Good Morning Gloucester

OK first thing I’ve learned is not to improvise too much.

When you find a recipe if you think that adding extra salt because you like salt or letting it rise longer will make it fluffier, stop thinking.

There are ratios that you use that are there for a reason- too hot of water, too much salt, too long a proof time can all destroy the structure of the glutens in your bread.

If you are a beginner like me, just stick to a couple of simple tried and tested recipes and through the making of the bread you’ll begin to understand the reasons why you do certain things.

One little thing I learned is that there is such thing as too long a proofing time.  If you’re supposed to leave it overnight, 24 hours is going to be too long in the no knead bread recipe I use.   What happens is the dough rises and rises and the air bubbles spread out the dough and then when you cook it, the bread doesn’t have that rise.  It comes out more like a disc.

The other simple tip I have for you is to buy a lam (pronounced laam)  It is a tool to score your bread and make fancy designs.  If you try to score your bread with anything other than a super razor sharp knife you’ll make a mess of it.  You need crisp cut lines cut in just before you’re going to pop it in the oven.

This way when it rises it will peel back a bit and make the bread have those cool ear’s on the top and if you put a little extra flour on top before you do so, those cuts will be even more pronounced.

Here’s a link to a bread scoring lame on Amazon

SAINT GERMAIN Premium Hand Crafted Bread Lame with 6 Blades Included – Best Dough Scoring Tool with Authentic Leather Protective Cover

It’s under $15 and it comes with a bunch of blades.  Scoring bread this setup will last you decades.

Here’s a video showing all the cool things you can do with a bread lame-

I’d like to thank Kim for her years at Good Morning Gloucester.  She is an incredible photographer and writer and her own blog has grown tremendously throughout the time she’s been with us here at GMG.

We want to wish her the best and congratulate her on her success,  growing personally and professionally.

I’m going to leave a link up here at the top of the blog so all our readers have a chance to find her blog and bookmark it if they haven’t already done so.

You’ll also be able to find the latest updates to her butterfly film and a new weekly web series where she highlights wonderful things happening around Gloucester.

Kim Smith Designs Blog

Hi Joey,I was at the boulevard today enjoying the beautiful tulips displays and took a photo of some Generous Gardeners hard at work. They do such an amazing job!
Brianne Caso

I hail from Bay View and I have also extended to Robert Whitmarsh at the Historical Commission. The old timers back when my father bought this land called the house pictured below “The Rum Running Shack.” It still stands – with effort. Can you get me on a trail that might shed light on this house’s niche in local lore?

Boston.com announces that Crane Beach is one of 5 Massachusetts properties that plan to reopen in limited ways on May 19! Here’s the link to the full article.  Other properties opening include deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Naumkeag in Stockbridge, and World’s End in Hingham; but Crane Beach is my love! It’s like they heard my whispered prayer.

Looking forward to scenes such as these soon:

My friend Brenda suggested this might make a good Mother’s Day card, so I decided to  make it so! Happy Mother’s  Day to all. It seems a mother’s work is never done even for cardinals.

Where would we be without our Ma?

Simple answer- Nowhere. It’s all impossible without her.

So selfless, so giving, always there. We got pretty damn lucky to have our “Ma” be our Ma.

MA THE MEATLOAF!

Egrets apparently indicate that a prosperous time is near or has arrived. I know I always feel very lucky to come upon them.  I am jealous of how graceful they usually look….except maybe when they are windblown like this day. Now I don’t feel so bad if my overdue-for-a-haircut hair gets blown around in the wind!