Lockdown Day 10

My Mum used to make all our bread. That was quite a feat, when you add in the fact that there were six kids in the family. She would bake five loaves at a time and we had two big wheeled bins full of flour in our pantry, I think I remember that the orange one held brown flour and the yellow one held white. She would make a mix, maybe half and half, of brown and white flours, and quite a sloppy dough, so our bread was chewy and yummy.

This is my Mum and four of my siblings, my youngest full brother yet to be born (I have a half-brother too). Guess which one is me.

Of course, we didn't know how yummy it was. While our lunchboxes were filled with cheese sandwiches on homemade bread, all we wanted was jam on shop-bought white bread like other kids! And fairy bread (sigh) we never, ever, ever got fairy bread (coloured sprinkles on white bread) and for that, I thank you Mum, although I didn't at the time!

I don't have Mum's recipe. She never really had one, just worked from experience, and when she died, none of us thought to write it down - although correct me if I'm wrong sisters, do any of you have it?

Back to present day, flour and yeast were two of the items that sold like hotcakes before the lockdown. Heaven only knows why. Bread is still for sale in the grocery store. Maybe people just wanted to make bread to have something to do? And there are recipes flying around Facebook left and right, the people who missed out on yeast are trying sourdough, it's all quite intriguing.

But I've jumped on the bandwagon too. I realised that while I've made bread a bajillion times, my kids haven't. We don't eat a whole heap of bread as a family now, so it's not something I make much of anymore. But it's something to do, and something that the kids can learn from.

Here's my kids, messily learning how to knead bread dough.

A friend of mine shared a recipe that she makes and it sounded easy. I have yeast in the fridge that I use to make pizza bases occasionally, and we have plenty of flour because my daughter likes to bake biscuits and cakes so we're always well stocked.

It made plenty, a loaf with sesame seeds on top, a plait that we added spice and mixed fruit to, and a round plain loaf. I had to do a bit of adjustment to the proportions of ingredients and I don't feel like retyping her recipe, so if you're looking for a good recipe, here's a link to an earlier blog post of mine when I was making bread regularly: Spread the Butter Thick.

There is nothing quite as appealing as the smell of freshly baked bread. And it's very hard to resist cutting into it straight out of the oven. But wait 15 minutes and it will still be warm but it won't collapse and shred because it's too hot. Serve with lashings of butter (none of that margarine stuff) and enjoy.

Blog worthy recipe

Although I shouldn't really say a recipe, more of a food experiment.

The kids asked if we could make cheese.

Umm, No.  Cheese making is not that simple.

But I told them we could make a soft cheese.  So we did.

And then I wondered what to do with all that soft cheese. 

This is what I came up with and it is so good!

1. Make a batch of creamy yoghurt in your yoghurt maker (or buy a litre - thick greek style is good).
2. Line a sieve or strainer with cheese cloth (pour boiling water over it first) and place it over a bowl.
3. Pour all your yoghurt (minus a few spoons the kids had for tasting purposes) into the sieve, place in fridge and let it drain overnight.  
4. Discard the liquid (or you could probably use it for baking bread or something) and place your yoghurt - now soft cheese - into a mixing bowl.
5. Melt about (I wasn't measuring) 100 grams of chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.
6. Beat this into the soft cheese quickly.  Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a couple of spoons of sugar or honey to taste (I used milk chocolate so I didn't need much as it is already quite sweet.  With dark chocolate, you may need more).

We had a big dollop with fresh fruit and it was delicious.  I would also use it in place of a ganache or mousse or to add an extra 'wow' on top of a cheesecake or other dessert, like warm brownie.  It was velvety and rich but not cloying and not too chocolatey either.  Devine!

And just because it feels like Summer is truly here now, I'm leaving you with my favourite summer evening photo.  Enjoy!

Keeping the Kidlets Occupied

Nothing like a basic cookie dough recipe, a rolling pin and some cookie cutters for an hour of quiet fun.  This recipe was also useful because it used an egg yolk but no white.  And I have plenty of recipes that use egg whites but not the yolks!

100g soft butter
100g sugar
1 egg yolk
225g plain flour
about 2 tbsps of milk

Cream butter and sugar then beat in the egg yolk.  Add flour and mix well.  Stir in enough milk to make a smooth dough.  Roll out thinly on a floured surface and cut out cookie shapes.  Lay them on a lined or greased tray and bake at 180 degrees celcius and bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until just golden.  Ice when cold if you like.  A good bikkie for dipping into a hot drink.

School Holidays

We apologise for this break in transmission.  We will return to normal programming once the school holidays are over. 

Meanwhile, the kids and I will get back to mess making, pizza and bread making, and having lava baths after we (they) explore under the house.



And for those not in the know, lava baths are baths with a few drops of red food colouring in the water!  Instant kid amusement.  Perfect.

