COVID-19 Virus Shutdown, Day 57

Today I tried out a rye roll recipe since I had some rye flour, and it was time to continue my education on breads. Turns out when you make a rye bread the rye flour part of it is only 1/3 of the flour or so. The rest is something more light and fluffy.

If you are considering making rye bread, there are different grades:
White or Light rye: the rye equivalent of all-purpose flour. It's milled from the center (endosperm) of the rye berry, but doesn't include the oily germ at the very center, nor the fiber-rich bran that forms the berry's outer skin.

Medium and dark rye: also milled from the center of the rye berry, and neither includes the germ. However, as the miller "scoops" the center out of the berry, and gets closer and closer to the outer bran layer, the color of what s/he mills darkens

Pumpernickel: rye version of whole wheat flour, including bran, endosperm, and germ: the entire rye berry.
This is what I used.

It's pretty flavorful, so I decided rather than a whole loaf, I'd make rolls for dinner.

Rye rolls rising

I'm glad I did, since it turns out no one likes rye but me!
I enjoyed my roll and gave half the batch to the neighbors.

Finished rolls

As I was working on the rolls, hubby got an order in that was for Mother's day. He wanted me to open it right away, being perishable. 

It was bagels from New York!

Plain and Egg

I love New York bagels. They remind me of trips to see my Aunt and Uncle in Highland Mills. 

Visits to them were so few and far between. We'd drive 15 hours one way just to get there. One of the first tastes of NY that I got was a pumpernickel bagel. I was actually contemplating making them, when I realized I didn't have molasses. Tried to order it for next week, Kroger website is not working! Whaaaat?

But these will leave me content for a week or two!

That is of course if I'm the only one eating them.... I doubt that :)

For the blueberries, I decided that I'd make a blueberry buckle, so that will be tomorrow's baking adventure. It's like a cross between a cake and a cobbler and really really good. 

On the gardening front, our freeze is tonight so I brought in the new potato plant, hoping that it will survive. I'm also hoping I didn't bring in bugs and worms with him. My asparagus nub is now covered by a half milk jug so it doesn't freeze. 

By tuesday we get warmer weather, then it starts to climb up into the 70s. This is when many people begin to plant, but we could still have cold nights, so I'm waiting until end of May. 

As I'm writing this, my son is trying to get Otis in a chair to lay down. I told him dogs don't like to lay down in chairs and I didn't think he would. Of course he had to prove me wrong. Such a happy boy when treats are involved. 

note the dog toys everywhere

Hoping you have someone this joyous at home!

I don't know if anyone but my mom cares about this, but I'm compiling these blogs into a book. I think it will make a nice keepsake about what it was like to live through a pandemic. 

I have 116 pages lifted from the blog in Publisher with a lot of the pictures. 

I noticed not all of them saved in the blogs after a while. Not sure what's happening there. 

But I read that it's better to put them in publisher than in word if you want to actually publish them someday.  I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this, but at least it gives me something to work toward on a daily basis. 

Speaking of working toward something, tomorrow I'm going to tinker with making a video, how to make an apple pie. I plan to edit two videos, making and after baking, together. If it works I should be able to move on to things like Memorial day cake, cheesecakes, and brownies. Oh and muffins. :)

(These were all things that friends of mine were having trouble with). 

If all goes well it should be published this weekend. Stay tuned for that!

Meanwhile, stay safe, sane, and healthy my friends

Vicky