Channeling My Finnish Grandma

Last week I decided to try this bread recipe whipped up on the Ciscoe Morris show on Channel 5.

The No-Knead Bread recipe has all kinds of wonderful ingredients, like quinoa, pumpkin, flax and sunflower seeds. After letting it rise for 12 hours and just folding it over and letting it rise again it’s ready to go into a Dutch oven pot in a 500 degree oven.

I followed that recipe to the letter. I cleared away everything from my counters to have enough room for the mixing and patting down and transferring to a greasy bowl, etc. I was on a roll.

It was 11 p.m. by the time I had finished the bread project begun at 10 a.m. I carefully stored it until morning because I was too pooped to slice off a hunk for sample taste. In the morning I unwrapped my beautiful round loaf and proceeded to slice off a piece for toasting. Not one of my sharpest knives would cut through the crust!

I called Rich, from whom I had borrowed the Dutch oven and promised to give him a chunk when I was through. I asked if he had an electric knife. He did not, but he had a chain saw, which I suspected was the only implement that could cut through that crust.

Long story short, I think my Grandma Hilda was looking over my shoulder as I struggled with that super-crust surrounding that beautiful bread. Grandma never prepared anything in her kitchen that didn’t burn black and hard as a rock. She was the only person I knew who could turn an apple cake (apel kaka) into a Frisbee.

I used to joke about how our old Samoyed, Chris, used to bury my pancakes. He’d have taken this specimen and dumped it off the dock.

I finally found a knife that did the job, not without some brute strength, and the bread under the crust was delicious.

Will I try the recipe again? Probably, but I won’t channel Grandma while I do it!