phragmentation

= pesto!

Yes, I am making pretzels, at 3 am. You see, I had leftover egg and water with malt from yesterday’s bagels. And I really wanted to make use of my Fleur de Sel de Guérande, Cyprus lava salt, and chardonnay fumee de sel.  Dissolve 2 T yeast with 1/2 T sugar and 1/2 T malt in 1 cup warm water. When bubbly, stir in 3 cups flour and 3 T olive oil. Mix and knead the dough until soft and smooth. Cover and let rise in oiled bowl for 45 minutes. Punch down softly and divide into 10-12 pieces. I made 8 because that’s all that fit in my two tiny pans, that fit in the tiny oven. Roll each piece into a pretzel knot and let rise for 20 minutes on oiled baking sheet. Boil pretzels for 30 seconds on each side in a pot of water. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle a pinch salt. Bake 15 minutes at 400F, or longer if they’re larger. I ended up baking them about 25 minutes. The convection oven probably wasn’t quite hot enough as they didn’t brown very well. They kind of look more like croissants than pretzels. Maybe when I make croissants, they’ll look more like pretzels…. They taste good though!

Enough of this craving those fatty blobs of dough at over $1 a piece… I am going to make my own, based on the Buttermilk Breakfast Doughnuts in Marion Cunningham’s The Breakfast Book (no, not that Marion):

Blend together:
1/4 c butter
1/2 white sugar
1/2 brown sugar

Add 2 eggs and beat well.

Mix together 1/2 nonfat plain yogurt & 1/4 lowfat milk and add to batter.

Mix together 3 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t mace
1/2 t nutmeg

Add to batter all at once and beat until just mixed

Turn onto a lightly floured board and roll 1/2 inch thick. The dough will be soft and a little sticky, but easy to work with. Cut out doughtnuts about 2 1/2 wide and roll the holes into balls. Deep fry a few at a time, a couple minutes on each side. Don’t let the oil get too hot and cook the outsides too fast!

Why does this fail so often?

Although I didn’t vote in yesterday’s budget election, I am pleased to see that all the budget question measures failed. Not because they weren’t valid propositions, but because the general population shouldn’t be voting on these sorts of questions. That’s why we elect representatives. And that’s why the one measure that did pass was so telling: No raises for legislators who can’t balance the budget.