Choreki - the final post

For the final installment of the Bread Blog, a festive loaf from Greece that combines a bunch of my favorite attributes – a (1) rich, (2) eggy (3) braided (4) white bread (5) from a new country, and (6) flavored with fennel.

Proof 2 3/4 of a teaspoon of yeast in 1/4 of a cup of warm water. While waiting for that, combine 1/3 of a cup of water, 1/6 of a cup of powdered milk, 1/8 of a cup of sugar, 4 tablespoons of butter, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 a teaspoon of ground fennel seeds in a small saucepan, and heat through. Once the butter has melted, beat in 2 eggs. Pour this and the yeast into this into a bowl, and add 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, half a cup at a time. Kneading this dough is rather a walk in the park: the dough is soft, easy to handle, and just the right amount to be able to alternate between kneading with one and two hands. Anyway, after about 8 minutes the dough should be nice, supple, and elastic. Put in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for the

First Rising (1 hour and 15 minutes)

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Every Thursday during the semester the physics department has a weekly colloquium, bringing in a physicist from another university to talk about his (or very occasionally her) research. Anyway, this past week might have been one of my favorites in a long time. The physicist in question had a serious high-energy theoretical physics background (publishing on an astrophysical problem the summer after college, and then studying under Gell-Mann), but then apparently drifted towards his real interests. So, he's mostly studied assorted problems in planetary science and geology...and in the colloquium we got to hear about a giant, dinosaur-killing space rock.

Which turns out to be pretty interesting, as it turns out, and there's been a lot more detailed theory and simulation done on the problem than I had thought. Random amazing trivia: bits of the rock bed from the area where the asteroid hit (the Yucatan Peninsula) have been found as far away as Colorado, which turns out to be unimpressive when you then realize that some of the ejected matter from the impact site would have had a velocity great enough to escape the Earth's gravitational field altogether.

But, I think my favorite moment came a little bit later.As I mentioned just above there was some stuff that got blown out into space, but that means there was also a lot of matter that got shot into orbit and then fell back down (covering the entire globe, as it turns out), and all of that stuff falling back through the atmosphere generated a tremendous amount of heat. And, of course, the speaker had studied this problem, and worked out that the falling material would have generated, through friction (and ram pressure? He didn't mention, but I have to assume at least partly) about 10 kW per square meter for maybe 20 minutes to an hour. For reference, that's comparable (if a bit less than) the energy output of a high-temperature pizza oven...over the entire surface of the Earth! Anyway, the speaker was explaining that this is probably what (very quickly) killed most of the dinosaurs (and pretty much anything that couldn't live underwater or burrow into a hole in the ground), and he made the point by mentioning, in passing, that "...we have some data on how much thermal radiation an elephant can withstand, and it's not 10 kW for an hour!" Which, of course, immediately raises some questions...why would anyone have data on the thermal radiative tolerance of elephants? And how did they come by that data?

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Punch the dough down, divide it into three equal pieces, and let it rest for a few minutes. Then, slowly roll each piece into a tube of dough, maybe 3/4 of an inch thick and 15 inches long. Braid the strands together, pinching the ends and tucking them underneath the braid, and put on a greased cookie sheet for the

Second rising (50 minutes)

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So, yes, I think with this post I'm bringing the Bread Blog to a close. I know I had told some of you that I would wait until I finished 50 posts, but I wanted to end on a good bread, I'd say this loaf definitely qualifies, and so this seemed like as good a time as any. And, to be honest, 48 posts is still 47 more than I ever intended to write when I started this thing anyway. I want to thank you all for reading this, leaving comments, sending me emails, and generally staying in touch through the blog; it's largely for you guys that I've kept up with the weekly writing. But anyway, I've resolved to be newly better about promptly answering email and letters, so no worries about that.

Oh, and also, feel free to keep sending me recipes...I might not be posting, but I'll still be baking. This next month or so I'll be especially be looking forward to remaking some of my favorites - and just simple white breads - one of the the problems with my rule of not posting the same recipe twice!

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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is warming up, beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water. Put that in the fridge, and chop up 1 tablespoon of almonds. Just before putting the bread in the oven, brush the egg glaze onto the dough, and sprinkle the almonds onto the dough, along with 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and 1 generous teaspoon of sugar. Bake for 45 minutes.

