losing myself in spinning

It has been an intense week at work so far.  Lots of meetings.  Lot of fixing other people's work.  Lots of my own work.  I am glad it is Wednesday.  All I have really wanted to do when I get home is sit.  Sit and spin.

I put an audiobook on and spin.  Right now I am listening to the Phyrne Fischer mysteries by Kerry Greenwood.  She also writes a series of mysteries about a baker.  The last time I checked, I had read all of those.  The Phyrne Fischer novels are light but not usually a figure it out by the second chapter.  Not like Midsomer Murders either where in twenty seasons I think I may have got close three times.  Change of Inspector has made my guessing better.

When my Beloved is done making knives for the day, I sit next to him with my drop spindle right now and spin.  We watch syfy shows.  The drop spindle is at the speed I am ready for by that time. 

I am hoping to card more of the green fiber in the top picture so I can spin more.  I have a sweater I wish to make with it.  There is a black wool I wish to spin too so I can make a sweater with that as well.  It does slow down the yarn purchase when you have to make the yarn for the sweaters you wish to make! 

The meditation that happens while I spin sure helps getting through the week this has been. 

chocolate brioche

I was craving chocolate croissants this week.  Most of my chocolate bread type things are not as simple as a chocolate croissant.  I admit that I have tried chocolate croissant recipes.  Tasty but not quite right.  This time I decided to go with a chocolate brioche.  But I wanted it simpler then my brioche au chocolat.  No pastry cream added. 

I decided to play.

A simple sugar chocolate brioche.  Small so not to overwhelming.  Because I have come across brioche and croissants now that are as big as your face.  Not good.

I also played with rising times.

They turned out decadent.  I will have to make these again.

chocolate sugar brioche

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

3 eggs

11 tablespoons butter at room temperature

about 3 cups flour (I used all purpose)

1 cup chocolate chips, mini one

sugar for topping, about 1/2 cup

The night before (or at least eight hours), put the sourdough, 3/4 cup water, and 1 cup flour in a large bowl.  Mix well, cover, and leave over night or until bubbly.  Pull out a couple of tablespoons of starter and put in the refrigerator for next time.

Into the sponge, add the sugar, eggs, butter, and 2 cups of  flour.  Mix well.  Cover and let sit until bubbly.  It should be about an hour or two.

Mix in the salt and 1 cup of flour.  It should be a stiff dough.  Knead it until smooth.  Sometimes this takes a tad extra flour, but try not to add too much.

Cover and let rise until double.  Punch down and let rise until double again.  Gather up into a ball, put in a ziploc, and let rise at least twelve hours if not twenty four.  I seemed to get a better end product doing this.

A half hour to an hour before shaping, pull the dough out of the refrigerator so you do not break your hands.  That is how stiff the dough will be.

Butter eighteen mini muffin pans.  Mine are the cast iron ones.  Take a golf ball size lump of dough.  Flatten.  Place 1 teaspoon of chocolate chips in the middle.  Bring the dough up over the chocolate and make sealed ball.  Roll in sugar.  Place in the muffin cup.  Continue until all the dough is gone.  Cover and let rise until puffy.

Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes or golden.  I just popped them in without preheating.

Add tea.  Yum.

quiet weekend

It was a very rainy weekend here.  Flooding actually.  It meant I did not go much farther then my rocking chair or the kitchen.  After all my sewing last week, I really did not feel like working on my sewing machine, spinning, or working with my crochet hook.  By the end of the weekend though, I started thinking about it.  Pondering. 

I did pick flowers.  I am a flower junky like I have said before and I decided to do the #SeasonalFlowerAlliance that Floret Farms instigates on Instagram.  The goal is to take pictures of the flowers you pick locally and put into some type of a bouquet.  I actually have an Instagram account to do this now:  @elibjerklie .   I will take pictures of what I pick from my yarn and enjoy everyone else's.  More flowers!

I did have to share this picture though.  I laughed at myself because this is a quiet weekend in my kitchen!

hide in book. bake a cake.

Yesterday after work, I came home, made a pot of tea, and started reading.  You could call it hiding in a book because I was tired but did not want to do anything I needed or should do.  I was not tired enough to take a nap.  Reading was lovely.

But . . . I had come across a recipe from Orangette yesterday that was for an everyday cake.  What Americans call everyday cake is really the only type of cake I can truly say I like.  A cake that can stand on its own without frosting.  A cake that you can drizzle a bit of frosting on if you wish or spread with a cream cheese frosting.  A cake that may actually be better the next day.  A cake that takes to a bit of toasting so it is hot through with crisp blackened bits (I like those but the rest of my family does not).

This everyday cake Molly wrote about had ricotta cheese and raspberries in it.  Which made me go "hmmmm."  It sounded a lot like my blackberry buckle, which also is what I consider an everyday cake.

I had to give it a try.  It is lighter then my blackberry buckle which is based on an Italian vanilla cake (which I have never posted the wheat version of.  Oh well!  Another tweak to a recipe needed).  I walked to the grocery that has recently opened near us, picked up supplies,  and gave it a try.  It is a lovely everyday cake, especially with a cup of tea and a book to hide in. 

Be aware, I baked it after during dinner yesterday.  There is half left at this point today between two people.

ricotta raspberry cake (or everyday cake)

Note:  adapted from Molly over at Orangette.  I took her suggestion on a recipe tweak and tweaked my own for my own taste.

1/2 cup butter, salted and room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

12 oz fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cover the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper.  Butter paper and pan.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together.  Mix in eggs and vanilla.  Mix in ricotta.  Fold in flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda. 

At this point, I mixed in the berries.  Next time, I will not.  Put the batter in the pan.  Drop the berries over.  Sprinkle with sugar if you wish.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes.  With the fruit, baking time will be highly variable.

Tea.  Book.  Enjoy.

There is a lemon blueberry cake a friend from work tried.  There may be more cake in my future.

and yesterday it was silk

Yesterday, instead of lace I played with silk.  I had some of the light pink silk satin leftover and a cream silk satin which I had bought for myself when I was buying all the silk for pillowcases that were gifts at Christmas.  I was thinking a slip but i chose to use as much of the silk as I could.

A long slip?  A short nightie?  I know it is lovely and soft.  I am enjoying the 1930's inpsired shape.  I am a button person instead of a hook person so buttons go on both sides. 

I have a kimono style robe laid out on lace that is going to be pretty over this.  Not warm but elegant and pretty.

There has not been much new cooking going on but I am tweaking.  If you use my recipes do not be surprised if I have gone back and added tweaks.  I am trying to do it all as notes but I may forget or it may work better in the recipe.  I have a friend who reads and uses my recipes who says he is not surprised!  He goes back and checks on occasionally. 

I have to update the fajita recipe tonight.  I have been putting lunch/dinner food together for the boyos and I made a fajita marinade that has a mole bent.  They liked it so I cannot forget what I put in it.  Time to write it down!