The best bread recipe EVER!

Ask any German living in New Zealand what they miss and most will probably say decent bread. Don't get me wrong, New Zealand has come a long way since the only options where either white or wholegrain toast/sandwich slices wrapped in plastic bags to keep it extra soft and squishy. Now there are lots of European-style breads on the market but they do come at a rather steep cost. Paying $7 for a loaf of nice bread is a bit of a luxury even for someone like me who starts every single day with bread and cold meat (while my boys are true kiwis eating weet-bix or porridge).

I have been baking bread for some time now and have always continued to experiment - sourdough takes forever to make and bread from a bread-maker might be quick and easy but doesn't have a nice firm texture & crust. Finally it seems I have discovered THE perfect bread: the best thing - no kneading. It's the simplest thing and comes out with a delicious golden crust - heavenly!

I'll show you how to make one...

You will need four ingedients:

3 cups of all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon of instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons of salt

1 3/4 cups of water
Step 1: Combine flour, yeast and salt. Add the water and mix everything with a wooden spoon. The dough will be really sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it for 12 to 18 hours at warm room temperature. I send to do this in the afternoon and bake the bread mid morning so we have nice fresh bread for lunch.

Step 2: This is what the dough will look like the next day, the surface should be dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for about 15 minutes.

Step 3: Flour a cotton towel and shape the dough into a ball - seam side down. Cover with another cotton towel and let it rise for a further 2 hours. The dough should be double in size.

Step 4: At least 30 minutes before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 230 degrees. Put a cast iron (Pyrex or ceramic) pot in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven. Turn the dough into the pot, seam side up. Bake 30 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and bake for a further 20 minutes, until the loaf is nice and golden.

Cool it on a rack for a while before cutting into it. Enjoy!

This recipe is from here and there's even a video to help you step by step here

Tschüss...

I'm back!

helllooooo! I am back and I have certainly missed this space and my blog break turned into a rather long absence. Will you believe me when I say I have been busy?

My last post was in May, and we were just heading into winter. I can't blame you for wondering if I had gone into hibernation :-) Turns out I have done quite the opposite, I started working part time, enrolled in postgraduate studies at University AND created another little human being which if all goes well will be joining our family in early January.

The New Zealand winter has been mild but felt long nonetheless. I am excited about spring and noticed that I have been taking a lot more photos now that the days are getting longer and the light is all that much brighter. 

With life so busy I felt that one thing had to give and it was this space - now that I have settled into a routine and things are ticking along nicely I feel ready once again to devote time to my own blog and of course to my dear reader's blogs as well - something I have been missing very much. 

I have so much to show you and I hope you will once again join me on my journey.

Tschüss...

German "Gemütlichkeit"

Hello friends, thank you for stopping by today. While the northern hemisphere is enjoying the start of spring, down here autumn has definitely arrived. The days are getting shorter and cooler but the air is crisp and clear. I love the mood of autumn - the leaves are turning golden and we can witness the most amazing sunsets and sunrises above the sea. More time is spent indoors than out and while we love wrapping up and bracing the cool winds we love coming home to a hot drink and that lovely feeling of german "Gemütlichkeit".

My long awaited Moroccan plate arrives all the way from Germany. I simply couldn't find one here at a reasonable price and so turned to the wonderful Dagi who sent one all the way around the world for me. I love it and it will no doubt get used in many ways as I decorate my home.

Last week I was invited to my friend Fran's new house. I was very impressed with her little slice of paradise. She spoilt us with the most delicious afternoon tea and after a little search I found the recipe online. I was cutting a few corners and used my bread maker to knead and rise the dough but you can find the full recipe here.

One of my big projects last months was making four little flower girl dresses. I loved the job and was pleased with the way they turned out. Sewing was once a huge part of my life but with two little ones it is tricky - now that they are getting older and one is at kindergarten I am hoping to steal a few hours here and there to get back into it. Who knows where it may lead...

Finally I went on a major hunt for some bedding for the boys. I spent what felt like a whole month searching for something that did not have Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder or any other cartoon figure on it. Bad enough they watch these things on tv they don't have to dream of it at night :-) I wanted something plain and simple that would work with a red roman blind I made for their room. 

I finally found a blue and white striped cover and it works perfectly with their small letter cushions I made for their old room in Germany (here).

The room is tiny but sleeping is all they do in it and they have a large playroom for all their toys.

With one million interruptions by my little one this post has only taken me 3 hours to complete :-) 

See you again soon, I promise.

Tschüss...

Weekend Getaway

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend.
Today I want to share some photos of a trip we went on a couple of weeks ago. We visited friends In Dunedin, which is about five hours south of Christchurch. It was lovely to get away from the city and once more appreciate this magical country we call home.

Oamaru was our first stop for the night. The small town along the coast has a beautiful historic part with Victorian buildings constructed of the famous Oamaru stone.

Our next stop was Moeraki - the home of the famous Fleur's Place and of course the boulders - clusters of perfectly round stones that have formed over millions of years and now sit in the sand like sleeping giants.

Easter Sunday...

Just a quick hello to wish you all a Happy Easter. I have spent most of today preparing for tomorrow, I'll be hosting family for a traditional german style Easter lunch. I'll leave you with a few photos I took today...

 

Tschüss...

Easter Decorations & Lounge Update

I hope you are all having a nice week? I just wanted to let you know how happy I am to have you stop by and how grateful I am for every single comment. 

I managed to find my Easter decorations (or should I say my husband did, after he spent an hour in the garage looking through unopened boxes) I was keen to bring a little Easter feeling into the home. In the northern hemisphere Easter is associated with springtime yet here we are heading into autumn - it does feel a little strange. I don't know too many people that decorate their homes for Easter in New Zealand but I am determined to keep a little Germany tradition going in my home - mostly for the boys. 

We used to go for a long walk on Easter Sunday with the whole family and my grandfather would drop little chocolate eggs along the way without us noticing. I still remember the excitement as a little girl discovering the treats amongst freshly sprung flowers. Do you have any easter traditions that you are keen to pass on?

This cute little pair of ceramic bunnies was a gift from my mother. She has always been a keen decorator and she celebrated the change of season by updating our home.

I received some new cushions from H&M last week - my mother sent them to me along with some 

Haribo - Mmmmhhhh :-) The pot plant was a recent project I did. I noticed them in many scandinavian interiors and never found one ready made - so I used a circular wire and twisted ivy around it. Easy!

Tschüss...

Container Art in Christchurch

Thank you for stopping by today. It is a beautiful late summer day and I am lapping up every bit of sun knowing we are heading into autumn. 

Christchurch as you may know has been devastated by many earthquakes over the last 18 months and although life has returned to normality for most people there are constant reminders of mother natures forces - one being shipping containers. This might seems strange to people but shipping containers have been used around the city for many purposes. 

The city mall which was almost entirely destroyed has been turned into the first container mall in the world.

You can read more about it here.

  

Containers are also used to temporarily hold up historic buildings and protect roads agains rock fall. 

Obviously containers aren't a pretty sight so a clever initiative was started by local artists to turn them into giant art canvases. Below are just a few of the banners that are gracing containers around the city. I absolutely love them and hope to see many more being put up over the next coming months.

I really love how Christchurch people are quick to turn tragedy into an opportunity to start something new and different . Art in any shape or form brightens our lives - and even more so in this case. 

The first two and the last image are curtesy of Becker Fraser photos - for more of their official Christchurch EQ images you can visit their gallery here.

I hope you all have a very relaxing weekend. I will be going on a big hunt for my easter decorations box which somehow seems to have gone missing after our big move. 

Tschüss...