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Tasting Verdict: A nice bread to end on, as I mentioned above. The crust is fantastically crispy, and those bites where you get both the fennel and the almond flavors at the same time are really quite tasty...I'm going to have to think of a dinner dish where I can use both of those, I think. Anyway, as you'd expect, the bread itself is nicely textured, with a deliciously unhealthy richness to it.

Best and worst breads of the blog

First, five of my favorites, in no particular order:

Anadama - One of my earlier attempts, but still good. Not as over-the-top as some of the following; just a classic sandwich loaf.

Swedish Limpa - One of the more complex breads I've made, but I still remember how tasty I thought it was (quite the lasting impression, I guess, seeing as that was almost 11 months ago)

Cinnamon Bread - Much too rich and flavorful to be used for regular lunches (although I recall it making some fairly decadent peanut-butter-and-honey sandwiches), but just an excellent, excellent breakfast loaf.

Challah - I mean, I had to include at least one eggy bread in this list, right? I mean, it's probably been the single category of bread I've baked the most over the last year. Still, this one was particularly good, and I'm still semi-amazed that the six-stranded braid thing worked.

Pusstabrot - Best. Deli. Sandwiches. Ever.

And, the less than stellar efforts, in descending order:

Cardamom Bread - Not horrible, but "unbalanced" is really the only way to describe the flavor of the bread. Eating it you have a vague, lingering feeling that something is wrong.

Raisin and Nut Bread - Gross, sticky kneading, followed by raisins that migrate to the surface of the baking bread on their path towards becoming charred ash containers

Brown Bread - Eating this loaf reminds you with every chew that you're eating something healthy. I mean, if the idea of the taste of health food had a Platonic form, it would be similar to this loaf of bread, I have no doubt.

Black Bread - While I later redeemed myself, this was the catastrophic "brick of bread," so dense that my bread knife would barely cut it. Although, to be fair, that was probably more my fault than the recipe's.

Bavarian Rye - To misquote Nietzsche, "Ah ryes. They make the highs higher, and the lows...more frequent." Anyway, this bread, fresh out of the oven, was actually not too terrible. Just a day later, though, it turned into a truly foul-tasting abomination, with the texture of a damp, mushy sponge.

Challah, take two

Another stab at making this fancy loaf, with a slight variation from our last attempt.

To start off, boil 1/3 of a cup of water and then pour over a (generous but unmeasured) pinch of saffron. Separately, proof 6 teaspoons of yeast in 1 cup of warm water, and let both sit for about five minutes. Then, in a large bowl stir these into 3 beaten eggs, 3 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Start adding some all-purpose flour, a little at a time, until you've added just less than 5 cups of flour. Knead until the dough is quite stiff, then place in a buttered bowl for the

First rising (1 hour and 30 minutes)
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So, everybody that I've told this story to so far has been, shall we say, less than impressed. But I was still irrationally happy when this happened, so I'll share anyway.

Sometime last week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday, I went to one of the local coffee shops to do some work (having spent more than enough time in my office and looking for a change of scenery in which to read some papers). I didn't particularly want coffee, but you can't just sit there all day without ordering anything, so I got a cup - served in a glass, actually - added a packet of sugar, poured in some half-and-half, and found myself a seat. Once again exposing my coffee naivety, though, I quite conspicuously forgot to stir this all together.

Anyway, this turned out to be a brilliant move on my part, since the next time I looked up I had created a masterpiece! So, I present the four-fold, coffee version of the black and tan:

[nerdy bit: Presumably the layers are, in order from bottom to top (1) a thin layer of sugar saturated coffee...you'll recall from junior-high science that sugar water can be up to 80% more dense than regular water! (2) milk-laden coffee (3) cream-laden coffee, and (4) coffee. Exciting for a few reasons: first, this confirms for me that this coffee shop has half-and-half that is actually a mix of two different liquids, and which is not just some synthetic substitute. Second, this puts some (to me) potentially surprising limits on what the density of coffee can be. Cream, after all, is only barely more dense than water, so the fact that coffee can float on top of it means the density must be falling in a pretty narrow range of values. Either that or there are some much more complicated boundary-layer effects that I am not bothering to consider just now.
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, given how much yeast was added, this dough rises very quickly...which means there's quite a lot of punching down to do. Once that's over and done with, divide the dough in four, and make each into a fairly long (let's say about 16 inches) strand of dough (much like the pizza dough and the latest cinnamon bread, this will take a few iterations of stretching, letting the dough relax, stretching again, etc.). Once they are all roughly the same length, use them to make a grid-like shape, with alternating over/under strands (once again, I am totally guessing at how to do this...if anybody has an actual method, please let me know!). Then, take each of the four "under" strands and fold it counter-clockwise over the nearest "over" strand. Next, take what are the new "under" strands (i.e. what was a moment ago the "over" strands) and fold them clockwise over the nearest strands. Repeat, going back and forth between clockwise and counter-clockwise folds, until the strands run out. Then end result should look
similar to but better than this:


Cover, set aside, and let sit for the

Second rising (45 minutes)
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This weekend I just went to the funniest, most stereotypically Midwestern place I've been yet. On Sunday I took a trip out to a nearby pick-your-own-apples orchard and pumpkin patch sort of place. Or at least, that's what I thought it was. It turns out, though, that it was much, much more than that. In addition to the orchard, there was also an entire Wizard of Oz themed country fair sort of thing, complete with a Flying Monkey Cafe, a Ruby Slippers maze, and so on. Where "so on" manages to encompass a corn maze and a non-mechanical, donkey powered merry-go-round. Oh, and an activity station where you try to identify what sort of minerals water has been flowing through based on the color of the sludge coming out the end of a pipe. It was incredible.
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Brush the top of the dough with 1 cold beaten egg, and then sprinkle liberally with poppy seeds. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

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Tasting verdict: Well, pretty tasty, but a little disappointing. I am still a long way from the loaf my mom makes, and to be honest, I'm not even sure if this is better than the last Challah I made. The flavor is a little better (I think the saffron was a nice touch! maybe a little more next time...oh, if only, as the Danish cashier at the supermarket said, saffron wasn't "a million dollars a thread"), but it tastes a little drier than I remember the last one tasting.

Reasonability check: On further thought, you might question my ability to so precisely recall and thus compare against a loaf of bread I made in April...point taken.

Currently reading: The "Prose Edda," a book of Norse mythology written in 13th century Iceland, a "Penguin Classics" copy of which I found in practically mint condition at a yard sale on my way back from the office this weekend. I've only just started, so I can't say much about it..but I've already learned that this book is clearly where Tolkien got the name Gandalf, along with the name of just about every dwarf in his books.

Portuguese Sweet Bread

This week: another one of those delicious, egg-and-butter rich loaves of questionable health value. Because after last week's loaf I just want something tasty.

Start out by proofing 5 teaspoons of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in 1/2 a cup of warm water. After a few minutes, add 1/2 a cup of warm milk, 1 stick of softened butter, 3 lightly beaten eggs, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 cup of sugar. Which seems like a lot, but I guess they don't call it "sweet bread" for nothing!

Anyway, one cup at a time stir in about 4 cups of all-purpose flour. The recipe suggests this will be all that is needed, and to add extra flour only until the dough loses its stickiness. My experience was somewhat different, as after 4 cups all that was in front of me was a very thick, sludge-like liquid. Anyway, I added maybe another 2 or 2 1/2 cups of flour just to get a dough I could knead, and even then the dough was extremely soft and loose. Actually, the dough was vaguely reminiscent of oobleck, now that I think of it!

First Rising (2 hours)
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Reasons why I should like the summer: Well, first and foremost I suppose, would be how much less stressful the days are. No exams to prepare for, no problem set deadlines pressing down upon you, just a steady flow of work. It's funny, but even though I'm putting in almost identical hours (albeit minus the teaching workload) it just feels like much less work.
Second, the pace of the day is much friendlier. The knowledge that I could sleep in if I wanted to, or take an extra 15 preparing a nice breakfast instead of a quick bowl of cereal, makes the start of the day so much nicer, even if, in fact, I almost never do either of those things.
As I mentioned last week, now that the summer has started and there are so many fewer students on campus, I feel like I'm starting to recognize faces on my walks to and from work. Kind of a nice, if fake, small town feel.
And, I must admit, not having to walk past lines of squiffy undergrads outside of bars (or, closer to the weekends, rather more thoroughly drunk ones) has been a welcome change. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Punch the dough down and cut it in half with a butter knife. Which will actually be trickier than it sounds...the dough at this point will have a sort of quicksand-ish quality, and will try to yank the knife away and drag it down to the depths. Anyway, shape each half into a loaf, and put one in a buttered 9x5 bread pan. For some variety, though, why not go for a circular loaf and put the other half in one of those medium-sized frying pans. Cover, set aside, and let rise again until doubled in bulk.

