Foraging and Baking Adventures

I went blackberry pickin' out along Rock Island trail! This is something I have intended to do pretty frequently but have never made the time to do. Though many of the berries are falling right off of the tree--staining the sidewalk--the berries are, on the whole, still somewhat sour. But I picked them and they are good enough for me! Being out in the sun, noticing spindly green-bodied spiders, gentling the dark bundles from their stems, smelling grass and feeling the gradual shifts of temperature as the sun secreted around leaves. I basically loved it. My mother and I have gone berry pickin' for strawberries, but strawberries lay low to the ground and are hard for me to really attend. These, though, were tall trees with low swinging branches that were great for me to pilfer. Here are some pictures of my plunder:






And if you see some of those pictures and say, "Hey, those aren't berries," then you are of sound mind because the third photo is a simple wheat bread braided (seven strands) which turned out somewhat bland but very pretty and the last is a beer bread made with buckwheat flour. It is pretty good, but getting baking powder proportions right is somewhat frustrating for quick breads now that I am out of practice on them. Here is a recipe for the beer bread, or at least what I would base it on next time.

Buckwheat Beer Bread

2 & 1/2 cups buckwheat flour (or whole wheat)
1 & 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup oats'
2-3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup honey

Blend ingredients until you form a smooth batter. Heat oven to 350 F and grease bread pan or pans (I can't recall dimensions). Smoothly pour out batter into baking pans and bake for 50-60 minutes. If it begins to burn, cover with foil. It is slightly heavy and beery and pretty tasty.

Enjoy!

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Final note: Miss Lauren Fulner will shortly be swept up in a collaborative fiction letter-writing "game" for which I am extraordinarily excited. Again, if anyone wants to "play" at role-playing via letter writing, whatever the context or plot, I will happily join you!

Now, off to celebrtate Miss Lacie Dougherty's birthday. Many happy returns!