Friday, January 29, 2010

Mmm...SO good!

I was called to work yesterday so it was late in the day before I got to the bread making.  Yeah, I got a couple of small loaves of bread made...but I also HAD to make up a pan of cinnamon rolls too!  Just what I needed right before going to bed!

I've replenished the starter so I'll be keeping this going for a little while.

Something will be going in the crock pot this morning before I head out to work...hmm...maybe a filling for grilled sandwiches? beef stew?

No big plans for the weekend....other than shutting myself in this sewing room and getting these jobs done!  A load will be lifted if I could just get them done! Valances to finish, a pillowcase to make, pants to patch and pants to take up the waist in....then I can move on to finishing up some things to get listed in my etsy shoppe!

Have a GREAT weekend!!!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The recipe....


Good Morning All! The sour dough starter is started and coming along nicely~yep, that's a blackberry pie you see there~I had made some crust last week and still had some in the fridge that needed to be used and I found blackberries in my freezer I didn't know was there, so what to do?!  Anyways....here's the recipe for the bread....of course it's taken from the same cookbook I told you about yesterday...

Sour Dough Bread

1 1/2 cups sour dough starter
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons margarine
1/4 cup warm water (105*F-115*F)
1 package Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
5 - 6 cups flour

Prepare sour dough starter.
Scald milk.  Stir in sugar, salt and margarine; cool to lukewarm.  Measure warm water into large warm bowl.  Sprinkle in yeast; stir until dissolved.  Add lukewarm milk mixture, starter and 2 1/2 cups flour; beat until smooth.  Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough.  Turn out onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes:  Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top.  Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch dough down; divide into three equal pieces.  Form each piece into a smooth round ball or a 14 inch tapered roll.  Place on greased baking sheets.  With a sharp knife, make several cuts in crisscross fashion on tops of round loaves or make several diagonal cuts on tops of long loaves.  Cover; let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Bake at 400*F about 25 minutes, or until done. 
Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
Enjoy!
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There is also a recipe in this book for Onion Sour Dough Bread and I'll share that recipe with you another time.
There's a lady in our church who also uses her sour dough for making cinnamon rolls and they are wonderful!
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I had no sooner hit the post button yesterday when the sun decided to show itself....it was off and on thru out the day...but I think mostly off!  Who knows about today....at one time they were calling for rain.  I sure hope not...errands to run today!
Time to get busy....have a great day!!


 




Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Windy Tuesday...Sour Dough...

I just got back in from doing chores...I'm not sure if it's snowing now or that it's just the wind picking up what fell yesterday. Yeah, so much for that beautiful sunshine we had on Sunday.  We woke to it snowin' and blowin' on Monday!  I had to be out in it yesterday, but anything that I thought I might need to do in town today....well, it can just wait another day!  I do have plenty to keep me busy here!


Before I get too far into anything and as soon as I defrost here with this last cup of coffee, I'm going to mix up a sour dough starter.  I'd been thinking about  homemade sourdough when just a couple days ago, I saw FB friend Laura's photo of the sourdough she'd just made...it looked SO good! That's all I needed! 
The recipe I use, that I'm sharing with you today, comes from a Fleischmann's cookbook I got years ago...one of those send in so many empty packets from the yeast and so much money for shipping and handling and they'll send you a cookbook.  Do food companies even do that anymore? 
Well, here's the recipe....
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Sour Dough Starter

3 1/2 cups unsifted flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 package Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
2 cups warm water

Combine flour, sugar and undissolved yeast in large bowl.  Gradually add warm water to dry ingredients and beat until smooth.  Cover with transparent wrap; let stand in warm place for 2 days.

To use in recipe:  Measure out amount called for in recipe and use as directed.

To replenish starter:  To remaining starter add 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup warm water.  Beat until smooth.  Store covered in warm place.  Stir before using.  If not used in one week, remove 1 1/2 cups starter and follow directions for replenishing.

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I will share the bread recipe tomorrow.  Time to get busy! 

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Sunday Sun...



Can you see it?
There between the clouds?
 It's the sun!!
 I don't even remember the last time I seen it in my little corner of the world!
I had to put on my sunglasses to drive home today!

Just a quiet day here.  John's watchin' football  so I'm busyin' myself with other stuff! 

I hope you've had a great weekend and that you had a little sunshine today, too!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Good Morning...

Seems I let another week slip by me without posting!  Is it just me or is January flying by?! 
  After a day of alterations at the store yesterday, I fixed us a simple supper of soup and grilled cheese, checked email then snuck in a little time to sew and stuff these little Valentine ditties....I still need to put on the finishing touches and they will be listed in my etsy shoppe but most likely not until sometime tomorrow! 


I hope to have the 'fresh eggs' done soon, may not be til sometime next week.... I've got some things I totally forgot about or have simply put off doing that I've got to get done this week!
Off to put a pot roast in the slow cooker!
I hope all is well in your world.....
Have a wonderful day!


Monday, January 11, 2010

*New* Items Down on the Farm...


It took awhile, but I finally got a couple of new items listed in my etsy shoppe!
I just finished the stitching on this ~Fresh Eggs~. piece.  I will be finishing it into a table mat or runner and will have it listed soon, too!  The original pattern wasn't for a redwork stitchery, but as a painting, if I remember correctly, but since I'm not that talented, I chose to stitch it instead! This pattern by Darlene Luker was featured in a 2004 issue of Country Marketplace.

We finally got a break in the cold weather.  It's still cold but I'll take 30 degrees over 0 anyday!!

Have a GREAT day!  Stay warm!



Friday, January 8, 2010

Is it ~springtime~ yet?


This is out my front window yesterday.  We were to get 4"- 5" but who can tell?  With all the wind gusts and drifting, how can you get an accurate measure?!  I started for town yesterday just before 11:00....the snowplows still had not been down our blacktop road!  UGH!!! I made it a mile before I decided it just wasn't worth it and I turned around.  It threw off my whole day!  They finally made it down here with the snow plow around 1:30...but for what I had to do, it was too late so will be heading that way shortly.  It's snowing again this morning!   I know, this measly little 4"-5" isn't anything compared to what some of you get!  But  I've already had enough......I'm ready for spring or to start going south for the winters!
Hope you are having a great week....stay warm!!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

~2010~ HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The Christmas tree and decorations are put away for another year...and all too quickly it will be time once again to get them out.  I got to spend a couple days at home this past week so that gave me time to take things down and put them away.  It also gave me some time to get things back in order in my sewing room.   With all the stashing and wrapping and last minute projects, it got to lookin' pretty bad in here.  I've taken a little time to go thru some things and thank goodness, I've kept the buying of those "just in case I wanna...." items under control so I don't have alot of things to get rid of.  However, I did come across several of those UFO's that we all have, and I'm happy to say that I have finished a couple of them already!  I'll show or list them in my etsy shoppe soon.
In all of this clean up, I'm reminded, too, of all the photos I so desperately need to get put into scrapbooks!  I don't know how I let myself get so far behind.
We had a quiet New Years Eve...John didn't get home til late but before midnight.  We spent New Years day at home and that's also where I plan to spend my day today.  I'm hoping to send a short list with John so he can pick it up while he's in town later.  After a few household chores, maybe I'll get to work on one of those UFO's curled up in my chair near the fireplace.
Have a great day and wishing you many blessings in this new year!