** ed note: this post was actually written in October 2014 but was unpublished. One year later…
Since arriving in DE, the Caustic One has been exposed to more than her share of breads. Good crusty European breads, soft in the middle, crusty on the outside. Rolls covered with seeds of various sorts, soft in the middle, not too hard on the outside. Dense high fibre breads with nuts throughout.
The German bread obsession is more than an obsession: it is a lifestyle. Breakfast: Bread and something: cheese, egg salad, shrimp salad, wurst/met, quark, cheese with “marmalade”, cucumbers, tomatoes. Warm oatmeal is a rarity – but mueslix is common, with yogurt. Possibly some fruit. Lunch: Yah. Many people have bread with something, although a nice ‘MalZeit’ is preferred – a warm meal, with ‘Nachtisch’ – something sweet, maybe pudding or kuchen or what we would call in the US “jello”. Yeah, Jello. With cream. It was a shock! Dinner — light, soup and bread oftentimes. At a recent Choir retreat, we were treated to Bread and Rolls and Muslix for breakfast, a warm curry or soup with rice or potatoes for lunch and Nachtisch, and evening meal of bread (not rolls, sliced rye) and cheese, various sliced meats, Met (with raw onions, yum yum), and cream herring salad (once with a lovely apple cream). LaFerg’s consumption of bread at this retreat was greater than that consumed during the six months prior.
Which is not to say that laFerg does not like bread. On the contrary, this stuff is amazing and delicious. It is just that, the bread does not like laFerg’s body. It is basically glue. Drinking a beer (bread in a glass) is easier on the ol’ digestive tract.
Of course, one cannot be in Europe and never eat bread. But purchasing bread for one person is a bit silly, and generally, LaFerg prefers not to have a bread dinner, and oatmeal over bread in the morning. So twice a month, she treats herself to homemade bread. Mostly this has been rye/wheat, but a spelt/rye bread was also delicious.
Now, it is currently Kurbis time in Central DE. With seven squash in her kitchen, laFerg has decided to honor the Great Pumpkin by making a pumpkin-spelt bread. There are two reasons for this, but one is — well, there’s a lot of pumpkin in the house, and there will be more, as the CSA share is twice a week and laFerg is sure that more pumpkins will be available in a few short days. Secondly, she has been invited to breakfast, and what nicer gift than a small loaf of homemade pumpkin bread? Well, if it tastes good, that is…
As this entry is typed, the oven is roasting some pumpkins. From there, an overnight long proof dough will be created, for early morning baking. Whee!!!