The Color Purple and Lilleput

Ever heard the expression, "Don't judge a book by it's cover"?

This Whole Wheat Mixed Berry Bread is one of the two breads for the 14th Bread Braid for HBinFive.  The bread was pretty...well, pretty purple, that is.  Do you think Oprah would like this bread?  Would anyone, I wondered?

The dough was really wet and hard to form, but it baked up with a nice crumb and was moist but not sweet.  I took a plate of this bread with it's accompanying honey butter to Thursday Social Knitting.  Did we like it?  Well, some did and some really didn't.  No one was thrilled with it.  Someone tactfully noted that it might make good toast.  One of us ate half a piece and politely asked if I minded if she threw the rest in the garbage. I believe in honesty and don't mind constructive criticism, even if disagree (which I didn't so much this time).  The purple color of the bread (you add the berries and their juices when you mix the dough) was quite off-putting to most.  This is not an enhanced or touched up photo, folks; that's the accurate color of this bread.  Really!  Wilton probably has a food color just like this called Neon Purple.

My family members were not huge fans of this bread either, although they are always polite and tactful. 
Example: I heard Rachel come in from work.  Next thing I hear:  "Whooaaaa...Gross!!!"  She'd found and tasted the bread. 
This experience reminds me of the summer I planted Purple Peruvian potatoes (which were very chic that year).  Seemed like a good idea; color on the plate and all, but that bright purple pile of mashed potatoes did NOT fly at my house.  Who serves purple mashed potatoes on any other day than April Fool's day?  Never mind that they tasted the same as white potatoes.  Some times you just shouldn't mess with a good thing.  Would I make this bread again?  Probably not.  Almost everyone agreed (well, actually everyone did) that a good quick bread with berries is highly preferable to this recipe.   Check this link (Michelle's Big Black Dog Blog) to see what the other members of the group thought about this bread. The braid is always posted on the 15th of each month.

Speaking of knitting group...I've been knitting this jacket, (pattern by Lene Alve) for awhile now. 

I finally got the flow of the short rows.  Don't ask how many times I had to FROG.  It's relaxing (well, now it is) and I am excited to finish it , although I've been sidetracked by a rug (among other things).  It's knit with sock yarn and on size 1 needles so check back in ...oh, 6 8 months or so.  If only there were 36 hours in a day and I didn't need sleep.