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no knead bread

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Last night our extended family got together for a family night of epic proportions.

You see I have at least seventy in my extended family. Cousins, Aunty’s, Uncles, nephews, nieces, husbands, wives etc etc.

My mum’s brothers and sisters get together on the first friday of the month and sometimes their kids (that’s me) tag along.

One of my cousins Ali made three loaves of bread last night, that we’re amazing. Her recipe came from here.

So easy even her gorgeous daughter Jessica can do it!

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Sometime very soon, I am going to have a go.

No Knead Bread

500 grams or 15 ounces bread flour (3 cups)
10 grams or 2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 to 4 grams or 1/2 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
430 grams or 13 ounces water (1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons)
plenty of extra spelt flour or extra bread flour for coating work surface and during proofing
Combine all the ingredients except the extra flour or bran for dusting in a large bowl. Mix it with a wooden spoon still all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at warm room temperature for about 14 to 20 hours.

Heavily flour your work surface with spelt flour or bread flour. Pour and pull out the dough, which will spread into a blob onto your work surface. Let it rest there for ten to twenty minutes.

From here on [these final steps are verbatim from Steingarten’s recipe] handle the dough very gently so that the structure of internal bubbles is left undisturbed and the dough is not compressed. Now, slide your fingers, palms up, under the blob and stretch it into a rough square about 12 inches on a side. Dust it with a little spelt flour. Let the dough rest, loosely covered with the same piece of plastic wrap, for a half-hour. Even longer is better.

Rub the inside of the rising basket with ample quantities of spelt flour [Note from MR: you can use a banneton or a bowl lined with a heavily floured cloth napkin]. Now form the loaf: Bring one corner of the square of dough about 2/3 of the way to the opposite corner, gently pressing it down. Repeat with the next corner, clockwise; continue with the other two corners. Now, you’ll have a puffy square, looking perhaps like a Danish pastry. If a flap of dough sticks out in any direction, fold it halfway over the loaf. Amply dust the loaf with spelt flour.

Now, with both hands, gently lift this puffy package of dough, invert it, and lower into the center of the rising basket. Sprinkle the top of the dough, now really a round loaf, with a little spelt flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, tucking it in here and there. Let it rise for 2 ½ hours.

Halfway through the rise, put the casserole into the oven, on the highest shelf that will accommodate it; lean the casserole cover against it; and turn the temperature to its highest setting, probably 500-550 degrees F/260-288 degrees C. In my oven, to avoid excessive direct heat from burning the bottom of the loaf, I first put a baking stone on the oven shelf and three layers of silicone insulators.

When another ninety-minutes have passed (for a total of 2 ½ hours’ rise), open the oven and pull out the oven shelf. Remove the plastic wrap from the rising basket and loosen the loaf all around from the basket. Bring it over to the casserole, and steadying the loaf with your other hand, invert the loaf into the center of the casserole. This may take some practice. Shake the casserole sideways if the loaf needs to be neatened. Cover the casserole, close the oven, and bake for 30 minutes.

Uncover the casserole and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes until the loaf is a handsome, very dark brown. The loaf will be loose in the casserole and easy to remove, most easily by inverting it. Let the loaf cool, bottom down, on the rack for two hours, when it will be barely warm to the touch.

Honestly the bread was amazing.

Breaking Bread with the ones we love couldn’t be any sweeter.

Speak tomorrow.

Amanda

 

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Create

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On the 14th of June I am speaking at a women’s event called ‘Create’ for essence a women’s organisation.

Everyone can be creative.

It is not just a personality type or a giftedness.

There is a creative legacy everyone can bring and leave in our world.

What is your creative bent?

make it

I can’t wait.

If you would like to come along and hang, I will be 37 weeks pregnant so if you are a midwife maybe I could buy you a free ticket! { Ha jokes. }

Tickets are $10

To buy a ticket today click here: Create Tickets online

9:45am- 12noon

Mount Pleasant Baptist Community College

497 Marmion Street, Booragoon WA

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hooked

hooked 3

Nesting during pregnancy always manifests in different ways, but one main way for me personally is through making little things.

Not always for my new baby, just keeping my hands busy.

This week I have had a major case of Sciatica pain through my back and legs and I truly know I am embarking on the third trimester.

Sitting down is one of the only times I have been free from pain, so crochet has become even more of an addiction.

