Bread recipes

This month marks the one-year anniversary of taking a breakmaking class.  In the past year I have made over 100 loaves of many different shapes & sizes.  While there have been 1 or 2 bread-fails, the rest have been tasty, if not spectacular!

bread fail

The failures were oddly exciting because I learned from experimentation what to do & not do again.  A big part of the successes have been using a journal .  

Having the right tools also helps: 

- 2 cast iron dutch ovens with lids  (iron gets nice & hot)

- digital scale (the key to a successful breadmaking experience)

- "Red Star" dry yeast

- coarse sea salt

- homeground whole wheat kernels (ground in Vita-Mix)

- Levain (starter)

Here are the 2 bread recipes I learned, reprinted with permission from chef Brad Williams (flour ratios my own).  Each recipe makes 2 loaves:

No-Knead Bread

350g white flour

150g whole grain flour (or whole wheat)

5g yeast

10g salt

350g water

1.  In a large bowl mix all ingredients together until no lumps remain.  

2.  Cover with a tea towel & let rest for 12 hours on the counter, or 24 hours in the fridge.  

3.  Heat oven to 475 degrees F, warming the Dutch oven inside the oven.  

4.  Knead dough lifting right edge onto left edge & rotating bowl a quarter turn.  Repeat 3 times.  
5.  Remove dough from bowl and place on floured surface while oven warms (at least 30 min).  

6.  In a 2nd bowl with clear water, rinse off bits of wet dough stuck to your hands.  You don't want this dough to go down the drain.  In the bowl of water the dough will sink to the bottom so it's easy then to put in the garbage.

7.  When oven is at 475, remove the empty Dutch oven & coat bottom lightly with flour.  

8.  Drop dough inside the Dutch oven, replace lid & bake in oven for 40 minutes.   Lower temperature to 450 after a few minutes.

9.  The bread is ready when e the kitchen smells like fresh bread and you can knock on the bread top.  Remove bread from Dutch oven & cool on countertop.  Resist the temptation to cut the bread while warm.  It is still cooking at this point & will sag without reaching its full bread-awesomeness potential.

Levain Bread

Same ingredients as above, add 250g of Levain.  Get some from a friend, store, bakery.  There are also some recipes on the Internet on how to start some.

This bread is more work but more moist so well worth the effort.  

1.  In a large bowl mix all ingredients together until no lumps remain.  

2.  For the next 2 hrs, roughly every 15 minutes, knead dough lifting right edge onto left edge & rotating bowl a quarter turn.  Repeat 3 times.  After every kneading, in a 2nd bowl with clear water, rinse off bits of wet dough stuck to your hands.  

3.  Then let dough rise for an hour.  A few times I've forgotten about it then went for a hike and it still worked out fabulously.  It's only bread so it's very forgiving.  

4.  After the hour, heat oven to 475 degrees F, warming the empty Dutch oven inside oven. 

5.  Remove dough from bowl and place on floured surface while oven warms (at least 30 min).  

6.  When oven is at 475, remove Dutch oven & coat bottom lightly with flour. 

7.  Drop dough inside the Dutch oven, replace lid & bake in oven for 40 minutes.   Lower temperature to 450 after a few minutes.

8.  Remove bread from oven & Dutch oven, & let cool on countertop.
9.  The bread is ready when e the kitchen smells like fresh bread and you can knock on the bread top.  Remove bread from Dutch oven & cool on countertop.  Resist the temptation to cut the bread while warm.  It is still cooking at this point & will sag without reaching its full bread-awesomeness potential.

Lessons learned:

- Remove bread from the oven after cook time.  Like a failed soufflé, the steaming-hot bread will collapse if left in the container when cooling.

- Wait until the oven is at the correct temperature before putting the bread in.  If the Dutch oven is not hot enough the dough will really stick to the bottom.  The bread itself will not cook properly either.

I hope these instructions make sense.  

