Burnt orange skirt / rok 20 Knip November 2011

Working on this skirt (Knip no. 20, november 2011) in a bouclé or almost felted wool. Rather heavy fabric but very easy to work with, even on the curved seams.

These pics are showing the front panel only, back panel is ready to have the zipper installed (center back zipper). Debating on the color… rummaging through my stash I found a plethora of zippers in all sizes and colors but none even close to this color of course. I think I will use an invisible zipper which I think is easier to install and with this fabric I don’t want any extra bulk added. The one that comes closest  is a neutral khaki one. Not sure yet whether I’m going to use that or try and find one that’s more orangey. (Don’t even know if they exist).

Hier ben ik nu mee bezig, rok no. 20 uit de November Knip. Het gaat lekker vlot, die wollen bouclé is prettig om mee te werken, er zit net genoeg rek in om die ronde naden mooi te krijgen. Maar nu.. alleen het achterpand heeft een tailleband, voorkant blijft zonder. Dacht ik slim te zijn en die tailleband achter lekker weg te laten. Ik bedoel maar, wie heeft er behoefte aan een extra bobbel op de bips? Ik niet. Dus ipv de tailleband apart te knippen liet ik het stuk lekker aan het heupdeel zitten. Tot ik de zijnaden even ging spelden om te passen.
Tsja… dan loopt die bovenste naad natuurlijk mooi over in de tailleband… en de naad daaronder in de naad van het heupdeel achter. Weet nog niet wat ik ga doen, tóch die tailleband knippen en eraan zetten of zo laten? Ik zou evt nog een sierstiksel op het achterpand kunnen zetten om een overloop te suggereren, is dat een idee?
Dan nog even de voering (om de een of andere duistere reden heb ik toch zó’n hekel aan voering inzetten in een rok!)

Still need to cut a lining. I hate lining a skirt!
And then there’s the question: to waistband or not to waistband? In this pattern only the back panel has one. Looked a little odd to me on the line drawing but when I pinned the side seams together for the fitting it occurred to me that the seam on the little triangle on the hip will line up with the back waist band…. as well as the lower seam will line up with the upper back panel….
Right.
The instructions tell you to cut a separate waistband (waistband and back panel are one in the drawing) and I thought I was smarter and just leave it attached. I mean who needs another bulky seam on their behinds? Not me!
Perhaps I should have listened. I can still cut a separate waistband, no problem. Undecided. Yet. Hmm.

New fabric!

Started this grey and rainy Thursday morning with an introduction Pilates class (ouch!) and went home all energized. Vacuumed the second floor, rearranged the “study”, all our administration from my sewing room (yay! I have a sewingroom now. Need to make pics.) back to the study again.  I need the space the ordners take up in the sewing room after all. Thought it was a good idea to have it all together within easy access so we could pay bills and file away all that paperwork right away.

Not going to happen. As it is, my work table is occupied by fabric and sewing machine and stuff. And… I ordered fabric online so that needs a place as well. This fabric came in the mail this morning! Makes me happy! (and a bit guilty because I am buying fabric without a project in mind…. but isn’t that a part of quilting as well. I believe they call it: “building a stash”.. Well I am building!

Volledig album bekijken

Happy! I needed a bit of happy because I got an inkling we have to move/remove the shed in our garden after all. I don’t want to think about it too much at the moment because the stupid, arrogant, ignorant city is making me cry and bash their heads against the wall at the same time.

ZEN… look at my fabric…

Amazing Babe bread in two hours! {Cuban Bread}

For this instalment of the Babes Baking Bread Ilva put us on the track for a different bread. The usual suspects; flour, yeast, water, salt nothing new. But this gem only requires a very short fermentation and after shaping it goes right into the oven....  Into a COLD oven. Yes that is right, the rise-after-shape part takes place in the oven heating up. Isn't that amazing?


Let me assure you that it is quite eh different but the amazing part is that the result is a great loaf of bread. A real one, crackly crisp crust, nicely browned and a soft but firm interior. Like you'd spent half a day getting it baked.


You should have seen the Babe mails, one after the other pulled this loaf (or loaves) out of her oven and squealed that this method got us real bread. Nice soft sandwich bread said one, really great ovenspring said the toadstool baker. Another told us that this is bread and explained that if it looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck; it's a duck. (Read bread for duck, just being helpful here)


Well mine reached glorious heights and colored a deep golden brown! Can you see the ovenspring pushed the sesame seeds on top all the way down the sides?

