sourdough keeps growing
May 11, 2010
My jar of sourdough starter keeps growing. I have gotten into pancakes, and last weekend I decided that buckwheat sourdough pancakes would have to be the next thing. I made them on Sunday while my sister was in town, and then started a loaf of bread. The starter still had a little residual buckwheat, and the loaf of bread that I made turned out a bit darker and denser than the last. I am quite curious to try it…probably for breakfast in the morning.
I have gotten a little lazy with measuring, and seem to be getting the feel for what makes a good dough. My favorite recent trick is to dampen the towel that is resting over the bowl while the dough is rising. It seems to prevent the outside of the dough from drying out which allows it to rise more easily (I think, anyway..).
pie season
May 5, 2010
Some people have hunting season, or fashion season, or basketball season. I have pie season. It starts as soon as I can grab hold of something fresh and fruit like, and lasts until I have run out of pie fillings, or I am just sick of pie (some time around Thanksgiving).
I guess pie season officially kicks off with rhubarb. The strawberries are fast coming, but the rhubarb is here. And my friend Hilary brought me a bundle last night. As soon as I got home, I mixed together a batch of dough, and chopped the rhubarb.
Pie is pretty much the perfect combination of butter, flour, sugar and fruit. And a dash of salt here and there.
I don’t really add much else, and things usually turn out okay.
First thing this morning, I rolled out my dough, sugared the rhubarb, and assembled the pie. Because I didn’t have quite enough time to bake the pie at home, I brought it to work with me, and popped in the oven at the store. (One of the many benefits of working at At Home..)
The sugar sprinkled on top made a nice little sparkle, and the pie barely dripped! My mom made a parchment paper drip catcher in case of any big spills. I usually just let it drip, and consequently, my oven (and house) can smell terrible on occasion.
And finished pie, ready to be eaten in the garden! (picture by Chloe!)
more asparagus, more sourdough, enter grill pan
May 4, 2010
I have continued to make the sourdough bread. The starter, which lives in my fridge, continues to sour more and more flour and water. And supply me with tasty bread! Each time I make a loaf, I change a few things here and there, and of course manage to forget what I have changed in the meantime. But I have a pretty good system going. On cold days I let the dough rise in a very slightly warmed oven, and this speeds things up a bit. And I make sure to let the starter have a good amount of time one the counter, open to fresh air, as this is what carries the naturally occurring yeasts! I love that the starter is tailored to my climate, to my kitchen!
Today I got home, grabbed some asparagus, grabbed some bread, grabbed a grill pan, and made a grilled cheese sandwich.
I preheated the pan first (with the lid on so that it would heat as well). Then I grilled the asparagus, basting it from time to time with olive oil and salt.
Then I sliced the bread, brushed with olive oil, and pressed in the pan. I wanted to cook both sides of the bread a little before I added cheese. Which I did. Then I pressed the sandwich with the heavy top, and got nice little burn marks across the sandwich! (I might have heated the pan up a little too hot, but fortunately I like crispy things..)
Asparagus finished, sandwich finished, a simple salad finished, and I ate lunch. With peppermint tea.
The whole event was soundtracked with loud and boisterous Hungarian folk music!
bread butter and morels (a mushroom like feast)
May 1, 2010
We didn’t find too many morels this year. They were either hiding, not there, or one of the two. But some of the ones that we did find made their way into the skillet. With a lot of butter.
It is always fun to watch as they brown, delicately crispy.
And they shrink! A lot.
We ate them with sourdough toast (bread batch number two, much lighter and fluffier) and butter.
The finished product, on the new table.
a very simple soup
May 1, 2010
This soup was inspired partly by the very seasonal delicious veggies available, and also by a soup that I had in Japan a few years ago while visiting my brother, who was living there at the time. The noodles and broth were served at a temple that traditionally made the dish every spring when a specific green was available. I think that the noodles were actually made out of the plant, and I really can’t remember what it was. The soup that I made was mostly inspired by the idea of the Japanese soup.
I gathered a bag of nettles, and picked a batch of asparagus from the patch. Remembering the Japanese noodle soup, and wanting to make something simple and nutritious, I steamed the nettles, and set the broth and greens aside. Meanwhile, I boiled some buckwheat soba noodles, and on the other burner, I sauteed the sliced asparagus.
For the simple soup, I cooked the nettle broth down a little, finely chopped the nettle greens, and arranged the soba noodles in a bowl. I set the greens on top, and then poured the boiling hot broth over the whole thing. I seasoned the soup with a little soy sauce, and that was it. Very very simple, but delicious.
experiments in sour
April 27, 2010
A friend gave me a jar of sourdough starter a few days ago. It came well fed, and I stuck it in the fridge for a few days, a little afraid of the contents.
I have made sourdough things in the past (friendship bread, etc), but not for a long time. My friend’s starter came from King Arthur Flour company, and is supposedly nice and old. To turn the starter into bread, there are a few steps. It seemed a little tricky the first time, but I think that I can get the hang of it.
The first step is to feed the starter. I fed mine, and then let it sit out to proof. When it is proofing, little bubbles begin to appear on the surface and a bit of foam builds up.
I set my fed starter out for about 4 or 5 hours. It was cold yesterday, and I think that this slowed things down a bit. But it did eventually foam, bubble, and start to smell nice and sour. I took out 2 cups of proofed starter to make my loaf of bread, and stuck the rest back in the jar in the fridge for next time.