Green - Line Break Shawl

2012 was the summer of green & blue.  The often fickle West Coast weather was amazing when J. & I went on a roadtrip around Washington's Olympic Peninsula, land of giant green trees & blue ocean.  

La Push, Washington

Two years ago, I bought wool with this shawl in mind.  For some reason I didn't get around to making it right away and more or less forgot about the colour combo until I saw Veera Valimaki's "Line Break Shawl" pattern.  As soon as I saw it, the blue/green colours screamed back at me.   

I couldn't wait to start this project.  With row upon row of garter stitch, it was the perfect travelling project.  No need to count rows or read a chart, but just watch the scenery in my summer roadtrip adventure as it unfolded before me!  

Knitting short rows made the project seem quick.  I had intended on making a lacey border with the light green, but decided on the modern look of the border as written.  This is my 3rd asymetrical shawl (Stripe Study, Color Affection).  I have yet to knit a triangular one, and perhaps never will!  

Journals

When I was 12 years-old I was homebound for 2 weeks with a nasty bout of Chicken Pox.  During these 2 uncomfortable weeks I read "The Diary of Anne Frank" from cover to cover.  Anne's writing inspired me to start my own Journal in which I wrote for the following 10 years.  Now that I'm all grown-up, journaling is no longer to record feelings but rather to keep track of various activities.

These days my Bread Journal gets the most use.  In this I keep 2 basic slow-rise recipes.  I also record every batch and loaf made.  My bread instructor (Brad Williams) suggested keeping a journal to keep track of successes & failures.  It comes in handy to remember how much water to use with certain flours.  Brad also suggests to record weather because this can affect the dough.  Keeping a bread journal has helped me to try again after failures by varying the amounts of certain ingredients.

My Knitting Journal is where I used to detail projects yarn, pattern, needle sizes, etc., however, since discovering Ravelry, project details are now online.  This paper journal is mainly a place where I glue yarn labels & samples.  I also glued a paper ruler (inches & cm) on the inside cover to measure swatches when travelling.  There's always a printed glove pattern in the back pouch for when the Internet is not accessible.

My newest journal is a Soap Journal where I record soapmaking adventures.  I keep track of the scents, colours, and bits which were used in the soaps.  I only need this one 2x/year so it's usually difficult to find.

I really enjoy the tactile feeling of writing on paper and looking back at past entries but sometimes it's just more practical to use a digital version.  I wonder whether paper journals will soon become a thing of the past.  Luckily, bookstores still sell beautiful notebooks.  My favorites are Moleskine Grid Journals.  Project journals, whether high or low-tech,  are excellent auxiliary memory devices.  Their real purpose is to write notes to my future self to improve on what I just did.

Friend or Foe?

Last weekend I spent a few days in Deep Bay with some friends.  We spent the weekend relaxing, me restarting this project a few times, the others reading.   These last few weeks have been unusually warm for September so we enjoyed the diminishing rays of the Saturday evening on the sundeck.

I have seen many creatures large and small along the coastline since I have been visiting these past 20 years.  There have been eagles, otters, crabs, loons, brandts, seals, sea lions, a few orcas, and all kinds of seagulls.  Last weekend there was a new visitor.  It lay very peacefully by to the beach on that quiet night.

Is it strategically resting next to my Mom's tomatoes, or just enjoying a quiet spot?

Fall is Orange

Last Friday was the first day of fall:  on the calendar and with the weather.  The weather became suddenly cooler & the fog returned to the West Coast.

So I was do glad to receive the latest I instalment of the Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Colour Club 2012.  This month was ...

