Sourdough Bread

Makes 1 pan sized, or 2 small round loaves

3/4 C. warm water (95-105*f)
3/4 teaspoon fresh yeast
1 1/2 C. sourdough starter
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour ----> or about 4 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/4 C. whole wheat flour---->
1 tablespoon salt

Combine the warm water and fresh yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the sourdough starter, flours and salt. Mix on low speed until the dough is fully developed. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl. Roll the dough unto a smooth ball, and place in a medium mixing bowl lightly brushed with olive oil. Cover and refrigerate for 16 hours. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and ferment at room temperature for 6 hours.

Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves on the counter or in a proofing basket and cover with a warm damp cloth. Proof the loaves at room temperature for 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 400*F. Continue proofing the loaves at room temperature for 1 hour.

Score the loaves with a sharp knife, (allows steam to escape and make a pattern on top of the bread) spray with water, (makes the shiny hard crust) and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crusts are a deep golden brown. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. If the bread was baked in loaf pans, remove the bread from the pans before cooling.

Advanced Bread Making

Sourdough Starter

Stage 1

1 C. warm water (95-105*F)
1/2 teaspoon fresh yeast
1 C. buttermilk
1 1/2 C/ plain yogurt (two little cups)
2 C. all-purpose flour
1/3 C. semolina flour
1 C. unwashed medium red grapes

Combine the warm water and fresh yeast in a medium mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the buttermilk, plain yogurt, all purpose flour and semolina flour to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Wrap the unwashed red grapes securely in a clean cheesecloth or small kitchen cloth and submerge the cloth in the mixture. Ferment at room temperature for 12 hours.

Stage 2

All stage 1 starter
2 C. all purpose flour
1 C. semolina flour
1/2 teaspoon yeast
2 C. warm water

Carefully remove the cloth with the grapes from the mixture, using a spatula to scrape any remaining starter off the cloth and back into the bowl. Squeeze the cloth containing the gapes over the bowl, capturing the juice in the bowl. Discard the cloth and the grapes, and stir the starter until the grape juice is fully incorporated. Add the all purpose flour ad the semolina flour to the starter. In a separate bowl (2c measuring cup) add the yeast to the warm water, stirring until the yeast if fully dissolved, then add this mixture to the starter. Mix the starter until all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Ferment at room temperature for 4 hours before using, or cover and place in refrigerator for future use.

Oh, and this makes enough starter to use for 4 bathes (8 loaves), so you might want to share with some people.

Cinnamon Rolls of Extacy

These cinnamon rolls are so good!

**Dough**
2 packages active dry yeast
1 C. warm water (105-115*F)
2/3 C. Sugar
1 t. sugar
1 C. warm milk
2/3 C. butter
2 t. salt
2 eggs slightly beaten (I used one jumbo egg)
7 C. flour, more or less

**Filling**
1 C. melted butter, divided
1 3/4 C. sugar, divided
3 T. cinnamon (use good stuff)
1 1/2 C chopped nuts or raisins if you like

**Creamy Glaze**
2/3 C. melted butter
4 C. powdered sugar
2 t. vanilla (use good stuff)
6 T. hot water, more as needed

Directions:
In a small bowl mix together warm water, yeast and teaspoon of sugar and set aside. In your stand mixer bowl, mix milk, 2/3 C. sugar, melted butter, salt and eggs; stir well and add yeast mixture. Add 2 cups of flour and beat until smooth. Using blender, stir in enough of the remaining flour until dough is slightly stiff and a little sticky. Turn out onto a well floured surface; knead 5-10 minutes (a little less if you gave it a good turn in the mixer!). Place dough in well buttered glass or plastic bowl and cover and let rise in warm place free from drafts, until doubled in bulk (about 1 - 1.5 hours). When doubled, punch down dough and let rest 5 minutes. Roll out on floured surface into a 15x20 rectangle. Yes! Its huge.
Filling:
Spread dough with 1/2 c. melted butter (little rubber paintbrush thing works great). Mix together 1 1/2 C sugar and cinnamon (or forget measuring all together and make the dough look like cinnamon toast with lots of cinnamon); sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with nuts and raisins, if desired. Roll up jellyroll-fashion and pinch edge together to seal. Cut into 12-15 slices (use the sharpest non-serrated knife you have). Coat bottoms of a 9x13 pan (for 12 rolls) and a 8 inch square (if making smaller rolls you need more pans) with remaining melted butter, then sprinkle with remaining sugar. (I don't recommend that part, it just makes everything sticky) Place cinnamon roll slices close together in pans. Let rise in warm place until dough is doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350*F. Bake 25-30 minutes or until rolls are nicely browned. Cool rolls slightly.


