I don’t know why exactly, but I do really love blogging, and even more so creating things. I think art is mean’t to be shared (otherwise what’s the point in doing it ?), and a blog allows that combination of creation and sharing.
I’ve been doing my best to try and warn people about the Coronavirus pandemic as it transpired. And, I don’t make any money from blogging. Today, I feel like I’ve been sitting at my computer for weeks now, and fed up with dealing with stupid people I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.
And, no I probably don’t mean you, I do mostly get many lovely commenters, who are supportive and positive, good well meaning people. No, it’s a tiny minority who are complete assholes. “Haters gonna hate” I think is the collective wisdom on this. And “The biggest fool is the fool that argues with a fool” or there or there about.
A fellow blogger once advised me – “just put them in the spam folder, and you’ll never hear from them again”. Not sure that’s very ethical solution, or recommended, just passing on what he told me.
So today, as I have all the ingredients, I’m baking some bread, which I haven’t done for a while. Not quite sure what kind of bread it will be, I have a selection of flours, and a sourdough culture living in my fridge.
Sometimes I use my breadmaking machine just to make dough, and then cut up into balls, wrap in clingfilm and freeze (like the photo above). Then with pizza sauce and mozzarella, I can make my own pizzas, as and when I want.
As I don’t have an oven, I cook the pizza base, like the “Fry bread” which I watched native Americans make. Basically I roll the Pizza base out into a round shape, leave in the the frying pan (with lid) to rise. Then nuke it on highest setting the hob will do, the steam generated by the lid being on helps to cook the pizza base. You have to be careful, because the time difference between “cooked” and “burnt” is literally around 30 seconds. So timing is everything with that one. Oh, and it does need turning once the bottom is cooked, to cook the top for a short time.
Other times I can let the machine complete it’s cycle and bake a loaf. I pause the cycle after it’s mixed, so I can remove the stirrer from the dough, so loaf doesn’t have a hole in it where the stirrer was, when baked.
Anyway, hope you are safe and it stays that way for you and your loved ones.
Cheers
Don Charisma
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Comments
Comments are often welcomed, provided you can string a legible, relevant and polite sentence together. In other cases probably best shared with your therapist, or kept to yourself.
Don Charisma 
Hello, Don! I am going to try your bread recipe soon. I have always wanted to make my own bread. But I am a little hesitant.
Hi Noel, we all start there with cooking, and I was clueless about making bread. In the end it’s just doing it, and practice improves.
I’m going to post my recipe, and also a friend’s recipe soon. Mine is the same one that I follow, and like any art, it gets remixed into different recipes.
Enjoy! Having the time to invest in feeding ourselves is the true silver lining in this oddness. Yep, haters gonna hate…leave em to it and bake some bread! Btw…removing the paddles after kneading…brilliant!!!
Thanks, and yes some oddness in then world right now.
I’m doing another post with recipes from myself and The Modern theologian.
And, yeah, took me a long time to realise that I could do away with the hole in the bread 🙂
Sounds a good way to spend your time. Hope it turned out well,!
It did, I enjoyed doing it, will post a followup soon 🙂
Hello Don, I’ve been following you since day 1.. or so I thought until a few minutes ago, but, I am once again.
I enjoy cooking, when the mood strikes me. I’ve been a bread winner for all but maybe 11 years of my life, and a bread baker for all but 30 years of my life.
I bake my bread on a stick, on a walking stave, over a camp fire… don’t laugh, it’s when I decided to give it a try, when I was a Boy Scout Asst Scout Master. To this day, when we go camping or fishing, it’s bread time.
Keep up the good work! This is a very depressing, lonesome side of the giant metropolis of WordPress. If not for you and several others, they would have hauled me off long ago, to a padded room with my own straight jacket.
Sincerely,
Robert
Neat. Can you explain how you do it on a stick/stave?
Hello The Modern Theologian, now let me make an excuse to start with, I am a good cook, as far as what I like to cook, but compared to my Great Aunt, and my Mother, I’m not even near either when it come to any kind of bread or biscuits, except for cornbread.
OK, when I first started doing bread on a stick, I never used yeast, only baking soda or baking powder, because of the quick rise.
