Sourdough Bread

My first loaf of sourdough bread was special.
The process of proofing the yeast, then
raising and kneading the dough is interesting
to do and makes for a great loaf of bread.
You first have to make a sourdough starter
which is not as diffucult to do as it sounds.
The bread has an irresistable good tart taste.

Ingredients:
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 packet yeast
4 cups flour, and more
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Place warm water in a bowl and disolve the sugar
in the water along with the packet of yeast.
Let sit for 5 minutes while you place the
1 cup of sourdough starter in a mixing bowl.
After the yeast has proofed place it in the
mixing bowl with the sourdough starter.
In another bowl combine flour with the
baking soda and salt, then blend into the
yeast mixture to form a loose bread dough.
Cover and let this rest for 30 minutes or so.
Then turn dough out onto a floured surface
and with floured hands knead it for 5 minutes
added more flour to help bring it together.
Place a bowl over the dough and let it rise
until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
Punch dough down and shape into a loaf.
Place on a baking sheet and cover with towel
to let rest and rise for 30 minutes or so.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Bake bread until brown and sounds hollow
when tapped on the side of the loaf.
Remove to cool before slicing if you can.
I couldn't wait and had a slice of warm bread.

Egg Salad

Easy to make with hard cooked eggs,
some mayonnaise and dried onions.
A good salad to serve over lettuce
or make some egg salad sandwiches with.

Ingredients:
4 large eggs, hard boiled
2 celery stalks
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon dried onions
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
Peel eggs and cut up into food processor
pulse just until chopped to your liking.
Place chopped eggs in a mixing bowl and
then chop up celery in processor add add
into mixing bowl, then add in mayonaise,
dried onions, vinegar and black pepper.
Use a wooden spoon to mix well and serve.

Turning Chicken SoupInto Chicken Pot Pie

If you have some left over chicken soup,
you can make a great tasting pot pie.
Heck your already half the way there.
Make a top only, one or two pie crusts,
or even top the pie with bicuit mix.
I just did this with one bottom crust,
and my soup had cooked egg noodles in it.

Ingredients:
1 premade 9" pie crust
4 cups left over chicken soup
1/4 cup flour, or more if needed
1 tablespoon frozen peas
1 tablespoon frozen corn

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Let pie crust come to room temp
then place it in a 9" pie plate.
In a large mixing bowl combine soup
with enough flour to create a pasty mess.
Pour this mixture into pie crust and
top with frozen peas and frozen corn.
Bake for about 1 hour or until done.
Let cool some before cutting into it.

Making a Sourdough Starter

I'm back into my bread baking hobby.
The cold of winter gets me to thinking
about baking up some loaves of bread.
One kind of bread to make is sourdough
that has a tangy taste and is good.
Here is how to make the sourdough starter.

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 packet yeast
2 cups flour

Directions:
In a 2 quart mixing bowl.
Use hot tap water or heat cold water
in microwave to about 100 degrees F.
Disolve in sugar and pour in the yeast
stir to disolve yeast and let sit for
about five minutes for the yeast to bloom.
Slowly stir in the flour and cover with
a towl to let rest at room temperature
for five days, stirring mixture once a day.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use
in your bread baking recipes.
Usually recipes call for one cup of starter
and when you remove starter, add in equal
amounts of water and flour to the bowl.
And leave the bowl at room temperature
for 1 day, then stir mixture and refrigerate.

Five Minute Pancakes

Using a boxed pancake batter makes it quick
to fry up a batch of silver dollar pancakes.
The secret to getting them nice and brown is
to add some vegetable oil to the batter.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pancake mix
2 cups water
1/8 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat a flat griddle on medium heat.
In a mixing bowl combine the pancake mix
along with the water and vegetable oil.
Drop batter by tablespoons onto griddle
cook until tiny bubbles apear on cakes
then using a spatula turn the pancakes
to cook and brown on the other side.
Remove to a warm serving plate and
serve with maple syrup and or butter.

Basic Bread Dough

I use this recipe for making a dough
that can be used as a starter dough
in making a pizza, bread sticks,
fried dough or any bread you desire.
It's easy to make and bakes up great.

