For all you snow-bound garden bloggers, here's a shot of something cheerful and sunny looking:
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| Ripe Meyer Lemons |
Meyer Lemon season is getting into full swing here. My tree produces ripe lemons year round but the bulk of the lemons ripen in the winter. Today I picked a dozen of them and made a batch of
Meyer Lemon Curd. Thomas will probably be shocked to learn that I didn't have time to deal with the beautiful peels which are even now sitting in the compost bowl.
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| A Tree Full of Meyers |
I had a request for some of the seeds from my Meyer Lemons from a woman who lives in a place where Meyer Lemon trees are not available, not in nurseries, not by mail order, not at all... At first I was skeptical, I didn't think that lemons would grow true to seed. But after some reading I found that there is a chance that a true copy of my plant might be had from some of its seeds. Some, not all, of the seeds might have an embryo (one citrus seed can have more than one embryo) that is asexually derived (apomictic), a clone of the parent plant. That's an oddity of citrus seeds. Perhaps other plants can produce seeds like this as well but I couldn't say. The major downside to growing citrus from seeds is that it can take years for the trees to bloom and produce fruit. In the meantime...
If you are a follower of Thomas's blog
A Growing Tradition (you should be), then you will have seen his wonderful breads. To join in that fun I'm showing off some of my own bread baking efforts. First, my starter. Henrietta is a 100% hydration 50/50 white and whole wheat starter that I started about a year ago following a recipe I found on the
LA Times website. I had been trying to get a good starter going for years, more years than I want to admit to, and this formula produced the best starter I've ever made. The bread from that article is fantastic also.
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| Henrietta |
That's a shot of Henrietta at 12 hours after her last feeding. And below, next to her is the starter for a batch of whole wheat levain bread, 12 hours old and ready to be used to seed the final dough.
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| Henrietta's offspring |
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| Henrietta's grandchildren |
This was last week's bake, three loaves of whole wheat leavain breads. I have 2 linen lined baskets and one willow basket for making loaves this size. You can see what a pretty pattern the willow basket leaves on the surface of the loaf.
And this was today's loaf, only one loaf of a different formula whole wheat levain.
Stay warm! Have a nice hot bowl of soup and a chunk of good bread, that should do it.
Those lemons are beauties! They're making my mouth water!
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteOh those breads and lemons!!! I have been working at a house remodeling, they make bread every other day, the aroma is something.
Amazing lemons!
ReplyDeleteWow! The lemons look delicious! And the bread...I'd better stay away from that- I have a weakness for bread and I'm on South Beach!
ReplyDeleteThe bread looks delicious. As do the lemons. I really wish I could plant a lemon in my yard or at least have a good window for one, but sadly no.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor loves to bake bread like this, I must send her a link to this post...what beautiful bread you have there.
ReplyDeleteHolly, They are so pretty on the tree, it's hard to pick them, I just want to admire them on the tree.
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Randy, that would drive me crazy, to smell good bread baking without getting a taste! I hope they share a loaf once in a while.
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Susan, I can't take much credit, the tree pretty much takes care of itself. :)
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Tessa, I hope I've not tempted you away from your diet. There is something about bread that is so hard to resist...
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Daphne, Oh, the lemon would not enjoy the weather that you're enduring now. I wishing you a nice shot of spring weather soon!
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Mr. H., send your neighbor a link to wildyeastblog.com, now that woman really knows how to bake bread! There's a long trail of bad bread that led to those loaves that I finally learned how to bake and I still have a lot to learn.
Those lemons really are a ray of sunshine on a dark winter day! I adore lemon curd and envy you your freshly made batch. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThat bread is just beautiful too. Really good crusty artisan style bread is a meal onto itself. It just does not get much better than that. Well done.
Ohhhh wow! I am so jealous of your meyer lemon tree. Mine has never fruited like that before. Do you fertilize it? That bread looks so incredible.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful lemons and the bread looks fantastic. I've often thought of starting of a sourdough plant, but never got round to it. I like the idea of making the bread in baskets for those patterns.
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteI'm hopping in the car and driving up the coast now! I should be there in about...... 8 hours (give or take). Save me some bread =) And your lemons look beautiful.
Michelle, you've put my loaves to shame! Your sourdough looks stunning. I'm still working on that natural yeast starter. It's not that easy.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I wish my little lemon tree produced clusters like that.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing ! Great photos, and my excitement is not to be contained with the thought of bread like that. After baseball games today, I'm starting that starter. I've been waiting for years for this recipe!
ReplyDeleteThose lemons and breads are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI wish our citrus would grow outdoor, moving them in and out of the house to overwinter them is pain in the neck.
Youe breads are works of art. Done in clay they would make fantastic garden decorations. It's so wonderful to see them on your blog, you can have your delicious bread and eat it too!
ReplyDeleteLemons and fresh baked bread! Ah, California! I picked a bunch of our lemons to make marmalde, but then caught a rotten headcold instead.
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