Starting with a starter

I am still here!  Wow, what a way to start a blog . . . MIA!  Anyway, just because I haven't blogged, doesn't mean I haven't been busy accomplishing my goals!  For one thing, tis the season for secretive present projects that I may not post about until after they have been given to their prospective owners!  For another thing, as mentioned in the beginning, I am a full time working mom with too many interests and projects!

All of that aside, I have been struggling all week to come up with an interesting article to share.  It's not that I haven't read interesting things here and there, but nothing that I felt worthy of blogging about.  Until now.  My parents (particularly my dad) suffer from the same interest ADD as I, and currently they are getting really into bread making.  I have dabbled in bread making myself in the past, and really enjoyed it.  It is so much easier to do than one might think -- and I am not talking about using a bread machine.  There is no need for that crap!  So, I decided I would make a nice loaf of bread for Christmas dinner.  This lead me to Pinterest bread pins, which lead me to a neat blog called "Chocolate and Zucchini", and her recipe for a lovely looking multi-grain loaf.  However, this loaf calls for a sourdough starter.  This might turn one off of using this recipe, but, I have always wanted to make a sourdough starter!  So, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make a starter to share with the family as a Christmas present, and from which to make the multigrain loaf for Christmas dinner.  Therefore, this find actually killed THREE birds with one stone!  An interesting article, a present for my bread-making parents, and another baking adventure!  Score!

Here is the link to her article on how to create your own sourdough starter.

I will definitely share with you the process and outcome of this recipe!

Speaking of baking, I never updated, but that Volcano cake recipe from Paula Dean was definitely an "enjoy!" with an exclamation mark!  Sorry, there were no leftovers to photograph -- too good!


I ended up using this pineapple juice method: http://www.breadtopia.com/make-your-own-sourdough-starter/

I hope it works!