Jim’s World Famous Garlic Potato Cheddar Whole Wheat Bread

Wet:                                                        Dry:     

600 ml Filtered Water                              2 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1/3 C. Honey                                           1/3 C. Powdered Milk

2 T. Olive Oil                                           3 T. Yeast (dry instant)

                                                                                                                       

Additions after first proof:

2 t. Sea Salt

¼ C. Filtered Water

½ C. Instant Potato Flakes

1 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

¼ C. Finely Chopped Garlic

4 ½ C. Unbleached While High Gluten Bread Flour

Method:

Mix the first three dry Ingredients in a mixing bowl.   Place the first three wet ingredients in a saucepan and heat to 105 degrees F. Be exact with the temp.  (Always safer to be under temp. Remember the pan continues to heat even after you remove it from the stove so be quick to start your mix) Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix for 3 min. Place mix in a warm draft-free area and let rise for 10 min.  Best done in Glass or ceramic bowl. (Yeast do not like metal bowls!) Next add the remaining ingredients in order. When mixed, turn out onto counter and knead for 10 minutes or knead in mixer with a dough hook for five minutes once the sides of the bowl are clean.

Place in non-metal oiled bowl and turn to oil all sides of dough and cover with towel. Place the dough in a warm area to rise for 45 min. or until doubled. Unheated oven with a pan of warm water under bowl is a good place.

Punch down and turn onto counter.  Divide into four equal parts.  Roll each half into a rectangular 6x10.  Roll (tightly to avoid voids) into loaf, pinch the ends and tuck under.  Place dough into floured bread pan.  Cover with towel and place a warm area to rise for 30 min

Preheat over to 350 degrees f.  Place risen loafs in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden.   Check doneness by removing loaf and taping on bottom.  Hollow sound indicates loafs are finished.  The crustier the bread the easier the bread is to slice.

Place hot loafs on cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 30 min. before slicing.  Eating hot fresh baked bread will cause indigestion.

Invite your neighbors over, slice the bread and apply generous amounts of fresh butter and enjoy! 

You can also try variations with this recipe by add fresh herbs, dried onions and other spices

A yield four loafs.

