Cornbread? In What?

Ok been hard at work on programing which has left a void in crafts. Normaly I wouldn't complaine, but lately I'm craving cornbread and orange pound cake. So being a women of sound mind and little time, I'm trying my homemade cornbread recipe in my breadmachine. I have no idea how this will turn out, nor if I will overfill the pan. So far the mix cycle looks good.


During the rise period the bread will be resting, which I hope makes the corn meal more tender. The bake time is still the same. Overall if this works my family will be happy. I don't make cornbread enough for them. To go along with the southern theme I put a pork rost in the crock.


- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Experiment In Bread

Found this really cool recipe for artisan bread that you mix and store in the refrigerate for up to seven days. You just cut of a pieces as you need them. So being in the experimental mood I gave this a shot.

Step One: Gather up your ingredients, bowl, and utensils.

Step Two: Measure out 6 1/2 cups flower, 3 cups h20, 1 tbs salt, and 1 1/2 tbs yeast.

Step Three: Mix the dough by hand or with a mixer until it forms a sticky gooey clump. If you use a mixer don't mix longer then 60 seconds or you will cause the flower to have a elastic effect that ruins the breads texture.

Step Four: Gently shape into a ball in the bowl and cover. I used a little butter spray on the top and sides of the ball and bowl to help prevent sticking. Let sit in a dry place for 2 hrs.

Step Five: Punch down the dough and move the container to the refrigerate. Let set anther 2 hours at least. At this point if your container seals you can just set in the refrigerate for up to 7 days, but as it ages it turns into sourdough so be prepared for this.

Step Six: Divide the dough into a loaf or ball and let rise 45 minutes. Place remaining dough into refrigerator. After its risen bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes at 450*. If you want a chewy crust add a pain of h20 under the baking dish on the lowest shelf. The water will evaporate into steam and make a great crust. Another trick is to invert a metal baking dish over the bread to form a steam done.

Overall the recipe was fun and easy to make. I made a crock-pot of homemade stew to go along with the first bread loaf. I plan to try this recipe again after we use up all the dough I made.

Organizational Day Cooking

Have a event at my husbands job tomorrow which required a little baking. Being the ambitious through back that I am I looked on my handy dandy iPhone program iFood for two recipes that would be nice to take. Here is what I came up with.

Below in the photo on the left is three Blueberry cheesecake torts that I just put in the oven. After an hour of cooking at low heat they turned out nice and tasty lookinh, as shown in the right picture. All that is left is depaning and they are ready.

The other item I'm making is a simple chocolate cake. After it cools over night I frosted it in a nice orange cream cheese frosting. Because the orange was so strong I added a little melted simi-sweet chocolate to smooth out the overall flavor.

A New Start

Started a new 3D bead project last night. These little triangles can be shaped in to two shapes shown below.

A New Piece

Trying a new medium today I made this nice new necklace that is going into my jewelery box. This piece is eight glitter stones embedded with glass flowers. The metal chain and flower links are made of antic brass. Overall it is a nice affect for a casual piece. Though not a lot of people who have viewed it liked it. The lines were not as nice as they would have liked. Though the stones were well received.

- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Insanity at Store.

.... Sitting here at store to buy fabric to make a dress. Never ever take kids to a fabric store. That is my advice for the day.

Left is the dress pattern that I found that I liked. I'm planning to make the dress without straps or sleeves. I just hope the dress turns out nice for my husbands military ball. So I guess taking the kids wasn't a complete loss since I did find a good pattern in my size.

.... The silk in the photo looks brighter the it does in person, but has nice depth for use in a evening gown. I just hope I can pull of this shade of color. My original plan was to use the black chiffon to tone down the scarlet color, but my pattern look horrible on me when I practiced it in cotton. So with the new pattern and enough luck I will have a better dress to wear. Now I just have to cut it and sew it. I wish it wasn't two pieces though. That is the the only thing I hate about this pattern. If I was a truly good at this I'd fins a way to fix this.

.... The sad thing about formals is that topically you only get about one wear out of them. Maybe someone needs to start a second round swap formal wear shop on post. Just think if such a shop existed, all those wives swapping dress instead of purchasing new ones. It would definitely save on the pocket book. Plus there would always be a place to go looking when you need a dress.

~FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone