Baldur

Since Poe's 'The Raven' is in the public domain and today is the anniversary of its first publication here is today's Poetic Moment.....

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Baldur

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

Baldur

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Baldur

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

Baldur

Well other than the accidental repitition of a single verse that turned out fairly well.

...and to think, I once endeavored to memorize this work.

Baldur

repitition - i + e = repetition

One should really never spell before 9am

Baldur

Baldur received a message via the computer from his son in California this morning.
Apparently he had attempted to bake bread yesterday.
A daunting task, but he had remembered watching me do it countless times.
Following the recipe on the back of the bag of flour he produced a small wheat-colored boulder. My first efforts were similar.
He has asked me to type out directions..... heavens.
This is something that really needs to be taught in person.
Today I shall have to type out detailed instructions on the process, which will be interesting, to say the least.

Baldur

Is this my longest posting ever?

Basic bread with too much information

Start with about 1+3/4 cups of liquid
It can be water, milk, soymilk, water that you've cooked your vegetables or potatoes in etc
Up to 1/3 of it can be beer if you'd like
But most importantly it must be warm, aim for a comfortable bath water temperature

Place the warm liquid in a large bowl
Over the top of the liquid sprinkle the contents of 1 packet of yeast (a couple teaspoonfuls) (I sometimes use 2 packets because I like the yeasty taste, but 1 is really enough)
Over the yeast sprinkle or dribble about 2 tablespoons of a sugar. This can be white granualated sugar, brown sugar, molasses, honey, maple syrup, agave syrup etc etc..as long as it's a sugar.
This is needed to jumpstart the yeast
Whisk everything together, cover the bowl with a clean towel and place it somewhere warm.
A sunny spot on the counter is fine as long as you don't end up cooking the mixture with the greenhouse effect. In prehistoric days when gas ovens had a pilot in them that was lit all the time it was ideal to place the bowl in the unheated oven.
Let the yeast mixture sit for at least a half hour and check it to see if it is getting foamy. The foam is caused by carbon dioxide bubbles released from the respiration of the yeast critters. Maybe the word isn't respiration, but when they eat sugar and multiply they use oxygen and release CO2
If the mixture is indeed becoming foamy you can proceed, if not cover it up again and wait another half hour, then check again.
The main purpose of this is to see if the yeast is alive, If there is no sign of CO2 bubbles you will never get a useful loaf of bread, so you would need to go find better yeast..... anyway.....

At this point you can add an optional 1/4 cup of vegetable or olive oil or slightly cooled melted butter.
This will create a moister finished bread product and a softer crust. It is however not necessary

Also add maybe a half teaspoon of salt, unsalted bread dough just isn't as good, so do it.
Whisk it into the liquid.

Measure out 4 cups of flour. This can be white flour, or 50/50 mix of white and whole wheat.
Don't try making bread without at least some white flour until you've had some practice. Whole wheat will fight with you through the entire process.
You may not need all of this flour, and in fact you may need more. Everything effects the process of dough making from humidity, to the strength of the person kneading the dough, to the age of the flour and probably even the day of the week and the position of the moon. You have to always assume it will take a different amount each time.
With a very sturdy wooden spoon stir in about half of the flour until it makes a very gluey batter.

Here we have an optional segue which again you can choose to ignore. At this point in the process i like to add something for texture. This can be a handful of raw oatmeal, cornmeal, ground flaxseed, chopped sunflower seeds (I hate sunflower seeds so I really wouldn't add those) etc.

Now handful by handful stir in more flour (this will becoming increasingly more difficult to do) until you get a dough that is still quite sticky but is starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl as you stir it.
Do not add so much flour that it becomes a stiff mass. Stop before that point. You will be adding more flour later in the kneading process.

Stop now and find another large bowl while your hands are still clean and dry
Oil the inside of the bowl generously.
You will need this bowl for the dough to rise in, and you want it ready to go a couple steps down the line.

Take good handful of your flour and scatter it on your worksurface, it will probably be from that 4 cups you had measured, but if you've used it all up this is where you'll add more.
Scrape the sticky dough onto the floured surface.

Start working the dough by hand by pulling up the outer edges with cupped hands and folding it inward onto itself. As you do this it will be picking up more flour from the work surface.
When it gets to the point where it is no longer sticking to your hands you are good to go.

At the beginning of this part of the process it will be quite sticky and messy, your hands with be caked in stuff, but as it approaches doughness it will start adhering to itself. Soon you should have a smooth easily kneadable dough.

Now continue to knead the dough for maybe 10 minutes. This helps develop the gluten necessary for a good internal structure. A good kneading technique is to push the dough ball down with the palms of both hands to flatten it. Fold it in half, turn it 90 degrees and repeat. Just keep flattening, folding and turning, while endeavoring to keep a smooth exterior surface on the dough mass.
At this point try to minimalize adding more flour, just use enough on the worksurface to keep the dough from tearing as you knead it
Gently lift the dough and place it in the oiled bowl. Turn it over in the bowl so that you have an oiled surface facing upward.
Cover the bowl loosely with your towel and return it to the warm place.

Leave it there until the dough has doubled in size, which will take at least an hour.

