English Muffins

This weekend I made sourdough bread and realized that my starter is getting pretty big. I also decided that since it's going to be around awhile, it needs a name. Betty. Thrifty and useful, just like my starter. Betty has a large home, but I don't like to have the starter get out of hand. I didn't bake last week, and I didn't throw any out, so she was getting a little uppity.

I thought I'd be adventurous, and made sourdough English muffins last night/this morning.

There must be a reason this recipe came up #3 on a Google search: YUM

They were easy to make, too. I don't have a biscuit cutter, but a plastic cup (thin edge) worked just fine. I was worried that I rolled mine too thin, but they turned out just fine. I think if they were too thick they wouldn't cook evenly.

Also, the second side cooked much faster than the first. I was going by the timer and almost burned them!

Straight off the griddle they needed no toasting, but when I snacked on one later they only improved with toasting. Definitely going to hang on to that recipe.

They're partially whole wheat, and I've also started feeding Betty whole wheat to mix it up a little bit (also I was out of white flour at the time.) I don't know if that's by-the-sourdough-book, but then it wasn't that way from Betty's Amish-bread beginnings...

Tonight I started something else new: ginger ale! I can't wait to try it =)

Sourdough English Muffins
Makes about 12

• 1/2 C starter
• 1 C milk
• 2-3/4 C flour - adjust as needed for consistency of your starter
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Semolina or cornmeal, for dusting

Combine starter, 2 cups of flour, and milk in a large bowl. Stir to combine, cover with plastic wrap, and leave out for 8 hours or overnight.

After the overnight rest, add remaining flour, sugar, salt and baking soda and mix well. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 4-5 minutes. Roll out to 3/4" and cut with a biscuit cutter into rounds. You can reroll the scraps, but you may need to let the dough rest before cutting more muffins from them. Place muffins on a piece of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal and let rest for 45 minutes.

Spray griddle or skillet lightly with spray oil. Heat to medium and cook muffins for about 6-8 minutes on each side, or until browned on the top and bottom and cooked through. These have great griddle spring and rise quite a bit during the "baking".

Split with a fork and enjoy!

Me vs. The Ironing Board

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I've been busy, and haven't sat down to post in ages. Tonight, though, I want to tell about how I conquered my ironing board.

Before I get to that, look at my surprise super awesome present from my husband! I am now the proud owner of a Canon Rebel T1i.

On to the ironing board. It's been stuck in the "up" position for the better part of a year, when the lever came out. I did a little searching online, because I couldn't see immediately how to put it back in, and got frustrated with the results. The "hire someone," and "just buy a new one (several times if needed)" attitude was a little irritating. Not to mention wasteful in the second case. It turns out it's not that difficult, it was just hard to see the mechanism!

If you just need to see where the lever goes, look at the last picture.

Otherwise here is an illustrated guide to replacing the lever in an ironing board.


This is what it looked like when the board was stuck open. You can see the metal plate covering the horizontal beam, making it hard to see anything except the vertical rod which has notches on the top (from use)

This is what the mechanism looks like, once it's been collapsed slightly. You can see the ratchet design, the plate with a spring underneath. The plate has an oval opening with the spring pushing it up, but when you press in the direction of the arrow, it becomes a circle, allowing it to move. This is why it will open but not close, in this case.

Here is a shot looking at the open board again. The arrow points to that same plate, which needs to be pushed toward the flat end of the ironing board with a screwdriver (or the original lever, which worked for me)

Once you get it open, here is where the lever gets put back. The dotted line shows the lever behind that horizontal bar.

This is how I made sure the lever wasn't going to fall out again. I think the small tab to the left of my pliers was supposed to hold it in place, but with both of them covering the lever, it should stay in place.

Action shot!

Hopefully this helps others with the same problem.

And hooray for not wasting a few dollars, and not creating extra waste!

Thanks for all the positive comments so far! I'm so glad this has been helpful for so many people.

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More Scenery

Here's an early morning shot from my commute. This is at the little observation point on Highway 9. It's a quick and dirty panorama, but someday I may take my tripod out there and get something better. Obviously this is pre-rain. The road later in the week had a different kind of beauty, with the trees appearing out of a thick fog. Quite enjoyable, aside from the limited visibility.

Christmas, Lemon Curd, and Beads

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I finished all my gifts but three. Two of them I gave anyway, with an IOU to finish. One was my dad's fingerless gloves, and I'm glad I did, because they weren't going to fit right if I had finished without him trying them on. Then my husband's gift I didn't finish and didn't show him yet. I ran into some modifications needed, and I realized that it'd be best if he waited to see it. Pictures of everything will be for the next post.

I always associate lemon curd with Christmas. I had tried making some lime curd from this recipe, and I think it turned out well. But it wasn't until yesterday I finally got around to making the lemon curd. The dozen or so lemons I picked from my mom's place had been staring at me every time I passed the kitchen.

There's something extremely satisfying about enjoying lemon curd on homemade bread. I haven't made bread in awhile, and this turned out a little dense, but not bad. I didn't realize that I was running out of white flour, so it turned out to be about 1/2 whole wheat, instead of the 1/4 I was going for.

I decorated my office cube a little bit. I always put up this bit of greenery with wooden beads, and this year I added tiny stockings with my team members' initials on them. I tried to keep them well-stocked with chocolate goodness.

A friend had a Christmas open house, and I made her these little wine tags. I had fun picking out the charms to match the seed beads. I realized after I got home that the red was a bigger bead, but I think it looks alright. I want to try making more of these someday.

Speaking of beads, a friend has inspired me with her jewelry-making. I have been really enjoying browsing through Fire Mountain Gems, and I've placed two orders with them so far. I just realized that their quantity discounts don't apply only to a single item, but are accumulated. That's dangerous to know :) For inspiration, check out their gallery. Wow.