I am baker hear me ROAR! The Fall Into Flavor Road to Redemption!

When it comes to certain things I am a bit obsessive. I once spent an entire winter trying to make homemade marshmallows. I saw Ina do it one afternoon and it looked really simple and really cool. So again I asked the age old question “How hard could it be?” Well by now I am sure you know the answer to that one. It was a bit more difficult than it looked but after multiple failures I succeeded. But then it was winter time and I didn’t have anything better to do. You all have not lived until you have had a cup of hot chocolate with a homemade peppermint flavored marshmallow floating on top. It was totally worth the effort and I probably will never do it again either. I will live with the fond memories of how fabulous it was! But I digress…

After the shame of the Great Sourdough Disaster of 09 I was determined to prevail and emerge from my kitchen the victor.

Emeril, Better Homes & Gardens, Martha, Betty Crocker, Alton what do these people have in common? All their sourdough recipes or starter recipes include additional commercial yeast.

So although it might be possible to create a completely wonderful sourdough starter ala natural without the help of an additional yeast boost, I found that method to be unsuccessful as well as unhealthy for the state of my mental well being.

I forged ahead into batch number 4 ( I think!!!) and found that after I added a packet of yeast to the starter I was able to achieve the desired results. My sponge was wonderful frothy, bubbly and it had that wonderful pleasant sour yeasty aroma. As I placed my dough out onto my board it even felt different. There was a lightness to the dough with the familiar soft springy feel to it. It felt like a bread dough should feel.

There is not much difference here other than the dough had much more elasticity and it had a much softer feel to it! It was all starting to come back to me…

Into the bowl for the first proofing. I placed the bowl on top of the oven and then went outside to help my husband work in the yard.

Y’all it not only double in size, it TRIPLED in size.

So much so that it rose up over the sides of the bowl and spilled out on to the top of my oven.

Bla bla bla, more kneading, more forming into loaves, placing in bread pans, bla bla bla bla, set aside for the second proofing, bla, bla, bla.

 

About and hour later the bread has risen up and formed into wonderful loaves of bread that actually look like loaves of bread.

Into the oven @ 350 for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Out of the oven and they look GREAT!

I am redeemed!

I am baker hear me roar!

 

But wait…no forklift or crane was necessary to remove it from the oven and I was not in need of the husbands chainsaw either.

It sliced up perfectly and had the wonderful soft chewy texture a sourdough bread should have.

 

But here is the proof. This was all that was left after dinner on Saturday night.

Here is the recipe for the starter, however I would not REPEAT NOT NOT NOT recommend that you use the recipe he includes for the bread as he dose not add any additional yeast.

So here is the recipe that I use:

San Francisco Style Sourdough Bread

1 envelope yeast

3/4 cups warm water

2 cups proofed sponge or starter (see link above for instruction on this)

2 teaspoon salt or 1 tablespoon coarse salt

2 1/2 to 3 cups bread flour

You may also include a couple tablespoons olive oil if you like but it’s totally is up to you. It will not affect your bread if you leave it out!

In small bowl dissolve yeast in the 3/4 cup warm water and let it sit a few minutes until dissolved and active. You will see a froth start to develop. If it does not develop and there are no bubbles then your yeast is old and not any good. Check your expiration date on the yeast.

Pour the starter in the bowl of your stand mixer or large bowl and add the dissolved yeast and olive oil and salt.

Mix thoroughly.

Add the flour in small increments, I use my 1/2 cup measure. When the dough is the desired consistency it will start to pull away from the sides of the bowl and form a large ball on the paddle the mixer. If you have a bread hook once your dough has formed you may switch over to the hook to kneed the dough.

Note: You may need to adjust the amount of flour. It might not need all 3 cups or you might need to add more it just depends on the flour.

When the dough is formed pour out onto floured surface and dust the top of the dough ball with flour as well. Kneed a few times to form into smooth ball. The dough should be soft and elastic but not sticky.

Place in a bowl with a light coating of olive oil or vegetable oil and set in a warm place until doubled in size. This should take at least an hour but it could take as long as two or more.

When it has double in size take you fist and punch down the dough and then turn it out again on to a floured surface and dust the top of the dough with additional flour.Kneed a few more times until dough is smooth and soft to the touch.

