The Modern Housewife

Sour Dough kicked my butt once but I will be dammed if it beats me again!  So a few days ago I started small.  Using an old formula scoop I started out, leaving my mixture on the sunny windowsill in my kitchen. Day 1: One scoop flour, one scoop warm water (stir) Day 2: One scoop flour, one scoop warm water (stir) Day 3: Oops Day 4: Two scoops flour, two scoops warm water (stir) Day 5: Half a cup flour, half a cup warm water (stir) Day 6: I drained some of the liquid out that sat on the top then added a cup of flour and a cup of warm water (stir) Day 7: (Today) Since my mixture was bubbly and lovely and ever so slightly stinky (OK quite stinky but I didn't linger to take it all in), I decided to make me some BREAD. Playing it by ear I added 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar and 2 cups of flour and realising it was too dry I added some warm water.  I proceeded to knead it for a bit and was surprised that this time it felt right.  So left it on the bench to ris...

Tomorrow is the day.... One month since I started out on my bread making mission.  I can confirm that I have yet to use brought bread and I have enough bread in the bread container to make it through tomorrow.  I am currently patting myself on the back Whoop Whoop.  Sorry little bit excited here, not often I follow through on something.  Thank you blogging world for pressuring me into finishing, the fear of posting my failure up here helped me make it through those difficult times.  I know I sound like I have conquered a nation or something but no, I just made bread for our family for one month. Although it has been hugely satisfying, at times it hasn't been easy.  There have been a few evenings when I have noticed my husband having unauthorised  bread (aka I didn't realise he was going to have a sami at night time and I only had just enough bread for breakie).  So I have had to start mixing and kneading away, letting the bread rise ov...

Well it seems Sour Dough Bread is not fool proof, aka me proof.  I let it rise for 24 hours, ever the hopeful am I.  Yet my Sour Dough is just a hefty solid block of dough.  So hefty I wondered how to dispose of it...................... Didn't want to look all dodgy carrying a big black bag to the car and dumping it in a bin somewhere in an isolated park. I thought of the waste disposer, mmmmm nope it isn't that tough.   One blob of the Sour Dough brick and that disposer would be jammed up big time. "Compost heap", I said to myself, mmm maybe not, it is a growing thing that would mould up and be all smelly and gross.  Plus if some poor bird got hold of that it would loose its ability to fly instantly held back by the Sour Dough weighing down its little intestines. The only other option I had was the rubbish bin.  This worries me, as our bin is black heat seeking oven like contraption, that only gets picked up once every two weeks. ...

Ahhhhh I am not sure I can do this.  Uncle Fester (my pet name for my Sour Dough Starter) well, he STINKS, and not just a little bit but he is RANK. Ew ew ew ew ew suffice to say I think Uncle Fester is alive as they say when he stinks its all go. So I have started to make my first Sour Dough bread.  Have told Hubby that if we don't like it we are staying with yeast.  I have put a bit of starter with a cup of four and a cup of warm water for Unlce Fester to reproduce and make a Sponge (thats what they call the intial part of Sour Dough Bread making. Just went into the kitchen yucky Uncle Fester and his kids are stinking out this house.  So apparently Sour Dough Bread making is not for the faint hearted. To be continued......

In continuation to my bread making mission, I am now trying to make my own Sour Dough starter.  Why you ask would you do that (well thats what I asked when I heard about it), well well well its CHEAP.  The only expensive part of making bread is buying yeast.  I figure if I am making bread each day then why not create my own little live starter instead of buying yeast. So this morning I put equal parts of flour and warm water in a container and left it in the nice warm sun to 'fester' OK thats not the proper word for it but it is growing its alive I tell you ALIVE.  Crazy much, why yes I am surprised you didn't realise already. I seem to be getting way to excited about this, I am thinking I may have been born in the wrong century.  I also think that if mixing flour and water gets me so excited I may want to try and get out more lol.  I don't know if other people get it, but making things from scratch is really satisfying.  Yes I could buy bread from...

For the last few months I have been making bread on a regular basis.  Well in the last week I have made a new mission for myself (and by no means is it mission impossible).  I aim to not buy any bread for the next month.  Now I have 2 loafs in the freezer 'just in case' but will try not to use that either.  So far I have made 2 weeks without using any brought bread.  That is saying something as I go through the bread.  We have it for breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. I am making bread from scratch, no bread maker or anything. I feel like such a domestic goddess. OK not so much of a goddess but very domestic. I have to say, I am loving it, it is so easy and not at all time consuming. I simply spend 5 mins getting the bread started in the morning, then let it rise, 5 more minutes spent with my bread at lunch time, then I leave it again till late afternoon to cook. OK I have some mishaps, yesterday it was a bit bigger than normal so I undercooked i...

This year has been a brilliant year for the garden and Hubby has worked extremely hard growing plants from seed, watering them, weeding them, putting compost on them and generally telling me of for trying to kill them.  All this hard work means that our Zucchini plant or should I say PLANTS, are producing big time.  To start with I thought he had planted three plants and even then I sighed to myself wondering what i was going to do with all those Zucchini's.  Well I just discovered it isn't three plants but more like ah FIVE, yes five.  We have found in the past that one plant does us fine producing a Zucchini every second day, which to be honest was all i could handle as I never really liked them.  These days I have 2 giant bulbus Zucchini's every day. We are at the point where Hubby doesn't have to ask if there is Zucchini in dinner, he just instinctively knows.  Its sort of like Forrest Gumps shrimps.  We have grilled Zucchini, roasted Zucc...

Yes I actually made this, for people that know me they would be amazed.  Granted it doesn't look super pretty but dam it tasted good.  If only I had coffee essence as the coffee version tastes even better.  I thought I had better share this recipe as if I can make it then pretty much anyone can make it. I can't take credit for this recipe, the lovely golfers at Pahiatua golf club are and in particular Nola Fergus is responsible.  The Golf club publishes a recipe book every year, including their favourite recipes and dam they are brilliant, these ladies are geniuses. Sponge - gateau Beat 4 large eggs, add 1 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. Hot water, beat until thick. Fold in 1 cup self raising flour. Bake in 2x9inch (23cm) tins. 20 minutes at 198.C Chocolate:- Use above mixture, using only 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder. Add extra 2 Tbsp. Water. Ice with chocolate icing. Coffee:- Same mixture add 1 Tbsp. Coffee essence. Ice with coffee ...

I just made the yummiest soup using veggies from the garden and whatever was in the fridge. Minestrone is the perfect soup to keep people healthy and warm in these cold days of winter. Now I am not normally a fan of Minestrone soup but after watching food TV and looking at the good old Edmonds recipe book I attempted to make one. This is what I did and yummo, it was exactly what my sick body felt like. Ingredients: Some oil to fry onions etc in 1 large onion 2 cloves garlic 1 leek 3 small funny looking carrots (ok so my carrots have not grown very big in the garden this year) 2 large potatoes Half a cup cabbage cut thinly 4 leaves of Silverbeet 1 tin of beans, any but just not baked beans (well you could try but not sure how that one would work) 1 tin of tomatoes Chicken stock ( or if you are like me and don't have any, a couple of packets of maggi onion soup etc) What to do: Chop up all of the vegetables. Fry the onion and garlic, in oil or butter ...