sourdough rolls

I have been  daily feeding the sour dough starter and should have put a photo up earlier.  Here’s my sour dough rolls I make pretty regularly.  Usually I put  poppy seeds or sesame seeds on top of the rolls; these in the photo are plain.  Dec 3rd was my last post on the starter.

The sourdough starter I ordered was from Northwest Sourdough .  They have a lot of information on baking sourdough bread… getting the starter going… troubleshooting too.   Northwest sourdough’s website 

In the bread maker is where I throw in the gooey starter that is in my pickle jar, along with flour, a little hot water, and I cheat- I put in a dash of bread maker yeast, so my sour dough rolls are not completely authentic.   I love the rolls it makes which are great for sandwiches.  The pizza crust is real great too. 

You have to throw half of the goo out of the jar every day when you feed it more flour and water.  Who wants to throw it away?  which is why you end up baking more than you usually would.

start the New Year off with this

Here’s a good  message on verses from the bible  that are misunderstood all the time. 

here are the notes to see while you listen to the video  Each verse is listed for you to turn to.

here’s the video message "Magnificent Verses that can be very Dangerous"

  Here’s his  South Dakota prairie dog that you click on to get the message’s from his page  of current messages on the website .  Cute little guy isn’t it?

Good Bye to 2009

Here’s Deanna Durbin singing  Goodbye  by Tosti (as only she can sing it!).   When I watch this clip, I think of it as a goodbye to the year 2009.  Her dog was named  Tippy,  her family’s faith was Baptist, and  she’s still alive too.     Goodbye song/clip from Deanna Durbin on U-Tube     Good bye 2009!   Pray for good things to come in 2010 and wise decisions to be made in our lives.

The Caroline years

           

These are the first four books in the Caroline series  written by Maria Wilkes and the next 4 (not on this post) are written by someone else.  My Dad was born in Milwaukee- 1914 which would have been when Caroline was 75 yrs old.  It is neat  to figure how your parents and relatives fit into the history timeline isn’t it?   I enjoyed these books, but  I am partial to  the way Mellissa Wiley writes; the author of the Martha Years and Charlotte years.

Caroline’s father died which was an even a more burdensome trial than it would be now days.   Her father was allowed to build the house and live on the land although he didn’t own it.  They ate way too much succotash because that is all there was at times. 

I enjoy the true history of the frontier like the Maple Frolic for instance, I think it was the 3rd book.  I never saw maple syrup being extracted from a tree.  All children should have some kind of class trip or family outing to see how that’s done.  I grew up in Wisconsin and never saw it being done.  Never heard of a Maple Frolic, which makes me wonder what maple dessert  would I bring if I lived back then.

How would you like to move to a cabin where you have to put down a plank floor on the dirt/mud “floor” before you move in?  Look at the bright side- no rock and roll, more family togetherness…more morals… I think  there was a very good side to living in that era!  I like the way Joseph and Henry are portrayed as responsible, respectful sons.  That’s how it should be not matter what decade of history it is.

On Top of Concord Hill (the last book) was especially interesting because a lot was happening in the book and it  all seemed so real even though it’s fiction, yet so much is historically accurate that it seems like it all happened.

Don’t you wish you could read a book of your generations of long ago in reading form like these books?  Maybe it’s up to us to start one!

The Charlotte Years

 

Little House by Boston Bay, On Tide Mill Lane, The road from Roxbury, On Puddingstone Dam

I loved this next series too although I didn’t get to read the 3rd book “The Road to Roxbury” since the library didn’t have it.  I think I just plain like Mellissa Wiley’s writings.   The  Martha series was more interesting of the two series, simply because Scotland  in that time period  seemed fascinating; especially the way the land was run by the lairds.  

It’s neat the way the mom’s childhood is brought up again about her doll…. don’t want to spoil the book for you if you intend on reading it.  I feel bad about how the abridged series doesn’t include all of the author’s writings and how the first illustrator was replaced.  Just doesn’t seem fair does it?  If you notice above- the first two books have the new cover, while the 3rd and 4th book have the original illustrator’s cover.  Can’t wait to read the novel that Melissa Wiley is writing.  Wonder what it’s about?

The Martha years

     

Martha is Laura Ingalls’s great grandmother

I’ve enjoyed this series so far “The Martha Years” by Melissa Wiley.  What is it like to live in Scotland in the late 1700’s?  You get a real dose of it through these books.   I like those wooden beds with side boards and a wooden roof- those were the kid’s beds. 

