WORKING ON THE SECOND LOAF

Pay no attention to 'Speak-No-Evil". He is being melodramatic. The starter is proofing and getting bubbly, and it does smell kind of strong, but it is not awful. This will be my second time to make a loaf of bread from the starter I began over the weekend. At first I was disappointed in the finished loaf, but it has grown on me. I've been calling it 'Lead Bread' and warning the grandchildren who were here this weekend, not to drop it on their feet, as it could break a toe. But they liked it a lot and ate quite a bit of it. I did, too. I think there is only the last end slice left. I am hoping this loaf is lighter, but if not, that's okay.
When I took Shabree back to Corpus Christi on Sunday afternoon, she took a carton of eggs and a bag of mesclun with her. She is very proud of the eggs her chickens lay.
We had a good heavy rain in the pre-dawn hours a few days ago. It has done wonders for the garden. Today, I did a little chopping in the garden and put in two more dismantled cardboard boxes. I noticed there was another tomato plant that had come up, late, so I weeded around it and put a tomato cage over it. I am jumping the gun in putting tomato cages over them when they are still so small, but it keeps the small plants marked and safe from being stepped on, while they grow into them.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT

Because of the three long rising processes, this loaf of bread was nearly an all day project. I had used mostly whole wheat flour in the starter, so that slowed it down too. And the fact that I chose to make the starter as a purist would and not 'cheat' by putting a little dry yeast into the mixture. Also, I misread the bread recipe and added 4 tablespoons of sugar instead of the 4 teaspoons the recipe called for. It was okay, I guess, but really pretty tasteless. Blah. It was heavy, too, and didn't have a sourdough flavor. I kept thinking that I could have made my regular yeast bread recipe that I always used and be done faster and have great tasting bread... But I am going to keep with this starter for awhile, and see if it improves.

In garden news, Shabree and I will be cutting the first batch of mesclun tomorrow. It could have been cut before now, but I let it grow a little longer. The chickens are doing a great job in their chicken tractor. Shabree and I moved it again today. I'm wondering if they are doing such a great job in clearing out garden weeds because they don't like the pellets I got them last time for feed. If they don't start eating them better by the time this (not so) small bag is done, I guess I'll go back to the other kind. After they clear this new patch where their tractor is, I will be moving them to smaller chicken tractors (one for each hen) and putting them between rows and in tighter spaces.