Far be it from me to complain about having a job in this economy, but there are certain inconveniences for the food blogger engaged by day in the 9 to 5 grind. Like bread-baking: for me, it has to be a weekend activity, since even if you take the delayed-fermentation route — doing most of the work the day before — dough needs to be taken out of the refrigerator two hours before baking. Try that on a weeknight after work and you won’t be eating delicious bread until well after nine.

It’s a shame, too, because what  better time for the comforts and reassurances of a fresh-baked loaf of bread than after a day of the humiliations of office labor? No better time, that’s what. So today I decided to stop whining about my problems and  actually do something about them: I took a friend with me to work.

We had a nice bike ride through the snow, my bread dough and I, enjoying the subtly rutted and newly slushy streets and trails of Minneapolis. One nice thing is that I did not have to worry about my dough fermenting prematurely during my ride, since the ambient temperature in Minnesota right now is far colder than a refrigerator.

When I arrived at work, the dough went straight to the fridge and I was off to a dedicated and productive day. I only allowed my focus to break away from my labors at the stroke of three, when it was time to take the dough out to warm up. I set it by the water cooler, where I am sure it had many conversations with my coworkers about the latest happenings in sports and popular culture.

Soon enough five o’clock rolled around, and it was time for my dough and I to end our day on the job. Just a short bike ride home separated me from baking and weekday-bread-induced bliss.

Since I knew I wouldn’t have much time to shape and proof the dough once I got home, I had planned on making a simple bread, and it doesn’t get much simpler in terms of shaping than focaccia: just take the wet mass of dough, plop it down in a sheet pan coated with olive oil, pour on some more olive oil, rest a half hour, and then bake at 425ºF for about 20 minutes, until the bread looks brown and crispy. If you’re wondering about my dough recipe, it was:

• 12 oz AP flour
• 12 oz whole wheat flour
• ½ tsp yeast
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 18 oz water

With the overnight fermentation, it’s not that important to knead this dough — a good thing, too, because at 75% hydration kneading would be a challenge.

Proofing and baking the dough gave me the perfect amount of time to put together the rest of dinner. The bread came out very well, and much sooner than would have been possible without bringing it to the office. I think I’ve found my new commute partner.

WOW! My place of work became the most exciting place to be ever today. Look who visited me at my window…

Can you identify my new friend?

UPDATE: This is indeed a saw-whet owl. Here’s what I found out from Dr. Phillips, a favorite professor and friend, about our little guy here…

“I think what you’ve got there is a Saw-Whet Owl, a pretty uncommon sighting (although my Peterson’s Bird Guide lists this species as “a very tame little owl”). The last time I saw one it was about 1979…. What were the circumstances when you took this photo?”

Now that I’m not at work, I can write a little more about what happened. I was on the telephone talking to one of the Swedish instructors when a *thump* little owl hit the window. I was already looking out the window and saw it hit “The Posten Window” which is at a right angle to the original glass that the owl hit around maybe 3:30 in the afternoon? At this point, it sort of floated down onto the snow pile gathered around the Christmas tree decorated with lights for the holidays. Still on the phone, the first thing out of my mouth was “Hur säger man ‘owl’ på svenska?” (Turns out the word is uggla.) After finishing the conversation and promising to take pictures for her, I hung up. In the only way I know how, I started to freak out and try to take pictures, alerting lots of colleagues in the meantime. Still, I was walking slowly so that I didn’t startle my new friend. I didn’t want him to leave! I got more daring and starting opening our double-wooden doors just a crack to get pictures without a pane of glass in the way. At some point I decided to call another person on the staff who has helped to rescue birds in my window in the past. Seeing the owl so still, we wanted to make sure he was okay. Our rescuer arrived with gloves etc. to check out the situation. I was able to capture the above photo just before the rescuer got too close with a cellphone camera and scared the little guy away. At least we knew he could still fly! My last sighting of the saw-whet was after his flight into another nearby evergreen. Can you find him?