Hubby and I are recovering from yesterday's Fathers Day bash. We had so much fun with the family. Unfortunately, at our age, we need a day to recover from all the fun. Hubby and I spent several hours preparing for the family to come over. I made onion dip, a loaf of bread, cut up cheese and summer sausage. Hubby had backyard duty. He got doggy 'diamonds' picked up and watered down the 'grass' to help it cool off a bit. He also got the smoker all set up and put the brisket on to smoke. He also was in charge of the music and got our portable speaker turned on and tuned into some oldies but goodies. We finally got a chance to sit down about 1:30. The family came over about 3. We had a few snacks and then hit the pool to cool off. There was not time to play any games.
The brisket finally got finished about 6. We had a lovely dinner and great conversation. After dinner, we got a fun gift from the kids.
This will go on our cross wall. We laughed when we got it. My husband was always looking for his tools and we would find out the boys had 'borrowed' them. This cross will remind us of those good times.
After dinner, we also had an early birthday for our Grand Daughter. We went in with the other grandparents and mom and dad and got her an Apple watch. She was so excited and happy. We let her open her gift while we had the other grand parents on a video call. It was fun.
The family left about 8pm and hubby and I were exhausted. I finished cleaning up the kitchen and hubby cleaned up some of the backyard. Then we went to bed.
My bread made a big hit with everyone yesterday. It was so good, I had to make another loaf today. I want to thank all of you who gave me suggestions as to why my bread was not rising properly. I changed two things I had been doing.
1. I made sure I used separate measuring spoons for the salt and yeast.
2. I opened up a new jar of yeast and used it.
Look at that beauty. This is the one I made today. The one yesterday looked just like it. It is so much softer and not as dense. I always have used Fleischman's yeast but could not find it once so switched to Red Star. The Red Star worked fine until about 2 weeks ago and then....poof. Nasty bread. Whereas, I had always used the same spoon for the yeast and salt (always measured the yeast first though), I still think it was the yeast. Even though the Red Star said it was good until July of 2021........I think it was dieing a slow death. I am once again a happy bread maker. Thanks again for the advice.
The rest of my day has been filled with laundry, emptying the dishwasher, going through knitting/crocheting patterns, reading blogs, working on my YOP 10 list, ordering books, picking up all the pool towels from the backyard and cutting out more face masks. Other than that, we are just kicking back LOL.
How is your Monday treating you?
Until next time............happy crafting & stay well!
That was so wonderful that you were able to get together with your family. It did sound like lots of fun! The brisket sounded so good....yum! Your bread is perfect! That is one beautiful loaf of bread! An Apple watch! Wow! I bet she was thrilled!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link and it is fun planning for YOP but how to narrow it down as there are so many wo nderful patterns out there!?!
Take care!
Beautiful bread, Marsha. I think it surely was the yeast, too. While I use saf-instant yeast, I keep mine in the freezer for what it's worth, and it lasts for a long time. Years. And I always use the same measuring spoon for my salt and yeast. As long as the yeast is measured and added first and the bulk of the yeast and salt are kept separate from each other in the order they are added (in my recipes, they are kept separate by the flour until mixing begins), I can't imagine that a few grains of each randomly encountering each other when measuring out salt would effect the whole loaf.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had a wonderful Father's Day. Sounds perfect in every way!
Your loaf looks awesome. Glad it worked out this time. An Apple watch is so handy; I got tired of having to pull out my phone to find out what time it was. Man, your brisket sounds hella good.
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