Baking Bread
Last night, I stayed up too late. Lately, that makes me depressed come morning. We watched a movie, then Ben went to pick up J.J. at the airport. I got the baby to sleep again (she'd woken during the movie and found T.V. watching fascinating), but couldn't sleep myself at first. Finally, I felt tired and lay down. Shortly after, Ben came home.
This morning, I had trouble waking. I finally got up after 8AM.TJ was up playing Legos, I reminded him to do his chores. I've been organizing the craft room, again - I had to vacuum the later of dust off everything from the birds! The vacuuming was done yesterday, so now a bunch of stuff is in the hallway. I noticed a few things that could be tidied and finished half AJ's blue&red dress.
I realized that we hadn't had breakfast. I hadn't put any oats on to soak last night, there's only 4 eggs. I pulled out the watermelon balls left from making melon baskets on the Fourth and let the children have that for breakfast.
Ben went in to work today to make up for dealing with the cars the last 2 days. I feel so guilty for causing him to buy a new car!
I finally got the nerve up to make bread. I don't know why, but sometimes it takes so much effort to just start something so simple. Comfort zone, I guess. I flipped through the cookbook and was going to make plain Egg Bread when AJ asked for cinnamon rolls. Well, I'm trying to eliminate sugar to some degree, so we compromised with Cinnamon Swirl Bread. I mixed up the Egg Bread and set it to rise. And, knowing that would take 2.5-3 hours to make, I mixed up some Banana Bread (which only takes honey as a sweetener, nice!).While that was baking, I loaded the dishwasher.
Then, the dough was ready to be punched down. I split it in two and let them rest while finishing the dishwasher. Then to the fun part. To make Cinnamon Swirl Bread, I had to roll out the dough, brush it with water, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Simply roll the bread and set it flap down to rise again.
BB loves to help. So, BB wanted me to do it "ghen" with the other half of the dough. I had a bowl of cinnamon sugar and a glass of water. I set out the dough, BB tried to sprinkle, "Not yet, I have to roll it." I rolled the dough, she tried to sprinkle, "It works best if it's wet." I quickly brushed the dough with water, sloshing a bit much on (oh well) and she heaped cinnamon sugar in little piles on the dough she could reach. I rotated the board so she could do the other side and wiped the cinnamon sugar across the dough.She did really well, filling in gaps with spoonfuls and letting me smear it evenly. Then it was done, she helped me start rolling it and I set it in the pan. "Ghen," she said. I took the pans to my 'warm place' in the kitchen (the garden-box window thing) and turned around. She had refilled the bowl and was piling spoonfuls of sugar on the bare cutting board and smoothing them evenly with her hand. Hmm.. Time to make play dough!
We measured the flour, salt and cream of tartar and I let her mix those while I measured the water, oil and food colors. For some reason, the Kids Cooking book that I have calls for 2 teaspoons of food coloring when there's only a cup (or was it 2) of flour and a cup of water. I put in one of red and one of blue and it was so very dark. And, BB wanted to add more colors! So, we made a double batch of super healthy play dough to lighten the color.. I have no plain white flour, it's whole wheat flour. I have no regular salt, sea salt's expensive, so I used the Kosher salt. And, I have no regular cooking oil, so we used olive oil! They've been playing with it for close to 5 hours now. And, yes, BB has eaten some.
The cinnamon swirl bread came out of the oven and looked nice! I was so happy with how easy it was to slice. It's tasty, too.
I feel a bit better. Like I've accomplished something. But, I'm still tired. Someone talk me into going to bed at a reasonable hour?
This morning, I had trouble waking. I finally got up after 8AM.TJ was up playing Legos, I reminded him to do his chores. I've been organizing the craft room, again - I had to vacuum the later of dust off everything from the birds! The vacuuming was done yesterday, so now a bunch of stuff is in the hallway. I noticed a few things that could be tidied and finished half AJ's blue&red dress.
I realized that we hadn't had breakfast. I hadn't put any oats on to soak last night, there's only 4 eggs. I pulled out the watermelon balls left from making melon baskets on the Fourth and let the children have that for breakfast.
Ben went in to work today to make up for dealing with the cars the last 2 days. I feel so guilty for causing him to buy a new car!
I finally got the nerve up to make bread. I don't know why, but sometimes it takes so much effort to just start something so simple. Comfort zone, I guess. I flipped through the cookbook and was going to make plain Egg Bread when AJ asked for cinnamon rolls. Well, I'm trying to eliminate sugar to some degree, so we compromised with Cinnamon Swirl Bread. I mixed up the Egg Bread and set it to rise. And, knowing that would take 2.5-3 hours to make, I mixed up some Banana Bread (which only takes honey as a sweetener, nice!).While that was baking, I loaded the dishwasher.
Then, the dough was ready to be punched down. I split it in two and let them rest while finishing the dishwasher. Then to the fun part. To make Cinnamon Swirl Bread, I had to roll out the dough, brush it with water, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Simply roll the bread and set it flap down to rise again.
BB loves to help. So, BB wanted me to do it "ghen" with the other half of the dough. I had a bowl of cinnamon sugar and a glass of water. I set out the dough, BB tried to sprinkle, "Not yet, I have to roll it." I rolled the dough, she tried to sprinkle, "It works best if it's wet." I quickly brushed the dough with water, sloshing a bit much on (oh well) and she heaped cinnamon sugar in little piles on the dough she could reach. I rotated the board so she could do the other side and wiped the cinnamon sugar across the dough.She did really well, filling in gaps with spoonfuls and letting me smear it evenly. Then it was done, she helped me start rolling it and I set it in the pan. "Ghen," she said. I took the pans to my 'warm place' in the kitchen (the garden-box window thing) and turned around. She had refilled the bowl and was piling spoonfuls of sugar on the bare cutting board and smoothing them evenly with her hand. Hmm.. Time to make play dough!
We measured the flour, salt and cream of tartar and I let her mix those while I measured the water, oil and food colors. For some reason, the Kids Cooking book that I have calls for 2 teaspoons of food coloring when there's only a cup (or was it 2) of flour and a cup of water. I put in one of red and one of blue and it was so very dark. And, BB wanted to add more colors! So, we made a double batch of super healthy play dough to lighten the color.. I have no plain white flour, it's whole wheat flour. I have no regular salt, sea salt's expensive, so I used the Kosher salt. And, I have no regular cooking oil, so we used olive oil! They've been playing with it for close to 5 hours now. And, yes, BB has eaten some.
The cinnamon swirl bread came out of the oven and looked nice! I was so happy with how easy it was to slice. It's tasty, too.
I feel a bit better. Like I've accomplished something. But, I'm still tired. Someone talk me into going to bed at a reasonable hour?
Labels: Life
posted by jennifer. at
10:23 AM
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