Second Rising (2 hours)
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Reason why the summer is actually my least favorite season: the heat. The mind-melting, soul-sapping, draining, awful oppressive heat. The sort of heat that makes it impossible to think, that discourages you from wanting to cook anything interesting to eat. Temperatures that make you forget your distaste for water (and inability to swim) and suddenly long for a swimming pool. Weather in general that makes you feel like nothing so much as a gelatinous blob of cooked spaghetti (or, perhaps more aptly, a string of wet sponges). Now, I know, I know... I just need to build some character and get over it. But I am not a fan.
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While it is warming up, thoroughly beat one egg. Liberally brush the beaten egg on the loaves, and then bake for 32 minutes.

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Tasting verdict: As the astute reader has perhaps figured out by now, I rather like the whole genre of egg and butter loaded loaves. And this one is no exception. I think I managed to slightly under-cook it (just by a hair), so there is definitely some room for improvement in this loaf. The fact that an entire cup of sugar went into the bread is awfully apparent, and as a result this bread is just teetering on the brink of being overly sweet. But, all in all, I really quite like it...definitely in the top 50% (maybe even the top third) of the loaves I've made so far.

Brioche

Back to continental Europe for this week’s loaf...a recipe that is wonderfully simple and fantastically unhealthy. Even I started feeling uneasy while making this one.

Start out by proofing 3 3/4 teaspoons of yeast and 2 tablespoons of sugar in 1/2 a cup of warm water. While that is just sitting there, lightly beat 4 eggs in a bowl (you can already tell this is going to be an especially healthy loaf, no?), and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Then, and this is kind of gross just thinking about it, add 1 cup of melted butter...as in two full sticks; half of one of those half-pound packages from the supermarket. Ugh. Well, hopefully it’ll at least taste good in the end. Anyway, stir in 4 cups of all-purpose flour, and then…

Nothing! No kneading this week, which made me both a little sad and a little anxious about whether this was actually going to work. But the recipe just says to beat until smooth, so that’s what we’ll do. Put the almost-dripping blob of dough into a buttered bowl (although, with so much butter in the dough itself, you wonder if the extra is at all needed), cover, and let sit for the

First Rising (1 hour and 15 minutes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, just a quick update here, in that I am in the office trying to get enough work done before joining some of my friends for a Memorial Day Weekend barbecue…So, let me just say that really, there are precious few things that I can say I’ve had more of here in the Midwest than I did, say, back in college - honestly, food-wise I’m running a pretty severe deficit in the areas of egg-and-bagels, “orange” chicken, “Aunt Vicki’s” beef brisket, smoothies, knock-you-nakeds, milkshakes (really, dessert in general!), etc.

But, as of last night, Illinois has outpaced Massachusetts in the fields of both cheese and chocolate fondues. And my tummy is awfully happy about that.
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Punch the dough down, and peel the rather sticky dough out of the bowl. Cut into two roughly equal halves, shape into loaves, and put into an 8x4 and a 9x5 bread tin. Recover, and let undergo the

Second Rising (1 hour and 10 minutes)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sometimes in life you are confronted with one of those moments that make you step back and think. The sort of moment when you suddenly recognize that you’re in some sort of rut, doing the same thing over and over, not out of desire or even some sort of conscious impulse, but out of sheer inertia. Not a pleasant sort of feeling.

