Whole grains

 

It’s important to pay attention to your daily fiber intake, even (and maybe especially) when you’re trying to figure out the best way to do your part in resisting creeping authoritarianism. I’ve been in a pretty consistent breadmaking routine ever since I put up my very first post about baking bread more than 17 (!) years ago. And in all that time that I’ve been making bread, my standard recipe is pretty basic—1:3 ratio of whole wheat flour to white bread flour: suitable to most uses, including rolls, loaves, focaccia, pita bread, pizza dough, sometimes even bagels. The one thing it couldn’t do is fulfill my craving for a hearty wholegrain loaf that would fit into my kitchen routine as seamlessly. I’ve tried a few different recipes over the years, but nothing has ever made it into the regular rotation. But I think I may have found The One, at last—ironically in a cookbook I bought eight years ago.

Multigrain Cereal Bread

Adapted from Bread Toast Crumbs by Alexandra Stafford

The best thing about this recipe for me is that the source of the ‘multigrain’ in this bread is a multigrain hot cereal mix (I use this one). I had no idea these even existed until I found this recipe, but I love that it’s such an easy and convenient option. In the past I was always daunted by the prospect of trying to find, buy, and manage even a few types of whole grains in order to make multigrain bread, and this genius hack just removes that whole obstacle. I’ve been making this bread consistently for the last six months, and it has become a staple in my daily breakfast. It’s hearty and chewy and leaves me feeling much more satiated than any other bread I consume. And it’s texturally consistent enough that I think it could be a feasible option for people who might expect to have texture issues with multigrain bread—always a plus in my house!

Yield: 1 tin loaf*

⅔ cup (106 g) 10-grain hot cereal

1 cup boiling water

¼ cup (60 ml) maple syrup

2¼ cups (288 g) bread flour**

1 cup (128 g) whole-wheat flour

2 teaspoons (~10 g) kosher salt

2¼ teaspoons (~5 g) instant yeast

1 cup room temp water

1. In a large (at least 2-cup) measuring cup or a medium bowl, combine cereal, boiling water, and maple syrup. Leave to stand for 10 minutes while you get on with the rest of the recipe.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and yeast.

3. Add room temp water to hot cereal mixture and stir to combine. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix together (I use my beloved dough whisk for this) until fully combined into a fairly sticky dough. 

4. Cover the bowl and put in a warm place to rise for 60-90 minutes or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

5. Heat the oven to 375F/190C and arrange with a rack in the middle. Line a loaf pan with baking parchment, or grease well with butter.

6. Use a rubber spatula or other implement of choice to scrape dough from bowl into loaf pan and distribute evenly. Leave to rise for 10-20 minutes while the oven comes to temperature, or until the top of the dough has risen to the edge of the pan.

7. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes, rotating halfway through, looking for a golden crust. If you have an instant-read thermometer, insert into the center of the bread to check that the internal temperature is at least 190F/88C and that the probe comes out clean. 

8. Tip the bread out of the pan onto a rack to cool. Let rest for at least 15 minutes, and preferably longer, before slicing. 

* The original recipe calls for making two smaller, round loaves baked in Pyrex glass bowls, but after a few tries I’ve decided I prefer it as one larger tin loaf.

** The original recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I like the consistency better with bread flour. 

Still standing

 

Handmade taggy for a new baby in
my neighborhood—plus the all-important book

I’m so far from being in a state of flow on anything I’m trying to do at the moment. The combination of having been sick for the last couple of weeks and the daily onslaught of horrors makes it almost impossible to focus, and makes focusing on any one thing seem pointless. What difference does it make to help out a neighbor with snow removal? To donate a few dollars to a mutual aid fund in Minneapolis or Maine? To make a good dinner out of leftovers so they don’t go to waste? To put my hand up to do volunteer work? To edit a piece of academic research that only a handful of people will ever read? To sew a present for someone instead of just buying a cheap plastic thing online? To stand here on my little soapbox and say, “No! No! No!”

And yet I continue to believe that these things do matter, even when they seem like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon. I remind myself that these are not new problems we are facing. I reiterate the importance of “know[ing] what you stand for and what you think is good.” I practice thinking of myself as part of a team. And I seek the courage to keep doing the next right thing, which is often to not succumb to the easy, apathizing lure of despair. I have not been called upon to display the kind of courage I see in the news every day—but I remain responsible for doing what I can. And, as a fellow blogger said, one thing I do know how to do is feed people:

Food for All Services - Maine

StandwithMinnesota.com

Progress, not perfection

 

The table runner that I used to teach myself three different quilting methods;
it is full of mistakes and makes me happy every time I look at it

The number of tasks I aspire to get done every day may be objectively ridiculous. I don’t know, and one of the things I have struggled with throughout my life is feeling as though I’m not doing enough, no matter how much I do. Also that I don’t have enough time, even on days where I have no commitments and 16 unfettered hours stretch out before me. If I spend too long on any one thing (hyperfocusing), I start to get anxious that I’m falling behind on something else.

To combat this, I’ve developed a lot of routines that involve spending 10-15 minutes focusing on a bunch of different things (microtasking). This is usually pretty effective; I may not finish whatever task I’ve allocated to that small chunk of time, but I will at least move it forward. And it’s an ongoing surprise to me how many things I can substantively complete in a focused 10-minute session.

This method is a helpful way for me to circumvent procrastination (I’ll just do 10 minutes on that thing I don’t really want to do) and decision paralysis (I don’t have to prioritize one thing, I can focus in turn on each of these things that seem equally important). It also helps me get past my own perfectionist expectations, and focus on the process rather than the rush to get it done. Even I recognize that the chances I can turn out a finished product of any kind are slim to none. But I can get one step or one seam or one sentence done. And if, horror of horrors, I do make a mistake, I can step away, focus on something else, and fix it in the next session.

Sometimes I get frustrated by microtasking, because I feel like my progress in any given area is so slow. But occasionally I get a tangible reminder that little by little, the steps, seams, sentences, sessions do add up (see above).

This is a useful analogy for any area of life, especially the ones where results might not be so material (no pun intended). The important thing, I am learning one day at a time, is to keep going, keep learning, keep doing and making.