Don’t Worry About the Boule: Bake Bread in a Loaf Pan

July 31, 2020

...tarter and fired up the Mockmill 100 grain mill. Baking with a sourdough starter puts you on a collision course with the unpredictability at the heart of the “natural” i.e. non-internet world. For me the unintended randomness of my loaves came down to the discovery that I was using too course a grind with the mill. Thereafter, my loaves improved. Even after that simple fix, I still get can get distracted by chores and forget to shape the dough in...

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Yes on 15! Vote for Nithya Raman for CD 4!

Mr. Homegrown

October 2, 2020

Thoughtstylings

7 Comments

...ying taxes based on outdated values. For instance, Walt Disney Studios in Burbank pays taxes on an assessed value from 1975 allowing them to dodge around $3.5 million in taxes every year. Prop 13 was sold as a way to keep older people on fixed income from being taxed out of their houses. This is partly true, but the real impulse behind Prop 13 was to shift the tax burden away from the wealthy. I was in junior high in a public school when Prop 13 p...

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Happy Cranksgiving

Mr. Homegrown

November 25, 2020

Thoughtstylings

10 Comments

...is isn’t a new situation. Covid Theater I was perusing our local health department’s new closing guidelines and came to the conclusion that they are just making stuff up on the fly. Some things are open and some closed and it’s obvious that the decisions aren’t based on any research since their probably isn’t any. When you see a multi page list of directions for “model airplane facilities” you know they are winging it. Again, the solution is simpl...

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A Simple and Life Changing Bagel Recipe

Mr. Homegrown

January 27, 2021

Fermentation, Food

14 Comments

...agels. Deep Bagel Thoughts Why did it take me so long to getting around to making bagels? It turns out bagel baking is much easier than the sourdough loaves I sometimes attempt. These homemade bagels are soooooooo much better than store bought or even bagels from specialized bagel bakeries. Why? First off, the boiling step gives you that perfect chewy bagel not found in supermarket bagels. But as Hamelman notes, hand shaping also gives you a bette...

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I Can’t Get Adam Curtis Out of My Head

Mr. Homegrown

February 12, 2021

Thoughtstylings

1 Comment

...oridian connection to the Kennedy assassination, anti-immigrant movements, artificial intelligence, a messy celebrity divorce and . . . the Bavarian Illuminati. I can think of only a handful of other thoughtstylists who have helped guide me through these confusing times (Mark Fisher, Cornel West and Slavoj Žižek come to mind). More than any other period in my 55 years, at this particular point I think it’s important to look at the ideologies that...

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