Bread
Day 67
Noon Position: 48 42S 47 48W
Course/Speed: ESE 5
Wind: WNW 10
Sail: Both headsails poled out
Bar: 1006
Sea: Flat
Sky: Overcast, squalls to windward
Cabin Temp: 65 (because I’m baking bread)
Water Temp: 49
Miles last 24-hours: 89
Miles since departure: 8590
I put myself on short sleep last night because the weather forecast called for an increasing wind that would shift into the west. Both big headsails were poled out at the time, Mo could be easily overpowered, and I wanted to be ready to take action if needed.
Each hour I rose, it was the same. Wind south at 6 knots. We crawled along, sails filling and then crumpling like paper. Filling and crumpling.
At 2am, I saw a faint, flat glow on an otherwise black horizon to the east. It seemed too early to be dawn coming on. It must be an iceberg. A big one. We are, after all, near the iceberg zone. I switched on the radar, which I’d left off to save the batteries and because I intended to be on deck frequently. No reflection. Two hours later, that part of the horizon turned red. It was dawn.
The day was the same as the night. The barometer kept rising, 1005, 1006, 1007, the sky was low and squally, and we wafted along as though we were on the edge of the doldrums.
So I made bread.
When putting together the provisions list so many months ago now, I budgeted a fresh loaf of bread every five days. Nothing speaks to home comfort more than bread and comfort is often in short supply aboard.
But in the tropics it was too hot. And in the south it was too rough. And I was worried I’d not have enough fuel (even though this too was budgeted). Baking never happened. Fifty pounds of flour aboard, and not a bag has been opened…until today.
The bread I’m making is the “no-knead” variety. Put flour mix into a bowl, add yeast mix, stir till a compact ball, let rise for 30 minutes, bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. That’s it.
The mix I like best…
1 1/2C All Purpose Flour
1/4C Whole Wheat Flour
1/4C Flax Meal
1T Sunflower Seeds
1T Flax Seed
1T Psyllium/ground
1T Whole Bulgar
1T Sesame Seeds
1 1/2t Salt
—
2 1/4t Yeast
1T sugar
Judging temperatures in the new stove is a bit of a guess, but it worked. By noon I had a hot loaf with a crunchy crust, which made a great base for the massive egg scramble that came next.
Chef Randall! Yum
There is nothing as good as fresh bread on board, specially at 48 degrees south. I will keep your recipe and make a batch while anchored up someplace in Desolation sound, similar latitude but in different hemispheres. Enjoy and Cheers to you…….
I never thought you’d teach me how to make bread from the middle of the ocean. That bread scramble does sound pretty good
Bon appetit.
And a beer?
Wow! I hope that egg scramble is for more than one meal!! The bread recipe sounds wonderful – much better than any boat baking I ever did! Our carb treat was bisquick (in the 70s) – for bread, pizza, muffins, you name it.
Your daily blogs are such a treat for us. And I love seeing the Saf-Instant Yeast. I worked for the LeSaffre company for 8 years in the ’80’s helping convert bakeries and schools and prisons to switch from wet yeast to this new fangled thing called instant yeast.
Go Bread! Looks delicious.