So, like a bolt from the blue, just such a realization struck me while I was strolling down the pasta isle during my last trip to the grocery store. There it was, a vast array of green branded boxes, all identically priced, each carrying a different type of pasta. And here I was, reflexively just picking up another box of spaghetti. But why spaghetti? It was all I had ever gotten, but it’s not as though there’s some fundamental difference…they’re all made of the same stuff. (Note to any pasta purists reading this – yes, I’m sure there is some traditional use in terms of different sauces that go with each type of noodle…but at the level that I’m cooking, I feel quite confident in saying that it really doesn’t matter!) So, born that day was another goal I can work towards: not to buy another box of spaghetti until I’ve tried literally every other type of pasta at that store. First up: gemelli and rotini.
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Brush with cold water (actually, the recipe calls for the loaves to be brushed with a mix of egg yolk and milk…but but I used up the last of my eggs making the dough.) Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tasting verdict: I have to be honest, when I tasted this the very first thing that popped into my mind was the phrase "haha...too much" (quite specifically, as said by this guy, about 1:27 seconds in). I mean, it tastes delicious, almost as if it's halfway between a loaf of bread and an unsweetened cake. But you can feel the buttery-ness of the bread just by touching the crust, and you can feel hours spent at the gym slipping away with every bite. So, in sum, tasty, but not exactly a lunchtime sandwich bread...not quite sure what I'll do with these instead, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Currently reading: Actually, I'm in between books at the moment...Anybody read anything good lately that they'd suggest?

Challah

Glad to be making (and eating!) bread again. And, for the occasion...even though this is about two months late, here's Anne's request for another braided loaf!

First, put 1 1/3 cups of warm water in a large mixing bowl, and add 7 teaspoons of yeast. This might seem like an exorbitant amount of yeast...I think it is, and after making this bread I wonder if the recipe I was using might have a typo there. But not to worry! No doubt it'll all work out in the end.

After the yeast has proofed a bit, add 3 eggs, 3 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar, and mix thoroughly. Then slowly stir in about 5 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (one cup at a time), until the dough is fairly stiff. The dough will be fairly easy to work with, but the shear quantity of it might make kneading a fairly, let's say, aerobic experience. Anyway, once the dough is ready, put in a buttered bowl, cover, and delight in the fact that it is finally warm enough to not need an oven for the

First Rising (1 hour)
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There was an earthquake here last week! Just a minor one, fortunately (the only damage was a collapsed porch about a hundred miles south or so). But still, for someone who grew up in New England and hence unused to natural disasters of any sort, fairly exciting...It happened in the middle of the night, so I was woken up with the whole house shaking. But it was sort of surreal, since on the one hand it was only a small earthquake, so it wasn't as if things were falling off of the wall and out of the cupboards. And in my sleepy-groggy state I was pretty sure that Illinois wasn't sitting on any major fault lines, so I just decided that it was probably just one of those remarkably lifelike but bizarre dreams, and promptly went back to sleep. But then the aftershocks came and kept waking me up. I thought it weird that I would keep having the same dream, and it wasn't until the third time this happened that I realized I probably wasn't imagining all of this... And it was very nice to hear on the radio that morning that there had in fact been an earthquake (which saved me from what I was imagining would be a fairly sheepish conversation with whichever of my friends I ran into first that day..."So, um....was there an earthquake last night?" After all, that seems like the sort of question you shouldn't really ever have to ask; and earthquake would probably be something you'd notice, no? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Punch the dough down and cut it into six equal pieces. Take each piece, and roll it out (just like making a snake out of clay!) on a lightly floured board until it is about an inch in diameter. Pinch the six strands together, and do our standard braiding procedure that we figured out in February. Cover and let it rest. But keep a sharp eye on it lest it spill over the edge of the cookie sheet during the

Second Rising (45 minutes)
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So, the "first rising" was an action-packed update (well, relatively speaking), so now permit me a slightly nerdier paragraph or two... As you may know, my difficulties in finding an advisor have been a bit frustrating for me this semester. Much as I enjoy taking classes, after all, one goes to grad school to do research. Frankly, t was getting a bit disheartening not having any luck finding a research group to work with. Fortunately, though, a pair of events over the past two weeks did much to restore my spirits.

