Baking Bread

Well! My sourdough starter bit the dust which means starting over.  Before anyone offers advice on reconstituting, it was moldy as a result of a refrigerator melt down.  (Yes at some point we will need a new one.  Meanwhile the old one is limping along.)

I have been doing yeasted bread which is different but equally delicious.  This is an oatmeal loaf.  I used a cup of Bob' Red Mill thick cut oats which sat in two cups of boiling water until cool.  I added a bit more water when I started the actual loaf.

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 It is delicious.  As a Type 2 diabetic I don't eat a lot of bread so when I do I want it to be tasty.  

I rarely use a written recipe these days.  I do write down what I am doing if I am experimenting.

And happier days have the sun shining through my bedroom windows when it rises.  It's a small joy, which I have been thinking about a lot.  Yes, there is always gratitude to practice.  But there is a great deal to be said for finding small joys in our daily live.  Perhaps I will do a longer post on this.

As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by.............*S*

Bread

I have been baking bread foremost sixty years, but I have never been happy with my decorative scoring.  I made this loaf trying to follow several ideas I have gathered.

Let it knead long enough to 'window pane'. 

Paid attention to how I formed the loaf, being sure to make it tight and smooth and gave it a long warm rise.   

Dusted flour over the surface before I scored it and used a sharp ceramic knife for the cuts as I don't have a lame. 

Started it at 425ºF with hot water in the bottom of the oven. Turned it down to 375ºF after about twenty minutes.  Baked for another thirty minutes or so. I took it out of the pan and turned it over to get the bottom nice and brown for the last five or six minutes.  This made the flour get a bit darker than I liked.  Next loaf I'll either make a cap or just turn it in the pan.  I baked this one in a cast iron frying pan.

 

I bake all our bread. About a year ago I bought a Bosch heavy duty mixer.  I have the small size which is perfect for our little family.  It's been my wrist saver!

 Proge says he has a personal baker.

We have had flu shots and Covid boosters; have you?

As always, stay safe, and thanks for stopping by.................*s*

June

This is a challah I baked yesterday.  I got bored with my basic bread and decided to delve into my collection of bread recipes.  This is a combo of various recipes. I switched out the sugar for brown rice syrup.  It's not a huge amount but it does give the bread a very nice flavor note.  I only used one egg; I think I should have used two or three.

I had so much dough that I made some burger buns and a tasty dried fruit twist.

One of the fun things about  bread is the way it can be twisted and braided.  This is a four strand plait.

I am thrilled to see my white (iris) flag blooming.  I planted it many years ago around the time of the caterpillar invasion.  Between bugs, drought, and a leaking pond I assumed it was dead and gone.

It's amazing what rain and the pond at its correct depth can do for a plant.

We have been enjoying a heat spell. Temps are supposed to drop a bit today, but it is still spring...soon to be officially summer!

As always, stay safe and healthy, and thanks for stopping by............*s* 

Snow Daze

Mother Nature and Grandfather Frosty have ganged up on us after lulling us into a false sense of security.  Lulled, I tell you LULLED!          

Enough pictures of storms have been posted.  Instead here is a photo of sunrise on Saturday morning.  As much as I dislike snow this was magical.  There was no wind so all day we enjoyed a very special light.  Usually the wind blows the trees clean, so this was a particular treat!

I have also been baking bread a little more often.  This loaf is one of my experimental sourdoughs.  It was so tasty that we ate it all up!

Stay warm and cozy or cool and cozy.

As always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*

A Stay At Home Teapot

I'm calling this a stay at home teapot because it has several problems.  This is the second lid I have made for it.  I dropped the original while I was unloading the glaze kiln.  The lid looks fine but it doesn't work the way I like my lids to fit.  A larger problem is the spout.  The opening needs more work.  The sides need to be higher so it pours in a stream.  Right now the first cup goes everywhere over the edges.  Tea is not supposed a bathing experience!

