May 27, 2008

Back again

I don´t know which time in order I say: "hello, remember me? I am back again, and this time I will really try to blog more often!" but it is my blog and I write when I want to. Or when I have the time, as is the case now when my life is changed rather profoundly by a very small person.

On March 10th I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, and we now spend the early summer days together in lots of lovely ways. Walking, eating, sleeping, changing nappy and then eating, sleeping etc. Life is sweet, simple and blissful with my little D. One of many many good things about him is that he lets me cook and bake almost as usual. Meanwhile he lies in his "gym" and play with the toys, or keep me company in the kitchen sitting in the baby sitter. My little sidekick.

On our way home from the hospital we bought some bread, but since then we have baked our own daily bread as a matter of fact. My man is rather absorbed by this bread-baking: keeps reading recipes and trying them, buys all kinds of flour and he also borrowed his parents large kitchen machine, I don´t know what it is called in English but you use it for kneading. They use it once a year, we use it once a week!

This is a very nice bread to make when you want a luxury breakfast or expects guests for lunch and want to greet them with the wonderful smell of fresh bread. The recipe is from Allt om mat, a well-known Swedish food magazine and an article on how to get going with your baking by the journalist Peter Streijffert. My man read the article over and over again and then tried this, and then some other breads. Thank you Peter!

Morning rolls
Makes 10

12 grams fresh yeast
50 ml cold water
1 tsp salt
100 ml graham flour, this is a wholemeal wheat flour
540 grams strong bread flour, "Vetemjöl special"

1. Crumble the yeast into a bowl, add some water and dissolve the yeast.
2. Add the rest of the water, salt, graham flour and the wheat and work the dough for a couple of minutes. It is supposed to be sticky: nothing to worry about!
3. Cover with cling film and put in the fridge over night
4. Warm the oven to 225 fan oven or 250 "ordinary" oven. Spoon out the dough on a baking sheet: 10 sticky lumps the size of tennis balls. Bake for 20 minutes in the middle of the oven. Let them cool on a rack.

The rolls have a lovely crust the first day, but then sadly they get a little boring so make sure to eat them all very quickly. Not a huge problem, really!