J.'s Hungarian Apricot Jam

Orange!! What a perfect colour to inject warmth into a cool day.

crazy-urban-garden-carrots

Goofy but true, lately when starting a new knitting project 2 things have happened:

1.  I have fallen in love with the colour.

2.  I notice that colour more often in nature.

Stripe Study Shawl

Last summer I fell in love with Veera Valimaki's Stripe Study Shawl.  Not normally a big fan of asymmetry, this surprisingly became the first of 3 asymmetrical shawls I knitted this past year (Mom's Color Affection).  My past self would likely roll her eyes at the fact I'm wearing shawls, however the colours and asymmetry gives them a modern look; not your grandmother's shawl.  (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

I fell in love with the stripes in this design at first sight.  The project progressed quickly with short rows and garter stitches.  I just couldn't put it down until a bit more was completed.

This 1st ever shawl for me was knitted with leftover sock wool which I had used to make socks, gloves, and a scarf.  All yarns are from Montreal's Tanis Fiber Arts.  I mainly use sock wool now because it makes it so much easier to mix & match leftovers.  I ran out of the dark blue "Stormy" & had to order online since it's no longer sold locally.  The newer version was a bit darker and actually gives the shawl more depth.

New skill:  short rows (wrap & turn)

I never did block this project.  I just wore it so much that it stretched out beautifully on its own!  More deets on my Ravelry project page.

Olga Korbut

The summer Olympics have already come & gone.  l enjoyed watching Gymnastics and reminisced to a time when Gymnastics was like magic.  Earlier this month I was lucky to catch a short biography on NBC about Olga Korbut and how she changed Gymnastics and the face of the Soviet Union.

Growing up in Québec in the 70s, our options were somewhat limited when it came to participating in sports.  Boys played hockey, turning our snowy streets into a scene from Roch Carrier's "The Hockey Sweater", while girls figure skated.  Olga Korbut's Gymnastics magic in 1972 opened a new world for those of us who were not so keen on lacing skates outside with frozen fingers.

I was able to experience the Gymnastics magic through an older cousin's obsession with Olga Korbut.  Just like "The Hockey Sweater"'s where boys wanted to comb their hair and dress like Maurice Richard, we wore pigtails and puffy sleeves like Olga Korbut.  

It's hard to imagine how much courage it took for Korbut to innovate in her sport.  In the 2012 NBC interview she said that her teammates didn't like her because she was different.  Luckily for the rest of the world she remained true to her ideals.  She performed daring moves on the uneven bars and even smiled for the camera at a time when few Soviets would.  It was nice to see that her 57 year-old self is still a determined woman with a strong sense of self and a twinkle in her eye.  I hope NBC posts the segment somewhere on their website.  

Nodar Kumaritashvili

The London 2012 Olympics reminded me of how exciting it was to witness the 2010 Olympics in Whistler.  But I was also reminded of the sacrifices athletes undertake to compete, and that sometimes things go wrong.  Our 2010 Westcoast Olympic experience started off very differently than London's.  Unfortunately,  an athlete lost his life while pursuing his Olympic dreams in Whistler.  I had never heard of Georgian Nodar Kumaritashvili, but was deeply moved when he died at the age of 21 practising for his Luge event.  The loss of his life was too great a price to pay.

I visited Whistler back in 2010 between the Olympics & Paralympics.  The little village was nursing an Olympic hangover and slowly generating a buzz anticipating the Paralympics.  On one of my walks along Village Stroll I discovered a small ad-hoc memorial set-up for Nodar next to the frozen river.  There was a guest book, flags, and many items left behind in his memory.

I continue to be moved by the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili.  As my eldest son nears 21, I think of a child never returning home and parents forever left with a hole in their hearts.  Last spring when visiting Whistler I went searching for the quaint memorial by the river and was saddened that it had been removed.  I later found a more permanent structure had been erected in his memory in the Olympic Plaza.

The flags and unused Olympic tickets left behind in his memory are now gone, but the touching guest book remains, tucked under the plaque.  As a Mom I will likely continue to visit his memorial when I visit Whistler, and say a quiet prayer for his parents & family.

May he rest in peace, and all the best to athletes pursuing their dreams.

