Baking is my new exercise

Yes, I know baking is nothing new for me. It's my other past time. Some people, knit, bake, spin, weave, stitch, make soap and sew (and some do them ALL --I'm looking at you Araignee!) but I seem to do alright with knitting and baking alone. ;)

So last night I took to battle with flour, and sugar and then some ...

My back is much better, but not good enough for exercise, physical therapy, chiropractor or massage. I can't sit still for too long but I don't necessarily like moving a lot either, therefore baking has become my new exercise. I'm taking steroids and I need activity to keep the crazy at bay.

I shuffle just enough and for certain tasks can sit down and relax a little bit. These are Peach Cobbler "Scones". They are not too sweet and a good vehicle for peaches in the morning. They would be a welcome addition to any summer brunch. This was my first pass. I would do it again, but I might modify the assembly. I haven't decided yet. Conceptually I liked it and I got a lot of compliments on the flavor and bake.

Let's talk about bread. Bread is kind of like lace for me. I love the idea of it but I'm kind of overwhelmed by it and at times feel like it's just a challenge from the universe. Such a challenge that I decided to try 2 recipes at the same time. This wouldn't be so much of an issue except that both recipes yield 2 loaves and I only have 2 loaf pans... so I used a brownie pan. What? It's bread, it baked ...

It's really about yeast. I look for big foaming action and usually don't get it if I'm either not using instant yeast. I think I don't manage the water temperature well enough. However mixing in the sugar as a catalyst and then sprinkling the yeast on top also helped.

Yesterday was day 2 of  attempting to make sandwich bread. I finished roughly at 12:30 am with this lot. Now there will be a lot tea sandwiches I suppose and nutella and Lady H made delicious plum jam ... so it won't go to waste. (Apparently you can freeze bread as well)

The household has been keeping up with The Great British Bake-off on PBS and so there is a lot of sassy talk about how my "bake" or "crumb" is. There are general inquiries on the my color of my crust and they like to knock on my loaves of bread.

It was HM's birthday at work and she keeps my sanity in check everyday over there. Some newbies have come on board with their own flavor of friendship and baking skills so we decided to have a bit of a baking buffet for the office to celebrate. So ... I sort of, got busy.

Wednesday I should have a knitting post. I've just been trying to get some decent pictures for you. But my needles are definitely clickety clacking ...