Trying my hand at bagels

While my computer was being fixed, I had lots of extra time.  So, I decided to make bagels.  They were surprisingly easy.

They are a bit of a hodge podge of a recipe.  I started with my whole wheat bread dough.  After the first rise I used half the dough for a loaf of bread.  With the second half, I divided it into 8 pieces and formed them into bagels.  The dough got roughly formed into a ball.  I then poked my finger through and made a larger hole.  The bagels were placed on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Next, I heated my electric skillet filled with water and 1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar and brought it to a simmer.  Then the bagels were transferred 4 at a time (that's what fit in my pan) for 2 minutes on one side and 1 minute on the other.  They went back on the baking sheet and I finished the rest of the bagels. 

The bagels went into a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes.  If you want to add a topping, pull them out after 15 minutes, brush the bagels with water and sprinkle it on.  Then you can finish baking.  I used the Everything Bagel Topping from King Arthur Flour. 

They came out really well, although I will probably make them smaller next time.  I also had a few issues with the topping falling off more than I would like.  I may try using an egg wash to stick them next time.  These were far easier than I would have thought and I love that I was able to use my own bread recipe for them. 

Cheese Straws

In my quest to eliminate the grocery store, I'm trying lots of new recipes.  This one is kind of like a cheese biscuit in flavor.  Hubby didn't like them, but Morgan and I loved them.  We're the cheesy types anyway.  These are certainly for someone who likes cheese.

I got the recipe from Allrecipes I'll rewrite it here for those that don't wish to click on the link.

Cheese Straws
2 C flour
2 C shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 C butter
1 t baking powder
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup water

Make sure your butter is soft, but not melted.  Combine all ingredients except water, until well combined.  Add water slowly, until you have a very stiff dough.

Roll the dough in small batches on a lightly floured surface.  You want to have snakes slightly thicker than a pencil and about 4-5 inches long.  Arrange on a baking sheet.  They will puff quite a bit.

Bake at 400 degrees for 5-10 minutes, or until browned.  The original recipe called for 5 minutes, but I found mine needed closer to 10.  Maybe I made them too thick.

 

The little boy from up the street is currently devouring them.  I will probably try them with some wheat flour next time.  That will probably up the nuttiness and texture a bit.

 

English muffins

As part of my goals for the year, I've been working on making more items from scratch that we would normally buy.  Today, it was making english muffins.  I wanted them to be whole wheat and made with ingredients that I could pronounce.  They were remarkably easy. 

The recipe is
1/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast (1 T of bulk yeast)
2 C whole wheat flour, plus about another 1/2 C for kneading
1 C white flour, or use all WW  (guess what I did)
1 t salt
1 C milk
3 T oil
1 T honey
1 egg
cornmeal for dusting

Bloom yeast in water, until foamy.  Mix flour and salt in large bowl.  In separate bowl, mix milk, oil, honey and egg, then add water and yeast.  Add liquid to the flour slowly and mix to combine.  I did this in my kitchen aid with the dough hook. 

 

Add enough extra flour to make a loose dough.  I tend to make my whole wheat doughs on the wet side.  It needed another 1/2 C of flour for me.  Then let rise in oiled bowl, covered with a towel, until doubled.  It will take an hour or so, depending on how warm it is.  My house is cold, so it took over an hour, even sitting next to my crock pot.

Then turn the dough onto a surface covered with cornmeal.  You then pat, or roll it to about 1/2 inch thick and cut out your rounds.  I used my 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter.  Put a towel over them and let them rise for another 20-30 minutes.  

 

Lastly, heat a griddle, or large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the muffins for 5 minutes, flip for another 5 minutes.  Continue flipping every 2-3 minutes until they are browned and the insides are soft, but not gooey.  You may need to cut into one to test it.  

 

They look like english muffins, don't they?

I had to try one with butter and my Triple Berry Jam.  It was delicious!

What I've Been Doing This Week

This is my kitchen.  It's not huge, but the space I had was not being used well.  It frequently looked like this.

