Homemade Pasta!!!

• Last night, we made fresh ravioli. We used all purpose flour and 6 eggs. At the end (and even before I ate it) I threw myself onto the bed and became as stiff as a log. That's how tiring it is. The ingredients are extremely simple so, if you want to follow, you probably won't have to do that much shopping. The only things that you need are as follows:

• 3-6 eggs (depending on how much pasta you want also you can double the amount you have to get more if you are serving a lot of people)
• 2 1/2 -5 cups of all purpose flour (also depending on if you use 3 or 6 eggs)
• some filling for the ravioli (we used a ricotta/parmesan/pesto mix that we made but you can use whatever you want)
• spinach (this is not necessary but you can use it if you want green ravioli)
• water for boiling
• a smooth large counter (we used our island table that has a wooden surface)

Now, I hope if you are following on, you have the ingredients! Then, we poured out the flour onto the table. We scooped a hole into the flour and made the hole into a "well" or a "volcano" opening. Once we had our well large enough, we cracked the eggs. We stirred the eggs in so that the whites and yolks were mixed together. After that, we mixed the flour in with the eggs slowly in the well so that everything catches onto the eggs. Then we kneaded! This is extremely tiring and probably one of the reasons that I am sore today!!! I kneaded for about 10 minutes and then my dad kneaded for about 2 minutes. Nope, he didn't need to go any longer than that because if he did there wouldn't be anything left of the dough... that's how strong he is!!! Now here's the super-triple-ultra-mega tiring part: rolling the dough out so that it is paper thin... and believe me, I fell asleep in 2 seconds after doing that! Okay once you have rolled it out, you need to start making the dough into shapes. To make ravioli, you need to cut a long strip and cut it into pieces so that you have a rectangle. You should get out a fork, your filing, and a small dish of water (the dish of water is to dip your fingers in when you are closing the ravioli). Put the filling in and close the dough. And, for extra secureness and look, use the fork to make little dents in the edges of it. Make as many as you want. Well, there you go and trust me, I made it sound easy!!!

The Father Daughter Bakery

P.S) IF YOU ARE HUNGRY DO NOT DO THIS!!!!!! We learned our lesson!!!!!!!!!!!

MRS. O'CALLAGHAN'S SODA BREAD

Tonight, we made an Irish soda bread. This bread is simple but dense. It definitely requires some strength. It is one of the faster breads to make because of the simple ingredients and the amount of time to bake it. When we baked this, we had to knead the dough for 10 turns or so to mix the ingredients. If you want to follow along with us, here's the recipe:

• A baking pan
• non stick spray
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup chilled margarine or butter
• and 2 cups of buttermilk

Stir until the dough has come together then knead for about 10 turns or so. Do not forget to preheat oven oven to 425 degrees F. Then lay out the dough into the baking pan with the nonstick spray. Put the dough into the oven for about 40 to 50 minutes.

xoxoxo,
The Father Daughter Bakery

WE LOVE BREAD!!!!!

The Father Daughter Bakery is a project that was started by my dad and I, a couple months ago. We started by going through some of the recipes for bread baking in a cook book called Crust and Crumb. My favorite recipe so far from the book is the ciabatta bread. If you get it right, it might become your favorite bread in the whole wide world!!! Aside from the book, one of my favorites has been the Irish soda bread recipe that we found in a magazine. The dough is easy to get together but hard to knead. And at the end, you get a delicious fluffy loaf. The Father Daughter Bakery has probably made close to 30 or even maybe 4o loaves in all. We may have even gained a couple of pounds in the process! We continue baking breads and trying out new recipes to hopefully please some hungry bellies at home. If you want to learn from our recipes, follow along and bake with us!

xoxo,
The Father Daughter Bakery