Time to make the doughnuts!

Free Projects, Kitchen

This is my favorite doughnut recipe – but surprise! It’s actually a no-knead brioche recipe! This recipe stunned me the first time I tried it – far and above the best doughnuts I have made, and they consistently delicious every time. And I have been using this recipe for almost 10 years.

The recipe is large, so I usually 1/2 it, and that still makes enough doughnuts for 2 days of breakfast. And yes! Doughnuts for breakfast because I make the dough a day or two in advance. Roll them out, cut them out, give them 20 min to rest, and then into the oil they go.

Last night I mixed in some of my sourdough starter, too – I just followed the written recipe (yeast and all) and at the end I added about 1/2 cup of starter. Sourdough doughnuts with homemade grape jelly? Wow. Just, Wow. (Tomorrow we are adding in Nutella!)

Find the recipe here on Artisan Bread in 5

Map No. 1 – The Swamp

Creative Living, Inspiration

I have been captivated by Helen Cann’s book Hand Drawn Maps. My kids and I each take it in turns – I bring it to bed to look at before I go to sleep, someone grabs it to look at before breakfast and all day it lives next to the couch until we decide it’s time to draw something.

In the midst of trying to do everything all at once – which is how a normal morning feels – I end up walking circles in my kitchen, picking things up and putting them back down. Starting three tasks all at once, but leaving each for something that seems more urgent, or at least, more efficient. Scheduling my own days adds to the chaos in my head, because there are few hard deadlines beyond the bodily needs of the family. And all of the rolling deadlines that I set in head.

And so, this is a map that I seem to follow frequently, trying to move in all directions at once. It’s exhausting, but a hard cycle to break. I have learned better ways to quiet my head, but then I go and forget them for long stretches. I painted this with love and humor for my struggle. And, maybe if I adjust my compass and plot a better course, I will find a more direct path through this chaotic land.

Begin again

Stitching

Today I was so closed to finishing up a hat I was knitting for my son. He had chosen the colors and was very excited about the combination. And yet, it just wasn’t right – it was uncomfortably tight, and the pattern didn’t work out the way we had expected. I had a quick (silent) convo with myself about whether it was about perfectionism, or just being honest with myself. And he was trying to be really aware of my feelings and he didn’t want to tell me he didn’t like it… but after we both danced around it for a while, I declared that if he didn’t love it, then what was the point. And we pulled out the stitches together, and I cast on again.

I haven’t knit in ages, but I had some car time this weekend so it was fun to get back into knitting (and road trip knitting is the best kind of knitting), but I feel happy to make something he loves. And I feel happy to make something I love. I have spent so much time knitting and sewing things to justify impulse purchases – “I need to make a hat out of this yellow yarn,” because I liked the way it looked on the shelf.

And then in ended up wearing things I hated to justify the knitting that I had done to justify the impulse purchase. So, in the last few years I have made big shifts – stopped buying yarn unless it had a very specific plan, and buy good yarn that I couldn’t wait to start knitting. I often cast in for my gauge swatch within hours of my yarn purchase. Now I spend way less on yarn now, and I only have materials i love.