Tips on Bread Making

A breadmaker purchased in Taiwan, and the end product below.

Today was mostly sunny and the people were back in full force by the Golden Lion Lake doing their various morning exercises. As usual I went to swim, and swam much like yesterday, a bit slower than normal, but the stroke felt smooth. My shoulders still felt a little sore, so I focused mostly on technique. Since I arrived at the pool a few minutes earlier than yesterday, I was able to complete 5,000m by 7:50am, and then I kind of raced myself (but more slowly) as my friends weren't there. So in all I covered 5,200 meters.

I realize that a lot of people who are into triathlons train during the week but do at least one kind of race at the weekend. Since it is not easy for me to do proper races here, I am perhaps missing out on an important aspect of my training. Still, on the other hand I am trying to build my training base, so I guess what I am doing is still helpful.

In Taiwan, we in our family make our own bread. It is not only cheaper but it saves a fairly long trip to a store that has good enough bread for us to eat. For those who wonder how we make it, well, we use a bread-making machine (as ovens tend to be pretty small here). In the bread-maker there is a metal pot, the mold in which the loaf is formed. Into that we add:

300 ml of water

2 table spoons of vegetable- or olive-based cooking oil

1 teaspoonful of salt

About 2 large spoons of sugar

One large spoon of milk powder (or equivalent in fresh milk)

2 teaspoonfuls of yeast (be careful here - don't overdo it)

2 small cups of white flour

1.5 small cups of brown (wholemeal) flour

Measures don't have to be exact, as you basically get what you put in (either something fluffy or something hard as a rock)

You can also add any other things you like, such as nuts, raisins, etc. according to taste.

On the bread-making machine there are various buttons for selecting the type of finish you want the loaf to have, and how long you want it to bake. We usually have to leave the thing on for 2 to 2.5 hours, but we don't have to make the dough, the machine does that. Just pour all the ingredients in, put the lid down and press start, and the bread will take care of itself.

As I write this, it is a little more than 24 hours to the start of the Honu 70.3 in Kona. This is a big race for a lot of people, and I bet they are all trying to get as much rest as possible. Well, good luck and have a great race!