Pumpkin Spice Maple Oatmeal Raisin Colon Cookies

So I was scrubbed in on a colon operation the other day, and the senior resident had been teasing me for bringing my sourdough starter with me to Florida for my surgery rotation. No one understands how important fresh bread is to my sense of well-being. The attending colo-rectal surgeon, who is a lovely, soft-spoken man, mutters very quietly, “If you make oatmeal raisin cookies, you get an A on this rotation.” I don’t need much for an excuse to bake something new, and this recipe I cobbled together from a bunch of different sources is definitely worth an Honors grade in surgery. As such, I am taking the man at his word, and, of course, I used the baking process as an opportunity to study:

Pumpkin Spice Maple Oatmeal Raisin Colon Cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cumin (this is the key secret ingredient)
a pinch ground cloves
a pinch chili powder (KEY! But don’t tell anyone you put this in, they’ll never know)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups quick maple flavored oats (got mine at Target)
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Into a bowl sift together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy and beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture and slowly beat until just combined well. Stir in rolled oats and raisins.

Now for the medical education and silliness, there is an artistic element to this recipe that I have designed in tribute to my attending:
Working in batches, take your average cookie dough size bolus and roll it into a log shape.

Gently twist the log into a question mark shape with squared edges—which are, of course the hepatic and splenic flexures of the large bowel. You do not need the Lines of Toldt to support the colon here, only parchment paper.

If you are an over-achiever, you could also form little humps for haustra and create three longitudinal grooves for the teniae coli or make little dingle-ball epiploic appendages. But that might be a bit too aesthestically suggestive and might cause your cookie-eaters to regurge a little.

And, as happened with mine, once you bake them, the meticulously shaped colons will all just flatten into little butt shapes, which, is a rather humorous and appropriate transformation.

Inspect the serosa for perforations or thickenings suggestive of malignancy or Crohns skip lesions. You’d have to do a cookie colonoscopy to check for ulcerative colitis, because that disease involves just the mucosa, and I don’t have the equipment for that (patent pending). If you accidentally tear the cookie colon, don’t worry, just divert the bowel into a stoma and leave a Hartmann’s pouch– give a day of post-op antibiotics to decrease risk of peritonitis. Okay, that’s enough studying. Time to eat the cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, cool, and serve. YUM!

Don’t worry, you are not what you eat—but do eat fiber to keep yourself from ever having to visit the colo-rectal OR. No fiber = diverticulosis (very difficult to see the outpouchings in cookie colon imaging). How much fiber, you ask? 25g/day for women, 30g/day for men under 50. A little less than that if you are over 50. I calculated it all out for this recipe—if one were to eat ALL of these cookies at once, a female would have her daily serving of fiber. (FYI, Fiber in 1 cup raisins= 7g, 3 cups oats= 12g, 2 cups whole wheat flour= 7g). So in regards to colon health, these cookies are pretty good for dessert! And they taste amazing—the pumpkin spice and cumin/chili powder are key ingredients, believe me.

Best feedback ever– my attending ate six of them in a row. Definitely will pass surgery with flair.

Inspiration Award and Enchilada Bake

Grateful am I to Carolyn of “Chasing Light” for nominating me for the Inspirational Blogger Award! I am honored, so honored by this blogosphere shout out, especially during this exhausting epoch of general surgery—the notice of the award was a bright moment in a tunnel-sort of week.

I am living in Need-Food-for-the-Entire-Week mode. I feel compelled to share my go-to recipe for massive amounts of left-overs that continue to taste good throughout the week, that taste good over and over again, even when you don’t even have time to microwave. Also, although I wouldn’t medically advise this practice, I thought this stuff even tasted good after it sat in my locker, unrefrigerated, all day when I got stuck at the operating table for a 10-hour case. Nothing tastes better than the hope that microbes haven’t invaded and proliferated in your lunch—and then, nothing tastes better than a missed lunch finally requited for a late dinner. Enchilada, I love you.

