CoTT 2 House of Cards

[Timothy M.]

17 minutes ago, clochette said:

*swallows slowly* O!M!G!   I mean okay sure I like a nice hairy man but THAT?!! THAT IS FUR!

Does he hibernate in a cave in winter and catch salmon with his bare hands come spring? 

 

Very polite, Clo. My reactions were more in the line of           

[Marty]

58 minutes ago, Headstall said:

Here's a little something for Marty...       

 

 

You are a wicked, wicked man, Gary!

[Headstall]

7 minutes ago, Marty said:

 

Hey, Gary! How's things with you this wet and windy day?  

Ah... no sense complaining... and the sun has come... Cookie and I had a nice walk... well... she ran and I walked.   How's things with y'all? 

[Headstall]

7 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

 

Very polite, Clo. My reactions were more in the line of           

What? It's almost spring and the bears come out of hibernation.  

[Headstall]

4 minutes ago, Marty said:

 

You are a wicked, wicked man, Gary!

    ... hey... everyone needs love...  

[Headstall]

17 minutes ago, Page Scrawler said:

Afternoon, Dugh, Mum, and Thistle.   *scratches Thistle on his belly*

 

Hey, Marty. 

 

Hey, Bumble B. 

 

Hello, fairy queen. 

 

Hey, Gary. 

Hi, Page.  

[Marty]

Just now, Headstall said:

Ah... no sense complaining... and the sun has come... Cookie and I had a nice walk... well... she ran and I walked.   How's things with y'all? 

 

All good here, at least.  

 

Being stuck in the house means I've managed to get a lot of stuff done that I've been sort of 'long fingering' (no dirty comments please - it's just an expression - Google it, if you don't understand) for the past while.

 

Currently waiting for dough to rise (that was dough, not dugh, you dirty minded people! ) before popping it in the oven. It's now over three years since I purchased shop bread.

 

Camera club meeting this evening, so I'll need to have a shower and a shave before I head off to that.

 

Hey, @Timothy M., by the way!

 

 

[Headstall]

4 minutes ago, Marty said:

 

All good here, at least.  

 

Being stuck in the house means I've managed to get a lot of stuff done that I've been sort of 'long fingering' (no dirty comments please - it's just an expression - Google it, if you don't understand) for the past while.

 

Currently waiting for dough to rise (that was dough, not dugh, you dirty minded people! ) before popping it in the oven. It's now over three years since I purchased shop bread.

 

Camera club meeting this evening, so I'll need to have a shower and a shave before I head off to that.

 

Hey, @Timothy M., by the way!

 

 

I just had a memory of my mom's bread... that smell... all through the house... sigh... 

 

Sounds like a great day to me... Slainte Mhath

[clochette]

26 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

Very polite, Clo. My reactions were more in the line of           

Yup the one should have been there 

[Marty]

1 minute ago, Headstall said:

I just had a memory of my mom's bread... that smell... all through the house... sigh... 

 

Sounds like a great day to me... Slainte Mhath

 

I once read that, if you are selling your home, one way to make it seem more attractive to people viewing it is to have bread baking in the oven at the time they view. Apparently the smell of the bread can make all the difference.

 

It has been a good day, really. Go raibh mhaith agat!  

 

 

[Marty]

22 minutes ago, Headstall said:

    ... hey... everyone needs love...  

 

Agreed!

 

And I try to treat everyone with love. Unfortunately (?) I'm human, have preferences (whilst trying not to be prejudiced), so maybe some people just get a bigger share of my love than others...

 

 

[clochette]

14 minutes ago, Marty said:

All good here, at least.  

 

Being stuck in the house means I've managed to get a lot of stuff done that I've been sort of 'long fingering' (no dirty comments please - it's just an expression - Google it, if you don't understand) for the past while.

 

Currently waiting for dough to rise (that was dough, not dugh, you dirty minded people! ) before popping it in the oven. It's now over three years since I purchased shop bread.

