Today's project was No-Knead Multi-Grain Peasant Bread and the fence next to the house. I've been preparing this oatmeal bread recipe for two days now. Mix it up, let it sit for eight hours, and then refrigerate. I could have made it yesterday, but yesterday was the aftermath of dentistry and the idea of making something I wouldn't subsequently be able to eat was just too disappointing to consider.
The dough came out of the fridge today, separated and set in the oven to rise. One problem: I keep the temperature in my house below 60 degrees and I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's too cold for the bread to rise! An hour and a half later the bread has barely budged! I preheated the stove anyway and then realized the air between the top of the stove and the microwave hood was about 20 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. So, I parked the dough on top of the stove, covered it with a towel and an hour later, voila! I have risen bread! And in half an hour I'll have fully baked, hopefully delicious, no-knead peasant bread.
The dough came out of the fridge today, separated and set in the oven to rise. One problem: I keep the temperature in my house below 60 degrees and I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's too cold for the bread to rise! An hour and a half later the bread has barely budged! I preheated the stove anyway and then realized the air between the top of the stove and the microwave hood was about 20 degrees warmer than the rest of the house. So, I parked the dough on top of the stove, covered it with a towel and an hour later, voila! I have risen bread! And in half an hour I'll have fully baked, hopefully delicious, no-knead peasant bread.
Meanwhile, I pulled the old boards off the fence and started to nail the new boards onto the frame. Two boards in, I realized they were crooked. The fence has been jerry-rigged so many times, there are corners all over the place making it very difficult to hammer in new boards. One bruised and bloodied thumb later, the fence is fixed and I think it looks brilliant!
My husband and I only just bought this house the first week in February and we've only just begun to start all the little DIY projects that need doing. Last weekend Erik installed a hot water recirculating pump so we could have hot water without waiting five minutes. We also set up new shelves in the garage and installed a Kwikset SmartKey door knob lock on the garage door.
These Kwikset locks are a very neat invention. As long as you already have Kwikset locks/keys on your doors you can buy these fancy door knobs and key them to your current key and reduce the number of keys you keep on your key chain!
These Kwikset locks are a very neat invention. As long as you already have Kwikset locks/keys on your doors you can buy these fancy door knobs and key them to your current key and reduce the number of keys you keep on your key chain!
And here it is! One perfectly lovely loaf of whole grain bread from a non-stick loaf pan and one not so lovely loaf from a glass loaf pan that I forgot to grease and flour. But I'm sure they'll both still be delicious!
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