Do you think I've got enough?

It seems I did in fact understand what the baker was saying to me on the phone- I am now the proud owner of 12.5kg of wheat gluten. Given that about a quarter of a cup is needed to make 3 or 4 loaves, this is going to be around for some time. Fortunately I know some people who could make good use of it. In the meantime, I'm off to choose my first recipe from Healthy Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Daily bread

This is the Pumpernickel from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day . I didn't have any caramel colour or caraway seed, but it sure looks good. Of course, having never tasted Pumpernickel I have no idea how it compares to the 'real thing.'

There's a monster in my kitchen

Or maybe it's just bread....

I resisted buying
Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day for quite some time. I get easily hooked on the latest fad and thought this was just another. But having seen it reviewed on one or two blogs, I decided to give it a go. I found a copy of the master recipe on the net (and inside the book they encourage you to share this recipe, so my conscience is clear) and whipped some up. I love it. To be fair, my son isn't so keen but I notice he is eating it up ;0)

What you see above is a 4-loaf lot of the Challah bread. I am going to be adding some muesli to one loaf-worth to make the Swiss Muesli bread (seems like the obvious thing to do...). The rest will keep for up to 5 (or is it 9?) days. Then it must be used or frozen. The next batch I am going to try will involve an oat bread as the base. With about 100 recipes, I may be some time working through this book.

Health wise, things are a bit up and down. While I am loving the hot weather, my migraines aren't. About 10 days ago I had the worst one for over a year. At one point I realised I was actually moaning uncontrollably with pain - it felt like someone had poked something through my eye and was scraping the top of my skull with something sharp and spiky. Since then I've had to up the migraine meds plus take far too much Zomig. I am assuming it is dehydration so am drinking like a fish. Teeth - I think the second root canal has worked - yipee! I am getting occasional bits of pain but think it is settling down. The 3rd one? Well, it has been fine since the calcium hydroxide was replaced about 10 days ago - almost no pain. However, today it is a bit sore so OF COURSE I am worrying. I go back on Thursday for the next part of the treatment and am trying not to think about other things at the same time as keeping my fingers well crossed.

German- I have stopped for the summer. I am delighted that I am getting to the stage of being able to have more and more conversations with people. I am not saying I am producing cutting-edge theory or interesting discourse, but some progress is being made,

Scotland - will be back for the first week or so of August, hope to catch up with a few folk then.

And now I am going to sit on the balcony with a beer. Life's hard.

Edit to add: if you lie bread, go get this book! I made the Swiss Meusli bread and it is deelish! I am going to try the oat bread next. I want a 'basic' loaf that we all love.