Artisan Bread and Poetry

It isn't sunny in Cincinnati today!  In fact, it's been raining most of the day... softly pelleting the earth, not hard and angry as is sometimes the case.  I just heard that one of my good friends lost her mother, and it reminds me of a short poem I wrote once, many years ago:

It’s raining in my heart

Soft, liquid love

Seeping iridescent drops

Weeping,

feeding rainbows of the soul.

Rest well, blessed lady... you have enriched many lives, and will be missed by many!

A rainy day cries out for the comforting smell of bread baking... and here is a recipe for delicious artisan bread that  my son discovered on the internet, from an old newspaper article.  I've tried for years to  make a good artisan bread without success, so this was a wonderful place to begin making breads that are even better than the expensive European breads in the grocery store!  Unfortunately, it isn't low-carb, so I don't make it very often... mostly just when company is coming so I'm not tempted to eat the whole loaf by myself!  The photo is one my sister took of one of her first attempts, and it tastes even better than it looks.  The crust is crisp and chewy and the inside texture is actually moist, reminiscent of the inside of a cream puff.  We've experimented with different flours and additions, so you are only limited by your imagination.  It takes only moments to mix the batter up. 

No-Knead Artisan Bread

3 cups bread flour 

¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 to 2 teaspoons salt, according to your taste
Cornmeal or bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball.  Sprinkle a piece of parchment paper with flour, put dough seam side down on paper and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. May score the top with a sharp knife, if desired.  Cover with a cotton tea towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 2 to 6 quart heavy covered pot or casserole (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven and take cover off.  (Don't burn yourself!)  Lift paper with the dough carefully and put it in the casserole, leaving the dough on the paper.  it may look like a mess, but that is okay.  Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 5 to 10 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

The dough is slightly sour from raising for so long, and I have left a bit of the dough in the bowl and added the new ingredients to that, using the left over dough as sourdough starter.  I've also developed a delicious multi-grain recipe that I will share in another blog.  Try variations:  about 10 or 12 whole peeled garlic cloves stuck into the raw dough before it raises, folding it over itself to enclose the garlic cloves; Greek olives sliced and sprinkled with grated cheese, laid on the raw dough before raising, then folded over itself to enclose them.  I haven't yet tried dried red and green peppers in the dough, but wouldn't that be a beautiful holiday bread?  There are so many possibilities... tell me what you've tried!

My break time is over... time to get some laundry done and do some more housecleaning.  I have company coming this weekend, and all of my chicks will be back in the nest!  Nothing makes me happier than when all of my family is together.  Last August was the last time we were all together, and my oldest daughter took some family pictures.   One of my favorite Christmas gifts was the framed enlargement (about 18 x 24) that she gave me of most of the grandchildren... one granddaughter was missing from the portrait, because she was working... but nine of them are included in the photo.  They range in age from 3 to 22, and each one of them is a delight!

Have a wonderful day where ever you are.  Make a phone call or visit to someone you love... we never know how long we'll be together.  

Springtime and the Scrappy Snowball Quilt

It's another beautiful sunny day here in Cincinnati.  I think spring is my favorite times of year... but when the other seasons make themselves known, each one is appreciated in its own way... as long as it isn't extreme!  People here in Cincinnati complain about the cold during the winter, but coming from northern Minnesota, this is not cold to me!  In fact, this past winter was so mild that I never wore a winter coat once (although the natives were bundled up as if it was 40 degrees below zero)... and never had to shovel my sidewalks.  The worst weather we had was a weekend my son and his wife drove down here from lower Michigan... the trip that usually takes them 4 hours took them over 6!  We had an ice storm that weekend, and driving was treacherous.  He sprinkled salt on my sidewalks, but that was the only time it was necessary.  I called and told them not to come, but it was the first time they came without their children, and my son said it was as much for the process of getting away alone together as anything!  I loved having them, but I have to say I missed seeing my grandchildren. 

This quilt top is one I finished several months ago, hoping to give it as a Christmas present, but that didn't come to pass, as it never got quilted yet.  I call it a Scrappy Snowball, and adapted the pattern to work with 2-1/2" squares left over from making a series of baby quilts with our church quilting group.  Literally ALL of the pieces were in my "scrap" basket, except for the muslin.  You will notice that by using that sized piece, the triangles on the corners of the "snowball" block don't match perfectly with the squares of the patchwork block, but I think that adds to its scrappy charm.  There are two very simple blocks that make up this quilt... the patchwork block is made up of 16 - 2" finished squares, 4 across and 4 down in each block.  I didn't even try to alternate light and dark squares, and it turned out nicely, anyway.  The other block is made up of 4-1/2" squares of muslin ( 4 of them) with a 2-1/2" square on 2 opposite corners of the muslin square.  Right sides together, I sewed diagonaly across the colored square and then snipped off the outside triangle and actually THREW IT AWAY!  I've never done that before... but these were already made from scraps, after all, so I adopted one more quick quilting method.  And I felt exceedingly proud of myself that I wasn't compelled to save the bits I cut off for another project!  Back to the pattern... the four snowball squares are sewn together, forming an X with the colored triangles meeting to form larger triangles.  It looks much more complicated than it is, and is truly a scrap quilt.

One thing I did to try in order to keep the quilt unified was to put a green, blue or purple square on the corners of each snowball unit.  Otherwise, there is every color under the sun in the quilt, and it looks charming and old-fashioned.  I put a simple medium green calico border on the quilt.  Perhaps I will have it quilted by next Christmas... but with five children, I will have to get four more made so everyone gets one.  I have  my eye on a couple of other patterns for some of the children.  They will be large lap quilts... big enough probably for a twin sized bed so they look pretty on a sofa but will be comfortable to wrap up in when the cold winds of winter are rattling the windows.

