Show & Bread

I am in a show in Greensboro NC, being held at Greenhill in the downtown area.

For information and times, here is a click

If you are in the area, stop in and see it.

Thanks!

A new bread recipe that we tried this week.

Dried Fruit Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

 1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Cinnamon

2 ¼ tsp yeast

1 1/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup Bread flour & 1/2 cup Whole Wheat set aside

1 cup mixed dried fruit, raisins, cranberries, Apricots

Grease and flour, or use spray, one bread loaf pan.

Place the 2 cups of all-purpose flour in a bowl with sugar, salt, cinnamon and yeast.

Place the salt on one side of your bowl and your yeast on the other.

Mix well and add in warm water, beat well, add in egg, beat, drizzle in cooled butter, beat well.

Stir in the ½ cup Bread flour & ½ cup Whole Wheat, add and stir in fruit.

Pour this into bread pan, use flour on your hand to pat into pan, will be sticky.

Cover loosely with a plastic bag, let rise 1 hour

Before hour is up preheat oven to 375, you can preheat to 400 but be sure to turn down the heat to 375 when you place bread in the oven

Bake 40-45 minutes

I have been playing with bread, we like this one for breakfast.

Toast, butter, eat

One month down

Here we are already one month down in the new year. Where that time goes nobody knows, weather, hibernation, the lag after Christmas.
We are heading into the next month and with that we are making a few changes.
We will be closed Monday and Tuesday.
You can always get to us by email and, or phone to set up an appointment to see us. Most likely we are just here working away.

I am going back to the school to teach an extra day while we look for a new director for the Pottery program at MCC Troy NC.
It's a grand opportunity for someone who would like to teach and run the program. We have a wonderful program up and running, classes are full. We are going to add at least one more evening class, we are busy! I am sure the position will be advertised soon. When it is I will post it here.

I did just deliver about 20 tiles to a show that will open next month at the Greenhill in Greensboro.
More about that later.
Meanwhile, I have been baking bread, making granola again.
Yum, Yum.
I love this bread that was shared with me a few years back by a fellow blogger.

Cuban Bread

5-6 cups flour

2 packs dry yeast (scant 2 TBS.)

1 TBS.salt

2 TBS.sugar 

2 & 1/2 cups hot water (about 100-105 F.)

Place 4 Cups Flour in a large bowl with Yeast, Salt, and Sugar.

 Mix with a whisk to blend dry ingredients.  (I use 1 cup of whole wheat flour)

 Pour water in a large bowl or mixer, add the flour mixture about 1 cup at a time and beat 100 Strokes. (I use my kitchenaid mixer)

Add in remaining flour 1/4 Cup at a time.

 I add flour in the bowl until it gets to just this side of sticky- or is pulling away from bowl, and then I toss out and knead in more if it is too sticky.

Note: someday it takes all the flour and other days it does not.

Place dough in bowl that has been rubbed with oil, cover with towel.

 Let it rise in a warm place for 15 minutes until it is double.

Grease pans and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Boil about 2 cups of water and have ready to place in a pan on the bottom of the oven.

Punch dough down.

 Divide in two and form into loaves.

 I make rounds

 Slash the tops and spray or brush with water.

Place loaves on the middle rack of a Cold Oven.

 Turn oven to 400 F. and bake for one half hour (30 minutes).

 Reduce oven temp to 375 F,turn loaves, and bake for another 15 minutes.

Timing starts when the oven is turned on.  Interior temp should be about 215 F.

Place on rack to cool.

 This bread is made to be eaten the day it's made, but I have found that it makes excellent toast the next day and will last several days as a good slicing bread.

 We use this for sandwiches and toast.

 This has become my lazy bread it is quick and tasty. 

Cheers folks! Here comes February! 

A diffent kind of cooking

I posted on FB that I had made English Muffin on Tuesday Morning before I left for school.
Folks wanted the recipe so here goes cooking in the kitchen.

Many moons ago I baked all our bread. These days I baked as the mood, desire, want, needs arise.
the other day it was English Muffin.
I like them toasted in the morning and we were out.
I thought, because I am able to do so, I use to make these.
I went on line and started reading.
There are a lot of recipes out there that seem to take more time than I remembered spending on these.
I went with the first step I thought I needed, a simple sourdough starter.
I put equal amounts water and flour in a cover casserole, a large one, and tossed in one teaspoon yeast.
Mix well.
I left this alone on the counter until mid afternoon.
Stir.
Then I looked up a recipe that was given to me by one of my oldest BFF, I don't use this term lightly. We are sisters from another mother, and father, but sisters from the first time we crossed paths.

That night I took 1/2 cup of the started and made these.

English Muffins (Recipe from Agnes Almquest, Washington State.)
1/2 cup starter
1 cup milk ( I used dry milk and water)
2 cups of flour ( your choice here)
Mix all of this together, cover in a large pottery bowl, and leave at room temperature 8 hours or overnight.