D.'s Magical Soapmaking Kingdom

Homemade soap is satisfying to use because it's so rich, colourful & delightfully smelly!  But more than the end-result, I love making soap because the process is so fun.  4 of us make soap a few times a year at a friend's house.  D. takes care of the dangerous bits (lye), and provides other supplies.

Twice a year, she transforms her dining-room into a Soapmaking Magic Kingdom filled with magical scents & colourful combinations.  There are always many scents to choose from, as well as natural scratchy bits which add texture & colour to soaps.  My favourite add-ins include nori & black sesame seeds while favourite scents so far have been Peppermint and also Blackberry.

Her soaps are no match for commercial or other handmade soaps available at small markets.

Bread class #2

Bread class #2 at Cook Culture yesterday with Brad Williams.  This Breakfast Breads class literally had me on the edge of my seat for 4hrs+.  I took way too many notes and probably asked too many questions too.

Rolls stuffed with Leeks & Cream, proofing in a couche

Things I learned:

1.  My dough is too wet.  I should be using 75% water to flour, while I have been using a 1:1 ratio of water to flour.  It works for cast iron bread, but makes shaping dough for baguettes nearly impossible.  

2.  Windowpaning dough, useful to see whether the gluten has formed properly.  Also, that dough out in the open too long without wrapping will develop a thicker crust.

Our bounty:  Round Frittata in center, Rolls stuffed with Leeks & Cream surrounding Frittata, rectangular Cinnamon Buns, English Muffins in frying pan

A Different Yoga Groove

I have been practicing Bikram Yoga almost exclusively for 4 years now.  I love the peace of mind which comes from practicing the same series of movements over & over again.  In Bikram classes, the instructor guides students through a series of 26 poses in a room heated to 40C.  The words spoken are roughly the same each time.  It sounds very prescriptive but the reason for this is to guide students verbally to increase depth and flexibility.  At a Bikram studio I can do some of the poses well because I have practiced them so often.  Repeating the same poses every class has improved flexibility, posture and range of motion.

The last signs of winter in
Whistler 2 weeks ago.  

On a recent family vacation to Whistler, while my boys skied I practiced yoga at a non-Bikram studio because there is no Bikram Studio within 30 minutes of Whistler.  I wasn't sure what to expect because I have been practicing Bikram for so long now.

The sequence of poses at this new studio was rather Bikramish, with some variety.  I really enjoyed practicing a different yoga because the variety shook my body out of its usual groove in a good way.  The Mountain Series (where I usually do Triangle) was especially challenging and rewarding.  The instructor corrected me during this sequence by twisting my hips, a change from Bikram's verbal-only corrections.  Unfortunately, I can't remember what I was doing wrong in this pose, so this experience got me wondering ...

Does my brain remember verbal yoga corrections better than manual ones?  Another question, is it better to repeat the same yoga poses over & over again and become an expert, or to vary poses each lesson?  Just like my usual classes, I felt very refreshed at the end of the session.  And to answer my question, I think change is mind-expanding, but still believe that practice makes perfect.

I spy with my little eye, something that is ...  Happy Easter!

Orb Chair

I fell in love with this chair 3 years ago.  We first met online.  I'm embarrassed to say its digital version caught my eye while playing one of those silly games on Facebook.  I may even have invited a few of you to play along.  The game was pointless and my addiction soon faded.  

My love of the Orb Chair was rekindled after visiting the now-defunct furniture store NOOD.  Strolling Yates St. after breakfast with my soapmaking buddies, and there it was staring at me through the modern-store window, in all its redness.

Goofy?  Definitely.  But upon the first time I tried it, it sucked me in, engulfing me with its noise-reduction superpowers and extreme comfort.  I was ready to move-in.  It had the best qualities in a chair:  large enough to accommodate my pretzel-sitting stance, room for a novel AND a knitting project.

So the chair & I dated for a few years.  I made most of the advances, visiting whenever I had breakfast at the neighbouring Rebar.  On a few occasions the chair contacted me through a flyer.  It did so again this past December.  So I cut its picture out and attached it to my fridge so we could visit more often.

