Day 11 and Amy's Sourdough Bread

All week I've been feeding and watching my starter.  As Chad Robertson describes, it seems to have daily cycles, and when I drop a bit into water it rises.  This means my leaven is ready! I'm not ready to tackle the Oat Porridge recipe that Chad Robertson describes, but thought I'd try a Sourdough Bread recipe from my mom.  On the first day of our Bread 101 class, I was thinking about this recipe as part of my early memories of bread.  In the past, we've always made it with white flour, and my mom says that she put this recipe together from a couple of others to create a taste and a loaf size that was just right for our family.  The instructors are pretty sparse so I had to fill in some details from other bread recipes and experiences. I was also admittedly impatient and didn't wait the recommended 6-8 hours for the sponge--but I have been feeding it for 11 days!

Heavenly.  Totally worth the wait for 11 days and 6 hours of time today to make this bread!

The bread held together very nicely, was easy to cut, and tastes great.  There is a hint of sour from the starter, but the yeast taste is more powerful.  I am looking forward to thinking about how to my next bread without the addition of packaged yeast and see how it compares.

Amy's Sourdough Bread
1/2 c sourdough starter
1 c water
1/2 c milk
2 c flour (50/50 white/wheat from Bob's Red Mill)
Combine to make sponge and set aside for 3 hours.

1 package yeast
1/4 c warm water
1/2 t honey (from Bebee Lane Honey)
Mix and let stand 15 minutes.

2 T honey
2 t salt
1/4 c oil
2 c flour (50/50 white/wheat)
Combine these ingredients with yeast mixture and sponge.  Mix in as much flour as possible before kneading by hand.

1 1/2 c flour (50/50 white/wheat)

Turn out onto board and knead for 15-20 minutes adding in as much remaining flour as possible.  Put into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until double (1 hour and 15 minutes today).

Divide into two pieces and shape into round loaves.  

Put on baking tray and cover with a cloth for second rise (1 hour and 30 minutes today and the cat only stepped on one loaf!)

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let it cool before eating.

Honey Berry Bread

We have lots of rye flour in our freezer from our Open Oak and Lonesome Whistle Farms CSAs. I thought it would be worth while experimenting to see if I could substitute it into a quick bread without anyone noticing. I adapted this recipe from the Fanny Farmer Cookbook for this test.

It was quite tasty and the rye flour worked just fine with both texture and taste in this recipe. It made it a little more "earthy" than white wheat flour, but everyone liked the bread for dinner and with cream cheese for breakfast the next morning.

Honey Rye Bread

2 c rye flour (from Open Oak CSA)

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1 t ginger powder

1/2 c honey (from Thistledown Farm)

1 egg

1 c milk

1/2 c blueberries (from our garden)

1/2 c Marion berries (from our garden)

Combine dry ingredients and then mix in wet ingredients (except berries). Beat in mixer on medium speed for 10 minutes. Stir in berries. Pour into butter bread pan and bake 350F for 40 minutes.

Rainy Day Chili and Cornbread Dinner

It was one of those days when I couldn't decide what to make for dinner, and we seemed to be missing key ingredients for everything I wanted to make. I did find 1 pound of ground beef in the freezer and several cans of beans in the cupboard, so I decided to make chili and cornbread. We were out of onions, but I thought that I could probably substitute onion powder if I increased the amount of real garlic.

I also found a package of wheat berries from our CSA in the freezer (they've been in a freezer for several months) and decided that these would make a nice addition to the chili.

I hadn't make chili yet in my new slow cooker, so this rainy fall day seemed like a good day to give it a try. My chili recipe originated from a college friend. Beer is the key ingredient. It's fun to see how different beers change the flavor of the final product. This time I used the last beer in the house, an Inverness IPA from Deschutes Brewing. To adapt it to the slow cooker, I tried an idea from Slow Cooker Revolution to make a panade of beef, bread, and milk. We did not have any white bread (as recommended in the recipe), so I used up the last of the heel of the sprouted grain bread and the last 1/3 c of milk in the house. I also used the cookbook suggestion and added 3 T of soy sauce to make a more "meaty" flavor.

Chili

olive oil

1 onion chopped (or tonight onion powder)

cumin to taste

chili powder to taste

oregano to taste

2 cloves garlic

2 cans beans (today 1 can black and 1 can kidney)

1lb ground beef

1 slice bread

1/3 c milk

1 bottle of beer

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes

frozen or fresh corn (I completely forgot to add this today!)

Heat pan on the stove and saute onion with the spices until onions are soft. Transfer to the slow cooker. Add in beans, tomatoes, beer, soy sauce, and garlic. Mix milk, bread, and beef together in bowl. Cook on skillet with more cumin, chili powder, and salt until browned. Transfer to slow cooker. Cook on high for 3 hours. Serve with cheese and cooked wheat berries.

Wheat berries

2/3 c wheat berries (from CSA)

2 c water

Rinse wheat berries in water to remove extra husks, rocks, and dirt. Bring to a boil with the water. Simmer on low for 45 minutes. Drain extra water or let it sit to soak up more water.

The corn bread recipe is known in our house as Nana's Johnny Cake. I used up the last egg and had to use soy milk since I used the very last of the cow milk in the panade. The soy milk gave the corn bread a nice nutty flavor.

Nana's Johnny Cake

1 c corn meal or flour (from CSA)

1 c wheat flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 c sugar

1 egg

1/3 c oil

1 c soy milk.

Mix everything together. Bake 425F for 25 minutes in an oiled 8-inch pan. Serve with Willamette Valley honey or homemade strawberry jam (made from Willamette Valley strawberries).