With a sharp knife cut the dough into equal parts and form into loaves.

You can also form into small rolls or small round loaves it’s your choice. If you are forming into round loaves you can take a sharp knife and make some decorative cuts across the top. It is hard to do this when you are using traditional bread pans.

Form into loaves and place in greased loaf pans an set aside in a warm place until doubled in size and the tops form a nice round top.

Transfer to hot oven about 35o degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes.

For a really golden brown top you can brush with and egg wash or give your loaves a light brush with some olive oil before going into the oven. But do this very gently you do not want to disturb the risen dough and cause them to fall.

Let bread cool on wire rack or cutting board for at least 15 to 20 minutes.

Then slice it up, slather with butter or in our case low fat heart healthy margarine with flax oil in it that we pretend is as good as butter and your in fresh bread heaven.

Well my next batch of proofed sponge is sitting on the kitchen counter as I type up this post. I am so thankful that my bread disaster is behind me and I can move on to more pressing matters such as the life and death decisions of menu planning for thanksgiving.

Apple or Pumpkin, Turkey or Ham, Sweet Potato or Mashed…at least I know the bread will be OK!

Blessings

Robin

Third time is a charm…at least I think it is, well maybe NOT! Fall Into Flavor – The Great Sourdough Bread Disaster of 09!

Here is my contribution to this weeks Fall Into Flavor hosted by Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee.

However some days in the kitchen are not pretty and this is one of those days and as Alton Brown says “Great Chefs have bad days and I’m sorry to say that you will not be the next Iron Chef!”

Well folks this was a bad day!

The Great Sourdough Bread Disaster of 09!

After savoring all the wonderful sourdough bread in San Francisco I decided to do a bit of research on sourdough starters. I found copious websites and multiple recipes for starters.

I began this journey into sourdough fully confident that as an experienced bread baker I would be able to achieve some measure of success. I have actually made sourdough starter before. It was years ago and the bread it yielded was wonderfully flavorful and had that unique sour taste and chewy texture.

How hard could it be to recreate? I always love this question, don’t y’all?

There seemed to be some rare fungal issue or lack thereof to be more specific going on in my house. My first attempt at cultivating a starter crashed and burned so to speak. Things started out fine but then for what ever reason simply fell flat. Undaunted I began again only to succumb to failure yet again. I began to wonder if there was some bizarre yeast killing cloud hanging over my kitchen.

It’s a good thing that flour is inexpensive or I would have given up after batch number 2.

Reluctantly I watched my second batch of failed starter swirl down the disposal. Upon further reading of the recipe there was a small tip hidden in pages of the instructions. It suggests that you not use a metal utensil to stir the starter with. 

What was I using to stir my starter…my trusty wire whisk, major bummer!

I began again FOR THE THIRD TIME!

Here is my theory!

Sometime you just aren't holding your mouth right or…keeping your kitchen blinds open.

Having stirred up the third batch and set aside on my kitchen counter, for what ever ransom reason I chose to set the container on the very end of my kitchen counter. I returned home Wednesday afternoon to find that the sun was coming right into my kitchen and falling directly across the jar of starter. This apparently was just the boost it needed. As I walked over to investigate I was excited to see that it had nearly tripled in size, it was frothy and bubbly on top and had that distinctive sour yeasty aroma.

  

It doesn't look very attractive but if I am reading the direction properly this is what is supposed to look like.

So after three tries success at last!

Once the sourdough culture has been achieved then you move on to step two which is to make what is called a sponge.

I follow the directions which are extremely complicated (NOT) by adding  more flour and warm water and then stirring and set aside AGAIN!

Bread making is an exercise in patience, a lot of patience.

Any how here’s a visual for you. I am standing in my kitchen gazing down into the bowl of starter intently. A minute passes and then another minute and I’m still staring down into the bowl looking for signs of life. I step away from the bowl and give it a few more minutes and then return to my trance-therapy with the bowl.

“Is that a bubble?”

“Is that a white frothy foam appearing?”

 

I cover the bowl with plastic wrap and fall back on the trusted and tried secret spot in my kitchen.

