Eisley's Own Bed

Our poor sweet Eisley has not had a bed to call her own since we took down her baby bed. I thought it was a great idea to let Ashtyn share her full bed with Eisley. After all, I remember my Grandmother telling me stories of how she and her sisters had always shared a bed. What a great idea! It's cheaper and space saving!

Or maybe not...
Eisley has been going back and forth between sleeping with Ashtyn in "their" bed and sleeping on the the boy's trundle, under their bunk beds. She prefers to "sleep by Jo". However, at bedtime it is frequently discussed who "has to" sleep with Eisley. Poor Baby Girl! Then again, I guess she does tend to talk alot, get up and down frequently, take a long time to get still enough to fall asleep, and once she did give Ashtyn that black eye.

To add to the sad story, she randomly makes a pouty face and says "miss my baby bed." awwwww... I have never had a child miss their baby bed and tell people for no reason "my baby bed lost"

She really doesn't even think she has a room. She sleeps in the boys room and her stuff is in Ashy's room.

I have thought through all the possible options, and thanks to my sister's help on Saturday, I got EIsley her own toddler bed. And she loves it! As Brent was opening the box, to put it together, she said over and over again "dank you daddy. " She is a sweet girl and I love to see her so happy!

Thankfully I still had all her baby bedding!

Eisley's little bed matches Ashtyn's big bed

Time to Make the Bread

After feeding your starter flour and water for a week, it is finally fermented and ready to make bread.

Because it is fermented it actually breaks down those difficult to digest phytates. Phytates basically bind up the minerals such as zinc, iron, magnesium, copper, and phosphorus and prevent your body from being able to absorb them. This is one of the healthiest bread you can make because you are actually able to absorb and use the nutrients that are released. But that is another story for another day.

To make the bread you need:
2 cups sourdough starter
1 tsp sea salt
3/4 cold filtered water
2-4 cups whole wheat flour

Step 1: take remaining starter and pour it into a clean jar, seal it with a lid and store it in the refridgerator until you are ready to use it again. *Remember to pull it out once a week, feed it, leave it out on the counter overnight, and then put it back in the fridge in order to maintain it.*

Step 2: mix the starter and the salt in a clean glass bowl.

Step 3: stir in water.

Step 4: mix in flour, 1-2 cups at a time (amount will vary depending on the consistency of your starter.

Step 5: knead your dough for 8-10 minutes (you can use a machine if you want to!)

put the dough back in your bowl

Step 6: Cover and let the natural yeast go to work to make the dough rise. In 3-4 hours my glass bowl was filled to the top. It could take much more. Remember this is the slow, old fashioned way. I had mentally prepared myself for it to take all day, so I was surprised at how fast it went.

Step 7: Knead the dough again for about 5 minutes.

Step 8: Cut your dough in half.

Step 9: Form to round balls and place in stone or glass pan.

Step 10: Allow the dough to rise in the pan on average 1-3 hours. (I had to leave my house in 2 hours, so  I only let mine rise for 1 hour)

Step 11: Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Not very pretty for my first try, but it tasted great! 

Be sure and let me know how yours turns out! And I'll start working on some more recipes for our sourdough starters!

Early to Bed

Ben Franklin once said "Early to Bed, Early to Rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Can I tell you that this quote has been stuck in my head the last 3 days (and nights!). I told Brent that I think the Lord is really trying to impress this principle on me. I am known to go to bed exceedingly late and still wake up fairly early.

This morning, I was reading today's homeschool devotional that is emailed to me and the following verse jumped out at me:

"It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even sleep"

Psalm 127:2

I always feel like there is so much that needs to be done, that I can't get done during the day.
So here is the question I had to ask myself "Am I trying to do more than God intended me to do?"

Day 7

I didn't take any pics today b/c it is basically the same thing. Once again, the top looked frothy. I mixed in 1/4 cup water and 1/2 cup flour. Mine is still very soupy even adding less water. So tomorrow is the big day! Just to give you a heads up you will need more water, flour and salt. I use Redmond's unrefined sea salt. Also, you will need glass or stone baking pans.

Day 6

It overflowed! I knew I might have put too much in there. That just goes to show flow your instincts! No problem though. I'll simply take some out. I am choosing to discard it, however if you are totally against wasting it you could stick it in the fridge to use later.

I took the lid off and was surprised at how much the smell had changed from yesterday. The fermentation is working b/c it smelled very strongly like alcohol.

Today I am feeding it with less water. 1/4 c water and 1/2 c flour. Stir it well. Then put it in a clean jar. Tomorrow the exact same thing and then Friday...we get to make the bread!

Day 5

Sorry, I'm slow to post Day 5 instructions, but I'm sure by now you know what to do!

Today mine had this frothy layer on the top and kind of a strange smell. It is hard to describe. Not necessarily a bad smell, but not that yummy yeasty smell either. Does that make sense? But we will get there! Keep going.


So this is mine after I finished with it today. It hasn't appeared to be rising very much so I went ahead and added todays mixture (1/2 c whole wheat flour and 1/2c filtered water) into my quart jar without removing any. Tomorrow I will have to take some out. I have heard that when you have to remove some it is okay to go ahead and use it in some recipes? I'll try to research this a little more before the next post!

*On a side note, the soupier your starter is, the more sour it will taste. My family likes our not quite so sour, so tomorrow I will begin to thicken it up a little by feeding it 1/2 c flour and only 1/4 c water.

Day 4

This is what mine looked like this morning...



Feed your starter again and pour it into a clean jar. Be sure and mix it well. Mine is smelling sour. How about yours? Mine is also getting close to the top of my jar. If it gets too full, you can either move it to a larger glass container or bowl. Or you can simply take some of it out, like say 1/2 cup out and replace with your new mixture.

Day 3

TIME TO FEED YOUR DOUGH!

This is what my starter looked like this morning. It had a little bit of yellowish liquid on top that is commonly called "hooch". You can choose whether to mix it back in or pour it off. I chose to pour most of it off the top. Did you smell it today? It is starting to smell a little sour! This is just the beginning.



Then, the same as yesterday, feed your starter by mixing 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. Don't forget to pour it into a clean jar.
Cover and set aside. That is it! See how simple this is? We will be doing this for a total of 7 days. Then on the 8th day we will make our bread! I can't wait!

Sourdough: Day 2

This is what my starter looked like this morning.




Today's task is easy...
mix 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 water together, then add it to the first jar. mix it to aerate it well. then pour it in a clean jar. That's it! Cover it back up with the cheesecloth and set it back on your counter until tomorrow. (If you look closely you can see that mine is starting to get bubbly. )

My Sourdough Journey: Day 1

The next step on my journey of feeding my family whole/real foods is sourdough. Not only for bread loaves, but also for pizza dough, pancakes and whatever else I can discover along the way.

So why don't you join me in my first attempt (hopefully there won't be a need for a second) at making a homemade sourdough starter? I will be making it with simply flour and water and will be completely dependent on naturally occurring or "wild" yeast and bacteria.

Day 1 is quick and easy.

Here is what I am using...

*1 quart glass jar
*1 cup whole wheat, organic flour
*1 cup filtered water
*1 piece of cheesecloth (I bought mine at Williams Sonoma, but supposedly you can find it at Walmart and hardware stores in the paint department. Apparently, more people use it to strain their paint than to make cheese?)

Step 1

Pour flour in jar.

Step 2

Pour in filtered water.

Step 3

Mix with wooden spoon or whisk until free from clumps.

Step 4

Cover with cheesecloth and allow it to sit on your counter overnight or up to one day.

That is it for Day 1. Check back tomorrow for Day 2 instructions.