Ingredients:
1 cup hot water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 packet yeast
1 large egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
Place water in a cup and then
stir in sugar and yeast.
Let sit for 5 minutes to proof yeast.
In a mixing bowl combine flour and salt.
In a bowl crack the egg and stir in oil.
Mix all ingredients together and let rest
for 20 minutes or so and then place on a
floured work surface to knead for two minutes.
Cover with the bowl it was mixed in to
let the dough rise until about doubled in size.
Turn bread dough out onto a floured work surface.

Now your on your own !

Easy Way To Roll Out Dough

They say you learn something new every day!
I learned a new trick for rolling out dough.
And believe me it works better than I thought.
Making a cinnamon stuffed bread, I needed a
large working surface for rolling out the dough.
Big enough to allow for me to spread on a
cinnamon sugar mixture on the bread dough.
You see I wanted to roll it up jelly roll style.
The thing to do is sprinkle water on your
kitchen counter or table and cover the area
with plastic wrap large enough for what you need.
The plastic wrap will not move one bit,
and after you roll out the bread dough and
move it to a baking sheet, clean up is a breeze.

Veggie Burgers

Burgers that taste great and contain no fat.
You just might become a vegetarian with these.
A good burger with your favorite toppings.

Ingredients:
One 15.5 ounce can black beans, drained
1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon cilantro
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a pan.
Add the pepper, onions, corn, and garlic,
stir fry for a few seconds; then cover.
Let steam for 5 minutes until softened.
In a large bowl, mash black beans with a
potato masher to create a creamy paste.
Stir the diced pepper, onions, and
garlic into mashed black bean mixture.
Squeeze and drain out excess moisture.
Whisk together egg, cayenne, cumin,
and cilantro in a separate bowl.
Stir egg mixture into the
black beans and vegetables.
Add breadcrumbs and stir.
Form mixture into 4 patties
and place on a prepared baking sheet.
Bake burgers for 10 minutes each side.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

I made and cabbage corned beef dinner today,
the Traditional American / Irish meal,
with yummy sides of cooked cabbage,
white potatoes and yellow carrots.
In the grocery store they had flat or
point cut packages of corned beef brisket.
Not knowing the difference between the two,
I choose the Point cut instead of flat.
It just looked a bit bigger and a better buy.
I simply slow simmered the corned beef in water
for about four hours or so and the beef was
just about as fork tender as it could be.
But !
Learning something about eating corned beef.
A point cut is a lot more fatty than a flat cut
and the corned beef flavor is about the same.
So when yo want a corned beef get a flat cut!

Ingredients
A corned beef brisket
Water to cover the beef
Directions:
Place beef with juices in a large soup pot.
Cover with water and bring over medium heat
to a slow simmer for about 4 hours or until
the corned beef brisket is fork tender.
Serve with cooked cabbbage, potatoes and carrots.
And your favorite prepared mustard as a condiment.

Home Made Round White Bread

Step by Step Instructions for creating
a fine tasting crusty round white bread.
I timed heating up water in the microwave
to the best temperature for disolving yeast.
It should be about 100 degrees F.

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh cold water
1 packet yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornmeal
a bowl of water for oven

Directions:
Place cold water in a glass measuring cup
and microwave on high setting for 40 seconds.
The temperature of the water should be about
100 degrees F. to desolve the yeast into.
Stir the sugar into the water to desolve,
then pour the yeast in the cup of water,
stir to disolve and let sit for 5 minutes.
Mean while combine flour and salt in a mixing
bowl and when yeast is all nice and bubbly
add the water to the flour and mix until
all the water is absorbed into the flour.
Turn dough out onto a floured work surface
and knead for minutes creating a ball of dough.
Place mixing bowl over ball of dough to allow
the dough to rise and double in size,
this should take about 1 hour.
Place an ovenproof dish of water on the
bottom rack of the oven to provide moisture.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Dust a dry baking sheet with corn meal.
Place bread dough on baking sheet and bake
for about 45 minutes or until done.