Then I wait.

Occasionally I will wander over inconspicuously to peer into the bowl. At one point I even threw caution to the wind and moved the bowl to a wonderful ray of sunshine that was falling across the kitchen table.

After about an hour or maybe it was closer to two this is what it looked like!

I’d call that a white frothy foam wouldn't you!

So at last…I add a little flour, a little sugar,  a little olive oil and two cups of proofed starter and well …

 

you get something that resemble this.

Once your dough is sufficiently kneaded you place your dough ball into an oiled bowl and then wait (again with the waiting) for it to rise.

I place a pan of really hot water in to oven under the bowl to help with the proofing. The instruction I pulled off the internet also said to turn your oven on for a few minutes and then turn it back off. When you can comfortably place your hand on the side of the oven it is just right to proof your bread. If it is to hot to touch then your oven is to hot and you need to keep the oven door open for a few minutes until you can touch the side.

More waiting…

Then seeing as I had several hours to kill that gave me ample time to clean the mess in my kitchen.

Almost three hour later…

The dough has doubled in size…

Punch down the dough and turn out onto a floured board.

Kneed for a few times to form into a small round loaf.

At this point I had slipped in to what can only be describes as a sourdough haze.

I place the dough in a greased pan and with a sharp knife I give the loaf a few nice decorative cuts across the top and then place back in the oven for the second proofing.

No pictures, why you may ask?

Well aside from being in my sourdough haze my granddaughter arrived and well taking a picture of a raw ball of dough sitting in a pan just went out of my head.

Anyway…once the loaf has been formed and placed in the pan (y’all can just use you imagination here) then…you guessed it. More waiting. The loaf has to go through yet another proofing.

Enough with the proofing already.

Finally…at last…and they lived happily ever after the bread comes out of the oven.

It smells good, it looks good…

but wait there’more…this labor of love that was labor intensive in preparation was finished.

I pulled it from the oven it looked like this..

 

however if felt more like this

I used my serrated knife to slice it however it would have been better served to have used the hubs chainsaw to hack through it as it had the texture 0f this…

I may use the remaining chunk as a door stopper or paper weight!

The moral of this bread disaster.

It would have been easier to get on a plane fly back to San Francisco, drive down to Fisherman's Warf, buy a loaf of sourdough bread and then fly back home in time to serve it for dinner.

The reality of this bread disaster is that now I am upset frustrated, irritated, down right angry and determined to bake a successful loaf of sourdough bread. I feel like Kim and her No Bake Cookies.

People have been baking bread for  thousands of years, I have been baking bread for over a two decades and I will not be defeated.

I am baker hear me roar!

I will be reviewing recipes on line, looking at my cookbooks and trying to figure our what went wrong.

So until then keep me and my kitchen in your prayers. A bread obsessed perimenapasual woman can be dangerous!

So this is my contribution to this weeks Fall Into Flavor only I would not recommend that you let this loaf fall on anything as sever injury may occur.

Blessings

Robin

A Journey to Trees

My how time flies.

Back in March when the first shovel full of soil was turned for my raised veggie garden we began the process of transforming my back yard from the barren wasteland it is (click here to view a short video from a previous post on My Garden:Now and Then)  to an actual backyard that I really want to go out into and spend some time in.

I am beyond excited to share that we now have two trees in the backyard. I was not only jumping for joy  but I was doing the flat out happy dance, several unrestrained bouts of glee erupted in fact.

September 12, 2009

We began in September with a simple $5.00 can of spray paint from the Home Depot and a bottle of vegetation killer from the local hardware store. We marked out the contour of the bed and sprayed to kill the grass and then stepped back and waited….

September 28, 2009

We ended up having to spray the grass twice to get it completely killed. In “hindsight” when you look at it from this angle the bed does sort of look like a giant butt sticking up in the air!

October 3, 2009

Once the grass was completely dead the really hard work began, or I should say the hard work for my husband began. The trusty tiller was brought round and the task of breaking up the dead grass and the hard Georgia Red Clay was underway. The tiller weighs about 150 pounds and it is a bit cumbersome. I have tried to stand behind it and manage it but sadly I do not have the upper body strength or the confidence that I will not plow over my foot to operate it.

