I'm baking a batch of Yeast Cinnamon Rolls this evening for tomorrow's breakfast and decided to try the "sponge method" instead of the "straight dough method" I tried last time 'round - unsuccessfully. While I wait to see if the sponge is going to take, I've got lots to post about the weekend...
Friday marked the third week in a row that I've given my kitchen a thorough cleaning. It's hard work - takes me about three hours of good, honest elbow grease - but one thing I've noticed is that I'm finding new hiding places for dirt every week. I guess all those little cracks and niches stand out more now with all that cleanliness around 'em! So the kitchen is getting progressively cleaner every time. The manual recommends that housewives clean one cupboard or several drawers each time they clean the kitchen. By the time they've made their way through each of the kitchen cabinets, it's time to start at the first again. In my own home, the contents of my cupboards have kind of evolved hit or miss since the day I moved in here. I didn't really think through where I ought to store this or that when I started unpacking my belongings and brought home that first bag of groceries. Since I've begun scrubbing out my cupboards, I've collected all my baking ingredients in one place, all my cereals in one place, all my canned vegetables in one place, all my less-used dishes in one place. Things are slowly becoming more efficiently organized.
The thing about the kitchen cleaning that's still a nagging issue for me is that I can't seem to get it all done in one sitting. I can do about 2/3 of it and then I'm just exhausted --- so the rest gets done on Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon. I keep thinking that as I get better at this it'll take less and less time and soon I'll be able to do the whole thing at once, but maybe this is as fast as it's going to get. At any rate, I think I may have to make some adjustments to my routine if the kitchen thing can't be done completely on a weekday evening.
Drat - just checked the sponge. It's not taking. The dough should be all light and bubbly. Okay, I'm going to try that dough saver I used last time. Here's a link to the dough saver recipe:
http://destination1940.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-simple-luxury-it-is-to-make-bed.html
Something else that's vexing me is how much I hate messing up my sparkly clean kitchen by cooking in it afterwards! Just when I've finished cleaning it on Saturdays, I turn around and create a great mess of dishes on Sunday evenings. My countertops are messy, my stovetop spattered, and the sink is full of pots and pans. It doesn't take me all that long to clean it up, but it's never quite as clean as it was 24 hours ago. *sigh* I suppose that's a pain felt by every homemaker since time immemorial. A wonderfully clean kitchen is great to look at, but lasts about as long as the morning dew on a summer's day. A kitchen is one of those spaces, I guess, that just needs to be worked at continually to keep it clean.
Now my dough is finally rising. Thank goodness! I've tried to scrub away all traces of that first batch by running a load of dishes and cleaning the kitchen counters, but my table is still all floury. Can't clean that up yet - I've got more kneading to do.
I was reading an issue of Family Circle during my lunch hour today and found myself snorting out loud at some of their decorating suggestions. I guess they were trying to give some recession-friendly suggestions for perking up the look of your home, but they were the kind of things that make it blatantly clear that modern women's magazines don't have any real interest in improving the efficiency of your home. They don't even recognize that the kitchen is a working environment. To them, the kitchen has become a pretty little backdrop in which you can pour a glass of juice, but had better not even attempt to do any cooking. Oh, maybe you could open one of those tubes of refrigerated cookie dough and slice them neatly out onto a cookie sheet. Heck, you could probably even open up your takeout and divvy it up onto plates. But the kitchens in these magazines are not designed for a woman (or man) preparing three meals a day for a family. Never mind baking a big, messy batch of Cinnamon Rolls!
Tip That Annoys Me #1
"Choose a pretty table lamp for the kitchen counter. It's much more flattering than overhead lighting, and it makes the room more like a living space."
Excuse me - since when was a kitchen supposed to be a living space? It's probably the most intensely busy room in a household where people are actually eating meals they've cooked themselves and dining as a family. There's a photo next to this tip of a tall, stylish table lamp with a tall shade. I'm not sure how on earth you're supposed to get any work done in a room with mood lighting!
Tip That Annoys Me #2 --- here's a non-kitchen tip
"Remove all the pictures hanging above your mantel and lean them against the wall for a more contemporary look. Add a framed sketch or photo to the mix."
Yes, and that is going to make cleaning that room sooooooo much easier. Can you imagine the dust bunnies that'll cling to the bottoms of each of these pictures? And you couldn't possibly have any children or pets in a home like this. How is a person supposed to clean the floors? Artistic? Sure. Functional? Not a smidge. I think these magazines have forgotten that we still have to live in our homes. These tips are for people whose homes are sterile places. I would never had noticed this a few months ago, though.
Update on the Cinnamon Roll Dough: The second rising is done. I'm just waiting for my dishwasher to finish the drying step so I can open it up and get my rolling pin back!