Creamy Glaze:
Meanwhile in a medium bowl, mix melted butter, powdered sugar and vanilla (use a hand mixer); add hot water 1 T. at a time until glaze reaches desired spreading consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls. (As you eat them or they are hard to store in the refrigerator and to re-heat)

This makes a 5 pound pan of cinnamon rolls. I would invite a lot of people over to eat them. They are super sweet, and super heavy, and SUPER GOOD.

Cheese Desert

We had a nice time playing Monopoly with some friends this weekend. The subject turned to Wisconsin Cheese. th'Dave mentioned how the rest of the world tends to be a cheese desert. As they were confused by this, I felt the need to clarify his statement with pictures.

The first picture is the left half of the dairy aisle. You can see bins and shelves brimming with cheese.



The second picture is of the back and right half of the aisle. As you can see it continues in both directions.

The third picture is an example of what each cheese case looks like. As you can see, this typical Wisconsin grocery store has more cheese than the rest of the cheese desert combined.

Earflap Hat

This cute little hat is knit with hand spun wool yarn. It is a size small adult or XL child. It only took a few hours to knit, and the colors are fantastic.

Family Album

I was working on my scrapbook yesterday. I am beginning to think that I don't take enough pictures of us. I mean I have pictures of birds, and plants, and bugs, but very few photos of the two of us doing things.

Th'Dave and I are working on compiling our own nature identification field guide. If you haven't ever noticed, the plants in the books look NOTHING like the plants in front of you. It makes it rather hard to identify what you are looking at. We were thinking of putting the book together scrapbook style, like our family album. I'd just be happy if The Audubon Society published my pictures. We all have dreams.

Cast Iron / Hot Pot Holders

Hot pot handles can be a problem, especially when you use cast iron. I made these cute little handle covers so I can use the pan handle and not worry about where I put my hot mitt. Plus, they are small and washable~

Use scrap fabric or whatever you have laying about. Also you may want rick-rack for the loop on top. Finished piece measures 6x3 inches and fits over your skillet handle.

If using cotton or flannel material cut piece 12x14 inches. If using denim (thick materials) cut 12x7 inches. If you would like to quilt the handles with batting, cut batting 12x7 inches.

A. Cotton
1. Fold material in half (wrong sides facing) so it measures 12x7 inches. If you want to add batting sandwich it between layers.
2. Quilt
3. Fold piece in half so it measures 12x3.5. Allow quarter inch seam allowance, sew down the long side of the mitt.
4. Add the loop. Using about two inches of material, form a loop and tack it to the very center of one of the open ends of the tube. The loop will be facing the bottom the the work, the end of the loop is facing the open end you are working on
5. Form a point. Measure one inch down from where the loop is and draw a line. Form a point by sewing diagonally from where the line meets the edge to the top center of your work. Each side.
6. Turn right side out. The loop should be sticking straight up. No seam edges are visible.
7. Sew bottom together. Stitch the open end of the tube shut.
8. This doesnt look right, does it? It is. You need to shove the bottom up into the body of the hot pot. Use your hands or a pair of scissors (be careful).
9. Now it is a doubled up tube that will easily pit on the handle of you
skillet! Enjoy :D

B. Denim
1. Fold piece in half so it measures 12x3.5. Allow quarter inch seam allowance, sew down the long side of the mitt.
2. Add the loop. Using about two inches of material, form a loop and tack it to the very center of one of the open ends of the tube. The loop will be facing the bottom the the work, the end of the loop is facing the open end you are working on
3. Form a point. Measure one inch down from where the loop is and draw a line. Form a point by sewing diagonally from where the line meets the edge to the top center of your work. Each side.
4. Turn right side out. The loop should be sticking straight up. No seam edges are visible.
5. Sew bottom together. Stitch the open end of the tube shut.
6. You need to shove the bottom up into the body of the hot pot. Use your hands or a pair of scissors (be careful).
7. Now it is a doubled up tube that will easily pit on the handle of you
skillet! Enjoy :D

Crayon Molds

It is easy to make a rainbow of brand new crayons out of your old and broken ones.

1. Unwrap all of your crayons and sort them by the 8 basic colors.

2. Break up crayons into pieces with your fingers.

3. Add color to your melting pot. This is a pot you never use for cooking. Melting crayons smell intensely crayon-like, and you should not inhale the vapors.

4. Pour small amounts of crayon into candy mold.

5. Pop in freezer for about 5 minutes while you pick out the next crayon batch color.

For those who lack patience:
In the amount of time it takes to peel the next color and break it up for you pot, the crayons in the freezer get hard enough to pop out of the molds. It feels like it goes faster this way.