Currently baking #2

Whey Bread -- as loaves this time, because I wanted to see how that would work. So far, it seems to be all right...

Currently baking

Sticky Caramel Pecan Rolls...minus the pecans, because I overtoasted the pecans and turned them into little black rocks. Oops.

Teaser post

The house smells like bread, chocolate and caramel.

An experiment

I make my own yogurt, have been for almost two years now. The last few months, I've been playing around making Greek style yogurt, which is just yogurt with the whey drained off to make it thicker. Drizzle a little honey on top and oh, bliss.

But what to do with the whey?

I hate to admit it, but until yesterday I'd been dumping it, even though there are all sorts of health benefits to whey and I felt bad every time I poured it down the drain. (That, and I just don't like throwing food away. That's wrong.) So yesterday, after my yogurt was done 'yogurting', I decided to finally do something with the whey.

Some people claim you can (and should!) drink the stuff, but I haven't been able to bring myself to try that yet. I was very pleased, though, to discover I could make ricotta cheese, bread, and a whole lot of other things from it. Far out!

The thought of making my own ricotta cheese intrigued me to no end -- but we were also out of bread and I needed to do some baking anyway, so I decided to try my hand at Italian White Bread (made with whey).

I made a few changes to the recipe: I substituted olive oil for the butter and honey for the sugar. I was really tempted to make it into an Italian Whole Grains Bread, but opted to stick with the white flour for this first batch.

Here's the whey. Boy, does that look yummy. Not.



Happily, when combined with the water, oil, honey, and then added to the dry ingredients, it looked exactly as it should: like bread dough.



It handled like bread dough too,



and came out looking and smelling like bread. So far, so good.



Both the spouse unit and I noticed that it smelled sweet while it was baking, much more so than my usual breads. Yet there's only a tablespoon of honey in this. Huh. It must be something with the whey.

Whatever the reason, when we sliced into it and started eating, it was excellent. Fantastic stuff. It's subtly different from my usual breads, but I can't quite put my finger on what that difference is, exactly. It's denser, somehow? Yet at the same time, light? And the taste is, well, like bread (duh), and yet there's something more....

At any rate, it was good. In fact, one loaf was our dinner, along with some cheese and fruit. Nom nom nom.



I will make this one again.

Here we go again

Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Econfirmation

Dear Yon Saucy Wench: Congratulations! You are officially registered for the 29th annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on October 3, 2010...

***

The marathon. Specifically, the Twin Cities Marathon. I've wanted to run this thing since I was a scrawny little 12 year old running my first season of cross country. It took me 26 years to get around to signing up for it, though; and when I finally did take the plunge, things did not go as planned.

2008: DNS, thanks to some medical issues

2009: DNF, thanks to an injury

What's 2010 going to bring? Hell if I know.

But I intend to enjoy the ride.

Edited, because after I wrote this, I read my horoscope, which blathered on about obstacles and other things, and ended with:

Don't lose hope; your relentless optimism is your secret weapon.

I'm not a pessimist, mind, but Pollyanna, I am not nor will I ever be. I looked at the spouse unit and said, "Relentless optimism?"

"More sheer stubborn cussedness, I'd say," he said thoughtfully.

That's more like it. Don't lose hope; your sheer stubborn cussedness is your secret weapon. Ha!