Monthly Archives: July 2006

Foundation

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We went down again to see what progress has been made on the house, hoping that the foundation was done — it was, and we’re pretty happy with the results so far. Contrary to our former fears it looks like the crawlspace will be deep enough for me to stand in.

Foundation

We’d been warned by some friends that the foundation will make you think you’re house is way smaller than it actually is, so we were prepared for the worst. It doesn’t really look all that bad, except the garage. When we walked into the area that will become the garage we both thought, “oh no!” Even after parking in it to try it out we’re still a little worried. If we keep it clean we’ll probably be able to park in it but it doesn’t seem likely that a lawn mower or a freezer will ever live there. That might be okay ’cause I’d already decided I probably want to own a shed eventually.

Luckily Rebecca thought we should go look at a framed garage and see where the walls come to. We walked over to a house behind ours and found our neighbors sitting in their garage, which really doesn’t look all that bad once the walls are up. I was afraid that the walls would come all the way to the inside edge of the concrete but they don’t, there are a few more inches on either side. They told us that the house looks bigger once it’s framed, and even bigger once it’s finished. We’ll take comfort in that. They also said they’re probably going to finish their crawlspace eventually but I find myself wondering how you get a sheet of drywall down through a hole just barely big enough for me.

The other encouraging / scary thing our neighbors said is that where our house is right now their’s was a week ago. We may indeed be moving in October rather than December if things keep up the way they’re going. This could be good because we’d love to move in while the weather is still good but it could be bad because we won’t have as much time as we thought we would to save money. I may even ask them to let our schedule slide a little if they can. We’ll see.

Footings

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They began work on our house on July 13. So far the hole has been dug and the footings poured. It looks like our crawlspace will be just that and no taller, but it will be deep enough.

Footings

They’ve set it back further than I hoped they would, so the back yard won’t be very large and the front yard will be larger than I wanted it to be but it’s probably just the same depth as the rest of the houses on the block and it may even be required by the city that it have a front yard that large.

It also looks like ours is the first one on this block to be poured. This is very good news since we were the very last on the block to sign a contract. Then again we were one of the first (maybe the very first) to finalize all of our options. We’re a little nervous about the colors we chose for the interior but it would cost way too much to change them now.

Banana Bread

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After learning about chocolate chip cookies from Shirley Corriher’s Cookwise I found myself wanting to read the rest of her book. So far it’s excellent. I’ll probably review more fully after I’ve read it all. There’s an awful lot of information in it, particularly about breads and cakes. Today I tried to make banana bread using some of the techniques she writes about.

Unfortunately banana bread isn’t something she writes about at all so I had to go it alone using what I’d learned from her sections on bread and cake techniques. Even more unfortunately banana bread isn’t exactly cake or exactly bread either. I used the ingredients listed in Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (an excellent basic cook book, by the way; has a recipe for just about everything) but ignored their instructions completely.

According to Shirley mixing the fat (in this case cooking oil) into the flour before mixing in the wet ingredients coats the proteins in the flour help prevent a lot of gluten from forming (gluten is what makes bread bready). This should provide a more melt-in-your-mouth texture. I blended all the dry ingredients thoroughly and then mixed in the oil. Since the recipe only called for ¼ Cup this proved to be remarkably difficult – I had to mix it with my hands, basically squishing the oil into the dry mixture until it was evenly mixed throughout. I also beat the egg pretty good, whipping in as much air as I could. Did the same with the banana (I hate having little chunks of banana in my bread) and then whipped them again when they’re together. Getting a lot of air into the mixture helps baking soda or baking powder leaven the bread better.

Then I made a mistake – I mixed the two mixtures together using the hand mixer I’d been using. I thought to myself that if I mixed them only a little bit it wouldn’t form much gluten and I’d be fine. A hand mixer mixes way too much even in only a few seconds. I should have stirred it with the rubber scraper that I had handy. I could see the gluten forming instantly.

After putting it in the oven I agonized over the 50 minutes the recipe said I should bake it. That really seemed too long. In fact I’m pretty sure 45 minutes would have been enough for this modified recipe. I was delighted, however, when I checked on it at around 20 minutes and it had risen nicely and had a beatiful split crown. I wish I’d thought to take a picture of it, I really do.

The end product was a little too bready I think but was otherwise almost perfect. There are only a few things I’d do differently. First I might use a little more oil, maybe as much as ½ Cup. Using more oil would prevent gluten formation and would make the end product a more moist. Second I’d use a pan with a silver finish rather than a black finish. Mostly I’m just curious about the difference that might make. And third I’d mix the wet and dry mixtures with a spoon or rubber spatula as I mentioned above.

I’m pretty excited to learn how to control the results of my baking. Expect to read more later about something else, perhaps biscuits again, or if I’m really brave: brioche.