Calling to order the first meeting of the Secret-Not-So-Secret baking club.
10@star2236 this is your doing! Since you were the first member of the Secret-Not-So-Secret coffee club (after displaying admirable patience) I thought it would be fitting for you to also be the first member of this club. Also, it was your idea 
I normally bake sourdough loaves, but the size of the loaf wasn’t conducive to the boxes I had so I switched it up and made you a savory loaf today that fit in a box. I didn’t go use pirate ship because those can sometimes take a week to travel, and I didn’t want you to get seven day old bread for my first try sending bread in mail. I will say sending a big loaf of bread priority mail is cost prohibitive, but we’ll see how well it travels. Should be there on Thursday. I think cookies or brownies or the like might be a better option going forward. Something a little more shelf stable than a loaf of warm bread in a box
Anyway, congrats on being member #000001 again I hope it arrives intact and is still edible.
Enjoy!
Josh
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I’ve sent cookies and candy priority mail before. From north central Texas to east Texas to my Dad, it took 2 to 3 days and arrived mostly intact. I packed them in ziplocs and then in plastic reusable lunch meat containers. Then layered bubbled wrap in the box.
@star2236 The eagle has landed
I hope it traveled well 
@capnjb didn’t take you very long did it
@Cerridwyn I like to be punctual
@capnjb Great when I saw it!
Hmmm …
/showme Kitchen of “Secret-Not-So-Secret baking club” in style of film called “Fight Club”.
@cfg83 Here’s the image you requested for “Kitchen of Secret-Not-So-Secret baking club in style of film called Fight Club.”
@mediocrebot Well played, but don’t eat the meat balls.
@cfg83 I find it kind of disturbing that the bot has developed a pretty good sense of humor!
“The first rule is YOU ALWAYS BRING CAKE”
I genuinely laughed at that.
@Kyeh Yeah, we can see that it knew the details of Fight Club. I expected a clean kitchen, but it made it underground and dirty, like the setting in the movie.
My question is, will this kitchen club ever make quiche?
@cfg83 Not so sure I want anything from the Kitchen Fight Club kitchen.
I do like the “No weak pastries” slogan
So I get home from getting my cast off (surprisingly) yesterday and there is a package on my front door. Now I haven’t checked Meh much in the past couple days because my arm had been bothering me so bad. Thankfully, my sister was here with me because even though my cast is off, I still can’t use my arm for anything. so they took the cast off because the bone is mostly healed and they don’t want my arm getting any more stiff than it already is and me needing more Physical Therapy than I already need. So I’m not allowed to do anything with my arm, I’m supposed to act like it’s still in a cast basically, so it’s fucking awesome to have it off, but it sucks. I can’t do anything and it’s incredibly painful because every time I move my arm in this slightest, it’s just shooting pain everywhere through my arm. So back to the package, I asked my sister to open it because I can’t open it one-handed. She starts to open it and this aroma comes out and it smells so amazing and we’re like what the hell is in this package and low and behold me there is the most gorgeous loaf of bread I have ever seen. The only type of bread I have ever made myself was in a bread maker and you can tell this is real handmade bread that that he definitely made himself with his hands, it’s gorgeous and it smells amazing. It has tons of Parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes on top. So being in the gimp I am I cut a piece one-handed and its truly the most amazing bread I have ever had. My sister had some my nephew had some and when my boyfriend came home, he had some. By the time the night was over half the loaf was already gone because it was that good. I’m actually craving some right now and I think I’m gonna have some for breakfast. I just had to write this and say thank you so very much @capnjb for sending me a surprise loaf and having me be the very first person of the secret not so secret baking club. Its honestly is the best loaf of bread I have ever had, it’s so moist and so flavorful you don’t even need butter on it. It’s just good how it is. You have some mad cooking skills my friend and at some point I want that recipe although I don’t know I could ever make it as good as you did. I will definitely pay it forward and send somebody a package in the future, but it’s gonna be a little bit since I don’t know when I’m gonna be able to be too handed again and it’s kinda hard to bake with one hand, but somebody will be getting something for me to pay this back.
PANS! GLANDS! CRAYONS! AWESOME!
@Star2236 First, heal quickly my friend.
