Sourdough Success!

Several weeks ago, I started experimenting with sourdough starter and recipes.  It's been an interesting challenge that I have actually enjoyed.  I love to learn new things and this was definately new for me!

I did have success making my own starter.  It wasn't hard, it just took a while (a week) so you have to be patient.  The Prairie Mom blog has turned out to be invaluable for this process.  I used it for the starter and had more success with her recipes than anyone else's I found.

Initially, after my first batch of starter, I made a recipe from a YouTube video I discovered.  I actually posted it here several weeks ago.  I ended up with two loaves of what I thought resembled bricks more than the bread I was expecting.  And, they were SERIOUSLY sour tasting.  Thinking I had done something wrong, I tried to keep the starter going so I could give it another try.  However, instead of putting the starter in the fridge, I covered it and put it on top of the fridge so it would be out of the way.  (I swear that's what I thought I was supposed to do since I wasn't going to wait that long to make more bread...) That was Mistake #1.  It molded and had to be thrown out.

Starter making had to begin again....another week of waiting.   During that week, I found Prairie Mom - thank God!  I used her method of taking care of the starter as well as her recipe for Yeasted Sourdough Bread.  Since the first bread I made was REALLY sour (the boys wouldn't even it covered with honey), I thought it would be a good one to try.  I made it twice, first the bread pictured below then the rolls, which are pictured above, and they were a huge hit!  Jackson was thrilled and has even told lots of his friends how his mommy makes the best bread ever!  He's been waiting patiently for me to make more...Yea!

After the bread, I also made homemade tortillas from the starter, which have also been well received by the critics of the house.  They love flour tortillas, but I didn't know what to use instead of buying them at the store until I found this recipe.  I feel great that they are getting to eat the things they want and are used to having - but they are healthy and actually good for them instead of being filled with empty calories and a bunch of chemicals/preservatives/additives that are actually harmful.  We've been eating them for lunch rolled up with PB&J....organic, of course. ;)

I will, no doubt, keep making tortillas and the Yeasted Sourdough recipe - they work really great for us.  However, since this process has begun, I have also realized that the first bread I made (which I thought was way too sour and way to heavy) was actually not a mistake.  About a week ago, I attended a Weston A Price meeting where everyone brought food to share.  There were a couple loaves of bread there - and they were almost exactly like the first I made that got thrown out.  Theirs was every bit as heavy as mine.  So....if you are venturing into this realm of breadmaking, just know that the starter is NOT going to give you bread that you are expecting if you are using whole wheat, rye, or spelt flour.  Don't freak out when your bricks come out of the oven!

If you aren't familiar with traditional food prep, the reason that sourdough is said to be more healthy than yeasted breads, is because of the fermentation process.  There are enzymes and good bacteria in the starter  that are actually beneficial to the "flora" in your gut.  Also, the process of fermenting and giving bread a long rising time, gives the phytic acid in the grain time to break down.  Phytic acid is part of  grains that inhibit the nutrients being processed by your body.  Grains (seeds) were created to propagate new plants, not to be digested as nutrients.  Soaking/fermenting breaks the acid down and makes the grain easier to digest.

Eventually, I want to get to a place that I am baking bread and other sourdough/soaked baked goods only once a month.  I think I can do it, although I'm sure it will be a process just like everything else.  I will also start to switch over to spelt flour from organic whole wheat.  And, eventually....I'd like to have a grain mill so that I can make my own sprouted flour.....but for now, I think I've made good progress.  No more buying the white/brown "fluff" at the grocery store.

In a pinch, I have found a sprouted sourdough bread at the health food store to use when I don't have time to bake.  I'll be leaving a loaf of it for Doug & the kids while I'm gone.

If you try your own starter or have recipes to share - leave a comment!

Getting The Garden Started

One of my goals this summer is to garden and produce as much healthy veggies as I can.  Hopefully, we will be successful enough to feed us throughout the summer and into the fall.  If I'm lucky, I hope to have enough green beans, onions, tomatoes and peppers to preserve for winter use.


I'm really new to gardening, I planted my first very small one last summer.  It did ok, but not quite as well as I had hoped.  This year, we are in a different house so we'll be building new plots and trying to plant as much as we can in the space we have available.  


Doug has applied for a job in Columbia, which might mean we'll be moving before the garden is actually planted or producing.  That's sort of a bummer as far as the garden goes.  We won't know for a few weeks, so we decided to go ahead and get started building one here and just see what happens.  


The location of the plots in the back have been chosen, but the borders need to be built and I've got to find a source for compost and other "soil" ingredients.  The soil here is mostly clay, so we are going to purchase what we want and build square-foot style beds.  This year, they will be deeper, hopefully about 12-18 inches.  If anyone has any suggestions for soil composition and depth of planting, or anything else garden related, I'd love to hear!


I've got tomato, peppers, cilantro, cucumbers, squash and zuccini started inside.  We have used all heirloom seeds from Baker Seed Company, in Mansfield, MO.   We'll also be planting green beans, onion, carrots.


I'll post before and after pictures when it is all finished.  

Bread Making Success!!

Well, the second time around was very successful!  If you are interested in a hearty, healthy loaf of bread I would suggest following the instructions of the video I posted yesterday.  The bread rose sufficiently, was hearty but not too heavy and had a great sourdough flavor.  I'll be using this one again, probably weekly, and trying not to buy bread at the grocery store any more.  Yea!

