BREAD!!

One of the best foods ever and a staple of modern society...and we're stuck eating that weird squishy stuff from the store.

Prepare yourself for real bread.

I got the recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker and made a few changes. If you have a mixer/fancy appliance that has bread attachments, you might be better off going back to that website. I've adapted it to be done all by hand.

 It goes with everything. Meat, cheese, cranberry sauce, Nutella, and, of course, butter. It's pretty much the perfect bread.

2 cups lukewarm water (~100°F)
1 package active dry yeast
5 to 5¾ cups bread flour
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2½ teaspoons salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten

1. Stir the yeast into ½ cup of the warm water. Let proof as you measure out the dry ingredients.

2. Combine 5 cups flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, remaining water and olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form, adding more flour as needed. Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and need by hand for 10 minutes, or until a smooth, firm, elastic dough is formed.

3. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and spray the dough with a thin coating of cooking spray. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to proof in a warm, draft-free place for 1½ hours or until doubled in size. (I found that on top of the running dryer worked very, very well.)

4. Remove the plastic wrap, punch down and flatten the rounded dough with the heel of your hand. Roll the dough up tightly, sealing the seam well after each roll. The dough should be elongated and oval-shaped, with tapered and rounded (not pointed) ends.

5. Preheat the oven 425°F.

6. Place the dough on a floured baking sheet. Allow the dough to proof, loosely covered with a floured canvas cloth, for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.

7. Place a cake pan or pie tin with about 1 cup of water in the preheated oven just before the next step. This will help the bread get a nice, crispy crust.

8. Brush the dough with the egg white. Using a razor blade or sharp knife, slash the dough lengthwise about 1/4-inch deep, keeping the blade at a 45 degree angle.

9. Bake the dough for a total of 45 minutes on the baking sheet, or until a hollow thud is heard when tapping the bottom of the bread. (Leave the water in the oven throughout the baking process). Allow the bread to cool before slicing.

White Russian Cupcakes

I came across these cupcakes while I was looking for a Russian recipe to take to class. Turns out Americans are more interested in the cocktail than the actual Russian culture. Regardless, my BFFL, Leia, and I decided to try them. :D

(If you can't tell, I did my photography in the laundry room.)

For a dessert recipe that doesn't include chocolate, these are pretty darn amazing. I might even pick them over certain chocolate desserts (which means something). The cupcake part is like a non-soggy rum cake (yum) and the frosting is just a nice Kahlua buttercream. They're kind of perfect.

In the final stage of frosting production: adding the Kahlua.

The Most Perfect Cupcake.

I got the recipe here.

White Russian Cupcakes

makes 12-14 cupcakes

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 large egg and 1 egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk (the higher the fat percentage, the tastier it will be!)

1/8 cup Vodka

1/4 cup Kahlua, divided

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners. If you plan on making large cupcakes, you might consider spraying the pan with Pam first. If they spill out over the top of the liner, that will keep them from sticking to the cupcake tin.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl or in a stand mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until combined. Add egg and egg white, one at a time. Then add the vanilla, vodka, and 1/8 cup of Kahlua. Gradually add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions, ending with the flour mixture.

Bake 17 -20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcakes comes out clean. While the cupcakes are still warm, brush the tops with the remaining 1/8 cup Kahlua. (I forgot to do this step until right before I frosted them, but they still turned out delicious!)  Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack or in the freezer (for a quicker turnaround)  before frosting.

Kahlua Buttercream Frosting

Makes more than enough frosting for 14 cupcakes... So be ready to eat the leftovers ;)

1 stick of butter, softened (very important when making frosting to actually soften the butter, as I found out)

3 cups powdered sugar, divided

pinch of salt

4-5 tablespoons Kahlua (to taste)

Beat butter until creamy. Add salt. Add half of the powdered sugar until combined, then add a tablespoon of Kahlua and add the rest of the powdered sugar. Add more Kahlua, one tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired flavor. 

An Excess of Purple Paint

Hiya! I started this project at approximately 12:30 am Saturday night, while watching my first James Bond movie ever, and I think, all things considered, that it turned out REALLY AWESOMELY.

 

I started out with at double wooden frame that I bought at Goodwill ($5). I feel that this is relevant now (I guess it has adult language so guard your children's ears or whatever). I used scotch tape to block off the parts that I didn't want to paint (which is why, I think, that the paint bled through onto those parts a bit). 

Taped and ready for painting

In the middle of peeling off the tape

I peeled the tape off while the paint was still wet, which I think was actually better than last time. 

All the tape peeled off

For the mats, I took a fat quarter that I had just lying around and hot glued it to the paper mat. And...

Finished product!

Ta-da!

I mixed the purple paint myself, and I actually had (and still have) a ton left over, so I tried to make something else, but I'm not done with that yet... And it might never see the light of day cause it's kind of bad. 

This is where the crafts come in!

Ingredients

cheap mirror (mine's from Wal-Mart)
paint (also from Wal-Mart; pick a pretty color)
sticky letters (mine are children's vinyl letters that are removable)

1. Apply letters in quote of your choice (also might want to tape around the edges of the mirror so that you don't paint the frame)
2. Paint over the whole thing. 2 or 3 times.
3. Wait for it to dry; peel the letters off.
4. Admire your work and insist that you are an artist.

San Antonio

This weekend I got to skip my Monday classes (yay!) and go watch my dear baby sister march in the Alamodome (double yay!). And they made the finals (triple yay!)! And they placed 9th in the whole entire state of Texas (which is practically 9th in the country given that nobody cares about marching band like we do (quadruple yay!))!

The Alamodome at the crack of dawn 9 in the morning!

They did a great job!

Plus, I got to do a few other fun things while I was in San Antonio...

This is meat. Delicious meat. And I ate it for dinner.

Riverwalk!

                               

Slightly related Pocahontas comic...