Quodlibet in Thirds

Its been a long time since I worked on a full sized quilt.  Now I remember why!  There's no where in this house where I can lay the entire thing out.  It's a little distracting when two thirds are in one room and one third is in another.  But I think I finally got it all figured out.  Can you spot the second "RJ" in the picture above?

The last "RJ" is pretty easy to spot on the design wall, but will be less prominent when the black lattice is added.  I swear I've ripped more on this quilt than I've sewn!  Half way through I decided to cut back on the white blocks.  This involved a lot of ripping - but I'll blame it on my undersized design wall.  All's well that ends well.  :)

Chris's Favorite GF Bread

Although I use a box mix, I've modified the mixing and baking procedure to produce a lighter, larger, more flavorful loaf.  Like traditional wheat bread, I allow the dough to rise twice.  This gives it more time to develop the characteristic yeast flavor and a finer, more even texture.  This bread makes an excellent peanut butter sandwich that can be eaten at room temperature - the ultimate palatability test for GF bread!

You'll need:

Heavy Duty Stand Mixer - hand held mixers will not do the job
Wire Whip Attachment - do not use a dough hook
2 Wilton 9 x 5" bread pans - do not use shiny or dark nonstick pans
Kitchen Timer
Time & Patience - From the time you begin mixing ingredients to the time the bread is  sliced and put away is about 4 hours.  So I bake two loaves at a time, every other week.

Ingredients:

2 boxes Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Mix (includes yeast packet)
1/2 c. canola oil or melted butter
4 eggs (or 2 whole eggs and 4 egg whites)
3 1/2 cups water or skim milk

Procedure:

Slowly mix eggs in mixing bowl to break yolks.  Gradually add oil and water.  With beater still on low, sprinkle both yeast packets into liquid mixture.  Then add both bags of bread mix, one at a time.  Turn beater speed up to medium speed, and beat for 3 minutes.

Cover mixer bowl with a damp towel for about 35 minutes.  While waiting, prepare your pans and foil tents.  Spray pans lightly with any GF cooking spray.  I use a canola spray.  Set pans aside. Fold two piecees of aluminum foil, shiny side up, as pictured to cover loaves as they bake.

After first rising, beat on low speed for 60 seconds. 

Scrape dough into pans.  Use a wet spatula to spread dough evenly across each pan and smooth top of dough.  You will need to moisten the spatula several times, and dough will look glossy on top.

Cover both pans with a damp towel and allow to rise for 35 minutes, or until dough reaches 1/2 inch below edge of pan (whichever comes first).  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

After second rising, place pans in center of preheated oven.  Bake for 10 minutes, then cover each pan loosely with foil tent to prevent excess browning.

Bake an additional 45-50 minutes. Using a thermometer, make sure the center of the bread has reached 200 degrees or higher. If bread is not fully cooked, it is likely to fall as it cools.  When bread reaches 200 degrees, place pans on cooling racks for 10-15 minutes. 

Then turn bread out onto rack.  Allow to cool at least one hour before slicing.  Ideally, you would not slice the bread until completely cool.  GF baked goods need time to "firm up" as they cool.  Handling a warm loaf will damage the bread's structure.

Slice loaves.  I divide my bread into 4 bags, each containing 1/2 loaf.  Three go to into the freezer, and one goes into the refrigerator.  When I get down to my last few pieces of refrigerated bread, I pull a frozen bag out and put that in the refrigerator.  This way you only need to microwave the bread 15-20 seconds to take the chill off - rather than trying to work with frozen bread slices.  I cut the heels into cubes for stuffing or croutons, and brush the crumbs into a small container I keep in the frig for sprinkling bread crumbs on top of baked fish.

While I love the flavor of this product, I have struggled with the fact that the baking instructions on the box result in a loaf that is raw in the middle.  I also object to the statement on the box saying it's a cholesterol free food.  Yes, it is - in the box!  But if you make it according to the instructions - with 2 whole eggs per loaf, you've now had your weekly allotment of egg yolks. Yes, one can substitute egg whites - but the claim on the box is misleading.  I have contacted the company, and received only the standard response (thank you for your interest...etc., etc., etc.).

Despite these misgivings, I keep coming back to this bread.  It simply has the best flavor and moisture content.  I hope you enjoy this bread as much as I do! :)

Quodlibet - Nine Rows

Nine rows are complete, with three left on the design wall.  I can't decide which is harder - trying to make blocks line up in rows (as usual) or trying to make sure they DON'T line up, as directed for this quilt.  RJ's initials will appear in this quilt three times.  Can you spot the first set?

Now can you see them?  :)

I Can Almost Taste It!

My first tomato is ripening...Never has a single tomato been so anticipated.  I'm looking forward to slicing it and drizzling with vinegar & oil dressing.  Maybe tomorrow!

