Tortilla Dough

When we began to make sourdough bread on a regular basis and finally decided... no more buying bread except in emergencies... we struggled with having bread around when needed.  The loaf might not turn out, the bread might not be at the right place at the right time.... whatever happened, I needed a quick bread that could be used in place of sourdough.

This dough can be easily pulled together and used in thirty minutes.  You need that long for the protein in the flour to unwind.  It is better if it has 8-12 hours of soak time.

While this might not be perfect,  it worked in our household and helped transition.  Hope you enjoy the recipe. 

Tortilla Dough

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil

1 cup warm water

2 Tbsp sourdough starter

Bring this together into a nice dough.  A dough hook works well with this.  This dough needs to rest for at least 30 minutes.  It is just about perfect at 8-12 hours.  If it goes much beyond this, throw the rest into your current batch of bread.

Generously flour the counter.  Pull your dough into sections and roll into a ball.  You will just have to figure out how big, but a little bigger than a golf ball, smaller than a tennis ball.  Roll them all into smooth balls.


Heat your cast iron frying pan or griddle.  Medium heat.  Begin to flatten out your balls.  It works best to flatten them all, then go back and begin rolling them with a rolling pin.  Roll out, the put in the pan.  We like to use coconut oil, but you can also use an ungreased pan.  Cook about 45 seconds on each side and flip three times.

When you are ready to pull one off, just put it between two plates to hold the moisture and heat in.  Then, keep stacking them between the plates as you finish them. 

Enjoy
Cindy

The Sourdough Bread Class

Today's Recipe

So... anyone that knows me knows that I am constantly messing with recipes.  I just can't help myself.  After getting so many good recipes from friends, the old recipe underwent some changes.

It started with a cousin's old family recipe (not listed yet... still to come) which starts with a "sponge", made the dough less stiff (thanks Melissa), added flax meal (thanks Bobbi Jo), added kefir  and a longer "rise" (thanks Jamie).  Still to be added to my routine is an egg wash (the egg whites are sitting there from making mayonnaise).  So, from the class today, here is the bread that I am pretty sure we made.

Community Sourdough Bread

The Sponge

1 cup sourdough starter

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups barley flour

2 cups white flour

1/2 cup flax meal

2 Tbsp. sesame seeds

1 cup kefir

Water to make it a slurry

Just bring this together, it is not necessary to knead it.  Put it into a bowl, cover with a wet towel and let rise until double in volumne (probably about 10-12 hours)

The Dough

The sponge from before

2 tsp. sea salt

3 Tbsp. Olive oil

2 Tbsp. sweetner (I used Palm Sugar today)

Flour to make a slightly sticky dough

Form into your loaf and let rise again.  I put my loaf on parchment paper, then onto a plate.  This makes it easier to move around.  The dough should double in volume.  It often takes several hours, but this morning my loaf took only 1-1/2 hours to rise.  I had to knead it down and try again since I wanted to bake it at the class.

Baking

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  

I like to either spritz water in or put a small pan of water in.
It gives your crust a nice feel.  

A stone is nice, but it is not necessary.

Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, then turn down the over to 325 degrees for approximately 15-25 minutes.  The times will vary depending on your loaf size and density.

There are two ways to check and see if it done....
a thermometer inserted - 210 degrees

.... or turn the loaf over and tap the bottom...
if it sounds hollow, it is done.

When I take it out I either immediately run the loaf under water or put butter on the top.  

This makes it a lot easier to cut.

Serving Suggestions

Two of our favorite ways to eat fresh sourdough bread

1)  Spread with butter and lemon curd (recipe to follow)

2)  Spread with butter and sauerkraut

Enjoy
Cindy

Reasons for drinking Raw Milk

Raw Milk

The Adventure Continues

Well, here we are.  Raw milk.  Somewhere I never really thought we would be.  If you want to see the beginning of our raw milk adventure, it is here. 

