One of my Flickr contacts posted a picture of a bread that she had made.  She also included the link to the video on how to do it.  I watched and was amazed at how easy it seemed.  Could it be possible?  I tried it because I had all four ingredients in the house and I had nothing to lose.  It took me five minutes, that’s right, 5 minutes to prepare the dough.  Then it sits for at least 12 hours.  The next day it took me another five minutes, that’s right, 5 minutes to get it ready for the oven.  It baked for about 45 minutes and then I looked at it.  Holy Mackeral - REAL bread.  It probably didn’t taste too good, let me try it…..HOLY, IT TASTES AWESOME.   You have got to try this.  I already made 2 loaves this week.  The second one even better than the first.  I’m psyched over the simplicity and the deliciousness. 

No-knead bread

3 cups All purpose flour

1/4 tsp. instant yeast

1 tsp. and 1/4 salt

1 and 1/2 cups warm water

Combine dry ingredients and then add the water.  Stir it with your hands just till it comes together.  Cover with damp cloth and let it sit for 12-19 hours. 

The dough should be loose and stringy.  Lay a dishcloth down and dust it with something.  (I used corn meal).  You can use flour or wheat bran.  Experiment.  Transfer the dough onto cloth and fold it (you will see what I mean when you watch the clip).  Dust the top with more of whatever you used.  I put sesame seeds and sea salt on top of mine.

Oven is really hot at 500 degrees and the cast iron pot is in there.  Plop dough into HOT pot and cover for 30 minutes.  Then uncover for another 15-20 minutes.  You won’t believe how good this is. 

Enjoy!

Outtake:

THE VIDEO

Let me start by saying that this past weekend was the BEST EVER.  I’m sure many of you feel the same way for the simple reason that we had sun.  Amazing what a ball of fire can do for the soul.  The weekend started out early Saturday morning when I discovered five baby bunnies in our garden.  Earlier in the week, I saw a big bunny trapped inside the chicken wire and couldn’t get it out.  I saw that it was making some sort of nest but I hadn’t a clue that it was having babies.  Craig finally lifted up the fence and got the critter out.  The week goes by and Saturday I’m removing the straw I had used for mulch with a pitchfork.  I lifted up a chunk and they they were.  Five little squigly babies with no eyes.

……………………………………………….I freaked out a little because I nearly pitchforked them (Imagine? I don’t know if I could ever get over that).  I was lucky enough to miss them.  It was a sight to see.  I called everyone over.  Ben was all cool like and said, “Wow, bunnies”.  We decided to move them because they did not have the shelter of the straw anymore and it was blazing hot.  Craig put them in a big basin with the straw under a tree for the day. 

We checked on them regularly and they were fine.  I was really concerned because I read online that you should really leave them be because otherwise the Mother won’t find them to nurse.  They only get milk for 5 minutes a day because their tummies are so small.  That evening we modified the fence around the garden and put them back in their original nest.  Sunday morning, we were happy to see that the Mommy had been there and made a better nest and they were all fine.   What a relief.  What a learning experience.  I’m so looking forward to see how they progress in the next few weeks.

Besides the bunny saga, we basically spent the whole weekend in the pool.  By the end of the two days, Ben was swimming in his tube all by himself all over the pool.  I’m so proud.  He was really brave and even mastered the doggie paddle with some help.  We finished up blowing bubbles and having a BBQ while the sun was going down.  Perfect ending wouldn’t you say?

Congrats on being off for the summer and spending the first month of it in Spain.  What a treat for you. 

Love you - Min

One of many of Gram’s teacups.  We are all so lucky to have pieces of her.

Capture the memories.  Book your maternity session now with Earth & Skye Photography and receive $100 off your print order.

Fishsticks and mango picnic.  Gotta love it!

After Ben’s nap today it was still raining so I had to think of something clever.  Recently we introduced him to Peter Pan and he loves it.  Granted he hasn’t watched the movie in its entirety but what he has watched he likes.  I decided to dress him up as Captain Hook.  Ok, so he is the bad guy but Peter Pan was a little too difficult and the fairy was definitely OUT.  Hook was the way to go.  I gave him a mustache, a tattoo, a silver paper hook, an eye patch and a pirate hat (that kept falling off).  It took him all of 2 seconds to get into character.  He marched around here for a good hour saying, “Argh!”.  It was quite cute.  I wanted to get a great picture of him but he has denied me ANY pictures for months now.  I was able to snap this one which I happen to think captured the Argh factor slightly.  It makes me chuckle.  It was really all laughs until bathtime when I took out some makeup remover.

Just changing some things around here.  I thought the new masthead (picture above) would be a nice switch for the summer.

I have finally updated my Etsy shop with some prints.  Ok, so five prints is not that many but I have to test the waters, right?  If there are any prints that you have seen of mine that you would like to see in the shop, please just let me know and I will certainly post them asap.

Please take a minute to visit:  Earthandskye.etsy

Thanks!

I woke up this morning to find this…

My sweet husband left me coffee all ready to be made.  He makes the BEST coffee (decaf-if you are wondering) and I was really psyched to find this waiting for me.   I drank it along with matzoh and jarlsberg and had a wonderful morning.