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These whole-wheat sourdough loaves just came out of the oven, and I let them cool for about 1/2 an hour before I could no longer resist slicing off the first chunk, to consume with melted butter. YUM.

Since returning from California, I've thawed the starter, and been diligently feeding it on 3-4 day intervals with a nice organic whole-wheat bread flour, that I'm picking up at LifeStyles in the 10 KG bag. Always good to have a large stash of that in the magic-pantry eh? I'd say the starter has great legs at this point.....with quite an active wild yeast.

These loaves got their start on Thursday night, when I mixed the firm starter after dinner. Basically threw together 2/3 cup starter, with 4.5 oz whole-wheat flour, and 1/4 cup of water. Left it in a beaker on the kitchen counter and it doubled in volume in under 2 hours! Left it in the fridge overnight for some cold-fermentation. Went to work on Friday, leaving the firm starter in the fridge. This is the part of the bread-making where it is just making itself.

After dinner on Friday, I de-chilled the starter out of the fridge, then threw it into the final dough with 20.25 oz. of red-fife sifted wheat flour and 1.75 cups lukewarm water. I do the mixing in the KitchenAid, for a total of 12 minutes, followed by (in this case) about 5 minutes of kneading. There is also about 20 minutes of dough-resting in there where I'm just waiting for enough gluten strands to form up and give us some stretchiness to the dough. It has to hold a stretch between the hands, and not tear apart. After the dough was ready to rise, I left it in a beaker on the counter-top about 10 PM. Went to bed around 11:30 and it was still rising.

For a bit there in the summer, I was experimenting with spiking the dough with commercial yeast, just to get the primary fermentation complete before bed-time. That did indeed complete the batch faster, but I didn't like the result as much as just leaving the wild yeast on its own to do its thing. So, I've been leaving the dough out on the kitchen counter over-night, and coming down in the wee hours to shape the loaves.

For these loaves, I shaped them around 3 AM, when I happened to be up anyway. If it's not the kids getting me up, then it's the 2 cups of herb tea I drink before bed time. So, with loaves shaped about 3 AM, I left them out on the counter to rise. This can take about 4 hours, depending on the room temperature. A little longer this morning, as it was a bit more chilly inside. I threw them in the oven around 830 AM (I think) for about 35 mins at 350 F.

So there you have it - fresh, home-made, whole-wheat sourdough. I'll do this routine about 3 times per week, and feed the starter 2 times per week. I'm feeding the starter enough to double its volume every time (usually keeping an average of about 12 oz. to double).

I was having such an inspired morning, this morning. I'm not sure exactly why, but the day did begin a little earlier than usual, with Wolfie getting up at 5:37 AM for the last time. Quite groggy this AM, and it took a little while to get with the program.

The family Saturday AM routine kicked into gear, and everyone took off: Justine and Robin to tai chi, Lance and Charlotte to the Village. Wolfie and I were left at home, so we did what we usually do, and stream in some 80s music. This is really our only chance to Rock Steady, and dance on the ceiling, as our pensioners wince audibly whenever I stream the 80s.

Decided to head out for a nice sea-side walk with Wolfie and the dog, so made a quick snack, pressed a Mile Zero coffee, and hit the road.

The snack included a rather decadent half-toasted PB & J sandwich. Here is the recipe:

• Make a loaf of whole-wheat sourdough bread, and when you shape the loaf, do a boule, so it comes out nice and round, your classic free-form shape. I guess you could buy a loaf of WW sourdough, but that would be lazy, or cheating, 1 of the 2. How to make WW sourdough is beyond the scope of this recipe, but I may follow-up on this topic in a future blog. Interested readers are encouraged to read this book, and practice for weeks. I am still in training, this being the 5th month straight of home-made bread. I'm up to 4 loaves of WW sourdough per week now, so we've always got some around the house.
• Take the loaf of sourdough, and cut a slice, on the diagonal, so you can get a little more width to the slice, than cutting straight down on the loaf. You want as wide a slice as you can, and of course, if your loaf was a success, then your boule has resulted in a nice long slice of bread (especially if you are going through the middle of the loaf).
• Toss the slice (or 2) into the toaster, with half the bread slice sticking up out of the top of the toaster. This portion of the slice will obviously not toast. You get why this is a half-toasted sandwich?
• When the half-toasted slice pops, cut it in half, and treat 1 half to a layer of peanut butter. If you are making your own peanut butter, then good on you! I cheated and opened a jar we had in the fridge. Haven't quite got to the homemade peanut butter scene.
• Make some jam, or, have someone competent at making jam give you a jar of theirs. Spread this jam on the other half of the slice.
• Put both slices together, and head out the door.
• Share half-toasted PB and J sandwich with child, and not dog. Ensure that child's share is not given to dog.