 

Camera club meeting this evening, so I'll need to have a shower and a shave before I head off to that.

 

Hey, @Timothy M., by the way!

Hey Marty  

I like the bake and make bread too. 

Do you have your shots for the contest?

 

Okay I'll admit to it, my mind did went to some funny places  but you gotta admit putting "long fingering" and "waiting for dugh to rise" (I totally read it like this the first time) in the same post with us...

[Marty]

4 minutes ago, clochette said:

Hey Marty  

 

Hi clo!

 

Hope the weather today is a bit calmer where you are today than it is here.  

 

5 minutes ago, clochette said:

Do you have your shots for the contest?

 

It's not really a contest, more of a challenge. And it's one new photograph per week. Don't have to upload this week's until Friday, but I haven't got one yet. Tonight is more of a social meeting. I think we're going to have a talk from some (locally) famous photographer.

 

5 minutes ago, clochette said:

Okay I'll admit to it, my mind did went to some funny places  but you gotta admit putting "long fingering" and "waiting for dugh to rise" (I totally read it like this the first time) in the same post with us...

 

Do you think I might be doing it on purpose?  

 

 

[Page Scrawler]

55 minutes ago, Marty said:

 

Howya, Page?   

Doing well, thanks. I got some writing done earlier, and now I'm folding some laundry. 

[Page Scrawler]

55 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

 

Very polite, Clo. My reactions were more in the line of           

Hey, Tim.    Morgan and I watched Hjartasteinn last night. Just as good as I remembered.  For some reason, I always think of you when I watch a movie from the Nordic countries. 

 

30 minutes ago, Marty said:

 

I once read that, if you are selling your home, one way to make it seem more attractive to people viewing it is to have bread baking in the oven at the time they view. Apparently the smell of the bread can make all the difference.

 

It has been a good day, really. Go raibh mhaith agat!  

 

 

I love the smell of bread baking, too. Sadly, making a good loaf of bread is one of my shortcomings in the kitchen.  It never seems to have the right texture. Maybe I should go back to school, and take a class or two to round out my skills.

[Marty]

13 minutes ago, Page Scrawler said:

I love the smell of bread baking, too. Sadly, making a good loaf of bread is one of my shortcomings in the kitchen.  It never seems to have the right texture. Maybe I should go back to school, and take a class or two to round out my skills.

 

The secret to success seems to lie with (a) the kneading, (b) letting it rise twice before baking, and (c) the flour you use - I always use wholemeal.

 

I think there are two main types of flour - cake flour and strong flour (there may be other names used your side of the pond). You need strong flour for bread making, as it has extra gluten that helps trap the gases given off by the yeast, so giving a better texture. Bread made from cake flour doesn't rise as well.

 

You can use a bread making machine, but those only allow the dough to rise once before 'baking' it. They do produce a reasonable loaf, but I don't like the shape of the bread made by the one I have. I do sometimes use it for the initial mixing and rising if I am in a hurry, as it has a dough setting, which means it switches itself off before cooking the loaf.

 

One thing to be aware of is that from start to finish will usually take around at least two and a half hours. You really need to be available to watch it if you are hand making it, as it's fairly critical that you don't let it rise too much.

 

I have my own recipe that has been adapted from ones from various sources. There are numerous ones available online (Google is your friend). The one below is close to my own, although I would only use a pinch of salt (not a teaspoonful), and I just cover the dough with a clean tea towel whilst it is rising (instead of oiled cling film).

 

https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/traditional-wholemeal-bread

[clochette]

1 hour ago, Marty said:

 

Hi clo!

 

Hope the weather today is a bit calmer where you are today than it is here.  

 

It's not really a contest, more of a challenge. And it's one new photograph per week. Don't have to upload this week's until Friday, but I haven't got one yet. Tonight is more of a social meeting. I think we're going to have a talk from some (locally) famous photographer.

 

Do you think I might be doing it on purpose?  