Second, I’m glad it traveled well and that you enjoyed it. Rather… multiple people enjoyed it… that’s what it’s for
I tend to make it and bring it to dinner parties or small gatherings. It doesn’t last long, but it gives the hosts a moment to finish up what they are doing without having to worry about their guests standing around hungry 
The recipe calls for fresh basil, but I don’t usually include that because it burns fairly quickly. I have a sizeable rosemary plant and I will sometimes take a tiny bit (you don’t need a lot of rosemary) and mince it finely and toss it in with either the asiago cheese or the sun dried tomatoes. It makes it a little more savory, but a little goes a long way so use sparingly 
I did snap a picture before shoving it box. 
It was still warm when I got to the post office. The lady could smell it and asked if there was anything perishable in the box. I was like… ummm… it’s a loaf of bread for a friend. She smiled and said, just say ‘no’.
Recipe here. It’s a pretty simple bread if you’ve baked before. https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/pane-bianco-recipe
@Star2236 What a wonderful surprise and it looks delicious! Little bit jealous
Oh! And I hope you get well soon
![][1]
Here’s the inside of it
[1]:
@Star2236 It was so hard to not cut into it
Thanks for the cross section pic 
So happy you enjoyed it 
@Star2236 I hope it’s almost all gone at this point
And I’m happy you enjoyed it 
The reason it stayed soft when it arrived was because it is a milk bread. Sourdough is just flour, water and yeast with a bit of salt. The flour in this bread is hydrated by a mix of milk and water… and also an egg. Keeping it softer, longer.
Since you are the first and only member of the Secret-Not-So-Secret baking club that also makes you the control group for my shipping tests
Sometime in the next month or so I’m going to make another loaf of the same bread and send it to you using pirate ship. It is considerably less expensive. Your job as member #000001 is just to let me know if the bread is good when it arrives and how it compares to the two day shipping with USPS.
Deal?
@capnjb
I can definitely take that deal. I wonder if waiting till it cools and putting it in a zip lock back will help it last longer?
@capnjb @Star2236 depends on how moist your bread is supposed to be.
I let mine dry for a day, slice it, then freeze it. I have to let them thaw before toasting (or cook them or steam them), or just leave them in the fridge after a defrost, but this dries them out a lot (though it has cut down how quickly they grow mold).
That is IS a very nice looking loaf of bread.
Got to say, King Arthur definitely makes awesome flour and has great recipes (though I must admit I generally use Costco’s knockoff version which also works amazingly well).
Currently have a loaf of sourdough cooking in the oven. Will post pics when it’s completed. I’ve been traveling so much lately that I was afraid my starter bit the dust, but it revived pretty well and seems to have been not the worse for ‘wear’.
Definitely agree with you about rosemary. About 8-10gm and a couple of cloves of garlic added makes an amazing ~1kg sourdough loaf. Unfortunately my source for rosemary died last summer so I’m in the process of re-establishing several plants. Haven’t been able to use it as frequently as I would have liked to but by midsummer I should have an abundant source.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
@capnjb
And yes. Unfortunately shipping costs will factor into the whole process to a large degree. As you said, Pirate ship is your friend in this instance, and you still get a discount using them even if you use USPS/UPS 2 day etc, but even then…
@chienfou 10 grams of rosemary is a lot
You are a brave man 
But this loaf had almost an entire head of garlic in it. I don’t shy away from garlic 
@capnjb
I LIKE rosemary!
Here are the pics I promised
@capnjb @chienfou Breaaaaaaadddd …
/giphy homer simpson drooling.
@chienfou Looks great!
@capnjb
8-10gm is also the amount of salt in my 1kg loaf of sourdough… It really isn’t overwhelming.
@capnjb @chienfou Ooo! That looks so good
@capnjb @cf1
Thanks, it’s a pretty simple recipe (starter, water, flour, salt) and I love the results. As mentioned elsewhere it can be dressed up pretty easily. I also use a variation of it for my crusts in my pizza oven.
@capnjb @chienfou
Bread looks yummy and I didn’t think the amount of rosemary was too much. I actually thought there could’ve been more.
@capnjb @chienfou It always looks simple but never seems to come out right. Someday I’ll try again
Hey @capnjb. I thought you were signing off of meh to have family time. You lied. You didn’t even last a month away from meh.
@Kidsandliz To be fair, I found a loophole in my own logic.
If my girls are both asleep, I’m not missing any family minutes. And I like to send coffee and things 
But thanks for calling me out on my bullshit. 
If my girls are up and about, however… I will be spending those moments with them 
(they are both asleep right now… I’m headed there soon myself 
@capnjb But you might be missing wife minutes… Just sayin’.