I do however have sufficient skills to rake up dead grass.

Five bags of dead grass to be exact!

  The ground is ready to begin planting!

 

November 6, 2009

Finally at long last the day had come. In preparation of the multiple household projects (moving the existing fence line, installing a shed in the back yard, etc.…) the hubs installed a trailer hitch on the back of my van. We borrowed a small trailer from a dear friend and we headed off to a local landscape suppler.

Y’all it was tree heaven.

 

And guess what! The one of the trees we wanted was ON SALE! You can’t really see it very well but this is my River Birch (above). I faithfully stood guard while the hubs went to fetch a sales associate to stake our claim on this tree.

Y’all remember the scene for “Finding Nemo”

Nobody was getting my tree!

Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

I also purchased two rosemary plants. I had the most wonderful rosemary bush at my old house. I would sometimes just go out and run my hands over the bush just to enjoy the fragrance. I would also snip a bunch of sprigs off and place in a vase to fill the house with that wonderful aroma. I can’t wait for these to get planed! And guess what…they were ON SALE TOO!!!!!!!!!

We loaded up our trees, the kind lady at the nursery helped us get them securely tired down and tarped for the ride home.

 

I feel like a proud momma! This is our Kwanzan Cherry Tree.

It will bloom in the spring with soft pink blossoms. This is a picture of the flower. We had one of these flowering cherry trees at our old house and it was just beautiful.

 

I wait with great expectation for next spring to see the blossoms from our new tree!

 

 

This is our River Birch. It was the one on sale (Whoo to the Hooo) Y’all the bark is just beautiful.

It peels off in paper thin curly queue's and the wispy branches and leaves sway in the breeze.

 

This morning I awoke early and as I waited for my coffee to brew I stepped to window in my kitchen to say good morning to my trees. God is good in all things because as I was saying hello to my trees there was a small flock of blue birds flitting around from branch to branch in my River Birch.

I have trees and the blue birds are back y’all.

My happiness abounds…

Trees

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

       -- Joyce Kilmer

Blessings

Robin

Golden Gate Park

There were so many beautiful places in Golden Gate Park. I probably took over 100 images in the park alone. I will spare you the entire slide show, but here are a few of the more memorable or amazing sights we experienced in the park.

It’s long and it stretches all the way to the ocean.

There is a museum, a botanical garden, a conservatory of flowers, a dahlia garden, a rose garden, a carousal, a Japanese Tea Garden, free concerts, a playground, ball fields, ballroom dancing and much, much more. 

We took a stroll around the Dahlia Dell. It was just beautiful.  The Dahlia’s were in bloom and they were showing off in a BIG way!

Dahlias remind me of my grandmother.

         

The Shakespeare Garden

There were chairs set up. I assumed for a wedding. How beautiful would it be to get married in this picturesque setting.

I think all total we saw four couples at various times during our vacation in the midst of there wedding. We saw one in Napa Valley, one on the beach, one in the tea garden and then a couple walking down the streets of San Francisco in full wedding attire.

It was the weekend for weddings.

The Japanese Tea Garden

Words just fail at times.

There was such a sense of peace and simplicity as we walked around the Japanese gardens. The symmetry, the balance and just how peaceful it was. There was just something so soothing about being in those surroundings.   

  

  After we finished walking around the amazing gardens we took a short break at this tea house. We enjoyed a steaming hot cup of Japanese tea as we looked out over the Kio pond. There was a slight chill in the air. The warm tea going down was a wonderful comfort for our tummies as well as our hands as we cupped the stoneware mugs.

Here is the last newlywed couple we saw. Hands down this is where I would want my wedding pictures taken. I can not think of a more beautiful and memorable spot to commemorate the joining of husband and wife.

Here is my final video of our trip, I hear sighs of relief from all over blogland, it is just under two minutes and it kinda sums up our day at Golden Gate Park!

As Forest Gump would say “and that’s all I have to say about that!”

This concludes the “Never-ending Travelpalooza” on our trip to Napa Valley & San Francisco, October 2009.

