Beach and Bread

 Hi everyone. Happy Thursday. 

The other day for T Day I was unloading about my February slump and mentioning that this week low tide at the beach worked for walking. Hurrah for that. I took the dogs down on Monday morning, and  even if the wind off the ocean wasn't exactly warm I pulled  my scarf up over my face and pulled my hat all the way down over my ears and walked on. The dogs didn't care if it was windy. They love walking at the beach as much as I do.

Monday the beach was really empty (probably because the wind was so cold), and I could even give the dogs a bit of off leash time.  This next photo  looks like layers in a dessert to me but it's actually looking up to some rocks along the seawall (from where I was standing) and including the sand  by my feet.

A huge tree stump had been washed ashore during one of the recent storms, and in the process it also gathered a little sand on it.   I think it looks more like a rock than a tree stump.

But maybe you'd just prefer to see the beach. (This is Long Sands Beach in York, Maine.) See what I mean about it being empty?

I also drove over to Nubble Lighthouse which is very close to the beach.  I never took a photo of the lighthouse (mainly because I seem to have a lot of them), but I did get a couple of interesting photos of this couple down on the rocks.

The ocean was pretty rough at that point because the tide was coming in. I caught some nice wave sprays when those waves crashed into the rocks.

And  today  Rain's Art and Dinner Date has a theme of bread.

Tuesday I tried one of my bucket list recipes, Japanese Milk Bread. 

This bread starts with a warm flour and water mixture called the tangzhong. The tangzhong is what (so I read) gives the bread small air holes and a light and springing texture.  If you're looking for a light white bread, this is definitely one to make. It was delicious.

Here's a recipe for it from KIng Arthur Flour. I didn't use this recipe, but the one I used was almost identical. In the recipe I used, the tangzhong only contained water (1/2 cup) instead of water and milk. My recipe also explained you could make the tagzhong in a microwave, which I did. The recipe I had also didn't use any powdered milk in the dough, and instead of the 1/4 cup of sugar I only used 2 Tablespoons. I found my recipe in America's Test Kitchen  Bread Illustrated cookbook.

I think next time I might try making smaller pieces and baking them in a square pan because this bread would make delicious dinner rolls. And thanks Rain for this theme this week because I've spent too much time procrastinating making this bread.  

OK, that's all for me. Have a great rest of your week and weekend too.