My 1945 dinner menu was surprisingly good last night. Here's the menu:
French Fried Potatoes
Beets
Tossed Greens with Tomato
Chili Dressing
Banana Nut Ice Cream
Soft Molasses Cookies
The French Fried Potatoes came out remarkably good. I couldn't believe it myself! They were cut to the size of what we'd call steak fries today. Parboiled, then fried on the stovetop in a fair bit of canola oil. I was terrified of the hot oil --- especially after my disastrous attempt to fry Corn-meal Mush in January! But I dried out the potatoes as much as possible, held my breath, kept the lid on the pan, and let the oil do its thing. Didn't try to get in there and move the potatoes around with a spatula or anything. And it worked! They were hot and crispy and all soft and potatoe-y on the inside. I'm ridiculously proud of 'em. Canned Beets were much easier to work with than the whole beets, but not nearly as tasty. For the Chili Dressing, I ended up adding a tablespoon of bottled chili sauce to the French Dressing recipe. The balsamic vinegar pretty much neutralized the chili sauce, but there was a bit of a zing there.
My first two sheets of Cinnamon Rolls are now in the oven. It's up to my Kenmore to do the work now.
I didn't think I'd have any luck finding Banana Ice Cream, but there are several varieties for sale - Chunky Monkey, Banana Split Ice Cream, Banana Pudding Ice Cream --- I ended up going with Banana Nut as it seemed more basic than the others. The Soft Molasses Cookies were okay fresh out of the oven, but they're dreadful today. I didn't read all the tips on working with rolled cookie dough until it was too late. Apparently, it's easier to work with dough like that if it's been chilled for 10 minutes or so. Better luck next time!
I'll let you know tomorrow how the Cinnamon Rolls turned out...
Friday marked the third week in a row that I've given my kitchen a thorough cleaning. It's hard work - takes me about three hours of good, honest elbow grease - but one thing I've noticed is that I'm finding new hiding places for dirt every week. I guess all those little cracks and niches stand out more now with all that cleanliness around 'em! So the kitchen is getting progressively cleaner every time. The manual recommends that housewives clean one cupboard or several drawers each time they clean the kitchen. By the time they've made their way through each of the kitchen cabinets, it's time to start at the first again. In my own home, the contents of my cupboards have kind of evolved hit or miss since the day I moved in here. I didn't really think through where I ought to store this or that when I started unpacking my belongings and brought home that first bag of groceries. Since I've begun scrubbing out my cupboards, I've collected all my baking ingredients in one place, all my cereals in one place, all my canned vegetables in one place, all my less-used dishes in one place. Things are slowly becoming more efficiently organized.
The thing about the kitchen cleaning that's still a nagging issue for me is that I can't seem to get it all done in one sitting. I can do about 2/3 of it and then I'm just exhausted --- so the rest gets done on Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon. I keep thinking that as I get better at this it'll take less and less time and soon I'll be able to do the whole thing at once, but maybe this is as fast as it's going to get. At any rate, I think I may have to make some adjustments to my routine if the kitchen thing can't be done completely on a weekday evening.
Drat - just checked the sponge. It's not taking. The dough should be all light and bubbly. Okay, I'm going to try that dough saver I used last time. Here's a link to the dough saver recipe:
http://destination1940.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-simple-luxury-it-is-to-make-bed.html
Something else that's vexing me is how much I hate messing up my sparkly clean kitchen by cooking in it afterwards! Just when I've finished cleaning it on Saturdays, I turn around and create a great mess of dishes on Sunday evenings. My countertops are messy, my stovetop spattered, and the sink is full of pots and pans. It doesn't take me all that long to clean it up, but it's never quite as clean as it was 24 hours ago. *sigh* I suppose that's a pain felt by every homemaker since time immemorial. A wonderfully clean kitchen is great to look at, but lasts about as long as the morning dew on a summer's day. A kitchen is one of those spaces, I guess, that just needs to be worked at continually to keep it clean.
Now my dough is finally rising. Thank goodness! I've tried to scrub away all traces of that first batch by running a load of dishes and cleaning the kitchen counters, but my table is still all floury. Can't clean that up yet - I've got more kneading to do.
I was reading an issue of Family Circle during my lunch hour today and found myself snorting out loud at some of their decorating suggestions. I guess they were trying to give some recession-friendly suggestions for perking up the look of your home, but they were the kind of things that make it blatantly clear that modern women's magazines don't have any real interest in improving the efficiency of your home. They don't even recognize that the kitchen is a working environment. To them, the kitchen has become a pretty little backdrop in which you can pour a glass of juice, but had better not even attempt to do any cooking. Oh, maybe you could open one of those tubes of refrigerated cookie dough and slice them neatly out onto a cookie sheet. Heck, you could probably even open up your takeout and divvy it up onto plates. But the kitchens in these magazines are not designed for a woman (or man) preparing three meals a day for a family. Never mind baking a big, messy batch of Cinnamon Rolls!