But as time went on, I turned to yeast, because I got a fool proof way to control my temp enough during the winter. Most of which is getting my dutch ovens going right at that time, and I position these strategically, in my wind brake area, and it holds the heat good enough where my dutch ovens produce the extra heat to get my bread to rise where it isn’t a drawn out thing, and if not, I don’t care for the taste.
But, I let my dough rise, then work it over, then I will let it begin to rise slighty, at which point I work it again, and in the process I put it on my stave( which I put heavy foil right where I hold and walk with my stave.
Then I position it where I have a shroud (more of a foil roof) to catch and hold the heat better, then I never take my eyes off of it, and when I see some droop forming, I simply rotate my stave very easily so as not to aggravate my bread and yeast(I have to do this 2 to maybe 6 times. Toward the end, I increase my heat so it actually starts baking slightly, so when it’s time, I don’t have to fuss with keeping it on the stave so much.
I also do not let much smoke near my baking bread.
If our quarantine doesn’t last too long, I will get my boys and grandboys and go camping and snap some pics.
One thing that is important with this whole thing is Quality Time, where making good memories is right there for the making.
Work with it and never give up.
Sincerely,
Robert
Thanks for reply, hopefully TMT will get notified. There’s enough for a blog post there, but understand you don’t want the exposure.
Hello Don, I have got to start stopping in and visiting with you again. I disslike excuses Don, but these 5 years and 8 months on my site and blog has eat my lunch, there isn’t many people that volunteer to help with a site like mine.
OH, I was going to tell you that I’m not sure you are into barbecuing, but I have 2 vegetable favorites I picked up over the years, one is cabbage and the other is potatoes.. both cooked in foil right on the grill.
Sincerely,
Robert
Hi Robert,
It’s all good, I’m happy to hear from you as and when you have time – I’m just as bad at getting “out and about”, and had many kind people over the years who helped me by commenting, and some sharing my work.
As for your chosen topic and the cause it’s a noble one. I like that you’re staying non-partisan, and it’s about the kids. I have close friends who’ve been personally affected.
The virtue signalling out there of people who ought to be championing causes like yours rather than seeking gain for them themselves, and inventing problems where their are none, is quite annoying (to put it mildly). As we saw with Alyssa Melano recently, she never cared about anyone but herself and her partisanship, Biden gets a free pass, where others where witch hunted and cancelled, modern day lynching. Money will have changed hands behind the scenes (as just one example of many, that I’ve heard about or researched)
I’ve not been reporting on Rotheram in the UK, and the ongoing grooming gang problem we have across the UK in many cities, for various reasons. The figures I’ve heard are just as staggering as are the figures I read on your site. The people who have tried to raise awareness in UK have been vilified by the establishment, being one reason I haven’t reported. The recent government report was not released “not in the public interest”, there’s a petition with over 127000 signatures to have it released (which is still by no means certain, it just means there will be a debate in parliament, at some point) –
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300239/
Which I just signed, as I disagree that “it’s not in the public interest”
and another one here I just noticed :
https://www.change.org/p/home-office-we-demand-the-grooming-gang-review-is-released-to-the-public
Which I also just signed, as that report MUST be released.
Ironically it’s the political side who would in any normal world, be the ones doing something about the problem, are the ones covering up, pro-actively assisting the criminals, blaming the victims and using fantasy politics to justify what’s an appalling mass-crime that’s still going on right now. The media is also complicit, which is (one of the many reasons) why I rarely post on my blog any mainstream media sources (I found that out when researching Brexit, that much of the MSM is extremely bias and extremely corrupt). The BBC, for instance, knew about Jimmy Saville abusing disabled kids for decades and said and did nothing. I have a long laundry list on them.
I’m not a journalist or a news organisation, just a one and a half man band, with no budget or staff. I do my blog kinda congruent with what’s going on for me. So ways I can help are small, but I try help other people anyway, when I can.
I suggested you doing a guest blog, you seem to like barbecuing/camping cooking (I like Joe Robinett on YouTube from time to time), so why not write a guest post on that, and we can put a request for volunteers in your (or your blog’s) bio. Half the writing is already done here in the comments anyway. If you have photos, then even better, than free stock ones I can find.
