December 9, 2022

Daily Diary, Day 829: My Favorite Things, day 5

I'm writing this post earlier in the day because I want to leave the afternoon open for working on the novel. Much of this morning was spent going to doctor's office, which went well, but took time. The rest of the morning I spent getting caught up on email and reading posts I subscribe to, daily cleaning, taking a scheduled phone call .and finishing a bit of personal writing. It's now time for PT, then lunch. And with my salad, I will be having my 5th favorite thing, homemade whole wheat bread.

My husband and I started making our own bread in the early 70s when we still lived in the small Ohio town were we had gone to college. We bought a bushel of wheat from the local co-op, and a hand grinder, and we ground our own wheat, and used our own sour dough to make bread.

We even brought that sourdough starter across country in the mid seventies when we moved to So. California, as well as some Angoumois grain moths. We didn't bring those on purpose. You see, if you store wheat over a long period of time, not in a sealed container, the grain will get these bugs. And while we ended up throwing out the wheat grains, they had gotten into things like cereal boxes that we mistakenly took with us when we moved. So for a couple of years we would open up some box, find the tale-tell moth, and have to throw the box away (and try to wash down every nook and cranny in the cupboard.)

Eventually, we eradicated them, but this did not deter us from continuing to make our own whole wheat bread, just meant we no longer tried to store and grind our own wheat.

Over the years there were brief times when we didn't make our own bread because we were just too busy. It was one of those times we stopped depending on the sough dough starter we had brought with us and developed a wheat/oat loaf that was very easy to make with yeast. We both made the bread, sort of depended on who had the time, and we probably made it once a week. I loved kneading the bread.

For years, we would make 2 loaves, which the recipe called for, and gave the second loaf to neighbors across the way. One of our dogs learned that when the bread came out, and one of us phoned, that this meant that the young man in the family (who house sat and dog sat for us when we went away) was on his way over. She would go and sit by the front door to wait for his arrival!

We often supplemented the whole wheat with rye, french baguette, and even a tasty cheese bread. However, about 10 years ago, when my health meant limiting carbs or sweeteners, I found that plain whole wheat was better for me. So, for the past couple of years, this is primarily what my husband makes for me.

I've shown photos of his bread before, but here is this week's loaf, which is sitting on a bread rack that my husband made over 30 years ago! I have already had two thin slices for breakfast (this is the easiest meal for me in terms of blood sugar, as long as I have the bread with my protein drink.) And I've discovered I can have another slice with my salad for lunch. So, after I've done my PT exercise, off I go to cut myself a slice of one of my favorite things!