There was a wonderful post in Ceramic Arts Daily on how to handbuild a teapot in thirty minutes.  It's built over a form with everything but the bottom done while it's still on the form.  I took a bit longer because I am an OCD freak!  It's a fun thing to handbuild that even beginners can enjoy making.
 CAD: 30 Minute Teapot!

I made another one of my bread experiments.  With this one I used 3/4 Cup Rye Flour and 3/4 Cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat, a pinch of sugar and 1/4 Tsp. Yeast.  I let the whole thing ferment over a day and gradually added flour a cup or two at a time with hours of rest between each addition.  When it held together, but was still very wet I turned it onto the counter and folded and kneaded using my bench scraper.  I did this a couple of times.  I baked it at 400F. in a preheated oven and covered cast iron pan.  Usually I watch it, take the lid off, turn the oven temp down a bit.  This time something came up and I forgot about it for a bit over an hour.  It came out perfectly with a moist crumb.  The only problem is that I can't stay away from it!  YUM!

We're having more typical, gray New England weather.  It's not too cold out, with no wind so I may go out in a bit and do a little yard pick up!  That never stops!

Happy Hannuka to all those who celebrate.  A Festival of Light is much needed at this time of year!

As always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*

Tea and Bread

Yesterday it was 56 F. in the afternoon.  It was so nice to work in my studio without waiting for everything to warm up. Today at 7 A.M. it was 8F.  with wind chill....ah the benefits of a good wood stove in the house!  The sun is still cold but shining brightly into my studio.  I have the heater on so I should be able to work in an hour or so.

I have started a project that has been rattling around in my brain.  I am challenging myself to handbuild a teapot a week.  Most of my teapots are thrown, but last summer or so there was this post in Ceramic Arts Daily; Handbuilt Teapots.  I made a couple of teapots and put the idea aside.  Now, in winter, when I need something to explore and give me a January kick in the seat of the pants I have been thinking about doing a series.

This one is still in its early stage.  I need to clean it up a bit and put a knob on the lid.  The neat thing about working this quickly is that it can become very gestural.

I started it over a bowl, added the spout, handle and cut the lid; then I took it out of the form and added the bottom.  I didn't quite do it in half an hour, but I came close!  I was also doing laundry!  (Always there seems to be laundry to do!)

I was thinking about glazing them and doing a once fire.  On second thought I've rejected that idea.  Some of my best designs have come from having a group of pots to consider.  I do like the idea of a family of terra cotta teapots waiting for glaze.

I'm not sure that I will manage a full year of fifty-two teapots.  It would be great if I could end up with such a result, but I have to consider that my studio may be too cold to work in, or life getting in the way, or being drawn down a different path to explore.  The idea is to keep making and not beat myself up if I don't meet my stated goal.  It's an enjoyable clay experience not boot camp!

Before Christmas I started making small clocks.  This one is about seven inches across.  The flowers are waxed with resist.  I have been doing a sponge style pattern for background.  The plain backgrounds weren't doing it for me anymore!  This still need the numbers added.  I want to figure our a simple stand so they can either be wall mounted or placed on a table.

I have been baking my Cuban Bread or Italian Feather Bread lately.  They are quick and tasty, but I wanted to do another slow rise loaf.  I made my started with 1 Cup White Whole Wheat and 1 Cup APB White Flour;  1 Tbsp. honey; 1/4 tsp dry yeast and 2 Cups water.  I mixed it all together and let it sit for a couple of days, stirring it down occasionally.  I used half of it with another 1/2 tsp yeast and 2 Cups Water.  I made a soft dough that I let rise over a day or so.  I folded the dough on itself every time it got big.  The final rising was in a large warm bowl in a cotton napkin dusted with oat flour.  I preheated the oven to 450 F. with my cast iron dutch oven in it.  I quickly greased the pan, dumped the bread in and covered it.  I reduced the heat to 400 and did not disturb it for about forty minutes.  I checked the temp and continued to bake until the interior temp of the loaf was 220F.  I let it cool for half an hour before cutting it.  I probably should have waited longer but I am a notorious heel stealer!

