Still here, still creating

Over the holidays the whole family had a bout of stomach bug, yuk! That made it difficult to do much, or want to do much! I did, however, complete two batches of multigrain bread with my natural starter. It turned out pretty tasty the second go round when I used 3/4 bread flour and 1/4 whole wheat, as opposed to all whole wheat! It is a very dense bread, and very chewy, with a nice crisp crust. I don't think I would make it again, though, as it isn't my favorite homemade bread. Wanna hear a sad story? Whilst living in the house of the plague, I neglected my lovely starter. It is no longer lovely, unless you are one who thinks mold is beautiful. It went down the drain. I can make more! I am now a pro at starting starters; just not keeping them.

Starter Update

Well, my first batch of starter was a fail.  I thought that there was some action happening at one point.  I could see bubbles, however, my parents later opened up to me in saying that they really had to squint to see the bubbles I was talking about.

So, I decided to give it another go, since we still have almost a week until Christmas (when I wanted to make a loaf of bread with the starter).  I thought about it, and realized that the whole wheat flour I had used was pretty old, and maybe had a stale smell to it.  This made me think that any yeast particles in the flour would probably be dead.  So, I started a new batch of starter a couple nights ago using brand spanking new flour, and guess what?  I think I already see action 48 hours in.  No, for real this time.  No squinting!  AND, another good sign is that it smells sort of sour, just like the informational video said it would (it did not smell sour with my first batch).

So, I am really excited that I may have successfully captured some live, natural yeast!  Hooray!  It's alive, it's aliiiiiiiiiiiiiive!

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!