Basic No-Knead Bread Recipe

   One of my favorite small pleasures in life is taking a bite of really good bread, particularly if I've used it to sop up a little something from my dinner plate. Buying a nice loaf of crusty bread, though, can be quite hit or miss. My local grocery store wouldn't know a baguette if one hit them in the face and sang Frère Jacques- their "baguettes" are a soft and bland.

A nice, big boule.

   But I don't buy that bread anymore because I learned how to make my own at home. I tried a lot of recipes and made a lot of mistakes. Then, I received a wonderful book called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day as a gift. I learned a ton about baking bread and why my previous trials had turned out poorly. I use their Master Recipe quite often for a basic bread that's good for any occasion.

   I highly recommend their book for those of you who are looking to try baking bread at home but aren't sure where to start. There are tons of different kinds of bread for you to try, too. It doesn't take very long to make the dough, and there is no kneading necessary!

Basic Bread
from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
makes 4, 1lb loafs

What You'll Need:
   3 cups lukewarm water
   1 Tbs granulated yeast
   1 Tbs salt
   6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
   a large container, preferably with a lid

The Process:
    Put your warm water, yeast, and salt into your container. Dump all the flour in at once and mix well. I prefer to do this step with a wooden spoon, but if you have a fancy mixer with dough hook, feel free to go that route. Once all the flour is incorporated, you'll be left with a wet, sticky dough. This is exactly what you want. Loosely cover with your lid (or plastic wrap in a pinch) and let rise for two hours.

I Shall Mince Garlic No More

Mincing garlic has always been a hassle to me. I don't like doing it and the garlic always comes out uneven no matter how careful I am. My dog probably has better knife skills than I do, despite her lack of thumbs, so I'm a little out of my element trying to mince it anyway.

I decided it was time to move on from cutting it by hand and upgrade to a garlic press. Well, that didn't work out so hot. I spent $18 on a press (from a reputable kitchen accessories company) and the thing broke on my second use. It was also wasteful and a pain to get clean. I search around the web for some other options, and eventually found The Garlic Twist, 3rd gen.

This little device is ridiculously easy to use. You peel the cloves, put a one or two in the bottom half, place the top half on over top (aligning the teeth) and twist a few times. Bam, done. You can also twist it in such a way that the garlic will collect in a triangle on each side of the teeth for easier removal, like this:

I use a novelty mini-spatula to scrape the garlic out and into the pan-pot-bowl-whatever I'm using it in. You could also use a small spoon. It does waste a little garlic that gets stuck in the teeth, but not nearly as much as the garlic press wastes. As soon as I'm finished with it, I rinse it out with a little soap and warm water, and it's clean.

It takes less than two minutes to peel the clove, mince it, and rinse it. Their advertisement mentions that back of one half is a nice smashing tool to use to loosen the garlic, and it actually is rather handy for that purpose. It works better than the side of a knife (my old method).

The twist cost me about $18 (after shipping) which is the same amount I spent on the press that broke. Overall, I am incredibly happy with it and I use it several times a week. I definitely recommend you get one if you use garlic often, nothing beats fresh garlic!


*Note: I have not been compensated for this product review. I am not endorsed or affiliated in any way with the makers of the Garlic Twist. I simply liked the product and wanted to share my experiences with it.

Flynn Quilt Frame Review: The Sewing

As you may recall, I set up my Halloween circle quilt on the Flynn Multi-Frame back in September. Then I couldn't use it because my presser foot couldn't reach the floor. Over this past weekend, I took it back out and decided I could give the frame a try on my coffee table in the living room. It's low enough to the ground that I could turn the machine sideways and still have the foot reach the ground.

I couldn't be more disappointed. At first, I couldn't believe how cumbersome it all was jut to set up on my machine. In the instructional video, he makes it seem so easy, but there's serious a learning curve. After fighting to get it set up on my machine, I spent about 90 frustrating minutes trying to do a basic meandering pattern along the top border.

Despite the tension ribbons, which were very difficult to get in place, they didn't work as they were intended to. It was a 4" border I was working on, and I only got about an 8 inch long section of it done before I got tired of fussing with it. I took the quilt off the frame, put the frame pieces aside, and used a wash-away basting spray to hold the quilt sandwich together.