Sort of random, but here are the results of my expedition into bread making and my brother (the chef)'s recommendations:
which is how I bake my bread . . . 
Pool party at Pug’s place! I’ll bring the canoes!
I washed our Idiots in the bathtub once. That was enough. From now on, they get it done somewhere else, by someone else!
Yay for coconut cake! I’m partial to just about any type of cake as long as it’s not dry, but a good coconut, carrot, or rich chocolate cake are the very bestest! And cash is always the best birthday present. 
Poor embarrassed kitteh! You just know that expression is saying something between “Kill all the humans!” and “Kill me now, please?” Only lolcatted up, obviously. I’m no good with lolcatting; would someone else do the honors? Because that photo really needs it.
Yay for turning off the AC, hopefully for the last time this year, and opening the windows wide! It’s a bit warm today but the humidity is low and there’s a nice breeze, so I’m enjoying the fresh air. And since there isn’t supposed to be another day this warm for the foreseeable future, fingers crossed that our electric bill will get a rest between cooling and heating seasons. It can use it, what with the 100% raise in electric rates we had this summer. That’s right, 100%. :rolleyes:
Well unfortunately I’ve tasted the thing known as French baguettes.
I’ve had many bakery bought baguettes in the US and they just don’t compare to the real thing. True, it might be impossible to recreate the French taste without the flour and yeast that they use, but I’m willing to give it a shot and see what I can do. 
The perfect caption for that picture is “Your new cashmere sweater is toast!”
Salt also gives the dough enough time to develop decent flavour. Saltless bread (or undersalted) rises too quickly for the full flavour to develop, and can make the dough collapse. Unless to bread is a specifically salt-free recipe.
(Runs to shelf to get The Man Who Ate Everything)
Salt also strengthens gluten. According to Jeffrey Steingarten, one of my personal Food Pantheon members. I recommend Rose Levy Berenbaum’s The Bread Bible if you’re serious about bread baking. She’s awesome.
So, how warm was the room? I usually do a slow, cool rise over a few hours.
(My credentials are the four batches today- egg breadsticks with chocolate flakes, rice and white, oatmeal, and whole wheat. I love baking bread :D)
Is it rosie’s birthday? Shouldn’t we be wishing her a happy birthday? Or did I miss something? Well, I’m going to plunge in anyway:
Happy Birthday, rosie!!
not til Sunday
eta: but my cow-orkers caked and presented me today
Well I have the A/C set to 70F in my place, but I had all the lights on in the kitchen and just passing my hand over the bread on the counter (where there’s bulbs just under the overhead shelves) and I’d guess it was 80F or so.
If I do it again, maybe I’ll start the oven heating and set the bread on top to rise so it gets the heat conducting through a bit.
I’ll look up The Bread Bible.
Heh. We just had to put a cone collar on her to prevent her from licking the scabs on the belly. Behold.
The shame! The shame!
:: pause ::
:: cat lifts collar to glare ::
You are mine.
What’s the 80s movie about a bunch of kids working at a dock (or something)? It had the running joke about slapping someone on the back when they make a funny face, and a dog with a cone collar…
I dunno, but at the moment she looks like a lamp. A furry, pissed-off lamp.
One Crazy Summer, I’m pretty sure. I probably havne’t seen the movie since it came out but I thought it was good as a 10 year old at least!
You might try renting it just because. 
Lasagne in the oven - it’s gonna be a good one. I made it extra cheesy and added some spinach and fresh mushrooms. I wish I’d thought earlier to do a loaf of bread machine bread. Oh well.
Clay count today - 2 flower pots with saucers, one funky looking pot thing, and a dog body and head. I also mixed up some white clay with Wild Blackberry stain - I’ll throw something kinda purple tomorrow. I’m done claying for today. In fact, except for dinner, I think I’m pretty much done everything for today. Except supper. I’m starving.
Poor cone kitty… 
I’m guessing that this is a scene from the start of the movie. You can see the dog with the cone at the end of the clip.
I suggest both you and Cloud Maiden sleep with one eye open . . .
OK, that made me ::snerk:: wildly in front of my computer…
Thanks for the laugh; I needed it! 
Ah, ok. I’m never around on the weekend, so I’ll let my birthday wishes stand.
I think poor, shaved kitties are hysterical. Especially since they look so pissed off about it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help their injured dignity to laugh hysterically at them. But it sure is funny.
Good luck with the new job, Jah.
Great pool! I think we need to have another pool party at puggy’s! I’ll bring a non-chocolate cake for rosie’s birthday. What’s everyone else bringing?
Oh, dear. When Bailey got made from a male into a female (more or less)(rewiring all his plumbing because of Feline Urinary Syndrome) he had to wear the lampshade for more than a month. And his entire back end was shaved. And he was on Kitty Prozac, so he walked into walls.
He was really, really funny-looking.
I’m sure we’ve got pictures somewhere.