INGREDIENTS:

• 3-1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 pkg. active dry yeast
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 Tbsp. oil
• 1 egg

PREPARATION:

In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, the yeast, and salt and mix well.

In saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, and oil until a thermometer reads 120-130 degrees F (warm). Add liquid mixture to flour mixture along with the egg and stir to combine. Beat this batter for 3 minutes. Then, gradually stir in rest of whole wheat flour and enough remaining all-purpose four to form a firm dough.

Sprinkle work surface with flour and knead dough, adding more flour if necessary, for 5-8 minutes until smooth and satiny. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning the dough in the bowl to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, until double in bulk.

Punch down dough and divide into 2 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll or press each piece of dough to a 14x7" rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal and place dough, seam-side down, into greased 9x5" bread pans, making sure short ends of bread are snugly fitted against the sides of the pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until the dough fills the corners of the pans and is double in bulk, 30-40 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. I like to brush the bread with butter when it's still hot from the oven for a softer crust.

Yum - even the dogs look jealous. Everything in the lunch with the exception of salt came from no farther than Yakima - and only the peppers are from there. Everything else is from Pierce County. This is starting to make up for the abysmal record of local eating this month.

More canning this weekend - 40 pounds of paste tomatoes for whole, sauce, and salsa; pepper, beans, pickled jalapenos, corn, blackberry and peach jams. And anything else we decide we can make time for. Of course, to do this, we're exempting bottled lemon juice, pectin, and vinegar. But, we're using honey as sweetener.

-- Natalie

We have not been able to get back into the swing of local eating since returning from NOLA. However, things have improved considerably this weekend. Oh, and new rule, when one of us is sick, we get much more liberal with the rules.

Even though I was super sick on Tuesday, I forced myself to go to the 6th Avenue farmers' market on my way home. I wanted to pick up some melons from Buck at Alvarez Farms, but he wasn't there. Instead, I ate Indian food because I couldn't resist when I saw Surrinder was cooking and talked with Lisa from Terry's Berries and Cheryl Ouellette, the Pig Lady. Sue from Wilson's Fish just happened to be inside E-9 and came out to chat when she saw me. Wilson's wasn't at the market and they weren't at Proctor last Saturday because the catch hasn't been big enough to justify it. I left the market with feta marinated in olive oil (from Montesano) and two pounds of bacon from the new smoker that Cheryl's using.

On Saturday the City Manager's Office held a potluck picnic at Manitou Park. So in preparation, Rob mixed up two sponges for bread on Thursday night. On Friday he baked two loaves. We also cooked a batch of garbanzo beans (Yakima) and a batch of wheat berries (Methow), which I combined and dressed with boiled garlic (Puyallup), olive oil and balsamic vinegar with salt and pepper (ex).

We hit the Puyallup farmers' market Saturday morning after pancakes with eggs and bacon (the bacon is good, I'd like a little more smoke or sweet) for breakfast. Buck from Alvarez Farms was not there, but some of his relatives were staffing the van. We bought a case of green beans to preserve as well as watermelon, cantaloupe, and a variety of eggplant (thinking of making caponata to can or just eat fresh). At McDonald's Farm - yeah, really - I bought basil, cabbage, and artichokes. We got crumbled feta and chevre rolled in Dill from River Valley and tomatoes and corn from a Yakima farm. We looked for some chiles to buy and freeze, but I didn't want to deal with the crowd at the only place that had good-looking poblanos. In the pavilion I bought two pints of cherry tomatoes from Westover Farms and clams from Brady's Oysters (Gray's Harbor). We also bought a full flat of blueberries from a Puyallup valley farmer who sets up across from the pavilion; they threw in a third half-flat for free. That was a great bonus and the berries are really sweet - perfect sweet.

On our way home we picked up our share from Terry's Berries, which included the first apples of the year, two cups of raspberries, potatoes, greens, cucumber, lettuce, summer squash, Napa cabbage, and broccoli. Of course, we also got our salad and eggs share.

At home I added chopped fennel and oregano from our garden with some basil, one container of cherry tomatoes, some green onions, and the crumbled feta to the garbanzo-wheat berry salad. It tasted pretty good when it was all mixed up and was well-received at the potluck. So was Rob's bread.

Last night we had a comforting and satisfying local dinner. We sauteed an onion and a tomato in butter then added the steamer clams. Covered it all just until the clams opened and served it soup style in bowls. A sweet Maryhill Rose (sangiovese) and slices of Rob's bread completed the quick, simple, and delicious dinner.

Recipes

Garbanzo & Wheat Berry Salad

1 C dried garbanzo beans, soaked

1 C wheat berries

1/4 C olive oil

2 T balsamic vinegar

2 T red wine vinegar

1 t mustard powder

1/4 C chopped fresh herbs (mint, oregano, basil, fennel)

3/4 C crumbled feta

1 tomato, chopped or 1 pt. cherry tomatoes, quartered

2 scallions, chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

Bring garbanzo beans and enough water to cover by two inches (3 C) to a boil. Turn heat down to a simmer 60 minutes or until tender.

Bring wheat berries and three cups water to boil. Turn heat down and simmer 45 to 60 minutes.

Mix vinegars, oil, mustard, and salt and pepper to form dressing. Drain and combine wheat berries & garbanzo beans. Dress while still warm. Let cool and add herbs. Refrigerate overnight. Just before serving, add chopped tomato, scallions, and feta. Drizzle with more olive oil or vinegar if needed.

Alternatives: change the herbs depending on what is available; or add any other seasonal vegetables: seeded & sliced cucumber; chopped zucchini; chopped carrots; corn kernels.

Steamed Clams

2 lbs. steamer clams in shell, rinsed

1 T butter

1 med. onion, chopped

1 large tomato, chopped

In a large skillet with a lid, saute onion in butter until translucent. Add tomato and cook until warm and liquid is released and boiling. Add water or wine if more liquid is needed. Nestle clams into mixture. Put lid on and steam until clams open, about 8 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve with crusty bread to soak up sauce. We took clams out of shells, dropped them back into broth and ate it like a soup.

Options: Add coarsely-chopped basil or parsley, hot red pepper flakes, and minced garlic before adding clams.

-- Natalie