It's a tasty loaf which I will probably do again.

Enjoy the day with hot (or cold for those of you south of the equator) drink and stay warm (or cool)

As always, thanks for stopping by...............*s*

Time?

I just realized that I haven't done a real post in a week.  We've had a lot of heat with equally high humidity;  I have thought of myself as being exceptionally slothful and doing nothing but lying around or in the pool and drinking iced tea.

Then I started listing what I have done and I don't feel quite so bad.  (Puritan guilt can get you every time!)

Does anyone get the CAD daily postings on Ceramics Arts Daily?  There is a great post about a 30 Minute Teapot.  (Click on the photo of the teapot or scroll the links.)  I didn't have a hump mold so I used a bowl.  And, being me, I had to mess around a bit, screw up the lid and fix it to some extent.  Still I think i was done in an hour.  I love The possibilities of this.  They are fast enough to do, that I can do them between projects.  Teapots as test pots?!  Hmmmmm........we'll see, Grasshopper.......we'll see.

I did a variation on my Cuban Bread recipe.  I added a cup of uncooked oatmeal and one eighth cup of molasses.  I wanted something a little different so I decided to fool around with the basic recipe.  I've found that a good bread recipe can be very flexible.  It also made great hamburger buns!

This is KikiLaSois after an exhausting go at destroying a pile of mail which I had sorted.  She likes to sleep in this position.  She is turning into something that more resembles a meat loaf than a cat.  She loves to eat the leftovers and will even push Winter away from her own food.  Winter was smaller than the cats when we got her and easily intimidated.  This pride is the only one I have not been able to leave food out for.  I still think it's because they are all rescue cats and for a long time did not know where or when their next meal was coming from.  Bad habits die hard.

We are starting a thunderstorm....so I am going to post this over on Mud Colony while there is still time and do an edit later.

It looks like a day of rain is ahead......the gentle, soaking kind....not the wash away in floods kind.

Enjoy the day and the week ahead.  As always, thanks for stopping by..........*s*

Fooling Around

A few weeks ago I threw a bunch of small cruet/ tiny teapot forms to alter and in general mess with.  So far this is the only survivor.  It's not by any means done.....I want to add more slip on the other side and incorporate the slip with the handle, lid and spout. 

 I think I will return to hand building the next bunch.  When I work with slabs I don't have to wait for the clay to set up enough to begin altering the form.  The piece becomes one gesture that way.

 I did another slow rise bread experiment.  This time I let the initial mix bubble and proof for thirty-six hours.  I also added about two-thirds of a cup of whole milk greek yogurt which helped the process and gives it a nice flavor.  After I added the rest of the flour I folded and kneaded with the aid of my bench scraper (Yes, I do keep one for the kitchen and one for the studio.) for about ten minutes.  I then let it rise and folded it down in the rising bowl another four times and let it spend about eighteen hours (overnight +++) in the refrigerator.  I folded one more time, let it rise wrapped in a cornmealed napkin and baked it in a preheated cast iron dutch oven.  This time we managed to let it sit for a good six hours before slicing.

I think it's one of my better efforts.  In the meantime we had cuban bread calzones and a loaf to tide us over.

I took this pictures last night.  I love the way fish look when they are swimming in the dark.....like they are flying through the night.

I also put up a new set of shelves.  They are stable and will work fine for my storage which is fairly light weight.  I would not use them for the canned foods and equipment that is pictured on the carton.

What state do I live in?  CONFUSION!  I just realized that it's Sunday not Saturday, so I'm going to rush over to Mud Colony to post this.  You should take a look too.

Enjoy the day and as always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*

Winter.....Weather Not The Pup!

