shewasavisitor

For some reason, E left the house for work this morning with his AND my keys. We live in one of those gated communities (like Melrose Place, Sarah says, but def. not that fancy) with a main doorway, which, for weeks, was broken and didn’t require a key to just open it up and walk right in. Until this weekend when it was fixed.

As “Happy Homemaker”, I had a whole list of things to do today outside the house (mail letters, poke around the health food store, drop some items off at the Goodwill, run around the track for a bit). Instead, I’ve gotten quite a number of things done inside the house, including baking some pumpernickel bread. At the top of my list for a while was to update the ol’ blog and to learn more about posting photos. Friends, the day has come.

By this time, I thought surely I’d have posted way more on food/cooking/baking than I have. This’ll hopefully be the beginning of many food posts.

Two weeks ago, I baked the most amazing vegan pumpernickel bread by following a gluten-free recipe I’d found online. If you know anything about gluten-free flours, or flours of varying levels of tolerable gluten, then you will know that gluten-free flours lack the ability to rise and to bind. I didn’t have the specific flours needed in the online recipe at the time so I baked the entire works with dark rye flour (which has gluten, but in a much smaller amount to wheat). The bread was delicious. Bits of orange rind (courtesy my neighbor’s yard), way more caraway seeds than the recipe called for, rye & flax seeds: the works. My only issue was that it was SO dense even the yeast lost its battle.

I love baking, and bake quite a bit. I enjoy knowing it’s someone’s birthday and surprising them with something baked. I also enjoy the challenge of using natural, whole-food ingredients as alternatives to the typical butter/eggs/white flour/white sugar ingredients. I simply want to know and be comfortable with what I’m eating. I also learn a lot from baking, as it is finicky. After that first loaf, I decided the next time I bake this bread I would mix up the ingredients a bit. I always have the most success when I go out on a limb and personalize the recipes I follow, or completely make stuff up from scratch. Domestic instinct.

While poking around in my cabinet for different types of flours, I came across my jar of teff. Teff is an ancient, gluten-free grain with a rich array of minerals and nutrients. You’d know teff if you’ve ever eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant; it’s the main flour used in those foamy flatbreads. I used up the jar – it was only maybe 1 cup – and then used up my jar of dark rye – one more cup. Half a cup of spelt and away it went into the oven.

As of 10 minutes ago, my newest creation has been sliced into: so good! The teff really compliments the rye and the whole thing has that pumpernickel-y depth that everyone loves so much. I bet leaving the covered unbaked loaf out on my balcony to rise gave it that little bit extra. I have given this creation a very “Kathryn” name: Rich Teff-Rye, cheekily after Rich Terfry. Oh, it was hard having to say goodbye to Jurgen Gothe after growing up with Disc Drive on CBC but Mr. Terfry is so good at what he does even my Dad likes him.