Cheesy Chicken Enchilada Bake

1 medium onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed, deboned and shredded (this is ideal, but this week I didn’t even have time to find a cooked chicken, or to cook one, so I got some pre-cooked grilled chicken cubes from the freezer. Still tastes great)

2 (15 ounce each) cans diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained

2 (10-1/2 ounce each) cans condensed cream of chicken soup

1/2 c. chicken broth

1/2 tsp ground oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

18 (6 inch) corn tortillas

3 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.

In a large skillet sauté onion, bell pepper and garlic in hot oil over medium-high heat until tender. Stir in chicken, tomatoes, condensed soup, chicken broth, oregano, cumin, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Heat mixture through. Remove from heat.

Place 6 of the tortillas in the prepared baking dish, overlapping as necessary. Top with one-third of the chicken mixture and sprinkle with 1 cup cheese.

Repeat layers twice more, leaving off the final layer of cheese.

Bake, covered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake, uncovered, about 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes. Just before serving, top with lettuce and chopped tomatoes.

As for this award deal, it is only right to pay it forward. Here are the rules of the award as I understand them:

RULES

Thank the person who nominated you.

Add the “Very Inspiring Blogger Award” logo to your post.

Share 7 things about yourself.

Nominate a few bloggers who inspire you.

Include the set of rules.

Inform your nominees by posting a comment on his/her blog.

WHO AM I?

1. An exhausted (but not jaded, I still love my patients!) medical student on a general surgery rotation.

2. Wife to the phenomenal special ed teacher Karl-Peter,

3. Mother to 80lbs of English Bulldog, Izzy.

4. Soon to be mother of three precocious backyard Rhode Island Reds

5. Farmer of three rather impressive tomatoes (pics forthcoming), quite a summer’s harvest

6. Author of a post-Katrina education memoir that has yet to find the right agent, and recent MFA grad

7. Marathoner and Jazz Diva

MY NOMINEES:

Liz at My Favourite Pastime

The Monday Baker

Ariel Boswell and The Ethnography of Real Life

Gluten Free Gus

Bread Love and Dreams

In the Kitchen With Kath

Prateeksha at CookNutritious

Playing With Flour

Daniel at Breads Cakes and Ales

Mom. She doesn’t have a blog, but if she did, it would be on this list, Mom, you are my inspiration.

You all have been not only inspirational to me, but supportive! I appreciate your sharing and feedback always! When I get home and want to fall on my face in a puddle of scrubs, sometimes I look at your blogs and think to myself, rather than sleep, I should make that and eat it while I study. Thanks for all that you do! This song is for YOU.

A Visit to The Ohio State

For KP’s extended birthday and Labor Day weekend, I’ve been in Columbus, Ohio visiting my brother and his girlfriend. We have been given quite a tour, and it is hard not to love a university that so loves its Buckeyes that it turns into cookies:

So nice to see KP, since I’ve been gone for two weeks. We went to the Sounders game for KP’s birthday treat:

And to a place that KP would like to own, the North High Brewery, where you can brew your own beer! I thought their milk stout on nitro was particularly good. Also, an English Ale on Nitro had vanilla flavours and tasted just like cream soda.

Vollkornbrot

It’s a holiday weekend, with no scheduled surgeries, so no one has to wake up to this face besides my precious sourdough starter!

This traditional German bread takes a little while to prepare, so perfect for long weekends with nothing but time to watch dough rise.

Vollkornbrot

Adapted from The Village Baker

Ingredients:

Mush

1 cup rough cracked rye meal

1 cup very hot tap water

Mix and let sit for 12-15 hours.

Sourdough Sponge

¾ c whole rye or pumpernickel flour

1 1/2 c. water

¼ cup sourdough starter

All of the mush

Mix and let sit for 12-15 hours (again!)