As most of your probably know we are going through a cold wave here in the north east.  Today has been a little warmer...... 10F at 6:00 AM rather than yesterday's 2.  There are places a lot colder than here, but the people I really feel for are the Sandy survivors who still have no heat and are spending nights in heated tents. I find it irresponsible and reprehensible that people who live in one of our largest cities are still without heat and other utilities.  I have always thought that it is the duty of an advanced society to take care of those who suffer disasters and other deprivations.

Climbing down off my very large hobby horse!

Now that we have the Jotul installed it provides  (even without fans) enough heat along with the southern windows and my little heater  to make it possible to work in my downstairs studio for about  four hours every day.  The exception is when it stays below 15F all day.  I have a small area upstairs where I can decorate  and paint.  But I haven't needed to make it a permanent space which I use until March the way I have n previous years.

I rolled out several slabs of clay and cut them into various sizes.  As I may have said before I feel no particular attachment to them and throw most of them in the slop bucket.  The roosters below are the first ones I have even thought about saving.  I was messing around with color, then realized I really want to work in a true ink and wash style.  I'm using a black mason stain with frit 3124 thinned to various densities.  A little glycerin in the mix makes for smoother brushing.

After all these years you would think that I would be prepared for the way brushes and inks feel and respond to different surfaces!  Alas, such is not the case.

I baked a nice yeast corn bread yesterday.  I soaked the corn meal by pouring boiling water over it and letting it cool before I began the making.  It gave the loaf a nice corn flavor with out the grittiness I sometimes find in corn bread.  The only thing wrong was that the crust on the bottom was too light.  I know it's because I didn't heat the cast iron pan first.  Maybe next time I'll get a photo of it before it's mostly gone.

And a correction on                                  Helper Cat Haiku

Pristine blank surface

Curious cat explorer

Black paw prints remain

Stay warm, cool and happy and enjoy your week end.

As always, thanks for stopping by.............*S*

The Good and The Ugly

The Good...

I baked this oatmeal batter bread on Saturday.  It's a tasty loaf but I've decided I don't really like batter breads.  They are too soft and tend to assume strange shapes while baking.  I'll make this recipe again but will add a few more cups of flour so it becomes a soft kneadable dough.  With a short knead time not too much gluten will develop so it should still be fairly soft.

We'll see, grasshopper, we'll see.......

The Ugly......

is providing the impetus to finish the tiles for the wood stove surround.  We went ahead and put the stove in with just the wonderboard up.  Necessary as it is getting too cold to have the electric heat coming on to keep us minimally warm.

 Wonderboard (cement board) is just about as ugly as it comes.  It's so awful that I am not going to photograph it until we are ready to put up the tiles, so I have a Before and After record.  This part will happen next spring and summer.

Of course the temps are going to be in the fifties with lots of rain for the next few days, but last night it was nice to be warm and not have to dress in many layers to stay warm.....uhhhhh......I'm being a little dramatic here!  The cats are quite simply ecstatic and are basking away like sloths.

On a more somber note, I have made no comments on the horror of Newtown, CT.  I'm very simply unable to achieve any sort of understanding of such an act......but this is beyond understanding.

As always, thanks for stopping by......*s*

GHOSTS!

There's something about the ghostly look that my animal whistles have after I've glazed them but before  I have started the decorating.  They have a blank look with only the large gesture being apparent.  I find that this frees me to design as I wish without becoming a slave to the original image.

They change so much after I have done with decorating sometimes it's hard to realize that they are the same work.  This challenge is another part of what I love about majolica.

Yesterday was so humid that I spent the whole day waiting for the glaze to dry.  For me it is better to let the glaze dry slowly.  If I put object under a heat lamp I often get uneven drying.  It's most disconcerting to be working on a hard surface and then suddenly find it's not.