That is the exact same corner.  With all the recycling, canning, baking, cooking and everything else I do, I needed more space to put my stuff.  It's amazing that with simplifying, you end up needing more space.  Odd, but in my case, true.  If I don't want to go to the store all the time, I need to have someplace to put all of the stuff needed to preserve and use all of our food.

I've always been a kitchen kind of person, so over the years I've acquired a good deal of kitchen stuff.  It all gets used and it all takes up space.  Before, I was storing a lot of this in my basement.  After I almost killed myself dragging things up and down the stairs, I decided it would be prudent to have it stored nicely up here.

The new shelving is Gorm from Ikea.  I was able to put it together by myself, but needed J to come over and bolt it to the wall.  The baking cart and other shelves have been around for a while and came from stuffmart.

I had originally planned to get rid of the shelves, but I think I may keep them.  The jury is still out.  The baking cart is staying.  J really wants it, but he can't have it!  It holds my Kitchen Aid and all my baking supplies.  I just wheel it over to the counter and do my thing.   You can see that my kitchen leads into my school room.  That is my main bookshelf for my school supplies.  The wall hanging was made by my very talented mother. 

So, that took me a bit, and will continue to take up quite a bit of my time.  It is however, functional now and I can actually cook dinner without a major breakdown.  Hubby will be very excited. 

Staying Home

I've always been a bit of a homebody.  Every few days or so, I get the urge to go and do something.  Overall, I'd rather stay home.  In the winter, there is not much that draws me out of the house.

All that squirreling away of food that I do over the course of the rest of the year, comes in mighty handy.  I used to go grocery shopping frequently.  It felt like the thing to do every few days.  Of course, with all that shopping, came lots of waste.  The packaging alone filled a huge barrel from the trash company to overflowing each week.  I bought all kinds of things that I meant to use, but forgot, or wasn't in the mood to eat them.  They got tossed with the packaging to rot. 

I've gotten a lot better at not wasting these days.  The grocery store is rarely darkened by my shadow.  Hubby picks up the odd item for me while he is out.  The remainder comes from bulk purchased ingredients, my garden, animals that were purchased from local farmers and stored in the freezer and a coop that a few homeschooling friends and I participate in.

It all adds up to help me not have to run out.  My car sits in the driveway, warming in the sun.  The kids and I stay in our pjs for much of the day.  The chickens are quite used to me in my bathrobe.  The neighbors are too, for that matter.  It's kind of nice being thought of as eccentric already, people don't question you being in your pjs at 3 in the afternoon, outside in the snow. 

I made bread yesterday that refused to rise and ended up a brick.  (my yeast was getting too old)  I woke up this morning thinking that I would just go and buy some bread.  Instead I pulled out the freshly ground flour and my kitchen aid and the kids helped me make some better bread.  It's currently rising on the counter.  That fresh brick of yeast I had in the freezer did the trick nicely.  No need to go out.  I can remain in my pjs a bit longer.  There's no place like home.

Making lists

I love to make lists.  These are actually 2 older lists that were sitting on my desk.  I seem to always have several going at the same time.  There are small pads of paper all over the house.  I'm not the best housekeeper, so very often they will be found under furniture, in piles and other places that they get lost in. 

With the New Year coming, the lists start to take on the form of goals for the year.  I've given up on formal resolutions, instead I make lists of things I'd like to accomplish over the year.  If  few of those things get done, then I've been successful.  As you might imagine, many of those goals have to do with gardening and the other things I do to simplify our lives.

I find the more that we pull away from the life that we once led, the longer my lists get.  It is funny that we call it simplifying.  I find it so amazing that these things were commonplace not so very long ago, and still are in many cultures around the world.  How did we go so far in such a short period of time?  Now it's considered strange to try to simplify. 

I'll be posting lots of those lists in the coming weeks.  I'm thinking that many of my goals will be placed in the side bar to keep better track of.  That should keep me honest.  Since there are lots of categories in my lists as well, I'll probably do separate posts on many of them.  How is your list making coming?