Bread Making

I've decided that 2011 will be the year that I bake bread. Not for all my needs, because there is still a place for thick sliced white bread in my life. It's a skill that, up until now, has eluded me. Although I haven't made that many attempts so eluded may be the wrong word.
At the end of last year myself and a friend were shopping for dinner and we decided that homemade bread would be a good accompaniment. I remembered that there was some yeast in the cupboard (from a previous bread making moment) and, of course, there was flour. I said I would make it as my friend had work to do.
I used a recipe from my Mary Berry cookbook, a plain white loaf and set about making it. Mixing, kneading, proving etc. Once out of the oven it looked OK, smelt great so just the tasting to go.
I then sliced into it, it was so dense it was almost like the dough hadn't cooked at all! But it tasted good, it was warm from the oven and with butter melting into it it just about passed muster. I then looked at the expiry date on the yeast, it had expired in 2007! So I'm determined that I won't let my latest batch of yeast go out of date.
I'm using dried yeast at the moment, I want to master it first before I start buying fresh yeast. Not sure whether I will go down the starter route as yet, but we shall see.
Since then I have made one more loaf and it was heaps better than my first attempt and as we speak there is a Focaccia dough proving in the kitchen. The worst thing about my bread 2011 challenge is that I'm eating a low carb diet at the moment. But I guess some homemade bread once a week won't make that much difference,will it?

Lacy Snood

So, officially, Happy New Year! And it is a year since I started this project of regaling you with my exploits in baking and knitting. I've enjoyed it and I hope some of you have too.
As it's the New Year I am on a healthy eating kick at the moment in an effort to counteract the excesses of the Christmas period, of which there were many as you can imagine. So I haven't baked a thing this year yet, it feels a bit wrong but it's also good. It means I am concentrating on the knitting. Maybe I could combine the two, knitted cake anyone? NO, knitted food is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. It just feels weird, anytime I see knitted cupcakes I feel a bit...well, sick. Over reaction? I don't think so. So both hobbies will be kept apart except on this blog.
I started a lacy pattern scarf back in September with no real idea of who it was for (although that's most of my projects) and I finished it last week. And it became clear who it was for in the final weeks, a friend's birthday was looming and I thought she would like it. I finished it last week. But rather than leaving it as a scarf I sewed the ends together and got a snood! Very easy and very effective. I got the pattern for it from Knitty.com. It was one of those patterns that took me forever to work out and then once I got it it was easy. There were some "mistakes" along the way but the pattern meant that these aren't really visible (that's my story anyway).
Although it looks like it took me four months to knit it I did do other projects in between. There was the fingerless gloves, the baby wrap-over dress, the baby hat, the baby booties X 2 and the moss stitch scarf. I was being very productive on the quiet.
And now the best part, I can start a new project! Well I started it last weekend and it's already coming along and looking good. It's another lace pattern, I seem to be drawn to them at the moment. More on this project in the coming weeks. Happy baking and knitting and whatever craft you are into at the moment.

The Icing on the Cake

I know it's the New Year and I should be blogging New Year things but there are some loose ends of 2010 to clear up first. Bear with me, I'm sure it will be worth it!
Cast your mind back to Christmas, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping where he shouldn't be, you get the picture. So the week before Christmas it was time to ice the cake. I went down the traditional marzipan/royal icing route. I didn't take it as far as making my own marzipan, Mr Sainsbury helped me out there. As I had used Nigella's Feast for the cake I went back to her for the icing and she said to use marmalade as a sticking agent for the marzipan. Not being a fan of the marmalade (unless it's Roses Lime marmalade, of course) I opted for the apricot jam route. I melted a regular sized jar on the hob and then using a pastry brush applied it liberally all over the cake. Then I draped it in the marzipan and cut off the extra bits (making sure to have a taste, chef's prerogative). The packet of marzipan said to leave it for 24 hours. I didn't, as a nod to this I left it for an hour before adding the royal icing and I don't think it made any difference.
I went to Delia for the royal icing recipe, always reliable. I've never made royal icing before but it's very like meringue in it's consistency and taste (yes I tasted it, a good cook always tastes as they go along, it's the law). I followed the recipe to the letter, well except for adding the glycerin! I had bought it, it was on the side but it just didn't make it in. I've just found out why glycerin is added, it's to prevent the icing drying too hard. Well, the proof is in the eating. On Boxing Day morning I sent the in-laws off with a quarter and then had a little taste later that day. I made this cake last year and frankly it was a bit dry and crumbly when it was cut. But this year it was moist, moist, moist and the icing was grand. I think it may have been the rum I was feeding it in the weeks after I made it, I suspect, but who knows?
Now that's 2010 finished with, I will be all about the New Year in the next post.