I spent my Sunday puttering about in the kitchen. It made a bit of a mess. First, I pulled my jar of sourdough starter out of the refrigerator, emptied it into a bowl, and then re-filled the jar with flour, water, and some of the starter again to get another cycle going.

<center>![sourdough bread 23.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jacobtothe/23xAcGMrCi9FHKvRRhTKCmD8s9jZKr3p2zUjL7jedZ4iosr6cqqj3Sa3G6JqWAvri5uC7.jpg)
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I am still trying to master sourdough bread. I am not there yet. It takes *forever* to raise on the counter, but pop it in the oven and it expands faster than the [M1 money supply](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL) during COVID. This loaf was a bit moist in the middle, and I forgot to brush olive oil on the top, but it's still not bad. I need to bake it in smaller lumps and I'll have perfect bread bowls for soup, I think. Next week, maybe it'll be time to try chili as well.


<center>![pineapple pizza 23.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jacobtothe/48PTijQbCi7DsqgPSHoLt9PjA9QvZvbypnPFof5Dd6FSoTbqRBF6cytuVkqan31kCn.jpg)
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Pineapple does go on pizza, and  goes especially well with shredded black forest deli ham instead of the usual Canadian bacon "Hawaiian" style. There was a sale on lunch meat and Daiya shreds at the grocery store, so I stocked up. There's another of these delicious abominations in the freezer for baking at a later date.

![boiling pretzels 23.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jacobtothe/48PTxAVBi6CEhzSVFKY1WjSBqAsJB4cA4rjrugDFCyjJN6A3y7xXydqWU9ERnqYCFu.jpg)

@meesterboom's post about [bagels](https://peakd.com/life/@meesterboom/the-army-of-the-12-bagels#@meesterboom/re-jacobtothe-rp9wg4) reminded me I was long overdue for another pretzel-making festival due to the similar boiling process pictured above. Here's a link to the [recipe](https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/food-drink/how-to-make-ballpark-pretzels/) I followed.

I think I finally figured out a decent system for the whole process, too. I put a cooling rack into the kitchen sink near the range. As the water and baking soda came to a boil in a large skillet, I divided my dough into a dozen blobs of approximately equal size. Then, I rolled out the first blob and tied it into its classic knot. It went straight into the boiling water knot-side down. Then, I quickly rolled out and tied another pretzel. It also went in knot-side down, and I turned the previous pretzel knot-side up. The third pretzel followed shortly, the second pretzel got flipped, and I pulled the first pretzel from the water and placed it on the rack in the sink. Minimal mess! I repeated this cycle until all the pretzels were boiled.

I just used coarse salt as a topping. Any over-sprinkling went into the sink, again minimizing mess. I baked six, and froze the other six for later. The result with the baked pretzels was crispy dark crusts and soft chewy interiors. Perfect! I took no pictures, alas. Too busy eating and sharing.

<center>![dizzy d20 128.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jacobtothe/AJpjAWe6WWYHcXp8dYj6WeYorLWmjkCw5XxLKJTdj5TSsknNLCemS8iQQLXCgAd.png)</center>

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