The Bread Blogger

Ok, so I'm not the best at keeping up on my blog. I have found something else that seems to take up the little bit of spare time I spend on the computer--Facebook. Its been so fun getting hooked up with old friends on it. Wow, its amazing who can find you! Good thing?? Maybe not always, there are some people out there that you just really would prefer to leave in the past. But, all in all its been fun. See, I'm on a computer approximately 8 hours a day for work, so I have a hard time wanting to sit down at my computer to blog for entertainment when I do this sort of stuff all day everyday, blah, blah, blah. But, here to the new and awesome post!

This post is dedicated to a little something I've been trying to figure out. HOW TO BAKE BREAD. Its been fun, I'm striving for fabulous artisan type bread with crusty crust on the outside and chewy, dense middles, and of course yummy sourdoughs. So far, I haven't quite acheived that texture and consistency, but hey, its bread, its edible, so how bad can it be. I found a couple cool blogs for out bread bakers that make artisan bread sound like any idiot could bake it. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/ is a good one, really more than a person needs to know about baking bread.

The second part, the sourdough part, has been more successful. Jami (my mother-in-law), knows quite a bit about 'sourdough starts', so she helped me get one going. Its been pretty fun to mess with. If you don't know what a 'start' (the Mary Jane magazine calls it Mother) is, its so simple. Take a glass or plastic bowl, 2 cups flour, 2 cups water, couple TBSP of sugar and cover with a towel and leave on your counter for a few days. Stir once in a while. It will get bubbly and yeasty smelling, just like sourdough. It can last indefinitely. To slow it down I put it in the fridge after a few days. Ok, so Coby requested Sourdough Pancakes like his mom used to make, she couldn't exactly remember her recipe so I went online and found an old Cowboy site that had a stellar recipe. Its so awesome I'm posting it here for you all to try. We were a little skeptical at first, but loved it! I made a little adaption to it the berry part of the recipe, to make more of a sauce, but you can use whole berries if you prefer.

Sourdough Pancakes w/SourCream & Berries

Originated: Pampa, TX circa 1910

2 cups Starter (let this 'grow' for 5 or 6 days before using, so plan this recipe ahead)

1 Egg

2 TBSP Oil

1/4 Flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 TBSP sugar

Blend well, have a thin pancake-like batter texture. Cook hotcakes on a hot griddle (or a cast iron pan if you have one).

Berry Topping

1-2 cups of mixed berries

3 TBSP rasberry or grape jam

3 TBSP sugar

3/4 cup cold water mixed with TBSP of cornstarch

In a sauce pan, heat berries, sugar and jam. In a cup blend the water and cornstarch (to remove lumps). Once berries are warm, stir in the thickener and cook over med-low heat. Once it starts to gel up, you can adjust the sweetness with more sugar or add a little grape juice (or red wine even works). Its actually really hard to mess up.

Then, serve with a dollop of sour cream and a couple spoonfuls of berry sauce and of course, bacon or sausage! MMMMMMM!

Its cheap and easy and if you are feeding a large crowd its easy to adjust the size of the recipe. They've turned out everytime I've made them--proof that they are foolproof!

So, that's it for now! Stay posted to my blog, I'll have some really fun and exciting stuff to post soon! Happy Cooking!