 

 

The weather was nice this morning, sunny though a bit chilly but turned grey and windy this afternoon and since 7pm it's raining hell and terribly windy. 

 

Good luck on your photo challenge with the weather. 

[Marty]

I know I said yesterday that I have basically given up using FB...

 

But sometimes it can be useful for getting up to date information a lot quicker than when I Google for the same information.

 

A few minutes ago I received a text message on my phone to say that the camera club meeting planned for tonight has been put off till next week due to the "weather warning". When I checked FB I found the following message from "Metalert Ireland" (I live close to where the number 104 is on the map - that's the likely wind speed in kilometres per hour).

 

[Page Scrawler]

1 hour ago, Marty said:

have my own recipe that has been adapted from ones from various sources. There are numerous ones available online (Google is your friend). The one below is close to my own, although I would only use a pinch of salt (not a teaspoonful), and I just cover the dough with a clean tea towel whilst it is rising (instead of oiled cling film).

I normally use All-Purpose flour (unbleached) and dry active yeast for baking, because those are the most common, and therefore the most convenient. And I usually buy the store-name brand. Maybe I just need to get better ingredients. 

[Marty]

3 minutes ago, Page Scrawler said:

I normally use All-Purpose flour (unbleached) and dry active yeast for baking, because those are the most common, and therefore the most convenient. And I usually buy the store-name brand. Maybe I just need to get better ingredients. 

 

I use dried active yeast as well.

 

Google gives me the following for "All-Purpose flour" ....

 

In Canadian recipes calling for all-purpose flour, you can substitute American all-purpose flour or UK plain flour except when the recipe is a bread recipe. Canadianall-purpose is a truly all-purpose flour, being very high in gluten, and can be used for bread, but American all-purpose and UK plain flour cannot.

 

Seems that might be your problem. Another Google search suggests that British (or Irish, in my case) Strong flour is called Bread flour in the US.

 

https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2017/01/flour.html

[dughlas]

5 hours ago, Headstall said:

Um... will some rumpled plaid do?

 

But of course.

[Timothy M.]

2 hours ago, Page Scrawler said:

Hey, Tim.    Morgan and I watched Hjartasteinn last night. Just as good as I remembered.  For some reason, I always think of you when I watch a movie from the Nordic countries. 

 

Happy to hear that. You can think of me and @Thorn Wilde  (a fellow Nordic person) in the future. And of course we need a SATW comic about watching a movie.   Oh and for the ladies: https://satwcomic.com/girl-s-night

Edited March 12, 2019 by Timothy M.

[dughlas]

3 hours ago, Marty said:

 

All good here, at least.  

 

Being stuck in the house means I've managed to get a lot of stuff done that I've been sort of 'long fingering' (no dirty comments please - it's just an expression - Google it, if you don't understand) for the past while.

 

Currently waiting for dough to rise (that was dough, not dugh, you dirty minded people! ) before popping it in the oven. It's now over three years since I purchased shop bread.

 

Camera club meeting this evening, so I'll need to have a shower and a shave before I head off to that.

 

Hey, @Timothy M., by the way!

 

 

Yeah, please don't pop me in the oven.

[dughlas]

3 hours ago, Marty said:

Do you think I might be doing it on purpose?  

 

 

Well, I hope it wasn't done accidentally.

[dughlas]

46 minutes ago, Page Scrawler said:

I normally use All-Purpose flour (unbleached) and dry active yeast for baking, because those are the most common, and therefore the most convenient. And I usually buy the store-name brand. Maybe I just need to get better ingredients. 

Look for a flour made from hard wheat it will have more gluten. I use King Arthur. Hard wheat is commonly grown in the northern part of the US and in Canada and produces what Marty knows as "strong" flour also known as "king" flour. Soft wheat is typically grown in the south. It is often found in cake or pastry flour. White Lily is a well known brand. I believe it's the reason that southerners make such tender flaky biscuits.

Edited March 12, 2019 by dughlas