9010

More shortbread testing: Lemon Rosemary and Chai Spice

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:27:00 +0000

I love the simplicity of shortbread. It's butter, sugar, flour and whatever add-ins you want. No chemical leaveners and for such a small cookie, it packs a real flavor punch.

I compared two shortbread base recipes. Here's the breakdown:

Chai Spice

Base recipe: 1 cup butter, 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp confectioners sugar and 2 cups flour. I made my own Chai spice blend - cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, fennel seed, star anise, a little bit of cloves, black peppercorns and black tea and used a food processor to make the dough.

I didn't care for the texture at all. It was too dry and sandy.

Lemon Rosemary

Base recipe: 1 cup butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 3/4 cups flour. Using a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar till light. Add the flour, lemon zest and fresh rosemary. Mix just until a dough forms.

I much prefer the texture of this shortbread. I think the combo of using granulated sugar vs confectioners sugar and a little less flour is a winner.

Recipe Test: Red Velvet Shortbread.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 20 May 2012 23:20:00 +0000

Better Homes & Gardens has a recipe for Red Velvet Shortbread, but it has eggs and I wanted something more along the lines of a regular shortbread without the eggs. So I took a chocolate shortbread recipe (confectioners sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt and butter) and reduced the cocoa powder. Then I mixed together some vanilla bean paste, Super Red gel paste color and a bit of white vinegar to make the whole 'red velvet' thing official.

These are okay in a sweet buttery cookie kind of way, but I still need to do some tinkering.

Rhubarb Bars.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 13 May 2012 23:30:00 +0000

I'm a big fan of rhubarb, but unfortunately it costs an arm and a leg in the city so I get to make something rhubarb maybe twice during the season. These little cookie bars were pretty good. I made half with nuts, half without. Next time, I'll lose the nuts. I think the bars are better without them. And I'll probably up the rhubarb to 2 1/2 cups.

Rhubarb Bars
Yield: 18-20 bars

Oven to 350.
Line a 9" square pan with parchment.

For Crust:

1 C flour
1/3 C confectioners sugar
1/2 C butter, softened
1 tsp cinnamon

In small bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment, stir together crust ingredients until it forms a dough. Press dough into parchment-lined pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

For Filling:

2 eggs
1 C sugar
1/4 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 C thinly sliced rhubarb (about 2 stalks)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Whisk together eggs, sugar, flour, salt and vanilla bean paste. Fold in rhubarb. Spread filling over hot crust. Top with nuts, if desired.

Bake 35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into bars.

Note: To make cutting easier, dip your knife in hot water.

Rice Pudding in the Crock Pot

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 03:02:00 +0000

I don't recall eating rice pudding when I was growing up so the fact that I've been craving rice pudding lately is kind of strange.

I made a very small batch of it in the crockpot this weekend and it was great.

Recipe:

1/2 cup medium-grain rice, rinsed
2 cups nonfat milk
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
pinch salt

1 egg
vanilla bean paste

Butter the crockpot liner and add all ingredients except for the egg and vanilla bean paste.

My 1.5 quart crockpot has 1 temperature setting: ON. I cooked it for 2 hours, 15 minutes and it was perfect. When the rice is tender and the pudding is the right consistency, beat the egg and temper it with some of the hot pudding. Add that back into the crockpot and whisk well. Stir in some vanilla bean paste and serve hot, cold or at room temperature.

Vintage Mister Donut.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:53:00 +0000

I was so excited to find this vintage coffee cup. My very first job was frying donuts at a Mister Donut. I wore an orange apron with an embroidered Mister Donut on the chest.

Everybody said I'd probably never want to eat another donut in my life after that job, but that didn't happen.

Apricot Pecan Sourdough Bread

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 02:48:00 +0000

It looks pretty good but in all actuality it was a fail. I think I waited too long after the overnight rise to shape the boules. The final rise was a dud and the loaves baked up kind of dense.

How is it possible that I missed out on this incredible film until now.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:16:00 +0000

Project finished: 1920s apron.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:25:00 +0000

I discovered the muslin for this project in my fabric stash box and, 2 years later, finally finished this apron. Not much to say, really. The cotton fabric was bought on the cheap, as were the vintage celluloid coat buttons.

