Ok, well not quite "everything" but i have been trying to make more and more of our every day things myself including..
bread & treats- i havnt brought any bread, cakes or biscuits for over 2 months now! its saved a fortune
clothes- still early days with this. i have made a princess dress for my daughter, a dress and a skirt for myself and fabric painted my old top.
herbal remedys and cosmetics - cough syrup, cold remedy and hopefully soon a cream for dry skin amongst other ideas.
wine & beer - home brewing some apple wine, mead and ginger beer
all these things i am trying to do by spending as little money as possible. i would love to share this knowledge with people and i thought that those on here might like it.
Flowersofthelady- trying to make everything myself blog
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flowersofthelady
- Posts: 74
- Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 8:02 am
- Gender: Female
- Location: UK
-
flowersofthelady
- Posts: 74
- Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 8:02 am
- Gender: Female
- Location: UK
Re: Flowersofthelady- trying to make everything myself blog
Bread and treats -
i admit i do "cheat" i have a bread maker but with 3 kids in this modern world i just dont have the time to do it all by hand so quite often i stick the ingrediends in the bread maker on the dough cycle and when its done shape it and bake it in my own oven. some of this has been cut and pasted.
here are my favourite bread recipies that never fail me. to save time i have found a small bowl that i know if i fill with flour takes 200g so i dont have to get the scales out. i also have a set of measuring spoons and i use an old baby bottle for the fluids as they are often smaller amounts than the measuring jug has marked on it.
Basic fluffy loaf - this is good with either white, wholemeal or a bit of both whatever you fancy. i also do this on a dough cycle and shape into baguetts, pizza bases or whatever i fancy.
285ml (10 fl oz) warm water
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
400g (14 oz) bread flour
1 (7g) sachet dried active baking yeast
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select White Bread setting; press Start. or mix by hand and make as you usually would.
amazing Soft white rolls
225 ml Milk
2 Medium Eggs Beaten
5 tbsp Butter Melted, plus extra for glazing
2 tbsp Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
450 g Bread Flour
2 ½ tsp yeast or one sachet
1. Put the dough ingredients into the bread maker baking pan in the order specified for your particular model (see manufacturer’s handbook).
2. Set to the Dough Program.
3. Remove the dough from the machine and roll into a rectangle approximately 30x20 cm.
4. Next cut the dough lengthways to give four strips 5 cm wide.
5. Finally divide each strip into 3 to make little rectangles of dough 10x5 cm.
6. Cut the remaining three strips in the same way to give 12 equally sized rectangles.
7. Brush each rectangle of dough with melted butter and fold in half.
8. Place the rolls onto greased baking sheets so that each overlaps slightly with the one next to it.
9. Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove until double in size. Preheat the oven preheated to 200°C/fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6
10. Glaze the rolls with more melted butter and bake in for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath.
11. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - my family love these and chant cookies cookies when they want them lol. i often substitute the brown sugar with musgavado sugar and it gives a unique flavour i love.
250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
170g unsalted butter, melted
200g dark brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
325g chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas mark 3. Grease baking trays or line with parchment.
2. Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough (for smaller cookies, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful and adjust baking time as necessary). Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
i admit i do "cheat" i have a bread maker but with 3 kids in this modern world i just dont have the time to do it all by hand so quite often i stick the ingrediends in the bread maker on the dough cycle and when its done shape it and bake it in my own oven. some of this has been cut and pasted.
here are my favourite bread recipies that never fail me. to save time i have found a small bowl that i know if i fill with flour takes 200g so i dont have to get the scales out. i also have a set of measuring spoons and i use an old baby bottle for the fluids as they are often smaller amounts than the measuring jug has marked on it.
Basic fluffy loaf - this is good with either white, wholemeal or a bit of both whatever you fancy. i also do this on a dough cycle and shape into baguetts, pizza bases or whatever i fancy.
285ml (10 fl oz) warm water
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
400g (14 oz) bread flour
1 (7g) sachet dried active baking yeast
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select White Bread setting; press Start. or mix by hand and make as you usually would.
amazing Soft white rolls
225 ml Milk
2 Medium Eggs Beaten
5 tbsp Butter Melted, plus extra for glazing
2 tbsp Silver Spoon Granulated Sugar
1 ½ tsp Salt
450 g Bread Flour
2 ½ tsp yeast or one sachet
1. Put the dough ingredients into the bread maker baking pan in the order specified for your particular model (see manufacturer’s handbook).
