New Favorite Bread Recipe

 
Well, not so much a recipe as a guideline.....

1 and 1/2 lb loaf setting, basic, light crust

1 and 1/4 C room temp water
3 T or so non-fat dry milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 T veg oil
1/2 C bread flour
1/2 C wheat bran
1    C whole wheat flour (generous cup)
1/4 C rolled oats (again, generous)
1/4 C corn meal
1    C (overflowing cup) Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain B'fast Cereal
3  T  honey or molasses or brown sugar or some combo of them
1  T  active dry yeast

Add in order to the bread machine.  At the beep or after the first knead/rest cycle (as in before the second kneading) add

3  T  raw unshelled sunflower seeds and
about a half-cup or so fresh alfalfa sprouts

Watch to make sure you don't need to add more flour or water -
the dough should (eventually) form a ball that doesn't crack
(too dry - add water by a teaspoon or less at a time and watch before adding more!)
or slump into a muddle and into the corners of the bucket
(too wet - add a tablespoon or so of bread flour and wait to see what happens before adding any more).

Let the machine once again take over.

This bread is so hearty and yummy toasted with cream cheese or in a pb and blackberry jelly sandwich!

Or plain!
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AASAG Strikes Again

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I recently bought the May 2010 issue of Woman's Day magazine, foolishly thinking I was purchasing a magazine of well-researched and thoughtfully written articles.
Sadly, when I got home and sat down to read, I instead found page after page of side bars.
Many, many sidebars.
A plethora of side bars.
Side bars next to other side bars instead of supporting an actual article on the same page.
Apparently the "twit"-ter mentality of 140 characters or less has permeated what one supposes is an  "editorial" staff and we, the readers, are supposed to just skim through tidbits of information --- because we lack the attention span to do otherwise???
Wrong.
Some of us in the real world still read.
We can follow a story, an idea or a theory through from beginning to end across several pages of actual text.
Yes, yes we look at the pictures (and find them immensely helpful in DIY projects and illustrating points).
But we want to actually read an article!
We want to be immersed in an idea. 
We want to go deeper than a headline.
We want a real magazine, damn it!

Alas, it appears - to this reader - that even the magazine of
"live well every day"
has succumbed to
The American Attention Span of A Gnat
(a.k.a. "The AASAG")
school of information dissemination.

And why not?

It has worked so well for politicians.
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