currently i am sitting on my bed with the windows open, using ladyfolder to cut up an apple and dip it in peanut butter. it was so beautiful today. another semi-lazy spring break day. i got up earlyish and went to too many different stores, collecting various flours (....vital wheat gluten? VITAL) and wasting time. i didn't bother to do my hair or put on any makeup and i was wearing a plain tank top, plain black pants, and plain grey shoes. usually that would bother me but it just felt refreshing today. i came home and prepped bread, went to therapy, came home, and finished up. my friend robert is moving to scotland. we are about to go see him one last time before he goes. i am bringing him a loaf of bread.

this is the recipe for the bread. it is super easy, and i'm usually a pretty horrible cook.


2 cups 10-grain hot cereal (Bob’s Red Mill brand), uncooked
3 cups white whole wheat flour (made from wheat varieties with pale, mild-tasting bran layers)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp (2 packets)
granulated yeast
1 tbsp kosher salt (or to taste)
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
3 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 to 2 tbsp seed mixture for sprinkling on top of the crust: sesame, flaxseed, caraway, sunflower, poppy and/or anise
Whisk together the cereal, flours, yeast, salt and vital wheat gluten in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.
Cover (not airtight), and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next week.
On baking day, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.
Elongate the ball into an oval. Allow the loaf to rest for 90 minutes (40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough), covered loosely with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel prepared with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper. Alternatively, you can let the loaf rest on a silicone mat or a greased cookie sheet.
Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, with a baking stone near the middle rack. Place an empty broiler tray on any other rack.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crust with water. Sprinkle with the seed mixture and slash the loaf with 1/4-inch-deep parallel cuts, using a serrated knife.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone mat or cookie sheet on the stone if you used one). Pour a cup of hot water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 30 minutes, until richly browned and firm. If you used parchment paper, a silicone mat, or a cookie sheet under the loaf, carefully remove it and bake it directly on the stone or an oven shelf at about two-thirds of the way through baking time. (Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in resting and baking time.)
mine felt like it was lacking something. i only put flax seeds on top, next time i will add a little more. maybe honey too.