Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Real Pigeon Loft



Though you might like a picture of where the magic happens! Well, to be honest I make most of the birds on a sofa in front of Desperate Housewives...and the table has only been there for a week (thanks to the ILVA closing down sale)...but it is a real loft!

As so many of you mentioned gingerbread-related disasters and blobby-looking men I thought I'd post my perfect gingerbread recipe. It's never failed me, even when I've used different types of sugar:

350g / 12oz plain flour
1tsp bicarb.
4tsp ground ginger
110g/ 4oz butter
175g/ 6oz soft light brown sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp golden syrup

1) Sift flour, bicarb and ginger into a large bowl. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre.
2) Beat golden syrup and egg together in another bowl.
3) Pour syrup mixture into the well, mix to a dough and then knead until smooth.
4) Divide in half and roll out to 5mm thickness. As I always go a bit mad with the syrup, quite a bit extra flour is needed to stop the dough sticking to the bench. Cut out men and decorate with currants.
5) Bake for 12-15 minutes at 190 oC (although mine never exceed 8 mins.)
6) Make yourself a nice cup of tea and enjoy :)

11 comments:

Unknown said...

oooh, madam Pigeon, you're so tidy...are you sure this is your loft? Hmm?

Tinyholder said...

I've just discovered your blog, I absolutely LOVE your crocheted pigeons and hens...you are so clever! :-)

quiltdude said...

Far, far, far too tidy Missy, but I bet you cleaned it just for the photo shoot ;)
X Clare

Unknown said...

Does Mr. P rock out on the guitar? Have there been photos of that or did I miss that little piece of pigeon magic? x

Locket Pocket said...

Definitely waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too tidy - is that real? I've got a horrid feeling it might be. Not inviting you round to my house now!!! But how can you post a picture of the Pigeon Loft without any gratuitous pigeon pics???

Mrs Moog said...

It looks to me like you've been very well trained - what a beautiful clean and tidy pigeon loft you have :)

Can't wait to try the gingerbread - thanks for the recipe!!

xxx

Brenda said...

HMMM, are you sure it always looks like that? I
think that looks more like a magazine pic than a workspace...come clean, no way, no how can get creative in there....fess up! Where are the "creative spaces" pictures? LOL!

Gina said...

Thank you for the recipe... might try that today.

I can't believe how tidy your loft is looking - it's not natural!

Manoute said...

I agree with everybody else, far too tidy!
Thanks for the recipe, I will try it soon!

Nicky said...

What a perfect space! Thanks for the recipe. I will use that at school later this week when we make gingerbread men in class to go with our fairytales theme. I need to have a "no fail" recipe.
Thanks!
Nicky

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe. I might just have to have a go - and your space looks way to clean - did you do a clean up before the photo!!! - My place is a craft volcano!