Bread baking experiment 3

Mixed grains mixed seeds flours.
Rye flours.
 
Yeast 1 tsp.
 Sugar 1/2 tsp.
 Salt 1/2 tsp.
 Olive oil 1 tsp.
 Water.

Honeyed orange peel.
Mixed fruit muesli.

Waited 40 minutes. Oven high heat 20 minutes & kept there 10 minutes.

Wake up calls & Grand Plan

I read something which rang a bell in me.
Really. Try not to be stubborn like I used to be.

Os Hillman ...
It appeared "everything was against me." I could not see that God was orchestrating a whole new calling on my life. At the moment, it seemed like the worst thing in the world. It seemed that I had been a failure. But God said, "No."  All the years before had been preparation for what God's ultimate calling would be.

One of God's methods for directing His children's steps is through drying up resources: a job loss, a career change, or a disaster. In these times we are willing to listen more intently, and to seek God in ways we would not normally do.

C.S. Lewis once wrote,
"God whispers to us in our pleasures,
speaks in our conscience,
but shouts in our pains;
it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." [C.S.Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1962), 93.] "

The Secret to Joy and the first 4 steps to recover joy

Key-points summary from a daily ready plan:

Joy is  easy  to lose, but  also easy to get back.

1- admit that you’ve lost your joy,
2- analyze the cause. ...

Try reflect, look at your life & ask yourself,
“How did I lose my joy? What is robbing my joy?”

Bible scripture told us to examine our lives.
Lamentations 3:40 says,
“Let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord”

The two most common caues of unhappiness:
1-- an unbalanced schedule and
2-- unused talent.

Find a balance between
rest & work, input & output.

Use your unique, God-given talents,
otherwise,you’re going to get frustrated.

Take whatever percent of your talent
that’s not being used in your job,
use it  to help spread the Good News.
 
If you’re in a job that uses
less than 25 % of your talent, quit the job.


What will rob your joy fast?
When you know the right thing to do and you don’t do it.

The Bible says in James 4:17,
“It is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”

What do you know you need to be doing but you’re not?
What has God told you to do but you haven’t started doing yet?

The secret to continual, abundant, and overflowing joy
is obedience.
Obedience is doing what God tells you to do.

Do what God tells you to do,
your life’s going to be filled with joy.

You’re also going to be filled with joy when you
 think about what’s good in your life.
David says in Psalm 126:3,
“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (NIV).

The more we focus on what God has done for us,
the more joy we’re going to have in our life.
Why? Because it produces gratitude.
The attitude of gratitude
is the healthiest human emotion.

The first 4 steps to get  joy back:


1, face the fact / admit that joy has gone,
2, analyze the cause(s).
3. correct what’s wrong,
4, get an attitude of gratitude.

...

Bread baking experiment 2

Try baking again on Wednesday.  This is the result.

bread baking test 2 result. Top view + side view of inside texture.

This time I mixed two types of flour from two different bags.

• Stone-grounded organic flour X 7 Tbsp.
• multi-grain mixed seeds bread mix x 5 Tbsp.

water x 10 Tbsp.
yeast x 0.8 tsp.
sugar x 1 tsp.(brown sugar & coconut sugar)
oil x 1 tsp

waited 40 minutes. still not raising much.

 Anyway, I put it in pre-heated oven, high.
 19 minutes. Switch off, left it inside for 10 minutes.

Next time, I shall add a bit more yeast.
I will try to avoid hard dry crust 
by adjusting temperature & time.

to improve, expand & survive in this era & beyond...

Do you also like to improve yourself ?
Do you also wondering about the fuss about web presence?

I've been doing that and came across this book. It worths reading!

"Promote Yourself - the new rules for building an outstanding CAREER"
Dan Schawbel. 2014. Piatkus. ISBN 978-0-349-40196-6

After reading the book,
my attitude towards all the social media
changed 
from
"want to quit the tiresome bothering tasks with keeping up with social media"
to
"it is a necessity and part of the future survival skill"
"Make the most out of the www.  Ride the waves!"

11 Chapters in total.

I only recap & share some chapters here, kind of a partial book report.

Chapter 1.  14 new rules for career 
Great if my friends & family can also understand them.

1. Our job description is just the beginning.
2. Our job is only temporary.
3. We are  going to need a lot of skills u probably don't have right now.
4  our reputation is the single greatest asset we have.
5  our personal life is now public.
6. We need to build a positive presence in new media.
7. We'll  need to work with people from different generations.
8. our boss's career comes first.
9.  The one(s) with the most connections win(s).
10.  it only takes 1 person to change our life for better at each level/stage.
11. By 2025,   75% of the workforce will be generation Y.
12. Entrepreneurship is for everyone.
13. Think in terms of Accomplishments.
14. Our career is in our hands.
     Take charge of our own life & career. Keep learning & growing, too.

Chapter 2 is about hard skills and we need to

1, stay current/update. 2, note the skills gaps, 3, beware of globalization
4, beware of automation, 5, make a unique contribution add value, stand out.

Skills in demand in coming years:
Project management, Financial Management, Budgeting, Contract negotiating, Sales forecasting, Engineering, Proficiency in 2nd Language, Web Design,  Business writing,  Technical skills, Strategic Thinking & analytical skills.

