Sick day

I'm home somewhat unexpectedly today--work called at 5am and put me on call, after which I called them right back and asked them just to mark me off sick. Ever since last night's grand throw-up session, I've been achy and exhausted and my throat has been very sore. It's hard to tell whether it's just very irritated or I'm actually getting sick, but being as I haven't yet all year, and would like to more or less keep it that way--and my health is no longer just my own--I'd rather not take any chances. So I'm going to lie low, nurse my throat with plenty of hot water/lemon/honey, and maybe do some schoolwork on the couch.

My big endeavor for the day may be to try to get some bread made--we have soup on the menu twice this week, and it's always twice as nice with some fresh bread to go with it! Since we've never found a whole-wheat bread recipe we're totally in love with, we're always on the lookout for a new one. Up today? This one, which seemed promising until I added the required flour and it was still a gluey liquid mass. Most recipes will tell you to keep adding flour until you can knead a smooth, slightly sticky ball--but this one sticks firmly to its guns, saying only to add 6-2/3 cups of flour. I've probably added nearly twice that and what I've got still won't take any kind of shape. Supposedly this is a variation on a no-knead bread, but even that has to have the ability to hold some kind of form. The other day we made the old no-knead bread and it seemed like a similar thing happened. Matt convinced me to add a couple more cups of flour and we ended up with a beautiful loaf, so... I'm wondering if it isn't the weather or something. Other changes I've made the recipe already include substituting melted butter for olive oil, proofing the yeast (call me crazy, it just reassures me that all is well when I see those foamy little bubbles), and putting the dough in a warm place (rather than straight "room temperature") to rise. I've never had much luck rising anything at room temperature, although that could be because the temperature of our rooms is only between 55 and 60 degrees! The method I've come to favor lately is pouring a couple inches of hot (not boiling) water into a large pot, setting a bowl over it, and putting the dough in the bowl, covered, to rise. This recipe calls for a 2-3 hour rising time, so we'll take a look at noon and see how it's coming along.