I've once again stumbled into the end of the year almost without noticing. Obviously, I noticed the snow and ice, the frigid air in my face as I biked to work in the predawn hours, the fast-approaching holidays, the winter festival breads I've been baking, but despite all that fall feels only a moment gone, summer, in its sun-washed brilliance, just a step behind. I stopped paying close attention somewhere in the past year and the time got away from me.
Unfortunately, the only thing I've found to keep me completely anchored to the moment, wide-eyed and wide open to the world around me, is heartbreak, and it's been a while since I've been split open in that way. Or perhaps that's not unfortunate, but in this brief, early morning moment of introspection, I find I miss the vulnerability heartbreak brings, the way the sorrow pins me to the present. How do you stand steady in the here and now against the undertow of routine, work, and obligation, surrounded by clamoring screens and the frantically spinning media? How do I stay present even in the days and months when this business tries to swallow me whole, when it feels like I'm tumbling down from one day to the next without ever fully finding my footing? Well, these are good questions to ponder through the slower months to come. In the meantime, there's one last farmers market, and I have a beautiful lineup of breads for you. Alongside the Mountain Rye, Smoky Vollkornbrot, and Red & White are three holiday breads: Challah, Chocolate Hazelnut Babka, and Pane Primitivo (1). I finished up some key ingredients this week, which means that if you want Seriously Gingerbread or Bittersweet Chocolate Cookies, you'd better come early. There are no scones. You'll just have to eat a slice of Babka instead. Don't worry, it won't be a hardship. And now that I've whiled away the morning on these unexpected musings, it's time and past to bundle up and ride over to the kitchen. Put on your woolies and down and come to visit me today at the last farmers market of the season! See you soon. Sophie (1) If this last name is unfamiliar, it's because I made the bread up. It's now built on the flavors of earthy buckwheat, sweet-sour dried apricots, and toasted hazelnuts, but it was inspired, once upon a time, by an Italian chestnut bread recipe called Pane Brughiera. I thought this a wonderfully romantic name until an old Italian told me that Brughiera does not mean the border between field and forest as the cookbook claimed, but a wasteland. Biking in this weather makes me feel decidedly vulnerable, like a molted arthropod, naked among the hard shells and snapping claws of the cars. It requires trusting to a greater degree than usual that everyone else on the road is paying attention, and given how inattentive most cell phone zombies are, this is a foolish hope. It's time to buy a car and climb back into my own protective shell.
For the time being, however, I'll load up my trailer and ride (on the sidewalk) over to market. Among todays offerings is Honey Hazelnut Oat bread, the coziest loaf I could dream up to under the threat of freezing rain. Toast up a slice with your hot tea/coffee/chocolate this afternoon to eat while you sit snug inside, watching the rain fall. Also in the boxes: Red & White, Mountain Rye, and Smoky Vollkornbrot. If you want bread to hold you over for the month between the last farmers market (next Saturday) and the beginning of the Winter Bread Subscription, I recommend stocking up on rye bread and keeping it sealed up and cold (in a ziplock in the refrigerator works, though in this weather a box on the back porch would do just as well). The bread will easily keep till January, changing and, I think, improving with the keeping as the flavors mellow and the texture firms. If you want to buy a whole, uncut Mountain Rye or Smoky Vollkornbrot at the last market, send me a note this week. It's time to place your Holiday Orders! You can do so in person at the market today, or online. Holiday breads are: Challah, Chocolate Hazelnut Babka, and Pane Primitivo, a rustic celebration bread with earthy buckwheat, sweet sour dried apricots, and toasted hazelnuts. Also on offer are all four shortbreads: Brown Butter, Toasted Hazelnut & Molasses, Nibby Buckwheat, and Orange Cardamom Rye. Come sample the shortbread and the babka today, and then order one of everything! Or just one special treat. Be safe on the roads, whether on two feet, two wheels, or four wheels. See you soon! Sophie I spent my first night in our new house in a nest of blankets, surrounded by boxes, and woke this morning in the predawn silence wary and disoriented. The light was wrong, and the noises, and most of all, the smell. How long does it take to change the underlying scent of a house? How many loaves of bread baked and pots of tea steeped before it smells like home? The commercial kitchen, at least, smelled wonderful this morning. I went a little shortbread crazy yesterday. Brown Butter, of course, but also Nibby Buckwheat, Toasted Hazelnut & Molasses, and Orange Cardamom Rye. Also in the market boxes: Mountain Rye, Smoky Vollkornbrot, and, back by popular demand, Cinnamon Raisin, along with the usual pastries. Come on down to the Market Depot for your bread and cookies. It's not even raining!
See you soon. Sophie |
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