Final Dough

All of the sponge

1 cup sourdough starter

2 ½ c. whole rye or pumpernickel flour

¼ cup warm water

2 tsp salt

Crushed rye grain, rye meal, or rolled oats for topping

1 whole egg mixed with 1 tbsp milk

2 tsp ground caraway (optional)

Add all the rest of the ingredients, including sponge to a bowl and mix for about 10 minutes. Let the dough sit for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a floured board.

Form into a loaf and place in a well-oiled bowl. The dough is very sticky and you can’t really see any gluten strands, but it is correct. Flour the top of the loaf, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour. Surprisingly, the loaf will rise a bit. A warm place will help this super dense dough.

When it is done rising, shape the loaf into a log, and place it in a greased loaf pan. Let rise again, covered, for two-ish hours (until an indentation made by a finger does not spring back quickly). Glaze the loaf and top with the rye meal and oats.

To bake the bread, preheat the oven to 425°F with a baking stone, if you have one. Place the bread (still in the form) directly on the baking stone and bake with steam for 25 minutes and dry, at 400 degrees, for about 45 minutes to an hour. If you are using a bread tin, rather than just on parchment on the stone, in the last 15 minutes, carefully remove the bread from the form and place it back in the oven, to dry out the sides of the loaf.

This is really dense, intensely flavored bread—best as a soup sponge. Like a tomato soup. Happy Labor Day to all!

Hoagie Rolls

Today is KP’s 30^th birthday! Big sloppy kiss and a big sloppy joe to you, my love! Hope you are having a LunchLady Land kind of day! I send you hugs and hoagies—

Hoagie Rolls

Adapted from The Kitchen Whisperer

4 cups bread flour

1 3/8 cups warm water (110-115F degrees)

2 Tbl sugar

1 cup sourdough starter

1 tsp salt

3 Tbl olive oil

Instructions

Add the starter, sugar and 3/8 cup warm water in a bowl.

Add in the flour, stir in and mix for 4 or 5 minutes.

Add in the salt and knead for 5-6 minutes until the dough is slack.

Add in the oil and mix again until dough comes back together.

Remove from bowl and transfer to a greased, covered bowl until doubled in size. ~1 hour.

Divide into 8 pieces and shape.

Transfer to a sprayed or parchment lined tray and cover.

Allow to rise again. ~30-45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 16-23 minutes or until golden brown.

These are perfect for sandwiches. Soft and chewy. Here is KP’s cake from the first of many celebrations to come this weekend—

Maple Oat Raisin Whole Wheat Bread

In stark contrast to the Jacksonville Jaguars, this bread is a real winner. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. I purchased instant oatmeal packages on my last grocery run, and they only had flavored ones at Target. So I bought Maple Brown Sugar instant oatmeal. I was looking at a recipe for oatmeal wheat bread, and I thought, why not just use these little insta-packets with their yummy flavors? Oh, such a good choice.

Maple Oat Raisin Whole Wheat Bread
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (85°F to 95°F)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup warm whole milk (105°F to 115°F)
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup instant oatmeal (I used one with maple and brown sugar flavoring)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (KEY INGREDIENT)
3 1/2 cups (about) bread flour
1/2 cup raisins

Stir in warm milk, honey, and salt, then olive oil. Add 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and stir vigorously with wood spoon until well incorporated. Add sourdough starter Add instant oats and cocoa powder and stir until well blended. Add enough bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form moist and sticky dough, stirring vigorously with wood spoon until well incorporated. Fold in raisins. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour (do not punch down dough).
Grease 9x5x3-inch metal loaf pan. Transfer dough to prepared pan, being careful not to deflate dough. Cover loaf pan loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free area until dough is puffed and almost reaches top of pan, about 45 minutes for refrigerated dough and 20 minutes for room-temperature dough.
Meanwhile, position rack in center of oven and preheat to 500°F. Generously spray inside of oven with water (about 8 sprays); immediately place bread in oven. Lower oven temperature to 400°F and bake bread until top is deep brown and crusty and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. (The rolls only need about 25-30 minutes.) Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes. Turn bread out onto rack and cool completely.