When they are machine quilted, it's much easier to pop them in the washer and dryer... the hand-quilted heirloom quality quilts my mother and father make are treasures that shouldn't be treated so casually. 

My parents will be 91 this year, and have been married over 70 years!  They still live in their own home, and are still making quilts.  My mother pieces the quilt tops and my father quilts them.  They are breathtakingly beautiful works of art, and will be treasured for many generations to come.  They have given several quilts to me and my sisters that grace all of our bedrooms, and all of the grandchildren have quilts, and even the great-grandchildren have quilts stacked in their parent's closets, waiting for their wedding day.  My mother also writes poetry and makes them into counted cross-stitch framed pieces. She has several notebooks filled with pictures of her works.... and they have several notebooks filled with pictures of their quilts.  They have made literally hundreds of quilts, and my father is often proud to point out tiny rust-colored specks of his blood on the backs of the quilts that are a testimony to the hundreds of hours he spends quilting.  They are a badge of honor, and never washed out before gifting the quilt.  Mom says she thinks she will quit quilting because they have many stacked in their closets already, and "you can buy a patchwork quilt at Target for $50!"  But she's said that before, and the fabric always calls out to her and she starts another quilt.  The  last few quilts she made were Grandmother's Flower Garden, and a Dahlia-type applique, all hand pieced while she "listens" to TV.

I started a Cathedral Window quilt top years ago, because it was something I could have as "handwork".  Mom says our Finnish heritage prevents us from having idle hands!   But I have not yet unpacked the bag or box that contains that quilt, and perhaps it was lost in the shuffle of moving.  I got rid of so much "stuff" when I moved that had accumulated through forty years of living in that house... and now, when I unpack another box and find a treasure I'd been missing... it's like Christmas! 

This is one of the baby quilts I made for our church group (we give quilts to Project Linus, who distributes them to children in hospitals)... can you spot some of the leftover fabrics that went into my Scrappy Snowball quilt?

Have a wonder-filled Sunday!  And share a smile with someone who doesn't have one of their own...

Country Crossroads Quilt Pattern

These three simple blocks compose this quilt in progress I call Nebraska Country Crossroads, named for the state I grew up in.  Pheasants abound there, and the pheasant fabric was perfect for this quilt!  The pattern forms "roads" across the quilt diagonally, framing the pheasant print.  The block size is 6", finished.  The pheasant print was cut into 6-1/2" strips, then cutting those strips into 6-1/2" lengths to form a square.  The other two blocks use 2-1/2" strips.  One block is a Rail Fence pattern, using 3 strips joined and cut into 6-1/2" segments.  The last block is a simple 9-Patch, made up of the dark and medium colors.  One strip set was dark/light/dark and the other was light/dark/light, and these were cut into 2-1/2" segments and joined alternately, as shown.  Be aware of the contrasting colors, as they will form your pattern.  The next photo shows some of the blocks joined to form the pattern of the quilt top. Note that there are three rows joined at this point.  From the right top edge, there is a 9-Patch, then a Rail Fence block, then another 9-Patch, then another Rail Fence, then another 9-Patch. 

Second row down on the right side:  Rail Fence block, Pheasant print block, Rail Fence block, 9-Patch block, Rail Fence block, and so on.  The dark fabric of the Rail Fence block forms the frame around the Pheasant print. The finished 2" dark squares of the 9-Patch blocks form chains or "roads" across the quilt top diagonally. This patteren would be lovely in any color combination, and could be based on one focal fabric that you love, adding complementary colors for the other three fabrics.  A good distinction between light and dark is important for this pattern, with a nice medium tone that blends everything together and gives the eye a place to rest.  Here are a couple of photos of another color combination, based on a beautiful blue floral fabric I had purchased.  The center blocks were fussy-cut in this case.  The photo on the right shows three rows joined, as in the pheasant quilt above.  If you have any questions, please ask me.  Happy quilting!

Springtime in Ohio

March heralds sunny days filled with the promise of springtime... leaf buds are beginning to form on branches and the grass is greening.  Soon the roar of mowers will drown out the melodies of birdsong.  This lovely time of balmly weather and new beginnings, after the icy winds of winter and before the sultry heavy air of summer, is the perfect time to begin new projects.  

I've been busy beading, time consuming when one has glaucoma and can't see the beads as easily as I once did!   I bought a small Ottlite with a magnifying glass on a bendable gooseneck, and that is a big help. I am crocheting granny squares for an afghan in my family room and a knitted stained-glass type afghan is in progress in my living room, so where ever I am sitting there is a project close at hand. But my sewing machine is calling me... there are quilt blocks cluttering my mind and I need to transfer them to fabric.  Speaking of new beginnings... my niece is pregnant with her first baby also, which means one more beloved member of our family tree... and one more reason to make a baby quilt!  I'll be posting photos and instructions for various projects on upcoming blogs, but for now... here's a great muffin recipe from my low-carb list on Yahoo Groups:


Low Carb  Muffin (Muffin in a Minute):
2 Tablespoons ground flax seed or flax meal
2 Tablespoons almond meal or oat bran or oat fiber
2 Tablespoons whipping cream or 1 Tablespoon melted butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp baking powder
Cinnamon, generous sprinkle
1 packet Splenda or other low-carb sweetener
(or 1 teaspoon sugar, but it will add carbs)
½ teaspoon vanilla
Mix and put all ingredients into a large mug or bowl, sprayed with cooking spray, and microwave about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, until done.  It will pop right out of the container. Makes one large muffin, less than 2 countable carbs if you use the flax, almond meal or oat fiber, and artificial sweetener.  I've also added dried cherries or apricots, and that was delicious, too.


What are your passions?  Notice I used the plural... do any of us have just one? 


Have a lovely day, filled with the warmth of love... and peppered with new ideas!