BLACKBOTTOM...

flaky, crispy pastry crust.
deep dark rich chocolate.
tart mixed berries.
a little baby bit of vanilla.
that's how you multitask a hot oven.
what?
oh.
so, i baked a loaf of sourdough spelt,
and while it was in the oven,
i used the pastry dough i'd made a day or so earlier,
and fired up a rustic snow day galette.
yeah.
wanna see?
alright:

pretty grown-up lookin' if you ask me.
i baked it at a higher temperature than i normally would,
and i think it made a big difference for the better.
yup.
460℉.
that's hot.
i brushed the little snowflake cut-outs with s'milk,
and that gave it a really handsome glaze.
-
i need to bake.
i do.
i've mentioned it before, and it's the truth.
making things that i can use is important.
i mean, my whole real-life pay-the-bills career
is built on making something nobody needs.
it's all luxury.
and at the end of the day,
a painting of a skull, a drawing of a battle-beastly berserker,
a tatt-freakin'-too.....
i can't use any of that, directly.
and really, if we're being real, we don't need a beautiful tart, either.
but i can make excellent use of it...and i did just that.
i ate every single scrap of it.
crispy, flaky, magically elite and all mine all mine all miiiiine.
mmmmm.
-
the chocolate?
1/4 cup dark choco chunks.
1 T s'milk.
2 T powdered sugar.
1 tsp vanilla.
melted down on low heat, and spread on the dough.
-
the berries?
1 cup of mixed raspberries and wild maine blueberries,
heated up on low heat, in a small pot, with 3 T powdered sugar,
and 2 tsp vanilla, and 2 T organic non-GMO cornstarch to thicken it up
into a non-watery compote as the frozen berries melt apart.
-
and that dough, neighbors??
well,
in a food processor, i cut up:
2 1/4 cups flour;
3 T sugar;
2 tsp vanilla;
1/4 tsp sea salt;
11 T vegan butter;
3 T vegan creamchee';
2-4 T s'milk, enough to let it clump together when pressed.
y'add the s'milk a lil bit at a time, until the dough looks crOmbly.
that's when it's ready.
wrapped in plastic, y'gotta refrigerate it for an hour, or a day, or two.
yep.
cold butters, relaxed flour, and easygoing goodness are all essential
to making a dough that does what you want it to.
uh-huh.
i baked it for about twenty minutes,
and i ate half of it while it was still warm.
yeah!
***********
these days are feeling full.
or, maybe that's not the word.
busy.
yes.
they're feeling busy, and also kind of empty.
i guess that's to be expected when the nights seem seven seconds long,
and the early mornings arrive in what could be mere moments after i close my eyes.
it's a hard style, and it's cold, and there's nothing for it but to work,
and then work some more,
and after that?
try to maybe make sense of the day, and make the most of the morning-
dragging along in the wee hours really seems to slow down progress
while time speeds up in the absence of something to show for it.
there are tattoos to do.
superfancy unnecessary luxuried for all the people who want 'em.
that's what i do, when i don;t know what else to do.
that's how it is, and that's how it's gotta be;
never quiet, never soft.....