Skinny Arse Dog

Poor Jessie has zero intestinal fortitude. The last tummy rot had her down right scrawny before we could turn her around. She has since gained back a good amount of weight but she is still too skinny.

What to do for a skinny arse dog that has very little hair? Make her a coat out of an old fleece blanket of course! No pattern required. Just went free form. Pinned it on her and sewed around her giant schnauzer chest and scrawny belly. I even worked one of the corners into a wee hood.

She looks super cute and seemed pleased with being warm again. Now if only I had a remedy for a deranged kitten that won't leave her alone.

For the Love of Bread: Part II

This round of bread did not go well. As in, it looked pretty but was not anything that I want to sit down and eat unless I am starving. The birds are currently eating it though. So it was not a total waste.

All seemed to go well until I was ready for the sponge to rest in the fridge over night. I lifted the plastic wrap to see if I could smell some yeasty goodness. OH how big of a mistake was that. It smelled like what my grandfather use to make out in the smoke house with his buddies. Then I had to prove what a fool I am by taking another nosehair burning whiff. Then I followed up that stupidity by trying to get Chuck to join in on the madness. Smart man that he is, he declined.

I did not give up. I was hopeful that the alcohol-ness would burn off over night which it did for the most part. However, a faint alcohol whiff was present all through the second rise. Bread baked up and looked good but I won't be going that route again.

I do have another spent grain recipe brewing in my mind so after next brew I will give it a go.

For the Love of Bread

Normally I love to bake and cook but the last six months or so my love of the culinary arts has been on an extended vacation. At the top of my list of food favs is bread. Especially of the homemade sort. At times, I eat enough carbs to make a South Beach dieter pass out with envy (or maybe it is fear). I am getting my groove back on though.

Watching Chuck pitch two tons of spent beer grains in the compost woke something up in my mind. He had already dashed my hopes and dreams of using the leftover yeast cake for bread. Turns out that the beer yeast and the bread yeast are different. Go figure. But the grains! The grains are still usable, right? We shall see.

I took a basic bread sponge recipe from "Baking with Julia" and altered it a bit. The sponge will rise on the counter for 4-5 hours and then rest overnight in the fridge. Hopefully by tomorrow it will smell yummy, yeasty and much less like a feed bucket.

Sponge Recipe
1c spent grains
1c water
1c fresh ground Golden 86 wheat flour
2t sugar
2.5tsp yeast
-add water and spent grains to the blender until they are as smooth as you wish.
-dump into a big honkin bowl and stir in the rest of the items by hand.
-give it a good sniff because you know you wanna see what horse grains smell like
-cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise on the counter