Local flour power

It's doubtful that the snow falling (again) has anything to do with today being a Friday the 13th. We've drifted into a pattern of nuisance snows every day or so, not that I'm looking for a significant storm instead. Now that we have enough snow cover to ensure a white Christmas, a string of days with blue skies, sunshine and temperatures in the 30's would be a nice, early present from Mother Nature. Maybe next week?

a sourdough boule

Photo by J. Harrington

Our interest in local food systems, particularly having to do with local bread and flour, has been growing. We already knew about Sunrise Flour Mill, which is sort of just up the road. Then we started reading the latest issue of Yes! magazine, which includes stories about Flour Power and Wild Yeasts and Ancient Grains. Those prompted us to start poking about the internets where we discovered Baker's Field flour and bread. One day very soon we'll take a trip there and see what there is to see. We've played with enough different flours and proportions to start to get a feel for how much that can affect the taste and crumb of a boule of bread. For next year, which is also the beginning of a new decade, we promise ourselves and the Better Half we'll do a better job keeping a baking journal so it might get easier to track what worked and what we really liked. Unfortunately, I'm still trying to figure out what needs to be tracked and how to effectively describe the results. A search of The Fresh Loaf blog didn't provide satisfactory answers but there are a few options I've found online that look worth a try. If you've suggestions on format or content, we'd love to see them in the comments.

5 minutes a day artisan loafs

Photo by J. Harrington

For the start of the new year and new decade, we're planning on rereading Tara Jensen's A Baker's Year. It's a treat and the month by month organization fits with our phenology / seasons / simple life interests. Poetry, bread baking and fly fishing offer opportunities to combine learning with doing at the local level, so that's how we're going to corral our ever-expanding range of interests to a manageable herd. We'll throw in, of course, some country living and here's how the county's going to hell raves and rants from time to time. It's called casting our bread on local waters.

Don’t Bother the Earth Spirit

By Joy Harjo

Don’t bother the earth spirit who lives here. She is working on a story. It is the oldest story in the world and it is delicate, changing. If she sees you watching she will invite you in for coffee, give you warm bread, and you will be obligated to stay and listen. But this is no ordinary story. You will have to endure earthquakes, lightning, the deaths of all those you love, the most blinding beauty. It’s a story so compelling you may never want to leave; this is how she traps you. See that stone finger over there? That is the only one who ever escaped.

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