2nd portion of no-knead dough

I used the 2nd of 4 portions of the no-knead bread dough we mixed up Saturday.  It has been waiting patiently in the fridge ever since and does not seem of changed much.

From the second portion,  I made one good sized pizza.  It was topped with chunky tomato pizza sauce (no off spring at this meal to complain about that)  onions, bell peppers, a little sausage and mozzarella cheese.  

It baked up just about like any good pizza dough.  

We liked it,  just not quite as well as my regular pizza dough.

Unbaked

baked

one slice

Batch #1 of no knead Artisan bread

 The dough has been in the fridge for almost 24 hours.  It is deflated and very yeasty-scented.

I used a rubber spatula to break off about a 1/4 of it.   Then I just shaped it into a ball and turned the edges under until it was smooth.  

 Then,  I put it on a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal.  

 The instructions said to let it rise for 40 minutes,  it was slow to rise so I left it set for an hour.  

The recipe said to use lots of flour but I used just enough to keep it from sticking.  

After it had raised enough,  I cut an X in the top with a sharp knife.

Then I picked up the whole sheet of parchment paper and transferred to a dutch oven that had preheated at 450 for 10 minutes.  

For the first 30 minutes, it baked with the lid on the dutch oven.  

 Then I uncovered it and let it bake 10 minutes more.    

The bread did a lot more raising in the oven.  

 It came out golden brown.  Even with no fat, it did not stick at all to the parchment paper.  

Sliced

The bread has a great flavor.  The round loaf looks pretty but it takes a long time to bake.  

Also, the crust is very sturdy,  I would not describe it as crisp or tough,  just sturdy.  

We liked it alot  even though it was not our favorite bread of all time.

It was excellent for the first try I think.  

I plan to shape the  next loaf  more like a traditional loaf of French bread and will bake it on a stone or baking sheet..  

Maybe I will bake loaf #2 on Thursday.  

Follow our 14 day no-knead Artisan bread project

 I've been hearing and reading about 2 new popular methods of making bread.  One is called the No Knead method and the other is called 5 minute artisan.  I even found a copy of the 5 minute artisan book at a yard sale for just $1.

Anyway,  even though the mixing seems simple,  other parts seem complicated.  

One drawback for me is that the 5 minute book recipes call for unbleached flour, which is hard to find in my small town and expensive if it is found.

The other part I did not like is that the oven is supposed to be pre-heated for 30 minutes at a very high temp.  That seems rather energy wasteful to me.

Well,  I have been doing some online research on this easy to mix up bread and have watched several videos on Roku where the cooks make this bread.

Seems the unbleached flour and long pre-heating are not necessarily required.  

Nina and I picked out one of the simplest recipes and mixed it up before lunch today.  

We used 

3 cups of water

1 1/2 T yeast

1 1/2 T salt

1 C whole wheat flour

5 1/2 C bread flour   - thats it,  no sugar or oil of any kind in these recipes. 

So it is thriftier and lower calorie than most bread recipes.

the actual pages from the book - click on them to enlarge if you want to read the book's details.  

Just stir up the ingredients,  the dough was thicker than I expected it to be.

 Cover loosely and let set at room temperature for 2 hours.  

Ours actually sat out for 3 hours because we went to some thrift stores and forgot.

Then it goes in the fridge and just stays there for up to 14 days.

When you want bread,  you break off a lump and form your loaf,  Then let it rise for 45 minutes and bake.

If you want to see the first loaf,  I plan to bake one tomorrow.  

This batch is supposed to make 4  1 pound loaves.  

I may use one lump for pizza and some for buns as the 14 days go on.  

Anyone make this kind of bread?  Any advice?

Quiet packet for little ones

Nina showed me a tutorial for this little art packet a few months ago.  In my current mode,  I cut it out about 3 weeks ago and finally got it sewed up this week.  

It has a lot of pieces and lots of instructions, but it actually went to together simply with no problems.  

here is the tutorial from a very big blog named U-Create

I used fabric from my stash while the creator of this tutorial used 4 fat quarters.

Yes,  I had the little hand buttons and hand print fabric, not sure where either of them came from.  

All the way open

the tutorial puts colored pencils in the 3rd panel and she also shows where she added an elastic pocket for little toys instead.  Since this packet is for a young boy,  I did the pocket with some Hot Wheels in them.  

The center packet calls for chalkboard fabric.  

Nope, I had never heard of it before and found out that Joanns Fabrics sells it.  I got a small piece on Etsy.  

Behind the chalk board is a pocket to insert a tablet.  

I thought one of those little half-size coloring books might fit instead of a tablet. The ones we have are about half an inch too long.

