Remembering old friends.
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nightdog_barks passed away last night from cancer complications. She was a good friend, a joyful woman who loved dogs and sunsets, someone newer to fandom than I was and older to life when we met, who never stopped pursuing new ideas and good endings.Because I never met her in person and only knew her over the internet, I went to see when was the last time I sent her an email. Just a few weeks ago, a Person of Interest fic rec that I hope she enjoyed.
The one before that, several months ago, was my thanking her for a bread recipe she gave me shortly after we'd begun hanging out in the same fandom circles. I'd made it for a regional grain baking get-together, submitting the loaves under the name "Nightdog's Never-Fail Whole Wheat Bread." I told her how much everyone enjoyed it, and that I was the only one who made a recipe given to me by one of my friends.
I don't know when I'll next make that bread - yeast loaves require a good few hours - but I know that I've always thought of her when I've made it, and I'm always going to be thankful we had our time together.
Reproduced here, as she gave it to me:
WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
Mix together:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white all-purpose flour (unbleached)
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
Take 1/4 cup warm water and mix with 1/4 cup liquid sweetener (honey, molasses, sorghum syrup, whatever you like).
Add the mixed water/sweetness to the dry flour mixture.
Add 1/2 cup canola oil.
Stir together.
Take 1 3/4 cup warm water and empty a yeast packet* into it.
Let sit for about 5 minutes, gently jiggling bowl.
Add the yeast water to wet flour mix and blend in. Mix will be very liquidy. Don't worry.
Add 1 cup wheat flour, a half cup at a time, mixing well.
Add a half cup 10-grain mix**, mixing well.
Add a half cup whatever (bulgur, steel-cut oats, regular oats, sunflower seeds, etc.), mixing well.
Add more flour, alternating white and wheat, a half cup at a time, until batter becomes dough.
Take large cutting board and sprinkle liberally with flour.
Turn dough out onto board and start kneading, sprinkling dough with more flour as needed. You'll be surprised at how much flour the dough absorbs.
Take a large bowl and drizzle olive oil in it.
Form dough into large ball and put in bowl, turning to coat with olive oil.
Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap (not clinging to the sides) and let rise in warm oven for 1 and 1/2 hours.
Take dough out of oven and punch down.
Turn onto floured board and slice in half.
Adding any flour as necessary, knead each dough half until stiff.
Form dough halves into rough loaves and place in greased loaf pans.
Put back into warm oven and cover loosely with a lightweight kitchen towel.
Let rise another 30 minutes or so.
Remove kitchen towel.
Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then 350 for 20 minutes.
Bread.
*I use Hodgson Mill All Natural Active Dry Yeast, which says 25% More Yeast on the packet.
Anything else is okay (Fleishmann's or Red Star are two that come to mind).
**By 10-grain mix, I mean packaged hot cereals like Bob's Red Mill or Hodgson's. Don't worry if you can't
find these -- you can just use more flour.
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