A Significant Birthday Event

I have been accused of being (rightly) a bit of a nut about birthdays. I love birthdays and celebrating that people I care about were born at just the right time to be part of the current flow of history.

Some birthdays are even more special than others. When you are young even turning from three to four is a very big deal. Eighteen and twenty-one mean you are legal in one way or another, perhaps even an adult. At thirty some begin making a big deal each time we hit a round number birthday. Hey, not everyone want to celebrate birthdays the way I do, so once a decade is enough.

For my blogging buddy Peabody, 37 is the magic year. To find out why, visit her post at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody HERE.

I don't know about you, but I find Peabody's blog to be a source of inspiration, always a good read, and, if I am honest, a place where I can 'enjoy' some outrageous desserts without adding a pound to my hips. Her photos make you want to lick the screen...again no calories involved. She has been providing all of this fun, to say nothing of her infamous Snickerdoodle Muffins, for many years. Don't you think she deserves a birthday party??

If you are a fan of hers and want to join in the fun, you are hearby invited to Peabody's 37th Birthday Celebration. I'll bring the drinks and some music and decorations. You bring some dessert.

I'm going to start off the madness with a dessert I created just for her (although no one will mind if you have to try it yourself to see what all the fuss is about) for this blowout birthday.

WANT TO JOIN THE CELEBRATION?
Between now and JUNE 29th (Monday) make and blog about one of the recipes on Peabody's blog and/or create a fabulous dessert for her and blog about it.
Then, by JUNE 29th (Monday) send me an e-mail at: plachman at sonic dot net with your name, your blog's name, the URL of the post and a photo no bigger than 200 pixels wide. I'll gather them up and post a round-up birthday party in time for her birthday on July 2nd.

This is not a surprise party & you may want to head over to her blog and wish her a happy day in her comments section, but you'll miss a hellava party if you don't join the celebration and make something special just for Peabody. Here is mine for inspiration - a warm, gooey bread pudding with cinnamon rolls as the base, rich custard for comfort and lots of chocolate and caramel sauce because Peabody really seems to like chocolate and caramel sauce.

Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding for Peabody

4 cups cubed cinnamon buns – each bun cut into 4 – 8 pieces, depending on the size of the bun – about 1 inch cubes are what we are aiming for
I used this recipe: http://feedingmyenthusiasms.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-times-with-polly-and-some-nuts.html a whole wheat sourdough cinnamon roll with nuts, but store bought or your own recipe is great, too.
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chocolate chips or chunked dark chocolate (optional)
1/3 cup caramel sauce (optional) (I used Smuckers sauce for ice cream)
hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan, scald the milk, then melt the butter in the milk. Let cool slightly.

Lightly beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, then add about ¼ cup of the milk mixture and stir to temper the egg-milk combination. Add another ¼ cup and stir, then stir the egg mixture into the saucepan with the milk mixture. Stir in the brown sugar, salt and vanilla. Set aside.

Place the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the milk egg mixture over and stir gently. Let sit 5 minutes, then stir again to get the less soaked bread cubes get into the soaking liquid. Let sit 5 minutes, add the chocolate if using, then stir once more. Let sit five minutes.

Butter a baking dish large enough to hold the mixture. I like to use a wide and relatively shallow baking dish so there is more of the crispy bread bits, but if you like the custardy part better, use a more narrow and deep dish.

Pour the pudding mixture into the buttered dish and push down slightly on the cubes to settle everything. Sprinkle with some more chocolate if you like.

Bake by placing the baking dish in a roasting pan and pouring hot water about half way up the side of the baking dish.

Bake for about 1 hour until the top is crusty and the interior custard is cooked to baked custard consistency.

Serve warm with a drizzle of caramel sauce if desired.

Summer Salad Time

After a nice cool spring, we felt some heat today, so for dinner I decided to make a nice cool salad. There is nothing amazing about this salad...you have probably made one like it yourself on occasion, but i think it's a fine idea to write out the recipe so I have it the next time I want a good, easy, quick but delicious dinner salad. We had it with some fresh, juicy Silver Queen corn on the cob.

