A lot of people think that baking their own bread is not something they are capable of doing, but the truth is that baking bread is not really that hard. I made a batch yesterday and took some extra pictures and notes while making it. The recipe I used is based on the French-Style Bread recipe in James Beard's Beard on Bread.

Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water (~100-110°F)
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1½ packages active dry yeast (11g)
• 1 tablespoon table salt
• 5-6 cups (725-870g) all-purpose flour
• 1 egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

Equipment

• Perforated French bread pan or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprinkled with 2-3 tablespoons cornmeal
• Stand mixer with dough hook (optional)
• Instant read thermometer (optional)
• Pastry brush
  

Steps

1. Add the warm water and sugar to bowl of mixer or, if not using a stand mixer, a large mixing bowl.
   
   Use the thermometer to measure the temperature of the water. Using water that is too hot could kill the yeast. I found that I could hold my hand in a stream of water that was 110° without any pain at all.
   


2. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and stir to combine. Allow the yeast to proof.
   
   Proof the yeast by allowing the yeast/water/sugar mixture to sit for about 5 minutes. If bubbles form and the mixture looks a little frothy, the yeast has proven itself. I've never seen non-expired commercial yeast fail to proof, but it makes sense to wait 5 minutes instead of finishing the mixing and then finding out that your yeast is bad when the dough doesn't rise.
   


3. Add 3 cups of flour and the salt and mix until combined (use speed 1 or 2 on a stand mixer). If not using a stand mixer, use a sturdy wooden spoon to mix.


4. Continue adding flour until the dough is stiff. If you are using a stand mixer, you can go ahead and add an additional 2 cups of flour. If you are mixing by hand, mix in the bowl until the dough is too stiff to mix with a spoon and then move the dough to a lightly floured counter top or cutting board.


5. If using a stand mixer, knead on low (speed 1 or 2) for 7-10 minutes, adding flour if necessary. If kneading by hand, knead for about 10-12 minutes, adding flour if necessary.
   
   As you knead, the dough will go from being sticky and somewhat lumpy to smooth and elastic. One test to help you decide if the dough has been kneaded enough is to try to make what is called a baker's windowpane. Pinch off a small amount of dough (about half an inch in diameter) and work it into a ball. Then try to pull the dough to thin the center as much as possible (thin enough so that you can see light through it). If the dough stays mostly intact, it is ready. If you can't even get close to a windowpane, keep kneading.
   


6. Coat a large bowl or food container with nonstick spray, oil, or butter. Collect the dough and form into a ball. Put the ball into the container and turn it once or twice so that the surface of the dough gets a thin coating of the oil on it. This will keep it from drying out.
   
   I like to use a translucent graduated food container because it is easier to see how the volume of dough changes as it rises.


7. Cover the bowl or container with a moist kitchen towel or paper towel and let it sit in a warm place until it has roughly doubled in bulk. This typically takes 1-2 hours.
   
   Warm means about 85°F. I have found that putting the bowl of dough on top of (but not in) a running clothes dryer works well. You can also turn on your oven for about 1 minute and then turn the oven off. Leave the door partially open for a few minutes to let it cool a little, and then put the dough in with the door closed. An instant read thermometer comes in handy in determining the temperature of the environment where you are letting the dough rise.
   


8. When the dough has risen, punch it down in the container and then grab/pour the dough ball into your hands. Knead for about 2 minutes and then let the dough rest on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes.
   
   Punching down the dough and then briefly kneading it helps to redistribute the yeast and burst any large air bubbles that have formed in the bread while rising. If you skip this step you could end up with bread containing very large holes. Large holes mean less support for tasty things like butter and jelly.
   


9. Cut the dough ball in half using a knife or dough scraper. Gently shape each half into a roughly cylindrical loaf about 16 inches long. Place the two loaves on the pan.


10. Using a sharp knife, cut 3 or 4 shallow diagonal slices in the top of each loaf. Coat the top surface with egg white mixture using a pastry brush.
    
    Slicing the bread helps to direct escaping steam and prevent the loaf from ending up distorted. The egg white mixture gives the bread good color. If you don't have a pastry brush you can use your fingers.
    


11. Place the pan into a cold oven. After you put in the dough, set the oven to 400°F and bake for 30-35 minutes. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when you knock on the top with your knuckles. A more accurate way to test is to use an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center. The bread is done when the internal temperature reaches 205-210°F.
    
    Starting with a cold oven helps to develop the crust of the bread and makes it more satisfying.
    


12. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

This bread is great to eat pretty much right out of the oven. It won't last for more than about a day if stored at room temperature, so if you don't plan on eating it that day I recommend that you wrap it tightly in foil and freeze.

Today Jess and I went with AG to hike Saddle Mountain in the Coast mountain range. It took us about 1.5 hours to summit and then a little over an hour to get back down. The 1600 foot elevation gain gave us a nice workout, but the trail was in great shape (though steep in places) so it was not too difficult to climb. The sky was clear, though some low lying clouds over the nearby Pacific ocean and Columbia river made viewing the coast from the summit impossible.

