Tag Archives: bread

Socks, KAL, Snow, Door, Bread

Posted on by
10

First: The Socks I am on track to finish the second Broken Seed Stitch sock by the end of next week.

I just finished the heel flap on sock #2 and am ready to turn the heel. Then the gusset (which I detest), the rest of the foot, and finally the toe!

This picture is the side where the colors change. You can really see the jog in the stitches on sock #1 on the right. I tried to tighten the yarn at the color change point a bit on sock #2 so it isn’t as noticeable.

Second: KAL Winwick Mum is having a Winter Haven KAL. (That’s code for Knit-A-Long) One doesn’t have to knit the same thing as everyone else but she’s included a free sock pattern if desired. She has other patterns as well. The requirements are easy to join the KAL: knit one of her patterns or use one of her yarns from West Yorkshire Spinners. The Easy Mosaic socks I recently finished is one of her free patterns.

I’ve never done a KAL before but I’m going to try this one and use her free pattern called Trailblazer socks. I have to finish the BSS socks before I start on these as I need the short circular needle from those socks. Plus I need to shop my stash for the right yarn.

Third: Snow Mother Nature dropped 6-7 inches of snow on us Sunday night and Monday. We weren’t surprised that schools were closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday. But Wednesday and Thursday?? The roads were clear by Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Aitch emailed a teacher friend about no school. Evidently the wind chill factor was so low, the powers-that-be decided it was too cold for the kids to wait for the bus. 99.99% of the kids ride a bus and sit in their parent’s warm car/truck/SUV when waiting for the bus. Whatever. We don’t have kids in school and we’re both retired so it shouldn’t concern me.

Pepper loves the snow but hates getting her sweater on. Is it because it goes over her head? It’s a struggle but I put it on her if it’s below 25oF.

Fourth: Door Our front door was bare after I took down the Christmas decorations on Monday. I thought this was perfect.

Fifth: Bread I took advantage of the below freezing temperatures this week and baked bread to help heat the house. Two beautiful loaves of bread warmed us inside and out.

In fact this was lunch the day I baked it along with a glass of wine. I still haven’t found the perfect “sandwich” type bread recipe as mine always seem to have a course crumb. Any help would be appreciated.

I had a home improvement hack and some other things to talk about but this post was long enough.

Patti nona

Mrs. Gildersleeve’s Buns

Posted on by
6

Mr. Aitch and I like love bread but we don’t like the typical store bought variety, you know the prepackaged sliced stuff. It’s almost like eating paste.

I’ve baked bread many, many, many times and sometimes it’s really good and other times, well, it’s dense and heavy. So I did some research and found lots of “light and airy” bread recipes that call for scalded milk and/or eggs.

Kitchn.com answers the scalded milk question: The whey protein in milk can weaken gluten and prevent the dough from rising properly. Scalding the milk deactivates the protein so this doesn’t happen.

This from LEAF explains the addition of eggs: The fat in egg yolks helps shorten the gluten strands in bread dough, increasing the gluten’s elasticity. This results in a more tender crumb and softer crust in the finished bread. Additionally, the coagulating property of eggs, due to their protein, helps create a more tender and even texture. As a leavening agent, the eggs contribute to the bread dough rising higher than a non-egg yeast bread.

Maybe you bakers already know those things and I might have learned them in junior high home ec. classes but that was a very, very long time ago.

I looked through several cookbooks I have and found a recipe named “Mrs. Gildersleeve’s Buns” in a fund-raiser cookbook from my hometown. The recipes in this collection were tried and true. Plus I liked the name.

I whipped up a batch of this bread Wednesday afternoon and Mr. Aitch “baked” it on the grill over indirect heat. It is light and fluffy and tastes so good that we had to sample some as soon as it was cool enough to cut.

I will be making this recipe again. And again. And again…

Click here for Mrs. Gildersleeve’s Buns recipe.

Patti

Snobs

Posted on by
8

Mr. Aitch and I are snobs.

Bread snobs.

bread-and-rolls-2

We can barely eat mass-produced bread from the store.  Most of it feels gummy and tastes, well, tasteless.

The texture of bread is known as the crumb and it can be open or close.  Open has a lot of texture and close doesn’t.  Most store-bought mass-produced breads have a close crumb. IMHO that equates to the gumminess.  That’s all I know about bread baking but it’s enough for me to know.

bread-and-rolls-1

In my experience most store-bought mass-produced bread is full of preservatives which can be good as the bread doesn’t mold as quickly.  Locally baked breads from our local bakers tend not to use preservatives in their bread.  Their bread has more texture like what my grandmother used to bake.  One problem is that it molds quickly.  Unrefrigerated and you’ve got maybe 2-3 days before it gets fuzzy.

We don’t eat a like of sliced bread in our house so the solution we came up with involves frozen bread dough.  Yes, it still has preservative in it but we get the texture we like and can have freshly baked bread and rolls every day or two.

Our oven stays off during the summer.  It’s the Mr. Aitch Law in our house.  So how do we get freshly baked bread and rolls?

The gas grill.

bread-and-rolls-3

We only bake enough that the two of us can eat within a few days.

Rolls

Since we grill almost every day, it’s not a problem to do bread, or rolls, or hamburger buns, or pepperoni rolls, or cinnamon rolls when we need/want them.

bread

The smell of freshly baked bread just makes me hungry.  🙂