I'm not too crazy about summer hot weather, but I love the clean fresh flavors of summer foods! I used a combination of field greens salad mix and baby spinach for the greens. The warm chicken contrasts nicely with the chill, crips greens

Summer Supper Salad

serves 2

Big bowl of mixed salad greens - enough for two people

1/2 large yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cut in half, each half cut in wedges, then the wedges halved
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
garlic salt
balsamic pesto dressing (recipe below)

Toss the greens pepper slices and tomato wedges gently to mix. Set aside in fridge to stay cool.

In a large cast iron or non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon canola or olive oil.

If the chicken breasts are too thick to cook evenly, butterfly them to even out the thickness. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt.

Saute' the chicken breasts in the hot oil until lightly browned on one side, about 2-3 minutes, then turn the breasts and cover the pan. Lower the heat and cook for another 3 minutes. Check center to see if they are cooked. Cook another minute uncovered if necessary to fully cook. Slice the cooked chicken in bite sized pieced.

Toss the salad greens with the dressing. Arrange a large serving on each plate and top with the warm chicken, dividing the chicken evenly between the two plates. Serve at once.

Balsamic Pesto Dressing

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon prepared pesto

Place all ingredients in a jar and top with a tightly sealing lid (I use a pint canning jar and lid). Shake well to mix the ingredients. Let sit at least five minutes for flavors to meld. Shake vigorously right before pouring on salad. Can be made ahead. Will keep in refrigerator at least a week.

Journaling Takes So Loooooong

Day 4 of the Ireland journey is posted, but it took me so long to finish that it sits below the Daring Cooks dumplings post. You may not care, but if you are looking for Day 4 ... the BEST part of the trip...look for the one with Traditional Music and Glin and Salmon in the headline. Hope these long posts are not too much, but I'll never remember the details (ancient brain cells...getting more ancient all the time) so these posts will help me remember. Thank you for your patience and do check out Sweetie's recipe for Salmon even if you don't give a fig for Glin.

Daring Cooks Make Potstickers and Dumplings

For the second installment of the new Daring Cooks,

Jen of Use Real Butter gave us a wonderful challenge: make the dough for Chinese pot stickers and similar dumplings and then fill them with wonderful fillings.

She started us off with a Shrimp filling and a Pork filling, plus the recipe and instructions for making the dough to wrap the filling in. She even included a link to a demo of how to shape them, including those darling pleats. You can see the family recipe here.

One of the advantages of leaving the challenge to the posting day is that I was able to read tips from DCs who had already worked out some of the challenges. One had to do with dry dough. Jen's best tip was to weigh the flour because dry flour can vary in weight depending on how you scoop it into a measuring cup as well as, a little, on how damp a day it is. I weighed out a pound of all purpose flour and used just under 2/3 cup of warm water to make the dough. It was smooth and easy to work with a only a tiny bit sticky.

Filling these little packets was fun if time consuming.

For the filling I decided to go with the pork mixture, adapted slightly. I'll give the recipe below for filling and soup. Instead of boiling the finished packets in water and then using them for soup for tonight's dinner, I boiled them directly in the Asian flavored soup broth. Once the dumplings were cooked, I removed them to bowls and added julienned baby spinach, stirring it just for a minute until bright green. The broth with spinach was ladled over the dumplings and a few uncooked green onion slices scattered on top.

It made a wonderful soup...very light but satisfying. The dumplings were flavorful and fresh tasting and so delightfully delicate. Once they were cooked I didn't really see the pleats that you can see when they are uncooked.

This will be a recipe I'll cook again. Thank you Jen for a fantastic challenge! You also did an amazing job of answering questions, encouraging the cooks and making it all lots of fun. Go Daring Cooks!

Chinese Dumplings
Elle's variation

Shrimp filling:

1/4 pound cooked cleaned shrimp, coarsely chopped
1/8 pound ground pork
1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup thinly sliced Swiss chard
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1/4 cup water chestnuts, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon corn starch

Mix all ingredients together until completely mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and keep cool while making and rolling the dough rounds.

Dough:
1 pound all-purpose flour
2/3 cup warm water (approximately)
flour for work surface

In a large bowl mix the flour with 1/4 cup of the water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one tablespoon at a time, mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch. Knead the dough about twenty times, then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes.

Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strip about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape strips into rounded long ropes. On a floured surface, cut the ropes into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle.

With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc about 1/16th of an inch thick. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Pleat along an edge about 1/2 way around the edge, creating a sort of cup. Place the cup in the palm of your hand and place the filling in it. Bring the unfilled and unpleated side up and seal the edges.

Keep all unused dough under a damp cloth.

The Broth:

5 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (or more to taste)
1/2 cup sliced green onions, tops included
1/2 cup thinly sliced spinach leaves

Bring the broth, soy sauce, ginger and onions to a boil. Drop in the dumplings and cook until the dumplings pop to the surface. Remove cooked dumplings to soup bowls. You may want to cook the dumplings in batches.

Once all of the dumplings are cooked, add the spinach and stir once. Let spinach cook just until bright green, about a minute.

Ladle broth and spinach over the dumplings. If desired, garnish with a few uncooked green onion slices. Serve.

Serves about 4 people

Traditional Music - Meeting Family - Salmon

On our last day in Ennis we discovered the Traditional Irish Music Festival or Fleadh Nua in Gaelic. While our laundry was getting clean nearby, we visited the information booth near the Clare Museum in the TI building and were told that there was a free lunchtime concert upstairs. While we were visiting the museum, the helpful young woman who told us about the lunch time session searched for us so that she could tell us that the venue had been changed to the Old Ground Hotel, just up O'Connell Street. While we were waiting for 1 PM for that concert, we happened upon a group from Belfast who were practicing behind the market.

The members were all ages, with the youngest looking about 8 years old and playing the triangle and the oldest perhaps 55 or so. They had at least three kinds of drums, including the bohran, flutes, tin whistles, and horns with, perhaps a fiddle and accordion. I was so taken with watching the bohran player that I didn't really watch the others, just listened to the wonderful music! The bohran is a drum with three sides. The player moves his hand over the drum head on the inside while beating the rhythms with a two sided drum stick which looks almost like a bone. It made my wrist hurt just looking at how it was played, but it made a wonderful sound!

At 12:45 I left Sweetie reading in the car and walked up to the Old Ground Hotel. I tried the bar first since traditional music is usually played in the bar, but they said to check the lobby. In the lobby there were people wandering around, but no concert to be seen. I stopped an older man who was carrying an instrument case. He said they would be playing as soon as they knew where to set up. A young woman carrying a violin came by and said that the hotel wanted the session to be in the break room, but that it was too small and too warm. In the meantime I made friends with a couple from Meath, just north of Dublin, who were also there for the concert. We all settled on the couch just inside the lobby doors.

Right at 1 pm the fellow I first spoke to took off his fine broadcloth black coat and set it over the arm of the couch near where I was sitting, found a stool by the reservations desk and sit it right in front of his coat, took out his accordion and began to play. The woman with the fiddle settled on a chair on the other side of the lobby entrance across from the couch.

Someone found a chair and set it next to the accordion player and soon a circle began to form in the middle of the entrance to the hotel! Even more fun was that I was part of the circle. After a few songs the accordion player got up and spoke to a fiddler who had just arrived, suggesting that he lead now. He came over and asked if I could scoot over...so I did. Now the lead fiddler was sitting next to me playing and his bow barely missed grazing my knee. Wow. In the photo below, you can see where I was sitting, right next to the lady in green and the fiddler in the beige sweater. The coat of the accordion player/singer is there on the sofa arm. He was sitting right in front of the coat.

At the end of the song, I stood up and went to stand with the crowd because it seemed that the fiddler could use a little more room! After another song or two the accordion player, who had moved into an alcove, just stood up at the end of the song and began singing in Gaelic! It was a sad but beautiful ballad.

Additional musicians arrived during the session. Most of them don't usually play together so it was sort of a jam session playing tunes familiar to all. Quite enjoyable!

After a bit of traditional music it was time to pick up the laundry, pack up and head off to Killimer for the ferry over the Shannon to County Limerick. The drive to the ferry seemed to be more enjoyable with less traffic and a good road. We were next to the last car on to the ferry

and the crossing was fairly quick...about 20 minutes.