All 8 pepper plants are bearing fruit.  They are supposed to change color as they ripen, but I can no longer recall which will be red, green or yellow.  Will just have to wait and see.  :)

Quodlibet - Control Rows

What here-to-for appeared to be a mishmash of incongruent blocks is actually beginning to look like a quilt.  To be honest, I was a little worried.  Some blocks didn't make the cut.  It remains to be seen if I made the correct number and color blocks to fill out the quilt.  I interpreted "light" and "dark" too literally, when in fact red should have been my "light."  Though this picture makes it look as if the bottom row is narrower than the top, they measure up just fine.  I think this is the best part of quilting - when it finally comes together and you can see results!  :)

Quodlibet Blocks

Hot weather gave me an excuse to do less gardening and more stitching.  The great thing about the Quodlibet pattern is the freedom to switch it up and try new things.  I never was very good at flying geese before, but feel pretty comfortable making them now.  A few of the checker board squares were the result of mismeasuring, but I liked how they turned out and they'll fit quite nicely.  The directions say "When assembling the quilt, blocks will be chopped off to make rows fit, a crooked seam here and there will add interest, this quilt is meant to have a more freeform look, so just have fun creating."  And that is exactly what I have been doing!  I'm working on zig zag blocks now.  

FYI - A quodlibet is "a whimsical combination of familiar melodies or texts."  The quilt is designed by Judy Hasheider, from Quilt with Judy.  I emailed her with some questions(quiltwithjudy@tds.net) and she was very helpful.  I'm partial to some of her other designs, which can be found at www.quiltwithjudy.com.  :)

Garden Report, Then & Now

What a difference between August 1 and June 2 (below)!

When you sit on the porch swing, it feels like your own private gazebo.  The tomatoes grew well beyond the towers I set up, so 5 of the 8 plants are now tied up to the A-frame structure.  The one on the right will most likely be taller than I am by the weekend.  The herbs have outgrown the back stoop and now are in full sun.  The lemon basil is fantastic.  All my pepper and tomato plants are bearing fruit.  This has surpassed my wildest dreams.  After more than a decade of shade gardening, this is a refreshing change!  I suspect I'll be sharing some tomato recipes very soon.  :)

GF Lemon Meringue Pie

Got a hankerin' for some good old fashioned lemon meringue pie.  However, when you have to eat gluten free, you can't just pick up a pie at the grocery store or order it at a restaurant.  I'd been thinking about it for some time...so I consulted my Gluten-Free Baking Classics (2nd edition) cook book by Annalise G. Roberts for a suitable crust recipe.  This is the Tart Shell recipe, which tasted great and was easier to make than a traditional crust - no rolling.  Just cut the butter into the flour mixture and press the mixture into your pie pan.  Ms. Roberts suggests baking the shell one day and filling it the next to breaks up the work load, and avoid having the oven on for such a long time.  Being a hot day, I heeded her advice.

Betty Crocker provided the recipes for the filling and meringue.  The filling recipe called for lemon peel.  Having had bad experiences with orange peel and lemon peel in the past, I bought some at Penzy's Spices so I wouldn't get a strong aftertaste.  I considered omitting it...but usually don't change a recipe the first time I make it.  So in it went.

Ya know what's funny about spreading meringue over pie filling?  The filling is fluid, so it smooshes around under your spatula.  Its much easier to spread meringue from the edge to the center, than the other way around.  That's probably why they pipe the meringue on commercially prepared lemon meringue pies.

A couple hours after it came out of the oven, an unexpected visitor arrived - which gave me the perfect excuse to cut into my pie.  It was still a tiny bit warm and extremely lemony.  Incredibly flavorful - unlike any commercially prepared lemon meringue pie I've ever had.

The next day I had a few more visitors, and we polished off the pie.  By then it had chilled overnight.  I was a little dissappointed that the filling didn't firm up more.  After trying it a second time, I realized I should have omitted the lemon peel.  It left just the tiniest little aftertaste. 

So if you're using a Betty Crocker (new and revised in 1981 - LOL) cook book to make a 9" lemon meringue pie filling, add 1 more TBSP cornstarch, one less TBSP melted butter and omit the lemon peel.  Though making the shell, filling and meringue from scratch was quite a bit of work, it was truly worth the time and effort! 

Later this summer I intend to try the chocolate eclair/cream puff shell recipe in the same GF cook book.  More GF baking adventures to follow!  :)

Flooding in Galena

Oh no!!!!  If you have plans to visit Galena, IL any time soon, please call ahead. 

I visited and blogged about the Phat Quarter Quilt Shop (info@ourcompany.com) earlier this summer.  Just learned it's been flooded with a foot and a half of water.  The De Sota House has 8 feet of water.  Consequently, the upcoming Galena Quilt Show has been postponed until August 20 & 21. 

Thanks to Carol, Sue and Karen at Hidden Quilts (http://www.hiddenquilts.com/contact.html) in Platteville for passing the word along! 

R & J Blocks

I've been playing with ways to work up "R" and "J" blocks that I could slip into the Quodlibet Quilt, without being too obvious.  Each of these blocks will be surrounded by a narrow black lattice, so I laid out the left side to complete the Rs.  I want these blocks to be subtle - and with all that is going on in the Quodlibet Quilt - you would have to know to look for them.  Then once you see them, you'll wonder how you could have missed them!  But SHHHHH....don't tell RJ!

As I was piecing away, I realized I had just designed and executed my first homegrown paper piecing project.  I've only done paper piecing once before - and that was with a quilting instructor there to help.

I'm not sure how many blocks to make.  The pattern is for a 57 x 74" quilt, but I need to make it extra long cuz the recipient is about 6' 6".  I own a bunch of quilting books, but none of them say how large a king size quilt should be.  I've seen patterns for queen size quilts ranging from 90-102 inches long, so I'm a bit perplexed!  Am open to suggestions....

Keep quilting!  :)