The Freshmaker

A while ago I posted about trying to only buy groceries from the perimeter of the store.  It turned out to be easier than I thought.  On my last trip, I managed to buy all but two products from the perimeter.  The only things I bought that had multiple ingredients were beer and cereal.  Breakfast cereal is my weakness.  For a couple days I made my own oatmeal/multigrain cereal.  It was okay, with lots of brown sugar and milk, but not really as quick and fulfilling as Honey Nut Cheerios.  I have [tips hat to wife] stopped getting Marshmallow Magic, a Vons-brand Lucky Charms knock-off with 90% sugar, 5% chemicals, and 5% real ingredients.  The other weakness we have in Casa Soutowood is frozen pizza.  It must always be Red Baron, we’ve discovered after several dreadful experiments with other brands.  If someone makes an all-natural delicious frozen pizza for under $5, I’ll be the first to know.  Until then, the Baron will be flying us through Fridays with chemicals and preservatives aplenty!

Now.  Regarding my rustic bread experiment this weekend.  When I sliced it open, I found a lack of large bubbles or stretched-out structure.  It was much more like white sandwich bread.  But!  The crust was like an eggshell:  thin and crispy.  It got even better when toasted.  So I’ve decided to skip the overnight retardation since it isn’t adding anything to the flavor or structure.  I did manage to wait until the loaf had completely doubled, which made scoring easier and hinted at a better ear on the crust.  If I can keep that eggshell crust, get a good ear, AND big open structure with translucent webbing, I think my rustic bread will be finished.  I don’t know how long that’ll take.  Good thing I like to eat bread.

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Writer, architect, father, husband.

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4 comments on “The Freshmaker
  1. Crissy Po says:

    I know it's not nearly as easy as the frozen pizza but there's always the op-see-ohn of making our own delicious pizza with your homemade pizza dough 😀

  2. psoutowood says:

    Maybe there's a way to make a couple pizza crusts and bake and freeze them, then they just need to defrost and get toppings and a quick bake. That's one op-see-ohn.

  3. Samanthropos says:

    Don't you guys have the op-see-ohn of talking to each other via mouth in your own home (vs. posting things on the blog..?). PS What is this Baron crap?Freschetta, bee-hatch, all the WAY!

  4. psoutowood says:

    Oh Samanthropos, that's so analog. (That's a 21st century cut-down.) By the way, print is dead. And I collect spores, molds, and fungus.