Homemade Sourdough Bread: Take 2

As I posted earlier, I tried my hand at making homemade sourdough bread.  I intended to post pictures for you, but I'm having technical difficulty doing that and, honestly, it turned out terrible.  I ended up with two bricks rather than loaves of bread.  I followed the video instructions as closely as I could, but they weren't very clear about measurements.  I'm not really sure what the problem was, but there most definately was a problem.

However, yesterday I spent some time researching and reading about sprouted flours and how much more healthy they are for you.  I found Breadtopia, which gave much more clear instructions about making sourdough from scratch, so I'm giving it another go round.

I was successful last week at making a viable sourdough starter from rye flour and water, so I am using that as my leavening agent and then using spelt flour for the bread.  I'm posting the videos, which are much more detailed and I have actually already stirred up my bread and it is rising now.  Hopefully, by evening, we'll have hot bread and butter to eat.  

www.breadtopia.com has many more videos and lots more information about all types of breads and breadmaking.


For a near-future project, I'm working on procuring a grain mill so that I can sprout spelt or whole wheat berries and grind my own flour.  The goal is to be making bread from sprouted flour, which is even healthier and easily digested than the normal whole grain bread.  

Home-Made Mayo & Ranch Dressing

Well, it's gonna be a full day here at our house.  I've already stirred up two loaves of bread that are rising and I've got my seeds and potting mix out to plant this afternoon.  I just found this video that is a recipe for homemade mayo, which I've been thinking about since we just started our traditional diet/lifestyle.  

As we all know, all these processed foods are killing us.  We are eating, usually overeating, getting more calories than necessary but not enough nutrition.  All the processing of food takes away the nutritional value and the very essence of why we need to eat it in the first place.  We are effectively starving our bodies, all the while they are becoming more and more obese.  

So, here at our house we've decided to get rid of the processed stuff and start eating like our ancestors did.  We've found that the Weston A Price diet is serving us well in that manner.  However, we are modern Americans, and so letting go of the processed things we've grown up on is a little overwhelming at times.  Ranch dressing was one of the things I wasn't sure how to make on my own and I knew it would be hard for us to give up.  Thankfully, now we aren't going to have to.  

This recipe if for mayo, but she adds on the key to ranch dressing at the end of the video.  I will definately give this one a try and wanted to post it here so I could access it quick and easy.

It's Alive!

Just this evening, after being set beside my crockpot which is boiling chicken broth, it has come alive and seriously looks like a bowl of boiling oatmeal (or something?) on the counter.  It's homemade sourdough bread starter.  I started last Friday with 1 cup of rye flour and 1 cup of water.  I put it in a sterilized bowl the next day and added those same ingredients again.  Every day after that, the same.

I left the house about 8:00 pm this evening to go to a friend's house.  When I returned at 10:00, it had bubbled over the side of the bowl.  I put it in a bigger bowl and have been blogging and surfing for a couple of hours watching it rise to the top.  I'm going to have to get an even bigger bowl before I go to sleep.  I've never seen anything like it.

I've got two more days to go, per the instructions, before I stop feeding it and use it to bake sourdough bread.  I can't imagine what it will look like by then.  I hope this works.  I love homemade bread!

I took pictures, but Harrison put my memory card reader in the toilet the other day, so the pics will have to wait for a day or so.   I assume it was an action in protest to the effort I was making at potty training.   I'm not for sure, but he is definately on track for covert operations job in the military....don't let the 2-year old jibber jabber fool ya!

Home-Made Laundry Detergent

"A penny saved is a penny earned", or so they say.  We've been trying for a while to cut back on our household expenses, and also to make an intentional effort to be a little more eco-friendly.  One of the things I tried last fall was making my own laundry detergent.  I was a little skeptical, and I hated to part with my great-smelling Gain.  I was pleasantly surprised how easy this detergent was to make, how good it worked, and how long it lasted.  It smells very clean and "lemony" because of the Fels Naptha.  You can even add essential oils to change the smell, if you choose.  It lasted our family of 5 about 4 to 5 months!  
Here's the recipe:

1 Fels Naptha soap bar, grated 

1 cups washing soda  

1/2 cup borax

5-gallon bucket

Leftover liquid detergent container

Grate the soap bar into a small saucepan (I used my food processor, but a hand grater would work fine.).

Cover with hot water.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continually, until the soap completely dissolves.   

Put washing soda and borax in a 5-gallon bucket.   Pour in the hot, melted soap mix.  Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved.  Fill the bucket to the top with more hot tap water.  Stire, cover securely and let set overnight.  The next morning, stir.  Mix equal amounts of soap concentrate and water in a smaller detergent container.  Shake.

For top-loading machines:  Use 1 cup of the soap mixture per load

For front-loading machines:  Use 1/3 cup per load

You can find the ingredients in the laundry detergent aisle at the grocery store.  The Fels Naptha is usually in the same place as the other stain removers.   I use Arm & Hammor Washing Soda and Mule Team Borax.  Each of these boxes cost less than $5 and will make at least four batches of detergent.  It all adds up to detergent that costs less than $5 per batch and lasts this family around 4 months.  Can't beat that!


Note:  This detergent is missing a lot of the chemicals and stabilizers the commercial detergent has.  The consistency is somewhat like pieces of jello sitting in water.  Don't worry about it.  Just give your container a shake before your pour.  


I've got to make some more this afternoon.  I'll post pictures for you so you can see how it goes together.