2. Set to the Dough Program.
3. Remove the dough from the machine and roll into a rectangle approximately 30x20 cm.
4. Next cut the dough lengthways to give four strips 5 cm wide.
5. Finally divide each strip into 3 to make little rectangles of dough 10x5 cm.
6. Cut the remaining three strips in the same way to give 12 equally sized rectangles.
7. Brush each rectangle of dough with melted butter and fold in half.
8. Place the rolls onto greased baking sheets so that each overlaps slightly with the one next to it.
9. Cover with a tea towel and leave to prove until double in size. Preheat the oven preheated to 200°C/fan 180°C/Gas Mark 6
10. Glaze the rolls with more melted butter and bake in for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath.
11. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - my family love these and chant cookies cookies when they want them lol. i often substitute the brown sugar with musgavado sugar and it gives a unique flavour i love.
250g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
170g unsalted butter, melted
200g dark brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
325g chocolate chips
1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas mark 3. Grease baking trays or line with parchment.
2. Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared baking trays, with each cookie around 4 tablespoons of dough (for smaller cookies, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful and adjust baking time as necessary). Do not flatten the dough. Cookies should be about 8cm apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
-
flowersofthelady
- Posts: 74
- Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 8:02 am
- Gender: Female
- Location: UK
Re: Flowersofthelady- trying to make everything myself blog
Wine & beer
these are recipies i have recently started off as im too excited to wait until the trees are full of fruit and nature in in full swing. i do intend to make nettle, elderflower and elderberry wine when they are available.
All you're going to need is:
*
Two demijohns: Don't bother buying these new from the homebrew shop. Recycling centres normally have plenty of them at a tenth of the price. Before you buy them though, check that they are fairly clean, without any sediment in the bottom and don't have any cracks, however small. You can get these in coloured glass, which protects the colour of the wine if it will be left to mature for a long time, or clear glass. Clear ones are better for us, as we won't be storing the wine for long!
*
An airlock and cork: These are usually made of plastic, are the shape of a sideways 'S' and are used to fit the demijohns. Anyone who has ever seen homebrewing equipment will know these airlocks well, and they are readily available at homebrew shops. When the wine is fermenting, you'll fit one of these on the top, half-filled with water, which lets gas escape but keeps bacteria out.
*
Plastic tubing and a 'sediment trap': The sediment trap is very important. It is shaped to keep the mucky stuff that will accumulate in the bottom of the demijohn out of the tube; we'll see why this is important later on. The tubing should be two metres in length.
*
Six empty wine bottles: The ones with screw caps.
*
A packet of brewers' yeast: You can get this from a homebrew shop or online; any winemaking type will do for us.
*
Four litres of fruit juice: This can be made from concentrate or it can be freshly-squeezed.
First sterilise all the equipment, i use a infant bottle steralising soloution that you add to water and it works in 15 mins!
Pour in two litres of your fruit juice, which should be at room temperature, add the yeast packet and plug the top with the airlock - remembering to half-fill it with water first. Go and have a nice cup of tea, then give it a swirl and leave it to start to ferment.
Within a few hours, you'll start to see bubbles rising through the juice. The yeast is feeding off the sugar in the juice, giving out two waste products: carbon dioxide, which is bubbling out; and alcohol, which is what we want. Within a day or two, you'll see thick bubbles forming on the surface of the juice, rising up the inside of the demijohn. This is why we have only half-filled the container; if we had filled it, the liquid would escape through the airlock and all over the floor. You'll also see a layer of sediment starting to form on the bottom of the demijohn, and hear bubbles of gas escaping through the airlock.
After a few days, the thick bubbles will subside, so you can add another litre of juice to the mix. You'll get thick bubbles forming again, but in lesser quantities; when these subside, add the final carton. When this lot of bubbles have subsided add a litre of water to top the demijohn up, then leave it somewhere it won't be disturbed on a work surface, table or shelf a few feet off the ground.
After a few weeks, the bubbling will slow and stop, and your wine will be fully fermented. Most of the sediment will have fallen to the bottom, but your wine will still be a little cloudy, so to help it clear more quickly we're going to transfer it to the other demijohn. Having sanitised this one in the same way, put it on the floor below your fermented wine. Take the tube and sediment trap, place the trap into the wine about halfway down the demijohn, and suck on the other end of the tube; just before the wine gets to your mouth, put your thumb over the end, move it into the neck of the second demijohn and remove your thumb. The magic of gravity will siphon the wine; now simply move the sediment trap deeper into the wine until you've sucked out the layer just above the spent yeast. If you've done this first time without making a mess - congratulations!