The parent’s bed was high enough to need a little step stool to climb into it; that is if your father was a laird or of some other status.  The peace and quiet of no electronics was a different way of life, as well as the good family relationships; but mostly different was  the absence of modern American culture you find.  It’s neat to read something other than our current decade.

My daughter read them when she was younger, but didn’t feel like talking about certain specifics about the books like I wanted to today.  You know how it is when you read a book and it feels like  you’ve lived there too, or at least visited the place? 

The fairies and superstitions must have been a way of life, even though they sound far fetched and dumb; like this one,   baby is carried in a basket by an un-wed young lady  of the village to the christening to bring the baby good luck or something, and there’s a bunch more of these things going on in the books- wee fairies in the houses, outdoors, all over .  Can’t stand all those fairy tales.

I like the scene  when they are going to the ferry boat and the bagpipes are playing by the lairds right hand man.  Melissa Wiley writes well I think, and makes it seem like you are right there with them in each chapter.  I love all the real history  of every day life in the books!

Fish pudding.  I know what it is! ( from the  2nd book in the series- Far side of the Loch).  It’s the salmon loaf I make in a Pyrex dish!  can red salmon, egg, cream of mushroom soup, bread crumbs, lemon juice, bay seasonings, celery, paprika and garlic.  

More on sourdough starter

After doing some reading on-line, I threw out my 4 day  starter and I’m starting a new batch according to Mike’s method of starting your own sourdough starter. I didn’t measure my first time (the photo on the previous sourdough post), so that’s why I’m starting over.  Guess what else?  I ordered some sourdough starter from this place: http://www.northwestsourdough.com/.   Oh boy!  You  have to log on to Northwest sourdough to see the videos.  You take a roaster lid and put it over your loaf of bread in the oven,  spraying it with water before hand and what a technique it is for getting the crust  just right.  I’m going to try it.

I’m so sourdough bread crazy that I called long distance today to order some pumpernickel bread from a bakery I found  almost 2 hours away.  I’ll be driving over there in a week and they only make pumpernickel on Thursdays… good thing I called in an order.  Their pumpernickel is made with a sourdough rye.   A piece of that toast with coffee from a percolator coffee pot is the ultimate breakfast.   The photo with the loaves is the shape of the loaf I get at the bakery.

I’m making sourdough starter!

Did you know that sour dough bread is easier to digest than regular bread?  I was  reading about it… Here’s  the neat  website to get excited about sourdough starter for your homemade bread.  This winter I might make sourdough pretzels and bagels too!  As I keep reading about it I realized I didn’t need the grapes, but they were in the freezer from the garden, so I put them in.  I’m supposed to  strain them  out after a few days.

12 hours after starting it. Took this pic after I added rye flour and more water and put it in a jar.  Hope I can put of a photo of a nice loaf of sourdough bread in a week or more.  I think Ill have bread-n-butter and coffee on Christmas morning.  What motivated me to get this going was  some great pumpernickel bread that I’ve been toasting and having with coffee.  Some pumpernickel recipes include sourdough starter and I think it’s in the loaf I have.

go here to read a page on feeding your starter   I’m learning as I go along!  This professional baker says fed your starter twice a day!  Thanks to cell phones, you can call home and have someone else  put in water and flour and stir if you are running errands .  OK, twice a day! I’m only on day 3.   I think I’ll make a sourdough pizza next week if it turns out.

Pomegranate salad

I’m going to serve this salad for Thanksgiving.  Doesn’t this salad look great?  When you have a heavy meal, something like this is needed- it’s light and crispy!

I bought two pomegranates  for Thanksgiving and decided  to make this with it.  I even have poppy seeds  that I bought a few weeks ago which will go in the dressing.  Only  one change- I’m using all sprouts instead of lettuce.  I have a lot of sprouts that are ready to eat.  I’ll be sprouting alfalfa seeds all winter.

great pomegranate salad recipe for your Thanksgiving dinner!

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/koshersaladrecipes/r/pom_apple.htm

just a pretty picture

                    Here’s how I caught this neat photo as the sun was in line with the 5 gallon jug: I ran out the back door to give some scraps to the chickens and I see the jug in the first photo- wow, I thought .  Ran in to get my camera, took the snapshot, fed the chickens and in two minutes time the sun is setting, so I take another picture .