Have to say it's all you want in a dough to work with, silken, soft and so elastic! I baked two regular loaves today (no minor feat because I really suck at baking anything lately) and those plus the Cuban in the oven make me yearn to bake more and more bread. Tonight. Tomorrow. Don't care if there is no one to eat it, I will share it with innocent passersby if I need to.

Dough (makes two 25 cm round loaves)
( from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads)

775 gr bread flour                    (original uses:  5-6 cups of bread or AP flour )
480 gr hot water                      (original uses: 500 ml/2 cups hot water)
2.1/4 tsp instant yeast             (original uses 50 gr fresh/ 2 packages dry yeast)
1 tbs table salt
2 tbs mörk sirap                      (original uses: 2 tbs sugar)
(which is a Swedish dark sugar syrup still hanging around in my pantry)

by hand or mixer (15 mins)
Place 4 cups flour in a mixing bowl and add the yeast, salt and sugar. Stir until they are well blended. Pour in the hot water and beat with 100 strong strokes, or three minutes with a mixer flat beater.
Gradually work in the remaining flour (using fingers if necessary), 1/2 cup at a time until the dough takes shape and is no longer sticky.

kneading (8 mins)
Sprinkle the work surface with flour. Work in the flour as you knead, keeping a dusting of it between the dough and the work surface. Knead for 8 minutes by hand or with a dough hook until the dough is smooth, elastic, and feels alive under your hands.

rising (15 mins)
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and put in a warm (26-37°C/80-100°F) place until doubled in bulk, about 15 minutes.

shaping (4 mins)
Punch down the dough, turn it out on the work surface, and cut into two pieces. Shape each into a round. Place on the baking sheet. With a sharp knife or razor, slash X on each of the loaves, brush water, and, if desired, sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.

Baking (205°C/400°F; 45-50 mins)
Place the baking sheet on the middle shelf of a cold oven. Place a large pan of hot water on the shelf below, and heat the oven to 205°C/400°F. The bread of course, will continue to rise while the oven is heating. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the loaves are a deep golden brown. Thump on the bottom crusts to test for doneness. If they sound hard and hollow, they are baked.

+++++++++++

 Followed the instructions to a T including the 100 strokes with a dough whisk. Kneaded with the dough hook attached in stand mixer; 4 minutes on 1 and 5 minutes on 2. Then gave it a couple of slap/folds on the counter and that made it come together all springy and supple but tight. Yummy dough.
Degassed and shaped in two round boules, slashed one without sesame, the other was sesamed first then slashed. Filled a large shallow metal ovendish with boiling water from the kettle and put it in the oven, then slid the loaves in and set the timer for 45-50 minutes. Fan assisted oven on 200C.

Was a bit worried because I baked these in the large oven (90 cm) which takes more time to heat up. Needn't worry, they took their sweet time in the heat but when I got them out after 45-50 minutes they sounded hollow, were beautifully golden brown with a crisp exterior and a creamy soft tight crumb. 

the Family said:

- Silence.. chewing.. reaching for the next slice: Mom, this is genius bread.

- Chewing, swallowing reaching for another slice: hey, epic loaf how much is there?

- So how many slices each of you had already? I'd only had two.. counting.. Mom, is there another one like this?

Safe to say this is a keeper. Thanks Ilva, great choice! As usual; go and see our Kitchen of the Month for the original recipe and the instructions how to bake with us and get an original Baking Buddy Badge designed by Lien! You don't want to miss out on this bread and the Badge!

Some notes:

- Some Babes had lighter colored bread and the votes are undecided which element caused that.

- Some Babes succesfully subbed whole wheat or spelt for some of the white flour

- Some Babes had to pull the loaves out ahead of time because of color/done ness. Keep an eye on it!

Baby Diaper Bike

For my sis.. or rather for her baby! Yesterday (yes indeed, that was Friday 13th) she delivered a healthy little baby boy.

So yesterday night I dove head first into the newborn diapers... to wrestle them into this:

I think it's pretty darn cute!

This tutorial was a great help to put it together, so happy I found it. Of course I put off making it until the last moment, (as if I didn't know my sis was pregnant haha) but still happy!

Yes, We Have No Bananas. {An ABC chocolate swirl cake}

This is my second year of ABC-baking where we choose to bake a recipe each month from one book. In 2012 you’ll see us baking through: The Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge.

(I ordered my copy here btw, excellent customer service, great prices, no shipping costs! I’m just saying…)

First let me get into a little introduction about the book, don’t let the title fool you into believing you’ll be getting recipes here that can only be baked when you have two days with nothing to do on your hands…

No! This is a book that is written with busy people in mind. The author breaks down the recipes into doable stages, instructing you when and how to prepare and how long each step will take you. This way she enables you to bake lovely recipes by preparing ahead and setting things aside until you’re ready for them the next day. Recipes are listed in the order of the time they take, so if you will you can have cookies in 30 minutes, or a cake in an hour. When you’re in for something more elaborate there’s always the chapter: “productions” (equally broken down in easy steps).

