bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich, watermelon

BLT on Denver sourdough bread

The bread is my own sourdough collected for weeks on the terrace. Baked with 1000% whole wheat. The loaf was compacted by vacuum-packaging then frozen and did not rebound to original dimensions when thawed and released. Other than being sourdough and other than being whole wheat, the bread has nothing to recommend it. Even toasted it only tastes stale.

BLT, pan-fried bread

Tony's Market had hickory bacon for 40% off today so I bought three pounds. I also bought heirloom tomatoes. At checkout the clerk said, "Oh, tomatoes and bacon, they're made for each other, aren't they." In declarative, not interrogative. I didn't think of that. I said, "What a great idea. That's lunch sorted."  He responded, "All you need is lettuce and good bread." 

I do not have bread. And I never buy sliced bread. It's a crime against nature. The nature of bread.

There is nothing like this bread. It is unbelievably tender right out of the pan. It is too difficult to slice laterally without tearing it up. Basically a fast thick tortilla.

It is late fall here, past peak time for fresh farm tomatoes. These heirlooms fill the gap between those and hothouse tomatoes with their characteristic absence of flavor.

The second sandwich is folded as a taco. No more messing around slicing the disc. It's all good.

BLT on Maui sourdough bread

Maui sponge made Friday, brought to full development, held in cold storage Saturday and Sunday, so three days fermentation. It collapsed following full activity. At this point unsalted. The sponge rim is cut off and put into a jar with additional fresh water to dilute it and fresh flour to feed it doubling its size in the jar. It is left to continue proofing and becomes the starter for the next batch.

The remaining bulk of the sponge is stretched cold and folded with salt additions between folds. 

The Maui culture bakes particularly crusty. It is the most thick crusted of all the sourdough cultures. Flavor concentrates in the crust.

Philadelphia cream cheese.

 

These open face sandwiches (not sandwiched by definition) are chewy. Strong jaws and good teeth are required to enjoy them. If your mouth is frail then better to stick with softer less challenging and less interesting, less full flavored sandwiches. 

BLT with cheese and potato chips on homemade bread

Lettuce

Cheese

BLTCPC 

Bacon lettuce tomato cheese potato chip sandwich, how does it fit in your mouth? 

By smashing it. 

BLT

There's bacon in there. 

I was sitting there thinking, "Man, I want some of that bread you made."  

It didn't matter what went inside, or nothing at all, there is a whole range of things available, chicken, fish, beefsteak, ground beef, deli ham, cheese, egg, red bell pepper, avocado, tinned tuna, to name the things that come to mind instantly without even scrounging around, but this sandwich hit the spot. 

For a minute.

And then I'm right back to thinking about the next thing to graze.