Beware: Mad Scientist

Day 11: The flask are filled, the beakers bubbling, the retorts rumbling, and the Grand Experiment is under way. Can I successfully adapt my "birdseed bread" recipe to make a high-hydration Dutch oven loaf? If there are 12-24 grams of gluten in every 100 grams of bread flour and I want to substitute 50 grams of millet flour for the same amount of bread flour, I will need to add 6-8 grams of gluten, i.e., in my 500-gram loaf, I will want to use 450 grams of bread flour, 50 grams of millet flour and 6-8 grams of gluten (close enough for gov'mint work). That's where I'll begin. If the bread rises properly, I will try increasing the millet flour next time. Dough goes down for 18 hours. If it's nice and bubbly in the morning, I should have an update for you by 9 AM.

The Professor

Day 18: In junior high and high school, my classmates called me "the Professor" and as you might expect from kids who were more interested in beer and parties than in books and science, the nickname was not applied kindly. For the most part, I was oblivious to their scorn, too busy analyzing rocks or reading about space to feel left out of the social scene. My best friend indulged me, and often set herself up for the inevitable answer, "It's leaverite...leave 'er right where it is" by asking me to identify a specimen she had in hand. She also teased me about my studious ways, but even at her most snide, it was obvious that she was encouraging my interest in the world around me. It wasn't until we got into high school that she took me aside and explained gently that I was putting people off (boys, particularly). My response was what you might expect: "So?" She went on to marry an engineer, and I survived two husbands, neither of whom were more than marginally interested in scientific pursuits. Unencumbered, the Professor re-emerged to follow her passions for birds (especially corvids) and wildflowers, and if you question any of her colleagues, you'll be told that she's more than just a little cracked on the subject of lichens. Happy Hallowe'en!