Okay, so I may be crafty and all but one thing I am not is a BAKER! Now, that is not to say that I don’t try. I mean, sure, I bake the kids cupcakes straight out of Betty Crocker’s box every year (lol). I think it’s all the technical stuff that throws me for a loop. I hate measuring all the ingredients precisely and leveling them out. I am too scatter brained for that and no matter how hard I try, I always forget something and catch it at the end hoping to just throw it in and it messes the whole thing up. With that being said, Lammas is the one time of the year that I feel the need to bake something completely from scratch. This is that first grain harvest celebration, and with me being a gardener I feel that it’s really important to put 100% effort out to make something nice. I have tried many bread recipes over the years, only to have them turn out like bricks or to be something you couldn’t swallow with a gallon of water. However, I have finally found one recipe that I haven’t been able to mess up to terribly bad. This recipe seems to be so forgiving to me that I wanted to share it with you all. Lammas Bread Recipe 5-6 c. whole wheat flour 2 tsp. instant yeast 2 c water (80 degrees) 1 ½ tsp. salt 1 large egg 1/3 c brown sugar 4 TBSP butter (melted, slightly cooled) Add 3 cups of flour to mixing bowl with yeast and water. Mix with dough hook for 30 sec. Add salt, egg, sugar and butter. Add most of the 3 cups of left over flour and continue mixing at medium speed for EXACTLY 4 min. Dough should be soft not firm. Put dough into large greased bowl. Roll around to cover dough with oil. Cover and refrig. at least overnight up to 3 days. Let sit out 3 hrs at room temp. Shape and place on greased baking sheet. Cover with greased plastic wrap for 1 ½- 2 hrs. Bake 35-40 min. at 350 degrees. After baking brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesan cheese if desired. Serve warm. Let me share some of the stupid mistakes I have made with this recipe and it still came out edible. One year, I forgot to add the water. I got to the 4 min. mix and was like, “wow , this bread is really frickin dry….duh”. I added warm water at that point and because of all that, I then lost track of my 4 min. “EXACT” mix and it STILL turned out okay for me. So for all of you “wanna be bakers” like me, I hope this recipe treats you well also. Blessed Lammas! *The above picture is not one of mine. Its from the internet;however, this is exactly what I do with this bread and since I didn't have a picture I wanted to give you an idea of how I normally shape it.
0 Comments
Last week, I put a tease in our blog about a new product that we were getting excited about. This is it....our Cynnamon Charmed Spirit Balls. Spirit Balls are very similar to a Witch Ball and sometimes the name is even used interchangeably. As a matter of fact, you may find more than a half dozen different names surrounding this Ball over the course of its 600+ year existence depending on what part of the world you ask. Regardless of its name or geographical legend, this is a very protective sphere with the sole purpose of protecting its owner of negative energy, evil spirits or ill intent. Here at Cynnamon Charmed , the ingredients are carefully selected and designed to be beautiful and; therefore, attractive to this kind of energy. When the Ball is placed into the home it then attracts this energy away from the family and traps it into the Ball. The Balls ingredients are very powerful in aiding to rid/neutralize this kind of energy and also will include ingredients to promote peace, love and happiness. When a family member is feeling stressed, upset or ill it’s beneficial to sit next to the Ball and allow it to pull that energy out of you and promote tranquility. Our Spirit Ball ingredients include a special blend of 9 herbal ingredients, positive energy and protective gemstones, runes, black salt, etc. It is contained in a glass container, corked and then sealed with white wax for purity and then it is blessed and charged with its intent throughout the entire process. A hemp cord binds it and allows it to be hung in your home or office where ever you see fit. Each Spirit Ball is handmade and may vary slightly. If you have a specific Spirit Ball need that you feel needs something a little extra, send me a message and we can very possibly custom make one that fits your individual needs. Come visit the Cynnamon Charmed Shop for yours!
Salt has many uses throughout the years.....food preservative or seasoning, cleansing agent, medicine, etc. A long time ago it was fought over and valued as much as gold because of its uses. Seeing how it physically purified things our ancestors took it a step further and realized it had spiritual cleansing capabilities as well. From there it has been found throughout history used in the every way. People believe it keeps out evil, disease, negative energy, and can cleanse our bodies of any of that we may have unknowingly absorbed. We sprinkle it in our window sills and thresholds to keep all bad out and to protect us within. Some people even use it as an offering to deity. So, salt can be used to purify, protect and even to bless things. In the Cynnamon Charmed shop we offer black salt. Black salt is a mixture of regular salt and other ingredients and is the "gold" standard in protection salts. Above are some pictures of our latest batch that is now available in the shop. And, if your interested in further reading, here are just a couple interesting articles I came across on the uses of salt in history and today:
http://www.wisechoicemarket.com/salty-tales/ https://www.thoughtco.com/salt-folklore-and-magic-2562502 A couple days ago I posted on how we can use corn dolls within our Lammas/Imbolc celebrations. At that time I had harvested some corn and was going to make our own corn doll and ones for the Cynnamon Charmed shop. I'd like to share some of our dolls with you. Also note the degrees of drying the dolls are in. As they dry, their skirts go from straight and stiff to stringy and curly. All our dolls are made using mostly corn husks and silks. You will find some cotton string, hemp string, and some hot glue especially for their hair. No two dolls are alike. They are all between 4-6" tall. Look for them soon in the Cynnamon Charmed shop!
I was very surprised to see how about half our planted corn was already ready to harvest yesterday. I think that it being planted right next to the chicken coop makes it grow faster rather than burn up like many other plants would. We use all of the plant after harvesting. The silk is dried and used for stuffing or hair for our corn dolls. The husks are used for the body of the corn dolls and the rest of the plant is bundled and hung to dry for decorations this Fall.
Corn dolls are a very old tradition. In the days of the Old Religion, the thought was that the goddess of the crops, Brigid would have nowhere to live in the Winter when the crops were done and Winter was here. So corn dolls were made in her Spirit and they were brought inside to live until they were returned to the Earth the next Spring. This was usually done on Imbolc and the idea was to return life to the soil. By honoring her in this way, she would bless your crops that year. This is a pretty good site with simple directions are crafting your own corn doll for Lammas: http://www.snowwowl.com/naartcornhuskdolls2.html However, if you decide you want to purchase one already made you can visit the Cynnamon Charmed shop and there will be some available soon. Blessed Be! |
Keri Nichol
Founder, Artist, Herbalist, and Writer Archives
August 2018
Categories |