sourdough in the summer

I’ve been having trouble with my sourdough bread; I make it all the time and we haven’t yet turned on the air conditioning. The dough is so sticky it is very hard to work with. After looking into it, I read that you can switch it; instead of leaving it out overnight in a bowl, I put it in the ‘fridge overnight and then let it set out in the bowl in the morning. Then I shaped it into loaves and put it in the ‘fridge a few hours and then baked it. It’s a matter of trial and error – just try to see what works best – shorter times on the counter or whatever. victory ! ! !

food

Here’s part of what we ate tonight; there was also a millet/potato/veggie casserole. I love the sourdough bread, salad, hummus and raw veggies from Aldis. They have the best produce for the best price. I eat with chopsticks because when I was in Youth With a Mission outreach in Asia I learned to and bought some chopsticks in Hong Kong, which you see here in this picture. I bought 10 sets and only one has broken in all this time since 1987.

cultured breakfast

I’ve been learning a lot of good things through this Donna cultured lady  – http://www.culturedfoodlife.com/

I love my breakfast of sourdough bread, sunflower butter, honey, raisins, kefir and cinnamon.

Making my own sourdough and kefir is a great thing

self watering container for lettuce

I planted some lettuce seeds in this newly made swc this morning. Hopefully it will turn out well.

Here are some basic steps on making one.

1. Find a container to use and cut it apart a little more than halfway down. The bottom part is the water reservoir.

2. Punch or slit some small holes around the bottom part of the soil container. You can put felt in the bottom of where the lid was to wick up the water. In this case it was a weird shaped container so I cut it off and put it back in the top part because the top of the bottle was so long. If I would have used felt maybe so much soil wouldn’t have gotten into the water reservoir, but it doesn’t really matter.

3. Water the container from on top the first time.

4. Place seeds on top of soil and then a bit more soil to cover the seeds. Water a little more.

5. It should be a long time before it needs more water, but when it does, lift the soil reservoir and just put some water into the reservoir.

6. Cover it and place in safe place and wait for it to sprout.

Concerning my weight loss, I found out I should only eat slightly more than 1300 calories per day. So far I’ve had a Granny Smith Apple, 4 small pieces sourdough bread with sunflower butter, agave syrup and raisin, all which come to at least 470 calories. Will need to consume a bunch of celery and raw veggies today. Yay

Here’s my 2nd one today then must make soup.

1st picture – cut container, made slits in soil container, put felt in opening

2nd picture –  placed soil container in reservoir

3rd picture – watered from the top

4th picture – put in some lettuce seeds and covered with a bit of soil

5th picture – placed on top of ‘fridg with other one I made today

 

update 3.24.13 – have some sprouts:

sourdough challah

playdough recipes

The fresh loaf has a great recipe for sourdough challah I want to try soon and very soon.

Yesterday it was so warm I put some plants in the kitchen porch – enclosed but not heated. This peace lily is forming a new leaf I think. It would be great if it was a flower, but I doubt it.

rocks again

Yesterday I sent off a couple of rocks to my son and his girlfriend. Her b-day is coming up and his is in March, plus Valentines day – so a gift is in order. She gets the lady bug magnet and he of course gets the dog, whose expression reminds me of dear son : )
You can notice the boxes I made out of wallpaper sample sheets I’ve had for probably over a decade. These will work well for the rocks ! !

I finished a few other rocks and want to finish the rest (about 9 or 10) before I put the mess away to work on starting seedlings.

p.s. I am so very addicted to the computer and that thing called fb today. I baked this sourdough bread using the longer method of 12-16 hours on the counter, then form it the way you want it and refrigerate it 8-12 hours, then bake at 430 F. 20 minutes with a pan of water on lower rack, then at 400 F. for 15 minutes. Then take bread out of pan and put in oven 5-10 minutes. It turns out delish, actuallyl.

One more thing today before sleep time. I’m finishing up this bunch of rocks. Here is the back of the igloo rock. I like this colorful bear!

I may as well post the front also:

sourdough rolls

This recipe looks like what I’ve been looking for. I have about decided to apply to be a vendor at a farmers market 2-6 on Wednesdays. Hopefully they will accept me but I can’t apply until the meeting around the middle of Feb. My last attempt at being a vendor at another market was rejected because 2 other people wanted to sell the same thing – must be a very elite place to sell. Anyway all market are not alike. I don’t want to be such an early bird, so the afternoon one seems right for me, plus there are others if this one doesn’t work out.

