The smell of rain and apples

After that endless summer heat fall has found us. Have you noticed the nights cool enough for long sleeves, the gardens drying down, yesterday morning's rain? Have you breathed in the damp air and felt the melancholy of summer's end, edged with the hope of a new season? We're stepping into my favorite time of warm days and cool nights, sunshine and all the harvest bounty. I've started sweeping the neighborhoods on my bike rides for apples, pears and Italian plums to fill up my winter larder. Last weekend I put up four gallons of applesauce and today you can reap the benefit in a wonderfully cozy apple and oat bread. I've been working on the recipe since the last time I brought it to market, and now I have a loaf that's a little sweet and a little nutty, with a creamy crumb, and a hint of apple perfume.

Less certain (at the time of this writing) is the conclusion of this week's lamination experiment (laminated doughs are layered dough and butter, to make croissant and puff pastry). I went to an inspiring whole grain lamination workshop at the Grain Gathering last weekend, led by a baker from King Arthur Flour and another from Stone Barns, and came home determined to make whole grain, sourdough croissant, despite never having made basic white, yeasted croissant. I won't be baking them until just before market, so if you want to know how they turned out, you're going to have to come by to see for yourself. They'll almost certainly be delicious, but they may not be pretty.
Until then, have a lovely morning.