Tip That Annoys Me #1
"Choose a pretty table lamp for the kitchen counter. It's much more flattering than overhead lighting, and it makes the room more like a living space."
Excuse me - since when was a kitchen supposed to be a living space? It's probably the most intensely busy room in a household where people are actually eating meals they've cooked themselves and dining as a family. There's a photo next to this tip of a tall, stylish table lamp with a tall shade. I'm not sure how on earth you're supposed to get any work done in a room with mood lighting!
Tip That Annoys Me #2 --- here's a non-kitchen tip
"Remove all the pictures hanging above your mantel and lean them against the wall for a more contemporary look. Add a framed sketch or photo to the mix."
Yes, and that is going to make cleaning that room sooooooo much easier. Can you imagine the dust bunnies that'll cling to the bottoms of each of these pictures? And you couldn't possibly have any children or pets in a home like this. How is a person supposed to clean the floors? Artistic? Sure. Functional? Not a smidge. I think these magazines have forgotten that we still have to live in our homes. These tips are for people whose homes are sterile places. I would never had noticed this a few months ago, though.
Update on the Cinnamon Roll Dough: The second rising is done. I'm just waiting for my dishwasher to finish the drying step so I can open it up and get my rolling pin back!
My 1945 dinner menu was surprisingly good last night. Here's the menu:
French Fried Potatoes
Beets
Tossed Greens with Tomato
Chili Dressing
Banana Nut Ice Cream
Soft Molasses Cookies
The French Fried Potatoes came out remarkably good. I couldn't believe it myself! They were cut to the size of what we'd call steak fries today. Parboiled, then fried on the stovetop in a fair bit of canola oil. I was terrified of the hot oil --- especially after my disastrous attempt to fry Corn-meal Mush in January! But I dried out the potatoes as much as possible, held my breath, kept the lid on the pan, and let the oil do its thing. Didn't try to get in there and move the potatoes around with a spatula or anything. And it worked! They were hot and crispy and all soft and potatoe-y on the inside. I'm ridiculously proud of 'em. Canned Beets were much easier to work with than the whole beets, but not nearly as tasty. For the Chili Dressing, I ended up adding a tablespoon of bottled chili sauce to the French Dressing recipe. The balsamic vinegar pretty much neutralized the chili sauce, but there was a bit of a zing there.
My first two sheets of Cinnamon Rolls are now in the oven. It's up to my Kenmore to do the work now.
I didn't think I'd have any luck finding Banana Ice Cream, but there are several varieties for sale - Chunky Monkey, Banana Split Ice Cream, Banana Pudding Ice Cream --- I ended up going with Banana Nut as it seemed more basic than the others. The Soft Molasses Cookies were okay fresh out of the oven, but they're dreadful today. I didn't read all the tips on working with rolled cookie dough until it was too late. Apparently, it's easier to work with dough like that if it's been chilled for 10 minutes or so. Better luck next time!
I'll let you know tomorrow how the Cinnamon Rolls turned out...
14 comments:
On the subject of kitchens, the kitchens in most new homes for average income people drive me batty. They are designed for people who live on Hamburger Helper, sandwiches, cold cereal, and take out. *grumble grumble*
Looking forward to your post about how the cinnamon rolls turned out!
I think that's really funny, why would you put a lamp on your kitchen counter????
Don't people even know what a kitchen is anymore?!?
That is funny. Kitchens used to be kitchens and quite utilitarian. Now they are showcases to welcome family and friends. I never thought of it that way but it's true. I wonder if this came about as a result of less cooking and more convenience food? You have a good point.l
About the pictures...could they mean the pictures against the wall but on the mantel? After all who would want to look at pictures at the floor level? I'm short but realy even to me that seems crazy! The lamp thing, oh for get it! Do they have a maid...
When I bake I use the clean as you go rule. I wipe as I go along and put oly a few things in the sink to soak in hot water. I hate the pile up method. I do not fill the sink with water but maybe a bowl or pot that I can throw utencils in as I go along. Then the stuff does not dry on and you have a much easier clean up. My grand mother would put a dish towel down then a pastry board to work her dough. a small table cloth works better if you are just starting to learn to bake as it is covering more area. You work on the board and then when through fold up the cloth and shake outside. No mess! A pastry board is much like a cutting board but large enough to roll out pie crust. NEVER use as a cutting board. Never run wood boards through dish washer or soak. Clean throughly with peroxide once a week and wash and rinse quickly with biodegradeable antibacterial dishsoap.Hope this helps the baking day.
