A day of domestic duties

It has been a busy, busy week -- sorry for the silence on the blog!

Saturday was a day of domestic duties. Younger Daughter was off with friends and Older Daughter had an outdoor project she was working on, so the domestic duties fell my way.

I did a lot of cooking/baking. Here are the makings for two apple pies. In the back is a bowl of dough rising for a double batch of English muffins (just before putting it in the oven to let rise).

After this, I made three quiches.

Then I finished the English muffins. Here the dough has gone through the first rising. I rolled and cut the dough while Older Daughter brushed the muffins with water and dipped them in cornmeal before letting them go through the second rising.

(Mostly) unbaked loot for the day: English muffins, apple pies, quiche.

Baked loot.

Naturally all this industriousness left the kitchen a disaster. Don wondered if there were any dishes I hadn't dirtied. Before...

...and after. (Much better!)

Besides kitchen stuff, I also washed and hung four loads of laundry, using both the folding rack...

...as well as the hanging rack Don made me last year after our clothes line broke. We haven't gotten around to fixing the outdoor clothes line yet, but that's okay -- the indoor ones work great.

That was my Saturday.

Making English muffins

Our older daughter is particularly fond of English muffins, largely because she enjoys making mini-pizzas with them. Yesterday she asked if I could make a batch.

I use the recipe found in this cookbook under the "bread" section (and no, I won't type it in - it would take too long).



After the first rising, it's time to shape the muffins. This is our production line. In the back, Younger Daughter is cutting the dough into circles using an old tuna can. In the middle are the fresh-cut muffins. In the front are the muffins that have been brushed with water and dipped in cornmeal. I doubled the batch, which gave us almost four dozen.


Now the muffins must rise a second time. I tucked them near the woodstove (where it's warm), behind a fire screen to keep the dogs away.


English muffins aren't baked, they're pan-cooked. Here I have one dozen just starting to cook on the griddle. Keep the heat low and flip them every five minutes. It takes about twenty-five to thirty minutes to cook a batch.


Almost ready. You'll notice there are a lot fewer muffins. That's because the kids can't resist snitching hot muffins off the griddle and eating them right away.


The finished batch. They freeze very well.