Solar Chef, Not Solar Baker

The day started out good for solar cooking. I had yesterday's solar cooked stew in the fridge, so dinner was already taken care of. I was ready to bake some bread. I got started right after breakfast. I doubled my normal recipe for 100% whole wheat bread. I usually use small loaf pans but today I wanted to use the larger standard size ones. I don't own any kind of electric mixer - that's something I have on my wish list - so I use my bread machine to prepare the dough. The double batch was pushing the poor machine to its limit, but it managed. When the kneading cycle was over the dough looked perfect. I formed two loaves and let them rise in their pans for about thirty minutes before placing them in the preheated Sun Oven.

About an hour later I took the two beautifully baked fragrant loaves of bread out of the Sun Oven to cool. I had to hurry off to run some errands and was extremely proud of myself for not devouring half a loaf right away. I actually let myself believe that I wouldn't even taste it until tomorrow morning for breakfast or maybe tonight with the stew.

Of course when I got back the two loaves were too tempting. I had to cut myself off a piece right away. It was a small piece. Just the heel; my favorite part. I didn't even bother to butter it. I bit right in and to my horror I realized I'd forgotten the salt - again. This is the second batch of bread I've ruined that way. Normally I have no problem fessing up to my culinary mishaps, but I confess that for the first time I felt a tiny bit ashamed to admit that I'd done something so stupid not once, but twice. I really do not recommend unsalted bread. It's insipid and bland. I was going to throw it all away but Martin said he'd eat it. He's such a trooper.