Mix together and sprinkle over the mixture above:
1/2 cup flour
1 Tbs. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
I ended up with leftover mixture, I think I will add less flour in step one.
So sprinkle this over the dough until it is knead-able, toss out and knead until smooth.
Divide into 12 pieces- or 10 if you want a bit bigger.( I had 11-)
Shape these, flatten them and place them on a cookie sheet that has been covered well with cornmeal.
Sprinkle tops with cornmeal as well.
Let rise 45 minutes.
Heat a pan or skillet, grill to the same heat as you might use for pancakes, but turn it down if needed.
Cook 10 minutes per side- I found that using my gas cook-top it was more like 6-8 a side.
I then read this trick- if you like bake them for 10 minutes at 350.
They were perfect.
On the list again.
Out to the shop now.
No pictures of muffins.
Next time, I promise.
:)

disclaimer- store bought muffin with cheese and herbs, orange was not grown by me.

12/12/12

 Numbers are wonderful things that make me smile.

I love playing numbers in my head.
Today is 12/12/12 amazing.

Mark is back on the wheel trying to figure out how best to make pots and deal with the leftover effects of the cold/flu whatever he had. It is a challenge and one that he is meeting quite well since there are these great lamp bases rolling off his wheel.
He has a few orders for them and one of the orders is a set. With making sets, you know things that closely as possible match, you have to make more than two.

I am always amazed at these lamps and want to keep them all. I know I could find a place for them in our house.....  
Some of the lamps will be carved I'll see if I can get a step 2 picture for you.

What am I doing?
Well, I am making jars that I need to get done for an order and as you can see to the left they are coming out so nicely.

Really.

I started making jars and these bottles demanded to come out instead.
Who am I to tell them they could not, they are so bossy!

Yesterday I did make jars.
They were not as loud as the bottles but I will get pictures if they are willing.

It seems this is the season for bread.
This is how I bake my Cuban bread, recipe from smartcat.
Under the bread is parchment paper with some oil and cornmeal rubbed on.
(don't look too close at my dirty oven...)

This batch was particularly good.
I think it was because I stepped back and let them be a bit wet.
My sister Leslie has a post on bread check it out.
Enjoy your 12/12/12 there will not be a 13/13/13 that I know of.
Cheers,
M

Salt

 I was playing with this salt pig right before the last kiln load. I threw a form much like my pumpkin jars  with a knob on the top. I cut out a hole, using some of the cut out clay to make a banner on the bottom to write the word SALT.
I am not one for telling anyone what to do with or put in my pottery but this one seems an exception.

 I placed a wooden spoon inside since it is not big enough for your hand to fit in.

 I like the spoon thing and like not putting my hand in since I don't cook for just me.
I am looking for small wooden spoons to place in the salt pigs.
I have a few of my own that I really like.

 Salt also makes a great way to clean the greens before freezing.
I find that all those wee bugs that love greens as much as I do will drop off if I add salt to the water when I am cleaning them.
There there is no ugh factor when you steam them to find all these wee creatures in the bottom of the pan.
This works great with broccoli as well .

And, how could you have bread without salt?

I Hope you have a lovely Monday.
Be just a little sassy and salty...
M

September Sunday

Mark and I have a made a vase for the upcoming Celebration of Seagrove Potters that will be held in November, the weekend before Thanksgiving in the old Luck's Bean factory.

 Mark threw the vase and I put a white slip on it and then carved some flowers, vines and a lizard on it.
This will go in the auction with the money going towards our potters group, The Seagrove Area Potters Association or SAPA.
SAPA is an all volunteer Group with a board made up of the local potters and some interested non-potters.
It, of course, takes tons of work to give your time to help an organization work.
The potters who work on this find that making all the pots and giving your time eats away at some studio time. They are to be  thanked for all their hard work.
This vase is going in the firing with Ms. B- fingers crossed that she gives it a good firing.

 

I am putting some stains in the carved areas, then I dip it all in a cover glaze.
The top I will dip in our wood ash glaze. The ash will run down to meet up, and probably cover some of the design. I did do a test in the last gas firing and found the results pleasing enough to try it again for this vase.
What is life without sticking your neck out for something different.
All the pots are glazed, Mark is going to rebuild the bag wall and we are bringing the floor up another 1 1/2 inches in hopes that the kiln will fire a bit more even.
Yeah, I know....

On the garden front, the eggplant are still producing.
I am, as usual, fighting with pest.
The flea beetles are a pain and the plants are too big to try to cover.
 There has been something chewing on the eggplants and I got to thinking,
Why not cover them up?
So I did with cheesecloth.
This allowed the eggplants to grow without the bugs eating away at them.
I thought it pretty clever.

And, about that Cuban bread!
Here is me and the bread, I love this recipe it is so good and easy!
Thanks Smart Cat.
I am always shocked when I see pictures of myself and then as I look I think, there is my mother's nose, my father's eyes, thanks for the bags dad!
What is one going to do but accept that they are no longer 35 or 45.....

Cheers!
I hope you have a grand Sunday.
M