If you are using a wooden or marble rolling pin, please don't put it in the dishwasher or let it soak. For cleaning it, follow Jeanne's suggestion for cleaning cutting boards. Always rinse well and dry before putting it away.
I live where there is very little humidity. I have to rub wooden bowls, utensils, rolling pin, cutting boards, etc. with mineral oil to keep them from drying out and cracking. Use mineral oil, not salad oil. Cooking oil, butter, or shortening will attract bugs and get rancid.
I try to clean as I go, too. It was easier when the kids were home. Made them do it. :)
For cookies that are rolled or shaped - handle the dough as you would for making biscuits or pie crust - as little as possible. The more you handle the dough the tougher it becomes.
As to cleaning your whole kitchen all at once, I don't recommend doing it by yourself. Even when I used to help my mom or grandma, it would take us a couple of days. I'd usually start right after school on Friday. We'd work at it until late Friday night and all day Saturday. Two to four times a year, we would get someone to help move the stove and refrigerator out and back in, too. Meals would be planned or made ahead so that there would be a minimum amount of prep and cleanup.
Let us know how your rolls turned out!
Are you starting to gather ideas for your "dream" kitchen one day? I've lived in so many places with so many inefficient kitchens!
I'm with you on not wanting to cook and mess up the kitchen that I JUST finished cleaning LOL!
The others suggested cleaning as you go. That is definitely the best way to keep you from that overwhelmed feeling after the dust (or flour) has cleared after a cooking spree.
Hi. Me again. I wanted to let you know I have an award for you on my blog. I love your 40's experiment!
-Stephanie
lovely
Stephanie, thank you! That's actually the second time somebody's given me the Kreativ Blogger award this week! :) I'm honored... I'll have to work up a list of my favorite things.
I've just posted the results of my adventures with Yeast Cinnamon Rolls last night. Despite the trauma of the mess in my kitchen, they turned out pretty yummy.
Hairball, I curse the faucet in my kitchen sink at least twice a day. It was most definitely not designed for somebody who'd actually use the sink for anything more than washing their hands. *grumble grumble*
CIRCLED_dolly, my sentiments exactly!
Jeanne, you've made me double back and look at that tip again and - you're right - they may very well be talking about positioning your framed pieces on top of the mantel. (I had this horrid vision of my living room as a framing studio!) Well, that'd still make your mantel pretty tough to clean. And how to keep them from crashing to the floor? It's funny how my brief experiences at housework have made me look at these casual design recommendations with a completely different eye.
I'm kneading direcly on my wooden tabletop in the kitchen, which is just as well these days because I'd never be able to fit a pastry board into my apartment-sized sink to wash it. My mom's house, which was built in the '50s, has a little pastry board built into the kitchen drawers. You just pull it out and do your thing! Unfortunately, it's more cute than it is practical. It's not big enough for more than a very small batch of dough.
Rats about not putting wooden things in the dishwasher! My small cutting board and rolling pin are my only wooden pieces. Is that a bacterial thing?
Packrat, your childhood kitchen routine makes my complaints about three hours seem silly!!! Wow!
Roxanne, with this experience under my belt, I'm sure I'll look at kitchens a whole lot differently the next time I'm hunting up a new apartment. :)
I tried and tried to post this last night, buy my dial up internet at home wouldn't load your comments page!
I've actually thought about a little lamp for my kitchen. I'd like to have it for just a little pool of light to have on in the evenings, enough light to be able to get a glass out of the cupboard without turning on the jarring overhead light, or to use when you're not working in the kitchen, just passing through. I much prefer soft lighting when I not working on a specific task, cooking, chopping veg, etc need good lighting. Although I have been known to wash the dishes with just the oil lamp glowing next to the sink!
NOTE ABOUT THE BACTERIAL THING ON WOODEN UTENCILS / CUTTING BOARDS the only reason they do not go into the dish washer is they split quickly and warp and then fall apart. Cleaning them with out soaling them is important, also modern dish machine soap pits cheap silver ware and ruins real silver. it is harsh stuff. Any antique utencils it peels the paint right off...careful.
please excuse the bad spelling it should read soaking
Mrs. G, I can see how a table lamp would be nice for somebody making a quick trip through the kitchen --- fetching something in there after dark or something. Especially in the middle of the night. :)
I have two overhead lamps in my kitchen. One is flourescent and one is incandescent (comes with a ceiling fan). I used to wish like crazy that I could arrange things so that only the incandescent would come on when I flipped the switch. Until I started working in there, that is! Lately, I'm pretty appreciative of that flourescent light --- especially when it comes to tracking where the dirt is hiding!
Jeanne, thanks for the words of explanation. I think my cutting board must be made of particle board or something as it seems to take to the dishwasher pretty well! I'll definitely keep your warning in mind if I end up getting an antique utensils at some point.
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