Everything has dried very nicely, so I get to spend studio time today.  I don't think it's going to rain until much later so I will also put some reprocessed clay out to dry a bit.  It's such a sloppy process that I like to do it outside.  I'm going to prepare for the winter winds this year and get ahead in my clay.

In spite of everything, I managed to stay busy.  Proge and I spent the morning readjusting the pond filter and pump.  He was the one wading around in thigh deep water, but I still managed to get soaked.  If you are going to have water features in your garden you have got to enjoy messing about in water.

I made buns so we could have hamburgers.  The bread is from the other half of the recipe.  It's just my plain old Cuban bread, but the loaf is so handsome that I have to show it off a little.  The recipe is quick and easy so I have been trying herb additions.  Rosemary & Dill is especially tasty.

I am a fool for love (of plants).  Our pond guy is selling most of his plants at 25% off.  I bought three day lilies.  This peachy pink is my favorite today.  I also got a small rosy pink and a deep purple and gold.

Of course I need more plants!  I like to keep adding them until winter (the season) stops me.

And lastly here is Winter, totally mystified by how she got herself into this tangle.  Most of the time she gets herself out of twists and turns, but she needed some help with this one.

After a day of hot-stickies we had a heavy thunder storm yesterday evening which dumped almost an inch of rain in about half an hour.  No complaints here!  It dropped the humidity and added water to pool, pond, and well.

This post can be seen at  Mud Colony and Artists In Blogland.  Everyone should drop by and see what is going on; there are lots of new people to discover, plus old friends.

Did anyone watch the opening of the Olympics?  I was absolutely thrilled when Sir Paul led Hey Jude ...and opened with...."And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." 

Have a bountiful, happy weekend, and, as always, thanks for stopping by..........*s*

Time Flies

Where is June going?  I can't believe we are more than halfway through the month.

A Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies out there!  I hope you all get a day of fun and surprises!

I've spent most of the week decorating glazed unfired work.  The turtle is a little different from what I usually do as he is up on his legs getting ready to explore!  I generally do turtles and tortoises with their legs and head just showing.  He's a prototype all the way around so he has a new batch of a glaze I used to use a lot. 

I always decorate the bottoms of my animals.  This one is fairly simple.  Some times I do complete little paintings of an environment, or divide it into sections.

I also made cookies, well bars really.  My Nanu used to make these as raisin sandwich treats.  I use various dried fruits for the filling so I call them oatmeal sandwich treats.  They are sort of an early version of a granola bar and quite yummy! 

I also did another slow rise sour dough bread.  I've stopped calling them experiments because I know the ins and outs of rising etc.  I made this one with a cup of Greek yogurt added.  Has a nice flavor, especially with tomatoes, lettuce and mayonnaise.  I think it needs a little more salt.  I want that balance between enhanced flavor and salt being the dominant note.

Pool work today.  We've had so much rain that everything is turning green, including the pond and the pool....not so good.

Have a relaxed sunday.

Thanks for stopping by..............*s*

Progress

I started painting the house, a long slow process as I did not make it with the intention of glazing it.  If I ever do more of these I will paint a lot of the areas before adding others.   The nice thing about low fire is the options.  I could do a lot of work on the green piece, fire, add more color and/or clear glaze and refire with no ill effects.  I want this to feel like it has been built by non-professionals who want to brighten up their habitats.

House in Progress

This is, I assume, one of my original sketches, from about 2009, but the numbers I think are the date could be part of my way too cryptic notes to myself.

Original sketch?  ca. 2009

Tiles and Bread

I've been working on these tiles to fix what is in danger of becoming a leak in the bottom edge of the shower.  I made the originals way too thin, so I have been using them to figure spacing and designs.  Since it's a shower I think I am going to go with the sea life theme.  Once these are fired we we will probably use them as coasters and hot pads.

I am also getting ready to make tiles for a wood stove surround.  I'm tired of looking at Wonderboard!  I'm going to make and fire all the tiles......then start designing.  I'm looking a lot a tile stoves and all.