Light rye bread

Last week's loaf was excellent but a bit too sweet for my everyday lunches, so I this week I picked up some assorted deli meats and decided to make a loaf of rye bread.

Get this one started by proofing 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast in 1/4 of a cup of warm water and 1 3/4 tablespoons of honey. After a few minutes, add 1 tablespoon of melted butter, 3/4 of a tablespoon of caraway seeds, and 1 scant tablespoon of salt. Slowly stir in 1 1/2 cups of dark rye flour, 1 3/4 cups of bread flour, and about 1/3 of a cup of all-purpose flour (this last only because I used up the last of the bread flour and the dough was still a bit too sticky).

Anyway, this dough was surprisingly easy to knead...or at least, it certainly feels like it would have been if my arm and shoulder hadn't felt bruised, sore, and just generally shredded from what was truly an epic, Roland-vs-Oliver-scale [Aside: I've always been a bit tickled by that phrase, despite first seeing it in a Bartlett's in junior high and never having actually read any of the Roland legends] arm wrestling match (albeit one that, while it sure felt like five days was probably less than two minutes, and one that in fact did not end in a draw). Anyway, once the bread is thoroughly kneaded, attaining that usual smooth-yet-elastic texture, put the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let sit for the

First rising (2 hours and 10 minutes)
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Well, I'll hardly be alerting anyone to a new phenomenon with this comment, but let me add my voice to the many who are tired of just how early the whole "winter-seasonal" music/decorations/promotions/etc. start each year. Usually I have a fairly high tolerance for that sort of thing, but this year has seemed worse than usual. First, on Halloween itself some of my friends went to try to pick up a pumpkin for carving. Now, admittedly, it was after dinner time, so any family would have already pick up their Halloween supplies, but by 8:00 p.m. the supermarket had already gotten rid of any trace of Halloween (well, except for vast quantities of now-on-sale candy) and were already setting up Christmas displays. I mean, really? It wasn't even November! There was still a sixth of Halloween -- not to mention all of Thanksgiving! -- before Christmas would start. There's got to be a line drawn somewhere, and that just seems to have crossed it.

Anyway, just to rub it in (and what reminded me of this in the first place), last week my piano teacher announced that once I finished the two pieces I'm currently working on we could start working on a "seasonal assortment of songs." Not exactly the best inducement for me to work too hard.
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Punch the dough down, then roll it up, put in a greased 8x4 inch bread tin, cover, and set aside for the

Second rising(1 hour)
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Mild Spoiler Alert: The following contains a tiny bit of plot about the newest Bond film, so if you're interested in seeing that film without knowing anything about it before hand, skip this section. But if you don't mind knowing one really minor plot point, I'll try to be suitably vague about everything else.

Anyway, as you could tell from the above, this weekend some of my friends and I went to see "Quantum of Solace," the newest James Bond film. Now, of course, you don't go to a Bond film expecting any sort of deep cinematic experience, and indeed I think this one performed as usual in the standard chase/fight/etc. Bond film elements.

What really struck me as odd, though, was the great villainous scheme of this installment. Of course, you have to separate out the ends from the means in the villain's plan, and the means are suitably dastardly in the film. But the ends...well, somehow plotting to double utility rates just doesn't pass the evil-super-villain test. The evil-pretty-mean-guy test? Sure. The not-a-very-nice-thing-to-do test? Absolutely. But when you finally find out that this is what Bond has been striving to stop, it makes the extra psychological-drama this movie cooks up seem a little hollow. Well, maybe making the bad guys a sort of monopolizing corporate entity out to make money at the expense of the little guys is just a reflection of the times, but I didn't think it made for as compelling cinema. Still fun, mind you, but just a little strange.
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Just before putting the bread in the oven, brush the top with a mix of 1 egg white and 2 tablespoons of cold water. Bake for 45 minutes.

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Tasting verdict: Very nice. Rather lighter (both in density and flavor) than your usual rye bread, but still with a very nice texture. Providing it doesn't change too much over the next few days, just about perfect for deli sandwiches.