This is where my great hubby comes in.  Having put up with me for the past 20 years (already!) and  without a hint of jealousy, he invited the Orb into our home as an anniversary present.  It was a bit awkward at first.  The design police would surely not approve the mixture of old/new in my living-room, but this is the new millennium and we must welcome diversity.  We're now one big happy family.  Its goofiness makes me smile whenever I see it.  Did I mention that it rotates 360 degrees?

Mom's Color Affection Shawl

I fell in love with the Color Affection shawl when I first saw it in January but had to wait until February until it was available to the general public.  I love Veera Valimaki's shawl designs.  She has released 3 striped shawls in the last year, each one a variation on the other by playing with short rows & colours. 

I wasn't sure which colours to use so I played around with various combinations.

As soon as I started with the Pink Grapefruit & Truffle (part of the Tanis Fiber Arts Clubs 2011 & 2012), it was obvious I had a winner.  

The shawl is a belated birthday gift for my Mom's February birthday.  Happy Birthday Mom!

bread lessons

Like most people nowadays, I have taken a step back from wheat products in the past few years.  Couple that with weak cooking skills, it's a miracle that a friend was ever able to take me to a bread-making class at Cook Culture last November.

I had planned on watching from a safe distance.  Even when the instructor, Brad Williams, promised that any 9 year-old could make this bread, I was still doubtful.  Brad took us through a history of yeast products.  He explained that today's commercial breads are nothing like their ancestors because they are now made so quickly.  By contrast, using yesteryear's slow-rise techniques yeast enzymes have more time to digest, therefore they are better for our guts, he says.  This bread is very moist and does not get moldy, just stale.  It stays fresh for days.  One memorable quote:  "Beer is liquid bread and bread is solid beer".

I learned how to make a levain (sourdough) bread in 4.5 hrs, and a No-Knead bread in 24 hrs.  I was surprised at how easy and amazingly good it is.  One slice is a meal in itself.  Add peanut butter & honey and I'm in heaven!

I have fallen in love with making this bread.  Since November I have made over 50 loaves of various shapes/sizes/ composition.  My favourite is still a whole grain/white flour mixture.  I mill my own whole wheat flour with a Vita-Mix.  My boys like the cheese bread.

Kneading reminds me of gardening without gloves.  I do a lot of knitting and play classical piano, however I haven't been so proud of making something with my own hands in a long time.   I just wish I could make more so I could share it with more people.  It disappears very fast!

I encourage anyone to purchase artisan bread from a market and experience the difference!

Key factors in my own bread success & fun have been:
- using a digital scale to weigh ingredients
- cooking with a cast-iron Dutch oven
- keeping a bread journal & to learn from my mistakes
- cutting with a long bread knife

Yoga and Knitting, is there anything else?

Mid-March and the beginning of Spring Break.  It's been a tough winter since Christmas.  My January Yoga Challenge resolution seems long gone.  I made it home on a Sunday morning after day 20 of my Bikram Challenge, back in mid-January, and was promptly taken down by pneumonia.  2 months later and visits to the hot room are still too infrequent.  I am taking it easy because my breathing is still laboured.  My flexibility is suffering so I can't wait until I can practice more often.

I'm thankful for knitting to keep me occupied while I was really sick.  One lesson learned from battling breast cancer is to have goals each day, no matter how small.  Battling pneumonia, I was too sick to read but the repetitive motion of knitting, along with watching PVRed Tour de France 2011 episodes kept me going for a few weeks.

With knitting Christmas presents behind me I was finally able to tackle a project for myself.  Last summer I stocked-up on a few skeins of "Meadow" from Tanis Fiber Arts before it was discontinued.   A bit of back & forth knitting and "voilà", a new Azzu Shawl for me.  I love it!  It's soft, squishy, and warm.

