My try at a Great British Bake Off Contestant.

Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, ( yes that is their real names.) are judges for the Great British Bake Off. I've mentioned the show before here.
While going through some of the recipes at BBC Food, I went directly to Paul Hollywood recipes. You see I'm trying very hard to become a better bread maker, and he seems to be a bread making magician. I've watched the Masterclasses on Youtube and try and listen and follow his technique. I've had success so far.
Today I thought I'd share this one with you its Apricot Couronne. Now the written recipe from the site has a mistake. First the amount of flour is way off. It says 250 grams, it should read 3 cups of flour.
The recipe is also in metric and yes as Canadians we should know this, but I still use the old fashioned way....good old cups, tsp, and tbsp. I'm not sure who tried to convert it, but even thats confusing. So here goes my conversion. Feel free to post any mistakes you find that I missed. Happy Baking :)

* Bakers Note-I did change fruit for more of a Christmas filled Couonne. And I can tell you that it really wasn't that hard to make and it does look impressive (I think) that its a twisted bread.

         

Apricot Couronne.

3 cups white flour
1tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1/3 cup butter softened
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

Filling
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dried apricots (this is where I changed my fruit for the season to cherries, and currents)
soaked in Orange Juice (just to cover)
2 tbsp of flour
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 walnuts
zest of one orange.

To finish
1/3 apricot jam
3/4 cup icing sugar
almonds to sprinkle

Preparation method

1. Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the butter, milk and egg and mix to combine, using your hands. Continue to mix until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. Use the dough to clean the inside of the bowl and keep going until you have a soft dough.
2. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 10-12 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin.
3. When the dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
4. While the dough is rising, make the filling. Beat the butter and muscovado sugar together until smooth. Drain the apricots and add to the butter mixture along with the flour, raisins, walnuts and orange zest. Mix to combine.
5. Line a baking tray with baking parchment or silicone paper.
6. Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface. Taking care not to knock the air out of it, roll out the dough into a rectangle, approximately 33x25cm/13x10in. Turn the dough 90 degrees if necessary, so you have a long edge facing you. Spread the apricot mixture evenly over the dough. Roll up the dough tightly (like a Swiss roll). Roll it slightly to seal, then cut it in half lengthways (you can leave one end joined to help you twist the dough and form the circular crown).
7. Twist the two dough lengths together to make a rope, then join the ends of the rope to form a circular ‘crown’. Transfer to the baking tray.
8. Put the tray inside a clean plastic bag and leave to prove for 30-45mins, or until the dough springs back quickly if you prod it lightly with your finger. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
9. Bake the couronne for 25-35 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
10. Gently heat the apricot jam with a splash of water, then sieve it and brush it over the warm loaf to glaze. Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thin icing, drizzle over the loaf and sprinkle with the flaked almonds. Leave to cool before serving.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Midnight....

 Ok so this has nothing to do with Midnight and sometimes I just don't have a title for these posts. But black is involved, so I'm not all crazy.
I am once again finished a project that I started, oh so long ago. So long ago that I can't even find a before picture anywhere. What I can tell you is, that I bought it at Habitat. I know M'lynn and Roger were with me. I know I got a great deal on it, and I know that I really liked it.

It was a tired little piece that needed a little pizzaz. Now I like things painted black however, Isaac does not. After waxing things painted black, it has a tendency to show finger prints and it drives him crazy. Having a clean room.... not so much, but finger prints... go figure. So beware if you ever go this route with black and wax, it needs to be buffed quite a bit.

I like its curvy legs and I decided to leave the knobs as is. I like the contrast, and the fact that they are kind of beat up.

I didn't distress this one either, I'm going to let it continue to grow old gracefully. :)

Procrastination at its Finest

I bought this is March.....2012.

And I quickly did this to it. Tore it apart and painted and distressed the wood.

Then it sat...... and sat...... and sat.

It moved in and out of  the house with the seasons. My not so patient husband was actually patient. Probably because I had it in the house more then out in the garage.

It wasn't like I didn't want to finish it, but I had grown into a love/hate relationship with it. No sooner had I stapled things in place, that I ripped it back off. It just didn't sit right.

Curves became my arch enemy. So I decided to ignore it till a light bulb went off.

