Sweat was flowing down my back, and I was still catching my breath after running on the treadmill. My husband, returning to the gym room with the weekly grocery ads, turned to me and grumbled, "There’s no special on turkeys this year." "Huh?" was my articulate response. I looked and indeed, there was barely a nary a mention of the holiday bird. I shrugged and said, "So?" He eyed me somewhat blandly and said, "Thanksgiving is next week." I gaped at him. I stuttered. I vehemently denied. And then I realized I was speaking with the family’s resident encyclopedia of doom, and I thought, ‘He must be right.’

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In an ideal world, I’d test all of Reinhart’s recipes before the end of the year. This goal is looking less and less likely, but I’m not really disappointed. With patience and repetition, I’ve gained insight into the "feel" of various doughs—very important because each type of bread has different qualities prior to baking. The better you get at identifying and aiming for these characteristics, the better your final product. Within the next several months or so, I anticipate quantitatively adjusting Reinhart’s formulas to my own specifications; I’ll post the results when I’m comfortable with their accuracy. NB: Remember most of these adjustments are specific to the environmental conditions of my location: temperature, humidity, etc.

Meanwhile, I am making progress through the book. After pizza crusts, I decided to turn my attention to the sweeter bread varieties in preparation for the holidays. By Christmas, I will probably have added Hutzelbrot, Stollen, Brioche, and/or Boston Brown Bread. This past week, however, I took a crack at Reinhart’s Graham Cracker formula. I ran two trials and a third is scheduled next week. Here are the results thus far:

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