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Farm Kitchen:  Bread the MaryJane Way  |
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chessie
True Blue Farmgirl
403 Posts
Karen
Vista
CA
USA
403 Posts |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 13 2009 : 08:02:23 AM
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aww...thanks guys! I am having fun! If anyone has any suggestions of a recipe you would like to see please let me know!
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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ParisKnight
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Kathy
Boston
MA
12 Posts |
Posted - Mar 13 2009 : 1:19:02 PM
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Melissa - glad the bread turned out for you!
I'm a little late to the discussion about lumpy flour/starter. I use KA organic all purpose flour and haven't had a problem with lumps. I'm glad the KA flour is working for me because it is from a neighboring state and readily available here in Massachusetts. Of course, it is a little more expensive then their regular flour but I don't think it is as expensive here as some of you farmgirls out west and down south are finding it.
There did seem to be more hooch this week. It had a pretty distinct alcohol odor earlier in the week but that has lessened and today it was more yeasty smelling. Can't wait to bake tomorrow! I think I will try MaryJanes cinnamon raison bread. |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 13 2009 : 6:04:15 PM
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Kathy I worked with the KA All Purpose and was not dissapointed in it. I think it is a viable alternative to MaryJanes flour if you cant purchase that. I grew up in Vermont about 10 miles from King Arthur Flour!
(I wouldn't reccommend the Bread flour though. I had a lot of trouble with it!)
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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Jennie From Maine
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Jennifer
Monmouth
Maine
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 06:00:06 AM
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| I'm making my first loaf today...can't wait to try a nice thick piece with lots of homemade butter! |
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mimilou
Farmgirl in Training
13 Posts
Mary Lou
Lancaster
PA
USA
13 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 07:40:23 AM
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| Today I am making the banana cake - tasted and it's delicious also made the carrot cake and I'm making the multi-grain bread. I am using the arrowhead mills organic unbleached white - so far it's working great and it's about 5.99 for a 5lb bag, much cheaper than the KA. My mother is approx. 1 month old and is bubbly, happy and producing wonderful breads/cakes. It's so much fun each week deciding what to make and then opening the oven to this delicious smelling/tasting bread. Thanks everyone for the recipes and tips. |
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candela59
Farmgirl in Training
35 Posts
Peggy
White Swan
WA
USA
35 Posts |
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GailMN
True Blue Farmgirl
471 Posts
Gail
Hutchinson
Minnesota
USA
471 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 08:28:00 AM
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Baking Day!! I am making the Banana Cake and Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies - my mom found the recipe in my Grandma's recipe book - I will try it and post if they turn out - LOL. Also found a recipe for a plain sourdough drop cookie, but thought I could make a thumbprint out of it and use some of my homemade jams - not sure I will be as successful as Julie, but am going to give it a try.
Gail
Farmgirl Sister #506
A Smile a Day . . . |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 1:44:22 PM
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Of course you will be successful! I'm no super hero! Just your average everyday kinda girl! The cookies sound great! I would ove for you to post a recipe! YUM!
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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lupinelady99
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Lisa
Massena
New York
USA
113 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 5:53:41 PM
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I haven't had any problems with hooch, lumps or mold. Use the KA flour, bottled water and the damp cloth. Once a week I faithfully wash the bowl and the towel. It is still relatively cool here in northern New York though. Might consider increasing the washings to twice a week in the warmer weather as a precaution. Mother is fed faithfully two to three times a day because there has been so much baking that I've wanted to do and passed on 2 cups to a friend yesterday so she could begin. She is sends off a really great scent and is all happy bubbles. Now that she is established, I tend to bake whenever the mood strikes me rather than just by the schedule. As a precaution I am thinking about taking a couple cups of mother and put it into cold storage standby in the refrigerator for back up. I saw how to do this on another site. Now that I have a happy starter, can't imagine life without it (as most of you can understand by now).
I believe in the magazine that MJ talked about covering mother with a plate on the top of the bowl (loaned my copy to my friend so I can't double check right now). Now that might help with the crust that some are getting on the top, but lessen the troubles of the damp cloth method if it is too humid in your area? Now if your bowl is deep enough there ought to be enough "head space" over mother to allow her to breathe. You'd be taking the plate off and on for feedings so, new air would be getting into the bowl too.
Made an applesauce cinnamon quick bread with it earlier in the week and that was terrific. Then yesterday I made a chocolate cake with it. The cake turned out amazing but sadly I did forget to take photos of it! Will try to remember to add the recipe this week to our growing list. The added sourdough seems to make a really nice "big" cake that wasn't heavy tasting. Next I want to get back to the MJ style bread and maybe some pizza dough.
