Preparing for Winter

fizzel81

today i have sorted candels and 3 new pairs of thermal socks (poundland)
the summer duvet is now under my sheet and the boys all have a fleece under theres untill the weekend when i will pick up some summer duvets for them (hopefully)

still need to sort a doorcurtain which is a must sort and form of emergency lighting should i need it, im also thinking of getting a cheep stove kettle should the need arise but a saucepan would be ok if needs must and all that, mine wont wear slippers so again need thick socks for them

nicki_2

I went to Poundland on Saturday and got some fingerless gloves :j They also had all their hats & scarves and stuff in, as well as camping things like emergency candles I didn't bother getting any as I have about 3 torches all with new batteries in anyway as well as a supply of candles :rotfl: Best thing for me though was buying some black "work" boots, you know the workman style ones? £12.99 in Shoezone but they're going to be worth every penny come the cold weather. In fact I'm going to be wearing them today

toottifrootti

Hi all,
I will apologise first - my question may have been already answered but I havent had a chance to go back through the thread.

I have been thinking about putting foil behind the radiators -

1. do you need special foil and if so where do you get it?
2. how do you fasten it to the wall?
3. and how do you get it down behind the radiator - does it need to go all the way down to be effective?

As you can see I am not very DIY minded so please forgive me and any help would be very much appreciated.

thanks
TF

sunflower76

.... My bread is still rubbish

I followed you recipe to the letter; It rose over the top of the pan like a beer belly but didn't get high and when I cooked it, despite smelling delicious, it was all cakey and had no taste. If it had been minty we could have used it for chewing gum. It would be fine for making toasties I suppose, I daren't take it for the birds or ducks as I may kill them.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I am now positive I just can't make bread. I've tried

• Lots of different recipes
• Different oven temperatures
• Initial mixing by hand, processor or dough hooks
• Leaving to rise for different lengths of time in different places
• Knocking back after initial rising and not
• Different flours
• Different yeasts (dried)
• Kneading for ages / not

Am I just cut out not to make my own bread?

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

sunflower76 wrote: »

.... My bread is still rubbish

I followed you recipe to the letter; It rose over the top of the pan like a beer belly but didn't get high and when I cooked it, despite smelling delicious, it was all cakey and had no taste. If it had been minty we could have used it for chewing gum. It would be fine for making toasties I suppose, I daren't take it for the birds or ducks as I may kill them.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. I am now positive I just can't make bread. I've tried

• Lots of different recipes
• Different oven temperatures
• Initial mixing by hand, processor or dough hooks
• Leaving to rise for different lengths of time in different places
• Knocking back after initial rising and not
• Different flours
• Different yeasts (dried)
• Kneading for ages / not

Am I just cut out not to make my own bread?

This made me laugh,the bit about the chewing gum.I can't offer you any advice on bread I don't make it very often and it's a bit hit and miss when I do but if it's any consolation my daughter makes the most wonderful bread but and it's a big but she can't cook anything else for toffee.So if it's just bread you can't bake I would'nt beat yourself up too much about it.Do what I do and buy it.

MRSMCAWBER

Sunflower

The last thing you want is another recipe I bet..but im going to give you mine anyway :rotfl: -feel free to ignore it if you have had enough

1. 500g white bread flour (LIDLs is great)
2. 3tsp salt -sounds a lot but trust me
3. 350ml warm water
4. 16g fresh yeast

• Throw the flour in a bowl and the salt around the edges, make a well in the centre
• dissolve the yeast in the water and pour into the well
• pull the flour from around the side so it covers the liquid
• cover with a carrierbag -like a tent and wait until the liquid cracks through the flour
• mix with 1 hand (using the other hand to turn the bowl and add any exta flour if needed) -put the bowl in the sink to do this -saves mess
• place back in bowl and cover with the carrierbag tent again -leave to double in size
• tip it out and shape for your tin - a 2lb one
• oil the tin then place the dough in and swish the carrierbag around so it fills with air -then place over the tin again -so that it won't touch the dough
• leave to rise about 1" above the top of the tin.. leave it away from anything warm like cookers/sun light etc... it will take longer to rise but the dough will be more stable and the flavour better
• place in the middle of a 230 oven for about 30 mins -or until as brown as you like -tip out and knock on the bottom -if its cooked it will sound hollow

