My Very First 8 Strand Plaited Loaf

Super fun, and a bit of challenge.  The bread formula is mine but the technique is from Paul Hollywood's, How to Bake - which Tim ordered from the UK.  Best bake book, ever.

No more activating the yeast in warm water.  No more dumping all the water in at once.  No more too wet or too dry.  And instead of kneading with flour, I use oil.  Add to it, this book is written in metric (as all good bake books should be), and you have yourself one Happy Baker.

I LOVE THIS BOOK. 

To see a clip of THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF, during the plaited challenge, click video 1, and to see Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood judge the winners, click video 2.

Note: These are super short videos, but worth the watch.

Meanwhile, we're out of baked bread, which means I get to bake a whole honkin' new batch of something fun.

I'm seriously itching to get more plaited practice.

PS: All images expand when clicked.

Magic Sneakers

After a weekend of non-stop bakes, I had a tough time getting into my usual clean up and write new bakes, routine.  Instead of hitting the ground running, I was sore and snuggled on the couch with the puppies.

They are very good snuggle buddies.  They have no problems blowing off chores and writing.  Noppers.  Born snugglers.

Anyway, here I am late afternoon only now getting going.   So for an extra bit of help, I put my my sneakers, or as Tim calls them, Magic Sneakers.  I dunno why, but for some reason these little buggers really get me going.

So it's a quick pasta bake and leftover homemade calzones for supper and vanilla pizzelles for dessert.  Then game night for Tim and for me, I'm gonna go full on couch potato, in my clean jams with a cup of warm ginger, cinnamon and honey.

And tomorrow, I'll show you my first ever 8 plaited loaf.  Which was one of the bakes I did this past weekend, along with a kick ass apple dessert, vanilla pizzelles, calzones and just before the weekend, homemade bow-tie pasta.

So much flippin' feckin' fartin' fun.  

Clash of the Puppies

Yesterday's Yummies

I'm moving slow today.  Sitting at the table, homemade gingerbread latte, working on Poopyhead's edits.  No big bakes today.  But check out yesterday's yummies. 

Pierogi Lasagna.  Hand-rolled pasta, homemade onion potato mash, and caramelized onions.  Picture sucks but who cares.  This meal was flippin' feckin' holy crap on a cracker, good.

Now back to edits.  Think I'll be done by the end of day.

Beauty Queen

Floors mopped, chores nearly done.  No pants.  Pink slippers.  Wearing shirt Tim got me that reads, Nothing But Trouble.  Hair up.  Make up smudged.

I love this day.

Happy Whisk

Right now I'm editing Tim's Starter Adventure, eating the last of the crappy chocolate, and drinking from my favorite spider cup, all while Hungarian Paprika Chicken cools, and the last of the laundry tumbles dry.  Add to it that BOTH bathrooms are cleaned, and you've got yourself one Happy Whisk.

604 POSTS

I almost forgot, today makes 604 POSTS.  Holy cupcakes, that went fast.  And even though I admit that there were times when I wanted to pack it in - overall, I love having this little space all my own. Thank you Boogerbutts, for reading.

Much appreciated.

Also I made stuffing bread.  I added the seasoning right into my dough, then dried the pieces.  I'm still working out the formula.  Next time I'll use homemade chicken (or veg), stock instead of water, when making the dough.  Just to see.

Here's where I'm at so far.  Click to enlarge.

AND dig Tim's latest issue of The Manor.  He worked all ding dong weekend, then left early this morning to ship them.  The Manor makes him happy.  I'm super duper proud of him.

All in all, a great snowy weekend.  We stayed in the ENTIRE time, both working on our projects.  But now it's Monday and Wilma and I got work to do.  But first, check out these FREEBIES I snagged from BK.  ZERO out of pocket, Baby.

Click to Enlarge the FREEBIES

Liked these so much, went back next day for 4 FREE more.

Life is Good

So I take a shower and I want to put on my favorite jeans and I think, wait, I can't do that because I want to wear these over the weekend.  But then I realized, Wilma is here.  I can wear my jeans today AND over the weekend.

Life is good.