Whole Wheat Baguette with Wheat Germs

Sometimes you really feel lucky when the bread turns out great. After a long hours of patience, including some sleepless weekend hours, awaiting it's rise and yawn, and changing of its cloth and another tucking into snugly cloth trying to keep it warm through the stormy night we were having -- when it is baked, the final tale is told of how it appreciated my pampering. . . . sounds dramatic, but naaaa.... if the bread formula is bad, irregardless of how many hours I spent waiting its rise, baby patting and powdering its rounds, then, gently covering it with nice powdered cloth to keep it warm seems like a nightmare.
Trying to be pro-health conscious this year, I made this baguette with whole 1-1/2 C wheat flour, 1 C flour, 1/4 C wheat germs. The usual home steam injection method of steam pan and mist spraying gave it the crispy crust. The crumb is chewy and quite satisfying with a warm bowl of Leek Potato Soup.

MAY Fair - Sunset Celebration Weekend

There are so many things that I want to post on food for the month, but here it is already the last few days of May.  I just have to add all my test recipes in the next few days when I am more relaxed.  In the mean time, I am looking forward to June 4th and 5th.  Sunset Magazine is hosting the Sunset Celebration Weekend.  It is going to be held at  Menlo Park -- at the Sunset Headquarters, 80 Willow Road, Menlo Park from 10 am to 5 pm.    Great!  Hope some of you can attend also.
Visit http://www.sunsetwineclub.com/cwtickets for more details.

Vanilla Beans

I ran out of 7 jars of Vanilla Paste that I have been using for my baking and especially for my Canneles de Bordeaux. While I have been hunting for the best possible price to replenish the vanilla paste, I decided to try the vanilla beans. While waiting for the arrival, I caught one of my recorded video on cooking channel.... Chef Sandra Lee, I believe was demonstrating how to make Open Apple Pie. One of the ingredients is the vanilla. She pointed out the vanilla beans that she is using has been soaked in the rum for two weeks. It gives a good flavor. So, I thought I would try. This is not a blog on how to make vanilla paste or whatever all the experienced foodies know how to. But to share the result of my rum soaked vanilla beans.