I don't want to be repetitions, but please, please.... study some of the articles I have linked, pray about what step you are going to take.  Make good decisions based on what is best for your family.  I will continue to list the reasons our family has made the switch under my rambling, but there is SO MUCH great information in these links that I would ask you to just hop around.  That way you can find what you need.  Don't let the number of articles overwhelm you.  Just look at one or two, then think about it and maybe revisit and look over a few more.

personal note:  trying again to talk my hubby 
into getting a milk cow! -

turn our grass into healthy protein!

Milk is listed here in this section for the fats.  It could be in any section, but this is where it landed.  I have already done some discussion on raw milk for general gut health.  The article for that is here.   Overall, what we have done for several years is to get a good, organic pasteurized... but not homogenized milk.  Strauss Family Farms has a great milk that is lightly pasturized but the fat structure is intact.  If you can study what happens on factory farms, when milk products are homogenized and what happens to the enzymes when milk is pasturized you will have a good foundation for making the best decision you can.  We have just recently switched to raw.

We are blessed in California to be able to buy raw milk, and Organic Pastures (home page) does an amazing job with their cows.  They are grass fed and healthy, and the milk is fresh and good.  My favorite article on raw milk is from the Nourished Kitchen.  Please take a minute to look over the reasons she has listed.

The Nourished Kitchen

 Another site that has been listed before... cheeseslave.  She lists out the top ten reasons to drink raw milk.  If you can go there, I would recommend it.

Top Ten Reasons to drink Raw Milk 

The Weston A Price Foundation has done so much work on this subject.  They have a really good page on the safety of raw milk for babies.  I would suggest you spend some time on this page.  If you are politically minded, the Campaign for raw milk is a good place to put some energy.

Is Raw Milk safe for babies?
A Campaign for Real (Raw) Milk

The Weston A Price Foundation has also done several articles rebutting the claims by the agribusiness/FDA conglomerate that has an iron grip on our food supply.  Please take a little time to read them if you are nervous about raw milk.  If the cows are grass fed, you are probably fine.  If your gut is in good shape, you can fight off any lousy stuff that comes.  If you cannot buy raw milk, get the best choice you can and perhaps culture it with kefir beads.  Directions are here.

Kefir Directions 

Another great site I found, especially if you are thinking about getting a cow or working with raw milk is the Modern Country Dairy.  They also have lots of info on raw milk.

Modern Country Dairy 

...and if you would rather read something personal with reasons listed out there is a kind of neat story called "Why would anyone drink raw milk?"  It is kind of funny.

Mean Rooster Soup

Anyway, sorry this is not a personal page.  There is just so much to this subject.  Please study and read and think and pray.

Best of Health to you

Cindy

The House Around the Corner - Kefir

Note from Cindy:  If you have a way to drink kefir, we would all appreciate your sharing of that information.  Jamie has added a cool way to drink it, but if you can make a comment with your recipe, it would be great.  Maybe Apryle will share her smoothie recipe that she used it in.  It is yummy. I don't want to say kefir is gross, just a really new flavor and texture.  Any helpful tips are appreciated.  I changed the settings so you can do an anonymous log in and post.  If anyone leaves something weird, I will just delete it.... but why would they  :)  I can then gather them into a top ten ways to add kefir to your life or something like that.

 

Jamie's Kefir Recipe

My kefir grains arrived by mail, sealed in a double plastic bag and shipped in a plastic bubble envelope. Not very impressive are they?  These grains were shipped with a little milk added to feed them during their trip and when you first open the sealed bags you'll notice a sour, yeasty odor, don't panic, that's normal.

 The first thing you want to do is clean your grains. This is really easy. First take a sieve and dump them in, if you have trouble getting them out of the bag just pour a little milk in to loosen things up. After you've gotten the little grains out of the bag you want to pour a little milk or distilled water over them while gently shaking the sieve.

This is what they look like once they're all cleaned up.

 Now you simply dump them into a clean jar, the one shown is quart size.

Another picture of the clean grains.

 Here you'll see that I've added two cups of whole milk. Ideally you would want to use raw milk, but since it's unavailable in my area I've used organic whole milk instead.

