Carried away with bread baking

Last night I went a bit crazy! It was a hot evening, absolutely perfect weather for bread making!!
After my last loaf was so nice I wanted to make more for the coming week.

In my last loaf of white bread I used room temperature butter and kneaded it in to the dough. I used wholemeal flour to help with kneading and the result was so yummy! I use this recipe. It's so quick!

I love the whole process of making bread, watching the result once it has risen is great but I've found the most important part kneading, has become a new favourite. I love it when the dough starts to grow in your hands and you know you hard work is paying off!

My favourite kneading bowl. I like to kneed in the bowl to minimise the washing up!!

When I push it as I'm kneading I can feel the air in the loaf as it pushes back through my fingers.

This loaf has gotten to the sticky part, full of air and I had to knee it quickly so it wouldn't stick to my fingers or the bowl.

One bowl of needed dough ready to go in the baking tray to grow, another bowl of yeast in the process of proofing for the next loaf. All home brand products nothing fancy here. I knead by hand and I do find some bread improver helps the bread to be lighter.

The white bread is ready to go in the oven!! The fruit loaf can rise for a few more minutes.

I made three loaves this weekend. Two white bread, one of which I may need to freeze,  and a fruit loaf, which I like to use for breakfasts. This one was a bit experimental. I had dried apricots, dates, raisins and sultanas I needed to use up from Christmas. It was based on a cafe toast I had had, a few years ago, which was so yummy. This had chunky dried fruit in it and barley. I've been trying to recreate it ever since.

My loaf was great. I threw in whole apricots and dates and kneaded them in. I put the fruit in with the dry ingredients in the past but the fruit blends with the mix, which I didn't want. What I got wasn't 100% what I had in mind but pretty good. Bit toooo fruity. I think next time I'd chop the fruit up a bit more and maybe use a lot less fruit or a different variety of grains and fruit.

Fabulous! Look at those whole pieces of fruit!!

I cooked this one for about  an extra 10 -15 minutes because the fruit makes it heavier and adds moisture. Nothing worse than doughy bread.

I recommend eating with light cream cheese or plain butter. Don't need any extra flavour!

My partner just weighed it. 550grams for half the loaf!! I think half a piece is enough for the average breakfast!! I froze the other half. Think we might have trouble getting through this one!!
    

Home Made Bread

This is my favourite recipe for home made bread. I usually make it a few times a month. It makes lunches so much more interesting and is fantastic with cheese and ham and toasted in a sandwich press! Here's the link. The recipe makes it so easy to understand and it's very quick to make!!!. I make bread often and I even learnt something!!

I regularly make two loaves at the same time.One plain white or wholemeal loaf (just by using different flour) and the second I make a fruit loaf for breakfasts. I am sensitive to egg so I exclude it and substitute it with extra milk or water. In my fruit bread I use milk and add my favourite dates and dried apricots roughly chopped or occasionally I use sultanas depending on what is in the pantry.

Some of my past projects

I wanted to show off a few of my past projects. 

This is my mohair bear.

He's quite big and was a bit of a challenge. But I love him just the same. He sits at the end of my bed and keeps me safe a night! I got the pattern from Homespun magazine.

Felt booties. I love these and the idea of homemade shoes. I'd love to attempt this one again with cotton materials. I gave these away as a present for a friend who was having a baby. This is what happens to most of my projects. The pattern was from Homespun Magazine one of my favourite magazines. I love how they have many illustrations of each project to give you a better idea of what you are going to end up with.

This is a mobile I made for a school project while studying my Children's Services Diploma.

I love lady beetles and they go with the babies quilt I made below.

This is my first ever attempt at designing a quilt. Again with lady beetles. I love the colours but I've still got to quilt it. This is just the quilt top. I WILL finish it eventually!! 

These are the bibs I made for my niece. I got the idea from a friend and from working with young children. I found the bibs we had weren't big enough to cover the children's clothes effectively. I wanted mine to cover the babies clothes better. I also love the bibs which pull over babies head so baby can't pull it off five seconds later! I also wanted them to be more fun. I made one side out of fun materials and the other is out of an old tea towel so it is more absorbent. This way it can be reversed for different occasions. 

This hat has been fantastic. I've made two of them now for my friends who have had babies. I love wool which changes as you knit. I find it very hard to put it down. I've tried to use soft yarn so it is more comfortable for baby and I find acrylic wool is great. Not as scratchy and it doesn't come off on your clothes as you knit it.

You can get the pattern from here

This was my most recent present I made for my nieces birthday. It was so simple. Great for a beginner knitter but I would change colours of wool for pants to add more interest as I got quite bored with it. The pattern said to knit it in garter stitch but I chose stocking stitch for a neater look. The pattern is available from here.

 Í made the little jumper for him free hand.

 It' is 24 stitches for the back knitted to the length you like. Then 15 stitch for each of the front pieces. I've aloud extra as mine was a tight fit. Knit till it's the length you like and sew up the front to the back piece allowing holes for the arms to go through. I made a tie for the front by knitting 2 or 3 rows of 20 stitches then threading it through the front and tying it on. 

Eyelet Yoke Cardigan



Eyelet Yoke Cardigan

Nearly finished knitting this beautiful cardigan. I'm using Lincraft Splendour and I can't stop knitting when he colours start to change from one colour to the next. I made it mostly for the experience and I'm sure one of my friends children will be able to make good use of it but it's so pretty and soft I'm not sure I can give it up! I got the pattern from here .