After we got down from the mountain we drove a little further west to Cannon Beach, OR, which is right on the Pacific coast. This is the first time Jess and I had been to the Oregon coast, and it was quite a bit different from what I expected (in that there was a real beach). There are quite a number of shops in the area, and many of them are the good kind that serve ice cream. We had a tasty lunch at the Cannon Beach Cookie Company. They do sell more than just cookies. After that we took a walk along the beach and saw Haystack Rock and lots of dogs.

Thanks to AG for the pictures.

Jess and I went to the Portland farmers market today and came back with more than a few things. We were very impressed with the quality of the items we sampled while we were there. Compared to what we had seen in the Chicago farmers markets, the quality and variety here was much better.

In our previous apartment, the center speaker of our dinky surround sound system sat on a small glass shelf that was mounted to the wall just above the center of the TV. Because we didn't want to make as many holes in the wall in our new place since the walls are painted, I needed to come up with another place to mount the center speaker.

My idea was to build some kind of bracket that I could screw into the VESA mounting holes on the back of the TV as well as the threaded mounting hole of the speaker. Jess and I went to the local hardware store and I was looking around the parts area to try to find various pieces of metal that would work for what I had in mind. They didn't sell exactly what I was looking for, so I had to come up with a different design on the spot. I explained to Jess the idea that I had in case she came up with a better idea. After listening to me explain my idea, she said "Would the speaker fit on the entertainment center in front of the TV?". I told her the truth, which is that I don't believe that thought had even crossed my mind.

Undeterred by her sense-making, I continued to look for the various screws, nuts, washers, etc. that I would need to build my bracket. When I was about to head to the register to pay, I noticed they had a "Grab Bag" box on top of the racks holding all the loose screws, nuts, and other fasteners. Inside were several bags filled with random parts, probably ones that customers had returned or dropped on the floor. They were selling these for only $1, which was a pretty good deal considering I found one that had upwards of 50 parts, mostly washers but quite a few machine bolts, nuts, and wood screws.

Eventually I was able to get the various parts I had bought bolted together in such a way as to make a functioning bracket. While attempting to mount this bracket to the TV, I discovered that my TV doesn't have a standard VESA mount. It has 4 M5 threaded holes at the corners of a square with 200mm spacing between holes, but the thread depth of the upper left and lower right holes (looking from the back) is much deeper than that of the other two holes. The M5 screws I had purchased were all 16mm long, which was too long to fit in the upper right hole. So I pulled out the grab bag I had purchased, and as luck would have it there was one M5 screw that was maybe 8mm long, and it fit in that hole perfectly. Since I only needed the upper two holes of the (non)-VESA bracket holes, I was done.


As with most things I do, this was far more complicated than it needed to be. But the end result is pretty.

We are now officially Oregon residents and voters. It is very true that DMVs everywhere are disorganized.

We got all of our stuff. Now we just have to figure out where to put it all.

As of about 2:30 P.M. today, we are now officially Portlanders. We made it all the way here with no major mishaps. We just hope our stuff does the same tomorrow.

From Moving Road Trip

Me and Bunsen in front of Bunsen Peak. And yes, that's really what it's called. Destiny, I'm telling you.

Sorry for the paucity of posts over the last couple of days - Yellowstone kind of requires long days and early starts to get the most out of it. The photos we've been posting link to our photo album from the trip, so you can check out a ton more snaps of animals, geothermal sites (ooooh, science!), waterfalls, and other neat stuff. Highlights include a 12-point bull elk, dueling pronghorns, extreme bison closeups, and my attempts to learn to skip rocks at Yellowstone Lake. We were really fortunate to get to see a lot more animals (I think we saw all the large mammals other than grizzlies, moose, and wolves) that the pictures show - a lot of times the animals are just too far away or the lighting's too bad to get decent images. We saw a couple of coyotes, but they tend to live in sagebrush meadows and don't show up in the photos really at all because of the plant cover.

While at Yellowstone we stayed in Gardiner, MT, which is right above the north entrance and probably one of the least happening towns I've ever been in, but what a view! It's just a few miles from Mammoth Hot Springs inside the park, and we got quite a surprise driving through the Springs Saturday afternoon when we saw a herd of elk (cows and calves) just hanging out on the lawn of the visitor's center, much to the chagrin of park staff. We also got to experience a couple of bison traffic jams while out in the Lamar Valley Sunday morning - I still haven't determined if it's proper road etiquette to pass a bison on the right, and also feeling a little guilty for startling a calf as we weaved our way through a herd crossing the road.

Yellowstone really is a massively cool place. I'm no camping-and-roughing-it nature girl, but it's hard not be impressed by the sheer magnitude of the place and how much the landscape and wildlife changes as you move through the park. The pictures really don't do it justice - there's this depth and vibrancy to the landscape and the light that gets lost in translation. At some point over the last couple of days I ran out of superlatives to describe it, so just trust me when I say that this is one place that you need to visit at some point during your lifetime. Yes, it's in the middle of nowhere, but that's the beauty of it. I'm certainly the type to roll my eyes at breathless exhortations to preserve the wilderness when thinking about it in the abstract, but seeing Yellowstone up close leads me to get the concept a little better, even if I do still think that the granola crowd gets a little carried away sometimes.

