And the Snow Came Softly Down

The view at dusk this evening

They had forecast snow for today and they were right.  I woke up to hear my phone signal a text and found one from Ann saying too much ice, no school today. Apparently there was black ice everywhere.  Dan said he had trouble even in the gravel while getting the paper when he got up. And it was starting to snow.  A day to spend in the kitchen for certain as the snow continued to fall. At first I thought I would begin on my Christmas cookie baking, but then I remembered a recipe I've been wanting to try.

A little back story:  When my brother and I were kids, as in grade school, my mom, who was not a baker, would very occasionally make a sweet roll she called orange kuchen rolls. Oh, were they ever good! For whatever reason, she only made them during a short season of a year or two. They had a crunchy topping of butter, sugar and grated orange peel and the bottoms were gooey with the same ingredients.  

When we were cleaning out my parents' house, one of the things I searched for was that recipe. As I looked, John came in and asked if I'd found a recipe for "those orange rolls Mom made when we were little." He'd never forgotten them, either!  I never did find it.  I searched the internet and came up empty.  I looked through her old cookbooks. Nothing.  And then one day this past year, I was looking through her Electric Bread cookbook which I had kept and spotted a picture that looked like those orange rolls I remembered. The recipe was called Orange Kisses, and from the description, sounded like it came from the same era Mom made hers.  

Today was the day.  I texted John and told him my plan to try and began.  I did use my Zojirushi bread machine to make the dough and then finished up in the oven.  I seemed to remember that Mom made hers in an angel food cake pan, so I dug out mine and used it.  That was mistake number two.

Mistake number one you ask?  Well, I've used the same brand of yeast for ever and a day.  It's Saf-Instant Red and it's great stuff.  I opened a new package about the time the virus became known and everyone was buying up all the flour and yeast in the land.  And a strange thing happened the first time I used it.  My bread rose twice as high. What? So I tried again, with the same results.  High is nice, too high, not so much. As a result, since then I've used half the amount of yeast a recipe calls for.  Until today.  Um hum, I used the full amount and my dough was very soft and puffy.  

Back to the pan.  The  butter and sugar/orange peel mix leaked out the bottom of the pan, all over the oven I just cleaned a few weeks ago. 

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!  Running the self-clean program again!  

Meanwhile, the rolls.  The verdict?  I think I've found the right recipe! I'm so excited! I just ate one, and despite the "fluffiness" of it, the taste seemed to be what I remembered, with the crunchy top and the gooey bottom.  Bruder Bear will be thrilled!

I made supper in the crockpot, potatoes, carrots and hamburger in white sauce, but I just may eat my way through these rolls instead.  Oh, and about the yeast.  I think it's been a gift to me that it's, for some reason, double strength, because it has been impossible to find these last ten months.  I've made all our bread and I still have so much yeast left. I'm thankful. ♥

Cleaning Up

What a weird title, huh? Well, grab your coffee, pull up a chair, and I'll tell you all about it.

Here at the Resort, we have our own well, which necessitates a room we lovingly call "The Culligan Room" due to all the big tanks it contains to make our water usable. We needed to add a new tank a week or so ago when one of the old ones began to fail.  Tuesday morning Dan appeared in the door to our bathroom as I was getting ready for the day and said, "We have a problem," and then stopped.  I waited for him to say something like, "I think we should eat out tonight and we need to decide where to go."  He does that.  But finally he said, "The basement is flooded."  

That's right, he said, "The basement is flooded."  And so it was.  The new tank had done its weekly back flush and apparently it was considerably stronger with the new tank and the drain couldn't handle the flow.  So the floor did.  Down the hall, into the family room, into Dan's office, the laundry room, and all over the Culligan Room itself.  Even into the closet of the guest room.  Oh the joy.  

So, we gathered up towels, laid them down and began. Thankfully we have a good shop vac and Dan went to work with that.  We hauled out boxes from the downstairs pantry and the guest room closet and as we mopped and vacuumed, we'd take a break and look in the boxes.  Hmmm . . . who knew we still had . . . and as the water disappeared, so did quite a few of the found items.  So, the flood did have its upside!  We had a plumber friend of ours send over one of his workers and he used some kind of pressure thingy to blow out all our drains, but we're not sure if there was a clog that might have contributed, so the Culligan guy will come tomorrow to test and re-calibrate if necessary.  