You have to work a bit for this one, but it is a great snack. Go crazy with it, and switch up where the peanut butter goes, on the toasted side, or not!

Today we held the BC Day James Bay Panettone Smack-Down! Yes, the event was moved from Victoria Day, and Canada Day, and has been successfully held today, on BC Day!

Here is the scoop : sometime during the recent parental leave, I started heavy into making bread. I have a formula for panettone, and we usually enjoy a loaf or 2 at XMAS time, when it is truly in season. Some of us got to talking, and decided that we should all attempt making a panettone or 2, and have a bit of a bake-off, as amatuer (read: first-timer) panettone bakers.

After all, how hard could it be ?!

So, Sarah, Robin and I decided to "compete" in a bake-off for fun by each selecting our own preferred formula and making up our "holiday" breads this weekend. We had a bunch of folks over to judge them this morning, and had a great amount of fun (and coffee) devouring our panettone.

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Am usually at home with Wolfe on Saturday mornings while the rest of the gang are out doing activities. We'll all hook up at the James Bay Market later on this AM...depending on how things go.

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Ooops, had to process a pinched finger there. Wolfe was playing around with a pot lid and it got the better of him. Ah yes, kitchen hazards.

Anyhoo, this morning Wolfe had a power-nap from 0820 to 0850. That timing worked out pretty well for the sourdough bread dough de-chilling on the kitchen counter-top. I shaped 2 "batards", and left those out to proof on the counter for bit....

Have taken up sourdough bread-baking the last couple of weeks, so that has been fun. Started a seed culture 2 weeks ago, based on rye flour and water. Built that into the barm, or mother-starter that I have been refreshing, and keeping in the fridge. I think I have done 6 loaves in the past week, so that is keeping me well over the 3-loaf / week pace I was setting to try and keep fresh bread topped up in the pantry. This formula I am working from makes 2 1.5 lb loaves. The next 2 loaves are in the oven now.....

S just stopped over with fresh sourdough cinnie buns, so that was a huge bonus. I will now refresh my coffee, slather on some sour-cream icing, and enjoy....

Oh yeah, I am also streaming the sound of the 80s off 977 music right now. The soundtrack of the Saturday morning is usually 80s. Wolfe and I just finished bopping to Rock Steady . He loved it! Laughing and giggling while dancing around the kitchen with Daddy. I think no long-term harm will come from exposing my 1-year old to the po-music sounds of the 80s.

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Doh! Bread timer just went off, so had to rotate the loaves. And this is when I see that I forgot to score them before baking - DOH! (Or should that be DOUGH?!). Anyhow, always a learning opportunity on the bread, so I scored them and put them back in....we'll see what that does...

Kind of back in one of those periods where I'm making homemade bread on a regular basis. Want to keep up a pace of at least 3 loaves per week to feed the clan down here. After spending so much time in the kitchen during parental leave, I kind of want to keep that home-baking dream alive a bit, if I can. Is going to be tough I think. We'll have to see what we can schedule. We've got no shortage of flour (25 kg), or skills, just time. But, once you get the mixing done (thanks to the KitchenAid mixer), the dough just kind of does its thing, with only a bit of attention to shape, rise, and bake the loaves.

I managed to nail down a couple of formulas from Peter Reinhart's book, A Bread Baker's Apprentice. Got some organic bread flour I like, and can now turn out loaves with reasonable confidence that they won't go sideways. This past weekend, I did a multi-grain loaf (with cornmeal, oats, wheat bran, rice, whole-wheat flour), and a couple of whole-wheat loaves, pictured here. This should do the trick for sandwiches for this week....

Just had a dough disaster this afternoon. We're suspecting the whole-wheat flour was the culprit, but something clearly went sideways. Decided to make a whole-wheat loaf with what was left of the high-protein whole-wheat flour I had kicking around here. Just so happens the formula called for high-protein whole-wheat flour. Bravo! I'll take 9 ounces of that and toss it in, I thought to myself, optimistically. Well. After a bunch of kneading, just could not get the gluten to develop, and the dough to form up right. Something was up. Perhaps the oat soaker? Perhaps the poolish went sideways overnight ?

Anyhow, we decided to let it rise anyways, and up it came. But, the nose knows. The primary fermentation clearly left us with a well-fermented aroma on the dough. And I did not want to make any more beer bread this week! No! Anyhoo, this dough was going to be for loaves 4 and 5 of the week, but we decided to toss the dough right into the trash. So sad.

Decided to make a corn-bread for dinner anyway, to try and restore some confidence. That came out OK, so at least we wound up with 1 loaf OK. I think the next one will be a multi-grain loaf. That I will start tonight....with a multi-grain soaker....

That loaf of bread that went sideways......has ended up in grilled-cheese sandwiches....and actually, the over-fermented nature of the bread actually adds a nice angle to the lunch....it's like having a warmed-cheese sandwich, and a beer, all at the same time....

