a boring bread story

A few months ago I informed my dad of my decision to start making all the bread we eat, rather than buy it at the store, and asked him to help me find a few recipes to try. Being the bread making genius that he is, he found a few, helped my modify them to fit my needs and sent me on my way. I have made one of those recipes at least once a week since then, and having almost perfected it, I decided to try the other today. I've put it off this long because it calls for 18 cups of whole wheat flour, which is insane to me. I couldn't wrap my brain around the idea of that much flour--plus I had no desire to spend the time grinding that much flour. Also, something told me I didn't have a bowl big enough to handle that.

That something was right.

I started with my biggest bowl, which was 2/3 the way full from the liquid alone. When I had mixed in about 10 cups of flour I knew I was really in trouble. I made it to 14 cups before my arm was too tired from mixing. At that point I had no room anyway, so I put two cups of flour on the counter and dumped the mixture on it. I then spent the next 20 minutes chasing it around the counter and calling to Jeremy to add more flour.

Here's a picture of the monstrosity (and my double chin), which had to weigh more than most one year olds.
And then I realized that if I didn't have a bowl big enough for mixing, I most certainly didn't have a bowl big enough for rising. So now it's sitting in my largest stockpot, and I'm hoping it'll hold it. I hope it's not super delicious because I'm throwing that recipe away.

----------------

Tyler is a boy after his father's heart. His latest obsession is tires. More specifically, rhino tires. He has spent all morning carrying around the rubber tires off of a toy that he thinks is a rhino. He's been very distressed about it because they torn and he just wails on and on that his "rhino tires are broken!" It's sad and sweet all at the same time. It's no coincidence that his dad currently has the same obsession, except on a much larger scale.

Can you see how he has the little rubber tires loaded in the back of the truck and on the trailer? And the little dog in the bed of the truck just kills me.

---------------

Also, we're excited about Jeremy's brother who just received his mission call to Ecuador Guayaquil South Mission. We'll miss him but are so proud of his decision to serve. And I'm a little jealous of the fact that he probably won't see snow for the next two years.