Sourdough White Bread

I have dipped my toes in the sourdough world. I didn't realize it was such a huge thing, and I didn't realize that sourdough starters needed to be babysat. I have a CP recipe for sourdough starter that I didn't use. It isn't "real" sourdough because it calls for yeast in the starter According to my internet recipe, real sourdough starter is leavened with wild yeast and bacteria from the water, flour, container, and air, and that is what you are trying to cultivate by babying your starter.

The CP recipe is as follows:

This is my sourdough storage method. Right now it
 needs to be fed and the liquid stirred back in.

2 c warm water
2 c flour
1 t yeast

Combine in a glass plastic or crockery container. Let stand for several days. The starter improves with age. *****If starter is stored in the fridge remove it the day before you are going to bake. Add warm water and flour and let it work until your starter is bubbly.

I wanted to try the method with no added yeast. My first attempt was something like 1/2 c flour and 1/4 c water. It failed because I used whole wheat flour, and there wasn't even enough water to wet all the flour. I tried again and followed different measurements from a recipe on Allrecipes. I mixed the flour and water and then let it sit, stirring two times a day. It was a big failure. I obviously was growing the wrong kind of bacteria; my starter smelled like a mixture of Parmesan cheese and vomit. Even C was walking around the kitchen asking what smelled so bad.

I tried again, this time after reading a blog dedicated to sourdough. I used 50 g water and 50 g flour. I started with ww, then followed the blogger's advice to use white instead to make it easier. Everyday I measured out 50 g of the starter and discarded the rest, then added 50 g water and 50 g white flour. Success! I did this for a week (the last couple days I didn't discard any starter) before using it in the recipe below. My starter never got to the point where it overflowed the container. It did bubble up an inch or so on the jar, but that's the most active it has been. I started feeding it whole wheat flour now to see how it changes the sourdough taste.

This isn't real sourdough bread because it has added yeast in it. I thought that was a good idea for my new starter since it isn't robust enough to leaven a bread.

Sourdough White Bread

2 c sourdough starter
2 t salt
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/3 c dry milk
3 t honey
1 c warm water
2 T oil or margarine
4-5 white flour

1. Combine 1 1/2 c flour, all dry ingredients and mix well.
2. Add oil, honey, and water. Mix 2 minutes on medium speed on electric mixer.
3. Add sourdough starter and 1/2 c flour. Mix two minutes on medium speed.
4. Work in additional flour until a soft dough is formed.
5. Knead on pastry cloth or board for 8-10 minutes.
6. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour).
7. Punch down, turn over, and let rise again (about 30 minutes).
8. Punch down the dough as divide into two pieces.
9. Shape into loaves placing them in a 9x5x3'' greased pan or a cake pan.
10. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 40-45 minutes.
11. Cool on wire rack.

It was good bread, not as exciting as I imagined. The sourdough taste was very mild. It has been so long since I've made all white bread, that it was almost like cake. 40-45 minutes at 400 is way to long for 2 rather small loaves. They barely got to 30 minutes before I pulled them because they were too brown.

This was the most basic of the sourdough recipe in this little set. I'm looking forward to some of the other things, like sourdough pancakes and doughnuts.

Pumpkin Bread (or muffins or cake)

I'm on a roll. I've always been a fan of sweet bread. I made these in muffin form to try and entice Owen to eat something. The recipe was one of the Mount Vernon Ward recipes given to Mom; this one is from Rhoda.

Pumpkin Bread
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
3/4 c canned pumpkin
1 3/4 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
3/4 c pecans

Cream butter, sugar and egg. Add pumpkin and mix. Set aside. In another bowl, sift dry ingredients. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Beat till well blended. Add pecans if desired. Grease 15''x10''x1'' pan. Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Frosting
6 T margarine
3 oz cream cheese
1 t vanilla
1 t milk
2 c powdered sugar

Cream together.

Since I put mine a muffin tin, I didn't realize it said to cook it in a jelly roll pan. No wonder it was so good--it is basically cake. They really were delicious. Owen ate most of one, which is pretty good for him. I ate many. I didn't make the frosting, but I'm sure it would have been delicious. I made it full fat for Owen's weight-gain benefit ( also probably my weight gain side-effect), but this recipe would probably be a good candidate for an applesauce substitution. I did use whole wheat flour, which is maybe why they didn't seem super cakey. Nonetheless, they were really good.

Casserole Herb Bread

I took a break while we moved. Last night I needed a bread to go with the lentil spinach soup, and this one seemed pretty easy.

Place in this order in bowl:

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 3/4 c flour
2 T sugar
2 T shortening
1 t salt
1 t parsley flakes
1/2 t marjoram
1/2 t oregano
1/4 t garlic powder
2 eggs
3/4 c milk

Beat at medium speed for three minutes. Turn into well greased 2-quart casserole or bundt pan. Cover; let rise 30 minutes, or until light. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Remove from casserole immediately.

I don't have a classic casserole, so I used a bundt pan. The bread was fine. It tasted good and was easy, but it wasn't spectacular. I might make it again when I need something that doesn't require much effort. It would be really good with a bunch of Parmesan cheese mixed in.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble

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Yields 6-8 servings

 For the topping:
1 1/3 c flour
1 t baking powder
3 T sugar
3T Demerara sugar (or Turbinado sugar)
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 lb  melted butter

For the filling:
1 1/2 c rhubarb, chopped into one inch pieces
1 Quart strawberries, plus a few extra, hulled, quartered
Juice of one lemon
1/2 c sugar
3-4 T cornstarch
Pinch of salt

1. Heat oven to 375° F. Prepare topping : in a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugars, and lemon zest and add the melted better. Mix until small clumps form. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Prepare filling: Toss rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, and pinch of salt in a 9 in deep pie plate.
3. Remove topping from refrigerator and cover fruit thickly and evenly with topping. Place pie plate on a baking sheet, and bake until crumble topping is golden brown in places and fruit is bubbling  beneath, 40-50 minutes.