THE END

Blessings

Robin

At last…I have socks…and deodorant and dog food and…

In a perfect world baring unforeseen appearances from lizards and my perimenapausal forgetfulness I would have had my socks about two weeks ago!

After lunch with my sweet friend who you all love and read regularly. She stepped up and assumed the role of my trusty Wal-Mart guide. Skoots1mom took pity on me and my lack of a shopping gene. She guided me safely to the exact location of the socks I was looking for.

AND…THEY…WERE…ON…SALE!

 

And for no reason what-so-ever I decided that while I was picking up the forgotten items from my previous shopping trip. Reference question #2 from my last Random Dozen I felt compelled to document the experience with my trusty cell phone camera.

Now I will say that I did have to wait for several minutes pretending to decide what kind of dog food I wanted while the Wal-Mart employee at the end of the isle was cleaning up a spilled bag of kibble. Why? well so I could snap this picture and the only person who would think I had lost my mind by taking a picture of the dog food isle at the Wal-Mart would be all of you.

Thankfully the world, and me are now safe from the threat of an offensively aromatic husband and the dog is no longer starving, and yes that is baby food in my cart as well.

Grandma needed to stock the panty with strained peas, carrots, pears, bananas, prunes, applesauce, squash, sweet potatoes and rice cereal.

Oh and now I have socks!

Blessings

Robin

Random Dozen #10

Joining in on the Random Dozen fun this week with Lid over at 2nd Cup of Coffee

1. It's early morning, about 2:00AM, and you're driving home. You come to a red light and sit there. There is no one in sight for miles around. Do you wait it out or run the light?

If my reasoning skills are still functioning at this hour I would probably sit and wait for the light to turn red.

2. If you had the chance to re-do the last 24 hours, would you change anything?

Yes! I would have checked the dog food bag and called my husband before heading out to the Wal-Mart. Now I have to go back for deodorant and we are nearly out of dog food, DRAT!

3. When you reply to someone's comment on your blog, do you reply in your comments or go to her blog and comment? (Or email her)

Just a sticky pet peeve of mine, but I wish everyone would have there email enabled on blogger. If I see a comment with the noreply-comment@blogger.com it frustrates me. I may not always want to respond to a comment but when I do I want to be able to respond right away. I don't want to have to take the time to look on their profile for an email address. Then once I've looked and it isn't listed well then that just send me over the edge, well not really over the edge we are still talking about blogging, not world peace or the nuclear disarmament, but anywhoo…

4. Your favorite Disney movie is:

Beauty and The Beast, I love a happy ending!

5. Do you recycle?

YES!

6. Games of strategy or games of chance?

I can play a mean game of spider solitaire, I love trivial pursuit, I don't understand poker, and I usually loose at Clue, my new favorite is Picturekia, but I love Janga, word puzzles…

7. Do you have any recurring dreams?

No! I usually don’t remember my dreams :(

8. What did you learn from your first real job?

I will fall back on my ever faithful “How am I supposed to remember that far back???” but my first real job was at a local newspaper in the layout department. That was back in the dark ages when they still placed all the type and pictures in place by hand, with a real person attached to the hand, not a mouse or keypad in sight. We ran all the text and pictures through a waxing machine and the the pieces of paper would get a light coating of hot wax on the back. This allowed you to be able to reposition the text and pictures easily. It did however get all over your hands, clothing, and anything else you came in contact with.

What did I learn?

Getting wax out is pain in the patuttie!

I also learned how to be a grown up, how to be responsible for managing my money, how to set up a budget, how to get to work on time, that food cost money, having fun cost money, clothing cost money.

My first real job brought with it an opportunity for me to be out on my own, that was something that I had dreamed of for a long time! It was good y’all!

9. Do you buy or borrow most books?

Both, I borrow lots of book from friends. But if I really like a book I will buy a copy for myself. I enjoy re-reading my favorites.

10. What fashion trend of the past did you say you'd never wear again but did?

What’s a fashion trend? Can you get that at the Goodwill? Y’all I am so not into that, “On Sale” is my fashion trend!

11. When do you start Christmas shopping?

I have already picked up a few things!

