Third time lucky?

Two months.

We've been in this lovely home, our home, for two months.

And my heart wants to take the best of this gentle domestic life I've lived for years in various rental homes and make it flow with rhythm and joy in the ordinary, right here in our own new home.

Now, I'm not sure what constitutes 'ordinary' to you but top of the list for me is breadmaking. There's something about pulling a loaf of bread you've made yourself  out of a hot oven and being enveloped in fresh crusty bakery aromas which immediately cause your taste buds to salivate and your heart to melt.

My plan this week was to return to the regular baking days of earlier this year, when every loaf was delicious, not one failed, and my beloved's tummy was quite content with fresh crusty fare.

But the thing with a new house is you have a new stove top and a new oven. And they don't usually work the way you expect them to. At least that is what I have found in the twenty plus homes we've lived in since we married in 1991.

Usually I play around for a while and eventually work out whether the thermostat is perfect of not (only 2 from 21 have been) and then adjust up or down with temperatures until my degrees for each recipe are just right. This new oven, and it really is quite new, has stumped me a few times already just with regular baking but I've tweaked a bit and and now can be assured of a relatively good result. 

Except with bread.

Two loaves, Monday and Tuesday we shall call them, have landed in the bird feeder so far this week and I have made them up exactly the way I've done in the past so I was genuinely confused as to what is going wrong. The birds really don't mind and are quite joyfully picking and pecking at my failures...but I asked Mr E "do I give up or persevere?" and he chose the latter. 

So today I decided to bake a fruity loaf for breakfast toast and not to finish it in the oven but let the breadmaker do all the work. 

Normally I let the breadmaker do the kneading and bring the dough to it's first rise, then I punch it down, shape and place in a bread tin for the second rise before baking in the oven. Always successful.

Anyhow, while I'm figuring out what's going on with my oven I'll let my Breville knead and bake for me. 

Today's Wednesday loaf didn't have a burnt bottom and overly crunchy sides like Monday and Tuesday did, but it was a bit flat. Still, the fruit loaf is more dense than a sandwich loaf and it jolly well smells amazing...

My new oven is fan forced and should have even heat all around but I've been reading online and I may need to bake the next loaf on a higher shelf as this is quoted as being a problem with some ovens.

We shall see...Thursday will be another loaf and another experiment.

Next year draws closer and like many people I'm considering a fresh start with a few things, whilst letting go of others. Perhaps it's due to finally having our own home, knowing we're settled now and don't have to plan our next move ever again, that I'm excited to explore some new paths that have been on my mind for years?

There's a part of me which cannot wait to tell you what I shall be doing, but there's also a knowing that everything has its season and I cannot rush any of it, regardless of how much I'd like to. Being content to wait is a good thing because each day the vision becomes clearer and I can see the obstacles as well as the benefits to these new ventures, and I can also discuss them with my husband and some close friends who know me very well and allow me to bounce ideas off them. Having people who will pray for you when big changes are afoot (thanks Allie) or who know what running a business whilst being a committed homemaker is like and call you almost every week to check up and keep in touch (thanks Fee) is a God given blessing I treasure. 

On a personal level what I really want from 2019 is to more fully embrace the gentle domestic life and chat with you about it...in fact Fee and I will be working through the book which started it all for me (The Gentle Art of Domesticity) and sharing a lot via our blogs. I think you will love what we have in mind, but I shouldn't run ahead as we still need to plan that out.

I mentioned next door's poinciana tree last Sunday and thought you may like to see it?

Those long hands of red blooms look like flames and though not a true flame tree it's what Mr E and I call it...

I have always longed for a poinciana tree and to think God gave me one where I love to swim and talk to Him, right beside our fence should not have surprised me but it did.

Frangipani are another of my favourite trees and recently I took cuttings from four different ones in our neighbourhood - white, red, orange and yellow. Following instructions from our gardening books I let the cutting-ends dry over for a couple of weeks before planting in pots. They've all sprouted new leaves and I'm quite excited as one day they'll be planted into our yard and that wonderful frangipani fragrance will fill the air.

