Dream Kitchen: Never say Never

School has been pretty calm this week, but at home things have been quite busy and crazy for me.  Due to group presentations and a demo/lecture from one of Le Cordon Bleu's Master Chef's, we have not spent as much time baking.  I did learn to make puff pastry dough, various puff pastry make-ups (which I will share more in a future blog), and how to prepare sourdough bread.  However, I still need to do some unpacking before I can share pictures and recipes.


The big event for me has been saying good bye to an incredible kitchen...again.   I must say that learning to live in a smaller space is quite the adjustment.  

My Charleston Kitchen...and first ever

double oven.  The top oven was small,

but perfect for small dishes!

Looking into the Charleston Kitchen.

After finding out that my landlord needed to short-sale his house, I immediately sought out a new place to live.  So, this past week we boxed up our possessions and moved again.  That makes this our 6th move in the past 10 years.
 

Moving is something we have become accustomed to; however, during my first year of marriage we bought our first home and the first thing we said was, "oh, we'll NEVER go back to living in an apartment."  Right now, I'm wondering why in the world my bathroom sink is deeper than my kitchen sink or who in the world thought it was a good idea to put the fireplace right by the front door.  I honestly believe that some home builders don't live in the places they design because some aspects just don't make any sense! 

 

My first kitchen island!  It actually was

a pain since it blocked the sink and stove. 

The designer did not have the "triangle"

in mind.



Kurtis has dubbed this apartment our "Dream Home" and not because it has everything we've desired.  Rather this space will remind us that we have bigger dreams!  For now, I'll make due with this space.  However, I dream of the day that I'll once again have a walk-in pantry and plenty of cabinet & counter space.  Some day I'd love to have the fancy gadgets like the ones at school. Two examples are a  proof box to be able to expedite proofing my freshly baked breads or a sheeter that eliminates the need for painfully rolling out puff pastry dough.   

Thankfully I have learned a clever technique that does not require a big kitchen or fancy equipment.   Waiting for bread to rise does not have to take all day.  At school we use a proof box which creates the perfect temperature for bread to rise, but at a faster rate.  Not only does my new space not have room for a proof box, but neither does my budget.  So instead, when baking bread all you really need to speed up the process is to use this trick:  



Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Transfer boiling water to a cast iron skillet and place the pan onto the bottom rack of an UNHEATED oven.  Put dough in a bowl into a large bowl, cover, sit it on the middle oven rack and close oven door.  The heat from the water should cause the oven temperature to rise somewhere in the low to mid 80s.  Place a thermometor in the oven if you'd like to see the exact temperature.  This trick can save minutes or even hours off your prepping time.



Love my new Ikea island! I think
this will work.  :0)



As I type this blog, Kurtis finished building my stainless steel island that we found at Ikea.  It actually resembles the work station I have at school.  So while I dream about bigger and better things I'll have to learn to cook in my smaller space.    Although I'm stubborn and learn the hard way:  I'm reminded again that I should never say never. 

I'd love to hear what you'd like to have in your dream kitchen!  Leave me a comment...so in the words of Aerosmith, "Dream on...dream on!"