You want to cover the jar with a cloth, you can't seal it up tight, kefir needs to breathe. Notice my high-tech dishcloth and rubber band combo, it worked great!

 Kefir actually likes to be disturbed so I would give the jar a little shake everytime I walked through the kitchen. It's quite cool in my house so it took almost two whole days for my first batch to culture.

Here it is, almost two days later, ready to strain. Notice the streaking on the jar.

It will be quite thick at first, you'll think you messed up. You didn't.

You'll need your sieve, large bowl or measuring cup and a wooden spoon now. Place the sieve over the bowl, dump in the cultured kefir and you might have to stir gently with the wooden spoon but eventually all the kefir will strain through leaving only the grains, which have multiplied! Wow, busy little critters.

Here is the strained kefir, lousy picture, I know.

Here are the kefir grains that have increased in numbers by almost half!!

Here is my second batch of kefir set up and ready to culture again.

The finished product! If you haven't followed the baby steps to cultured foods I would recommend you start slow, just a couple tablespoons at first.  For a great breakfast drink blend one cup chilled kefir with blueberries and some honey, it's wonderful!

Directions for Raw Cultured Butter

If you are interested in reading about the beginning of my raw milk adventure, go here.


So, step one... acquire some raw cream.  I got mine at the Whole Foods Depot for $10.65.

Step two..  put it into a glass jar and mix it with some cultured milk... I used creme fraiche ($5.79) to culture mine.  Leave it on the counter.  I left mine out for about 12 hours.  I don't know if that is how long your are supposed to leave it out.  If I ever find out, I will let you know.  You can also use buttermilk from a previous batch of butter.

Step three.. pour through a strainer and the clumps of stuff go into a small jar, along with some of the cultured cream.  Label it.  This is your starter for next time so you don't need to buy the creme fraiche again.  I think if you leave it out longer, you end up with a clabbered cream, which is creme fraiche.

Step four... put the cream into the fridge and get cold.  You might also want to refrigerate or freeze your kitchenaid bowl and your wire whisk.

Step five... put the cream into the bowl and it is just like making whipped cream.  It took less than four minutes for mine.  It passes the stiff peak phase and moves right into the really, really stiff phase and suddenly - BAM - you have butter.  Just like a miracle.

Step six...  I don't know if this is the right way, but I just poured mine into the wire mesh strainer over a bowl and let the buttermilk drain out.  Then I bottled up the buttermilk and eventually used it to culture a loaf of bread.  It was so good.

Step seven... wash the butter.  VERY important.  I need to find a better way, but I used my wooden bowl and just used running water and kneaded and turned it until the water ran clear.

**Changing this a little bit.  I forgot something... so sorry.  I put my butter back into the mixer and added about 1 tsp of sea salt.  This is for preservation and for flavor.  THEN move on to...

Step eight...  If you want to mold it into pretty shapes.... this is the time.

Step nine.... ENJOY!

Note:  I just kept a little on the counter in my butter dish at a time.  Then it was soft for use, but the bulk of it I kept in the fridge in a glass jar.   Some of it I mixed half and half with my organic, but not raw or cultured, butter.  I try to just have enough out for the day.  I like to put some into my little butter crock at night and try to estimate how much I will need for the next morning.  Remember, if it sours, it is still healthy and good... just sour.  Disguise it in something:)

Rambling through the Woods - Upcoming week and Site Changes

Good morning to all,

I hope your day is blessed, active, happy and full of worship, family and fun.  Sunday is probably my favorite day of the week.  I love Sunday's.  We go early to do latte's and love the time of worship and being able to spend a little more time visiting and talking.  After church, we have a pot luck.  It is always a happy, busy, chaotic, joyful time.

I always think it is the best part of the week to come together for worship and the word in a community.  No matter where you are, you should go be with your community of faith on Sunday.   We were created to worship God, and to come together in Spirit and Truth (worship and word). Join your community of believers for healing, life, balance, growth, joy and a wonderful time of reconnection!

