Quinoa Bread and Other Food

After my success last week with the gluten free bread mix I went to Aldi to try and get some more. However they had put the price up well either that or it was on offer when I bought it, so it had gone from 75p  to £1.79.  I didn't really want to spend that much as making it myself was supposed to be money saving. 

I decided to get some more flour so I could do my own mix but I have noticed that a lot of recipes use a mixture of GF flours.  While we were out I went in Holland and Barrett and they had Quinoa flour reduced from £8 to £2 so I bought that. (I would never pay £8)

Yesterday I thought I would just have an experiment at mixing a few flours and see what happened, this is the recipe I came up with...

Quinoa Bread

100g Quinoa flour
50g brown rice flour
50g potato starch
100g gf plain flour
300ml tepid water
15ml olive oil
7gm dry yeast
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Put the flour, yeast, water, xanthan gum and oil in a bowl and mix gently until all combined, pour into a 1lb loaf tin and cover.  Leave to rise, mine did take about 20 minutes but keep an eye on it.
Bake in the oven on 200c for 30 minutes.

This loaf didn't look as pretty as last weeks creation but it is actually lighter, it also toasts really well.

It has more air bubbles I think and I wouldn't have cooked it any longer as it is just right.

After that came out so well I  made a banana and pecan loaf as I was on a cooking roll, I find on days when things go wrong I get grumpy with the whole being in the kitchen thing and lose motivation.  Not so on this day so I carried on and did more baking. 

The only worry I have now is that when Holland and Barrett run out of the reduced price quinoa flour I will have to go back the drawing board!  I also found some amazing snack olives and pea crisps all reduced, the pea crisps can be bought from Aldi as well I have noticed.

For the rest of the afternoon we had family round for lunch but I did manage to take off the bottom from the charity shop dress I bought and there is just enough fabric  left over for a sun top.

So the piece that I have placed beside it here, was then cut out into these pieces below.

I'm going to utilise the original hem that is on the bottom.

I will share later in the week when I get around to sitting at the machine.  It will be useful for the summer or wearing under items later in the year.

Gluten Free Bread Success

Finally I think I have found a little packet mix that is Gf and tastes good.  I found this packet bread mix in Aldi a few weeks ago and snatched it up as you don't often see any Gf items in there and it has been sat in the back of my cupboard ever since.  Earlier today I though I would give it a try, it was quite difficult to mix as I don't have a food mixer and bread paddle just a small blender with a couple of blades.  After sitting on the worktop for about ten minutes under a tea towel I was pleased to see it had risen, in it went for 35 minutes in a 1lb loaf tin ( well actually a 2lb tin as that was all I had but I put a ramekin in one end as a stopper and shaped foil up to it!) and it came out like this...

I have just tried  a slice with some vegan spread and it is soft and tasty, my only issue now will be if they ever stock it again.  It  is called Bakels gluten free white bread mix, it was 75p and you need a sachet of dry yeast so another 15p there.  Looking at the ingredients I could probably reproduce it if I just do my own flour mix but it is just the initial outlay of buying the expensive flours to start with. 

If anyone sees it on sale anywhere else please let me know because even though it is a packet mix it is still less expensive than the Gf bread I have been buying at £2.39 for a titchy little loaf.  It makes me really cross how much they charge for all the Gf products so I make a point of not buying them now aside from bread that is.  It would be wonderful if I could permanently scratch that off the shopping list as well.

Bread is not the part of a meal it used to be but it is still handy for when I'm at work for dipping in soup or putting beans on, I do like the odd slice of marmite toast too but again this has never been the same since I had to switch to GF bread.  It will be interesting to see how it keeps, I have made Gf bread before and it didn't freeze well but the shop bought ones do (must be all the chemicals!) so hopefully I can freeze a few slices.

Sewing for Children

When my boys were small I would make sleep suits and vests and little jackets with hoods.  As they got  older I didn't make as much day to day wear as the choices for fabric for boys was not as inspiring and often worked out as expensive as buying ready made.  However I always made  them dressing up clothes, it used to be power rangers in every colour, pirates, Peter Pan which later became Robin Hood and anything they came up with I would make. 

There has been opportunities to work on the dresses of friends children over the years including a couple of flower girl dresses and some every day wear.  These have been shared before but as I was asked last week to do some more it reminded me and I looked through the pictures, here are a couple.

I really enjoyed making these and my former colleague said she is going to have a look at fabrics and get in touch, apparently this little style is quite hard to get in her daughters size.  The little hair slides were also quick to make.

Another dress I enjoyed making was this flower girl dress, the fabrics were beautiful and that is often the difference with having something made.

People often have flower girl dresses shipped in from China only to find they are tissue paper thin and don't live up to the photographs. It is worth finding someone local who can make these sort of items for children, that way you get exactly what you want and it is more unique.

It is wonderful to see so many bloggers sewing for their own children, I really enjoy seeing all the different creations and while my boys are teenagers now and don't want mum sewing their clothes they still come to me with repairs and sleeves to be shortened.  I look forward to making little items for friends in the future.