You may have noticed, dear reader, that there have been few posts the last few weeks. That is because of two things. First off the unpleasant, three weeks ago this coming Wednesday I injured my knee while gardening. Followed the usual RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) for a couple of days, then just the rest and elevation, but no improvement on the sort of balloon that had popped out on my knee cap. Got in to see the doctor after two weeks and was told that it is fluid leak from the bursa behind the knee cap and that it will go away eventually. The good news was that I can now stop rest and elevation!
At the beginning of that time I had made some sourdough dough for a boule (ball shaped bread) which I was going to also decorate with some clever slashes. Lacking time on my feet after the accident, I did some simple slashed with the intention of baking it again before today. It was so bad that I didn't even take a photo. Our Kitchen of the Month, Elizabeth of the blog from OUR kitchen challenged us to bake a loaf of a high-hydration bread and then decorate it with a design in scoring. This works best when the loaf has a good outer 'skin', some flour on the loaf to accent the design, and a baker who has confidence as they score the loaf.
Two weeks ago we experienced the very pleasant when my daughter and her person and his son (yes, they call each other their person) came to visit from Phoenix after we all had quarantined for two weeks. They drove something like 13 hours straight to avoid carrying the Covid infection. That way we were all able to hang out together and have fun. The amount of sightseeing possible was limited by the pandemic, but we did watch Hamilton together on Disney+. Raine (the son) and I baked up a storm and cooked dinners, too. We also harvested summer squash, tomatoes and cucumbers (see photo at top of post). Hoping to post some of the food we made soon.
Sweetie taught Raine how to do electrical work and to ride a riding lawn mower and Pi had almost more attention and loving than he could stand...not really, he loves all attention.
So my plan was to bake the bread again once they left on Saturday...but we are in a severe heat wave, not the best time to bake bread.Plus we lost power Friday, and had a severe thunderstorm with high winds and lightening at 4:30 am this morning. Lost power again until just a little while ago. Posting while we still have power because it's likely they will turn the power off again this evening due to too many people using air conditioners and fans because of the heat. Not the best time to bake anything!
This is the long way of saying that my bread for the challenge for the Bread Baking Babes this month was to be a high-hydration loaf with excellent slashing...so I sort of failed the challenge. So sorry Elizabeth. Will try to accomplish the good design before the end of the month, when things are a bit cooler.
So be sure to visit the other Bread Baking Babes to see what wonders can be accomplished with a lame or razor or sharp knife and a steady hand and firm conviction.
To be a BBBuddy, visit Elizabeth's post for the details, but basically bake the bread with design by Aug. 29th and send Elizabeth an email with photo and deets.
Stay cool if you can!