Story time! I've got to tell this one (even though I’m embarrassed) because it's just so ridiculous and perhaps it will help a few fellow sailors from getting into trouble like I did last night. It’s funny how one small simple thing can lead to a major event! Perhaps after reading this you will consider me an idiot and fool or just call it a bad chain of events but we had a real wild time last night on the water.
We headed out into Bellingham Bay around five pm and thought we would sail along with the Thursday night race group (Corinthian Yacht Club) since I've never raced and thought I would hang back and follow the group and learn a few things. We sailed straight out towards Lummi Island with the working jib only. She was sailing along very well and I was surprised how little weather helm there was. This was our second sail on this boat. We had gone out the night before for an hour or so for her maiden voyage. It was blowing about 18 gusting up to near 22-25. After about 30 minutes the wind backed off a bit and we decided to raise the main and have a go of it. Just after we did the wind came roaring back again. Nothing to worry about; when in doubt, let it out! We were closed hulled at the time and turned to starboard on a beam reach deciding to reverse our course and head back toward the fleet that were just starting to come out. I had decided to leave the motor down for a while in case I wanted to drop the main and head back into the wind. This proved to be a major error on my part. We finally turned again to run and run we did taking the building waves on our starboard quarter! Every thing seemed great until all a once we heard a loud crashing from the back of the boat like a tool chest falling that is full or tools. Looking back we noticed to our dismay that the motor, due to the large back and forth wave action on our quarter, had worked the motor up and off it's mount! It looked a lot like a large dead fish trailing behind the boat on it safety chain. Thank God I had remembered to reattach the chain the day before! It’s funning how the mind plays tricks on you. For what seemed like five minutes (I know it wasn’t more than half a second) I sat there staring wanting to laugh because it looked so funny. Then the realization struck like a lightening bolt! I was at the helm at the time and yelled for Sandy to grab the tiller while I jumped to the back to get a hand-hold on the motor. I quickly realized that we were moving much to fast for me to drag it forward against the swiftly moving water and lift it up so I yelled into the wind for sandy to free the jib sheets, which she did. I also asked her to start a slow turn back into the wind. This slowed the boat enough for me to man-handle the motor back aboard and onto her mount and get her tilted up where it should have been in the first place! It’s amazing how strong you are when adrenalin is rushing into your system! Once the motor was back on board I sat back for a moment to catch my breath and calm myself. I soon realized two other things had happened. One the fuel line fitting on the hose end had snapped off right at the end of the hose and the jib sheets where now in a tangled mess along with the jib because I had failed to tie stopper knots. On top of all of this we were now near shore only to find a freighter was coming out of the harbor straight at us.
I made a quick 180-degree turn so as not to jibe the main and headed off at 90 degrees to give the ship enough room to pass us on our stern and to signal him where we were headed. All the while the jib and sheet continued to flog and rap themselves around the forestay in a tangled mess. Now what to do? Still blowing about 18 with big gusts in what must have been against the tide because of the size of the waves (I had also failed to consult the tide charts), motor disabled and only the main to get us back into the harbor! I remember once watching a sailor bring a boat back into his slip under the power of his main (wind behind him) and watched him almost plant his boat on top of the dock. (It’s next to impossible to de-power the main with the wind behind you!)
The first thing I did was to head the boat (once the shipped had passed) back out into open water to give us some room and me time to think about the next step. Once we were away from the rocky shore I went up on the deck to pull the sheets and sail back aboard. How on earth can lines and sails tangle themselves into such a mess in such a short time? It probably would not have been as bad if we had just freed the sheets but somehow we had also released the jib halyard as well. Once the tangle mess was safely aboard I then turned my attention back to the motor. Was there anything I could do to fix the gas line? I decided to try and jerry-rig the fuel line onto the fuel intake by cutting off the broken plastic end and slipping the line onto the intake port and clamping it with a hose clamp removed form the sink water pump line in the cabin. This failed to be a good solutions because the only thing the clamp did was to compress the hose over the fuel intake holes. I gave the motor a pull for the heck of it and to my utter amazement it started! I quickly shut it off hoping that there might be enough fuel left in the bowl to use (if we had to) once we got the boat into the marina. All the while the wind continued to blow and the waves seemed be getting bigger. One comforting thing was I knew there were many sailors (and help) available should I need it and I had had the foresight to bring along our hand held VHF from our other boat. At least I had done ONE thing right! I knew we were safe, but how to get back into the marina and the safety to our slip with the wind howling like it was and more importantly how to keep my ego intact and “save face”?
We rolled around a few ideas. We could sail out to where we have a friend sitting at anchor and ask his help or call him on our cell phone and have him tow us back into the marina. We could sail to Fairhaven and drop an anchor in the small bay there but we had no dingy to get to shore. We could call the committee boat and ask for help….but…no…....male ego really prevented that option! After a few more ideas were dismissed I decided I could jerry-rig the jib by tying a line to one of the hanks as a downhaul and tie new sheets by rapping them around part of the tangled mess to act as a clew thereby creating a small hanky-like storm jib. The jib had failed to drop completely on deck so there was still a small portion or sail still up able to catch the wind. Once this was accomplished we then headed up into the wind and dropped the main. It worked! The wind was also in our favor to sail us back into the marina. We were moving slow but sometimes SLOW is a good thing! On our final turn for the short run back into the wind to our slip I started the motor for a quick boost to bring us home. O man did that beer ever taste good! Thank you Lord!
So….for a few final words……what did this fool learn from this experience? First…check everything! Take your time and make sure you don’t rush out for a sail because you have a new and boat and just can’t wait to see what she will do. Look at the tides and know what the waves will be like. Listen to the forecast for your area. Know what the wind will be like for the next several hours. Have a few (necessary) parts on board like fuel fittings and hand tools. Always remember to tie those stopper knots! Always carry a radio and never rely on a cell phone for help when on the water. Always tilt your motor up and out of the water when sailing. Make sure you have a safety chain attached firmly to the motor. Remember, when the “shit hits the fan” take a deep breath and relax because you cannot solve a problem when you panic! Stay safe and take the necessary steps to protect yourself and all on board because the sea and the wind show no mercy!

One more thing....to her credit Sandy really kept her head and had great ideas like suggesting that I prep the anchor......just in case! Thank you sandy! I hope you will sail with me again! :D You are an amazing first mate.....calm and cool in a tough situation!

 Does anything ever really happen by chance?

 Jim's World Famous Chili

(with special thanks to Amanda Oats)

Ingredients:

·  2 teaspoons oil
·  2 onion, chopped
·  3 cloves garlic, minced (I use three times this amount...love garlic!)
·  1 lb lean ground beef
·  3/4 lb beef sirloin, cubed  (or 1 more pound of ground beef)
·  1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomato (Italian is best)
·  2 cans dark beer  (one for the chili and one to drink while you cook the chili)
·  1 cup strong coffee
·  2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
·  1 can beef broth (or chicken broth)
·  1/2 cup brown sugar
·  3 Tablespoons of Patak's Concentrated hot curry paste
·  1 teaspoon cumin
·  1 Tablespoon cocoa (use the real thing)
·  1 teaspoon tarragon
·  1 teaspoon cayenne (you can cut this in half if you want a milder chili)
·  1 teaspoon coriander (I sometimes leave this out...its strong)
·  1 teaspoon salt
·  4 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans
·  4 chili pepper, chopped



Directions


1 Heat oil. ( I like virgin olive oil)

2 Cook onions, garlic and meat until brown. (I drain off the fat with a colander)

3 Add tomatoes, beer, coffee, tomato paste and beef broth.

4 Add spices Stir in 2 cans of kidney beans and peppers.

5 Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

6 Add 2 remaining cans of kidney beans and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Serve with graded cheddar cheese and fresh Italian bread