You can now fix the airlock on the second demijohn and, again, leave it off the ground somewhere it won't be disturbed.
After another week or two the wine will be crystal clear, the sediment having settled on the bottom, so it's time to bottle it. You do this by siphoning it in exactly the same way that you did before, but filling your wine bottles instead of the demijohn. Screw the caps on and - tada! - you've made wine!
It's best to leave it in the bottle for a week or so before drinking it to let the last particles of sediment settle. If you have a significant amount it might be worth decanting the wine into a glass jug before serving so that it doesn't end up in the wine glass. Juice wine won't last an awfully long time and is usually best drunk within six months.
to begin with im using apple juice and i also have an apple, grapefruit and honey one where i added 1 jar of honey to the juice. you can use ANY cartoned fruit juice just make sure it isnt a juice "drink" as they have added sweeteners and stuff.
ginger beer!!!!!
There are two ways of making ginger beer. The first consists of shredding ginger root and boiling it up with water and sugar. The second involves making a ginger 'plant' which can be re-used time and time again. This makes a batch once a week. The brewing process that will be discussed in this entry is the latter.
Equipment and Ingredients
Equipment
* A jar and lid which is big enough to contain the plant.
* One pint-sized measuring jug
* Several clean and dry two-litre plastic bottles.
* Teaspoons
* A large pan
* A fine cloth for straining the plant
Ingredients
* Dried ginger
* Dried yeast
* Sugar
* Juice of four lemons
* Water
Making the Plant
The plant is a mixture of dried ginger, yeast, sugar and water. This creates a yeast culture.
1.
In the jar, place one teaspoon of dried yeast, two teaspoons of dried ginger, four teaspoons of sugar and a pint (600ml) of cold water.
2.
Stir and keep at room temperature.
3.
Feed the plant every day with two teaspoons of dried ginger and four teaspoons of sugar. Stir after feeding.
4.
The plant will be ready after one week.
Making the Ginger Beer
1.
Place 1kg (2lb) of sugar and two pints of boiling water in the large pan. The sugar will dissolve.
2.
Add the juice of the four lemons to the pan.
3.
Strain the contents of the jar - the plant - through the cloth into the pan. See below for what is to be done with the solid portion of the plant.
4.
Add 14 pints of room temperature water.
5.
Stir and bottle. Fill the bottles about seven-eighths full as you need to allow for expansion. Squeeze the air out of the bottles to stop them exploding under pressure from their contents.
6.
Store the bottles in a safe place at room temperature, and leave for three to four weeks to 'brew'.
7.
Discard half of the solid from the plant or give it to someone so they may start their own. Place the remaining half in a clean jar with a pint of water and continue to feed as above.
im just starting mine off and will post how it goes!!
these are recipies i have recently started off as im too excited to wait until the trees are full of fruit and nature in in full swing. i do intend to make nettle, elderflower and elderberry wine when they are available.
All you're going to need is:
*
Two demijohns: Don't bother buying these new from the homebrew shop. Recycling centres normally have plenty of them at a tenth of the price. Before you buy them though, check that they are fairly clean, without any sediment in the bottom and don't have any cracks, however small. You can get these in coloured glass, which protects the colour of the wine if it will be left to mature for a long time, or clear glass. Clear ones are better for us, as we won't be storing the wine for long!
*
An airlock and cork: These are usually made of plastic, are the shape of a sideways 'S' and are used to fit the demijohns. Anyone who has ever seen homebrewing equipment will know these airlocks well, and they are readily available at homebrew shops. When the wine is fermenting, you'll fit one of these on the top, half-filled with water, which lets gas escape but keeps bacteria out.
*
Plastic tubing and a 'sediment trap': The sediment trap is very important. It is shaped to keep the mucky stuff that will accumulate in the bottom of the demijohn out of the tube; we'll see why this is important later on. The tubing should be two metres in length.
*
Six empty wine bottles: The ones with screw caps.
*
A packet of brewers' yeast: You can get this from a homebrew shop or online; any winemaking type will do for us.
*
Four litres of fruit juice: This can be made from concentrate or it can be freshly-squeezed.
First sterilise all the equipment, i use a infant bottle steralising soloution that you add to water and it works in 15 mins!