A friend asked me to crochet her a slouched winter beanie. I haven’t made one before and most of the patterns I could find for this type of beanie were knitted ones. So I had a go and fiddled and made my own. Here is my pattern for a slouched winter beanie.

hooked 2

Slouchy Winter Beanie

Easy pattern: Beginner

crochet hook 5 US size

2 balls 50 gram

dc: double crochet

hdc: half double crochet

selfie

(here is a little selfie with the beanie on.)

Chain 4 link together to make a ring.

Round 1: Chain 2 (this counts as 1st dc). Make 11 dcs in the middle of the ring (12 stitches).

Round 2: chain 2, do 2 dcs in every stitch (24 stitches).

Round 3: chain 2, do 2 dcs in every stitch (48 stitches). This creates the slouchy gather.

Round 4: chain 2, Increase 1 stitch in every other stitch. (e.g. 2 dcs in 1st stitch, 1 dc in 2nd, 2dcs in 3rd, 1 in 4th and so on) (72).

Rounds 5-14: chain 2, do 1 dc in every stitch (72). If you want the hat to be slouchier then do more rows here until you’re happy with its length.

Round 15: chain 2, Decrease after every 6th stitch (do 7th & 8th stitches together) (64).

Round 16: chain 2, Decrease after every 5 stitches (do 6th & 7th stitches tog) (56).

Round 17: chain 2, 1 dc in every stitch (56).

Round 18: chain 1, Use hdc. Decrease after every 10th stitch (11th & 12th tog) (52).

Round 19: chain 1, hdc 52 stitches around.

Round 20: chain 1, hdc  52 stitches around.

Join and finish off by weaving ends in.

Depending on the wool you choose the size of the hat may vary.

This pattern fitted my head perfectly, but you may need to make smaller or bigger in the half double crochet rounds depending on head size.

face cloth

I have also embarked upon making dish cloths/ face washer cloths for the first time.

Using organic cotton and this pattern here that I changed slightly (extra rows of Half double crochet around the edging) Organic Dish Cloths

I think these will be perfect little presents to throw in with the care packages for all the people having babies at the moment.

They are also so simple and easy to make.

If you want some good videos on Novice Crochet, check out my post I did a while ago.

Speak tomorrow

Amanda

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my muse

beanie twoWhen people say I am obsessed with crochet, it cracks me up.

Yes I am an addict, but for a very different reason than what you would expect.

It is my muse.

I don’t walk into a room with crocheted things and swoon. For me, crochet is a form of meditation. One could say it is my creative thinking, melting, stirring pot.

My solo brainstorming session.

The team of creatives in my head get together and have a meeting, whilst my fingers twist.

I dream.

I think.

I forgive.

I let go.

I design.

I innovate.

It is a mindless activity that recreates possibility and inspires me onwards.

What is a mindless activity that helps you create?

We all need a muse. Mine is all about homemade goodness.

I love all things homemade. I am not fierce about it. Where I shame others into partaking in my pleasures.

But all things home made make me feel homey.

This is what I have been playing around with creatively this week:

A new beanie for Max: the pattern is found here

maxi moo

A new hoodie for max as well, with the chunkiest wool I could find: pattern here.

looking upsee sawhelicopters

I learnt a new stitch whilst making the beanie above, so I have started a rug for a friend that I promised over a year ago and also I have been making my own cream cheese from scratch: find the recipe here.

homemade cream cheese

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taking comfort in the simple things

herbs simple

fresh eggs

cushionsYesterday I revelled in that which is simple in my world.

I bought two new table cloths from Spotlight that were discounted upon discount for $3.50 each.

One cloth ended up on my family table and the other was turned into two new cushions for our lounge, fresh new cushions for $3.50.

My mum gave us fresh eggs from her chicken yard and I went to our local nursery and bought some new herbs for my kitchen shelf.

The simple things.

If you are feeling overwhelmed and over stretched, what is simple in your world that you can take comfort in.

We are tricked into believing that happiness is found in a new car, a new house, the perfect school for our children but material things will never comfort our soul.

In fact they will only stress and stretch our souls as we look at the credit card rising to please people we don’t even know or like.

What is simple for you?

What is comforting?

A pot of tea?

A ream of Scripture?

Fresh eggs?

A newly baked cake from scratch?

A roast in the oven?

Changing the sheets and spraying essential oil around your room?

Inspiration arises when we take time to appreciate that which is background in a very foreground focused world.

Gratitude for our home.

Solitude in the midst of the tide of emotions.

A friend who is always there.

The simple things.

Speak tomorrow

Amanda