THE LARGE BREAD LOAF

The photo show the surprisingly high bread loaf that I baked this afternoon. Admittedly, it is easier to accomplish such a thing when using close to 50% white flour. I've never been able to get as much loft when using whole-grains, and as well, I mill the spelt kernels myself, so the flour is not as fine as store bought flour. My vintage Braun mixer does a great job of kneading and that helps to make the bread fine-grained and high.

I had yet to cut the bread when the photo was taken, so I wasn't sure if the dreaded 'flying crust' (crust separates from the crumb) might yet be hiding within. I've had that problem a lot recently -- apparently I was not mixing in enough flour and the dough was little too moist. That has been corrected and these last three loaves have been fine.

SNOWSHOEING

Tip and I did our usual walk this afternoon, but because of the recent heavy snowfall, I was wearing my snowshoes. The rest of the year they hang on the porch wall as decor -- I admire the handmade beauty of the old rawhide designs and am sorry that the metal framed snowshoes appear to have taken over the market. The shoes themselves are light and well-balanced but I've yet to figure out how exactly the bindings are supposed to work.

Last winter saw very little snowfall... conditions might revert to that again but so far, it is very pleasant to engage in some winter activities. Today, the first day of the new year, was sunny and minus seven Centigrade, which these days counts as being cold.