ARTISAN BREAD

Here is a recipe for Artisan Bread that I e-mailed to my three children, Stephany, Jamie and Alexa. I learned this from Kristine Farley in Sumner, Washington. Her blog is the Herbal Momma, and she shares wonderful techniques for preparing and preserving food from "scratch". Since we are unable to buy this type of bread here in South Dakota, it is especially appreciated by all who partake. I made seven loaves for my birthday dinner two days ago, and all that was left was 1/2 loaf. We will be taking more to the Super Bowl party tomorrow.

Refrigerator Artisan Bread Makes 8 1 pound loaves Preheat oven to 450 degrees

This recipe is adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons salt

3 packages Red Star Yeast

6 cups warm (NOT HOT) water

13 cups whole wheat flour ( unbleached white flour will work with this recipe too)

1. Add yeast and salt to water in (9 to 10 quart) large plastic container with lid. Mix.

2. Add all 13 cups of flour.

3. With a wooden spoon mix thoroughly. No kneading is necessary.

4. Allow to rise at room temperature for 3 to 5 hours.

5. Prepare pan or pizza peel by sprinkling generously with corn meal.

6. Sprinkle counter with flour. (I use white flour for this part).

7. Take about 1-pound piece of dough (grapefruit size) It's important to make correct size so it gets done. Then cut off with knife.

8. Gently add just enough flour so the dough won't stick to your hands.

9. Shape dough into desired shape.

10. *As your shaping the loaf, knead in your choice of the fillings listed below, or let each family member choose his or own favorite fillings for individual loaves.

11. Place the dough onto coarsely ground corn meal on prepared pan or pizza peel.

13. Allow to rest and rise about 20 minutes at room temperature.

14. Place oven rack in the middle of the oven. (Leave room for a rack below to hold water.)

15. Preheat oven to 450 degrees with baking stone, if desired.This will take about 20 minutes. (I greased my stone with Criscoe).

16. Dust loaf with additional flour, if desired or brush with glaze and top with salt or seeds.

17. Slash 1/4 inch deep in the desired way using a serrated knife, just before going in the oven. A diagonal cut on top is good.

18. Place onto stone or pan..

19. Just before putting the stone with loaves in oven, Put a pan of warm water in the bottom rack of the oven. This is the key to successful artisan bread making. It creates steam which makes the outside of the loaf crunchy and the inside soft and chewy.

20. Quickly close the oven door and bake for about 30 minutes or until crust is nicely browned and firm. I baked several loaves at a time and baked a little longer until crusts were golden brown.

21. Store the remaining dough in the covered container in the refrigerator and use over the next two weeks.

22. Don't clean the container in between batches, (per Herbal Mama). Just scrape down sides and add new.

Variations and Options:

As your shaping loaf, knead in any of the following, separately or in combinations;

pesto, coarsely chopped or whole olives, cheese, nuts, freshly chopped herbs,

raisins, dried tomatoes, seeds, roasted garlic, caramelized onions, dried cranberries, etc.

Shape into a variety of ways; baguette, rounds, oblongs, rolls, pizza, calazone, focaccia, etc.

I used Costco's Napa Valley Bistro, Italian Olive Antipasto, marinated with fresh garlic, herbs and Napa Valley Chardonnay. Lexi loves the Pesto loaves. That's why it's cool to let everyone create their own masterpiece.

I can send you another page of options for this dough if you would like it.

Hope you try this and like it.

It is sent to you with love from,

Your Mother,

Mary Cat.

Bringing In The Equipment For Winter And Grumblings from Mary Cat

Today Jim and I went out to the field to bring in the equipment with the plan of towing in the baler, rake and mower to Quinn's.

The work is done for the season, and the equipment will be stored by Jim's cousin, Frank at his farm. Unfortunately, we ended up only getting the baler and rake in for the winter, because as usual we had a time consuming, frustrating break down.

In my opinion my husband has the patience of a saint for dealing with old equipment.

I, on the other hand am so glad that we managed to get the two biggest, most cumbersome, antiquated, loathsome, wretched, ratty, vile, pieces ever known to man in from the field and deposited at Quinn's farm with only a small tear in my back muscle. This was accomplished by our extremely hard work, and Jim's ingenuity. Bless his big golden heart. So, never mind my rant. As you can see, I am not made of the same strong stuff as him.

Jim feels set backs are all in the game. I mildly asked him if we might be replacing the rake next year, the one with a large crack in the bushing above the trailing wheel which would not turn to allow the angle to set the pin in the socket so it would trail correctly behind the truck. Mmm-mm, No, Probably not. He thought all of that was small stuff as we strained and struggled and jacked the damned thing up and struggled more to no avail.

Finally, as I was holding the monstrosity forward as Jim battered away at it with a hammer, I felt a tearing sensation in my back. Jim had to stop hammering from time to time to catch his breath, but the socket was inching toward the pin. Finally the pin was in the socket, and we were able to tow the monster rake. This time with back aches and head aches, we decided to take the rake in to Quinn's farm and then head for Mobridge.

