I ventured out to Woodcraft and picked up a few turning blanks to get some more practice on my lathe. This pile of potential makes me happy.
I have some maple, sycamore, and ash. I didn’t intentionally pick for color, rather I was looking at sizes and density. I had to back order the hickory, which should add a bit of hue variation to my hoard.
This is one persistent snail. Despite its house weighing it down, it continues the trek across the glass of our back door.
Heritage wheat wins again. I was able to go back to my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe, but make it with Heritage Wheat All-purpose flour from Sunrise Mills. They came out so nice! I do roll out my dough on parchment paper, then pop it in the fridge (because I am never patient enough to put it in the icebox for three hours). I cut out the shapes on the parchment paper, then remove the excess, so the cookies stay the right shape. By the end, I’m sick of cutouts, so roll out the remainder and use a pizza cutter to make squares. We tried buttercream frosting, but it overwhelms the cookie, and is a pain to store (no stacking!) They do go very well with cranberry jelly, or lemon icing.
When you bark like a dog, but identify with cats.
Next on the list of things to bake with Heritage Wheat was crescent rolls. I missed these holiday staples during the 17 years of gluten exile! I tried a recipe from the internet (I should know better by now, but it had good ratings, and the reviews didn’t change the recipe, but alas), they were horrible. The whole lot went in the trash bin. The next day, after some research and soul searching, I selected a milk bread recipe from Paul Hollywood’s 100 Great Breads book. Rather than forming the loaves as in the recipe, I divided the dough in two, rolled each half into a thin circle, spread the circle with butter, and used a pizza cutter to make 12 slices. I then rolled each slice from the thick end to the tip, tucked the tip under, and placed it on parchment paper for the second proof. I baked per the recipe, and the rolls came out wonderfully! My family agreed, as the batch didn’t last long.
Critters and Craft 