Date: 05 Oct 2008 12:34 Subject: On not being a purist Security: Public Mood: complacent Music: may the lights in the land of plenty shine on the truth someday

The best raspberry jam I know is Lady Fettiplace, which is tricky and capricious, and which I know from bitter experience doesn't work with frozen berries. The best sourdough I know is from Crust and Crumb sourdough starter, and it takes takes three days for bread.

To heck with it. Today I am making raspberry jam and sourdough bread. I have three pounds of berries I froze last fall. I have a box of raspberries I didn't eat last week. Yesterday, after checking the crazy Alsatian lady and Jamlady, I found a recipe which layers berries with sugar, waits a day, drains off the juice and boils it, then adds the raspberries. Huzzah, I said, less time over a boiling stove. After running through James Beard, who hates sourdough and gives a recipe anyway, I grabbed Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads. His sourdough contains yeast (because he has a weak starter), 2T shortening, 1/3 cup of nonfat dry milk, and 3T of sugar.

Today's jam will be somewhat Jamlady's, in proportion of sugar to berries and in technique; however, I'm using a mixture of thawed frozen raspberries and a few fresh. Today's bread will be based on the good sourdough starter, using Bernard Clayton's proportions of flour to water, yeast (because I'm not waiting 3 days), salt, a cup of the local whole-wheat flour, and a tablespoon of malt for rising.

And today there will be raspberry jam and sourdough bread, which, if not perfect, is quite good enough.

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Date: 05 Oct 2008 17:55 Subject: Farmer's market, fall Security: Public Tags: market

The first of the pumpkins this week, reminding me again that Northern California is weird: the peaches and pluots are still going strong when the pumpkins and leeks begin. I got two big bunches of bitter-smelling button chrysanthemums shading bronze-to-rust, just to remind myself that it really was autumn, plus a burst of yellow dahlias for the kitchen table.

Three boxes of raspberries for $7; at high summer it was $5, and who knows how much longer they'll last at all. Collards, fat leeks, small turnips, carrots, and golden beets. Roast chicken, roast vegetables, and homemade sourdough bread for supper.

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