Another warm weather storage question that I want to ask the group as we worry a little about food preparation safety. Once we start getting those hot summer days I wonder if it would work to put the starter bowl into your oven (when the oven is off and has been off a while of course) to insulate it a bit during the hotest part of the day? Now here is my logic...the oven is insulated to keep the heat in for baking, so why wouldn't it be a little cooler inside there on those "dog days" of summer if you keep the door closed and the light off?
http://www.myspace.com/lupinelady99 |
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City_Chick
True Blue Farmgirl
509 Posts
Christina
Omaha
Nebraska
USA
509 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 7:35:51 PM
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Hey girls~
I started "Sally" my sourdough starter today. It has been on my to do list since I got the issue but I just kept putting off because this is like my 5th attempt at making a sourdough starter. I know the recipe says to use purified water. At the store I only saw distilled. Are they the same? Will it work in my starter or do you think I am already off to a bad start?
Hugs~
Christina
Farmgirl Sister #195
City Chick & Friends Chapter Mama
http://justacitychick.blogspot.com/
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GailMN
True Blue Farmgirl
471 Posts
Gail
Hutchinson
Minnesota
USA
471 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 8:13:19 PM
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Christina - I use distilled, I am in week 4 and no problems. Good Luck with "Sally", this time will be the charm.
Gail
Farmgirl Sister #506
A Smile a Day . . . |
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gramax18
True Blue Farmgirl
106 Posts
Elinor
meeker
Colorado
USA
106 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2009 : 9:11:00 PM
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I have a question. I read some time ago that you can dry some of the mother to save for later. I was wondering how much of the dry mother you would mix with the distilled water to get it started again? My daughter is coming from FL. next week and I would like to send some home with her.
Today I made Julie's pumpernickle bread and it is really good.Also gave some of mother to a friend.
Thanks again for all of the fun!
Elinor |
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amberjsquirrel
Farmgirl in Training
27 Posts
Amber
Norfolk
VA
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 07:49:37 AM
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Thanks Lisa--I forgot about the plate on top! I guess it wouldn't hurt to go back and read the original article once in awhile. Ha ha. After reading the 66 pages here, I have forgotten some of the bits in the article.
I know what you mean about the sourdough starter changing your life! I haven't had success with baking the bread YET, but I have had a lot of fun adding it to other things with the other recipes.
Question: Is there a general rule of thumb when adding starter to a recipe? I would like to experiment with my recipes.
Speaking of experimenting, I just started reading a very good book called "The Improvisational Cook" by Sally Schneider. I recommend it. In the spirit of the book, this morning when I made the sourdough pancakes, I said "why not?" and poured the whole rectangular griddle full of batter leftover from our breakfast. After it cooked on one side, I flipped it over and cooked other side. Now I am going to roll it up with whipped cream and strawberries and slice it. My batter was very thin, so the pancakes were more like thickish crepes, but when it had the sides of the griddle to hold it up, it puffed up more. Very delish!
This is my first-ever non-recipe thing to do in the kitchen and I think I did it because of all the inspiration I get from you girls. Thanks!
I hope everyone had a delicious breakfast today, too!
Amber
"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries." --A.A. Milne |
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GailMN
True Blue Farmgirl
471 Posts
Gail
Hutchinson
Minnesota
USA
471 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 08:36:33 AM
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Happy Sunday Morning - it is a beautiful day in Minnesota. May get to 60 degrees today. Last night I made a batch of Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies. The cookies are more cake like and soft, we like them and they are oh so easy. Here is a picture and recipe.
My mom found the recipe in my grandmother's cookbook (Mom knew I had become addicted to sourdough, so she is feeding my addiction with recipes LOL)
Grandma M's Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups starter
2 teaspoons vanilla
6 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
chocolate chips
nuts (optional)
Combine sugar, butter, shortening, add eggs, starter and vanilla. In another bowl mix flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture, mix well. Add chocolate chips. Mix well - let rest for 15 minutes. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes. Makes approximately 8 dozen.
HERE IS WHAT I DID: I used my big stand mixer and made 1/2 a recipe, I used all butter instead of shortening, and next time I may cut back on white sugar - wanted to see how they turned out. I covered my cookie sheet with parchment and sprayed the parchment with cooking spray. I used a teaspoon and dropped onto cookie sheet, then dipped the back of a teaspoon into flour and flattened the mound of cookie dough. I baked for 10 minutes, this gave the cookie a nice warm bottom and cake like soft cookie. We like them.
Thank you for the encouragement Julie, I am becoming a very "daring" baker - I usually stick to things tried and true. My husband is loving the experiments. Next week pumpernickel bread!
I also found a plain sourdough cookie recipe that I am going to try midweek - I will post my results - I needed to find cookie recipes, I have several grandchildren that are always looking for cookies.
I also made the banana cake yesterday - very good! This morning I took some pancakes out of the freezer that I had made last week - warmed them for a few seconds and they were very good. Next week I think I will make another batch to freeze. When I froze them, I waited until the pancake had cooled, then put them between layers of parchment, then slid into a heavy duty freezer bag. I will be able to use the parchment and freezer bag over and over. Someone said in an earlier post that this is an addiction - but what a good addiction. Oh for the love of sourdough!
Gail
Farmgirl Sister #506
A Smile a Day . . . |
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lupinelady99
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Lisa
Massena
New York
USA
113 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 09:19:23 AM
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"Any bread recipe (that does not call for quick-rise yeast) can be altered to use a sourdough starter — just substitute the yeast/water/sugar mixture with a cup of sourdough starter."