Bob-the-dog is still chasing the Ibis out of the yard if he sees them but if he sleeping inside they fly down and dig in the garden for bugs so I was finally able to get photos though I must keep my distance because they're not as comfortable with me as the cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets are.

We have a lot of aloe vera plants in pots that we brought from our old place and they're all sprouting new shoots so we'll re-pot some and put the larger plants into garden beds. Hubby slathers his face and neck with the fresh juice from the aloe each night after being in the garden or teaching classes outside at the school.

Our menu is still being simplified and we chat about the need to push aside current trends which encourage people to try all cuisines, and cook recipes which use twenty (or more) ingredients for one dish...which leads us on to considering just how much we need to eat, how many ingredients are necessary and how do we feel after we eat. It's been a great thought provoker but mostly we're listening to our bodies more and have found that too many ingredients do not bode well with our digestive systems. So I've gone back in my mind to growing up with Nana and simplifying again.

The shopping trolley isn't as full but the ingredients are better quality. Less has become more.

And speaking of simple food, something I used to love for lunch as a child was curried egg and lettuce sandwiches with a cup of tea and I've been having this three times a week for the last month!

 It's cheap, nutritious and delicious. The eggs are free range, the bread is light rye and the lettuce must be iceberg for the crunch. 

Seriously, I never tire of this, but it's not on Mr E's list of favourite lunches so I have it Monday, Wednesday and Friday when he's at school. I boil the eggs for seven minutes (I boil enough for a week) then peel and mash with curry powder, mayonnaise, salt and pepper...

Served with a hot cup of back tea this suits me fine.

In the sewing scheme of things I am very patiently awaiting delivery of some Tilda solid cream fabric so I can begin sewing my new block of the month. I walk past this lone churn dash block and that lovely fat quarter bundle of Apple Butter at least five times a day and sigh...so excited am I to make a start. 

Also finishing a supper cloth with the designs for December's Stitchery Club. My idea is to make something in a vintage style so that one day it can be passed along to the next generation - just the way I collect old doilies and linens. It's up to us to make for those who come after us, yes?

Oh, in case you're new here and wondered, that Joy in the Ordinary stitchery from the first photo is still a free pattern download here in my shop and always will be.

Well, enough of my ramblings today, but I'd like to leave you with something I shared on Facebook and Instagram yesterday after I took a rare selfie.

May it encourage all you dear beautiful women because you truly are precious, just as you are.

I don’t wear makeup and I don’t dye my hair so this is me, as me, all day every day. Although this is my first hair bun! Finally my hair is long enough.

Thought I'd share a photo (a rare selfie) so you can put a face to my name. Many of you only know me as 'Jenny of Elefantz', the designer of patterns, encourager in the gentle domestic life, blogger, Christian and homemaker, but it's nice to see who I am every day, yeh? 
Have to tell you I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin, aging naturally, cherishing the lines of life which each year grow deeper, the silver hair which brightens my blue eyes and the 'cuddliness' my husband, daughters and grandies love. 
Looking back on my life I wish I'd not placed so much focus of the outward appearance, but looked deeper inside my heart and worked on refining things like kindness, grace, mercy, compassion, honesty, humility, faithfulness, generosity and patience...these came along later (and are still being refined). Can I encourage you today to look at yourself, as you are, without any adornments, and give thanks for the wonderful woman you are becoming? Yes, becoming. Because we're all growing, all changing, all undergoing changes that will only make us more and more beautiful if we allow them to. 
Don't compare yourself to anyone else, just be a better version of yourself tomorrow than you are today...that's my way of thinking as I draw near to the end of my 50's. It's not about how I look, it's about what others see IN me and praying that they see those very traits I want to embrace - kindness, grace, mercy, compassion, honesty, humility, faithfulness, generosity and patience.
Girls, you are beautiful. Just wanted to tell you that today.

hugs,

Sewing a simple bread bag...

When I mentioned on the blog the other day that I store my bread in a homemade bread bag there were quite a lot of questions left for me, both here and in the Gentle Domesticity group, so I thought I should explain a couple of things.

A fabric bag alone won't prevent your bread from drying out.

My bags are made to be decorative, to 'hide' the plastic ziplock bag which my home-baked bread is wrapped in. They add some prettiness to the kitchen benchtop and I love a pretty kitchen with pops of colour!

