A mad romp

Gaskells was a blast. It's the most fun I've had at one of those since I started going... that's despite searching for a half hour and finally parking six blocks away, walking there in the rain, and dealing with my car's insistence that even though it's running smoothly, it needs to go to the car-doctor. I got there late, damp, frustrated, and tired.

Among the high points of the evening were the showgirl with fishnets, tails, and a unitard (give her a top hat and she looked like Zatanna); an unexpected Congress with seamoose; getting grabbed by a tiny woman so that we could go out and do a mad galop; many compliments for semy_of_pearls' dress; many other compliments about my appearance and dancing skill; and a wild, breathless, fun round of Sir Roger de Coverley where I was familiar with most of the people in our set, and the band had us dancing to the Liberty Bell March.

I left happy and sorefooted, walking Mark to his car so that he could drive me to mine. Then I nursed my unhappy Gwen-Jenny home and promised that she wasn't going to move until I take her to the mechanic tomorrow. (It's nothing dire, just the "Check Engine" and "Maintenance Required" lights going on; we suspect an exhaust system leak or a bad oxygen sensor.)

Today I'm baking another round of french bread (which is much happier without being stuffed in the fridge halfway through) and doing homework. It has struck me that if I'm going to complete this tutorial on Word styles, I'm going to need to use a computer that has Word on it. Sigh.

I wonder whether they'd be able to tell if I did it on OpenOffice...?

Not quite the holy grail

but I'm getting damn close.

I have a loaf of French bread here. It is crusty, chewy, moist, tastes just right, and is made with only flour, water, yeast, and salt, as all French bread should be. The catch: the flour type I used is rice, and only rice.

When you say "rice bread" to celiacs and wheat-intolerant folk, what comes to mind is something which might be dry, squeaky-dense, gritty, fragile, spongy, or a combination of the above. "Chewy" doesn't make the list. Rice bread is bought at specialty stores or made at home as a batter-bread, poured into a loaf pan and baked like a cake, with all sorts of gums and strengtheners to hold it together. It isn't kneaded, shaped and risen like wheat bread.

This loaf was kneaded twice, risen twice, and shaped into a long flat loaf on a baking sheet. It handled like regular bread dough, rose beautifully, and had to be dusted with flour when it was punched down, just like the standard bread I used to make. Its crust may not shatter like the store-bought loaves, but my home-baked bread never had a crust like that anyway. It tastes like I remember French bread tasting all those years ago, and is crying out for some marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. Yum.

I knew it could be done, and (after a little minor tweaking on oven temps and times, and checking to make sure it's mixer-friendly) I'll have a recipe that will do it perfectly. It's all just little corrections, now.

I promise to use my powers only for good. Pass the garlic and butter...