Challah!

The other day I discovered my favorite grocery store ever; Harmons. They have so many different organic foods, a cheese island, (with samples), and yummy bread made with organic flour. That's where the Challah comes in. They sample out their bread, which is pretty good marketing since the bread is so yummy. And the first time we went there, the super nice lady at the bakery counter was giving pretty good sized samples of Challah. (pronounced "holla!", but maybe without the exclamation mark) It was so delicious that we immediately bought a loaf even though it was $4. Like I said, allowing me to sample yummy bread is pretty good marketing. I can't resist bread.

So, I decided that maybe, just maybe, I can make it at home for cheaper. Granted I don't have organic flour (yet), but I DO have organic sugar. So there you go. I looked it up and found several praises for this recipe: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/09/best-challah-egg-bread/ And today I dove in and gave it a go.

 

It's pretty cool, this bread only has 6 ingredients, so it's pretty simple.  The main ingredients?  Flour and egg.  This dough has 4 eggs in it, and one egg slathered on top.  PLUS, it calls for 8 1/2 cups of flour.  Sheesh.  But, one thing that I've learned is that here in Utah, at least for me, I should always use 1/2 cup to 1 cup LESS flour than what is called for.  Otherwise my dough is dry and unworkable.  So I used 7 1/2 cups of flour and that was perfect for me.

 

Here's Calvin marveling at our mountain of flour.  I like to measure and put all of my flour in a big bowl, and then I give Calvin a tablespoon to use to help put flour into the mixture.  It's a fun (kinda messy, but not as messy as it could be) way for him to help out.  And he loves helping out :)

After we got everything mixed, we let it rise for 2 1/2 hours.  First I let it rise for an hour, then I punched it down and let it rise for another half an hour.  Then I braided it (which I have to say I was pretty excited with how it turned it.  Though I did have to look it up on YouTube to understand how to do it correctly)  Since this recipe makes two big loaves, I made one a straight braid and one I put into a circle.  The straight loaf I put in the fridge since I read that doing that for one of the risings makes for a better tasting Challah.   

 

But the other one I let rise for another hour, sprinkled some sugar on top, and then stuck it in the oven.  I'm not too patient.  ;)   

 

Isn't it beautiful?  I am so proud of it.  Not too proud that I didn't dig right in, though.  Then I remembered that I should share with Calvin and called him in from the yard so he could enjoy it too.

 

 He loves it! Look at all those crumbs around him.  Though Challah does kind of produce a lot of crumbs because of the crispy, oh so yummy top. 

 

I am really happy with how this bread turned out.  It is very yummy.  Though I do think that next time I will use canola oil instead of olive oil.  You can definitely taste the olive oil, which makes it pretty savory.  But I'm not the biggest fan of olive oil in baked goods.  I think that's because of the fact that before I knew it had such a strong flavor, I substituted it for regular oil in a batch of brownies.  YUCK.  I will never do that again.  So I'm going to be interested to see which way I prefer Challah.

As you can see from the picture above, it didn't take that long for just Calvin and I to eat half of the first loaf.  Maybe, 10 minutes? I don't know. What can I say? This girl likes some Challah! (with or without the exclamation mark)

Dress Refashion

 

A little over a month ago, I found this dress at the D.I. that I just fell in love with.  Well, not necessarily with the whole thing, but the pink striped fabric of the skirt and sleeves.  The top was a little outdated, and ripped in a few places as well.  So I bought it under the pretense that I would refashion it.  But I've been a little intimidated.  Even after I went and found the perfect fabric for the new bodice, I decided to hold off.  In all honesty, I was scared I was going to ruin the whole thing.  Well, today I finally decided to dive in.  And I am so glad I did because I am extremely happy with the end result!  

After about an hour of seam ripping, and then using this great tutorial from Shwin & Shwin (one of my favorite blogs) to make a new bodice for the dress, I ended up with this beauty:

I absolutely LOVE it!  As soon as I put her in it I knew it was exactly what I was wanting. 

As a side note, the bodice pattern was actually pretty easy to make.  I measured Emma and then drew out the pattern on some paper.  For anyone interested, her pattern was 5" on the bottom (this is after measuring her bust at 20", halving it for the front, which is 10", and then halving it again for the pattern piece), 6" long, the armpit hole was 5" down, and the neckline was 1" down from the top, and about 1" over from the armpit hole.  Then when I actually cut it, I put the pattern down but left a 1/2" seam allowance of fabric around the pattern.  I would guess this would be a pretty good 12 month size for your pattern if you don't have a baby to measure off of.

 

Just look at the cuteness.  And the best part?  The back, check it out....

 

It's funny, I didn't know how I would feel about the back at first, but when I saw it on her I fell in love.  This is actually the second time I have used this tutorial for making a dress for Emma (the first time was when I made her Tinkerbell dress), and that time I did a full back.  This time, though, I decided to go for it.

 

And I'm glad I did.  It gives this extra little feminine touch to the dress. And a kind of 'Alice in Wonderland' feel.  Each time I used this tutorial I have only used it for the part that teaches you how to make a bodice.  Maybe next time I'll actually make the full shirt.  :)

 

So there it is, Emma's new dress!  And the total cost is somewhere around $5.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.

Calvin wanted a picture with him in it, how could I resist? :)