Lightly flour your work surface again.
Turn the dough out onto the surface, punch it down to release the trapped gas bubbles and knead it again for a few minutes,

At this point you will shape the dough into a huge loaf or several smaller ones (or make pizza!).
You need to minimalize having cut surfaces, basically allowing the outer crust to form a balloonlike shell to trap the gases from the last rising and then the baking process.
SO .. taking the back side of your knife or even a spatula press down through the dough to divide it into portions. This also has the effect of sealing the incision.
With the palms of you hands gently knead and shape the dough into the desired round or lozenge shape.
Again you should be folding it in on itself in the shaping process always wary of the condition of the outer surface, But stretching and folding you should try to maintain one smooth unbroken outer crust which will become the attractive top of the loaf.
Have your baking sheets or loaf pans ready. they should be lightly greased.
Gently place the dough into the pans and place in a warm spot to rise until double again.

Preheat your oven to 350F
If you would like you can brush the loaves with milk, water, a beaten egg or melted butter, again these are not necessary
The milk would produce a light gloss and a nicely browned crust
The water would give the outer crust a more crusty brittle surface
The egg would give it a very glossy finish
The butter would taste great and will keep the crust a bit more tender

Bake until they are golden brown and sound hollow when you knock gently on the top crust
For two loaves this would take 50-minutes to an hour

Baldur

But - ut + y = By

marius

Baldur, your bread-making details are fascinating! I'm curious where/how you learned to bake bread, mostly the yeast starting process because it's unlike any I've heard (although I've no doubt that it works fabulously)!

I generally use ½ to ¾ cup liquid, rather hot on the wrist, and then if the house is cold add a few pinches of sugar. In the days when I had no air conditioning and it was terribly hot inside the house, I’d add a bit of salt instead of sugar and that kept the bread from going crazy when rising.

In the winter we let the bread rise in the pantry, doors closed and space heater cranked up. The bread seems to like that.

Anyway, it was fun to read your process. Thanks for sharing. And, I like the beer idea … any particular breads you use that with?

marius

Oh, I know the other part that surprised me - how long you let the yeast rise. Since I never let it rise more than about 15 minutes, wondering what the difference would be. Thoughts?

Baldur

Well I cannot say that I learned making bread at the Italian bread shop that employed me for several months back in 1979.
They had an old man who made all the dough himself. My job was to take the dough and shape the loaves or rolls.
It was fun but my school schedule and work schedule started conflicting.

My first loaf of bread was made maybe a year before that from a recipe found in a magazine. It came out very well, and I was hooked.

Baldur

That long piece that I typed up this morning is basically on how I perceive things work in breadmaking. All the techniques came from personal trial and error.
If the yeast mixture is foamy after just 15 minutes it is indeed ready, but here it rarely happens that quickly.
Maybe my houses have always been too cool, or the yeast was problematic. All too often I hope to make dough only to find the yeast won't work.

Baldur

Salt works as a yeast retardant, so indeed your use of it to restrain overrising dough makes a lot of sense

Beer works in all kinds of bread unless you are going for a very delicate flavor. General the loaves here are rather on the rustic side.

Baldur

General + ly = Generally

Baldur

I especially like bread made with a good handful of yellow cormeal in the dough. It feels different on the tongue and toasts wonderfully.

That first bread of mine, now that I've thought upon it was from a wonderful cooking magazine called 'Cuisine'. It was my favorite at the time but stopped publishing for a good many years.
The bread was called 'Crusty Croation Loaf', which a friend who I often shared it with called somewhat affectionately 'Crustacean Loaf'.

This was all back in the pre-Boughbreak days when Baldur rented a huge apartment in what was becoming a ghettolike neighborhood.
It was dreadfully run down but had fantastic architectural details.
My first few months there were quite an adventure, basically urban camping, with few amenities. Soon enough however the apartment was transformed into my 'Penthouse'. Every inch of it lovingly restored and furnished with amazing things.'

If anyone had ever broken in with this hopes of stealing my possessions how disappointed they would have been. There was nothing that a thief could want. No money, jewelry or flashy electronics whatsoever.
The furniture was exciting and funky but didn't really have a street value....and why would they want dusty old books?

Hazer

Baldur, your bread baking method sounds exactly like mine with the exception of the amount of time I let the yeast rise. As marius said 10 to 15 minutes is all I give it. I'm wondering if you have ever tried making Boston Brown Bread. I was going to include my recipe but it is still packed away. I only made it once and it was so delicious, I've been anxious to make it again.
As far as yeast goes, we are at a very high altitude here and I find that definitely affects how my baking turns out. It's been a learning curve since we moved here. I learned to bake growing up on the prairies and I find I just don't have the same success with my baking or my garden out here.
My but you have made me hungry for some freshly baked bread!

sandm

Very interesting. I never have made a bread by myself. Sometimes I wanted to try, to make a first attempt, but I havent been enough interested, so finally I didnt. I am not so bad in cooking, but there are a lot of things I dont do, esp. cakes, pies, I mean no pastries at all or backed things.
I mostly enjoy cooking without a recipe, to look, what is there at home and then to make some ideas what one could "compose". As it was with this vegetable stew I described yesterday. If then it is worth to be repeated, I write it down in my book.

sandm

It is amazing, what you are able to remember (in details) about your youth. I cant do this. I do have memories, but it often happens, that friends are telling about some former common experiences, events and I dont have any memories of having been there.

marius

Yeah, I'm wanting some freshly baked bread too Hazer, and half of the reason is because it's the best "incense" ever! Anyway Baldur, thanks for the explanations. Somewhere I have that Croatian bread recipe and do still plan to make it.

Hazer, I remember high altitude cooking from the three years I lived in Colorado. I did get my breads to come out okay but it was quite a learning curve. I never did get used to some of the cooking changes but now can't remember what they were ... boiled eggs took longer to cook? Something like that. : )