Comments on Skein Street: A mish-mashy post

I love making my own bread. I have several favorit...

2008-02-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

I love making my own bread. I have several favorite recipes and have friends requesting that I bring bread when I visit. The more I make the more confident I am to know when I can just let a loaf sit and when one needs a bit more attention. It's very therapeutic but as I read somewhere - don't bake bread when you're having a really bad day, you don't want to put that negative energy in a loaf of bread. It's true and all of my failure loaves have been on truly bad days.

The cardigan looks beautiful. It's on my list!

Beautiful cardi! :o)Netflix rocks! Welcome to th...

2008-02-21T13:35:00.000-05:00

Beautiful cardi! :o)

Netflix rocks! Welcome to the club.

As for bread - I looooove my bread machine. ;o)

Bread making! Easy peasy. Toss it all into the m...

2008-02-15T17:38:00.000-05:00

Bread making! Easy peasy. Toss it all into the machine and...oh, that's not what you mean, is it? LOL! Tom used to get the dough to rise by putting it under the covers of the heated waterbed! Brilliant!

I love my TV but I love my DVR more. No commercials for me and my shows are always ready when I want to watch them.

Love your tanged cardi. It's almost knitting itself.

Enjoy your movies and knitting!

I feel the same way about television as well. I'm ...

2008-02-15T07:51:00.000-05:00

I feel the same way about television as well. I'm enjoying my TV watching on the internet, but I'm sure it's not going to be long before they manage to shove tons of commercials in.

:D nice,check out this cool forum, you can find al...

2008-02-13T13:30:00.000-05:00

:D nice,
check out this cool forum, you can find alot of online movie links, and watch movies for free there! Can you believe it? Did you heard of Stage6? This is a video-sharing website by divx, we use it to deliver you high quality movies online!
Watch Movies Online

I have spring fever too and all this wintery weath...

2008-02-13T07:31:00.000-05:00

I have spring fever too and all this wintery weather in w/pa isn't helping me with feeling springy.
Fresh baked bread does sound yummy I haven't made any in a while. Maybe today should be the day. That sweater is going to be so beautiful when finished.

Fresh baking bread is a wonderful thing. I stayed ...

2008-02-13T07:18:00.000-05:00

Fresh baking bread is a wonderful thing. I stayed home yesterday and did the "domestic in the kitchen" thing. Muffins, laundry (better smelling now that it is done) and the preparation for supper before the kids made it home form school. So much nicer than the usual rush that I find myself in in the evenings.

I have fallen down so many Netflix rabbit holes: C...

2008-02-13T01:43:00.000-05:00

I have fallen down so many Netflix rabbit holes: Coupling, MI-5, Ballykissangel, and my current obsession, Heroes. (1020 minutes of TV the first season. That's 23 episodes. It's all I can do to go to bed at night instead of watching another episode.)

That sweater is going to be so wonderful when it i...

2008-02-12T19:52:00.000-05:00

That sweater is going to be so wonderful when it is finished--can't wait to see it!

I used to bake a lot of bread--it's kind of like knitting, a very meditative process.

I too am in total love with Netflix. A red envelo...

2008-02-12T14:34:00.000-05:00

I too am in total love with Netflix. A red envelope in my mail makes me so happy I can't express it.

Cleaning away the winter blahs sounds like a great...

2008-02-12T13:13:00.000-05:00

Cleaning away the winter blahs sounds like a great idea. I'll have to try that!

Great the you have decided to make your own bread....

2008-02-12T12:54:00.000-05:00

Great the you have decided to make your own bread. I love to make bread, though I only rarely do it these days, just due to the incredible business of my life. But it's a great thing. If you want some interesting recipes, I've got a number of them. Like sour dough olive bread. It's one of the best breads I've ever made or ever eaten.

To your questions. Calcium Propionate is an anti-fungal agent. It is used in foods, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals. Natamycin (aka Pimaricin, and a few other names) is also an antimicrobial/anti-fungal agent.

Both of these chemicals are there to prevent commercially produced bread from growing mold. The first one has a toxicity so low that the Merck index doesn't even list it. The latter one lists an LD50 that is rather high. If I do a back of the envelope calculation you would have to eat a teacup full of the material to have a 50:50 chance of croaking from an acute poisoning. The amounts used in foods are exceedingly low. Enough to bother the mold, but not you. I wouldn't worry about it. The reason you want to make your own bread at home is that the process is enjoyable, the smell of it baking is lovely, there are so many breads to bake (as you noted), and it tastes wonderful.

Good luck with the bread. Oh, and I also have the spring fever, so I can relate. I even started cleaning on the weekend. Now, if only I could continue the cleaning.