1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi.. / 2x links, 2x rechts...

Wonder what it is like to get 4 family members in close quarters and move like they are one? Ask them to not rock the boat. Please. And then you start counting!

In a way I was right there where I am in real life, in the back of the boat, smoothing out things, covering up any mishaps and trying to steer them in the right direction without upsetting their self esteem. Sigh.

(I'm skipping the part where we mounted and the guy helping us said the heaviest person was supposed to be in the back ok? Son nr. 1 took that place but it soon occurred that he wasn't yet balanced enough to pull it off. We switched places. Real life I tell ya!)

1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi....

2x links, 2x rechts... 

Zo ongeveer wat ik gisteren in mijn hoofd had. 4 gezinsleden in 1 kano, ieder 1 peddel en ik achterin om het zootje op koers te houden. Bijsturen, op koers houden, beetje links beetje rechts, de moed erin houden, zorgen dat eventuele misslagen niet opgemerkt maar wel gecorrigeerd werden. Verschilt niet zoveel van het dagelijks leven....

Ter afsluiting in Buren, terrasje, kopje koffie, appeltaart.. Mocht niet zo zijn, we hadden (net als zo ongeveer de rest van de aanwezigen) onze stoeltjes bij het tafeltje vandaan getrokken in het zonnetje. Vingen de blik van de serveerster, glimlachten vriendelijk en maakten duidelijk dat we wilden bestellen. Serveerster keek, schudde beslist en chagrijnig haar hoofd en verdween weer. Wij keken nog eens om ons heen naar de andere gasten die duidelijk ook niet op het terras zaten te genieten van een biertje/koffie.... Kennelijk was deze dame niet bereid een extra stap te zetten. Jammer dan. Geen klandizie. We zijn weggegaan. Thuis koffie gedronken. De muts! (Terras heeft trouwens niets te maken met bovenstaande foto, dit was een winkeltje in een zijstraatje met schattig Pools aardewerk).

Bread Baking Babes bake Knotty rolls!

It's been a while since I've made rolls but Ilva (Lucullian Delights) in our Kitchen of the Month made us sit at her kitchentable and spun a tale of knotting the most delicious rolls. At first glance you might think of this as just another nice roll. 

Nope! These are an example of why the workings of flour, yeast and water never ceases to amaze me. You know where you look at a recipe and think mm been there done that? And the outcome is different from what you expect? Or one of the ingredients listed makes you wonder: what is that going to do....

The secret ingredient in these rolls for me was lard. Yes. L.A.R.D. I didn't have it and didn't know if I could get some but never got to the point of shopping around for it because see, I had this tub of duck fat in my fridge. Don't look at me like that doctor, I declare it's left over from Christmas and you wouldn't want me to throw food out now do you? Besides when used modestly... I think it made these rolls into lovely soft and tender bread, a fine textured crumb, I thought I tasted a hint of added flavour through the duck fat. Yummy. Kids loved me! (Having teenagers that's quite a feat and very welcome!). 

Recipe here as well as at Ilva's, my notes in red.

Recipe PANE DI PASTA TENERA CONDITA or ITALIAN KNOT BREAD

(From: Pane. Il piacere di preparare pane in casa by Anna Gennari)

for the biga:
500 g /1,1 lb normal bread flour

5 g/0,17 oz fresh yeast (pinch or less than 1/4 tsp instant yeast
240 ml/1 cup water
- Dissolve the yeast in a little water and quickly work the dough together. 
- Put it in a high container, cover with a half closed lid or a kitchen towel and leave for 15-24 hours.

for the final dough
All of the biga (Somehow misread/thought and only added 250 grams....)
1kg/ 2,2 lb 00 flour
450-550 ml/1,9-2,3 cup water, lukewarm
30 g fresh yeast (I used 2.1/4 tsp instant yeast, based on amount of flour and biga)
25 gr salt (I used 2.1/4 tsp, again based on amount of flour/biga)
50 g/ 1,7 oz extra-virgin olive oil
60 g/ 2,1 oz lard (duck fat!)
25 g/ 0,88 oz honey

- Put the flour either in a big bowl or on a baking board, add the lard and mix it with your fingers until it has 'crumbled' and is completely mixed with the flour.

- Dissolve the yeast in little tepid water and add it to the flour. Mix as well as you can.

- Mix salt, olive oil and honey with the finger warm water and add it to the flour. Now work it it until it holds together and then add the biga. (I prefer adding the biga to the warm water as well to help incorporate in the flour mixture, and my instant yeast was mixed in at this point too)

- Work the dough until it is smooth and doesn't stick. By hand it takes between 5-10 minutes. You'll get a wonderfully soft and smooth dough, just barely tacky. 

- Put it into a big bowl, cover it with plastic film and leave to rise until it has doubled. 

- Now take up the dough and divide it into smaller parts, about 100 g/3,5 oz each, and roll into strands about 25 cm/9,8 in long.

