Mix CDs and Porridge Bread

For weeks now, I’ve been wanting to give yeast bread a go at the Abbey in order to test a jar of yeast, to see if it was still active. Bread creation satisfies me on many levels. This is hardly a new observation.

Something I also find satisfying is making playlists and burning them to CDs.

I typically create playlists around a mood. I have an angst one and when I am upset, I listen to it all the way through (cap it at an hour). I drink it to the bitter dregs. Well, my old “Patent Angst” CD used to end on a negative note. My new angst playlist ends somewhat more hopefully.

Then there are the Y ones. I make these to capture the music that sticks with me around certain events in my life.  I create the playlist in iTunes, burn it to CD, and delete the playlist. Unless I listen, I don’t know what they contain.  Last year, my second Y^12 CD from high school became too scratched to be played and so it met the circular file five years after creation. While I liked that collection, their inability to be played signals they no longer need to be in my life.

I’m not saying you should kick out everything that's damaged, but clinging is a major cause of suffering. Shit changes. People pass. If you're into spiritualism, they pass to the other side and they'll still commune with you, albeit through a different medium (no pun intended)

I still listen to the songs that carried me through some nasty transitions on the Y CDs, from 2009 and 2012-2013. “Rose Tattoo” I don't think I will ever completely tire of. My Lenten lyrical music fast assured that.

Pompanoosuc Porridge bread turned out flat the first time Ownie Mom and I made it in 2011.

I’ve had a hankering to make porridge bread since a few weeks ago, and I decided in order to test the questionable “bread machine” yeast, I’d use it in a remake of King Arthur Flour’s Pompanoosuc Porridge bread. Nota bene: Pompanoosuc Porridge is not GF. I used some millet moosh in mine. Nota bene da cat spelling. $(6,4)@# was heru.

Porrij Bread

Modified from http://whatsfordinnerheather.blogspot.com/2011/05/style-definitions-p.html

2 tablespoons organic sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (AKA: active dry yeast)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 cup oat flour

1 1/4 cups sorghum flour

3/4 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup millet flour

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (I forgot to add this; you really should)

1 cup cooked Pompanoosuc Porridge/ anise millet rice (cook millet and rice with a  lot of water and a piece of star anise)

In a small bowl, mix the water, yeast, and sugar and let proof.

In a large bowl, sift then whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, salt, and cinnamon. Add the coconut oil and cider vinegar to the yeast, give it a quick stir, then pour the liquid ingredients on top of the dry ingredients. Mix well, then fold in the porridge. Mix very well. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

When the dough has doubled, divide it into the two greased loaf pans of your choice. Let rise again for an hour, or until approximately doubled in bulk again. If you poke it, it will slightly spring back.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees during the last 20 minutes of rising time. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped and it passes the toothpick/knife test.

We're fasting from unhealthy habits and building new positive habits in the process. The fast turns into habit. Turns into appreciation of the Lord's simple fare.