I will be keeping this in mind for future bread errors....

It's Wednesday afternoon, and I'm mixing the the third loaf of bread I've made this week. At this rate, I might be able to do 5 loaves before the week is out ? Not sure. Depends how much kitchen time I can get back in, and with all this rain, who knows how things will go.

Will try to maintain a 3-loaf/week pace once going back to work. I'm trying to perfect a formula that will more-or-less guarantee a particular style of multi-grain loaf, one fit for large sandwiches. Yes, large sandwiches with homemade bread, will hopefully end up in many lunches that I will sink my teeth into this summer. On those walks from campus, down to sunny Cadboro Bay. Oh, will the sun come out some time this summer ? We'll see...

Anyhoo, the first loaf this week was a flop. Didn't rise quite as high as those perky loaves that came out last week. Also had that yeasty overtone that drowned out the taste of the grains. Not good. The 2nd loaf was better. A blend of Red Fife sifted wheat, and some whole-wheat flour. A better result, although it took a while to get there. This next loaf, loaf number three I have high expectations for. I hope it doesn't let me down....

Just creaming butter and sugar now for the next batch of cinnamon buns. I am going to attempt to repeat the wild success of batch number 1. Lemme grab the photo and show you....

Lots of great info here on using fats in your baked goodies. The tip I needed tonight was on how to cream butter, if you have just taken your butter out of the fridge, and need to make cookies pronto (typically for a Mommy with a sweet-tooth).

The tip is to grate the butter, and let it sit out at room temp for a few minutes to soften.

Got a wee one crawling around on the floor, entering himself with the music-bag. It is a rather fun-filled sack of musical instruments. I have a pot of dahl going on the front-burner, and the back-burners idling for now. Thinking about throwing a broccoli frittata together for dinner. Or maybe a pot of pasta, topped with a Broccoli/Mustard sauce, a fam favourite. Either way, I've got to use that broc hanging out in the fridge. Reminds me also of the last bit of that bunch of green chard that I've got to use up. Hmmm.....will probably end up in the frittata.

We didn't go out this morning, because it was hovering around freezing, so staying inside was the plan for the day.

I'm rising a bread sponge over on the side-counter, that 's going to become a multi-grain loaf. I'm using this 20 kilogram bag of sifted red-fife wheat flour that we got from the True Grain Bakery, and liking that quite a bit. Not only was the bulk-price ($72) quite nice, but the breads I'm making with it have quite an authentic flavour. A real bready/nutty flavour, that reminds you of what bread is supposed to taste like.

Got CBC Radio 1 on the stereo, pulling in current news and views. I'm sure this is a fairly typical Canadian household scene....

Have been doing a tour through the rather large collection of cookbooks that we have in the house. You could say we have a small library of them, stacked up in a Billy Bookcase right there in the kitchen, where you need 'em.

I'm keeping track of everything I'm making in a recipe-journal, a hard-copy list that's in the back-pages of one of the books.....

Ok, I'm wiped out now. I started off with so much energy this morning, but am now running out of gas, and there's still another round to go.

Since going on leave, I've taken up the task of preparing most meals. Good times, really. I haven't been at the helm in the kitchen for quite some time, so this is a gas. Did I mention we're cooking with a gas range, as well? Justine pointed out to me a very key function on the KitchenAid range a couple days ago - the "Bread Proof" function. Did NOT know we had that - doh!

Anyhoo, I had some red kidney beans soaking for a day, so I threw those on to cook with some onion, and parsley. Figured they'd been sitting around long enough. Then decided to make a Lentil Minestrone. No wait a minute, we had a lentil soup already in the past week, plus the red-lentil dahl, so I decided to change course, a bit. Went for a green split-pea soup. Yah, the Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special has one with dried mushrooms and Miso, so I went for that one. Used the V-Slicer to dice the carrots, and potatoes. Just like having a magic chef....

Justine and the kids were out at a birthday party a couple of blocks over, so I wasn't juggling wee ones in the kitchen at the same time.....

After they got back, I made a plan with Charlotte to make a couple of loaves of bread. This time, we were going to use the KitchenAid mixer, rather than mix and knead by hand. She is great at running the mixer, so this would be a fun-filled activity. As it turned out, she went upstairs after lunch for a rest, so it was up to me and Wolfe to make the bread dough - which we did. He hangs out on my hip to keep an eye on things. That KitchenAid mixer is a sweet ride. Takes some labour out of the job. Used the Bread Proof function on the oven to get the first rise happening, while serving up dinner. Am reading this bread primer at epicurious right now. The soup was nice, and we've got tons more to eat, so I can cool my kitchen jets tomorrow. Also got a pot of lentils and rice in the fridge to finish. Did those ones with a caramelized-onion mix. Tasty.

