Josey Baker Bread: One Bread Book to Rule Them All

May 14, 2014

...just one book: Josey Baker Bread. The appropriately named Josey Baker (who used to work with another baker named Dave Miller–who mills his own flour, naturally) has written a perfect bread baking course in book form. Everything I’ve figured out about teaching how to bake is in here–start with a simple white bread, graduate to sourdough and then start baking with whole grain. Having trouble shaping a loaf? Bake in a loaf pan instead! Stretch and fo...

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Direct Seeding vs. Transplants

Mr. Homegrown

May 21, 2014

Gardening, Vegetable Gardening

34 Comments

How I used to plant my veggies. An 8 inch spacing guide and some seedlings back in 2009. To direct sow or transplant, that is the question. I’m as indecisive as Hamlet when it comes to this question. Some caveats here: we live in a warm climate where you can direct sow almost anything unless you want to get an early start on tomatoes and peppers. And we don’t have to start seedlings indoors. Another thing to note–I fell under the spell of John Je...

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Adopt an Indigo Plant in Los Angeles

Mr. Homegrown

May 23, 2014

Events, Gardening

6 Comments

...reen or otherwise! The pigment can be extracted from the mature leaves and used to dye all types of natural fibers. As the season goes on, I’ll be posting harvest and processing instructions, as well as invitations to two separate harvest parties where we pool our collective leaves and do some dyeing! These seedlings will be available for pickup from my workshop in Silver Lake (Los Angeles, CA) from June 6-8, 2014 (10 AM – 2 PM Daily). They will b...

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What Epuipment Do You Need to Bake Bread?

Mr. Homegrown

June 16, 2014

Bread, Food

16 Comments

...humid environment of a commercial bread oven. It works great. For years I used a regular Dutch oven. Just recently, however, I purchased a Lodge Combo cooker, essentially a Dutch oven with a skillet instead of a lid. To bake bread in it you use it upside down. It’s easier to slide a loaf of bread into the pan than it is to plop a loaf down into a Dutch oven. These few items, plus a plastic container large enough to ferment your dough in, are all...

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Sourdough Bread Class at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano

Mr. Homegrown

June 16, 2014

Bread, Events, Food

2 Comments

...c ingredients. Other benefits of baking at home include using less energy (used in harvesting, processing, and shipping store-bought bread), using less plastic packaging, and spending less money. Become a baker and join us for a weekend of heart-healthy, bread baking workshops: Saturday, June 21, 1-3 to make Sourdough and/or Sunday, June 22, 1-3p to make Sourdough rye! Topics discussed will include: How to make your own sourdough starter (also kno...

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