making bread

Made some bread today, strung up my frame loom, and went and chopped at ice with some results but still not enough to trust getting in and out - tomorrow the top temp should be 39.... and then not again until Monday.  I'm getting pretty stressed out - but keep tamping it back down.  What else can I do? 

 

 https://www.foodabovegold.com/soda-bread-without-buttermilk/ 

 Made this today, with the older bit of milk that was in the fridge that hadn't soured yet - it requires you to sour the milk with vinegar, so I thought that was a good use for it.  Plus I still had three total eggs left - and whole wheat flour in the freezer.  Mark and Esme won't eat it - but it tastes good to me with soup and also with pears and hot coffee.

 

for posterity (in case that other site disappears)

preheat oven to 400 degrees, greased baking sheet

1.25 c milk and 1 tbsp of white vinegar, mix and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes 

mix 2.5 c. whole wheat flour, 1 c. all purpose flour, 2 tbsp white granulatedsugar, 2 tsp of sifted/crushed baking soda, 1 tsp salt - mix well, cut in 1/4 cup of butter until it makes very small 'pea' sized bits

mix the egg into the milk mixture, make a well in the dry ingredients, combine until just all ingredients are together, do not overknead, form one large loaf and place on greased sheet, flatten slightly and cut a deep X on top, bake 45 minutes, brush all over with melted butter when removing from oven, let sit for 15 to 20 minutes, slice - keep infridge in plasticbag, freeze or use all in a single day.  The hard bits are good in soup or to make 'bread pudding' out of using fruit and syrup.

 

above - post bake. below, pre-bake

and I've strung up the loom with some leftover pink warp and am working it in blue acrylic yarns.  At that point it had only just then crossed the freezing line again outside - before that, it would really have been futile to be trying to clear the ice.  I went and spent a half hour or more chopping at ice until my lungs whistled, and puppies chewed on my gloves and shovel - so I gave it up and said I had done a fair to good job for the day as it was.

Still stressing that tomorrow will be another day of just 'working on it' and maybe we can get out, and can we get back in?  It will not be a day I can get into work and be on time, and I just have to deal with what I can do for everyone in my care for the day, which Mark reminds me, is also myself.

*growl* and sleep