@capnjb @Kidsandliz
I understand what you’re saying. My activity here is generally limited to early mornings before my wife gets up and starts moving around. Occasionally I’ll post while she’s busy doing something else, but the bulk of it is while she is not up yet. I used to post a good bit during down times in the ER but those days are few and far between now.
And as for ‘wife time’, I’m pretty sure that involves his complete attention.
@Kidsandliz Also, Liz… how are you not a member of the Secret-Not-So-Secret coffee club? Do you drink coffee? I’m a big fan of side quests
Also, I need to go beat my wife…
… at corn hole. Please don’t call the police
edit - she talks a lot of smack
@Kidsandliz Ok… I’m not going to go into a lot of details, but she is currently in a lot of hot flashes, don’t touch mode quite a bit right now, and I only sleep 3-4 hours a night and we just started softball season with our first game yesterday. Kiddo went 4-4 and accounted for 9 of the runs scored in a 20-3 win. I hate that she is a senior because she was in first grade last week. Pretty much games every other day. I love watching her in the dirt. She just committed to a full ride academic scholarship and also wants to play college ball
@capnjb @Kidsandliz The BEST HOT DOG I ever had was at a little league game. The cool thing was watching the kids behaviors that you knew would stay with them all their lives if they made it to the show. Think of it, all of these players were probably doing this in little league :
@capnjb Don’t drink coffee (or tea or pop) but I do eat cookies. But I also hate to cook so likely that disqualifies me from the club. PS also I can’t call the police on you as not being in the club I have no idea where you life. So you are safe.
@capnjb My kid, now young adult, loved sports. Me not so much. When I lived in northern ID it was a 6-9 hour drives into multiple states for games (soccer) was common. Ugh. Softball and basketball distances were not as long. I went to all games as she was playing but privately I hoped they’d lose tournaments early on so we could leave (or check out Glacier National Park that was around 30 miles north of that tournament). Unfortunately they were usually in the finals. I get an “F” as a sports mom. My kid however didn’t realize how much I hated it and wished she would prefer to do other things.
You know @capnjb, if you ever wanted someone local to test a loaf, you could deliver it to my wife’s car in gtown; I’ll pop the trunk for you remotely
Getting into her car at 5pm with a warm loaf of bread would probably be better than the bedtime “oooops I forgot to bake the bread!” 2AM loaves.
@caffeineguy
Another excellent reason to proof your bread in the fridge…
@caffeineguy Maybe we can figure something out in the coming weeks
It’s pretty good roasting weather too 
@chienfou It was in the fridge-- she pulled it out to bake around 10pm I think, but then didn’t remember it was out till about 130am. Turned out OK!
@caffeineguy
Okay, that makes sense…tho with my sourdough it goes from the banneton in the fridge straight into the cast iron pot in the oven.
@caffeineguy Hey Scott, (not you Italian Scallion
) whisper me your number and we’ll figure out a bread drop. 
Mission accomplished; Some of y’all get some cool packages, but mine was about as warm as it could be! @capnjb delivered a loaf to my wife’s car.
…Though I don’t see MEH, only HEW ?!
@caffeineguy I hope her car smelled wonderful
And enjoy the coffee too. I ship even faster than Amazon 
And today I learned something about Tesla’s. Breaking rule #7, he said there was something in the trunk for me. I suppose I can let him off on a technicality as I didn’t spell out the rules of the Secret-Not-So-Secret baking club, but to be clear, they mirror the rules of the Secret-Not-So-Secret coffee club.
Anywho… I didn’t see anything in the trunk so I sent him a text and it said it was in the frunk. Turns out Tesla’s have a front trunk too 
In the front of the vehicle I saw a box with my name on it. It contained a mason jar with homemade maple syrup. It tastes so good! I’ve got fresh buttermilk so I think I’ll be making pancakes in the morning 
Thank you so much
@caffeineguy
I was upside down when I did that
Everybody’s bread on here looks so good.
@Star2236 I know, right? I think I need to hit the good bakery this week
@Star2236 Funny story-- Back in college, I somehow acquired a bread maker. I’d toss the ingredients in, set a timer, and then go to class. When I’d return, the entire floor would smell of fresh baked bread. My RA would give me an obligatory reprimand for having a breadmaker, then he’d take a piece of bread and walk off. RA Tax.
I was known as ‘Breadman’ in the dorms.
@caffeineguy @Star2236 I’m shocked!