Doh...! Sourdough!

July 3, 60 degrees, cloud cover and rain.  Sounds like bread and soup weather to me.  I made 2 beautiful loaves of sourdough bread this morning and a great hambone soup to dunk the bread in for supper.  This was my first attempt at sourdough, and I am really sorry that I haven't tried it sooner!  Best bread I have made yet! (and I have made many :)) 

First you need a sourdough starter.  This is a great thing to keep on hand in the fridge for whenever the urge arises for a good loaf. 

Sourdough starter

2 cups flour
2 cups lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (1 packet)

mix all ingredients together and let sit in a large bowl covered (I used a rubbermaid with the cover on but not sealed so it could breathe) in a warm space (top of fridge) for 4 to 8 days.  This can be stored in the fridge after the yeast has fermented and the starter has a sour scent.  Add a little sugar (teaspoon or so) daily to feed the yeast.  Most recipes for sourdough use 1 cup per recipe.  When you take the cup of starter for your recipe, replace it with 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water to the remaining starter so you will always have the starter available.  Some starters have been passed down from generation to generation this way.

Sourdough bread recipe
makes 2 loaves

1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups flour

Mix water, yeast, sugar, and salt in bowl.  set aside.  Place sourdough starter in large bowl.  Add 3 cups of the flour.  add half of the water mixture.  Mix with a wooden spoon or use a kitchen aid mixer with the dough hook attachment.  Mix well.  Add the remaining flour and water.  Mix for a few minutes until a smooth dough forms.  Turn dough onto a floured board and knead for a few minutes.  Return dough to a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.  Divide in half and gently shape two loaves on a sprayed cookie sheet or baking stone (I love my stone for baking any dough) cover with towel or plastic wrap and let rise again for 1 hour.  Slash tops of loaves with a knife and bake for 25-30 minutes at 425 degrees.

This is what you get...

YUM.  First loaf gone in record time.

Second loaf went well with supper.  Hambone soup.  Recipe to come.  Happy baking!

"Share the womb... share a lime!" Fresh citrus drinks for summer

Summer is in full swing at the Collin abode!  With much gardening, a graduation, and my nursing job, I haven't had much time to write about all the fun stuff we are doing and making here.  I am going to try a little harder from now on.  Last week Chris and I took the younguns to the Sheboygan Farmers Market.  I love the farmers market experience!  People watching, fresh foods, flowers, you name it!  One vendor was making fresh citrus drinks and we got the kiddos one.  They each picked a limeade.   The vendor was very nice and explained all of the ingredients to the drink as he made it.  He says to the girls, "you get to share a lime!"  So, my dear daughter says, "Share the womb...share a lime!"  Twin thing.  They crack me up! 

Anyway....This vendor is TAKING IT TO THE THE BANK!!!  He is charging $2.50 per drink.  I did the math, and it is 25 cents or less to make, depending on the cost of the fruit.  So we started making them at home this week and it is so fun and easy for the girls to do!  Here is how we do it....

Supplies and ingredients
lemons, limes, oranges, any citrus
bar syrup or simple syrup (simple syrup recipe to follow)
Ice
water
16oz cup
larger cup (I think mine is a 32oz cup)
citrus squeezer

recipe is for one 16oz. drink

cut fruit in half, place 1/2 in citrus squeezer.  Each drink uses 1/2 of a lemon, lime, or orange.

 

Squeeze 1/2 of fruit into 16 oz. cup.

Add 1/8 to 1/4 cup of bar syrup or simple syrup (this is to taste...I like a tart drink and use 1/8 cup, kids like 1/4 cup syrup)

 

Add ice to fill cup up half way.

 

Add water to fill to top.  Put larger cup on top and shake (shake over sink to avoid spills)

 

 

Pour in a glass and enjoy!  I added some strawberry slices and the rind of the squeezed lime because it looked fancy:)

 

 

This is so refreshing, fun and easy for the kids to make themselves!  So much citrus love!                Share the womb...share a lime!

 

 

Simple syrup recipe

2 cups water

2 cups sugar

 

heat water to boiling, add sugar.  Boil for about 5 minutes until sugar is disolved (don't let it go too long or it will be too thick)

Let cool and store in a mason jar.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

more syrup

This is 8-9 more gallons from our two silver maple trees boiled down to about 1 quart of syrup!  We've been boiling for the last two days...it is very touchy and needs to be checked frequently the last 1/2 hour or so for the correct temperature.

I filled each jar 1/2 full for no apparent reason:)
It is so cherished here because it was processed for us, by us.  Priceless!

Maple gold

So....after much strange weather patterns (strange even for Wisconsin) we ended up boiling the sap we had collected so far.  Just for future reference....6 gallons of sap = 12 oz. Silver Maple Syrup!  Absolute amber GOLD!

The sap in maple trees flows during the day when temps are warmer than freezing, and usually collected before buds appear on the branches of the tree.  Sap spoils easily and should be treated as you would treat milk, needing to stay in cold storage, or boiled and processed to preserve.  Wisconsin weather had taken a cold turn for a while, and we had no flowing sap for the last week.  Now, it has returned to warmer daytime temps and our sap bags are filling again.  I am hoping to get at least one more jar of syrup from our 2 trees this season before the buds appear!

Sap!

We tapped our 2 Silver Maple trees this pre-spring as an attempt to grasp free liquid gold known as pure maple surup!  My husband Chris boiled down 2 gallons of the sap last week due to the weather weirdness and he was worried the sap would spoil.  Sap is to be treated like milk and can spoil as easily too.  However, we didn't realize that the 2 gallons would boil down to 6 oz. of surup...and turns to candy if boiled too long :)  Oh well, more sap is flowing in the bags and hopefully we can get enough for one decent sized quart!

 Maybe I'll use some for my granola!

Yay for Granola!

Yay for granola!  Here is the basic recipe I use for super good granola. 

 

GRANOLA

 

3 cups Old Fashioned oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup oil

2 Tbsp. water

1/3 cup honey or maple surup

 

Mix the oats brown sugar and salt in a bowl.  Set aside.  Heat the oil, water, and honey or surup in a saucepan until it just starts boiling.  Remove from heat and pour over dry ingredients.  Mix.  Spread mixture on 2 cookie sheets.  Bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  Let cool.  As it cools, it will harden.  Use a spatula to pry up from the pan.  We love the larger clusters of granola this makes.  As you can see, you can add in all sorts of yummies to this.  In the picture above I have added 1/2 cup dried fruit, and 1/2 cup of slivered almonds, but the possibilities are endless!!  I usually add in chocolate chips to most batches I make, but these should be added after the granola is cooled so they don't melt.  Happy creations!!!