I made some bread last night and then, because my grandchild who is madly allergic to dairy will be in my house briefly, I greased the pans with coconut oil. I’ve done this in the past and it mostly worked. This time it did NOT work, and when I tried to release the bread from the pan the entire bottom of the loaf stuck and eventually ripped off. I think I might have spread the coconut oil too thinly. But what gets my goat is that butter, spread that thinly, Would Have Worked. There are reasons why butter is the best. I can also say firmly that avocado oil is also useless in this situation. I think I’m going to have to buy … margarine … which I grew up on (because my mother was also deathly allergic to milk) and which does work as a pan lubricant.

Using regular margarine feels like one step forward, one step back. I’m still playing with different flours and this loaf has Kamut flour in it, which is supposed to healthy. The dough was swirling in the mixer and looking very wet at 11:30 p.m. I watched it and thought about adding more flour when suddenly all the dough pulled away from the sides of the mixing bowl and hung together on the dough hook. I’ve read about dough doing that but never actually seen it before. I did Not add anything to this little miracle, just split it into two parts and put them in loaf pans to rise overnight.

In other activity around here, I’m sewing which is good for my twitchy fingers, and trying to fix my story which is a struggle. I have 77,000 words that don’t quite gel yet. I got some excellent advice and have worked hard, but I don’t quite have the mental bandwidth to hold the whole story in my head while I keep thinking about ordinations taking place — this Saturday! People that I love, all visiting all At Once! Other important ceremonies, like First Communions and Graduations, taking place, with more wonderful people.

THE KING’S BREAKFAST

The Queen asked

The Dairymaid,

The Dairymaid

Said, “Certainly,

I’ll go and tell

The cow

Now

Before she goes to bed.”

“Excuse me,

Your Majesty,

For taking of

The liberty,

But marmalade is tasty, if

It’s very

Thickly

Spread.”

Would you like to try a little

Marmalade

Instead?”

“Nobody,”

He whimpered,

“Could call me

A fussy man;

I only want

A little bit

Of butter for

My bread!”

The Queen said,

“There, there!”

And went to

The Dairymaid.

The Dairymaid

Said, “There, there!”

And went to the shed.

The Queen took

The butter

And brought it to

His Majesty;

The King said,

“Butter, eh?”

And bounced out of bed.

“Nobody,” he said,

As he kissed her

Tenderly,

From Project Gutenberg…