- Put the knots on baking sheets and leave to rise until they have doubled in size and bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for 30-35 minutes. (I baked at a higher temperature 220C convection oven for 17-20 minutes. No particular reason, I just did *blush*).

 *** To make the knots.... I tried following the pics... I tied myself into knots.... we played Memory with the buns when they were finished.... tried to find two look-a-likes. 

I think I have to direct you to Ilva for pictures and text to make them look like the original. Any way knotted these are great. Bake them and get yourself wonderful rolls and a Baking Buddy Badge! For details see Ilva's post. (And while you're at it, go and see how the other Babes knotted, blogs in the sidebar!).

Black & white: the bag

Isn't it cute? The (Ikea) fabric started as curtains that I made for son nr.1, from the scraps I envisioned a toy-bag for my sister's little baby boy. 

When the twins were born a friend presented me with two toy-bags, basically the shape of a grocery bag, lined, handles positioned so that they can be looped over the railing of a cradle/box (is that what it is called in English?) and fastened with two buttons. Ideal to store the plenty little toys that babies have. My sisters living room has a black and white scheme so I offered to sew her such a bag in black and white.

Yesterday I started sewing, and decided to call her before I positioned the handles, I had an inkling that she might not want it after all and then I could easily change it to become a regular bag...

She didn't want it. I bet she is sorry now...because I think it turned out great! Too bag bad!

Bread Bakers Anonymous (Almost white mountain bread)

white mountain bread, originally uploaded by BakingSoda.

Hello, my name is Karen and I am a bread baker. I like to share with you today that I didn't enter in the BBA Challenge.

I know. I should have. See, I know I would fail. Give up. Start baking again, switch from one book to another. I know it's not allowed. But the sheer temptation! The peer pressure! Everyone is doing it!

What? What do you mean it's not Bread Bakers Anonymous? Ack!

So I can tell you I baked an almost white mountain bread and I loved it!
adapted from Beth Hensperger the Bread Bible
makes two 9x5 inch loaves

3/4 cup warm water
1,5 cup warm milk
1 tblsp instant yeast (which is far more than I would use normally)
3 tblsp vegetable oil
3 tblsp honey
2.1/4 tsp salt
5 cups white bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

For the very precise and extensive directions I gladly refer you to the book, I skipped a few steps and used the "volcano method".

In a large bowl using a wooden spoon or in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with the dough hook on low speed, combine yeast, water, milk, oil, honey, and 3 cups of the flour until a shaggy dough forms. Sprinkle the remainder of the flour plus salt over the dough and let rest for 20-30 minutes, you'll see the batter bubbling up from under it's flour blanket.
Start mixing again, start on low and slowly increase speed to medium until a soft dough forms that just clears the side of the bowl.

Mine was doing exactly that after 8 minutes of mixing, leaving a small clump of dough in the bottom of the bowl.
Place the dough in a lightly greased deep container. Turn the dough once to coat the top and cover with plastic film. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1,5-2 hours.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to deflate. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of two 9-by-5 inch loaf pans. Without working the dough further, divide into 2 equal portions with a metal scraper or a knife. Pat each into a long rectangle; fold the dough into thirds, overlapping the 2 opposite ends in the middle. Beginning at the short edge, tightly roll up the dough jelly-roll fashion into a log fitting the size of your pan. I only own one 9x5" loaf pan but I found that my 22 cm spring form pan is a nice match. Made a nice round boule to fit that spring form.

Cover loosely with a plastic wrap let rise again at room temp until the dough is full doubled in bulk and about 2 inches over the rims of the pans, about 45 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 390°F. Remove the plastic wrap and slash the loaves, no more that 0,25 inch deep. Immediately place on the centre rack in the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown in colour. If the bottom crust is too pale, (try to pinch the edges to confirm it's all around done) remove the loaf from the pan and place it directly on the rack for 5 more minutes and check again. Transfer the loaves from the pans immediately, put on a cooling rack. Let them rest for at least 15 minutes.

Somehow the simple ingredients add up to more than just a basic white bread, I really liked it a lot; some butter, a little well aged cheese. This bread doesn't need much to shine.

And for all you bakers out there: Go girls go! I will follow your adventures closely, and cheer from the sidelines!

Slow cooker Citrus Curd for Mother's Day

Lemon Curd.

(Sara Lewis slow cooker, over 70 of the best recipes)

125 gr (4 oz) unsalted butter

400 gr (13 oz) caster sugar

grated rind and juice of 2 lemons

grated rind and juice of 1 orange

grated rind and juice of 1 lime

4 eggs beaten

Put butter and sugar in a saucepan, add fruit rinds and juice. Heat gently for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved.

Pour mixture in a basin (for lack of another vehicle I found that one of my small cooking pans balanced quite nicely in the basin, resting on the handles against the sides of the slow cooker bowl without touching bottom) that will fit comfortably in your slow cooker pot, leave to cool for 10 minutes, add the eggs and mix well. Cover the basin with foil, put foil straps or a string pudding bowl lifter in the slow cooker pot and place the basin on top. Pour hot water into the cooker pot to come halfway up the sides of the basin. Add the cooker lid and cook on "low" for 3-4 hours until the mixture is very thick.

