Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Adventures in Bread Baking...

I've been baking bread!!! A friend on Ravelry gave me this recipe and I baked a loaf over the weekend.

Here is my (in)famous basic loaf bread.

you’ll need a stand mixer with dough hooks, or a hand mixer..preferably with dough hooks. If you don’t have one with dough hooks, you can do part of it with the normal whisk attachment, and then the last part with a spoon.

3 cups flour
1 1/4 cups of warm water
1 pkg. or 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve yeast in the water, with the oil, sugar, and salt. Let it sit for a few minutes.

Mix in 2 cups of flour on low. If you are using dough hooks, do 2 1/4 cups. Mix for 4 minutes. Increase speed to medium, for 3 minutes. If your mixer can handle it, mix in the remaining flour with the mixer (if using dough hooks, you will have no problem at all). If just using the normal beaters..take away the mixer, and mix in the rest by hand with a spoon.

Let rise for about an hour. Stir the dough down (approx 25 strokes). Spread batter/dough into a 9x5 bread pan (greased). Allow to rise until about a half inch over the edge of the pan. Bake for 40-45 mins at 375f.

For those with standmixers. Super easy.

For those with a hand mixer with dough hooks. Super easy.

Anyone else..you can still make it..it just takes a little more muscle.

NOW, to break it down a little. You can use any flour with this recipe. I personally like two cups of whole wheat and one cup of standard bread flour (unbleached). You can do all unbleached bread or all purpose flour, or all whole wheat (red or white whole wheat). You can pretty much use whatever. Depending on the flours, you may need to add a little more water or oil. It should be more like batter than hand kneaded dough..but not watery like a cake batter.

Oil..I use coconut, or olive. Please use expeller pressed oils ONLY (for every day eating). If it’s not expeller presed, than it’s chemically extracted, and that’s all sorts of fucked up.

Sugar..use unrefined sugar, please. Or, 3 tbsp of honey, agave, or maple syrup, instead of 2 of cane sugar.

Salt: sea salt is my fav. yep.


I ran into a little trouble with getting my yeast to proof.

4.23.10 002

I think I ended up with a bad batch of yeast b/c the dough didnt really rise like it was supposed to.

bread 001

I used my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook for the kneading; no problems there. I actually let it rise for quite awhile (like 3 hours) and finally got tired of waiting and popped it in the oven.

001

Despite all that, I think it came out pretty well and it tasted good. Next time, I'm gonna fiddle with a few things and see how it comes out. Also, I bought new yeast. LOL

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Garter Days

Still working on the garter blanket; slowly but surely. Getting a little boring now. Hopefully, I'll have it finished soon.

Afghan

I took my daughter with me to knit night last night. I taught her how to knit a few months ago but it didnt really click until a few weeks ago. I've been letting her use scraps from leftover projects and she likes to sit in front of the tv and knit (mostly watching Animal Planet). Remind you of anyone?

New Knitter

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Still Baby Knitting...


4.13.10 005
Originally uploaded by Sinnomen1977
Here's what I've been up to lately.

I made this hat (It's the Umblical Hat from the original Stitch n Bitch book) to match the blanket I made for my sisters unborn baby girl.


I've also been doing a little canning. I made dill pickles over the weekend. They have to sit up for a few weeks for maximum flavor/sourness so they are in my cabinet now.

Pickles

Friday, April 9, 2010

Finishing Up Some UFO's....

In a burst of energy last night, I finished a bunch of UFO's. Alot of these projects were actually done and just waiting on buttons,sewing,etc.

I found out my sister is expecting AGAIN so I started on a care package to send to her. I knit the Big Bad Baby Blanket (again...this is like the 3rd or 4th time I've knit this pattern and I love it!)

B4

I also knit 3 sets of baby bibs and burp cloths out of cotton yarn I had laying around. Stash busting FTW!!!

Baby bib and burp cloth

Burp cloth and bib

Bib and burp cloth

I also recently moved into a new house and knit some dishtowels and dishcloths for my new kitchen. More cotton being used!! I'm also knitting a lace kitchen curtain but it's not ready for pics yet, lol!

Dishtowels

Kitchen Towels

I'm also working on a plain vanilla St st sock in Lorna's Laces yarn in color Black Watch on my trusty US size 2 Knit Picks nickel sock needles.

Adrian's Socks1

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