We were split on this dessert. Jacob really liked it. I thought it was fine, but needed more salt in the topping. I prefer cake mix topping I suppose. The strawberry rhubarb part was most delicious, though.

Winner of a Dinner!!

We had a pork roast for dinner on Sunday, and there were plenty of leftovers. I told Big Chubb he wasn't allowed to touch it because I had this recipe in mind.

Leftover Pork and Vegetables
Serves 2

1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped sweet red or chopped green pepper
1 celery rib, chopped

Sorry. Phone picture :(

1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
1 cup cubed cooked pork
3/4 cup frozen carrots, thawed (I just used fresh carrots)
1 jar sliced mushrooms, drained ( I omitted these because we didn't have any)
1/2 cup pork gravy
1/3 cup chicken broth'
2 tablespoons soy sauce'
1/8 teaspoon pepper
hot cooked rice

In a skillet, saute the onion, red pepper and celery in oil until crisp tender. Add the pork, carrots, mushrooms, gravy, broth, soy sauce and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until carrots are tender. Serve over rice.

Big Chubb and I were quite skeptical. I didn't think the little chubblets would even touch it, especially when they saw the green peppers in it. To everybody's great surprise it turned out pretty darn good. In fact, I think it might have been a little bit better than the original meal (gasp!), even with the strange mixture of ingredients (pork gravy and soy sauce?).

Even the picky babies gobbled it right up, green peppers and all!

I think it helped that we had the next recipe as a bargaining chip for them.

Jello Yogurt Fluff

1 package jello (4 serving size)
2 cups orange juice
2 6-8 ounce cartons yogurt, any flavor
cut up fruit (if you like)*

1. Heat 1 cup orange juice in saucepan until lit is very hot
2. Add jello and stir until it is dissolved.
3. Mix in other cup of orange juice.
4. Chill jello in the refrigerator until it is like syrup (1-2 hours)
5. Pour into bowl. Add yogurt. Beat with a mixture until jello is fluffy.
6. Add cup fruit if you like.
7. Return jello yogurt fluff to refrigerator.
8. Spoon into dishes to serve.

Serves 8

*Don't use fresh pineapple or kiwi. The jello won't set.

We had raspberry jello and peach yogurt. I figured all those flavors would come together.

This recipe was the star of the meal! Little Chubb wouldn't stop eating it, and just kept asking for more. He probably had 3/8 of it for dinner and then had all the leftovers the next day for lunch. We will most definitely be including this into our meal rotation especially, during the summer.

Toffee Bars (2 ways)

I made these up for a quick dessert when we had someone over for dinner. Then I made the other version for a Fast Sunday dessert yesterday.

Version #1

1 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1  cup nuts, chopped
1 large milk chocolate candy bar (or chocolate chips if you don't have a candy bar on hand)

Cream butter and sugar. Mix egg and vanilla with creamed butter by hand. Blend in the rest of the ingredients and spread in ungreased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with large milk chocolate bar or 6-ounce package of chocolate chips. Allow to melt and spread evenly.


These were the first ones I made and they were gone fast. The guy we had over ate about 1/4 of the pan himself.


Version #2

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bar milk chocolate candy
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 350 degree. Grease baking pan 13x9 inches. Mix thoroughly butter, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla. Blend in flour and salt. Press evenly in bottom of pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly brown. Crust will be soft. Remove from oven; immediately place sperated pieces of chocolate candy on crust. As soon as chocolate is soft, spread evenly. Sprinkle with nuts. While warm, cut into bars.

This one was more bready than the first ones. Big Chubb and I both agreed that the first version is our favorite. We will definitely make these again. If you need a quick treat definitely make version 1. They are well worth it.

Ham Stuffed Manicotti

I've been waiting until we have a ham to make this recipe, so I made it up this week to use up some of our Easter ham.

• 14 manicotti pasta shells
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup butter or olive oil
• 3 cups cooked cubed ham
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 6 Tbsp. butter or olive oil
• 6 Tbsp. flour
• 3 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook manicotti as directed on package. Drain, rinse in cool water and set aside. Meanwhile, cook onion, garlic, and green bell pepper in 4 Tbsp. butter or olive oil until tender. Add ham and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.

In another heavy saucepan, combine Alfredo sauce and milk over medium heat until it starts to steam. Stir in cheese until melted and remove from heat.

Mix 1/2 cup of cheese sauce with ham mixture.

Fill manicotti shells with ham mixture (your fingers work best for this; it's messy, but most efficient). Spread about 1/2 cup cheese sauce in greased 13x9" glass baking dish and arrange filled shells over sauce. If there is any leftover stuffing, just sprinkle it over the filled shells. Pour remaining cheese sauce over filled manicotti.

At this point the casserole can be cooled in the refrigerator, then wrapped and frozen up to 3 months. To thaw and reheat, thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator, then uncover, sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, and bake at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes. If not freezing casserole, sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes until bubbly.

I was skeptical about the recipe when I originally saw it. It took a long time to make thanks to having to fill all the manicotti shells. The current recipe on line says to just use store bought alfredo sauce instead of making one, but I wasn't about to buy another ingredient. I had to keep pushing the dinner back because I kept realizing I didn't have one ingredient. But, we were very surprised! It was delicious! I froze half of the recipe, so we'll see how that turns out. The little Chubblets made sure to not eat any of the green peppers, but ate most everything else (including the disguised onions). We would definitely make this again, but it is not healthy at all. So, if you are feeling generous in your calorie intake, have extra ham and Swiss cheese, make this recipe. You won't regret it.