ok ok ok, i am miiighty pumped about all of the grain milling we are about to do, but first i just gotta tell you about some of the sweet stuff i’ve seen over the past few weeks…
i mean, is this not the raddest little dude around??!? he is my new best bud.
jk, i wish he was, but he won’t return my texts.
and what about that frikkin super moon the other night!!
(photo taken on a 2am wander walk along the coast of bolinas, i saw many things by the light of that moon, let me tell you.) my god man, i’m as much of a moon fan as the next guy, but that thing was really out of control. do you know what a super moon is?? i had no idea til my sweet lady cathy told me about it… it’s when a full moon is the closest it can get to the Earth, and so WHAMMO, it’s super, AKA the biggest looking moon we will ever know. read here if you got a few to kill.
meanwhile, we’ve been having a blast in the bakery, making the best bread we know how to, such as this adorable little fella that snuck out into our backyard before i caught him:
i LOVE it when the country bread comes out like this, with a powerful explosion in the oven, as well as a lovely ripple flutter to the slash. this takes finesse for sure, but it overjoys me when it fully transforms like this little beauty did.
speaking of the country bread, i wanted to let y’all know something about this bread about which i am rather pumped (and is a little bit of a secret). most “country bread,” or “pain au levain,” or “whatever you wanna call it,” is a sourdough bread that is mostly white flour, with just a wee bit, say 5-15% whole grain flour (usually wheat and/or rye). our country bread has a naughty little secret – it’s a whopping 50% whole grain. did you know that??!? if you didn’t, i will take that as a compliment, because most people (except for you radical hippies, which i will address in a few moments) have some poopy stereotypes when it comes to “whole grain bread.” you say things like, “wah wah wah, whole grain bread is dense and dry and it’s like a brick and i like my bread to be more like cotton candy cuz i’m a wussy pants, wah wah wah.” wellllll, we tricked you now didn’t we!! YES!!
anywayyy, i like the taste, texture, and keeping qualities of a bread with more whole grain in it, and thus, we’ve settled on a nice 50/50 flour blend for our country bread, and i do sincerely hope that you like it, and that it won’t turn you away if you are one of those whole grain hating cotton candy loving peoples.
another reason i am bringing this up is because it is very significant wrt all the M*I*L*L*I*N*G we’re about to start doing. yuuuuuup, we are on the verge of milling all our whole grain flour and i may just need to start wearing a helmet all day everyday cuz i’m just gonna be doing backflips rip roaring about the whole thing.
what i mean is, we’ll be able to mill half the flour we use for our country bread (it’s half whole wheat, half bread flour [whole wheat flour that has had some of the bran & germ sifted out]), not to mention 100% of the flour we use for our dark mountain rye bread (which is all rye flour + sesame + sunflower + flax + corn meal, yes all organic), and 100% of the flour we use for our whole wheat, such as this little bomb right here:
(special thanks to Ms. Wendy for this spectacular photo)
what else is new? well, i had a really nice morning today hanging with my buddy Heidi, rapping about cookbooks and canadian honey and how to open wooden crates that are nailed shut. it got me all jazzed about my book, which is coming along very nicely, and should be out this winter. i wanna show it to you so bad, but it’s not ready yet, so please just be patient and know that i will give you sneak peaks as soon as i can.
oh, and holy crap, i have new teeth! i cannot even tell you how nice it is to have working chompers – they have been severely effed since i fell on my face 2 months ago, but now they’re better than ever, just look:
anyhoooooo, i love you! and we are gonna start milling more flour than we know what to do with pretty soon, then it will be all your turn to give it a shot, so please o please stay tuned and don’t go fallin in love with any other miller bakers in the mean time, except of course for this guy, for which i would not have a hint of jealousy, only respect and understanding:
butterflies and rainbows and sexy slugs
❤ j
p.s. i have to share two secrets of life i have recently discovered: 1) if you ever have stressful mornings you should try waking up a half hour earlier and spend it quietly and gently stretching and coffee drinking while reading your favorite book (like ‘Everything & More by Mr. David Foster Wallace), it improves the quality of life immeasurably, and 2) start your very own GDP – Grateful Dead Pandora station – and realize that it’s okay to like things.
joseybakerbread 