Happy Spring!

Carol here ~

What a glorious spring day yesterday! Not a cloud in the sky, temps around 60 degrees.

I took advantage of the warm day with no wind to sit outside, get some much needed Vitamin D, watch the ice melt and stitch the binding down on Rona 14.

I had loaded 14 on Lena Longarm as soon as Dan had finished with the piecing. We used the digitized pattern HYACINTH from Urban Elementz for the quilting.

As Dan mentioned in a previous post, the binding was to be the red fabric he used to frame the blocks in the quilt. We had to cut the binding strips at 2”, instead of our normal 2-1/4” as there was not enough fabric left for a 2-1/4” binding. I ended up with less than 6” left, that was a close one!

What size do you usually cut your binding strips? 2-1/4” is my standard, but I do really like the looks of the narrower 2”.

Here is Rona 14 completed ~ another one off the to-do list!

I made bread on Saturday. The original recipe I use comes from a website by Joyful Jane. I have an allergy to wheat/gluten so I use sprouted whole wheat flour for my bread. Did you know that once a grain is sprouted it acts more like a vegetable in our bodies? You can read more about it here.

The purpose of my Saturday bread making was Burger Buns!

I formed the bread as I would if I was making rolls, then placed them on a cookie sheet and used the palm of my had to flatten them down.

Before final rise and baking

Last nights supper

Here is my "tweaked" recipe.

Easy Sprouted Whole Grain and Honey Bread

2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons warm water 100~110 degrees *(only used 2 c water)

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

1 Tablespoon honey

2 teaspoons salt

4-2/3 cups organic sprouted whole wheat flour (usually add 1/2 to 1 cup additional flour)

1/8 cup Vital Wheat Gluten

1 Tablespoon SAF Instant yeast

Mixer Method–

1. Put warm water, yeast, softened butter, honey and salt into a mixer bowl (such as a Kitchen Aid or Bosch mixer) with a dough hook attachment. Let it sit for 5 minutes while the yeast proofs and starts to bubble. Add 3 cups of flour and wheat gluten and begin mixing on slow speed. Gradually add the remaining flour until you have a nice round ball that is slightly sticky. You may have to scrape down the sides. Let the mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes.  Remove the dough then place into a greased metal bowl (I like to dip the top of my dough ball into the oil to make it nice and supple for rising). Heat your oven to about 80-100 degrees then turned the oven off. Cover the bowl with a towel and place it into the warm oven and let rise for 30 minutes until doubled in size.

2. When the dough is finished rising, punch down the dough. Divide the dough in half and shape into two loaves turning the dough under to get a nice smooth top. dip the tops of the dough into the oil in the greased pan before placing it in the pans. The oil will help the dough stay moist and rise well.

3. Warm the oven again to about 80-100 degrees, then turn oven off. Place loaves into the warm oven for 30 minutes to rise.

4. Once risen, carefully remove the bread from the oven and preheat oven to 350. When preheated, place bread back into oven on the middle rack to bake for about 27-30 minutes, depending on how fast and hot your oven cooks. Cook to 190 degrees.

Yield: Approximately two loaves of bread (or two dozen rolls or one pan of rolls and one loaf of bread)

Enjoy!