Fresh Flour

My whole life, I've never given much thought to flour. You just buy it at the store and put it into whatever you're cooking. I always thought it was basically idiot proof. Recently, I learned that the amount of gluten in the flour makes a huge difference in how it should be used. Bread flour should really be used for making bread, and cake flour should be used for making light fluffy baked goods. Still, all that information is basic mostly idiot-proof information that is readily available on the internet.

A stand at my local farmer's market has started selling fresh ground flour. I bought some after my friend E had tremendous success with it, even though it's more expensive than what you buy in the store. This is the sort of flour that requires a good sifting (or even two) before you use it to get the larger hulls out. It is worth every extra penny, and the extra work of sifting because holy crap, it makes the most delicious baked goods ever. Apparently, flour goes rancid after a few weeks if you don't freeze it. It doesn't taste bad, but it stops tasting amazing, and it becomes harder to digest. It also loses qi pretty quickly. The stuff available in the grocery store was probably several weeks (if not months) old before it even left the processing plant. What shows up at the store is perfectly functional, bland, uninteresting, difficult to digest, but easy to use flour.

When you use fresh flour, it turns a good recipe into a phenominal recipe. I made whole wheat bread in my bread maker - something I do on a regular basis. I used bread flour from a bag because I didn't have fresh bread flour. In place of my usual whole wheat flour, I used fresh flour. The recipe only calls for 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, so I didn't think it would make that much difference, but I don't think I can ever go back to using regular flour again. I have also had the same success with pancakes and muffins. Having this flour makes me want to bake. I think I'm going to have to try making cookies with this stuff.

Canning

E and I made strawberry jam yesterday, and it's amazing.
Washington has a short window when the best strawberries in the universe are available, and we took advantage of that. We used local, organic, delicious strawberries, and local, organic honey to make the jam, which incidentally, was really simple. It's a little on the runny side, but otherwise, it's perfect. It makes me absurdly happy that I'll have local June strawberries available to eat all year. There is something very satisfying about canning, and I hope to do more jams this summer. I'm really looking forward to canning Ranier cherries when they're at the peak of their season. Yum.

Help Save the Ecology Program at my Nephew's School

The Pepsi Refresh Everything program is giving away money to some awesome programs. My nephew's school is in the running to get $25K to keep their ecology program running. They're currently 33rd place, but only the top 10 get money. If you help out and vote for this, you'll be supporting a public school in Chicago (the majority of the students are from minority and low-income families). This program is particularly relevant in light of the BP fiasco. Regardless of whether you want to plug the oil leak with BP executives or Sarah Palin, this is something that kids can benefit from for their entire lives. I know I wish I'd learned more about ecology as a kid.

The program has a heavy focus on gardening and teaching the kids how to eat well. They get hands on experience in the edible garden and get to eat the fruits of their labors. If they win, the money will go toward the salary of the teacher, putting up a greenhouse, and paying for gardening supplies.
So please, please, please vote for this program. (It's easy, just click the following link and hit the Vote button). Unless you request it, Pepsi won't send you any emails, so you don't have to worry about spam. refresheverything.com/watersecology

Please pass this to anyone you think might be willing to help.

Thank you so much!