And for fun, here's another photo - this is the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River:

From Moving Road Trip

Stuck in traffic in Boise. Jams are way more fun when caused by bison or elk.

Yellowstone is probably the coolest place I've ever been. When was the last time you got within 3 feet of a bison?

From Moving Road Trip

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Greetings from Buffalo, Wyoming! We had an awesome time checking out South Dakota today (no, really!) - the Badlands are amazing and the Black Hills are a lot of fun to drive through. It's amazing to see the changes in the country as you head west, particularly if you're a born-and-raised flatlander like me.

We were really fortunate in the Badlands to spot some bighorned sheep - there are only about a hundred or so in the park and we saw a flock of ten or so. No photos, unfortunately - there was no place to pull over to get snaps, but they were incredibly close to the road and we got a really nice look at them. I was able to spot one of the new lambs as well, so +1 to animal encounters for me. Hopefully we'll have good luck again as we head towards Yellowstone tomorrow.

We've also discovered that Buffalo is kind of a neat little town. We had dinner at a restored Old West hotel that specializes in locally raised bison - a great find considering that it's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Might have been a little too good, though - we both rolled out of there, I think.

Tomorrow we should have some good shots of Yellowstone, and the next day we're going to wake up early to see if we can catch the animals in action. Stay tuned.

From Moving Road Trip

Today's drive should be the longest drive of our trip, and we made it to Chamberlain, SD after driving up through WI and across MN. Southern MN was pretty boring, as it was mostly flat and there wasn't much to look at other than corn and soybean fields. South Dakota is also relatively flat (at least the part we've seen so far) but we're starting to get into some hilly terrain, at least near the Missouri river which is very near to our hotel. Jess and I did a little exploring at a rest stop that has a nice view of the river valley after dinner today. Tomorrow we're planning to drive through the Badlands and the Black Hills, so the drive should be beautiful.

Phase 1 of the cross-country odyssey is complete - we made it to Madison unscathed, and got a lovely taste of traffic on the Kennedy/Jane Addams as a parting gift. Awww, you shouldn't have. Really, you shouldn't have.

Bunsen is slowly adapting to the idea of the move, but I've now heard the poor guy get into vocalizations I didn't even know he was capable of - he's got this bizarre yowl/yodel combo that sounds like someone's trying to remove his toenails with pliers. He had rather a substantial spazz when he got let out of his crate after the movers left and discovered the apartment was empty, and ever since he's been rather unwilling to let us out of his sight. Poor pumpkin.

And can I just say that the burliest of our movers is probably among the more impressive sights I've seen recently? I'm not normally one to be awed by feats of physical strength, but DANG! I didn't know that it's possible for one person to carry our recliner strapped to his back. Or the three-high stack of boxes, with the top one containing a chest of silver flatware. Dude is not messing around, and I have a distinct feeling I'm going to wish he was there at the other end of this trip.

Hey all - we are officially en route! So long Chicago and hello Portland! We're currently figuring out the best way to avoid the Kennedy and a gross accident

So the packers came and boy did they pack. Now its all just a bunch of boxes. Were off to the aquarium for a bit since its now pretty boring at home.

Hard to believe the Farewell Tour is wrapping up and pretty soon, Chi-town is no longer my town. I'm actually getting sentimental, which is a strange experience, and let me say that when you're in that frame of mind, "Up" is so not the movie to go and see. The whole "I just have something in my eye" excuse is not plausible when you're blowing your nose as well.

Today we've been running around doing last-minute prep for the movers and trying to get things labeled so that they and the furniture donation pick-up guys know what goes where, because I really don't want to end up in Portland with two dining room tables and no bed.

Anyway, we'll check in periodically and share our cross-country adventure with you - Bunsen might even chip in some thoughts about how interesting everything smells when he's not trying to kill us with his toxic dog breath. I've yet to figure out how it is that what appears to be a tuna fish factory fits inside his mouth. Yeck.

Adam and I are now suffering from EWS - Europe Withdrawl Syndrome. Symptoms include misty-eyed reminiscing, strong cravings for currywurst and fresh lake trout, cynically bitter complaining about how minor American annoyances would never happen in Europe, and a powerful urge to go back out to the airport and hop the first flight to the Continent.

We survived the 9-hour flight back to the States and we've arrived at the apartment ready (sort of) to work our way back into the regular routine. In the Small World department, a friend of my dad's was flying in business class on our flight and stopped by to say hello. He's a super nice guy and we had a nice chat, although as a result I missed about 15-20 minutes out of the middle of the third Harry Potter movie.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and travelling via armchair. Since we did this, we now don't have to bore you to death with 5 albums full of vacation photos. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm totally going to bore you to death talking about this trip. You might want to bring a book or something.