One of these things is nothing to do with the other

[desperance]

Ouchie. Yesterday's physio session was, um, a little brutal? in its efforts to recover what might have been lost ground; and now my shoulder is strapped up. And exceedingly sore. I think the strapping is really just to hide the bruises. "You may feel it for a day or two," she said. Heh. (But I left her brokedy too, nursing her poor abused thumbs. The last five minutes, she'd been using her elbows instead.)

And now I must go and make bread. Which I have not done for weeks'n'weeks, and nothing good has happened in the meantime, so. (If there are no superstitions about the baking of bread causing good things to happen around it, there ought to be...)

Comments

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

(If there are no superstitions about the baking of bread causing good things to happen around it, there ought to be...)

Damn right there should be. My theory, for what it is worth, is that making bread, making stock, making soup are the things that keep the world regulated, and so people like you and me need to do that whenever we can. Funnily enough, I am also making bread today. (Made soup yesterday, and currently have a freezer overflowing with blocks of stock.)

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

It's probably time for me to make the next loaves too. I think I have enough potatoes.

Which reminds me: I probably ought to type up this recipe I'm using. Just as soon as I've finished playing with it enough to work out the yeast/salt balance I prefer, which is not as much as in the original.

(2 teaspoons of salt per loaf?!)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Potato bread? Do share recipe...

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

It uses flour and mashed potato, and known as Floris Bread, after the two writers (Maria Floris and her son Christopher) who both included it in their books on cakes, patisserie and bakery.

I'm a little leery of copying out recipes from books, but (a) I'm tweaking this one, so morally it may count as a derivative work, (b) even the latter book is currently at the life+30 years point of its copyright lifetime and sadly unlikely to get reprinted now, and (c) I'm going to claim it as part of my inheritance, Christopher Floris having been my godfather. (Hmm, his widow Kate is still alive, come to think of it, though they were divorced before his death. I could ask her if she has any ideas to whom the rights may have gone.)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

How are you going to *knead* it? Be careful of you!

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Um. That was the bit I was anxious about. With, perhaps, reason: I haz a tingle now. More strongly than before. Oops?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

*Chaaaaaaz*! That was Not Too Bright of you! Argh!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I am seconding Mizkit here. Be kind to the injury. If not, we will staple you to the sofa and hide your kitchen.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Heh. That would baffle the cats.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

It'll settle down again. I think. (I am resolutely ignoring that little voice in the back of my head that wants to point out that it was after I started baking again that all this trouble started. That's just post hoc propter hoc, and I spurn it.)

Maybe next time I bake the day before I see the physio, rather than the day after?

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Maybe you should get a bread machine. :p

(I know. I think you have one, and besides they don't make as nice bread as hand-made does. OTOH, they don't DESTROY YOUR NERVES, either. *grinchy face*)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Nope. No bread machine here. It was looking at a bread machine and going through the inevitable string of Chaz-thoughts - "Bread machine. Fancy. No room for it, though. Also, no need. I can make bread. Except I don't. Why don't I...?" - that brought me back to baking.

Still not tempted, though. I do like toys, but I really don't have room and I'd probably never use it. The fancier the kitchen gadgetry, the less use I have for it; give me a chopping-block and a sharp knife, and I will change the world...

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

The Dualit hand mixer (which has the power - and sound - of a small jet engine) is powerful enough to come with dough hooks. So perhaps get one of them (they're not that expensive) for the main kneading, using your hands only for the final stages.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Actually I was looking at one of those t'other week, for almost exactly this reason (actually for ciabatta dough, because the stuff is so revoltingly sticky it's almost unworkable by hand; but then I thought, they used to make ciabatta before they had electric mixers; don't be such a wimp, Brenchley, I thought...).

They're also very pretty, those Dualits...

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Pretty, and also rubberised! I'm all for fetish cookware. Plus the Dualit is really good for things like meringues too (although possibly not quite as good for that as my new toy, the Bamix, but then the Bamix was stupidly expensive).

You're like my father (in attitude, obviously, not remotely in age) - he thought that any labour-saving device was somehow cheating, and therefore bad for the soul.

However, using a labour-saving device for medical reasons? You can give yourself dispensation.

[lagilman]

I think a robot slave that kneaded the bread for you but relied upon you to do all the brainwork would be an excellent compromise, and keep you from being the kind of person who Made All His Friends Worry.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

I had this attitude for a long time. "I don't need a bread machine, I am perfectly capable of making bread the proper way!" Right up until I spotted one being offered locally on freecycle at about the time I realised that I just don't make bread because it hurts my neck and shoulders for days afterwards. When that one finally died of overuse we made a list of requirements, including the size and orientation of machine needed to fit into a specific spot in our tiny kitchen, and ended up with a Morphy Richards Fastbake. I mostly ignore the recipe book that came with it and tweak recipes I find elsewhere.

[daydreammuse.livejournal.com]

Indeed there ought to be a good omen about bread, since bread is a good thing and well bread makers are viewed with respect.

I am sorry about the shoulder.

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

Cats are experts at kneading ...