I made a paper pattern from the muslin, cut out 2 pieces of fabric and with right sides together, sewed it together all the way around leaving an opening to turn right side out. Press, understitch all the way around, add 2 pockets, make 2 gigantic buttonholes for the coat buttons and that's it.

It's really comfortable and I like that it covers the entire front of me because I tend to make a mess in the kitchen.

Chocolate Sourdough Bread.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:17:00 +0000

100% hydration starter

doubled in 3-4 hours

My formula is a combination of this one and a few tips from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, which was recommended to us at bread school. This means I had to do my own baker's math. I don't want to tell you how long it took me to figure it all out.

Formula:

12.00 oz Bread Flour [100%]
4.23 oz Starter [35%]
.18 oz Salt [1.5%]
7.41 oz Water [60%]
4.81 oz Chocolate [40%]
.38 oz Cocoa Powder [3%]
.88 oz Sugar [7%]

I ended up using only 3.81 oz of the chocolate and I needed to add a bit more water.

The dough doubled in 12-14 hours on top of my fridge.

Nice and gassy and it smelled so good!

Turn the dough out onto floured surface

Stretch it into a rectangle and add the chopped chocolate in a series of folds (4 folds total)

Shape into a boule and place in a mixing bowl lined with a well-floured couche. Proof at room temperature about 4 hours. Heat the stone in the oven to 450 deg.

I got a lame from Breadtopia (great price and they shipped really fast), but unfortunately, you won't be seeing how much better my scoring is this time around. Even though I floured the couche really well, the boule stuck to it anyway and I had to pry a big chunk off the cloth which messed up the top and deflated the loaf. Sigh.

I baked it off anyway with a steam pan and spraying the walls with a mister for the first 3 minutes of baking.

And even though it's missing some off the top, I still think it's gorgeous with its dark, chewy, floury crust. I've never had chocolate sourdough before now, and it's a winning combination. The 2 flavors go together so perfectly. I'm definitely going to do this bread again and work on perfecting my technique for getting the boule out of the bowl.

First sourdough bake off.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:14:00 +0000

I feel pretty good about the results, although I'm already contemplating next steps and how to improve going forward. For one thing, I really blew it with the scores. Scoring the dough before it hits the oven directly relates to how the loaf is going to expand in the oven. The sharpest blade in my kitchen is an Xacto knife and it wasn't sharp enough to do the job properly. I need to get a proper lame.

But my starters are definitely on their way. The crumb was really tender albeit not hole-y enough yet. The crust was chewy and the taste was medium-sour and yeasty. All in all, really good.

The first sourdough loaves.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 02:21:00 +0000

I've been nudging my sourdough starters along for the last month or so. It was a little touch and go there between week 2 and 3 because I didn't see much growth. They were, however, bubbling away and smelling very yeasty and sour.

They get fed twice a day and because my kitchen is quite chilly, I started putting the jars on a heating pad with towels around them for about 2 hours after their feedings and then sticking them on top of the refrigerator after that where there is a little more warmth than my counter. This week I finally saw about 1/2" of climb on the walls of the glass jars and while it's not exactly bubbling over, I decided to try to make a couple of loaves with it and see what happens.

Here's the proofed starter, ready to go into the dough mix-

Mixed with the rest of the ingredients until shaggy. This is allowed to rest for 30 minutes before kneading-

Here's the dough after about 10-15 minutes of kneading with a dough hook. It will get another 45 minutes of resting-

And here's one of the shaped loaves, ready for a night in the fridge-

Tomorrow I'll pull them out of the fridge and let them rise. Hopefully they will, and I'll have something to bake.

soy votive candles (basil, sage & mint).

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:45:00 +0000

Melt the soy wax in a double boiler.

First pour.

Adding the wicks.

Expected sinkage.

Second pour, capping them off.

Finished candles.

So glad I joined the crowd on this one.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:41:00 +0000

Downton Abbey

sourdough starter.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:39:00 +0000

Despite the fact that our bread instructor at SFBI told us not to forget our sourdough starters in the chiller when the 2-week class series ended, I left my sourdough starter in the chiller. That was about 7 years ago.

Last weekend in one of those -I need to do this random thing that occurred to me right now- moments, I decided to get a sourdough starter going to replace the one I left at the school.

I made 2 starters - whole wheat and rye.

