bread and insanity

J and I started this crazy 60-day workout regime on Monday: Beach Body Insanity....and it truly is insane! I woke up yesterday and couldn't stand up straight because my legs were so sore, but, we powered through anyways. This morning I was only about 90% as sore as yesterday, so we're moving up.

Now, I'm definitely not fat but I am for sure out of shape and I have a stack of clothes that proves it. I keep an under-the-bed-box full of clothes that don't fit. Today I went through those clothes (and pulled a few more from my closet) and organized!

These are the clothes that don't fit (left->right): Top Row - pajama bottoms, workout bottoms, shorts/skirts, pants and 'fancy' bottoms. Bottom Row - pajama tops, workout tops, tank tops, long sleeves, and 'fancy' tops. It's an entire wardrobe of things that don't fit. I had some sitting in my closet because they were things that didn't necessarily fit, but I would wear them under another top or jacket.

So this is the challenge...I will continue to try these things on over the next 60 days (we do a 'fit test' every two weeks, that might be a good time for my 'fit test') and if it doesn't fit by the end of the 60 days, it's going...No ifs ands or buts.

And here is all that is left of my closet (okay...my jackets and dressed are out of sight, but you get the point). If I really lose the weight I want to, and slim down to fit into all the clothes...there will be some serious decisions to make as to what stays and what goes.

I was motivated to clean things out after reading a post on Small Notebook, although I haven't gotten rid of anything yet it's already made me feel a little lighter.

...and in baking news: I've made my first (and second and third) sourdough loaf! It was delicious. For my first loaf I used a recipe I found off of the Carl's Friends website. My dough seemed a little wet, and the loaves didn't rise as much as I'd hoped but they were still yummy. This recipe makes two huge round loaves but is well worth the flour. I stuck the second one in the freezer for another day. Here's the recipe:

San Francisco Sourdough Bread from Bread Alone by Daniel Leader & Judith Blahnik

Sponge:
2/3 cup sourdough starter
1 cup. warm water
1 1/2 c. flour

Final Dough:
2 c. water
5 1/2-6 1/2 c. flour
1 Tbsp salt

(1) First, make sponge and let sit in a draft-free place for 24 hours
(2) Next day: Mix final dough and knead for 15-20 minutes. Let rise in a greased bowl (greased side up) until doubled, about 2 1/2 hrs.
(3) Deflate by punching dough down and pulling up on sides, turn so seam side is down and let rise again, about 30 minutes.
(4) Turn onto floured surface and knead briefly, then shape into tight ball. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.
(5) Shape into loaves, place onto liberally corn-meal dusted baking sheets. (or baking stone if you have one). Let rise until 1 1/2 times the size, about 1 hr.
(6) Pre-heat oven to 450*. Spray loaves with water and make deep slashes before placing in over. Bake for 15 minutes at 450, then turn oven down to 425* for 20 minutes. Make sure to spray with water 1-3 times within the first 10 minutes in order to get a nice crust. Test bread for done-ness by thumping on the bottom of the loaf, should sound hollow.

And you end up with this:

After this recipe was so successful (seriously, I've never made a bread with such a full flavor and crunchy crust) I decided to try some others. One I found in a blog on Allrecipes.com and the flavor was great (it uses a ton of starter so you get a lot of sour flavor) but it reminded me of those par-baked breads you buy at the grocery store, and there was almost no 'crust'. The second (or third rather) was for a whole wheat sourdough, I used my rye starter to make it and I had high hopes...but it turned out only okay. It was as dense as I expected (even though I used the extra wheat gluten as the recipe called for) and had a very mild, bland taste.

Still on the search for the perfect sourdough...and off to my crazy insane work-out. (today is supposed to be some work-out called 'Cardio Recovery' although I doubt it has anything to do with recovering!)