That is what I found in doing some reading.
As for drying out the starter I did find this link http://www.breadtopia.com/drying-sourdough-starter-for-long-term-storage/ if anyone wants to check that out.
As for cookies there actually are a ton of recipes on the internet. If you just do a search with the words cookies and sourdough there were a lot of results. I did that one day last week and started to copy recipies. Then I figure I can try a few and tweak them as needed. The search comes back pretty well with using sourdough and whatever it is you want to bake (bread, cookies, rolls, cakes, etc.) so the sky is the limit I guess. Still want to go over to the public library and browse their selection of books for recipes one afternoon when I get a chance too.
http://www.myspace.com/lupinelady99 |
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lupinelady99
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Lisa
Massena
New York
USA
113 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 09:34:00 AM
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Oh and I was just looking over my notes from the reading I've done and someone suggested watching yard sales, online auctions, used book stores and flea markets for cookbooks from the late 1960's and early 1970's because a lot of them are loaded with great sourdough recipes from the "back to the earth" period. Many of the books were locally produced or are now out of print.
http://www.myspace.com/lupinelady99 |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 11:02:18 AM
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Lisa I think you meant to say substitute for yeast/water/flour.
The actual measurement I have used in the recipes I have altered so far is
1 cup starter = 1 Tbs. Yeast, 1/2 C. Water and 3/4 cup Flour
To REACTIVATE a dried starter:
Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried starter into a bowl.
Add 1/4 cup of water amd stir to help dissolve the chunks of starter.
Add 1/3 cup of flour and stir.
Cover bowl with a towel and let sit at room temperature about 12 hours.
Remove towel and stir well. Recover and let sit another 12 hours.
Begin feeding 1/3 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of water as recommended by MaryJanes Recipe.
The starter should be ready to use in any recipe in about 36 to 48 hours.
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 11:05:08 AM
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Gail - Those cookies look fabulous! I really wish I had some chocolate chips!
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 11:11:36 AM
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I have some Sourdough Brownies in the oven right now and will post the recipe later today!
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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Ronna
True Blue Farmgirl
1891 Posts
Ronna
Fernley
NV
USA
1891 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 1:43:04 PM
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| After starter is spread thinly on a sheet of parchment, waxed paper or silcone, allow it to dry thoroughly. In NV, it's fast, in the humid south may take several days. You can also just leave the remainder when it's transferred to a new jar. As it dries, it will flake off to the bottom. Then whirl it in a blender or food processor to make it more like a powder. Can put it in a heavy zipper bag and crush with a mallet or rolling pin also. A fine powder will mix easily with warm water when you're ready to bring it back to life. I use less water to begin, about the same amount as the dried starter. Whatever works for the person doing it is fine. |
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Ronna
True Blue Farmgirl
1891 Posts
Ronna
Fernley
NV
USA
1891 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 1:50:34 PM
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Any recipe that would benefit from the addition of sourdough flavor can be used. Yeast ones as well as baking powder. Add about a cup of starter at the end of mixing. As long as the consistency of what you are making is about the same as the starter, it should be fine. I keep my starter about like pancake batter, some like it thinner or thicker.
Unlike baking a cake, precise measurements in bread baking are not so critical. Make it enjoyable, not a job and you'll bake more often. |
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Sewsmartie
Farmgirl at Heart
7 Posts
Martie
7 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 3:02:35 PM
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I learned a lot today everyone! Thanks for the index and the tips as well as a few new recipes.
I did not bake bread last week, but my "mother" is smelling ever so sour, a good sign. I did not feed her the last few days. Here's the question??? If I did not take 2 cups from her last week and neglected her for two days this week, should I still take just the 2 cups from her and continue as before each day? This means I will have just a bit more in the "mother". Does it make a difference??
You may recall that my earlier attempts (twice) have been unsucessful. I am hoping it may work better this time round. Also have any of you used your bread machine while baking from the "mother"?
A real city girl married to an old farm boy.
Martie
Sewsmartie |
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 3:13:10 PM
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I have missed a feeding or two (like when I had the flu!) and it didn't seem to have any negative effect. I would just take out what you need and continue on as usual.
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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willowtreecreek
True Blue Farmgirl
4813 Posts
Julie
Russell
AR
USA
4813 Posts |
Posted - Mar 15 2009 : 3:14:52 PM
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Sourdough Cake-Like Brownies
1 cup melted butter
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sourdough starter
1 tbsp vanilla
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups sugar
¾ cup flour
1 tsp salt
½ cup chopped nuts
In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and cocoa, stir together well. Add sourdough starter, vanilla, eggs, sugar, flour, salt, and nuts. Stir between each ingredient addition to combine all ingredients well. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Served with a bit of PeanutButter Ice Cream! YUM!
Farmgirl Sister #17
Blog
www.willowtreecreek.wordpress.com
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Edited by - willowtreecreek on Mar 15 2009 3:22:10 PM |
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Farm Kitchen: Bread the MaryJane Way |
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Bread the MaryJane Way
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