Happy Thanksgiving from Sunny Mexico

So why aren't you all down here visiting?
Warmest wishes for a Happy Holiday Season from Mary Mack & Bill Finkelstein on Raptor Dance.

Picture taken in Tenacatita Bay, by our very good friends Karen & Bill on the Moody 44, Miela

Our Tasty Multigrain Bread

Our Finished Loaf

We love multigrain bread. Unfortunately, our local bakery stopped making our favorite bread.

So we started to play around with a substitute recipe using the ingredients on the label and came up with this great tasting, low salt, no fat bread.   It tastes great and is good for you too!

We make it in our Zojirushi BCC X20 bread machine on it's basic Wheat Bread setting.   This is a 2 pound machine and this loaf weighs just over 2 pounds.

You could also make this machine by hand, but our bread machine does such a great job we let it do it's thing.

You really need to use a scale to measure most of the dry ingredients as volumetric measurement of flour is too imprecise.

If you don't create a perfect loaf, refer to the troubleshooting guide in your bread machine manual.  Since we don't use salt, the ratio of wet ingredients, dry ingredients and yeast needs to be pretty precise.

To start, add to your bread machine:

• 6 T - Unsweetened Apple Sauce (this substitutes for fat)
• 2 T - Malt Extract (mainly for flavor, we buy it at a home brewers supply store)
• 1 - 12 Oz Beer (we use Negra Modello)
• 1 T Lecithin
• ¼ tsp Ascorbic Acid (the Gluten, Lecithin and Ascorbic Acid reinforce the structure of the bread)
• ½ tsp - Salt (controls yeast raise)
• 1½ tsp - Active Dry Yeast

Next add the dry ingredients:

• 230 Grams - Whole Wheat Flour
• 230 Grams - Dark Rye Flour
• 60 Grams - Millet Flour
• 60 Grams - Vital Wheat Gluten

Start up the machine and when the bread machine indicates it's time for add ins, we lightly toast these ahead of time on the stovetop in a dry skillet:

• 2 heaping T Caraway Seeds
• 3 heaping T Flax Seeds
• 3 heaping T Millet Seeds
• 3 heaping T Sunflower Seeds

We like this bread in sandwiches or just toasted.  Enjoy!

Barra de Navidad

Hi everyone!

 

We arrived in Barra de Navidad New Years Eve and had a great celebration.

 

After checking in at the Marina and Hotel, we spent a little time at the pool and then went out with our friends Ed and Cornelia Gould from SV Acapella.  Our first stop was the roof top bar at the Alondra hotel for a great view of the sunset.  Then off to restaurant, Mexico Lindo.  They have great Mexican food at very reasonable prices.  Later we went to the hotel Disco but turned in early.  The midnight fireworks woke us up - so we wished each other a Happy New Year and then promptly went back to sleep.

 

Our favorite Barra de Navidad restaurant was closed for New Years, but we did get there on Friday night.  Profumo di Sole is run by a great young Italian couple and they make great food.

 

We'll work on taking more pictures and getting them up on the website soon!

 

We're back on our regular emails, but Internet is expensive here, so we're only on about 1 hour per day.

 

We want to wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year!

 

Warmest Regards,

Bill & Mary