We still have more cleaning and sorting to do, and we definitely have to replace the carpet because this latest flood was just the last straw for it.  (My long-time readers may recall the floods our old washer caused a few years ago.)  

And just to change the subject and harken back to my last post, here's a picture of me with my first loaves of bread!  In the little tiny kitchen of our little tiny 8'x35' trailer, our first home sweet home.  

It was the start of my love of bread baking, and I still have those wedding present Corningware loaf pans.  ♥

Appearing This Week in the Kitchen

Some time ago I wrote a blog post that mentioned my trusty bread machine.  We got it probably twenty-five years ago after spending a skiing weekend with some friends who had one and enjoying several loaves of bread with them.  It was an Hitachi and it worked wonderfully for many, many years.  Then I kind of got out of the habit of using it, and when I hauled it back out recently, it seemed it had, well, run its course.  

While I really like to make bread with my Kitchenaid, it takes some care over the next four or so hours to get it into usable form, and sometimes I'd just like a loaf of homemade bread that makes itself.  I realized I was thinking, "Yes, like a bread machine does!"  So I investigated the possibilities, realizing machines have changed over the years.  Christmas was approaching and it would make a good item for my up-to-that-point nonexistent list.  

BUT!  A major problem arose.  Where to put the one if I got it?  The one I decided upon was larger than my old one, and much heavier.  I'm to the point where I don't relish hauling a twenty-five pound appliance out of a cupboard and heaving it up on the counter.  And I don't have a lot of counter space to just leave it out.   I thought I was going to have to squash the idea and told Dan as much, but as I wandered back into the kitchen, an idea came to me.  With a little rearranging, it looked as if it would work and I told Dan it was back on my list.  

(Here is where I have to explain that I have what is probably one of the most bizarrely laid out kitchens in existence.  We have an angle in our house and the kitchen has walls meeting at strange angles; it's right in the V.  We have three separate counter areas and they are not connected.  It's a pain, but I've lived with it for more than nineteen years and survived.)

So, of course I got to unwrap a new bread machine on Christmas morning.  And I LOVE it!!  My old machine made a tall loaf, nothing like a standard looking loaf, and the slices were large squares.  This one makes a normal loaf.  I've only made two loaves so far, just plain white, but they are delicious.  And one of them is totally salt free!!!  There is a special program for it and an accompanying recipe, so I decided to try and it's a winner.  Color me one happy bread maker!!

Zojirushi Virtuoso in its new home

And here's a slice of my salt-free bread before being slathered with peanut butter and peach jam at lunch today.

It was yummy!!  ♥

Round Two, and More Gadgets!

Made another Pain d'Epi and my shape is getting better!

And it was just as delicious as the first try.  Crunch, crunch, mmm, mmm...

Meanwhile, in the knitting department, I finally broke down and bought a yarn swift.  Say what?!  A yarn swift.  

Several years ago now, I bought some expensive, beautiful hand-dyed yarn to use in knitting socks.  I bought three colors and used two right away.  Trouble was, they were hanks, not prewound skeins that are easy to use.  These are looped in a large circle and have to be wound to be usable.  I did the first one by myself, draping the circle over my knees and rolling, rolling, rolling.  It took forever, compounded by the fact that I apparently started with the wrong end and had to do some serious detangling throughout the process.  When it came time to use the second hank, I conned Dan into holding the yarn over his outstretched hands as I wound.  It also took forever and poor Dan's arms almost fell off in the process. 

Needless to say, the third hank became buried at the bottom of my yarn basket.  I finally purchased a yarn winder last year, but to be effective, a yarn swift is also needed.  I found a simple pattern for one and asked Dan to make me one, but with all his other work, it got buried just like the yarn.  Last week, spurred by a sale email from JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts, I took the plunge and ordered one.  It came yesterday afternoon and I, surprisingly, put it to work soon after.  (I was afraid if I waited, it would turn into a buffalo.)  Once again I was thankful for the internet because not a speck of instruction came with my new toy.  Cue YouTube.  

So, here is my yarn winding in process.  The swift is the wooden umbrella-like contraption on the left.  

The swift spins as the yarn is wound on the ball winder. Everything worked as advertised and in short order, my yarn was wound into a ball that pulls easily from the center.  No arms were worn out in the process.  ♥

Not Perfectly Shaped, But Delicious!