First, I was in a friend's office, chatting a bit (and, admittedly, stealing the use of her office printer), when my friend had to step outside for a few minutes. So, I just picked up the nearest book lying around, which happened to be "The Art of Electronics." Not something that I particularly care about, but a classic textbook (well, it's in a field I haven't studied but I had still heard of it before, so I assume it's a classic). Anyway, I was just leafing through the pages when I started reading about the different types of noise that can interfere with electrical signals...pretty dry stuff, right? Well, I kept reading, and learned all about this bizarre type of noise ("1/f" or "flicker" noise), which apparently we do not have a good theoretical understanding of, but which is pervasive not just in electronics but throughout nature. A quick browsing of papers on the net led me to articles on this noise in everything from classical music pitch spectra to yearly floodplain deposits of the Nile river. It sort of reminded me of a weird, frequency/noise version of the statement of Benford's Law. Anyway, like I said, fairly nerdy, but I really enjoyed reading about it for a while, and the whole experience reminded me of why I'm in graduate school in the first place: I find all of this stuff irrationally interesting.

And, more directly related I'm sure to why I'm more optimistic these days, is that I might have found a group to work with, at least for the summer. Not set in stone yet, but hopefully the details will be finalized this coming week. Just see the "currently reading" section for a flavor of what I'll probably be doing for the next few months at least.
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While it is warming up, beat together an egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of cold water. Brush the bread with the mixture, and then liberally sprinkle with poppy seeds -- Sorry Anne...I know Wegmans makes theirs with sesame seeds, but I didn't have any in my kitchen. Bake for 35 minutes.

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Tasting verdict: Well, first I have to say, as my parents have just learned about this blog, that of course this is nowhere near as good a challah as Mom could make. No surprises there, of course! But still, I am quite proud of this one... a fairly crispy crust (have I mentioned how much I like the egg yolk wash?), with an awesomely chewy middle. As far as egg-breads go, I like this one a bit more than the "Country Style" loaf, which was also quite tasty but was perhaps a bit too rich with both the milk and half a stick a butter. This recipe I think hits a much better balance. But I do think the next time I make it I'll have to remember to use a bit less yeast...this bread rose probably a third over again while it was in the oven, and very nearly ended up both colliding with the top of the oven and spilling over the side. Neither of which would have been so good.

Currently reading:"Collisions, Caging, Thermodynamics, and Jamming in the Barrier Hopping Theory of Glassy Hard Sphere Fluids," "Dynamical Fluctuation Effects in Glassy Colloidal Suspensions," and other such elaborately titled papers.

Currently eating: Gelato!! (or should that be, "mmmm...gelaaaatoooooo"?) Anyway, it feels like it's already summer here, and I just had my first gelato of the season: Cappuccino Chocolate Chip. Very tasty.

SMAC attack! - Braided "Country Fair Bread"

This one is for Sarah, who managed to put in her request for a braided loaf both by comment and by phone...

I have to admit, though, that I almost didn't make a loaf this weekend...My coursework is a bit more than usual (exacerbated by having to spend all of Saturday listening to talks), and since I had an extra loaf in the freezer (the left over loaf of marble bread from last week) I had planned to just thaw that out and not spend any time in the kitchen Saturday and Sunday. But when I woke up this morning my clock read 5:05 (and, as I found out in a little bit, that clock was in fact an hour fast, so it was actually closer to 4:00). I tried (and rather failed) to go back to sleep for a while, but eventually I just had to get up. Anyway, it was still much too early to go into the office, so I decided to do some early morning baking after all.

This bread starts off a bit unusually...no proofing of the yeast. Instead, combine 2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of salt, and about 1/4 cup of sugar. While that's just sitting in a bowl, not doing anything, heat up in a saucepan 1 1/2 cups of milk and 4 tablespoons of butter (cut up into small pieces so that it all melts before the milk gets too hot). Once it is warm, add the milk to the flour mixture, along with 2 eggs, and stir for a good five minutes. I'm not really sure what this accomplishes, other than tiring out one's wrist, but this week I have a recipe again, and that's what it says to do.

Once the mixture is very...well, mixed, stir in 4 1/2 more cups of all-purpose flour and start kneading. There will be a bit more of it than usual this time around, but this dough kneads very easily. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, put in a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm, draft-free spot for the

First Rising (1 hour and 20 minutes)
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Well, after complaining last week that teaching was a bit less fun this semester because there is no question asked, nothing that happens that I hadn't already heard last semester, My students proved me wrong last semester. First, some back-story...

