Wood-fired, wild-yeasted, whole grain
Rye is an alluring grain that nevertheless gets overlooked by its domineering cousin, wheat. Even other ancient grains such as spelt and durum have a higher profile. On Pender Island, it is easy to find these flours, but nary a bag of dark rye flour.… Continue reading
It was an honour and it was unexpected. I was invited some weeks ago to be an “artist” in the South Pender Island Easter Art Walk, a long-standing tradition in this part of the world. Painters, jewellers, fabric artists and craftspeople open their studios to show their work to Islanders and visitors.… Continue reading
… Continue readingFor the poet and mystic in us, building an oven, gathering the wood, tending the fire and baking in this way connects us experientially with one of our oldest civilized rituals. “Remembering” our past … helps us to momentarily touch base with our deeper selves and awaken briefly to our place in the broader web of the biosphere that supports and sustains all life.
The Happy Monk Baking Company has been in full throttle for a month, now. Our orders grow each week, the praise continues to come in. It has been a month of hard, happy work, and a month of discovery!
Here’s one thing: when the bread is out of the oven, there’s still half a day’s work ahead: packaging and delivering.… Continue reading
The bread recipe formula says let the dough ferment four hours. The dough says nuh-uh! I’m almost done! The dough doesn’t care about the recipe!
Let me tell you something: The dough wins. Always.
There’s no point in cursing the dough. No point in cursing the recipe. The dough just wins. Period. And all you can do is accept this … with humility.… Continue reading