So, this week it is my plan to focus on milk and milk products.  I am looking for input on how you use it, ways to prepare it, and what we can learn.  We have made the switch to raw milk at our house and we are trying to learn to like kefir just like milk.  It has a different taste and texture, but is not bad.  I am bringing some to church to see how it works in latte's.  Experiment in progress.

So, I would like to give a total opinion here..... If you are in your childbearing years, or thinking about ever having a baby, or are pregnant, or are thinking about becoming pregnant...... find a way to switch to organic, grass fed, raw milk and milk products. You do need to learn how to deal with them. I have been culturing mine for two reasons.... preservation and gut health.

This is guys and girls. Get your reproductive parts working as well as possible, and keep them working. Raw, organic, grass-fed milk and milk products would be one of the top changes I would make if I were in those years.

 The main reason.... take responsibility YOURSELF for giving your children the best possible opportunity to be healthy and well. Do NOT subcontract it out to your doctor, your mother, your chiropractor, your best friend..... all of these are good resources, but you should do your own due diligence on this, one of the most important things anyone can do.

Give your body the best possible chance for a health and energetic pregnancy. Do some research and spend some time thinking about this. The book I am reading is "Healing our Children". You can read portions of it on line.

As for this upcoming week, I have been going through all of the posts and adding a "Path to Progress" on the bottom of the Basic Plan pages to give some direction for new users.  As I have been going through I have found links that don't work :( and a couple of opinion pages that needed changed.  I am hoping to get these updated this week.  I am about half way through the process.  This has been a steep learning curve for me... but I kind of like steep learning curves :)  If you find something that does not work or does not make sense, could someone let me know?

Also, I would love to post some of your ideas, recipes and pictures on milk and milk products.  I have pictures and a story ready on raw, cultured butter and will probably put it on later today or tonight.  If you have tried something, or are planning to try something, can you take pictures, write out how it went and share it with all of us.  Jamie has sent me a great series on kefir, and I think she plans to try making some cream cheese desserts and letting us know how they went.

There are still quite a few recipes I need to add on sourdough, so that will continue.  Becky is working on the sourdough cinnamon roll recipe with cultured cream cheese topping.  She is planning to bring some to the class on Tuesday.  YUM - take pictures Becky :)

I am working right now on the top ten reasons to switch to raw, grass fed milk.  It should go up tonight.  Right now... the bread is out of the oven, the soup is bubbling, the boys are ready.... Time for me to go. 

Be blessed, healthy and well,
Cindy

The House Around the Corner - Food, Inc.

OUR FOOD: WHERE IT COMES FROM  

By Anthony 

This article has been inspired by the move “Food, Inc”

 
Normally we take for granted where our food comes from. We simply go and buy healthy food with hard earned money and eat it, right? That is not the case! People don’t care where their food comes from. They simply want fast food to eat. So they go through the “work, buy, eat” method, but also don’t check the ingredients or where it came from simply because they trust the food industry.

I am, like many people, a BIG fan of the hamburger, but I had no idea that it can be the reason of death by E.coli 057:H7. I would much rather have a real, grass-fed beef burger than have a burger that could kill me. I learned that 90% of American meat plants are controlled by FOUR companies. It is also more money to buy vegetables, than it is to buy junk food or in other words snack foods. It’s the same thing with veggies and fast foods, where the veggies cost more money than fast food.

Now E.coli has not received as much attention as it needs. There have been 21 E.coli outbreaks in 16 states linked to National Steak and Poultry meats in the last 20 years. However the FDA does not have the power to shut them down. Feedlot cows are raised ankle deep in their manure and fed corn which causes E.coli to spread quickly. If cows were fed grass for five days 80% of the E.coli would go away!!! The food companies tried to shut down a man who is feeding cows grass NOT CORN!!! 

The farmer I mentioned does not feed his chickens corn, so they don’t get fatter faster. A microbiology lab even tested his chickens against chicken from the supermarket, and his were significantly cleaner. This happens because the meat industry feeds their chickens corn, give them antibiotics, keeps in the dark, and make it so the chickens cannot keep up with their growth process. 