If you want a softer crust you can use part milk and part water (but we like crusty)
I don't add fat as its only to help it keep -and ours doesn't last anyway and I find it makes the bread "stodgier"
This loaf has never failed...so I hope you have some luck with it -feel free to PM me if you try it and have any questions

Just another thought... I think the best thing to do would be to grab 1 flour, yeast, recipe-make it and if it isn't great try making slight alterations..if you keep swapping ingredients not only will it cost a lot -but you will never track down what is to blame

spankymonkey_2

i made some cardboard and foil barriers the other day...i used old crisp boxes with normal foil taped to them,although i did have to cut out 2 channels so the that box would slide over the radiator,this meant i didnt have to use tape or blu tack. i dont want to turn the heating on yet but hubby does! maybe he should start moving more lol! :rotfl:

elljay

I agree that it isn't worth beating yourself up over but on the other hand it isn't true that you can't make bread. If people thought like that in the 'olden days' they would've starved - everyone can make bread, of course you can.

If I were you I'd stick to one basic recipe and keep trying it, don't swop around. The standard one where you knead for 10 mins, leave to rise for 90 mins, knock down and knead for 3 mins, leave to rise for around 30-45 and then cook on high heat initially then turn oven down a bit. I always take loaf out of tin and turn it over for the last 10 or so of cooking. You'll find a more detailed version of this somewhere else but it's pretty standard. If it rises when you leave it then drops on cooking I found that sometimes happens if you're a bit rough when you carry it to the oven, you need to be really gentle or all that rising will be lost before your very eyes! Remember also to add a bit of sugar to feed the yeast. Try using the recipe on the back of the yeast packet.

You could make rolls too, or try a pizza base, these are more forgiving and are worth trying till you perfect your technique. It could also be too much water. Make sure you're spot on with your ingredients the first few times, and that the yeast is well within the sell-by date - sachets are better than tins as yeast keeps fresher - and fresh yeast is harder to buy and doesn't keep.

The other thing is to ask for a breadmaker for Xmas! Mine cost less than £20 at Argos - the loaves aren't wonderful (though at least edible) but if you use the dough setting it takes all the boring stuff out of the kneading and rising and you just take it out of the breadmaker and shape and cook it as you like in your oven.

Good luck, and please don't ever say you can't do anything !!! I don't know if you're male or female, if you're a woman you can do anything. If you're a man, you at least think you can do anything.

Liz

miggy

toottifrootti wrote: »

I have been thinking about putting foil behind the radiators -

1. do you need special foil and if so where do you get it?
2. how do you fasten it to the wall?
3. and how do you get it down behind the radiator - does it need to go all the way down to be effective?

Hi, I think your question is partly answered below by Spankymonkey who has worked out how to do this wiithout ripping the foil (covers your second and third questions).
As to whether you need special foil, I think I've seen mention of buying value foil for this, but I really don't know whether it makes any difference, sorry. You could always try it with cheap foil especially if like me you might need a couple of goes to get it right - after all foil is foil and some has to work better than none. HTH

miggy

It is slowly dawning on me that reading this thread doesn't actually prepare me for winter unless I do something about it so here is a starter list:

1. Buy fleeces for kids' beds, to go under the sheet.
2. Buy a fleece for the computer chair, or rather for whoever sits here! Am even wondering about buying slippers for whoever's here, as kids tend to put their feet on a hot water bottle which all adds up in terms of hot water. Will have to give a bit of thought to that one.
3. Get a couple more hot water bottles.
4. Get a timer for the immersion heater.
5. Get insulating film for single-glazed windows.
6. Work out what to do about kitchen door.
7. Get key hole covers.
8. Get sausage dog or equivalent for the back door.
9. Investigate slipper socks for those children who don't currently wear them.
10. Sort out insulation for rabbit hutches - I did them in part a few years ago: an extra layer of plywood on the outside, with roofing felt on the sides. The hutches are drier inside and have to be warmer. I might freecycle for a couple of bits of old carpet to drape over them as well, as current plastic sheeting isn't thick.

That's enough to be going on with, but I might add to it if anything occurs to me.