Fresh bread and a pincushion

Today was a simply fabulous day. I finally finished binding a baby quilt for a dear friend’s newborn boy, the next quilt is already up on the design wall and ready to go, Little One is feeling better at last, I baked bread, and got a lovely surprise in the mail. Oh, and there are flowers, not so much outside, but there are plenty on our dining room table:

thomas-knauer-sews-bread-and-pincushion

You may well wonder why bread makes for such an excellent day; it’s a good question. Well, because of my HKPP (Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis, a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy) I am on a virtual no-sodium, no-sugars diet, so coming up with a really good sodium-free, sugar-free bread recipe is cause for celebration. For example, two slices of your average bakery bread would more than blow my day’s allowance for sodium and put me in serious danger, let alone the sugar that normally gets put in bread. Oy. But this stuff is like manna. Slightly sweet, and delicate in a way that most sodium-free bread isn’t. Oh, nom nom nom…

So, here I am talking about bread. An online friend asked me to share the recipe, and I figured I might as well do it here, so here you go:

First off, this recipe is for a breadmaker; no way I am doing all that kneeding myself.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups room temperature water (I always use filtered)
3 Tbsp. butter
6 packets of Splenda (I use stevia in heartier breads, but the bitterness of stevia comes through in this recipe)
2 Tbsp. dry milk solids (I use Organic Valley)
1.5 tsp. Vanilla (I love Frontier alcohol-free vanilla: yummiest stuff ever!)
4 cups bread flour
2.25 tsp. Active Dry Yeast (Use yeast for Bread Machines)

Throw it all into the bread machine, set it going, and a few hours later you have the most delicious white bread ever! It is almost like cake, and it is making me a very, very happy boy.

Oh, and did you notice that lovely pincushion in the photo?
thomas-knauer-sews-pincushion

It just came to me today as part of the Pincushion Swap put together by my lovely friend Cara at CaraQuilts. This one was made by Heather over at Why? Because I Can. After making two for me she noticed my recent addiction to quilting and made a third for me, this one featuring a Grandmother’s Garden top, and a Log Cabin bottom. Also notice the enormously charming crocheted strawberry.

I love, love, love it! It has already found a home right next to my sewing machine (after it finished posing for photos). Thanks so much Heather!!!

And, of course, mine is still in the making. I at least know what I am making now, but that is a project for next Monday…

Anyway, I think it is time for a bit of bread and a cup of tea. But before I go I gotta remind you all of the giveaway going on this week here at Thomas Knauer Sews: thanks to the fabulous Fat Quarter Shop I am giving away six yards of Hullabaloo by Urban Chiks. Just head over to the giveaway post and enter to win…

Hugs,
Thomas

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