There is some lovely intermingling between the cocoa powder and the maple flavoring and the raisins. With this batch of dough, I made both a loaf and several rolls with some extra dough.

They are slightly sweet, like a dessert trying really hard to pass as health food. Or a football team trying really hard to win just one game this season 😉 Go Jags!

Pull-Apart Wheat Bread Lungs

It has occurred to me late in the game that all of this time I could have been using my bread baking not only as catharsis but also as a study device. Bread can be more than nutrition; it can be education. Let me explain.

Because I spent the last week on ICU and was constantly doing chest Xrays, fussing with trach collars and ventilators, it got me thinking about the lungs. I considered making a ventilator in a square pan, but that seemed a bit square. Going for the anatomical, I decided instead to make bread lungs. It made the most sense to create a pull-apart bread recipe, to better represent the lobes of the lungs, and, because I am on a surgical rotation week after next, to practice my lobectomy. Kudos to any pathologists out there who can make apt diagnoses as to the health of these lungs.

Pull-Apart Wheat Bread Lungs
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (85°F to 95°F)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup warm whole milk (105°F to 115°F)
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
3 1/2 cups (about) bread flour

Warm milk, stir in honey, and salt, then olive oil. Add 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour and stir vigorously with wood spoon until well incorporated. Pour in all of the sourdough starter. Add enough bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to form moist and sticky dough, stirring vigorously with wood spoon until well incorporated. Mix in raisins and walnuts. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. If you don’t have time right now, at this point, refrigerate dough overnight. But if you want to eat it today, let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour (do not punch down dough).
Spray baking sheet (or ideally, a baking stone, alas I did not pack mine in my carry-on) or lay down parchment paper.

Now for the educational fun—shaping. How many lungs does a normal person have? Separate the dough into two equal sections.

How many lobes are in the right lung? 3 (Right Upper, Right Middle, and Right Lower) The right lower lobe should be the biggest, and the right middle the smallest, so section the dough appropriately. The left lung has two lobes (Left Upper and Left Lower). Why? Because the heart bears leftward thanks to the heavy gravity on the muscly left ventricle. So just two equalish sections on the left.

Okay—now to assemble the pull-apart lobes—refer to the following anatomical diagram (also for review for you medical students out there):

On the right side, you need to form the horizontal fissure between the right upper and middle lobes, and the oblique fissure between the top two and right lower lobe. The left is easy. Just angle the oblique fissure toward the cardiac notch. If you want to be a real gunner, and I am not, you could create medially some kind of crystallized ginger hilum with the pulmonary arteries, veins, and main bronchi. For medical students, don’t forget the RALS rule (pulmonary artery in Right is Anterior to the bronchi and in Left it is Superior—that’ll save you on the anatomy lab practical).

Okay, enough nerdiness, time to bake!

Transfer lungs to prepared pan, being careful not to deflate dough—no one wants atelectatic bread. Cover loaf pan loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free area until dough is puffed and almost reaches top of pan, about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, position rack in center of oven and preheat to 500°F. Generously spray inside of oven with water (about 8 sprays), or place a pan of water on the bottom rack to provide a little steam action (helps with crusting). Immediately place bread in oven. Lower oven temperature to 400°F and bake bread until top is deep brown and crusty and when you thump it, it sounds hollow. This took for me about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes. Turn bread out onto rack and cool completely.

I’d say this patient was a smoker. It’s because of the glaze–one whole egg mixed with 2 tbsp milk (optional). Perform lobectomy and enjoy while you study!

Kaiser Rolls

Crispy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside. That is how I would be if I had time to go lay on the Jacksonville Beach, but alas, I remain pale and clammy in my scrubs within the halls of the ICU. So, this is a description of buns only. Bread buns, get your mind out of the gutter.