    - Review & improve our strengths & weaknesses.
    - Let manager & colleagues know our skills.
    - Do what we love.
    - Be an expert.


Chapter 3 is about important soft skills & first impression.

The author wrote that Fortune 500 companies managers said
 employees who want to move up in careers need these skills, take note!

~ ~ We need to reflect, assess & improve our own soft skills :
Active listening, good at negotiation, confident in groups, work well under pressure, accept criticism, good time management, good at relating to coworkers & others,  accountable for my own actions, take initiative, good at resolve conflicts with others.

AND ...
Strong work ethic, positive attitude, good communication skills, good conversation skills, storytelling/presentation skill, time management abilities, ability to listen & speak to ppl & make ppl feel understood & respected,  good at reading people, ability to build relationship & connect on a deep level, tact when delivering a message, prose solutions, contribute to brainstorming, write well, problem-solving skill, be likable, self-confidence, can accept & learn from criticism, flexibility & adaptability,  empathy, integrity, sense of humour, EQ, fit in corporate culture.

We have to mind our body language, observe more, eye contact,
keep in touch daily or often with our managers(!),
mind our manners & dress the part.
(I hope my niece & nephew will learn that soon, too.)

To become a desirable indispensable employee,
the author told us the soft skills we needed
:::


Chapter 4 -  Social Media:

There are lots of useful hints & how to avoid pitfalls.
Many advice there ranging from which & what & how.

( After reading the key hints he gave,
 you can find many practical skills & tools on the www.)

I think this advice below is really important across all the platforms:

   5  Taboos we should not talk about:
   politics, class, race, gender, religion.
      Ooops.

Chapter 5 -    Gaining Visibility / publicity / popularity:


Take note of these 6 Rules   //  Self-Promotion

• Make ourselves worthy of being tall about.  
• Be well known for a specific thing. 
• Take responsibilities.  
• Find ways to expand our role. 
• Make others look good especially our manager;  
• Get fans, supporters and their endorsement.

Chapter 6 -
Skills which managers look for when they decide whom to promote.
That really worth reading!

To move up,  be a leader!
The skills needed are:

Becoming a leader in our organisation;
Relationship-skill builder.
Team builder.
Have character, energy, passion, charisma.
Dedicated to accomplish task/goals/missions/objective,
open, honest, straight forward.
Think creatively.
Well organised.
Be sensitive to the emotions of others,
Can resolve conflict.
Confidence; work well under stress.
Spot new opportunities,
Craft & articulate mssg to audience.
Relentless work ethic.
Inspire greatness in others.
Competent.
Able to ask the right question,
Find right answers ,
Make good decisions,
Be humble,
Take personal accountability for the success of our team,
Good communication skills.

Chapter 7 ... Relationships with Different Generations

 Demography affects who we are/will living  & working with (and for) ...
 we need to develop cross-generation relationships.

Generations born between the years:

Generation Z   1994-2010
Generation Y   1982-93
Generation X    1965-81
Babyboomers   1945-64.

( the book did not mention those who are born after 2010.
I googled & found that some people suggested
the term Generation Alpha.
Like my nephew, and the kids of my second cousins and other relatives...)


Generation Y & Z  ... will run the world soon!

They are very www-based.
To communicate better with them, we do need to keep up!!

For other stages in our career life, please read the book yourself when you need them!

other adventure - lazy baking??

Today I try baking! 

This is one small piece of the batch.

 
Does it look ok?
I used mixed grain mixed seeds bread mix.

  

I chose a special bread mix. It has

wheat flour,  

malt flour (wheat & barley),
rye flour,
chickpea flour,

malt wheat 9%,
oat flakes 5%,
pearl barley flakes0.5%,

golden linseeds 2.5%,
brown linseeds 1%,
poppy seeds 1%,
sunflower seeds 0.5%,

sugar, dextrose,
salt,

yeast,

minimal chemicals: (emulsifier E472e, ascorbic acid) 

Suitable for vegetarian. 

Add some water and mixed.

I added a little extra tiny bits of 

yeast, a tiny sprinkle of sugar.  

Waited for 5 minutes.

knead a little & wait for  5 minutes.

Original recipe suggested  bread-mix-water ratio for hand baking as

500 g : 300 ml. Let it rise for 30 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes.

Since the volume is small,
I reduce them. 

Covered and waited for 40 minutes.

Though it didn't raise much, I still put it into oven.

Baked for 15 minutes. Left in oven for 5 minutes. 

Tested with a fork. Not sticky.

The 1st time I tried baking,
I was in junior secondary school.
Then ....when I was in my university years,
I tried mini custard tarts.

So, today ... kind of an experiment.
Small batch only.

Ingredients used:

10 heaped-full soup spoons of the bread mix.

15 soup spoons of water. 

(oil I used for the ceramic container: coconut oil & sesame oil)

p.s. I serve it with sticky balsamic vinegar.

I didn't use my hands to knead, just spoons.

  

( This bread mix can be used in baking machine

- different flour: water ratios are giving on the package,
90 minutes.)