Sruli's blog

I decided that this blog should hold stuff I'd like to record before the lore gets lost. I may change my mind, but here's the story of Leah and the cow, which happened almost 20 years ago: Leah and the cow: Like most kids, Leah learned "what does a (animal) say?" from picture books. So conversations would happen like this one: Parent: "What does a cat say?" Leah: "meow" Parent: "What does a duck say?" Leah: "quack, quack" Parent: "What does a cow say?" Leah: "moo" One day we took Leah to a farm that was open to the public. This was partly for us and partly for her; we were interested in seeing the stuff they do on "real" farms, and there was a little petting zoo for Leah, who was in a stroller. There were cows in the pasture on the other side of the fence. Cows aren't petting zoo animals and Leah wanted to see them, so we took her over to the fence to see the cows. One obligingly ambled over....

I should probably record this somewhere in a convenient place: Start with somone else's whole wheat challah recipe to see if there's anything you want to steal. There are plenty of good ones on the Internet. That's how I got mine; this is just one that I liked, with a bit stolen from here and there and massaged a bit. It works for me. 1.5 + 2 Tbs water 3 Tbs vegetable oil 1.5 tsp salt 3 Tbs non-dairy creamer (yes, evil but necessary) 1/3rd cup brown sugar (use a generous amount) 4.25 cups pre-sifted (I use frozen) whole wheat flour (unless you want to sift), don't overdo this; when in doubt use less, not more flour 1 packet of yeast, or 2.5 tsp if you don't have packets - you'll have to experiment OPTIONAL: 4 tsp gluten powder with Vitamin C 2 tsp lecithin granules * put in bread maker. I use whole wheat setting but I shut off the machine before it hits the bake cycle. The dough setting will probably work too. OR * knead, let rise, punch down, let rise, etc...