Did stories at bed-time with Charlotte, then threw the bread into the pan for the second rise. While that was happening, I bombed a tray of chocolate chip cookies into the oven. Made the cookie dough last night, by request, and only make 6 or 8 cookies at a time. I like having a bit of cookie dough on hand in the fridge, for a yummy dessert.

Cookies came out sweet, so now the bread is in at 375 for 40 minutes. Got the other dough in the fridge for tomorrow. Will make another loaf of bread, or maybe dinner rolls.

Can't really have days like this when I'm at work....

Justine has advised that I read this article that contains the Soy Alert...all the scary stuff about soy....*shudder*

We had a spontaneous little get-together tonight with our neighbour. This called for drinks, and a few eats. Here is where having a bit of Golda's Finest Pesto comes in handy...

Among the goodies I hauled out onto the patio was a serving of veggies and dip. Here is the DIP solution...

Depending on how much you want to make, mix up a few spoonfuls of Cilantro pesto, some plain yogurt, a few squirts of Mayo, and some salt and pepper. Stir, and serve! This has got to be the tastiest and quickest dips in the West....

You make turnip puff, that's what!

This massive turnip has been sitting there in the fridge, waiting to be puffed, so tonight, it got its wish! If you happen to have a rather large turnip in your fridge, then give the turnip puff a go.....it is both easy and yummy....

Bet all you green thumbs out there got lots of zucchini coming out of the garden, eh...?

As always, this is the time of year to get new ideas on what to do with it all....so here you go....

Made up this quick, easy, and YUMMY dish tonite to have along with sloppy joes...

Grated Zucchini Saute

• 3 medium zukes
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. minced fresh basil, or 1/2 tsp. dried
• salt, pepper to taste
• 2 tsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

Cut the ends from the zucchini and discard. Shred the zuke using a hand grater. Place the zuke in a cotton kitchen towel and gather it into a ball, and twist hard to squeeze out some of the juices. (If you are a bit lazy like us, then just spread the zuke out a bit and press into with paper towel to get some of the juices out). Scrape the grated zuke into a bowl.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add the zuke, basil, salt, and pepper and sauté. tossing often, until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle on the butter and parmesan cheese, toss, and serve.

from Quick Vegetarian Pleasures, J. Lemlin, 1992

So here is a recipe that Justine and I came up with this weekend...I would call it a chow of epic proportions...really hearty, tasty, and good for you....you can't go wrong....

The idea behind this is simple, take gnocchi, and slam it together with some greens....here's how we did it....

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In celebration of the new "Recipes" category in the main blog here, I am going to fill you in on the recipe I used to make my lunch today.

From the Vegetarian Express Lane Cookbook is this dish called "Better-Than-Canned Tomato Soup".....

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This one is from the Moosewood Restaurant's Daily Special cookbook - a clear winner in our house! We had this dish a couple of weeks ago, and it certainly satisfied!

Serves 6 to 8
Yields 12 cups
Prep time: 25 minutes
Simmering time: 30 to 40 minutes

• 1.5 cups chopped onions
• 5 or 6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 cup diced celery
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup peeled and diced carrots
• 1 cup peeled and diced parsnips
• 1 cup chopped fennel bulb
• 1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
• 2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground dried rosemary OR 1 fresh rosemary sprig
• 3 cups canned tomatoes in juice, chopped or pureed
• 2 to 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry red wine (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked drained kidney beans* (15-ounce can)
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

*White and red kidneys are both fine, and if you prefer to substitute another type of bean, go right ahead.

In a large nonreactive soup pot, saute the onions, garlic, and celery in the olive oil on low heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the salt, carrots, parsnips, and chopped fennel, and then cover and continue to cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the sweet potatoes, ground fennel, oregano, red pepper flakes, and rosemary and simmer for about 5 minutes. (If the vegetables stick or begin to brown, add a splash of water.) Add the tomatoes, water, and, if using, the wine. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Add the beans and parsley and cook for another 10 minutes.

Serve plain or topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

Ok, I have had this URGE to make my own salsa lately...and am trying out a number of recipes. I have been particularly excited about this one, from the new Moosewood release called "new classics".

• 1 tsp. vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 5 minced garlic cloves
• 1 seeded and minced fresh chile
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 3 cups chopped tomatoes
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat the oil, and saute the onions, garlic, and chile for about 5 minutes. Add the salt, coriander, and cumin. Stir in the tomatoes and cilantro, and cook for about 7 minutes.

The Coreman has been using this one with great success in egg dishes for weekend brunch. Also a winner chilled and then devoured with chips! Recent experiments have included mixing this salsa with Golda's Finest Foods Skoogk, available all over the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island!

In the morning, we are tuned in to the Early Edition with Rick Cluff on Vancouver's CBC Radio AM 690.

This month they had a recipe contest featuring lots of yummy treats....we are going to try the Almond Bars right away!