Y’all are going to get so tired of reading about my bread baking adventures, but I finally got good results with the sourdough yesterday. The biggest problem I had before was using something other than King Arthur flour. I’ll not make THAT mistake again. My starter is happy and healthy again! Also, I didn’t use Vital Wheat Gluten this time. I think that was a contributing factor of the dense bricks I was making. Come to find out, that stuff is really for bread made with fresh milled flour. I am still looking into getting a grain mill but I’d really like to try baking with fresh milled flour before I make that big of an investment. 

The main thing I did yesterday was watch my rise time. I think I was over proofing my dough so it ran out of gas too early. It didn’t take any time at all to make the first rise. I skipped the second rise and just shaped the dough. Once it rose, I popped it in the oven and got two nice, soft loaves of bread and eight killer cinnamon rolls. I made cream cheese icing this time and it was really good.

Mr. FixIt was bowling last night so I had the evening to myself. I took my time baking, then I thoroughly cleaned the kitchen. Now I’m ready for the week. I need to start gearing up for the summer work load. I don’t like to go from the Big Red Chair to the tractor overnight. I want to get more walking in and build up my stamina. 

I saw some more photos of the wedding yesterday. I can’t wait to see more…it was stunning! We had quite a bit of rain over the last couple of days. It’s good for the drought. We had such a dry summer last year. It cut down on our mowing but at what price? It’s rare to see so many forest fires in such a rainy state. This morning is knitting group then I’m going to try to finish the taxes and get that out of the way. Then I can focus on making our travel plans for the summer.

I hope you are all safe from the storms over the weekend and you’re seeing signs of spring!

☘️

“Ask the Lord for rain in the spring, for he makes the storm clouds. And he will send showers of rain so every field becomes a lush pasture.” ‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT‬‬

***Gratitude Journal***   
Today I am grateful for time in my kitchen and things turning out right. It feels good. We are so fortunate to have food, water, a warm bed, and a roof over our heads.