 Where does our food come from? Well now that we know about the food I will tell you where it comes from. The answer is FACTORIES!!! Not farms but big assembly lines in  factories. The cows are raised on huge, overcrowded lots, with no grass and unnaturally fed CORN!!! So, now that you have learned interesting facts about food I encourage you to help make a difference in the way our food is raised, butchered, and prepared. 

Ways to make a change: plant a garden, buy food grown locally, go to farmers markets, cook a meal and eat it with your family, ask your burger if it has been fed corn {JUST KIDDING!!!} in other words, buy grass fed beef.

By Anthony   5^th grade                                      
2/10/10

The House Around the Corner - Jamie's Bread

Jamie's Sourdough Bread

My recipe is pretty darn basic, it can easily be modified to suit anyone’s tastes. A few things you should know beforehand, sourdough starters come in all sorts of different consistencies and aromas, ranging in color from a creamy white to deep yellow. Mine is a wild yeast starter that I’ve had for quite awhile now. It works great but I prefer a slow rise to my bread, for someone who doesn’t have the time to take a couple days to make bread you would probably want to use a starter that began with commercial yeast.

Here’s what you need:

• Five to six cups of flour, any combination as long as there is two cups of white flour in the equation. For this batch I used white, oat and rye.

• One to two tbs salt, depends upon your preferences.
• Two to three tbs of oil, I use lard, it is just my preference, use whatever you prefer.
• One cup starter or for regular bread you would want to dissolve 1 tbs commercial yeast in ¼ cup warm water.
• Two cups plain kefir. After you pour the kefir in the bowl fill the same cup with cold water, you’ll probably need it.

If you have a stand mixer, put everything in the bowl and using the dough hook and lowest speed, mix it up. As the dough starts to come together you may have to add a little of the cold water. You don’t want it too wet but you don’t want it crumbly either, just watch the bowl and when the dough starts clinging to the hook and the sides of the bowl are clean, no signs of flour or liquid, turn it off and grease a large bowl. You can use whatever you’d like, I use either butter or lard. Plop the dough in the bowl and flip it at least once, you want to coat the ball of dough, cover it with a dishtowel and walk away.

If you are making this bread by hand you want to put all the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix them all together. Make a well in the center and add all the wet ingredients (except the two cups of water). Start mixing, you can use your hands, a spoon, a rice paddle, whatever it takes to get the job done. Add the cold water as necessary to get the dough to hold together without it being too wet. Once it gets to the right consistency, or when you get sick and tired of mixing, whichever comes first, follow the same directions as above, plop that dough into a greased bowl, cover it and walk away.

 

Here it is, all ready to be tucked away in the corner to rise.

Now, if you used a commercial yeast or if you have a “fast” starter it will only take a couple hours for the dough to double in size, if you’re like me and you have a slow starter it’s going to be somewhere between 12 to 18 hours for the first rise, the batch in the photo took 18 hours. I can see the looks on your faces now, SHE CAN’T BE SERIOUS, 18 HOURS? Yep, I’m serious, when I say a couple days to make bread, I’m not kidding. Think of it as culturing the dough.

 Once the dough is through the first rise and is double in size you want to punch it down, pull it all together into a ball an plop it out onto a floured surface. Now you start kneading (push, pull, quarter turn) keep at it until you have this wonderful mass of silky, soft dough. Cover it with a dishtowel and take a break, give the dough 15 to 20 minutes to rest.

 

Once the dough has rested, divide it and shape it, you can use bread pans, or make long loaves, round loaves, individual rolls, whatever you prefer, it’s your bread. Cover the shaped dough with a dishtowel and once again, walk away.

Again, if you have a fast starter, it will only take a couple hours at the most for the second rise, for this batch of bread the second rise took seven hours.




Here it is, seven hours later, ready to go in the oven.











You want to bake the loaves at approximately 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes. I say approximately because my stove is ancient and most of the numbers are worn off the dial, but I’m almost positive it’s set at 350 degrees.



