Thursday was pizza day

As planned, I made pizza with leftovers on Thursday. To stand in for sauce, I used some leftover ratatouille that Ken had made with tomato, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, and even some green beans last week. We also had some leftover smoked chicken. Ken took it off the bones and shredded it. I sliced a couple of leftover mushrooms and grated some brebis (sheeps' milk cheese) that was just past its use-by date. I topped it all with a few black olives.

The crust is crispy on the outside and doughy on the inside. And it's tasty, too!

I've adjusted the crust recipe (again) and am very pleased with how it's working. Instead of making the dough the night before and letting it rise overnight, I've started making the crust in the morning and giving it a three hour rise* before punching it down and kneading it lightly. By that I mean that I fold the dough over itself several times on a floured surface to redistribute the yeast; there's no long, hard kneading work. Then I separate the dough and form two equal pâtons (balls of dough) and let them rise again for an hour or so. I make the first crust (by hand, no rolling) and let it sit under a towel for about ten minutes before adding the toppings and baking. After we eat the first pizza, I repeat the process for the second.

The crust was good and the pizzas were delicious, if I do say so myself!

* After many years and some research, we realized that the dry yeast we get in the supermarket is "instant" yeast and not "active dry" yeast. I never understood the difference. Instant yeast needs less time to work, so I was letting my dough rise too long, essentially exhausting the yeast. We also tried fresh yeast, and that worked well, but it's not widely available where we live and it doesn't keep long, even frozen.

Leftovers again

We've got some odds and ends in the fridge that need eating. Among them, a small portion of ratatouille and some bits of a smoked chicken. I'll add some mushrooms and cheese and make pizzas for lunch today.

A Gary Larson classic. At least in my mind.

It's going to be a warm day, but it won't be too warm to use the oven at lunch time. I hope.

One more from the woods

Storm damage. We avoid the woods when the wind is blowing strong. Branches break, trees topple. So on windy days we stick to the open vineyards for our walks. Better safe than sorry. Besides, when the woods are windy, they creak and crack and sound kind of haunted. Boo!

Broken and fallen branches littler the woods thanks to windy storms.

We're in for a few rather hot days. It only makes sense; we're moving toward August. This weekend is the major summer chassé-croisé (criss-cross) between people who take their vacations in July and are returning home and those who vacation in August and are heading out. Fortunately, we are not traveling and don't have to worry about traffic on the autoroutes.

Summer time

This is one of the paths that Tasha and I take once we get to the bottom of the hill to our north. It winds along next to one of the streams that gets its start in the vineyards above then flows (when there's water) down to the river. Behind me in this photo is a wooden house that's rented out as a gîte (vacation rental), complete with a swimming pool. I didn't take a photo of it because it was occupied and the family was out enjoying the pool.

The stream bed is to the left in this photo. Wheat fields to the right.

We did get up over 30º yesterday and sleeping was a little difficult. But we have no humidity to speak of, thankfully. They're predicting we'll be in the mid 30s (mid 90s F) by the end of the week. Uh-oh.

Harvested

This is one of two fields of grain that are farmed down at the bottom of the path we take through the woods. It's often planted in wheat, but sometimes in barley or other grains. One year it was resplendent with sunflowers. Just a couple of weeks ago, the farmer harvested both fields. As fall approaches, he'll plow the fields and re-plant if he's growing winter wheat.

Looking northeast toward the river. It's behind those tall trees.

We had some rain on Sunday morning. Not a great soaking, but every little bit helps. Today we're back to sunny and hot. They're saying we'll hit 30ºC (86ºF) this afternoon. Yikes!

Nature takes over

Most of the woods around us are not very old. Patches are cut from time to time when the trees get too tall or old. I think a lot of people use the wood on their land for firewood. You can see when a landowner cuts down a patch of woods, he cuts the logs into one-meter lengths and stacks them to season for a year or two before they start disappearing. Some people sell their firewood, others keep it for personal use.

A stump decomposing in the woods.

It doesn't take long for the woods to regenerate. This stump along our walking path down through the woods to our north was likely cut within the last five years. The clearing where it's located has already grown thick with tall saplings. It almost feels like a small jungle. After a while the trees will mature and the undergrowth will be shaded and thin out a little. It's a pattern I've noticed in most of the woods around us over the years.

Commercial forests are maintained all around our region as well. They grow oak and other hardwoods as well as conifers. Not far from here is la Forêt de Tronçais, famous for producing much of the oak that wine barrels are made from. While growing, many forests are maintained as wildlife habitats and hunting grounds. When the time is right, large patches are harvested then replanted or allowed to regrow naturally.

A walk in the woods

There's a path through the woods to the north of us that leads down into the river valley. I used to walk through there with Collette and then the route became a favorite afternoon walk with Callie. For the last few years, however, the path became overgrown with brush and brambles and we stopped going that way.

Tasha leads the way down the hill through the woods. At the bottom are some large wheat fields.

This past spring, however, someone (maybe the town) cleared the path and it's once again a pleasure to go down the hill and then back up (good exercise!) to home. It makes a nice change from our morning walks out through the vineyard. When it's hot out, the shady path stays cooler. And there are a couple loops at the bottom that we can take to vary the walk even more.