There we were, two old fogies looking out the truck window admiring the scenery and thanking the Good Lord for another perfect day, as we once again viewed the harvests and the huge waters of the Oahe. I would save my grumbling and whining for this blog.

Tomorrow the plan is to go back out with a lunch and coffee. First we will pick wild plums. Next is our days work, which will be picking sheep bones and rocks from the land. There is a lot of bones and a lot of acreage so it may take more than a day. In fact, I can't really estimate how long it will take to clean it all up.

We do know that we do not want sheep bones baled in our hay again.

Later, we may get together with our neighbor at the Elk Rank to see if he would like some of our rocks for a culvert on their land.

The last thing on our to do list is to bring our mower in to Frank's. That leaves only our tractor and we will leave that out there for any work left to do before we leave for the winter.

Pray for strength and patience, Mary Cat. We are making progress.

Update: We did pick wild plums that day, enough to can wonderful sweet plum jam. Not sure if I'll do that again because pitting the small plums was time consuming, but at least I know how to do it. Maybe someone can teach me some pitting shortcuts along the way.

SOUP FOR MOTHER

The day after we had the sleep-over for Baby Alaya, which was, for the most part, sleepless; Carol and I were tired.

It was, as I said, a 'Goldilocks Day" here in Mobridge S.D., except for a little blustery September wind. The temperature was in the high seventies, not as hot as in previous days.

Jim was concerned that I had not taken any of my medicine since the day before, so he decided we should leave Carol's house around noon, and head for home.

As we started out I suggested we stop off in Mother's garden. It was a fine day for gardens, so off we went to harvest. We very quickly gleaned all we could carry and came out with arm loads and bags of produce to preserve and share with the family. The corn was ready, and tomatoes, green beans, apples and cucumbers.

My plan was to freeze the tomatoes for soup as outlined in the recipe blog, but would deal with them later. For now they would wait on the kitchen counter while I wandered drowsily in for a nap.

My bedroom here is a very comforting place to be both in the daytime and at night. On

this September day, and every day summer day there are choruses of birds singing in the trees

and bathing in the bird bath in the back yard. Our neighbor, Gary, lovingly tends to the needs

of these joyful winged beings and the bird bath alone draws many species splashing together

and sitting along the round exterior.I have counted up to 10 to 12 at a time on hot summer days.

I might add that when that when the Gladers, Gary and C.J., are traveling or at their cabin, I have stepped up to be the keeper of the birds. I took on this role one day when the neighbors on both sides were gone on vacation and I looked out and saw the bird bath dry, and the birdies sitting there with that wtf? look on their faces. So, I rushed out and cleaned the bath and filled it, and have not let it dry out in their absence since that time.

But now back to my nap,----.

On this day, I asked Jim only to wake me if one of the children should call, and and gazed out

the window in a contented state at the beautiful early fall day, and at the trees, some heavily fruited, and fell asleep to the comforting sounds of the birds.

Some time later, Jim woke me for a call from our daughter, Stephany. We talked awhile. I was glad to hear from her as I had been worrying about her.

When I got up it was close to 7:00 P.M. The day was gone, and I hadn't called Mother yet, so I gave her a little ringy dingy. As usual she saw the call ID and quiped: "Is this Brockamp James?"

"Yes, Mother, your kinda close, How are you tonight?"

It was then that my Mother told me that she had had a bag of pork rinds for dinner.

PORK RINDS

JUNK FOOD PORK RINDS??

"Yes, pork rinds, thats what I had."

I replied, "I'll be right over to make you some Home Made Tomato Soup".

She thought that sounded very good. I actually made it at my house quite quickly and

took it over and we both enjoyed it quite a lot.

It was Eight O'Clock when I arrived with the soup and we ate and chatted for about an hour and a half and had quite a nice visit.

It was what my dear departed neighbor from Sea-Tac Wa. Belle Swaffield would call " a lovely impromptu dinner party."

SWEET BABY ALAYA

Last night Carol and I baby sat for Jessie and Joni Rae's baby, Alaya Ryan, and although the

experience was sweet and the baby was as good as any baby could be, we slept very little.

We took turns holding Alaya and feeding her and burping her and rocking her, and just enjoying cuddling the newborn in general.

Joni and Jessie, (A.K.A. Bubba) were celebrating Joni's 21st birthday with a night on the town. They planned to stay out all night and sleep in the next morning.

So the evening began with a birthday dinner party at Carol and Dennis' home with Jesse as barbeque chef grilling terriaki shishkababs, then presents and cards from all of us, followed by ice cream cake.

Finally the friends arrived for the cocktail part of the party and that's where Grandma Carol and I came in for the babysitting. Carol asked me to spend the night because she is still on crutches recovering from her surgery and would be unable to carry baby Alaya.

We had a sleep-over party of our own, just Carol, Cathy, and Baby Alaya. We got very little sleep, but we had a pleasant night. Alaya's parents werent there at noon the next day when Jim picked me up and took me home to take my medicine. Carol told me later they came for the baby at 2:30 P.M feeling a bit green at the gills.