12. Have you ever been so happy that you literally jumped up and down for a few seconds? If so, what was the occasion?

YES! I am easily entertained. I would get so excited when a cucumber would appear in my garden or a baby tomato that I would be doing the happy dance in my purple bathrobe in the backyard. But wait there is usually more. I would want to share my glee, I would then run into the house and make the DD or the hubs come outside to gaze upon my happiness, then I would take a picture of it so I could relentlessly share it with al of you…

And for the record what is the point of being the mother of a teenager if you can’t regularly try to embarrass her by bursting into song and doing a happy jig when something wonderful happens like oh let’s say…anything!

 

Happy Random Dozen

Robin

Dipped in Chocolate – A Fall Into Flavor Disclaimer

There used to be a show on the Food Network called Chocolate with Jacques Torres. It was one of my favorites. Sadly it is no longer on the Food Network. Jacques used to make these elaborate sculptures each week out of chocolate. He made Chess Sets, ballet dancers, you name it he made it out of chocolate. He is a photograph of one of his sculptures.

It has become very clear to me that I am not Jacques Torres…

Since I just shared my candied orange peel recipe the other day and since I had commented on how good they would be if dipped in chocolate I decided to give it a try.

Disclaimer: I have actually had candied orange peel dipped in chocolate before, they were magnificent.

However actually achieving this rare accomplishment is altogether different.

How hard could it be I thought.

After melting the chocolate down and dipping the orange peel in I watched as the chocolate began to pool out in giant puddles on the parchment paper.

This can’t be right I thought!

I had marginal success after letting the chocolate cool for nearly an hour in the refrigerator and then trying again.

Finally after a few tries I decided to dust them immediately in a mixture of equal parts coco powder and powdered sugar and transfer to the refrigerator to cool.

This technique worked a bit better, however after 30 minute in the refrigeration the chocolate still was not what I would call firm.

Dipped in chocolate in my book is always a good thing, however if your planning to give this a try you either really have to know what your doing or use a different kind of chocolate specifically for candy making that will harden completely!

So Candied Orange Peel make great gifts, and the dipped in chocolate part was really good picture me and skoots1mom standing at the stove dipping candied orange peel into the warm shinny sweet wonderful chocolate and then not even waiting for it to cool and just eating it right then and there oh my goodness it was really really good and all but it never really hardened completely so packaging it for gift giving would be extremely problematic.

And yes that swipe across the top of the bowl is from my finger!

Blessings

Robin A.K.A a long lost relative of Willy Wonka (NOT!)

Word Junkie: It scares the “living daylights” out of me!

So I’m watching the morning news yesterday and there’s Donny Osmond, didn’t we all dream of being Mrs. Donny?

Anyway he used the phrase “It scares the living daylights out of me!” and I started to wonder exactly what this meant.

What are the living daylights?

Inquiring minds need to know!

Well here is what I found.

"Daylights" is very old slang for the human eyes, dating back to at least the early 18th century. This makes a certain amount of sense, since the eyes are the "source" of all the light we see. And the practice of equating the eyes with lights or windows is very old: one Latin word for "eye" was "lumen," which literally meant "light."

"To beat (or scare) the daylights" out of someone therefore, originally meant to beat or frighten someone so badly that the person's eyes, at least figuratively, popped out. "Daylights" was also used in an extended sense in this context to mean any vital organ or consciousness itself, so to beat or scare "the daylights out of" someone could just as well mean to pummel or frighten the victim into unconsciousness.

Anybody in the mood for a weird coincidence? It turns out that there is another kind of "light" in the human body. The word "daylight," of course, refers to the kind of "light" you can see. The other English word "light" (meaning "not heavy") is completely unrelated, but it comes from the same source as the word "lung," and human lungs used to be called "the lights" (because lungs, being full of air, are not as heavy as other organs). In fact, the lungs and other internal organs of animals are still referred to as "the lights" in England, and in "Huckleberry Finn," Mark Twain wrote of scaring "the liver and lights out of" someone. But since the "daylight" kind of light and the "not heavy" kind of light came from two different sources, the fact that you can "beat the daylights" out of someone by punching him in "the lights" is just a linguistic coincidence.

http://www.word-detective.com/110999.html#daylights

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/living-daylights.html

Now I know!

Blessings

Robin