Once we reached Tarbert on the other shore, most of the vehicles turned right for the Dingle Peninsula, but we turned left and drove along the Shannon River toward Glin.

The best part of our trip started in Glin. Since I have an aversion to putting the real names of non-blogging people on my blog, I'll just use initials and not put up a photo. They are real folks, just kind of anonymous.

One of my grandfathers was born in Glin and I was hoping to meet some of his relatives who, by extension, are my relatives.

When I was a child I grew up near Washington D.C. My father's people lived in various places in the South and my mother's people lived in the New York city area. By being between the families, we really didn't have constant exposure to relatives while growing up. For that reason the infrequent visits to or from my mother's father, Grandad James, were memorable. He was a quiet man with a twinkle in his blue eyes. By the time that I remember visiting him he was already getting old. I think he had a major heart attack before I was in high school. My favorite visit was when I was in college and drove up with my boyfriend. We were both history majors and really enjoyed Granddad's stories of Ireland's struggles to become an independent country and the part he and his father played in that from New York. Imagine how excited I was to be in the Irish town where he was born and raised and to meet the descendants of his father's brothers.

Glin is a village on the Shannon River not terribly far east from where it joins the Atlantic Ocean. The Shannon is the biggest river in Ireland. Main Street in Glin is perpendicular to the river and heads uphill. At the end of the street are the Catholic Church on the right and the Protestant Church on the left. Go a little further and you drive into the demesne of the Knight of Glin.

It used to be, only a few months ago, that you could arrange to stay there and have a fine meal. Now the Castle is only open by appointment for weddings.

Cousin M, another one with a twinkle in the eye, lives on Main Street, not too far from the Shannon. We spent some time our first evening in Glin getting to know her in the cozy warmth from her wonderful stove, toasting Granddad with some nice Port. She is a delight. We learned a little about her life in Glin and a bit about when she was younger.

We visited with her again the next evening. At that time we had the pleasure of meeting Cousin S. We quickly discovered that he and I have some job skills in common although he is a seasoned professional and I'm just a greenhorn in most ways. He and Sweetie swapped stories that day and the next day when we met S's wife and children at their beautiful home. Not sure who enjoyed the talking and telling of tales more of the two men. Great craic as they say in Ireland. S's wife is quite lovely as are their children. Ulli, the Russian wolfhound is striking and so gentle and sweet.

Spending time with all of these newly discovered relatives was truly the highlight of the trip. We hope that someday Cousin S and Cousin B and maybe the children, too, will come visit us in California.

I was told that the house where my Granddad grew up no longer exists. There is a headstone in the cemetery as a general memorial for family members. I've heard that for a long time when a family member left Ireland that the family and neighbors and friends would hold a wake as they do for the dead because so often they would never see that person again. So many Irish had to leave their homeland due to famine and wars and poverty. Some just wanted a better life. My great grandfather was one of those and eventually my grandfather followed him and he made a new life for himself. Whenever I spoke with Granddad he expressed that he missed Ireland. Toward middle age he would visit Ireland as often as he could. Eventually poor health prevented him from going home...it was ever home to him as far as I could tell.

With all of the enjoyment of time with family I haven't mentioned our experience at the Old Castle B&B in Glin, just a block from Main Street and right next to one of the ancient castles.

At Ester's Old Castle Bed & Breakfast you will enjoy high quality accommodations, food and amenities similar to what you would find in a fine hotel but in a more intimate setting. Ester, the innkeeper, has created beautiful rooms with antiques, very comfortable beds and fine fabrics.

The common room is very comfortable and the breakfast equally hearty as the ones we had in Ennis. Her gardens are lovely and it is a very good place to relax. Ester was able to call and introduce us to Cousin M and Cousin S and recommended a good restaurant for our first night's meal. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend the Old Castle B&B in Glin.

Enrights Restaurant in Tarbert, one of the restaurants Ester mentioned, was an unusual mix of furnishings and not terribly crowded, but I had some of the best salmon ever there...and I am a salmon fanatic. I suspect that the salmon was fresh from the river it was so good. Sweetie had a full plate of delicious Irish lamb chops. The entrees were so outstanding that I forget what else we ate, but I know it was good.

