Bread!

Last weekend I bought some wheat at the supermarket and took it to a German lady on campus who has a mill.  We milled it.. and then decided that it was probably not wheat, but most likely oats! Ok...  Well, I then went about trying to make oat bread. Pure, coarsely milled oats, plus the other ingredients.

Mixing it.. it doesn't seem cohesive. More mixing, breaking apart.. is there even gluten in this?! I knead it a while and then try to set it in a warm pan to rise. One of the other teachers comes over and I proudly present my rising.. brick.  It's solid. Hrm. I cut slices off of it and heat them in a pan as bars.. and discover that it's waaay too salty.  So, salty-oat bars.

The rest of the brick gets crumbled up, and I add brown sugar and banana slices, mixed into a pan and heated. It's a granola of sorts and actually manages to taste a bit better, still too salty though.

Verdict: Bread #1 Failure.

Bread #2!!  I went to the market and bought what looks like flour.  It claims to be "wheat dietary fiber"...  on the bag is some pumpkins. ?! Ok. It's in the flour section, and they also have a similar bag with dumplings on the bag. So the pumpkins are significant.. but it's flour, right?  We'll find out.

Now at home, I mix all the ingredients together.. looking good, kneads alright (yes!). Set aside to rise in a basin of hot water (in the bathroom), since that's the only warm area I can make.  Now closing on midnight, I check it and it has risen! Victory again! On to the second knead and putting it in the fridge.  Good good.

I'd plans to use the dough for breakfast, but Sandie is having a couple of us teachers over for breakfast before service.  Morning time, we head on up there (she lives uphill) and are treated to bacon! biscuits! eggs! tea (legitimate UK tea)! It's a feast and so delicious.

We have English service and I rush home to make my lunch bread attempt.  Whoa! The bread rose a LOT even though it's been in the fridge. Maybe less yeast next time.  I pull off part of it and slap it into a pan and turn on the inductive heating element. Cooking! Rising! It looks and smells like bread!  Tastes good too! (the bread is a bit orange/yellow. i think this is the pumpkin influence)

Verdict: Bread #2 Success!

Before cooking the bread I put some star anise and cinnamon sticks in water and heated it up. This made my apartment smell really good.  I'd been wracking my brains to come up with a non-fakey smell to make my place more comfortable. Well, this works great.

The third point of making-home-ness is getting some pictures I've taken printed.  There's six "artsy" ones that I had printed in glorious 14 inches, and I just got back from that adventure.