a good pet

A new pet has joined the family! We found a little cricket in the backyard today and have set him up with a plush pad in a big old jar. Noel has named him Grasshopper. Apparently, they make delightful, if short-lived, pets. We learned all we need to know about cricket pet-keeping on the Old Farmer's Almanac site, which was very brief and to the point. Excellent.

Also, the bread making time of the year is in full swing in this house. I have been struggling with getting bread right all summer, but have finally pulled through with my take on a super solid and dead easy recipe. This recent post on The Kitchn motivated me to give bread one more try this summer. Man! First go, I basically followed the exact recipe (which is a tweak of the original posted in the NY Times by Mark Bittman) with a little added sourdough starter that I have already going (for flavor). The loaf made me so darn happy! Perfect! Easy! Super delicious!

After making two identical loaves and deeming my results not a fluke, I added a few more tweaks just to suit our tastes. First, I switched to 1/4 whole wheat flour, and 3/4 bread flour. Next, I added a teaspoon of sugar along with the 1/4 cup of sourdough starter. I have been baking the loaves covered for the first 20 minutes (with a large soup pot turned over) and the last 15-20 minutes uncovered. Brilliant. Serious 5 minutes a day bread that is perfect for sandwiches or toast. Yay!

I should have taken pictures but I am too lazy.
Here is the recipe I have worked out based on the recipes listed above that works for one 9" loaf of sandwich bread:

3 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 t instant yeast
2t sea salt
2t sugar
1/4 cup sourdough starter (this is optional, I add it for flavor, the yeast should truly be enough leavening)
2 cups water

1. sift together all the dry ingredients (flours, yeast, salt, sugar)
2. combine water and sourdough starter
3. mix wet and dry ingredients in a large bowl - dough will be shaggy and quite wet, but elastic and pull away from sides of bowl.
4. cover with plastic wrap or damp towel for 12-18 hours.
5. butter a 9" loaf pan
6. flour work surface and turn dough out. dust middle of dough with flour (just enough so you can work with it.
7. very gently bring up sides of dough and shape it to aproximately the size of your pan, drop it in, seem side down.
8. cover with plastic or damp towel for 2 more hours.
9. preheat oven for 20 minutes to 475; dust top of loaf with flour and make a slash down the middle.
10.bake the loaf covered (either with a big soup pot or loosely with foil for 20 minutes, then remove cover, rotate bread and bake another 15-20 minutes.
11. turn bread out of pan and let it cool on a rack for a full 30 minutes before slicing.