When we came out of the restaurant we saw this truck across the street. Anyone who knows me well will understand why I had to take this picture.

The following night we bought a pizza on Main Street in Glin... a guilty pleasure and just right after a long day of driving around the Palatine.

The Palatine? That's for the next post...along with Flying Boats and Maureen O'Hara.

In the meantime, I have a great recipe for salmon for you. I had excellent salmon in Ireland, but once we were home Sweetie grilled some Alaskan salmon his special way and it was absolutely delicious as well. Try this next time you grill salmon. You will likely enjoy it.

Sweetie's Grilled Salmon with Whiskey

1 salmon fillet, tail section skin still on one side
1 teaspoon olive oil
about 1 -2 teaspoon bourbon
sprinkle of garlic salt
a grind of fresh black pepper

Heat the grill to red hot. Be sure grill is clean.

Lay fillet on tray with a lip. Sprinkle fillet with bourbon, then with the olive oil, garlic salt and pepper.

Just before you put the fillet on the grill, mop the skin side in the combined bourbon and olive oil that is on the bottom of the tray to help keep the skin from sticking.

Lay the fillet on the grill. Cover and grill until the temperature inside the grill gets to 450 degrees F. Open the grill and check to make sure the fish is done. It will cook a little bit more as it waits to be served.

Use a wide spatula to take the fillet from the grill to the serving platter. Serve hot, garnished with lemon if desired.

An Abbey, a Castle, and the Living Past

Well fed with another of Mary's delicious full Irish breakfasts and happy to have a working vehicle, we set out for an area to the southeast of Ennis, a place rich in history. We are still in County Clare and to the west of the Slieve Bernagh mountains (perhaps redundant since I think Slieve means 'mountains' in Gaelic...like Potomac River means 'river river' near Washington D.C.).

This is day 3 in Ireland for us. Although one of our stops gets lots of tour groups attending Medieval style dinners


and another gets lots of school groups, in general our choices for today were not the usual tourist destinations.

Our first stop was at Quin Abbey, founded by the Franciscans in 1402.

There is a peacefulness to Quin Abbey.


After we wandered around the remains of cloister, tower and monastic building, again being taken with the beauty of the Irish crosses,

we went in to the newer church (on the right in the photo below)

and had a wonderful chat with a parishioner who does the flowers for the altars. Even though it is a modern church, it still has the classic rectangular, simple shape of an Irish farmhouse, and the slate roof, too.

A note in one of the guidebooks mentioned that a famous duelist is buried at Quin Abbey...he had the wonderful name of Fireballs MacNamara.

Continuing in a southeasterly direction, our next stop was Knappogue Castle. It had one of the classic four floor towers built in the 15th century


so we enjoyed climbing the circular staircase


and seeing the views of the walled gardens


and surrounding countryside, but also quite extensive halls for eating and telling tales in the dark of winter in Medieval times. Since Medieval dinners are held here it looks very appropriate with long trestle tables and benches, tapestries and leaded stained glass windows.

The Butlers, owned Knappogue during the 19th century, had taken two rooms for a drawing room and dining room and updated them with neoclassic ceilings and Waterford crystal chandeliers


and marble fireplaces. The gardens had some nice rhododendrons blooming, but much of the borders were waiting for warmer weather and true spring. I was quite taken with the way they placed the stones in the courtyard in circular patterns.

I came to appreciate rock in many ways during our visit the Eire.

One of the things that really impressed me here was that the MacNamara clan owned this castle and many others and was in power for over 500 years. There was an eleven year period during Cromwell's time when it was confiscated, but the MacNamaras again owned it after the Monarchy was restored in 1670.

Lunchtime was at hand but we were still no really hungry because of the robust breakfast. At the next stop, Craggaunowen, in Kilmurry, we had some tea and a little soup...sort of a cream of chicken soup..it was delicious, then followed the handout through the Living Past exhibits.

The first stop was a castle, very similar in many ways to Knappogue, although with a much smaller footprint. Another narrow circular stair took us up and up. Here is the room in the upper part of the tower.

This one looked authentic, but if you really looked you could see that it was made of treads that were cast concrete and much thinner than the solid rock at Knappogue.

