Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Vestment help ~ Sourdough update ~ other stuff

Our priest has asked me to see if I can mend this vestment.
 
He received it second hand while he was in the seminary. He thinks it is 65yrs old or maybe more - older then Father by more then a couple decades.
He wore it for his first Mass and for special occasions since.

Here are the labels from  inside


















I did some internet searching and found the Dr Oidtmann studios associated with stained glass, and the Hubert Gotzes Art Weavery is now a museum in Krefeld Germany.

The other label inside.











 There are several areas that need mending, or maybe re-weaving, which is beyond my expertise.
The warp threads are disintigrating

More damaged warp threads

Damaged gold weft

 If anyone has any information about this vestment, or how to mend it both Father and I would be appreciative.

Taco John's breakfasts.... 
In a previous post I mentioned that both my husband and I won $5.00 Taco John's breakfast certificates by answering trivia questions on our local radio station at 6:40 in the mornings.
We were able to use them last week.  I had 2 small breakfast burritos, scrambled egg with either sausage or bacon accompanied by some potato oles and a bottle of orange juice.  Farmguy had a scrambled egg plate that started with a layer of potato oles, then scrambled eggs, some sausage or bacon (your choice) shredded cheese, tomatoes and peppers.  They were good, but not something we would like to eat every day,  there was more spice heat than we normally eat in for breakfast.

Sourdough stater....
I have now been using the Sourdough starter for several weeks.  I am not using it exclusively for all our bread but maybe every other loaf. 
For storage, it is suggested that you use non-reactive materials, so I am using glass.
This is a large quart & a half jar that used to contain Kraft Miracle whip back in the days when they used glass jars, it fits a wide mouth canning lid.
The lid is an antique glass lid from back when they started to use 2 piece canning lids, this would have been used with a rubber sealing ring and the screw band would have probably been zinc, as I have some of them. 


I have made biscuits and pancakes as well. It makes a good bread, and the biscuits and pancakes were very good. 

 You can see that the biscuits have a nice break to them and the bread has a good crumb and texture.


 Another view of the bread

It isn't hard to deal with, just a bit different and you need to plan ahead a bit more.
I have made sourdough bread both by hand and in the bread machine, using the french bread setting on the machine.  It works pretty good.  The bread is moister, and doesn't dry out as easily as regular bread.

Long past time for bed at a quarter to 12 midnight, so will show my tatting in another post, as this is really long enough.  I have been tatting.  lots off snowflakes  I can now show and I am participating in the TIAS.

Have a good night, and maybe I will be able to post again tomorrow night.

P.S. by the way, our night time temps have been in the -20 F s  Yesterday's high was -5F and today we got up to a balmy 5 above.  Yeah for North Dakota in January.

13 comments:

  1. Your bread looks great! I hope you can get some help with the vestments, it'd be a pity to let them disintegrate.

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  2. The vestments are beautiful! The only idea I can think of is to contact a textile museum to see if they have any suggestions.

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  3. I'm smitten with old fashioned clothing labels--the pride people used to take in their work!
    Warm bread sounds like the ticket in this weather.

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  4. Mary Corbett of Needle'n'Thread blog is very interested in goldwork and vestments. She may be able to advise you or point you in the right direction.

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  5. One could find some silk thread and needle weave it back in. Mary Corbett would be able to find the right threads.
    Linda in NM

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  6. In one of our churches there is a particular chausable that is in a similar state to the one your priest has and it would cost a great amount of money to repair so we have decided not to have it repaired but put it away and have another one made. Part of the problem is hanging vestments up they should be put flat in a vestment drawer. Your cooking looks lovely, I wonder if the sourdough starter is what we call sour milk?

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    1. I suspect that will be the final decision on this vestment too, but I want to get it checkout first.
      Here sour milk and Sourdough starter are 2 different things. Sour milk is simply milk that has been allowed to curdle.
      Sourdough starter is water and flour and "wild" yeast. You have to "feed" it once a week or so, longer if stored in the fridge. It gives bread and other baked goods a "sour" or tart flavor. You don't need to use other yeast with this to get your bread to rise, you can, if your time is short, but if you have the time, you can use just the starter to raise your bread.
      Any time you use some, say 1cup, you need to feed it 1/2 cup of water and 1cup of flour.

      Years ago when all the pioneers were moving from one end of the country to another, yeast production was not yet to the point of drying so there were no packets to carry and there were no corner markets to stop and pick up yeast for bread and other baked items that needed leavening, so sourdough starters were taken along to use instead. According to the literature from the company I bought mine, this strain has been in existence for a more then 150 hundred years. I know there is another strain out west that has been in continued existence for over 100 yrs.
      Over time this starter that I have, if I keep it going, will become populated with the yeasts in my house and evolve so the yeast in it will not be the same as what I bought.
      You can make your own starter with the strains of wild yeast in your own house, if you don't want to purchase any. you will have to look up the specific process, but basically it involves mixing water and flour and letting it sit out, or you can add purchased yeast to get the process going.

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  7. I made sourdough bread for about 2 years. I really liked it. It makes good pizza dough also. And I made sourdough corn meal muffins. They were good with stew.
    Finally my heel went vinegary. So, alas, I had to throw it out. Maybe I'll try again sometime.

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    1. I am learning so much about sourdough starters. Do you know why it turned? I was gone for several days and it went about 10 days in the fridge before I could get it out and feed it again. I could tell it was very sour and had some liquid on top. I discarded 1 cup, fed it, kept it out on the kitchen counter, 12 hrs late discarded another cup and fed it again, it seems to be good now. Tonight I'll be taking out a cup to set a sponge for pancakes tommorrow, then feeding it and putting it back in the fridge.

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  8. Hi,
    The vestments were made by my great grandfather, and sold to a church in America by my Grandfather, Hubert Gotzes. There was an office in Chicago from about 1913-1938. The NY label probably was the result of an agent who sold the Gotzes line - the only office was in Chicago although there were a couple salespeople who traveled.
    About 5 years ago my Grandfather's childhood home was made into a museum. Krefeld was known as the center of weaving fine goods in Europe, and of the silk weaveries there, the Gotzes line was considered the finest. They specialized in Ecclesiastical goods for the Catholic church.

    I can tell you more if you'd like - my family visited the museum this summer which was really great. My father (also Hubert Gotzes) died about 10 years ago so never knew about the museum named for his great grandfather and father - all who had the Hubert Gotzes name.
    So your vestments would probably date from about 1920.

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  9. The vestment was made by my Grandfather's company. His father Hubert Gotzes was one of many companies specializing in hand woven fine cloth in Krefeld, and the Gotzes business specialized in Ecclesiastical goods for the Catholic Church. My Grandfather came to America in 2013 and lived in Chicago but had a couple rep's who traveled. I'm guessing the NY label was from an agent on the East Coast.
    The museum was founded 5 years ago in the original site of the company - also my Grandfather's childhood home. I had opportunity to visit this summer. It was awesome.
    Your vestment is probably from 1915-1925... the threads are 24k gold and silk. I can answer more if you write me back.

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  10. Thank you so much TJ, I will get this information to my Priest, and yes, I would like more information. I will try to contact you through your profile.

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