So there you have it. My bread bag's only function is to look pretty. 

I can't find the last one I made and have a feeling it may have been thrown away during the move (it was threadbare from overuse) as I did get rid of things that had well and truly served their purpose, so this was perfect timing to make a new bag.

The nice thing about this new bag is that it's made simpler because it has no lining and uses less fabric, but is also a little larger to suit the loaves of bread I bake these days. Many years ago when I made the first bag we still bought a bit of store-bread so the bag was a tad smaller.

My bread bag has no raw seams either, but a nice clean interior that won't fray. This was important with a bag that has no lining.

So shall we make it?

I'm giving you the measurements that will fit a regular home baked loaf of bread, but you might want to bake your own loaf and measure it around the middle (or highest peak) just to be sure. My loaf is 19" around the middle. If yours is larger add those inches on to the width of the fabric.

Choose your fabrics. 

I have a main fabric and a trim.

The main piece measures 21" (width) x 17" (height) and the trim measures 4" x 21".

We begin by making our first French seam.

Lay the two pieces of fabric wrong sides together along the 21" width.

Sew them together with slightly less than a 1/4" seam.

Press the seam open.

Fold the trim over at the seam line and press the fold flat.

With your ruler draw a pencil line down the length of the trim, a little more than 1/4" out from the fold.

Sew along that line. 

You've made a French seam. 

Isn't it lovely? And no raw edge!

Press the French seam towards the trim end of your bread bag.

Now we shall sew the sides together, so fold your bread bag fabric in half lengthways with the wrong sides together (just as we did with the trim and the main fabric).

Sew them together with slightly less than a 1/4" seam, like before, and press the seam open. You will now have a 'tube'.

Turn the bag/tube inside out...

 and draw another pencil line 1/4" inside the folded seam as you did last time.

Sew along that line. 

You've made another French seam!

Turn the bag right side out and iron it flat, positioning the French seam down the centre back of the bag/tube. 

Sew along the bottom raw edge with slightly less than a 1/4" seam, like before.

Turn the bag inside out and push out the seam with a rounded tool (it's too hard to press this seam flat). Draw a pencil line, as before, and sew along that line. Press the French seam.

Turn the bag right side out and press.

The back of the bread bag has the seam down the centre.

Sew a doubled 1/4" hem around the edge of the trim.

I really like the French seams for a clean look, but especially because it means I didn't need to line my bag. 

Cut a 40" length of ribbon or cotton webbing, and choose a button.

Sew the button over the middle of the ribbon and into the seam line at the back of the bag, near the bottom of the trim.

Pop your loaf of bread in a plastic bag and then hide it inside your pretty new bread bag.

Now doesn't that look nice on the bench?

I was thinking this would be a lovely gift for a friend.

If a friend invites you for lunch tell her you'll bring the bread, then bake her a loaf (or purchase one from the bakery) and pop it in a new bread bag. 

This bag took me 40 minutes to make so it's a quick gift and you could even make a few at one time. 

(Note to self: should have done that.)

Might be a nice fete/fair idea too for a homemakers stall?

If you missed my basic bread recipes the other day they're in this blog post.

I'll leave you today with a peek at the final block in this year's BOM, "The Love of Home"...

It will be yours on November 1st. 

I have a project idea for it as well, so that may require an hour or two in the sewing room tomorrow after doing my chores, baking and juicing, writing a few patterns and finishing a new 'almost done' stitchery. 

If I run out of time it will happen the day after. 

One thing at a time works well for me, and no pressure if I can't get something done. There's always the next day. 

Have a blessed week sweet one, remembering you are loved with an everlasting love that cannot be taken away or lost.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Romans 8:38-39)

hugs

Simple breadmaking...

There's been a lovely thread or two about breadmaking on the Gentle Domesticity Group this week and I was asked to share my day to day recipe.

I actually have three 'regulars', and I also make sour dough when I'm in the mood.

But today I'll share the trio which make their way to our table every week and leave the sour dough until another time. 

You can download the recipes HERE and you'll find a cute little bread tin stitchery inside them.

