the recipe down to use 24 ounces of flour.

[Mike Nolan]

Several of the ones that got planted were among the ones with the iron deficiency, they seem to have rebounded well.

Recently some have developed purple leaves, if that's a deficiency I don't know what it is, but planting them in the ground should help remedy it. They're at the 24 hour mark and looking pretty perky.

Last year we lost some of the plants due to some kind of cutworm, I'd come out in the morning and the plants looked like they'd been cut off at ground level. But most of the ones that went in are large enough that I don't think they'll be as susceptible to that.

[Mike Nolan]

We're going to do a lahvosh pizza for supper, and I'm thinking I may start some kind of multi-stage rye bread this evening.

[Mike Nolan]

I got 24 tomato plants into the ground today, earliest I've had that done in several years. Soil temp was up to 60. It isn't supposed to get below the 50's at night for the rest of the month, hopefully that'll be an accurate forecast.

Rain expected tomorrow and over the weekend, so I figured it was now or a week from now--at best.

[Mike Nolan]

My wife got a bovine valve in 2018, they said it should last 10-15 years and when they replace it they don't have to crack open her chest.

[Mike Nolan]

We had bacon and eggs with Challah toast for supper tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

Agriculture on a scale large enough to be economical and feed the world is going to create large-scale environmental issues. How these are addressed and at what cost is going to be a major challenge.

I read yesterday where corn prices have doubled in a year, part of the reason for that is that 40% of the corn is being used for biofuel production (eg, ethanol.) And of the corn that is used for food, less than 5% is for human consumption.

You can't get all the essential amino acids from corn, in fact I don't think there are any cereals or grains that have all the necessary proteins. (Combinations of foods, like rice and beans, can have all 8 essential amino acids.)

[Mike Nolan]

There's been an interesting discussion in the BBGA forum lately about Challah and cold fermentation, I think the next time I try making Challah I'm going to scale and pre-shape the dough then let it refrigerate overnight before I roll out the strands and do the braiding. Jeffrey Hamelman says that makes for well-rested dough that is easier to roll out.

There were even some photos of very nice looking loaves that were braided then left in the refrigerator overnight before baking. Surprisingly, the braids remained intact and distinct.

[Mike Nolan]

Did you start walking by running a marathon? Scientists call it 'standing on the shoulders of giants'.

[Mike Nolan]

I saw the stories about the battle of the Joshes, before and after, sounds like they had fun. They're already talking about doing it again next year.

As to the meatless Italian Beef, there is a certain amount of technical challenge to a food chemist in producing something that looks, feels and tastes like something else. Seitan (processed wheat gluten) is something that's been around for a while, like bean paste and tofu.

The lab-grown beef is, well, just strange. I'm not convinced it is more planet-friendly than a field full of methane-producing cattle, though. But if they can grow a ribeye steak, someday they may be able to grow a replacement kidney, liver or heart.

[Mike Nolan]

They currently have separate editorial teams, but that doesn't mean that BA won't be 'encouraged' to follow suit.

[Mike Nolan]

Complaining about the food is commonplace at senior centers, and often for good reason. The first one my wife's mother was in only served fruit in a sugar syrup for breakfast, despite having a population where over half were diabetic.

Meals were much better on official visiting days, like Mother's Day.

[Mike Nolan]

I had pulled up the ground cloth covering the garden earlier this week, and today it was dry enough that I was able to make two passes through the garden with our small rototiller. I put the ground cloth back down again, so now I'm basically ready to transplant tomatoes as soon as the soil temp is high enough, possibly later this week. (We're supposed to get some lows in the low 40's or high 30's for the next few days, but by Thursday it should stay above 50 for the next several weeks.)

It'd be nice to have the tomatoes in before the end of May for a change. Might actually get some fresh tomatoes in early July.

The thunderstorms rolled in as expected after sunset, so I'm glad I got the ground cloth back down.

[Mike Nolan]

Adding more water made the dough much easier to roll out. I made an 11-strand braided challah and baked the rest in a 4x4x13 Pullman pan. I made two batches of dough, each using 650 grams of flour and around 330 grams of water. (Batches that use 1000 grams of flour are almost too much for my mixer.)

I also made some 'forgotten' chocolate meringue cookies. I baked these about 3 minutes longer than the last batch, which were definitely a bit underdone in the center, these might be just a tad too baked in the middle, but they're still tasty.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[Mike Nolan]

We have a 3 step ladder with a very sturdy safety handle that folds down, it is the 'little jumbo' by Wing. They also make a 2 step and a 4 step version. They used to make a 5 step version, though I don't see it on their website, but I'm not sure I'd want to climb up that high these days, anyway. If I can't reach it on the 3 step ladder I either use the big extension ladder or I hire someone to do it for me. 🙂

We bought it at the National Association of Home Builders show in Houston in 1997 just before we built our house. (We found a lot of interesting things at that show, our DCS range, ladders, laser cut floor insets, showers, I figure that show probably added at least $50,000 to the cost of our house.)

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