On the way home from Carol's house, Jim and I stopped at Mother's garden and picked a lot of tomatoes and apples, bush beans and corn, planning to freeze and preserve most of it.

Today was a perfect Goldilocks Day for sept 13th, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy, just right. After we got home, I walked at the river, and talked with Steph on the phone but was a bit tired for much else.

Tired that is until I spoke with Mother and found that she had only eaten junk food for dinner.

Then like Super Turtle Woman (LOL), I made her some dinner out of the garden produce and took it over. That will be the stuff of my next blog entitled : Soup For Mother or maybe it should be called Hog Rinds are not good for dinner for my Mommy.

Anyway read all about it in the next entry.

WHAT YOU ARE IS GOD'S GIFT TO YOU

There is a hand painted rock on my desk that reminds me everyday that we should make good use of all of the the God given gifts bestowed upon us. While we should need no reminder for such an important issue, somehow we manage to push superficial things to the forefront of our minds, while ignoring the basic message that we are here to serve the Lord, by finding our divine purpose in life.

I read the message here on my desk:

What you are is GOD'S gift to you.

What you make of yourself is your gift to GOD.

And meanwhile, the Lord, Our God is all around us, whispering in the wind, the rain, the prairie grass and the current of the river, as well as the churches in the communities to remember our divine purposes on this Earth.

Do you personally search for your calling? If not, please begin to think about what it is.

There is a book entitled The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren, which I recommend.

In today's busy lifestyle's, sometimes it is difficult to find the clarity to focus on what is important in life; and this book brings these faith based issues into perspective.

While I am not a regular church goer, I feel a connection to God, and don't always feel that men and women need an organized channel to God. There are many pathways to God. The churches are a road to God, but the way and the light of God is everywhere.

I am searching for my calling, and divine purpose, and find God's will can be done on a small scale bit by bit, piece by piece, while waiting to give on a larger scale.

That being said, here is my own personal prayer:

"Heavenly angels stay close to us.

Watch over over our family and friends, both living and those loved ones who have preceded us in death.

Guide us to divine principles and stewardship of our earthly flora and fauna.

Give us the strength to stand up for our beliefs, and eloquently speak our minds for the good of all people, and to defend the defenseless.

Return the memories of our ancestors pride, honor and work ethic that we can carry on their heritage. Our roots run deep and we should not forget our past, as truly the circle will someday be unbroken.

Embrace us as we celebrate our blessings and cherish our loved ones, now and forever".

SETTING UP QUICK BOOKS

If anyone is challenged in trying to set up an office it is me, Mary Cathleen, who has spent

a lifetime trying to clear the bats from her own personal belfry.

When we bought Quickbooks for Mac in Rapid City, S.D. there was no small amount of anxiety felt by each of us as we tried to find someone who could assure us we were getting a program that would work with with our Mac, especially since returning the software involved a 250 mile trip one way. Finally we were satisfied that there was no Quick Books Pro (for Mac) that our accountant recommended and went with Quick Books Accounting -Mac 2009. We thought we were all set and that every base was covered that could be covered. WRONG! We were right that there was no QB Pro but beyond that, -- FAIL!

When we got home and tried to load the software onto the system it wouldn't load. Message was Mac OSX was inadequate. Of course Jim was not happy and was thinking money was wasted or imagining we had to buy a bigger Mac. But I have faith in Apple and I called the tech number and VOILA! We could get an update to OSX Leopard for $29.00, and the techie sent it right out. So, now the Mac update is on, and Quick Books is Loaded on for the farm account and all that is needed now is a for me to be a bear with a bit of a brain to learn all of it's nuances.

Our C.P.A., Garrett, tried to give me a crash course in five minutes or less when he advised us to use this method of accounting, but the man is a member of Mensa who undoubtedly glanced at it once and was delighted with the program.

**** Update re this post: Mission accomplished, and all farm account activity was posted to QB and successfully transferred to Garrett for tax purposes.

PRESERVING RHUBARB

For baking I would have to say dry pack or freezing would be my favorite method of preserving rhubarb because it would keep it's bright red and green color, and most of the other methods involving heat tend to turn it a less attractive, drabber shade of greenish brown, (in my opinion).

The following is taken directly from my Ball Blue Book of preserving.

"Select rhubarb with crisp, tender red stalks. Early spring cuttings are best for freezing. Remove leaves and woody ends; discard blemished and tough stalks. Wash rhubarb well under running water; cut into 1 inch lengths. Prepare using one of the following methods:

Dry Pack: Pack rhubarb into plastic freezer bags or vacuum package. Seal, label and freeze."

The book also give directions for sugar Pack, Syrup Pack and Stewed, but for this use Dry Pack is sufficient.

I highly recommend Ball Blue Book of preserving. Web site is wwwfreshpreserving.com.

Telephone number for Ball company is 1-800-240-3340, but this book can be found where-ever canning supplies are found.