Kaiser Rolls
adapted from the Village Baker

The Sponge

1 cup sourdough starter
1/4 cup warm water
2 t. sugar
1/2 t. malt extract or honey
1/2 cup milk scalded and allowed to cool slightly
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cool water

To make sponge: Dissolve sugar in milk after it has cooled. Pour sourdough starter mix into bowl, add flour, milk, and water to the mixture and mix everything together with a wooden spoon. Let rise, covered and in a warm place, for 2 hours.

The dough

1 1/2 t. salt
1 cup all purpose flour
all of the sponge from the previous step
poppy seed for topping

Dough: mix salt in with flour and then start adding this dry mixture to the risen sponge by handfuls, mixing it in with a spoon. when you have 1/4 cup flour left and dough has come together somewhat(10 min or so) turn the dough out onto your worktable, and incorporate remaining flour until dough is smooth and satiny about 5-8 min. Round dough into a ball and cover with tea towel. Rise until double. Punch down. Divide into 6 equal pieces and rest 15 min. Brush with olive oil and shape into balls on greased sheet. To shape, first, establish center: Then fold the edges toward the center until you’ve gone all around the circle, maybe five turns.

And glaze. Tahdah!

Let rise until double 30 – 40 min. Brush with water and sprinkle poppy seeds on top and transfer to pre-heated 450 degree baking stone or bake on greased sheet 15-20 min.

Open the oven 5 or 6 times during the baking and spritz with cold water to produce a crisp crust. Or, what I do is put a shallow tray of water on a rack just below the bread, which will steam up the oven space.

Excellent. I can’t explain why, but there is something so satisfying about folding the little flaps of dough upon itself. It feels like you are tucking little bread babies in. Hospital corners on bread bed sheets. Or, like bread origami. Mmm.

Sourdough Spicy Cheddar Crackers

I feel inspired to dance by the light of the full moon, or the light of the gibbous moon (almost full) this evening—on the beach! Some kind of spice has gotten into me, after working almost 30 hours over the last two days—perhaps it is due to these spicy crackers. I had never before attempted to make my own crackers, but the Sourdough Surprises challenge got me curious. So I decided to make a cracker that I usually keep quiet in the guilty pleasures file, the one I love but try not to buy and when a box is there in front of me I try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting—what cracker other than Cheez-Its? Oh, you too? Well, now you can make your own.

Sourdough Spicy Cheddar Crackers

Inspired by Kath Dedon

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Tillamook Cheese if you can!)

½ cup butter softened and cut into pieces

1 ½ cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp red pepper flakes

¼ cup sourdough starter

1 tsp. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place shredded cheddar cheese, butter, flour, salt and crushed red pepper flakes in a food processor. Pulse until the dough turns into coarse crumbs.

Add sourdough starter and heavy cream and process until dough forms into a ball. Push crumbles into a dough ball and let rest, covered for 30 minutes.

Roll dough out onto a floured surface. Roll until dough reaches about 1/8″ thickness.

With a pizza cutter or knife, cut dough as you like. Use flat end of a wooden skewer to poke a hole in center of shapes. Place crackers on a greased baking sheet, at least 1/4″ apart from one another.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges just start to brown. Enjoy!

So good! Can’t believe all the tasty things that sourdough can do! Here is an attempt at taking a picture at night of the moonlight on the Atlantic Ocean on Neptune Beach. Got sand in my Danksos, and it was tickling my toes all day long.

Sprouted Kamut Khorasan Wheat Bread

Off to Florida for six weeks of surgery. I made a little video (click!) about it to get myself pumped up. The third year of medical school I might liken to a drowning experience. A daily drowning. I think the key is not to let yourself be afraid of the water.

Just like the last eight and half months have been an exercise in not being afraid of the kitchen. And look how much goodness has come of that leap?

I learned of Kamut khorasan at a booth at the Missoula marathon expo back in July. I had never heard of the grain before, but that’s because it is ancient. Legend has it kamut was King Tut’s favorite. Also, kamut may or may not have been the grain that Noah packed for the munchies on the Ark. All this to say, it’s that old. It’s Promised Land wheat. Possibly manna?