Fresh out of the oven! 

This recipe passed the husband taste test, it has a wonderful texture and just a little hint of tanginess from the kefir.

Ramble in the Woods - Friends and Bread

Make new friends

But keep the old

One is silver

The other Gold...

One of the nicest things about Facebook has been reconnecting with old friends.  Three of us spent so much time together in high school, Jamie, Sherri and I, best of friends.  Then we graduated, got married, had kids, moved around, worked, worked and worked some more, grew and learned and lived and loved.  Life flowed by us like a river and before we knew it..... thirty years had flowed by us..... and we had completely lost touch.

Through the simplicity of Facebook, Sherri, Jamie and I have reconnected.  We still haven't seen each other, but it has been so sweet to remember why we were such good friends all those years ago.  We have been catching up on kids, pets, gardens, houses, hubbies, families and old memories.  When I started this blog, they have been actively cheering me on..... and providing practical help.

So... Jamie has sent me her bread recipe, and took pictures of the entire step.  She is a clear and concise writer and covers everything well.  A complete novice can learn from her and I am grateful for her time and energy.  I think we are going to see Sherri's recipe soon :)  :)  :)

I am also so blessed by my younger friends.  Your energy, passion and enthusiasm is infectious.  You are so willing to try new things, figure it out, make it better.... then share it so we can all benefit.  This internet adventure has been beyond anything I could anticipate a couple of months.  I look forward to every morning... what new thing is coming my way today?  What old skill is going to be shared?

I think I am going to have to completely change my recipe after reading through all of the great recipes, ideas and discoveries.  I think I have gotten at least two good ideas from each recipe here.  I am looking forward to more ideas every day.

Thanks for sharing this journey.  The picture is from Christmas... everyone brought their "toys" and had a blast riding and eating and playing marshmallow wars and running and just being a family.  It is such a happy memory that I wanted to share.

Be Blessed, healthy and well

Cindy

The Care and Feeding of a Sourdough Starter

THE SUM TOTAL OF MY STARTER KNOWLEDGE

I am doing some prep work on a sourdough bread class, and found a couple of really good web sites on sourdough starter...  how to make one, how to feed one, and things to watch for.  I thought I might share these sites with you, along with my total knowledge of starters, which is not much.

This is the thrift store crock that I keep my starter in.  

If I put it in the fridge, I use a a glass jar.

• It is simple to keep a starter alive.  
• Both getting a starter from a friend and making your own are effective.
• Some sourdough breads call for dry yeast - you can probably omit that step if you add in a 12 hour "rise" - the sourdough just takes longer.  That is fine if you are doing the entire "slow foods" type of meals.
• You shouldn't use reactive metals around sourdough starter.  Use wood, glass or ceramic (I am NOT going to recommend plastic for obvious reasons).
• If you use your sourdough 2-3 times a week, you can leave it on the counter and just feed it every day or two.
• If you are not going to use it for a couple of days you should put it in the fridge.
• If it gets a black "liquid" on top, that is normal.  Just stir it in or pour it off - your choice.
• Add equal parts (by weight) of flour and water to feed your starter (about 3/4 cup of water to each cup of starter)
• Lumps are OK.
• If you have too much starter and you are not ready to make bread - make pancakes or waffles or bottle some up to share with a friend.
• If you have starter with one type of flour and you want to switch to another type of flour..... just go ahead.  Within a couple of "feedings" your starter is converted.
• I keep a "white" starter in the back of my fridge for my friend.  I feed it a couple of times per month. 
• I keep a "whole wheat" starter in the back of my fridge for emergencies - a couple of times a month I stir it into my current starter.... then bottle some back up the next day.
• You need to feed your starter more when it is warm.  In the summer I feed it more often - but we don't do A/C and we do wood heat - I don't put the starter by the stove so it stays cooler and is a little happier.
• If I leave my starter on the counter too long and forget to feed it... it gets disgusting stuff on the top.  I usually just skim off the yucky stuff and feed the starter a little bit twice a day until it looks good again.  If it is worse than even I can stomach, I pull my "emergency" starter out and start again.
• I like to label my starter (and everything else).  My fridge is starting to look like a science fair.
• Have fun and don't stress too much.  Properly developed sourdough starters are pretty resilient and don't require too much from you.  It is kind of like a low maintenance pet....a little more work than a pet rock and a little less than a fish.