Nice view of a lily pond from the parapet.

Next we walked to the Crannog, a reconstruction of a lake-dwelling of a type found in Ireland during the Iron Age (c. 600 B.C. - 400 A.D.). Crannogs were artificial islands on which people built houses, kept animals and lived in relative security. Because they were constucted by layering stone on the lakebed, they reminded me of Nan Madol in Micronesia where stacked basalt 'logs' were used to construct many artificial islands for living on. Here is a detail of the thatched roof construction.

At Craggaunowen a bridge was used to connect the island to the surrounding land, but sometimes dug-out canoes would be the only way to get to the islands. They were protected with a timber fence and had thatched houses. Planting ws done on the surrounding land. It was often too wet for crops, so they developed the practice of planting in ridges of land pushed up in long hills...a method still used for potato planting. Typical crops were barley and Emmer and Spelt wheat, plus vegetables. Hunting and gathering were still a major source of food.

Near the entrance to the bridge, there was a storage place for peat. We had smelled burning peat fires (they smell sort of like Scotch tastes) but this was our first opportunity to see what peat actually looks like.

Peat is still used for heating.

The Ringfort was probably my favorite part of Craggaunowen. They were not a military fort, but rather a farmstead during the 5th to 12th centuries A.D. So many were built in Ireland that it seems almost impossibe to build a new road without coming across remnants of a ring fort.

I was fascinated by the repeat rings of stone walls with the interior one topped by sharpened logs...imagine the labor involved in making those rings! This was also the time when the Irish people were creating beautiful jewelry, pottery, turned vessels and the Book of Kells.

As we walked on through a forest full of ferns, we passed a replica of a standing stone tomb, with angled walls.

Of interest to history buffs and sailors, The Brendan is the actual boat

that Tim Severin built in 1976 based on the vessel described in a 9th century manuscript that claimed that St Brendan the Navigator (c. 583 A.D.)was the first man to discover the 'Promised Land' across the Atlantic.

Made of oak-tanned hides sewn together and stretched over a flexible ash framesd,The Brendan made the journey proving that St. Brendan could have made the voyage to America in such a craft.

Before leaving this lovely living museum, we passed the boars who were enjoying the hillside where they live although it looked pretty boring.

After all that history we headed back to Ennis for some more tea and a bit of reading. That evening we had some very good seafood at a small but delightful restaurant off an alley. It was called the Sicilian Restaurant, Parnell Street, Ennis - www.sicilian-restaurant.ie. The general style is Mediterranean Cuisine.

Tomorrow we hear some music and ride a ferry to meet some family...


One of the nice things about the Sicilian was that they had some yeasted brown bread. I enjoyed the soda bread type brown bread that came with breakfast, soup, and many meals, but the yeasted brown bread was delicious! Once back in the States, I made a version found in the Ballymaloe Bread Book. It is basically a yeasted batter bread. It would have been better if I had removed the plastic over the batter before it rose to the top of the pan. As it was, I lost some of the air bubbles on the top of the loaf, but there was still plenty of spring and it was quite good with some good cheese. It had a great texture and nice crust.

Ballymaloe Brown Yeast Bread
Based on a recipe from the Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen

Makes 1 loaf

Get out your scale for this recipe:
14 oz brown flour (I used King Arthur wholemeal flour)
2 oz unbleached all purpose flour
1 package dry yeast - Rapid Rise is great
15 oz warm water
1 teaspoon molasses
1 teaspoon salt

In a large, wide mixing bowl, combine the brown and white flours. Add the dalt and combine.

Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and stir in along with the molasses. Let sit in a warm place for about 5 minutes to let the yeast become active.

Pour the yeast mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a clean open hand, drawing the flour from the sides of the bowl.

Mix to a wettish dough, too wet to knead. Pour into a lightly oiled bread loaf pan (2 lb size). Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let sit 35-45 minutes to rise. Remove the covering before the bread reaches it! The bread will have risen to about twice its original size and will be just peeping oer the rim of the pan.

Bake in a preheated 450 degree F. oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the bread looks nicely browned and sounds hollow when tapped.

Cool before slicing.