Sprouted Kamut Khorasan Wheat Bread

Adapted from Bread Experience

1/4 cup warm water

3/4 tablespoons active dry yeast (1/2 cup sourdough starter)

Pinch of sugar

Pinch of ginger

1 1/2 cups Kamut khorasan wheat flour

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder

1/2 tablespoon salt

3/4 cup warm water

1/8 cup honey

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sprouted Kamut berries, chopped

1 1/2 cups bread flour

Wheat germ, for sprinkling (optional)

Melted butter, for brushing

Directions:

Step 1: Sprout the Kamut wheat berries

1/4 cup raw Kamut wheat berries

Place the Kamut wheat berries in a bowl and add tepid water to cover by 1 inch. Let stand at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. Drain the berries and rinse with fresh water. Place in a 1-quart jar. Cover with cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band.

Place the jar on its side in a warm, dark place. Twice a day, rinse and drain the berries with tepid water poured through the cheesecloth. After 2 to 3 days, the berries will sprout, which means they get this white gluey tongue like thing sticking out one end. You can refrigerate these in a baggie if you aren’t ready to make the bread once they have sprouted.

When you’re ready to bake the bread, grind the berries in a food processor or blender. Be careful not to over process; the berries should be chunky. They will be sticky, such that it will appear Elmer’s glue got into your food processor with the berries. Don’t worry– this is normal.

Step 2: Make the Bread

Pour 1/2 cup warm water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast, sugar, and ginger over the water. Stir to dissolve and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Or just get out the starter.

In a large bowl using a whisk or in the bowl of your mixer, combine the wheat flour, milk powder, and salt. Add the warm water, honey, and 4 tablespoons of melted butter. Mix or beat for 1 minute.

Add the yeast mixture and beat 1 minute longer. Add all the wheat berries and the bread flour, 1/2 cup a a time, stirring until a soft dough that just clears the sides of the bowl forms, switching to a wooden spoon when necessary if making by hand.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and spongy, 1 to 2 minutes for a machine mixed dough and 3 to 4 minutes for a hand-mixed dough, dusting with flour only 1 tablespoon at a time, just enough as needed to prevent sticking.

Place in a lightly greased deep container, turn once to coat the top with oil, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until double in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Grease an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan and sprinkle the bottom and sides with wheat germ. Turn the dough out onto the work surface and shape it into a loaf. Flatten each piece out on the counter and pat each portion into a rectangle and roll- into a loaf shape. Press the seam closed with your fingers and place, seam side down, into the prepared pan. Here’s a cool trick: instead of oiling and coating a bread tin with flour, oil and coat it with wheat bran or wheat germ! Nice to get a little extra nutritional value where you can. Works great.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until level with the rims of the pans, about 1 hour.

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and position a rack in the center of the oven. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until crusty and golden. Remove the loaf from the pan to cool on a rack and brush the top with melted butter.

Let the loaf cool, then slice and enjoy!

I am a huge fan of sprouting wheat berries. I did it once before with Hunza bread (something of a disaster). But it’s easier than watering a houseplant and the small effort maximizes the nutritional value of the wheat. The Kamut khorasan wheat berry had a nutty kind of flavor. Mixed into this wheat bread, really tasty! Pardon the comical shape! I put it in my smaller bread pan because usually wheat bread poops out on me for rise and lift—I don’t know if it was the kamut but this bread exploded in rise in the 350 degree oven (unusual). It hit the roof in the oven and then curled over the side. Looks like a loaf of bread with Dunlop disease. (Not a real condition, but what my mom always said about men with horrendous beer guts. His belly done-lopped over his belt.)

I am bringing my sourdough starter to Jacksonville. Hope it makes it through TSA. If TSA were to try to take my starter, I am rather sure there would be an international incident—as in, I would snatch it back and run for asylum to the nearest plane taking off for Russia.

Izzy has been moping more than usual. I will miss her greatly, but KP I will miss the most. See you later Rochester.