I tried a new recipe. Here’s a picture. 8-12 hours in the ‘fridge before baking (after proofing overnight).

recipe for Honey Oat and Flax Sourdough

I found this somewhere and converted it from metric and changed it to my way of making sourdough.

3 c. flour
1+ c. water
3/4 c. starter
1 1/4 T. honey
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. rolled oats or quick oats
1.5 T. ground flax seeds

mix 1 cup flour, 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 cup water.
Mix in 3/4 cup water, 1 cup flour, 1 1/4 Tablespoon honey, 1/4 cup rolled oats or quick oats and 1 1/2 tablespoon ground flax seeds. Add 1 more cup flour.

Proof 12 to 16 hours (put in casserole with lid and leave it on the stove top or counter).

Shape into final form (slash the top at this time too). Refrigerate 8-12 hours (covered)

Allow to come to room temperature (will take about 2 hours).

Preheat oven to 430 degrees F. Put tray of water on bottom rack.
Bake 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 400 degrees F. Remove water tray.

Bake 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Put on oven rack 5-10 minutes. Cool on rack.

enjoy

I love this recipe. The bread tastes so good – not quite so sourdoughy as the other way I’ve been making it – and I love the texture. Keeping it in the oven though at that high temp. seemed a little long, so I didn’t keep it in so long – this will take some experimentation, but I’m happy with this bread : )

sourdough carrot cake

sourdough recipies

SOURDOUGH CARROT CAKE

Grate two medium carrots, or enough for 1 cup. In a small saucepan, add just enough water to cover, and simmer about 20 minutes.

Cream 1/4 cup shortening, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add 1 egg and beat until smooth. Mix in a dash of salt, 1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg and allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 2 teaspoons baking soda.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup starter, 1/4 cup milk, 1 1/2 cups flour and the cooked carrots with their cooking water (to make 1 cup). Add 1/2 cup raisins and/or chopped nuts, if you wish.

Combine all ingredients well. Grease the bottom of a 13″ x 9″ pan, line its bottom with wax paper and grease the paper. Pour the batter into the pan and bake about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven until it tests done.

For Applesauce Cake, substitute 1 cup applesauce for the carrots.

sourdough bread recipe

I will write the sourdough recipe I am using. The youtube video I got it from seems to have disappeared. The only thing I changed was the way I bake it. It really works to put the dough in a cold oven, then turn on the oven. Some recipes say to add sugar to the starter, but mine works very well with just flour and water. We must have a lot of yeasties in our air here.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

1 cup flour
1 cup water

Mix and put on stovetop with some kind of lid to let some air in but to keep out other things.
Each day take out 1 cup of the mixture and replace with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. Stir it in well.

Another method would be to start with 1 Tbsp. water and 1 Tbsp. flour. Each day add more water and flour. This way you don’t have to through away anything. In 3-7 days your starter is ready. The starter that is not used for the recipe can be stored in the ‘fridge. See my post on Nov. 13 for some pictures.

SOURDOUGH BREAD

1 c. sourdough starter
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water

Stir this while adding 2 more cups flour and up to 1 cup more water a bit at a time. Mix and stir.

This will be quite a wet sticky dough. Put a plate over this and leave 12-18 hours until it is bubbly and liquidy.

Add a bit of flour on the outside of this so it is coated with flour and you are able to fold it by hand. Fold it over and over adding flour if too sticky. It should be springy.

You can sprinkle with oat bran or cornmeal. Cover with towel and let rise 2 hours.

Cut an X on top of loaf. Bake on cookie sheet or in glass bowl, whatever you like and place in cold oven. Turn oven to 350 degrees and bake 35-40 minutes.

RESTARTING THE STARTER

Remove starter from ‘fridge and keep at room temperature a few hours. Feed with equal parts of flour and water, or if it is too thin or thick, adjust accordingly. Keep overnight and then use starter as before.

This is the last loaf I made – actually I made 1 1/2 recipes and made 2 loaves. The other is in the freezer. I learned it’s okay to freeze sourdough bread but otherwise leave it at room temp. I added some ground flax seed for this batch. I grind it in a coffee grinder – works so well!

sourdough baking tip

I baked a loaf today using a new method I read about. You simply bake the loaf for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees, but you don’t turn on the oven until you put the loaf inside. It turned out beautiful!! Also it’s very tasty with good texture and flavor.