Then I decided to have my family for Christmas this year, annnd I'm sure they'd like to sit somewhere, so I could put it off no longer. Out in the garage it went and wasn't coming in, till it was done. It came in last night at 9 o'clock.

Its not prefect, but I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not a professional.

The fabric I think was picked out in 2011 by Roger. It was a deal at buy one, get two free.

See its smiling at me!

So what took me over a year to "think" about took me less then a day to do.

My hand hurts, I smashed my knee and I stapled my finger not once but twice in the making of this project, but in the end I'm happy, sore... but happy! :)

I've been lost in the World of Craftsy

Yes its true I've been hanging around in Craftsy. If you haven't tried or even heard of it I suggest you take the tour of their site. They've got some free online classes if you want to test the waters.
Myself, I wanted to improve upon my sewing skills and I've got to say taking a few of the sewing classes has definitely done that. So yes I've been sewing and sewing and sewing. But its not only sewing, its cake decorating, furniture painting, crocheting, knitting, cooking and I'm sure I'm missing a few, its just that vast.
                                                         

So have a looksy! :)

Fashion Backwards

I've always been a sucker for twirly skirts, crinolines,and watching old shows/movies from the 50's and 60's.  With a resurgence of this fashion era over the past couple of years, I can have my wish and wear the clothes of this time period. YeeHaw!!
After watching the sewing bee I thought, I need to improve my sewing skills and I wanted to make true authentic clothes from the era, rather then buy a knock-off. Enter Gertie. I picked up her book along with a couple of vintage patterns from etsy.

 Now I've sewn lots of things before, but I'd read that sewing with a vintage pattern can be a little tricky. I thought the blouse looked like a fairly easy place to jump off.

Here it is!

Things you learn from sewing from this type of pattern- It may not be your size and it wasn't, so I had to learn to re-adjust a pattern. Next, I had to make a mock up to make sure my newly sized pattern to make sure it would actually fit me!
-Darts. I've always hated making darts. This pattern had 12 to sew into it. In the end it wasn't so bad. There was a lot of going back and forth between the book, internet and the pattern itself. Interfacing wasn't mentioned once in the pattern, but I did add it.
-Collar. I haven't been the best at making a nice crisp collar, and usually avoid them, but really like how this one turned out.
-Patience...lots and lots of patience. Sewing slower, makes me a better sewer.

In case you're wondering this was from a 1957 pattern. It was fun ( and will be ) bringing these clothes back to life 50 years later. :)

Annnd we're back!

For those of you who had noticed, I had shut down the old blog, because I was pouting over a few things that had happened. The main one being that my hand had begun to have more frequent flare ups of arthritis. Painting anything had become a painful endeavor. Actually, anything involving my hand from holding a silly teacup had became scary. Soo... insert pout here. I took some time to analyze the situation and although it will be slow going on major projects, I do have some fun things that I've done.

About a month ago, Ashley turned me on to The Great British Sewing Bee. Luckily these can be found on Youtube, and inspired me to make some sewing projects. (thats another day).

Then we watched The Great British Bake Off. About 5 minutes into the show, they were baking a Lavender Shortbread, using Lavender Sugar.  This sounded like something I could make, so I goggled it  and yes, its plain sugar and lavender.

 Then using this lovely recipe, I made my cookies.

Oh how yummy they were!! And in keeping with British style, I made them using a duck egg, which are wonderful for baking because of the extra big yolks.

                                                                                   And of course, a cup of tea was needed. :)

Things I like on Thursdays

I'd like to tell you that my kitchen reno is moving right along but it stopped last week when Roger came home with a sore knee that bloomed into a lovely infection, that him and I several times to the hospital this week. But antibiotics finally kicked in, and he is up and around again.

So I thought I'd do something new and share with you on random days what tickles my fancy.

Downton Abbey. Or Highclere Castle as its known in the real world.

As for the show, I will sit with a book and take in all the little things. Signage, furniture and make sketches of things I like or paint colours that are used.

As for the house, this has got to be one of my favourite rooms.

If you haven't watched the show you really should check out Highcleres site for some spectacular photos of an amazing building with a rich history.

Last but not least is my fetish for the hats. This week I've been humming "Easter Parade" and yes I do have my hat all picked out for Easter. But its nothing like these.

Happy Easter!:)