Weekend .......

This weekend we celebrated a birthday. Jack turned 8. Cliche I know, but wow where did that time go! He's getting so grown up now, a real little man.

We had cake, pizza and Italian doughnuts!!

We went to the Basket ball and watched the Giants win!!

We had our first sleepover with 2 friends and didn't got to sleep till 11pm, such good fun!! In the morning we scooted at home and at the skate park.

                                                                              

Then it rained, and we rested bliss. Boys played with the new birthday lego, I played in the sewing room, and we even painted some little toe nails.

 

We then watched Jack do the Aquathon, he did GREAT!! That night I went out for tea with my Mum, Thai yum yum, followed by a french film.

Phew what a weekend, it was pretty busy! Considering the amount of things that we did, it all went pretty well. Jack apparently had the best birthday ever, and loved the aquathon. Though the kids were pretty tired, and it rained a lot, it all ran smoothly! I sometimes find it hard to find a balance between letting the kids do all the things they want to do, and giving them the downtime they desperately need! I think we achieved that this weekend, and I even got to spend a couple of hours at the flea market but that's tomorrow's post xx

Bread.........

I have three boys, they eat alot!! So, I started making bread. I love it, I find it really therapeutic, its a great process! I have the best rye sourdough recipe, I will share this soon I promise!

Over the years I've searched the web, asked people, bought books and tried loads of different recipes. I seem to have narrowed it down to few favs now, one of them being the Artisan Bread in 5 mins. This bread is my 'go to'. when its a bring a plate, BBQ whatever really. A nice fresh loaf of bread, a bit of cheese and some hummus..... looks like you have gone to loads of effort, but really you haven't, great!

This is no traditional bread, though it certainly looks the part!! You basically put everything in a bowl, give it a mix, and let it do its thing. How easy is that!! The best bit is, you can then bake a loaf, and put the rest of the dough in the fridge. This will keep for up to 2 weeks, so those days where you feel like some yummy bread to go with that soup or some buns for school lunches, you literally pull the dough out, let it sit for an hour and bake simple I tell you!!
This recipe has been doing the rounds in the blog world for a few years, yet I still have lots of people ask me for the recipe,  so I thought id share :)

Artisan Bread

Adapted from ”Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François

• 1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons saltcoarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
• 3 cups water
• 6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough (*you can replace about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of white flour with any whole grain flour with great results).
• Cornmeal
1. In a large bowl, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups warm water. Add flour, and stir to combine completely. Let dough rise in a warm place for at least two hours, until it rises and collapses (up to 5 hours – or even overnight won’t hurt it). The dough may be baked at this point, or refrigerated for later use.
2. Cover dough, but make sure it is not airtight – gases need to escape – and place in fridge. When you are ready to use it, throw a small fistful of flour on the surface and use a serrated knife to cut off a piece of the size you desire. (The authors recommend a 1 pound loaf – which means cutting off grapefruit-sized piece of dough). Turning the dough in your hands, stretch the surface of the dough and tuck in under. The surface will be smooth, and the bottom with be bunched.
3. Dust a pizza peel (or any flat surface – I use a rimless cookie sheet) with cornmeal. (This prevents sticking, and adds a nice, rustic crunch. You can use flour instead, but you’ll need to use a very generous dusting). Allow dough to rest in a warm place for 40 minutes – longer (up to an hour and a half) if you use some whole wheat flour in place of the white, or if you make a larger loaf.
4. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450 degrees with baking stone (or overturned baking sheet) inside on the middle rack, plus a shallow pan on the top rack. Throw a small fistful of flour over the dough, slash it 2-4 times with a serrated knife (in a cross, a tic-tac-toe, or a fan), and slide it into the oven, onto the baking stone. Throw 1-2 cups of tap water into the shallow pan, and quickly shut the oven door to trap steam inside. Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is well browned and bread sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom.

(I found this recipe here)

Dough from in the fridge ready to go!

Sprinkle some polenta....

Add dough, bit of flour....

YUM!!!

Go on give it a go, you will love it xxx