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.

Blueberry Jam

I am on a quest of cleaning out all food products with ingredient that aren't natural and that I can't pronounce. My goal is to post about some of the new recipes that I try that turn out good. So here is the first of hopefully many to come.

Blueberry Jam - very simple, but takes a while

First I washed the berries and crushed about 9 cups full.

Add 6 cups of sugar.

Slowly bring to a boil.

Cook rapidly to gelling point.

(I cooked it at least 45 minutes)

Using a ladle I filled the hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.

Place on hot lids.

Then screw on bands.

Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

With this recipe I made 6 half-pint jar and 1 pint size jar.

It was a hit, even my picky children loved it.

Bye Bye Baby

Once again, it is time to say goodbye to the baby bed. It seems like we have been through this before. This time, it is just a little bit harder on mommy. There was still lots of baby things in the girls room. So this summer I am committing to cleaning it all out and (insert: sniff, sniff) getting rid of most of it. Of course, I have to save a few things. The problem is my "few things" has turned into a large pile! I'm working on it, it's definitely a process.