Stir once or twice during cooking if possible.

Warm 2 clean jars in the bottom of a low oven and spoon in the citrus curd, place a waxed disc on and leave to cool. Seal each jar with a screw-top lid, label and store in the fridge. Use within 3-4 weeks.

Verdict: it's very good, nice and tangy, velvety smooth and it worked surprisingly well. I had my doubts about the cooking time, (I mean, honestly, how long does it take to cook lemon curd by yourself?) but I can see it's nice to make this while you can do all kinds of other chores around the house, no stirring, no fear of curdling. The idea of throw everything together and wait till it's finished is very tempting.

Comes in the Mother's day present... This year I made a "breakfast tray", a jar of home-made lemon curd, a jar home made strawberry jam, freshly ground coffee, some tea samples, home made cinnamon rolls, candles, a bottle home made mint infused lemon cordial, and a cornbread that is not on the pic yet because it's still cooling... (re: the empty spot on the front), I think I might add a small bottle of prosecco!

Lemon Bacardi Cordial

Simple delicious pick me up.

Lemon cordial Bacardi

1 quantity of lemon cordial, chilled

1 quantitiy of white rum

top up with carbonated water to taste

ice

I just dumped in an ice cube but if you're going to serve this at a summer party, crushed ice and a sprig of lemon balm or mint would be so festive!

Yesterday night when I tried it on a whim I had some strawberry juice left in the bowl.... added it... yum!

Slow Cooker Lemon cordial

Finally! I'm the proud owner of a slow cooker. It has taken me some time to find, or rather, to make up my mind to know if I really really needed another appliance in my kitchen. I wanted one, thought I could use one (ha!), Tante Pink told me I needed one, Ulrike was so very kind to mail me all kinds of recipes already... And since I got back to having a paid -parttime- job I decided I had an excuse. Of course I won't tell anyone that I could do just as well using the programming/timer function on my oven, prepare a casserole, put it in the oven in the morning, set the program and it automatically switches on, cooks and switches off at the set time. 

I asked around, searched the internet, looked at prices, brands and was even more undecided. Which brand? Which size? Ordering via Germany is way cheaper but the postage... Went looking for one when in Germany in February, no luck. Put the whole idea to rest.

Then all of a sudden we had a child-less day and decided to go to Amsterdam, visit the special exhibition in the van Gogh museum, strolled around the city, had a leisurely lunch and of course browsed bookshops. I bought a slow cooker book. Strolled around some more, visited another bookshop, bought some more cookbooks. Slowly an idea formed...surely there was a cookshop here that opened on Sunday?

The familiar ones didn't but on our way back to the car I remembered another shop, close to where I used to work back in the old days and yes it was open, yes they had a slow cooker. Just one brand, just one size.

All my carefully researched ideas overboard, bought the one they had. The shopkeeper asked us to watch the store while he ran to the other side of the street to get it. We walked 2 miles with an ungainly package. Impulsive buyer? Me?

That evening I made lemon curd (recipe to follow shortly), the next morning I tried my hand at lemonade. We all loved the flavour, there's still some left in the fridge and secretly I'm thinking of buying a bottle of wodka... wouldn't that be nice?

Lemon Cordial

(Sarah Lewis Slowcooker)

3 lemons, washed and thinkly sliced

625 gr sugar

900 ml boiling water

25 gr (1oz) tartaric acid

To serve and decorate: mint or lemon balm

All ingredients except tartaric acid together in the slow cooker pot, stir to dissolve almost all of the sugar. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.

Reduce heat to low and cook for another 2-3 hours until lemons are almost translucent. Switch off and stir in the tartaric acid. Leave to cool.

Remove and discard almost all of the sliced lemons, keeping a few and transfer cordial to sterilized bottle or jars. Seal well and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.

To serve; dillute with water to taste, adding ice cubes and optionally add sprigs of fresh mint or lemon balm. Cheers!

Work in progress.... It's me!! **waves**

Some people plan.

Some people think things over.

Some people have a vision.

Some people follow through on that.

Others (I'm sure there must be others no?) don't.

They sit around one Saturday night, browse blogs, one eye on the tele, participating in family conversation, sip a glass of wine, thinking of the sour cream in the fridge and what kind of cake to bake....

and almost as an afterthought looks at new designs for her boring blog. Free templates. Googles. Can't decide. I really want one designed just for me... Copies old template (hey I might be very impulse driven but not crazy!), lalalaaaa, copies new one. Have another glass of wine water. 

That's why it's 1.20 now. Family has gone off to sleep. Long time ago. She is still awake. Red eyes. No sour cream cake baked. 

That's why my blog name is somewhere in the cherries. It will get better. Promise! 

If not (hah, easy way out) I will return to the old boring one.

Maybe I will even allot more time for writing posts.... answering mail.... making decent pics