One of the questions asked was how I start my bread in the breadmaker but finish it by hand so yesterday during the most amazing downpour of rain I have seen in about five years I took some photos as I made our next loaf.

I used to always knead my bread by hand, start to finish, with great delight. In 2010 I had an operation on one of my fingers and ever since have struggled to do two things, knead dough and knit. 

This was when I bought a breadmaker to do the kneading and also to take my loaf through it's first rise.

So that's where yesterday's photos begin, after the first rise.

On a breadmaker there's a number of options for baking bread, sometimes even jam, and I choose the "Dough" setting. I place all my ingredients in the pan, close the lid and press 'dough'. The machine then kneads the mix for about 20 minutes before going quiet and heating a little to allow the dough to rise before 'beeping' me that it's ready. This entire first process takes 90 minutes in my machine.

Now I remove the tin of dough from the machine and spread my cleaned kitchen counter with about a tablespoon of olive oil. I pour another teaspoon or two into the tin I'll use to bake my bread.

Smear the olive oil across the counter with your hands so that you also have the oil over your hands.

Spread the oil around the inside of the baking tin as well.

Drop the dough onto the oily counter top...

...and punch it down before kneading lightly for 20 seconds.

Form the dough into a loaf shape and place in the baking tin. Gently push it around so that it fills to the sides.

Place a plastic bag or cling wrap loosely over the loaf. I use a very large zip lock bag and I place a tall glass inside as well to prevent the dough sticking to the bag when it rises.

Now we let the dough begin it's second rise. 

I live in a very warm climate and some days it can double in size within 30 minutes, but usually it takes about 45 minutes. 

If you're in a cooler climate it may take up to 90 minutes or 2 hours but the plastic bag over the loaf helps it rise so give that a go as it may be quicker.

Here's my dough doubled in size and ready to bake.

I cut four little peaks into my loaf before popping it into the oven. I find this helps the loaf keep a good shape.

Around 28 minutes later we have bread!

The tin I bake my bread in was a $6 purchase at Woolworths supermarket (Australia) and measures 11 1/4" x 5 1/2" (14 cm x 29 cm).

It slices beautifully.

My husband loves his bread and would eat it at every meal if he could.

His favourite easy dinner is cheese and Vegemite on toast and he often requests these 'easy' dinners on a Sunday night. 

Sometimes I bake the dough on a hot stone, especially my sour dough, for a nice rustic loaf when serving soup or if we have guests.

When I bake it that way I use a floured kitchen top and place it on a sheet of baking paper for the second rise and I cut three long slits diagonally across the top.

During the second rise I have the hot stone heating in the oven and once the dough is ready to be baked I take the stone out of the oven, scatter flour over it, and slide the bread off the baking paper and onto the stone before placing it back in the oven to bake my bread.

Bread is delicious this way if you enjoy a crusty loaf!

In fact, I'm going to bake tomorrow's loaf this way!

Sometimes I serve it with homemade labneh instead of butter. 

Delicious with some olives, tomatoes, red onions and thinly sliced cold meats.

(here's simple steps to making your own labneh)

As I was putting the recipes together I thought I'd share a little bread tin stitchery design from years ago which I used on a bread bag.  

When you download the recipes you'll see it on the back page of your Living The Gentle Domestic Life Cookbook recipe sheets.

(Which reminded me that I need to make a new bread bag...)

Download the recipes HERE.

The rain this week has been incredible and there's more to come. 

What a blessing rain is when you are in drought.

I stood outside yesterday and watched the frangipani flowers floating by under the clothesline and thanked God for His goodness, praying the rain is filling the town's dam as we've been on level 3 water restrictions for a very long time now and what was a lush green part of the country has been brown and parched for too many years. 

But I think most importantly about our farmers up here, the cattle farmers who watch their stock starve, and I pray their own dams are filling and that there will be many green pastures to follow.

Of course, there's always a downside to a lot of rain. 

Like the local cane farmers who have had to pause their cutting season until things dry up.

And the towns south of us who have had roads cut and are even experiencing floods.

The cycle of seasons, rain and fire, storm and sunshine, flood and drought.

May the Lord bless you as we say goodbye to another week and carry you through the next with an abundance of His grace, mercy, provision and love.

hugs