This weekend was different. Saturday evening before retiring, I made a sponge, and instead of working up the bread the next morning, I fed the sponge, adding liquid and flour. Then I kneeded the bread in the evening, let the kneeded dough rise, then let the dough rise again in the pans. The product was short of sensational, but a step in the right direction. Black bean sauce Black bean sauce is one of those wonderful Chinese sauces that can expand one's horizons on Asian cuisine.
Cooks can buy the sauce readymade and pour it in the wok, as many restaurant chefs do.
Fermented black beans can be bought in Asian food markets. While we know that freezers are likely to fill up with Lean Cuisine entrees, bags of frozen onions and the like, there is nothing that beats having the previous summer's harvest there. Sweet red peppers we grew last summer have made tasty additions when we prepare stir fry or look for toppings for pizzas.