Then I added the proofed starter to flour, sugar, oil, and salt to form the dough. After mixing and kneading, I set the bread in a slightly warm oven to rise. It was taking a while, so I left it overnight. First thing in the morning I shaped the loaf, and popped it back in the oven to rise until doubled in bulk…it took a little longer then I thought, so I handed the loaf over to my mom (I had to go to work..).
She put the bread in her oven, in a preheated cast iron stewpot. Baking bread in a covered pot in a hot oven creates a nice crispy crust. Something about the more consistent temperature, and the moisture being trapped in the pot (I think).
The finished bread was nice and crispy on the outside, a little flatter than the regular yeasted bread that I make, and smelled a little like alcohol. And it wasn’t too sour, which my mom liked. I am excited to keep trying this recipe, changing things here and there to perfect it!
a tidy pair (or two) of socks
April 25, 2010
Last week I was not motivated to finish these socks. It was spring. Warm and sunny, and who needs socks when it is 80 degrees? But today, as I struggle to light a tiny fire and enjoy the pitter of rain on the roof, I also finish the socks. All four of them.
Sew in all the ends, turn them right side out, and decide what to do with them.
Maybe I will roll them up into little balls, and tuck them away for the fall. I love seasons for many reasons, including the excuse to finish something and tuck it away for later.
Or mabye, I will use them in my rubber boots to keep my feet warm and dry when I am stomping about in the woods.
a long, not so rewarding hunt
April 24, 2010
They are out there. The morels, fungi, jack-in-the-pulpets, and other things. The nettles are up to my waist, and the peepers are hopping around everywhere. 
So why can’t I find them? Skye and I tromped through the woods, searching this morning, and found two little morels. Argh.
They are sitting in my fridge, soaking in salt water, to be fried in butter later, and eaten on toast, or some such thing.
Why can’t we find the patches, and bring in a load like usual? I am beginning to wonder if I have lost my morel vision. Or maybe they are taking their time, waiting until the perfectly prescribed moment to pop up. Regardless of whether or not I am around.
I guess that I just have to keep at it.
spinning
April 24, 2010
Spinning. Straw into gold, or for the non-fairy-princess (me), spinning wool into yarn. Or nettles. Or milkweed fluff. My mind has taken off running.
For now I am spinning wool. Into yarn. Bumpy, lumpy, one ply, two ply yarn. Maybe I will knit a doll sweater out of it. Or some hand warmers?
My good friend Jeanne is a master spinner, among other things. She used to raise sheep and goats, shear them, and wash, card, dye and spin her own lambswool and mohair. Jeanne got me started on an extra spinning wheel that she has. It is a traveling wheel, which means that it can fold up into a little bag, and go on the road!
Today I took the three bobbins full of yarn off the spinning wheel, and wound them onto a coat hanger, fashioned as a mini skein winder.
To keep the skeins nice and neat, I tied little cotton ties around in various places. It can be a real mess if a skein gets out of control!
When you spin yarn, it remains twisty and in order to use it, you need to “set the twist,” so that the yarn doesn’t unravel and twist up into little knots (as it has below).
So I gave the yarn a bath to set the twist.
I soaked the skeins in a bowl in my sink for about 30 minutes, in water and wool wash.
Then I set the yarn out to dry. It must dry with something weighting it, or the kinks and coils will remain. I rigged a system to weight two of the skeins, and the third I slipped back on the hanger to dry stretched. The skeins are hanging from a bar, balanced on my drying rack. A second bar is drawn through the bottom of the skeins, and weighted with an empty glass jar (securely fastened). They are by the fire, but not in direct sunlight (according to directions).
sunday eating
April 18, 2010
Asparagus Crepes with Smokey Pink Sauce
Warm Quinoa Salad with Cilantro, Lime, and Olives
Spiced Banana Pear Crepes with Star Anise and Vanilla
Lemon Lime Water
I have been in a banana mode recently, so after the crepe batter was mixed and in the fridge to wait, I prepared a crepe filling of spiced bananas and pears.
I put some butter in a tagine on the stove top, and added star anise and vanilla. Then bananas, pears, and pear butter for sweetener. And a dash of cinnamon! For extra liquid, I added a little juice from the pears. Oh, and a little lime zest and juice. I stirred the mixture on the stove top for a few minutes, and then placed it in a low oven (325 degrees) for about an hour.
Meanwhile….asparagus time!
I picked what we had in the garden, and washed the ends and sliced them for crepe filling number two. I sauteed the asparagus in a little butter and a tiny bit of water, until they were a vivid green. Then I set them in a dish in the warm oven.
Skye made the crepes, which had a little cornmeal and whole wheat flour (one third of the total flour used). The mixture was a little different, but turned out well. We were having issues with the burner heating unevenly, but by the end of the project, after all the crepes were made, we seemed to figure things out.
To top the asparagus, we made a white sauce with tomato paste (a pink sauce I guess), to which I added a dash of smoked paprika and some cheese. We also added some fresh chopped parsley.
In addition to the crepes, I made a warm quinoa salad, with cilantro, lime, olive oil, olives, and cubed cheese. Simple, quick and slightly warm. I served the salad on lettuce leaves, which we used to scoop up the salad and make little bundles.
For dessert, we had sweet crepes. The bananas and pears cooked down, and were warm and mildly sweet, and the star anise was delicious! The flavors brightened with a little squirt of fresh lime.
Because it was such a beautiful day, we set up a table outside in a sunny section of the yard. The table was made out of one of my plant shelves (now empty as the plants have moved outdoors) and the chairs were logs.
After lunch we went for an adventure in the woods, looking for mushrooms (which we still didn’t see…), and other things. We did see a coyote, the bluebells, and other interesting things…
living in the woods and making stuff 