Enjoy
Cindy

This is my active starter
I have a lot going so I can share at the class.

Some appropriate Links:

Sourdough Baking - The Basics 

Sourdough Primer - King Arthur Flour 

Sourdough Home - Starting a Starter 

Sourdough Home - Maintaining a Starter 

Breadtopia - Sourdough Starter Management
Wild Yeast Blog - English Muffin Recipe I am going to try.
Sprouted Flour Recipes and Ideas

Let me know how your bread turns out!  If you come up with a great recipe, we would all love for you to share it with us.  Pictures are great.  Be healthy and well.

The House Around the Corner - Bobbi Jo - Starter

Sourdough Starter Recipe:

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 t. sugar

2 1/4 t. active-dry yeast

2 cups warm water

Mix the flour, sugar, and yeast in a clean, 2 qt. capacity glass bowl.

Gradually stir in the water and mix until it forms a thick paste and do not worry about lumps. Cover with a dish cloth such as this one from Evelyn Fields

and let sit in a warm, draft free place.

Once the starter is bubbling, feed it daily with flour and water while removing a cup of starter. You're just replacing it. I have been using 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup water... still working on this one though.

The House Around the Corner - Bobbi Jo - Sourdough

A HEAVENLY LOAF - FROM JO'S PRAIRIE 

I have been experimenting with making sourdough bread lately and think I've found a recipe that works for us:) Here it is for those of you who were wondering.  I have to say thank you to Heather, at Mountain Home Quilts for her inspiration to start making our own bread. Check out her Etsy shop for beautiful quilts!

(If you would like to see this in it's original form, go to Jo's Prairie here.)

Bobbi Jo's Prairie Bread Recipe:

2 1/2 c whole wheat flour

3 c. white bread flour

2 1/2 t sea salt

2 1/2 t dry yeast

1 c. warm milk

2 T agave nectar

2 T butter, softened

1/2 c warm water

1 1/4 c. sourdough starter

1 egg

From a previous post:  Homemade bread has become a favorite in the this house.  The boys helped me knead whole wheat bread this afternoon and had a great time. I tried out Red Mill's ground flaxseed to make more of a "sandwhich" bread. Substituting a half cup flaxseed meal for a half cup of whole wheat seemed to be a perfect recipe:)

Directions for Bread:

In a large bowl, combine 1 c. whole wheat flour, 1 c. bread flour, salt, and yeast. Stir in milk and butter. Add starter, agave, and water. Gradually mix in the rest of the flours ( 2 c. bread flour and 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour.

Turn dough onto clean, floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes. Place a greased bowl and cover with damp dish cloth. *I like to use coconut oil to grease my bowls. Use your fingers to rub it on- if you have excess, just use as a hand lotion:)  Let rise for one hour in a warm place.
This is a picture of the end of this rising process. It should double in size.

Punch down your dough and let rest for 15 minutes. Shape into loaves. Place on greased baking sheet (above picture). Let rise 1 hour. I warmed my oven today for this process and let it rise in the oven. It worked much better! Just turn the oven on low and then turn it off- you should be able to touch the inside of the oven.  Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg, beaten) and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. *I use my finger to brush the egg on.  Here they are... ready for the oven!

Baker, Baker, Bread Maker!

It's very rewarding to see my son light up when "his" bread comes out of the oven.

He is so proud of himself and really enjoys that first taste test:)

Thank you, Bobbi Jo, for sharing this with everyone.  I plan to add some flax meal to my bread.  I can't wait to see what it does to the recipe I have.  I also think I will try the egg wash.  It gives it a beautiful color.  I can just SMELL it from here :)  Cindy