Day 1 (whole wheat)

Day 6 (whole wheat)

One week later

whole wheat

rye

They really do have their own personalities. The whole wheat took off immediately, doing its thing and eating me out of house and home and unbleached white flour. The rye started very slowly. At one point I thought it was dead, but on day 6 it sprung to life and now appears to be slightly more active than its whole wheat partner. They're both very healthy and smell like sourdough, which makes me really happy because I have a backup in case one of them goes in the crapper.

At this point, I'm just maintaining them at room temperature with twice-a-day feedings, and I'll keep doing this for another week, at which point they'll go in the fridge for long-term storage.

to hell in a handbasket.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:19:00 +0000

Back at the sewing machine: Knitting Project Bag.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:29:00 +0000

Fabric from my stash, pattern: Grab Bags by allpeoplequilt..

Red beret, blue hair, fabulous.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:05:00 +0000

Vintage Cardigan - front finished.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:15:00 +0000

Toasted Coconut Shortbread

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:03:00 +0000

recipe by Smitten Kitchen

I made these for a dinner party and they were super easy and delicious.

To save even more time, I put the dough in a large ziplock bag and flattened it out with a rolling pin until it was an even 1/4" thick. Then you just zip up the bag, put it on a baking sheet and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

To bake - cut open the ziplock bag, turn the dough out and cut it into squares with a knife. Use a fork to pierce the tops of each cookie a couple of times.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:04:00 +0000

Vintage Cardigan - Right Front Panel.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:16:00 +0000

Bush St. & Scott St.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:32:00 +0000

December 31, 2011 will be the last day of my 365 project. What I've learned so far is that most of my 365 days is spent commuting to & from the office on a packed bus. Or, if I'm not actually on the packed bus, I'm walking to or from it which is really the only time I have to take a photo because it's too busy in the office and not that interesting anyway. Not that commuting is exciting, but I spend a lot of time doing it.

I'm always looking for pictures to take. This project didn't change that. What it did do, is highlight the fact that I want to be taking a lot more pictures, but there isn't time, so I need to figure out how to snap quickly & on the fly.

Yesterday, I was driving from Point A to Point B when I passed this building.

I was on a mission to do 12 other things, but life is short & all the rest of it so I made a quick detour around the block to see if there was a shot. That turned out to be a little more involved than I expected due to one-way streets, lots of fast street traffic, no parking and nowhere to double-park for a few minutes while I got out of the car and scoped out the situation. So I just took a quick photo of it from my car.

Today I did something I've done only rarely. I went back on foot to try to get a decent shot of the building. I walked all 4 corners of the intersection and settled on the one diagonally across from it.

The end result wasn't terribly exciting, but I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere that I'll work out on a mind-numbingly boring bus commute. I also took some shots with the Argus, because I'm still trying to figure out how that camera works. I have a growing log of Argus F-stops on my iphone.

Vintage knitting patterns.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:34:00 +0000

There's a lot of math with this one and the pattern is lean on signposts, but it's fun to see it come to life. As I knit, I see things I'd do differently next time - like the change the placement of increases and decreases and maybe do a ribbed border vs a garter stitch border.

I just hope it fits.

The Death Shawl.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:58:00 +0000

In early August, I went to Sea Ranch on the Sonoma Coast. We rented a house up there for a week and it was heaven. I could've used another 3 weeks of peace & quiet.

I decided to try knitting a shawl with some lacework. It was a lot of fun with the exception of the first 4 rows of the feather and fan border which nearly drove me insane, which is why everyone nicknamed it "The Death Shawl".

It still needs to be blocked, but life is moving very fast for me these days and frankly it was either block the shawl or take the photos.

There was no cell service at all up at Sea Ranch, which was great. When we got back into town a week later & my phone started going off with the buzzing & the ringing I wanted to throw it out the window. Instead, I changed all my ring tones so nothing sounds the same as it did before I went to Sea Ranch. It's the best I could do.

misc #40.

noreply@blogger.com (9010) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:30:00 +0000

'The operation was successful,' Dawlish said as though explaining to a child.

I said, ' The operation was successful but the patient died.'

'You mustn't ask for too much. Success is just a state of mind. We don't get called in until there has already been a failure somewhere. The trouble with young people nowadays is that they worship success. Don't be so ambitious.'