The kidlets and I embarked on a baking adventure - chocolate cupcakes from my sister's blog, Just This Side of Chaos. A little bit dry, because I used milk instead of sour cream, I think. So I iced them to make them a little more appealing.



Well, I don't know how appealing that gruesome icing is but I was experimenting to see if I could get a pink without food colouring. Sure can - blackcurrant syrup! Makes for a very sweet icing, but that doesn't bother the kiddies one little bit! And, um, I think I need to work on my icing technique.




Then this little bland pic is from today. I've wanted a big, like REALLY big, calendar for ages. I found one one Flylady (can't post a link, it doesn't seem to like me at the mo), but really didn't want to pay the US dollars and then the postage . So I sat down at the computer and it didn't take me long to have a one-month-per-two-page template. Some number inputting and a bit of glue-stick later and I have my own personalised calendar. Now I'm just that little bit more organised.

The folder in the background is my control journal (thanks to Flylady again). It was my life saver when going back to work with a changing roster. It has my week planner, my daycare schedule, my month-by-month calendar, my master grocery shopping list and my to-do lists in it (I never got right into the whole 'zone cleaning' thing of Flylady). But it's not so convenient for my husband to see at a glance what is happening when. Hence the REALLY big wall calendar.

Now I'm still using my control journal, but this is now also where I'm adding my bits and pieces of knowledge that I've found, like green cleaners. I wrote about my worries about losing access to all that wisdom here.


It was my MIL's birthday a little while ago and I got all enthusiastic and made her a present wrap to put her present in. It's made of christmassy fabric on one side - for use at Christmas time - or is that completely obvious? And flowery fabric on the other for non-specific occasions. Right sides together, sew, turn out then topstitch the edge. Simple and effective. Goodbye rolls of garish, designed-to-be-thrown-out, wrapping paper. Thanks Towards Sustainability.

Sunday, baking day.

We made crackers today. I think I've worked out the baking thing with kiddies. I don't like to bake with them because the mess, the dipping hands into the sugar container, the closeness to the cooktop - it all drives me a little insane. Can you tell I'm not the most patient Mummy in the world? But I hate to deny them the fun of it. So now I have a strategy. Kids stay at the kitchen table and I bring to them whatever I can handle them doing and I fell calmer and safer as a result!

So after breakfast (yes the kids are still in their jammies), we got stuck into the dough mixing - literally. And hearing their giggles was such a delight, I'm glad I kept working on the baking issue.

We made a recipe from here. And it worked out great. I didn't put in sesame seeds or poppy seeds because I didn't have any. I think it probably needed them as they were a tiny bit bland. But that is perfect for adding flavours such as mustard powder, paprika, Parmesan cheese or even just a little sprinkle of salt on top.

I also replaced some of the white flour with stoneground wholemeal and it wasn't even noticeable. My son, in particular, thought they were fab and would have eaten the whole lot if we had let him! Yum!

So far it's been a productive day. I've done some weeding, planted some flax seeds, baked with the kidlets, done a little housework and hubby is now on the tractor mowing the paddocks and he has been dealing with the out-of-control gorse (noxious prickly weed) all morning. I think the next thing on my to-do list today is to clean the bedroom window!

We're able to concentrate on where we are now because finally our tenants have moved in to our old place, the work on that is finished, and we have both felt a little bit of pressure lift from our shoulders.

Oh my, what was I thinking?!

I thought it might be fun if the kids and I made this delicious recipe for Apple Custard Teacakes, which I found on my sister's blog, courtesy of sugarfishblog.

Well, the first thing was the fight over the little table I let them stand on - we found out Miss-almost-two has a mighty push in those little arms. Once that is sorted out, we measure and mix (spill, slosh, taste custard powder, sift everywhere but the bowl).

Then I turned around from having a quick scull of my cup of tea to find them both elbow deep in the sugar container, munching it up as fast as possible.

I gave them each a beater to lick to distract them while I wiped up (I know, raw egg, bad mother, but they are from my own chooks so I'm confident they won't get sick from it). And then sent them to wash their stickiness away. Mister-four-and-a-half comes back and says,"Come and see what O did, Mum! It's a big disaster!" (Where did he pick up such a turn of phrase?!).


So in the bathroom was dear daughter almost overflowing the sink because she has dumped a toilet roll in the basin, hmmmm, breathe deep. I cave in at this point, turn on the TV and finish off the baking myself!

And the finished product:

Verdict: very, very good! I didn't bother with the cinnamon and sugar and butter on top afterwards and the kids ate them just fine (apple and all). They are very yellow because I used three small eggs instead of two and they are free range with really golden yolks. These will go down in the family recipe book for making again!

Thanks Cat and Ruth. xx