So I am thinking that when I make more,  I will increase the length by 1 inch.  

The only problem I had with the tutorial is that it does not say to round off the corners of the crayon flap.  It is very clear in the pictures but I like word instructions.  If you have any sewing experience,  I think you could make this project.  

A look at my current world - or why I have been AWOL from blogging

One day this week 

 learning to style hair like our Uncle

Watch Uncle Jimmy closely

 You get a little dab of hair stuff and you rub it in your hands....

 then you rub it on your head

 and rub some more and try to get even more hair stuff

 well.......

 Gavin's hair looks good but

 Elizabeth is looking a little fluffy.  

She is smiling so much, she must like it that way 

Uncle Jimmy went to Colorado for a wedding.  

He got back today and came over to see us and bring us some cool Colorado t-shirts.  

Elizabeth's shirt  is from Purgatory CO and Gavin's has horses.  

One day last week 

Elizabeth went to baby school in the morning.

Gavin and I did a few errands and then played on the ChicFilA play area

until it was time to pick up Elizabeth.

When we got back to our house, Gavin was so excited to see Grandpa's truck in the garage.

 Jeff took off from work early and was already home when we got there.

Gavin and Elizabeth ate lots of lunch,  

see that plate of strawberry tops?

It was full of big strawberries before Gavin and Elizabeth ate them all!

 Gavin is singing the "happy happy joy joy" song for us. 
We think the whole song is "I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart"

 Great Uncle Bert came by this day at lunch time.
He was going to Tulsa for a symposium at the law school there. 

 John came by for lunch too, and to pick up some pants he needed hemmed for tonight footballs game. 

 And Amanda came by at lunch too.
She did not eat but Gavin and Elizabeth thought she needed some chips and brought her some anyway. 

Gavin and Elizabeth have both had runny noses this week.
Elizabeth is helping Gavin with his.
Grandma thinks Elizabeth is just trying to use all the tissues
so there won't be any left  when  Elizabeth's nose needs wiping.  

Tired Gavin and Elizabeth, they ran out of energy!  so tired they just collapsed in the floor.  

They both had enough energy left to fuss about nap time though.  And that was the recap of that day up till about 130 when the toddlers took their naps.  




and if you got this far,  I did finish 2 sewing projects that are more interesting than the son in laws pants hemmed.   I will post them soon.  

My Parents 60th anniversary

 My parents have been married for 60 years this month so of course we had a party.

My brother and children did most all of the planning and hosting and they did a very good job coming up with a party that was perfect for my parents and the occasion.   

Nina baked the cake.  She decorated it with important symbols from my parents life.  

She also made a jar full of yummy lemon curd to serve with the cake. 

 The party was held at a very nice Italian restaurant in our town. 

 Jimmy worked there for 10 years so the restaurant went all out with the best food and nicest room. 

Nina and Jimmy did the decorations.  

They used lots of pictures of my parents.  

The smaller pictures are in Kerr jars because my parent's last name is Kerr.  

 Nina and Uncle Jimmy waiting for the party to begin.  

 from one end of the table - 

the pretty lady in blue that is giving her order to Jessica,  is my Aunt Betty.  

Her picture is also in photo header on this blog.  

 Elizabeth and Gavin enjoying their drinks with straws.  

Gavin was very happy when Pa and Roro cut the cake.  

He loves cake and thinks his Aunt Nina makes the best cakes in the world.  

this picture shows more of the room.  

Jimmy's longtime friend and coworker, Jessica, was our server and she did a great job of making the dinner so nice.  

My Mom does stuff too

this beautiful crazy quilt was made by my mom for son Jimmy to congratulate him on his admission to the Bar.

My photography skills do not do it justice but here goes......

This quilt is made of old neckties - some belonged to relatives and others were thrifted.

all the blogs have lots of hand embroidery and other embellishments.

This block has Jimmy's law school's name and tower embroidered on it.

a dinosaur because young Jimmy planned to be a paleontologist.

this one has a section of a canary necktie that belonged to my dad.

My brother wore the same tie to work for an Ugly Tie contest and won first prize.

However, daughter Nina was very fond of this tie. One Sunday morning when she was about 2 years and too sick to go to church, my dad tied this canary tie around her neck and it made her very happy.

a button grape cluster because Jimmy worked at an Italian restaurant almost 10 years

frogs and peacocks

even some beading on this fancy crazy quilt

some machine embroidery on the block for Oklahoma State University

Mom used some of her sister's double knit scraps for the back and she pieced them together so pretty

Mom said this quilt was so much fun to make. She has even considered getting rid of all her other sewing and craft supplies so she could just make crazy quilts.

I don't expect she really will give up everything else but I do expect she will make more crazy quilts.