If you don’t like that idea, I’m happy to post guest blog directly on the topic, with again request for volunteers. Perhaps you know about what’s been happening in UK with the grooming gangs, would like to write about that. Or, perhaps you have a better idea, or want to keep it USA centric.
Idea one, because it’s light, it’s fun and draws an audience who might not read idea two. Idea two because it faces the topic head on.
Or propose idea three, and I’ll see what I can make of it.
“The pen is mightier than the sword” (sorry don’t know the source)
I think there’s probably people out there who would/could help, but I just don’t know without trying. I just do my best to present people’s work in the best light and I can, and hope that it’s helpful.
(also last thought is fundraising via GoFundMe, Patreon, Subscribstar etc. I know you’re not in it for the money, but money gives you access and leverage to raise awareness, and that’d bring help or whatever else you need)
Hope you are well and safe, good to hear from you and keep doing what you’re doing, it’s important work.
Cheers
Don
Don, My Brother, you got a heart the size of a Battleship, and it is made of solid gold….
We will continue this “talk”very soon,
Robert
Thanks Robert … I do my best 🙂
PS I mentioned you and your site in a post here –
https://doncharisma.org/2020/04/25/the-home-office-response-to-the-grooming-gang-petition-is-atrocious-akkad-daily/
I don’t know if it will help, but I should have raised awareness on this topic earlier.
Hope you safe.
Cheers
Don
Thank You My Good Friend and Brother!!!!
Sincerely,
Robert
Hi Robert, thanks for sharing, that was obviously heartfelt.
I do my best with limited talents to try and blog about stuff I enjoy and hopefully others do too. I do love that others come up with suggestions in passing in comments, and gives me new ideas and things to blog about.
I think The Modern Theologian was asking about stick/stave method, and I’m curious too. So you could let us know, and if you’d like I’d be happy to post a guest post for you.
I’ve added you to my VIP list (will have to get round to updating that page soon)
Don, I’m flattered, but I’m not a writer in your league Bro. It just surprised me to see you making bread, although I haven’t been very social in quiet some time, and that doesn’t make me feel good Don, in fact I apologize.
Sincerely,
Robert
All good Robert, no need to apologise, and understand. The social arena has changed since I started blogging.
I do my best with limited resources to write when I can.
Bread is more expensive where I am, and difficult to get speciality types. So it’s kind of a hobby that I fall in and out of.
And, I prefer to be random’ish with what I blog about.
Was good to hear from you anyway.
Hope you and loved ones are safe.
Cheers
Don
Robert, thanks for the info. Having a hard time wrapping my head around it, will probably have to read it a couple times to get a good feel. The pictures will help, if I don’t get it going by then.
Latest news I’ve heard (hear in the states) is that the virus may have peaked in a couple states now, as some are showing fewer per-day cases than previously. Good news if it holds.
I enjoy baking bread as well, usually one a week, though between my wife and daughter it rarely lasts the day. Today I, as well, will be baking pizza. I came across a recipe that nicely scales to 1, 2, or (or my case) 3 personal pizzas, that way everyone gets one they like.
This is for 4 pizzas (the last 2 ingredients don’t change as they are used to brush the dough before baking):
120 g whole-wheat flour
480 g all-purpose flour
22 g instant yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
2 cups milk
1 large egg
1 tbsp milk
Place flour in bowl.
Add yeast, sugar, salt, and oil.
Mix in 3/4 of the milk, mix, add remaining milk as needed to form dough.
Knead dough and let stand covered in warm place.
Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll into balls.
Flatten into round bread 10 in diameter, 3/4 in at edges and half as much in the center.
Let rest for 5 minutes.
Flatten the inside again, make several punctures with a fork in the center area, all the way through the dough.
Mix egg and milk, brush on roll.
Bake at 400F (200C) for 15 minutes until golden brown.
Did I ever tell you, you are really good friend ? If not, then you are, and thanks, you do make a difference.
Thanks for recipe, I will blog it on tomorrow, will cite your comment here as source, as I don’t think you’re wanting more visitors (unless advised otherwise)
Thanks, Don. Either way works fine. And I feel likewise, I missed you when you took your break, so glad you’re back.
PS, I see you’re blogging again, so I will link to your about page (if that’s ok)
No problem, and I appreciate it.