Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Adventures in wheat bread making...
I've baked. I'm not great at baking, but I'm not new to it, either. I've made white bread, wheat bread, rolls, breadsticks, cornbread, focaccia bread, banana bread (see two posts below...), cookies, muffins, scones, brownies, cakes, et cetera. Most of the time, things turn out okay (don't see two posts below), but I want to get better so that I can make something spectacular. Something so good, it doesn't have time to cool before it's devoured. Something that people remember and ask for ("Oh, I hope Jeralyn makes her delicious <insert delicious food for which I am known, here>!"). Commence wheat bread experiments.
The other day, I ground up a little bit of wheat and made my first attempt (in a long time) at a delicious loaf of wheat bread:
(Overhead view necessary since loaf did not raise above edge of pan.)
Surprisingly enough, this loaf was rather tasty. The dough did not rise. At all. I think my water was way too hot and destroyed the yeast (yes, I used yeast). I let it try to rise for hours, and even punched it (it hardly made a dent, but it helped relieve my frustration at the dough ;) ), but it remained dense and heavy. So I cooked it. We ate it. I learned.
A couple of days later, I found some new recipes and wanted to try again:
(Overhead view not necessary since loaf is about a hundred times taller than the last one.)
(This loaf turned out so pretty, it deserves another picture.)
Okay. Big difference. I got the water the right temperature this time. I let the dough rise over a warm oven. It actually doubled! Success! It rose (raised?) even more the second time, and even more in the oven. The top was a little dark, but it was light and fluffy. It tasted alright, but Loaf Attempt #1 actually tasted better. This one is great with a little butter and honey, though!
So now I need a little break from wheat bread making. I think next time I will return to my first recipe and be more careful with the water temperature, and I may just have something. If it turns out, watch for me to bring some to your door one day :)
The other day, I ground up a little bit of wheat and made my first attempt (in a long time) at a delicious loaf of wheat bread:
(Overhead view necessary since loaf did not raise above edge of pan.)
Surprisingly enough, this loaf was rather tasty. The dough did not rise. At all. I think my water was way too hot and destroyed the yeast (yes, I used yeast). I let it try to rise for hours, and even punched it (it hardly made a dent, but it helped relieve my frustration at the dough ;) ), but it remained dense and heavy. So I cooked it. We ate it. I learned.
A couple of days later, I found some new recipes and wanted to try again:
(Overhead view not necessary since loaf is about a hundred times taller than the last one.)
(This loaf turned out so pretty, it deserves another picture.)
Okay. Big difference. I got the water the right temperature this time. I let the dough rise over a warm oven. It actually doubled! Success! It rose (raised?) even more the second time, and even more in the oven. The top was a little dark, but it was light and fluffy. It tasted alright, but Loaf Attempt #1 actually tasted better. This one is great with a little butter and honey, though!
So now I need a little break from wheat bread making. I think next time I will return to my first recipe and be more careful with the water temperature, and I may just have something. If it turns out, watch for me to bring some to your door one day :)
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Ever have one of those days?
...where everything you cook turns out like this?
(This is supposed to be blueberry banana bread.)
A couple of weeks ago, I made this banana bread. I've made banana bread successfully dozens of times. What happened here? It actually tasted pretty good... Anyway, I'm glad I took a picture because now I can laugh about it :)
(This is supposed to be blueberry banana bread.)
A couple of weeks ago, I made this banana bread. I've made banana bread successfully dozens of times. What happened here? It actually tasted pretty good... Anyway, I'm glad I took a picture because now I can laugh about it :)
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Leah and Grant lately
Back on the 27th of July, Grant had his two-month checkup, and it was confirmed that he is a BIG boy! He weighed 14 pounds 11 ounces (95th-ish percentile), and measured 24 inches long (90th-ish percentile). I know boys and girls grow at different rates, but I checked Leah's old measurements, and this is about how big she was at four months. Interesting comparison for us :)
Over the past few days, Grant has started liking the idea of sleeping for a 6-7 hour stretch every night (yes!!), followed by 30 minutes of diapering and eating, followed by another 2-3 hours of more sleep. By that time, Leah gets up and we all start our day. I can live with that!
Leah has been making some big improvements with potty training, too! When she has to go, she looks at Mommy or Daddy and says "I gotta go potty!" and then she runs over to her potty chair, takes off her underwear (yes, underwear!) and pants, sits on the potty and does her business, then counts to 10 (so she doesn't get up too fast), grabs a wipe and wipes, and then comes to Mommy and Daddy for help putting her underwear back on (she gets it all twisted still) and washing her hands (she can't reach the sink on her own). We still give her treats afterwards, and we still put a diaper on at night. Most mornings, though, she will wake us up with an "I went potty in potty chair!" and we go in and she has taken off her (dry) diaper and gone in the potty chair all by herself. We are so pleased that she is able to do so much on her own, and not have to worry about diapers anymore! We are still working on getting her to sit on the toilet though... so far, she is not a big fan of sitting on the "big potty chair".
After a couple minutes of tummy time the other day, Grant got upset and started crying and rubbing his face in the blanket. Leah was showing sympathy! :)
Cute, but it's hard when one kid crying gets the other one started, too...
Over the past few days, Grant has started liking the idea of sleeping for a 6-7 hour stretch every night (yes!!), followed by 30 minutes of diapering and eating, followed by another 2-3 hours of more sleep. By that time, Leah gets up and we all start our day. I can live with that!
Leah has been making some big improvements with potty training, too! When she has to go, she looks at Mommy or Daddy and says "I gotta go potty!" and then she runs over to her potty chair, takes off her underwear (yes, underwear!) and pants, sits on the potty and does her business, then counts to 10 (so she doesn't get up too fast), grabs a wipe and wipes, and then comes to Mommy and Daddy for help putting her underwear back on (she gets it all twisted still) and washing her hands (she can't reach the sink on her own). We still give her treats afterwards, and we still put a diaper on at night. Most mornings, though, she will wake us up with an "I went potty in potty chair!" and we go in and she has taken off her (dry) diaper and gone in the potty chair all by herself. We are so pleased that she is able to do so much on her own, and not have to worry about diapers anymore! We are still working on getting her to sit on the toilet though... so far, she is not a big fan of sitting on the "big potty chair".
After a couple minutes of tummy time the other day, Grant got upset and started crying and rubbing his face in the blanket. Leah was showing sympathy! :)
Cute, but it's hard when one kid crying gets the other one started, too...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)