Hanâa contacted Abby and she was excited to pick our first recipe herself: Nut-Crusted Chocolate-Banana Swirl Cake! Sounds good no? That’s what I thought. I also thought that anything banana except fresh doesn’t go down well in my family. The book has been on my writing table for a week and I couldn’t decide what to do. Bake anyway using bananas, risking that no one will eat it? Bake and leave them out? What will that do to the recipe?

Today I decided I had procrastinated long enough. That cake needs to be baked. And when I opened the fridge the answer came from a small bowl of leftover homemade apple sauce whispering: Use me! Usually we never post recipes from the book we’re using as to encourage readers to buy the book but I tinkered around a bit so I think I’m allowed ;-):

Not crusted, no banana, cocoa swirl apple cake
{adapted from The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge}

12-cup Bundt/fluted pan, buttered/spray
oven preheated 180C/350F

the batter:
- 255 grams ap flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 heaped tsp baking soda
- scant 1/4 tsp table salt
- 160 gr unsalted butter, room temp soft
- 220 gr granulated sugar
- 200 gr. home made smooth apple sauce, room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp dark rum
- 3 eggs
- 6 tbs créme fraiche, stir to loosen up a bit
- 2 heaped tbs cocoa, sifted

 hand full roughly chopped walnuts

Prepare the pan, use butter or spray. Drop chopped nuts on the bottom of your pan, dividing them between the rims.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and whisk until well blended. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, apple sauce, vanilla and rum. Beat with a handheld mixer (or use the paddle attachment on your stand mixer) until well blended.

Although all my ingredients were at room temp. it still looked a bit curdled but no need to worry!
Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition just until blended, stopping to scrape dwon the sides of the bowl as needed. Next add half the flour mix and stir gently with a rubber spatula until just blended. Add créme fraiche and blend, then add the remainder of the flour again until just blended.

Divide batter in two equal parts; one is left white, the other part gets the cocoa stirred in until nicely combined. With a spoon, add a scoopful of each batter around the pan until all the batter is used. I didn’t swirl with a knife afterwards because I spooned both batters alternately but you could if you wish.

Bake for 45 minutes, check with a toothpick or cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 10-15 minutes, no longer.
Abby warns us that the cake will stick if you leave it longer than that. Unmold too early and it will break into chunks. Sounds scary huh?

I was a bit worried about unmolding because I heard one or two rumours about sticking/chunks… Holding my breath but the cake slid out just as it should. While I’m typing this up there are munching sounds from the livingroom. Or rather there’s silence (I wouldn’t want you to think I didn’t raise my family to eat properly…) The husband is sneaking up towards the counter and asks for seconds already holding the knife…. He is allowed only if he leaves enough of the cake to photograph tomorrow! Mission accomplished, really really good cake!

I like it, although it's quite dense it is not dry at all. Love the fact that you can easily distinguish the two flavours, my Dutch processed chocolate made for a very chocolatey taste, and in the white parts you can track down the rum and vanilla. Nice!

 

Wishing you happy days and smooth sailing

 

Never been one to reflect and look back, too busy looking forward and planning ahead, making my lists.

This year feels different. These tiny crybabies are 15 going on 20 (at least that’s what they think) .. and the one on the right is 18 and going to spill coffee grounds in his own room-away-from-home next year.

Ch Ch Ch Changes…

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy days and smooth sailing in 2012

 

Karen

Bread Baking Babes Stollen (part two)

The final breads.. what comes to mind immediately is the phrase: Function before Form… I am not too happy with the shape I got. Serves me right for shaping hastily, before dashing off (ha! Dashing…) for an unexpected errant, coming back to a fully risen tableau of three loaves that amiably pushed against each other.

Although… I am quite smitten with this littly beauty up here! This one I shaped into an oval to distinguish it from his two brothers because it’s got almond paste inside where the other two are filled with little marzipan balls.
Also this is the only one that got a coat of home made clementine-ginger jelly and the festive bigarreaux (in other words hideous coloured cherries shouting Christmas to me). Love it!

Two of the loaves are resting in the freezer now, the sugar dusted one is cut and eaten as we speak. It’s good! Could use some more filling I guess but I had to fiddle with it because my stash was diminished by me previous Baking Babes try. These have currants, raisins, cranberries, abricots and candied ginger inside. No nuts. Just Glory.