Once in a while (say, two or maybe three times over the course of the semester) I like to bring in doughnuts or cookies and juice or some such for my students. On the one hand, I just like randomly being nice once in a while. And, a bit more selfishly, I have definitely noticed that after a burst of sugar my 8 am sections are definitely more attentive. Anyway, you have to say something the first time you bring food in, and this semester for some reason a bunch of my students asked me about my "food policy." Well, I haven't been in a classroom where a "food policy" was relevant since high school, so I was a bit taken aback at the time. But, that gave me a perfect excuse to introduce doughnuts with the following rather cheesy approach: "Last class someone asked me about my policy on food...(blah blah blah)... so anyway, of course, food is fine. But you know, I've always believed in sharing, so if you bring in food wouldn't it be nice to bring in enough for everybody...So, for example, today I wanted a few doughnut holes, so..." well, you get the idea. Anyway, the class and I have a good laugh over that, because we all know that no student is every going to buy food for all twenty-five of us.

But then, last week, one of my students in my Thursday section brought in a giant bag of cherry Hershey's kisses to share with the whole class. Now, no doubt they were just leftover Valentine's Day candy, but still...I thought that was just great, and was glad to be proven wrong.
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Punch down the dough and divide into six roughly equal pieces. Roll by hand each piece into a cylinder about 10-12 inches long. Then, simply "braid the strands together." Now, perhaps you know how to make a six-stranded braid, but I certainly don't! Now, I'm not quite sure how to describe what I made up, so let me try the nerdiest possible way with a bit of expanded cycle notation:

Press the strands together at one end, and label them 1-6 from left to right. The first two moves are (123456) -> (612345) -> (623451). Now that we've basically just switched the first and the last strands, relabel them 1-6, because we're just going to repeat the following four moves over and over until we're done: (123456) -> (231456) -> (523146) -> (523614) -> (536142). Make sense? Anyway, I'm not sure if that's how one is supposed to do six-braids, but go ahead...try and tell me that doesn't look pretty sweet!



Second Rising (40 minutes...the bread could have risen for longer, I am sure, but it was about to spill over the edge of the cookie sheet)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some of you perhaps already know about my bizarre, retrospective "To Do in Life" list. Whereas, I suppose, most people sort of have an idea of the big things they want to accomplish or experience (Become president? Learn how to fly? Go over Niagara Falls in a barrel?) I've only ever had a list of little things that I realize that I've always wanted to do, but only after I've done them. These have ranged from the monetary (I first became aware of this list when I flew into Los Angeles and there was a guy waiting for me, with a car and a big sign upon which my name was writ large. This made me aware of the fact that, despite not being aware of it, I had always wanted to be picked up in a fancy car from an airport - thanks to Cousin Scott's wedding for that one!) to the cheesy-romantic (successfully pulling off the gallantly-give-jacket-to-shivering-girl routine) to the just plain silly (umm...the whole cult thing springs to mind). Well, I am happy to announce that I have now added a fourth thing to said list: last week I managed to compose, in a bout of both whimsy and pure, muse-like inspiration, a letter that was entirely written in verse. Even down to the date, opening, and closing. Admittedly, that was probably one of the silliest "happy birthday" letters ever written, but I had a lot of fun with it...I hope the recipient likes it as much!
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Set oven to 375, and while the oven is coming up to temperature brush the top of the bread with 1 tablespoon of cold water beaten with 1 egg white to give the crust some texture. Bake for 45 minutes.

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Tasting verdict: First, speaking of things written in verse, bonus points to anybody who can guess what book (that I last read the summer after my sophomore or junior year of high school) the above picture made me think of. Anyway, as you can see, I haven't tried a slice from this loaf yet, a result of my eating two breakfasts (cereal, and then a cheese omelet on the last of last week's marble bread) while waiting for it to rise and bake. However, if the past six weeks (and my knowledge of the ingredients of what went into this one) are any guide, I'm going to say that this bread will have a much lighter texture than most of the breads I've made so far, and will almost certainly be a rather rich and sweet loaf. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be great for sandwiches, if a bit too large and oddly-shaped to fit into the plastic sandwich bags I have.

Currently reading: Too busy to do as much reading as I would like...still working on last week's book.

Next week: Well, we've had two requests in a row...can anyone make that three? If not, probably some sort of whole-wheat loaf.