Dough: 100% Sourdough - Take 2

Another Sourdough attempt. It keeps looking better!

Mix:

2 cup starter

1 cup warm water

1 cup flour

Mix. Let sit overnight.

Add:

3 cup flour

2 T oil

4 t sugar

2 t salt

Rise 3 hours. Shape. Rise 1 hour. Bake 350 for 1 hour.

Tweet

Dough: Everyday Sourdough Bread

Some white bread recipes make a loaf that is very similar to the commercially available bread. This is fine if you have children and want to send their PB&J's on bread that won't embarrass them. I am over being embarrassed by my bread. I like a little heft to my bread - even the white bread. This loaf is perfect - white, fluffy, a little sour, a little crusty. The perfect blend. The perfect way to use up some starter.

Everyday Sourdough Bread from The Wooden Spoon Bread Book

Proof:

2 cup water

1 T yeast

2 T sugar

Stir in:

1 cup starter

3 cup flour

Beat. Cover. Let rise 1 hour. Stir down. Beat in:

2 T oil

2 t salt

Add:

3 to 4 cup flour

Knead. Shape. Rise. Bake 45-50 minutes.

Tweet

Dough: Making a sourdough starter

Alright, this month is all bread! Breads of every kind - yeasted, quick and sourdough. Yes, the dreaded sourdough bread. But don't be a-feared! Sourdough breads are easy, fun, and tasty! Oh-so-tasty!

The important thing to remember is that a sourdough starter is basically a pet! You have to feed it and make sure it is happy. When the pet is young, it requires much more care but once established it only requires weekly/monthly attention. It's fun to name your starter - mine is called London - why? because if Paris Hilton had a child she would name it London....

Day 1
Mix 1 tablespoon rye flour, 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour and 2 tablespoons pineapple juice. Stir. Cover. Let sit for 24 hours.

Day 2
Repeat day one.

Day 3
Repeat day one.

Day 4
Mix 1/4 cup of starter, 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, and 1/4 cup water.

Repeat day 4 for about a week.

After starter is established, you can leave it in the fridge for a week. When you want to use it, remove from fridge, let it come to room temperature then feed it.

The starter will get stronger and stronger each week and each time you use. Use it frequently and it will start to make really great bread!

Tweet

VeganMoFo 2011: Bread

This year Vegan MoFo will be all about bread! And carbs of every kind!

To kick it off please check out some of my previous bread related posts!

Red Bean Paste Pancakes
Sourdough Onion Bread

Additionally, clicky-click on the 'dough' tag to get more bread related fun!
Back tommorrow (and the next day and the next...) with more!

Tweet

Drinking: Raspberry T'ej (Mead)

Everyone should make this Ethiopian-style honey wine! It's so easy - just mix and let sit/ferment for a few weeks. Then enjoy! This recipe came from Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz.

Raspberry T'ej (Mead)
2 cups honey
9 cups water
2 pints raspberries

Mix together honey, water and raspberries. Let sit for 3 to 4 days or until it starts to bubble. Once it is bubbling, strain off raspberries, and transfer to a glass 1 gallon carboy. Cork with rubber stopper and airlock. Leave for 2 to 4 weeks, or until bubbling slows. Bottle. Place in fridge and enjoy.


The carboy and airlock cost me about 10 bucks at the local homebrew store. The mead has a faint aroma of raspberries and quite yummy. It's so easy to make mead that I already have plans to buy another carboy and make some more. Yum yum!

Have you made mead? What's your favorite recipe? Any hints for a newbie?

Tweet

Dough: Sourdough Onion Bread

Homemade Sourdough Onion Bread, otherwise known as the first 100% sourdough from my starter that has a decent burst!

Making the Sponge:

Mix together 2 cups starter, 1 cup water, and 1 cup flour. Cover with clean dry towel and let sit overnight. The next day, thinly slice 1 1/2 cup red onion and soften, with oil, in a skillet. Dry toast 1 tablespoon caraway seeds. Add the room temperature onions, caraway, 3 cups flour, 2 tablespoons oil, 4 teaspoons sugar and 1 teaspoon salt to the overnight sponge. Add 2-3 cups more flour to make a firm, smooth dough. Knead. Rise 3 hours. Shape. Rise 1 hour. Bake at 350 for 1 hr.

Prep notes:

I've yet to do the ice/preheated pan to achieve a really crusty crust. I'm just paranoid - I think that the glass on the oven door will explode with the heat change or that somehow I'll light the apartment on fire. I really should get over this....

Tasting notes:

The final dough is quite soft. The baked loaf smells really good when baking and the end result is a nice, soft crumb. The bread smells of onion, but the end result is not very strong. I think that increasing the spices or crushing them before baking may lead to a nice end result.

If you are enjoying my bread recipes stay tuned for Vegan Month of Food (Vegan MoFo). The site has not uploaded the new information for this year but I will be blogging about bread everyday in the month of October! Stay tuned!

I am submitting this post to Bread Baking Day and Yeastspotting.

Tweet

Drinking: Margaritas

With summer drawing to a close, there are only a precious few more sunny, summer days to laze on the patio drinking margaritas! Don't let them go to waste.

I have been on a margarita kick as of late. The cause? I found a vintage icepet for two dollars in the thrift store. I wasn't sure whether it would work, but I for 2 bucks - I'd take the risk! And work it does! It makes the most divine, snowy, shaved ice! 

 

Classic Frozen Margarita

1 1/2 ounce tequila
1/2 part triple sec
1 part lemon juice

Shake. Pour over shaved ice.

Anyone have margarita flavor ideas? or Daiquiri's? Or any other splendid ideas for shaved ice?
The summer is drawing to an end and I don't want to waste it!

Tweet