When You Have All The Time In The World............Watch Bread Rise

I have returned to my roots.............my paternal grandfather was a baker in Vienna Austria so it is appropriate that since I have lots of time on my hands and nowhere to go that I would turn to baking as a passtime.

My husband loves sourdough bread and we discussed baking some. Well you need a starter so he went to Amazon and ordered some dehydrated San Francisco starter. It took me three weeks to get up the nerve to actually get it going. This involves about five days of feeding and waiting. The starter begins to smell very much like vinegar and begins to bubble after a few days. Ok, I keep going with it and at one point it went in the fridge for a few days and came back out and kept going. Finally I made a loaf and it was amazing. I learned that the discard can be used for other recipes and I have made sourdough biscuits twice and they are amazing. I made sourdough bread in the bread machine and it was pretty good. Well yesterday I was making my third loaf of the sourdough bread and decided to document the process. This is my jar that sits on the counter with the starter. I feed it every day with flour and water and it just sits there and does its thing. It rises and falls and bubbles. As I add more flour and water each day I have more starter and can make stuff with it. I am still very much learning how it grows and how to care and feed it. I have already dehydrated a good portion of it just in case something ever goes wrong.

One thing with baking that really goes back to the European roots is weighing the ingredients instead of measuring. I begin by weighing the flour, water, salt and starter. I have also learned to adjust the dough with more flour if needed because the amount of liquid in the starter has not been consistent for me. I learned to bake yeast bread in 4H club in the 4th grade so kinda know the right consistency of dough should be like.

Here is the dough taking shape. I continue to knead by hand till it is able to stick together in a very thin windowpane when stretched .................... something I saw on a YouTube video. It takes about 15 minutes and I find it very therapeutic to work the dough.

Once the dough rises twice you dump it out on the baking surface. I love this silicone sheet I got at Costco some years back as it is no stick and seems to work really well. You want that flour dusted on the top as it adds to the surface and allows it to hold together.

Scoring the bread is the last step before it goes into the oven and there are many decorative ideas for doing this on Pinterest. I do not have the proper tool so I use a knife and just do an easy pattern. This is vital to allow the gasses from the bread to release during the baking and makes the bread rise.

Here is the finished loaf fresh out of the oven...............it did not last very long and was so yummy!

Easter Sunrise Service at the Grand Canyon

 One of my favorite places is the Grand Canyon. I have been there many times and it just always takes my breath away with its vast beauty. I have hiked down, across and just stood on the rim but it is always a place that I feel has amazing beauty. When we left Mojave and went back to New Mexico we stopped there for a few nights and did a hike along the rim the day before Easter. It was overcast and cool.  We took the bus to Hermits Rest and hiked back towards Grand Canyon Village,

 This is one of the few places you can see the mighty Colorado River from the rim.

 We got up very early on Easter Sunday and joined a few hundred others at Mather Point for a Easter Sunday Worship service.

 Part of the beauty is how the colors change as the light shines during the day. The difference in the photo above and below is just minutes apart.

Mojave Fly In April 12 2019

 Our last weekend in Mojave we attended the fly in. A fun event where all sorts of planes were flown in from all over and on display. We enjoyed walking around and looking at all the diverse small aircraft.

 

 

Yosemite In The Rain

Yosemite Falls

I was last at Yosemite when I was still in grade school. Many years ago. It was on my bucket list to see again. Our last weekend before we were leaving California there was rain in the forecast and we were trying to decide if we should cancel this planned trip. We finally decided to just go for it. Better to see it in the rain than not at all. The first day it was very cold and cloudy but very beautiful in the foggy backdrop.  It was also not as crowed which we appreciated. The falls in the park are all truly amazing.

Yosemite Falls

 We treated ourselves to a scrumptious lunch in the Ahwahnee Lodge restaurant. The lodge was built in the early 1900's to attract tourists to Yosemite Valley. It was very rustic with lots of rock work and beautiful wood beams.

 Even the floors of the lodge were decorated with these beautiful native American inspired motifs. Being an avid art quilter I photographed several of them.

Mist Trail Yosemite National Park

 On the second day we decided to do a short hike and chose the Mist Trail. This trail was also built many years ago and the beautiful rock wall blended beautifully with the natural surroundings.

Illilouette Falls Yosemite National Park

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 Looking back from the Mist Trail to Illilouette Falls.

Nevada Falls Yosemite National Park

 Nevada Falls were amazing but it was a long hike there and we did not have enough time. Seeing them from the distance had to do.

 I loved the colors in the roaring stream. We spent two days in Yosemite which was not near enough but better than not going at all. We also wanted to see Sequoia so headed out mid morning to see the tall trees.

  Sequoia did not have very many people likely due to the cold and all the snow still there in late April. I estimated the snow on this road is 6' to 7' deep!

General Sherman Sequoia National Park

 General Sherman tree. Said to be the most massive tree on the planet. This is the base.

 Look at the man behind the lady taking the photo and he is still 20' in front of the tree!!!! Just wow!

 Looking up at this grove of sequoias.

 We left the park gong out the South entrance via the Generals Highway. We quickly descended in elevation and lost the snow. The road was very windy and scenic. There were amazing wildflowers everywhere...........oh to spend more time photographing all the beauty.

 Wish we could have lingered but as it was we did not get back to the RV till around 9pm that evening. It was a fun adventure in spite of the cold, rain and clouds.

  

 

 

California Poppies in April

Living in the Mojave Desert for four months was not all bad. I have always wanted to see the poppy fields in full bloom and we were they when they bloomed and this year was an especially good year for them due to the extra moisture. We went to the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve and were not disappointed.

There were people everywhere in the fields. You could see those who were taking photos of each other to put on social media and some just looking at the flowers.

The park was so full and there was no parking so we opted for this area, it was also full of people so we figured two more would not matter as the sign did not seem to be doing any good.

The profusion of the color was amazing, the entire hillsides were bright orange.

You could see the orange color in the hills from miles away. Quite a beautiful sight!