A blog about knitting, dyeing, sewing and baking
I have been spinning again. I really enjoy it, but as you can see I am not very good at it. ( Which is no surprise considering how rarely I do it.) This is a Merino Top, that I have dyed quite a while ago.
I love these colours! My daughter ( the weaver) wants to have it. We’ll see about that! Maybe I’ll put it in a vase and decorate my house with it …
I just found this recipe! I have to try it. German Broetchen ( buns) have a slightly gooey crumb texture. I had no idea that you get that with egg whites.
By the way, doesn’t a baker need a stylish apron? I have to make one out of this book. They are really cute and much more involved than the first apron I sewed in school in grade 5 ( I think it was beige…)
This is what I made for Valentine’s Day:
It was delicious! I tried to make fancy chocolate curls, but had not spread the chocolate thin enough. Apparently you have to make it as thin as you can. It was four years ago that I made this cake last and there were unnamed persons at our table who counted pieces…
This time I was lucky to find good canned sour cherries. They came in a real fancy jar and I bought four more of them. The last ones I had came with many pits and with little flavour. I can tell you, it dampens your appetite when you know that one hard bite on an unsuspected pit might result in a lot of pain and a high bill from your dentist.
I also made a couple of “sock banks” ( Sparstruempfe). Apparently that is where Germans used to save their money in and now that banks have become a bit untrustworthy people are coming back to them.
Well, actually that is not quite the reason. At my MIL’s church funds were cut so that they want to hand out “sock banks” that people fill and return as a fundraiser. My MIL asked me to help.
She told me the size and that it had to have a tie at the top and a string at the toe (?) but the rest was up to me. Being freed of all fitting issues I knit for the first time a toe-up sock using these instructions, but with a Magic Cast-on. For the smaller sock I knit a Jo-Jo heel (also called Boomerang Heel). You have to pull really hard to end up without holes.
I enjoyed trying something new, that did not have to fit anyone. It was quite liberating.
As you probably all know I am quite adventurous when it comes to making things. Most often I interpret instructions as mere guidelines.
So of course I felt somewhat challenged when reading in my 5 Minute Bread book that you cannot bake a bread with a high rye content using their recipe. Then I thought about the changes I have made to their master recipe and gave it a try.
This is what came out of the oven:
When I sliced it up I was amazed to see a wonderful light crumb and it tasted delicious. Here is the recipe:
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tsp (!) granulated yeast
1 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp salt
2 tsp caraway seeds
3 cups dark rye flour
3 cups bread flour
Using a stand mixer knead for 3 minutes on speed 1 and another 3 minutes on speed 2. The dough is very sticky and won’t come together in a ball due to the low gluten content. It would be very difficult and messy to knead by hand.
Let rise as usual for 2 hours and then store in the fridge. I used the dough after 2 or 3 days in the fridge. ( I recommend waiting at least a day before baking)
For the loaf I used about half of the dough and let it rise in a bread basket. That is where those pretty lines come from. (You can find them here in Vancouver.)
Bake at 450F for about 40 minutes on a baking stone and hot water added.
