Blue Haven Brown Bread

Greetings friends and readers! I've been thinking. I used to publish more tutorial"ish" entries on my blog. Lately, I've been so busy that I've been posting my finished results of whatever the project is. My question to you is: would you like more of a tutorial or do you prefer the end result. Please send me an email to tawnya {at} wizardgir1 {dot} com or, of course, leave a comment to let me know either way. Maybe you don't have an opinion and you just like my logo! that's fine too! But, if ever you develop an opinion that you want to share. My ears are open. :)

Spring break is over for our school district. I was working different hours, so again, I was thrown off schedule. The only craft I dabbled in was making a delicious Blue Haven Brown Bread. I got the recipe from "The Best of Irish Breads & Baking", which was written and published in Dublin, Ireland. COOL HUH?!  I will share this recipe.

Blue Haven Brown Bread
Ingredients:
1 lb./ 450 g/ 4 cups wholemeal flour (whole wheat)
2 tsp/ 2½ US tsp salt
1 tsp/ 1¼ US tsp black treacle (molasses)
1 oz/ 25g/ fresh yeast
12 fl oz/ 350 ml/ 1½ cups of tepid water

Mix the flour with the salt and set it to warm in a cool oven. I just placed it on the burner that the heat releases to warm mine up. Mix the treacle/molasses with a little of the water in a small bowl and stir in the yeast. Leave it in a warm area. I placed my bowl near the warm burner.  I used 1/2 cup water for the yeast mixture.

Grease one large pan or two small ones and put them in a warm place, also. In 45 minutes the yeast will froth up like mine did in the photo above. Stir it well and then add the remaining water - 1 cup.

Stir the mixture into the flour to make a fairly wet dough. Mine wasn't wet at all so I added more water. I didn't measure, I just turned on the tap and ran it in the bowl until it looked right.

After it's mixed, place it into your greased pan for 20 minutes to rise. The book says it should double in this amount of time. I let mine rise for 45 minutes. It rose a little higher, and totally filled out the pan, but I don't know that I would say it "doubled". While it's rising, preheat oven at 470° F/ 230° C/ gas 8. When I was satisfied with the rise of the dough, I put it in the oven for 40 minutes. The instructions say to bake for 45 to 50 minutes until nicely browned and sounds hollow when tapped.

Cool on a wire rack. And here is the finished bread! YUM.

This is a nice heavy bread. Serve with butter and honey! (Or if you're on a diet like I am, serve with jam.) I do want to mention that this bread is pretty salty. Next time, I might put 2 teaspoons or 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt into the mix. I don't know if breads are more salty in Ireland or what. I'll have to browse the other recipes.  I would totally make this bread again!

Hope you try this recipe because of the ease. If you do let me know if you do anything different. :)

I don't have much on the agenda for this week - other than attending the gym and working on my white crocheted scarf. If I get a bug to work on my quilted tote, I might do that.

Well, until next Monday... have a wonderful week!

Floating Beads, Scarves, Art Doll, and a Cute Quilted Tote!

Happy Mid-March! I'm a bit later in posting my entry this week because I've had a small life-change that needed to take place. Can you guess? Can you guess with all of my complaining about weight gain? Tawnya has joined the gym! I couldn't take it anymore. After I learned that my insurance pays a percentage of it, there was no reason to NOT join. I joined Friday and have gone each day since. I know, 4 days, big deal right? It really IS a big deal though - I've recommitted to a healthier lifestyle. So that's why I'm later today.

Now on to my crafting! My girlfriend, Korrina, is getting married this summer and asked me to help her make her bridesmaid's jewelry: earrings and necklaces. We did that this weekend. I haven't made a necklace that gives the illusion of floating beads around the neck but I've always wanted to. It was a lot of fun figuring out! Korrina was very pleased with how the pieces turned out. She has other craft ideas for her wedding and I've offered to help do whatever I can. 

I had some time to work on my art doll. I was stuck on her shoes and finally decided to go with a blue cotton with lace trim and sequins for buttons. After I got the shoes completed, I got creative and finished her lace sleeves with some blue lace trim and gave her a blue bow-tie necklace.

Here's a close up of her shoes.

And here is a close up of her sleeve trim and bow necklace.

I said that I was going to post my colorful scarf last week, but I didn't want to pose quite yet. I will mention that I have worn this scarf several times and received some really nice compliments. I'm not gonna lie, I was slightly worried that I looked like a clown! Haha... Women just loved it! They mentioned it looked so fun. (Thank you!!)

And because I loved the frilly or ruffly look of the scarf, I decided to make one out of this really pretty white yarn that my ma gave to me. It's a very soft 100% acrylic with tinsel woven through so that it reflects light and looks sparkly at a glance. I'm a sucker for sparkles. :)

Maybe you can see the tinsel a little better here.

I also had some time this week to work on some quilt squares of my own design. I debated if I should continue making random quilt squares and make another quilt blanket, but I decided not too considering my king size quilt isn't even finished yet! I DO, however, need another tote that is a small size for carrying things to the gym in. :) (I love mentioning that I "go to the gym"!) Anyways, the photo below is one side of the tote.

Here is the other side of the tote. I'm not sure how I am going to do the handles yet. Time and creativity will tell.

Well, as you see, I have three projects to finish. I don't think I will start any new ones this week. I'm taking my ma's cats for two weeks, beginning Thursday, so I am not sure how much time I will get for projects this weekend. I have a gym date this weekend too, with a gal from work - she's invited me to Zumba session. Since it's so popular, I thought I'd give it a try. Although, I'm terrible at keeping tempo or anything that requires memory to movements. :D So again, I don't know how much crafting I will get to.

Okay, my Sweety is in the kitchen ready for dinner...waiting for me. Have a great week everyone. Thanks for reading! :)

Pillowcase Cuties!

Hello. To those of you who've been looking for me, I'm finally here! I've decided to implement a new routine. A fitness routine. After my AM shift. It will leave less time for crafting on the days I do not sub, but, such is life. My health and fitness is just as important, if not more.

Last week, I subbed only once, but I had meetings to attend on other days, so that ate up craft time also. Good thing I had a quilting group to go to on Saturday. I was determined to get something finished, no matter how small. I learned how to make pillow cases! Some of the gals at the group told me what to do step-by-step (thanks Sue and Mary!). They are quite easy to make and the technique I used to apply the band hides all seams. It's so neat. I can't wait to make more. (Oh my gosh, now after I said that I realize a photo of the inside would have been neat to post. Normally I would take a snapshot "now" but I'm having issues with my card reader. Sorry. I'll make a note of it to put it on next week.) My first photo is the pillowcase I sewed at the group. It's for Lancelot, our Corgi. Well, Lance's doggy bed.

Here's a close up of the fabrics. They don't match quite perfectly, but I liked the large print with the small print. The case is going to be on the floor and under the dog so I wasn't concerned with how fashionable it was. :)

Here's the pillowcase I made at home on Sunday after church. I sewed a welt in this one. Again, the colors don't match the best because it's for the other doggy, Chubahka.

Here's a close up of the fabric choices. The welt is the lavender strip.

Moving beyond this... I've almost completed my colorful scarf. As soon as I get off the computer (and some other small daily living tasks), I plan to finish it. I have a few stitches left. Then I'd like to model it for the blog, though I'm not the biggest "ham". I'll post that next week also.

I should get this posted. I'm fading quickly after my workout. I usually need a little rest in the midday anyway. I hope everyone has a great week!

See you next Monday. :)