gmagmabaking2's blog

Are now two. The world has lost a great amateur baker, and an even greater big sister. Our sister Barbra died today... we will continue to bake with her forever. I am thinking I have to master her Tartine loaf... I am really going to try. I know many of you know my sister through this site... She was such a fan, and she contributed so much! The work of her hands and her heart were a blessing to many. She will be missed.

Diane and Helen, proud to be her sisters!

Hi all, yesterday we make our fruitcakes, so we would have plenty of time to snocker them up for the Christmas Dinner. We used a great recipe that we tested when Helen and I surprised Barbra on her birthday almost a whole year ago... we made our yearly fruitcakes there with her in October.  This year we started a bit earlier and baked together via cyber/text.  Admittedly, in person was more fun!!!  But these all came out great by anyone's standards I am sure.

Hi, we have been baking, but not posting lately due to the fact that I had surgery on my right ankle, completing the ankle reconstruction project and any forseeable body restoration!!! So this past week we just made "bread" ... Barb made her Tartine bread, Helen Sourdough and I made a Buttermilk bread from a new cookbook we are cruising through "Baking with Julia"... Tomorrow we are baking our Christmas Cakes to set aside to mellow for the holidays... time to get that going...

but you remember how it was... the leftovers will go on forever! Not really, this really made me wonder why there were leftovers back "in the day"... these meals were really well received and not much ended up repurposed. To end the month we made "roast beef with potatoes and vegetables, plus desserts... The lead in rolls are Barb's. She made a nice yeasted dinner roll, and was pleasantly surprised at the light texture and the fluffiness, after becoming such a tartine, sourdough bread guru... nice change for this dinner... Here is her crumb.

This month we are calling Retro Supper Month... mid week we are getting together to make a "50-60s" Supper and then having the good old fashioned leftovers... or re-purposed meals to fill out the week... All the meals have a dessert but some might or might not have breads, depending on how the week is going, whether Lucy has visited our kitchens and whether our memories have put the ingredients on the shopping lists...to recap a bit... the first week of February we made...

This week among other things baked... together we baked Polenta pepita breads...Helen did not put rosemary in ours... Barb used a recipe that had it and used it.

Helen and I made recipe pretty straight to the script... Barb, creative thinker that she is... added brown sugar candied bacon crumbles, along with the pumpkin seeds and rosemary... she said the rosemary was a little overpowering the first day... but this morning, that rosemary had mellowed and the bacon had taken the stage.

Sounds like a very good for Barb. As you can see it is a great looking bread.

We talked, we texted, we discussed ideas and recipes... but this week we all baked somewhat differently. Barb made the amazing Tartine bread on the lead in... many times... many loaves... maybe obsessively!! Maybe not, she had a wealth of talent and people standing in line to eat her breads... or sitting and reclining... however it gets them bread they are doing it!!! 

 Absolutely beautiful and holes that have never been seen in

Helen chose this bake. The lead in picture is her crumb. Watching Martha Stewart bakes on YouTube.com was what really convinced us to do the bake... She made this bread look so good and so easy... Good and Easy are two of our favorite ingredients!!!

Here is the dough.  Helen's comment was that this was a nice little "cheesy" dough ball... looks great! The dough was moist and somewhat sticky. Nice and soft.

The lead in photo is Barb's first ever homemade tamales... She and Helen both made tamales for the first time... and they both made pork... She did a marvelous job meandering outside of her comfort zone.

Helen made her's with her daughters and granddaughter, thus starting a new family tradition... They made about 90 or so of these ...

 Nice looking tamales here too... fun times!!

                                                       Gingerbread

                                         Gingerbread and Sprinkles

                                             with icing so sweet.