Pour in two litres of your fruit juice, which should be at room temperature, add the yeast packet and plug the top with the airlock - remembering to half-fill it with water first. Go and have a nice cup of tea, then give it a swirl and leave it to start to ferment.
Within a few hours, you'll start to see bubbles rising through the juice. The yeast is feeding off the sugar in the juice, giving out two waste products: carbon dioxide, which is bubbling out; and alcohol, which is what we want. Within a day or two, you'll see thick bubbles forming on the surface of the juice, rising up the inside of the demijohn. This is why we have only half-filled the container; if we had filled it, the liquid would escape through the airlock and all over the floor. You'll also see a layer of sediment starting to form on the bottom of the demijohn, and hear bubbles of gas escaping through the airlock.
After a few days, the thick bubbles will subside, so you can add another litre of juice to the mix. You'll get thick bubbles forming again, but in lesser quantities; when these subside, add the final carton. When this lot of bubbles have subsided add a litre of water to top the demijohn up, then leave it somewhere it won't be disturbed on a work surface, table or shelf a few feet off the ground.
After a few weeks, the bubbling will slow and stop, and your wine will be fully fermented. Most of the sediment will have fallen to the bottom, but your wine will still be a little cloudy, so to help it clear more quickly we're going to transfer it to the other demijohn. Having sanitised this one in the same way, put it on the floor below your fermented wine. Take the tube and sediment trap, place the trap into the wine about halfway down the demijohn, and suck on the other end of the tube; just before the wine gets to your mouth, put your thumb over the end, move it into the neck of the second demijohn and remove your thumb. The magic of gravity will siphon the wine; now simply move the sediment trap deeper into the wine until you've sucked out the layer just above the spent yeast. If you've done this first time without making a mess - congratulations!
You can now fix the airlock on the second demijohn and, again, leave it off the ground somewhere it won't be disturbed.
After another week or two the wine will be crystal clear, the sediment having settled on the bottom, so it's time to bottle it. You do this by siphoning it in exactly the same way that you did before, but filling your wine bottles instead of the demijohn. Screw the caps on and - tada! - you've made wine!
It's best to leave it in the bottle for a week or so before drinking it to let the last particles of sediment settle. If you have a significant amount it might be worth decanting the wine into a glass jug before serving so that it doesn't end up in the wine glass. Juice wine won't last an awfully long time and is usually best drunk within six months.
to begin with im using apple juice and i also have an apple, grapefruit and honey one where i added 1 jar of honey to the juice. you can use ANY cartoned fruit juice just make sure it isnt a juice "drink" as they have added sweeteners and stuff.
ginger beer!!!!!
There are two ways of making ginger beer. The first consists of shredding ginger root and boiling it up with water and sugar. The second involves making a ginger 'plant' which can be re-used time and time again. This makes a batch once a week. The brewing process that will be discussed in this entry is the latter.
Equipment and Ingredients
Equipment
* A jar and lid which is big enough to contain the plant.
* One pint-sized measuring jug
* Several clean and dry two-litre plastic bottles.
* Teaspoons
* A large pan
* A fine cloth for straining the plant
Ingredients
* Dried ginger
* Dried yeast
* Sugar
* Juice of four lemons
* Water
Making the Plant
The plant is a mixture of dried ginger, yeast, sugar and water. This creates a yeast culture.
1.
In the jar, place one teaspoon of dried yeast, two teaspoons of dried ginger, four teaspoons of sugar and a pint (600ml) of cold water.
2.
Stir and keep at room temperature.
3.
Feed the plant every day with two teaspoons of dried ginger and four teaspoons of sugar. Stir after feeding.
4.
The plant will be ready after one week.
Making the Ginger Beer
1.
Place 1kg (2lb) of sugar and two pints of boiling water in the large pan. The sugar will dissolve.
2.
Add the juice of the four lemons to the pan.
3.
Strain the contents of the jar - the plant - through the cloth into the pan. See below for what is to be done with the solid portion of the plant.
4.
Add 14 pints of room temperature water.
5.
Stir and bottle. Fill the bottles about seven-eighths full as you need to allow for expansion. Squeeze the air out of the bottles to stop them exploding under pressure from their contents.
6.
Store the bottles in a safe place at room temperature, and leave for three to four weeks to 'brew'.
7.
Discard half of the solid from the plant or give it to someone so they may start their own. Place the remaining half in a clean jar with a pint of water and continue to feed as above.
im just starting mine off and will post how it goes!!