And what could I possibly be referring to?  Bread.  I believe I confessed long ago that when it comes to the kitchen, I am way more a baker than I am a cook.  I even wrote a whole post about my cookie baking.  But I also love making bread.  (Interestingly, however, I'm not much of a cake baker. Hmmm...)  

I have written about using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day master recipe to create crusty loaves of bread to accompany soups and pasta dishes.  I hadn't made a batch in a while and on Thursday night, I decided to whip one up. Literally, as I used my Danish dough whisk to mix it, just as authors Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg do. 

Later that evening, I went to the Artisan Bread site and discovered they had recently done a class for Craftsy. Checking it out, I decided to go for it.  The book is great (I have the original version), but I had stalled out with shapes, just making a round loaf each time.  It was time to branch out!  As soon as I bought the class, I was able to view it.  There I sat, in my La-z-Boy loveseat with my feet up, headphones on, watching and learning. Sometimes the internet is just too amazing.

We usually have a date night on Fridays, so it was yesterday before I decided to take the plunge and try a new shape for a loaf to accompany our leftover Pasta E Fagioli soup.  I confess I almost chickened out but then I decided no matter how it turned out, looks-wise, it would still taste great.  And so I began.

I chose the Pain d'Epi, or wheat stalk because it looks so pretty.  I didn't get mine thin enough, but you get the idea.  (And I think I need a new, long bread basket!)

We broke off the chunks and I'm telling you, the bread was so crusty and crunchy on the outside and tender and chewy on the inside!  I've never made a better loaf! Zoe Francois mentions in the book that it's delicious with jam, so after eating a piece with my soup, I ate another with jam for dessert. Oh.My.Goodness.  

Bread making is SO MUCH FUN!  ♥

King Arthur Finds

For years, finding a bag that would fit around loaves of bread machine made bread drove me crazy.  I tried bags I found at the store that tied with a twist tie.  They were invariably too short.  Ditto gallon zip locks.  I would have to slice off several pieces and slide them down the sides or put them another bag.  I really didn't like to do this because it was a hassle and also because I prefer to slice a number of hours after the bread has cooled because it seems to cut more easily.  I like fairly thin slices, about 3/8th of an inch.  

I've mentioned the King Arthur Flour catalog before. They sell several sizes of bread bags and I was never certain which size to order, so I didn't.  Finally, last year, frustrated enough to throw caution to the wind, I decided to just make a decision and order.  Their double bread bags turned out to be perfect!!  Absolutely perfect!  They don't come with twist ties, so I used ones I had and they worked fine, but then I went to a Pampered Chef party and got one of these as a prize.  After a few days, the light bulb went off and I used it on a bread bag and loved it!  I think they work way better than a twist tie.  King Arthur sells a similar product if you don't have access to Pampered Chef.  I'm certain they are made by the same company as both say they are made in Sweden.  I bought a whole Pampered Chef set for myself a few months ago and use them all the time and bought a set from KAF, along with the bags, for Mom and Dad as part of their Christmas.

It's so nice to have just the right "tools" to work with!

Bread Day

I got up this morning and decided to start a loaf of bread in the bread machine.  Oops!  The little mixing lever was frozen again.  Hmm, amazingly (I'm not a morning person), I decided I could just as easily mix up a batch in the Kitchenaid.  So I did!

I do love my bread machine, but I'd forgotten how much fun it is to "make it myself".  There I was, barefooted in my checked flannel nightshirt, happily dumping and mixing.  I used my Polish Bread recipe, the one I use to make rolls, and added several cups of King Arthur White Whole Wheat, which gave the dough a lovely caramel color.

One of the neatest finds I've stumbled onto lately is my dough rising bucket.  I originally got it for mixing and storing the artisan bread in five minutes a day dough, but one day I grabbed it to let my roll dough rise.  I'm telling you, there's something magical about this bucket.  I think the lid helps the rising dough generate some heat of its own, and even on a cold, dark day like today my dough will rise fairly quickly.  In the past, especially if there's whole wheat in it, it could take up to four hours for my dough to double in our cool house.  Not any more!

I ordered it from King Arthur Flour and would definitely recommend it.  If you don't already get their catalog, I'll recommend it, too.  It's wonderful and when a new one arrives, I love to sit down with a new cup of something hot and enjoy myself for a while.

And here's a picture of today's final product:

Mmmm....

P.S.  Dan was able to fix the bread machine again.