I was able to take part in the Tanis Fiber Arts Knit-along in January.  I had not signed-up at the beginning of January because I didn't think I would be able to finish a project in a month.  Funny how things happen sometimes.  My yoga goal went down the tubes but I now have a new shawl instead.  My first knit-along, it was really fun to watch all the projects evolve and I discovered many new beautiful patterns.  Wool + pattern + needles = Joy!

Day 7 - The last Xmas Yoga class

Today was the last day of the Christmas break.  Tomorrow it's roll your sleeves up & back to school baby!  Once again, it was a real treat to practice yoga during the daytime, at 11 am.  Starting tomorrow I'll have to either go before work @ 6 am or after school @ 3:45.  The trouble with waiting for 3:45 is that sometimes I get stuck @ school and can't make the yoga class.  So it's an early bedtime & early yoga for me for the first day back.

I. was teaching today, lucky us!  She always injects her classes with tips & inspirational words.  Today's tip was about Standing Bow - to really place the forward shoulder against the chin.  I thought I was already doing that but when the class tried after her demonstration, we all grew an inch and presto!  better balance.  As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and a real live demo is even better!

Bikram teachers often have inspirational words during class.  I should bring a pencil & paper to class to jot those ideas down because I can never remember them afterwards.  Writing something down during class  would be highly irregular and I wonder whether the paper would stay dry enough.  Today's thought was F.I.P.  The only way I was able to remember was by repeating this acronym in my head a number of times.  I. says that the best way to improve postures is through:

1.  Frequency of practice - It's true, it doesn't matter how long someone has been practising, it's how often they practice that makes the difference.

2.  Intensity of practice - It's important to try hard, or else no changes will happen.  Timely advice as I was wondering today whether I should decrease my efforts while practising everyday to make sure I don't overdo it.

3.  Perspiration ... Actually, she said Persistence, but I thought Perspiration would be funnier.  Persistence goes along with #1 & 2, as does Perspiration.  Without Persistence there is no Frequency, Intensity or Perspiration.

Resolutions & a 30 Day Challenge

Happy New Year!

Some years I make specific resolutions, other years I don't.  Is it worth making resolutions if I'm not committed to them?  Probably not.  Some resolutions are standards year after year, but not necessary measurable, such as eating better and being kinder to others in need ...  Then there's the measurable/unattainable resolution - losing weight.

Last year I purchased my first Annual Membership from Bikram Yoga Saanich  so my 2011 resolution was to practice yoga enough times to make the membership worthwhile.  I'm happy to report that I reached that goal with 136 visits to the yoga studio in 2011.  By charting how often I practised I learned that I am able to attend classes often when I'm not teaching, not so often when I'm writing report cards & practically never in September when all hell breaks loose.

This is useful information for 2012.  I have renewed my Annual Membership.  I'm not going to beat myself up when I can't go to yoga, however, I will remember how great it makes me feel, and how it keeps me healthy.  So I'll try to make it to the studio as much as possible in 2012, at least 2x a week.  I was not planning on making a resolution for 2012 but that sounds like one right there.

My studio just started a 30 Day Challenge today.  The past 2 years I have regretted not starting the year with a yoga challenge.  So this year I decided not to wait until Jan. 1st for the studio challenge and to start my own personal 30 Day Challenge on December 27th instead.  I'm still on vacation right now and it's easy to make it to the studio every day.  Today was Day 6 of my challenge.  The real challenge for me will be scheduling family, work, & yoga.  I did a 30 day challenge in April 2010 so I can do it again.  The main benefits last time were more patience in the classroom, plus I kicked a winter-long cold.  Must keep this in mind to keep me motivated.

Benefits of daily practice (so far, in no specific order):
#1  Stillness
#2  Peace of mind
#3  Getting used to different areas of the studio
#4  Increased flexibility on backward bends
#5  Stronger thighs for Standing Head to Knee
#6  Letting go of being able to see myself in the mirror