Sourdough Adventures Posts

If you have started sourdough baking and have baked bread or rolls, you may have found out that you had some leftover bread. With only 2 people in my house, that has been the case for me. But does anyone want to throw out the beautiful bread or rolls that were loving made for their family? No!! Too much time and effort, as well as expense, went into baking that bread! So what do you do with the excess? Of course we all have people we like to share with, but even at that there may still be excess bread.

Why not turn that excess bread into something useful? Why not make breadcrumbs? That is what I have decided to do with mine, and let me just tell you…they are some awesome breadcrumbs! I tasted mine and I must say….I love them! So any excess I have will be put to good use! Just crumble your bread and spread in a baking pan, place in a preheated 300 degree oven for 10 minutes, give them a good stir, bake 5 to 10 more minutes or until the bread browns and dries out. Delicious, healthy and quick!

While I didn’t add any seasoning to mine, I am sure you could add in your choice of herbs and spices. Enjoy!

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Have you tried to make sourdough puff pastry yet? Yes, it requires a lot of work, but it is so worth the effort you put into making it! I was absolutely astonished how light and flaky it turned out. And you can add many different toppings, or create many different desserts with it. Here is a quick photo of the dessert I made with my puff pastry.

You see all those layers? Trust me when I tell you, the only problem I had with mine was making myself stop eating them and the fact that they ran out long before I wanted them too! LOL

I used a strawberry topping on mine, but you are limited by your own taste and imagination! Just imagine serving these to family or friends and seeing the look of surprise on their face when you tell them you made it! They turn out that beautiful!! Honestly… I kept looking at mine and thinking, “wow, I can’t believe I made these!”. Were they worth the effort I put in to make them? You better believe it!! In fact, I love them so much I currently have a puff pastry in the refrigerator to make some today. So find yourself a good sourdough puff pastry recipe and start baking a beautiful dessert. You will be so glad you did!!

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Each day I think of what I would like to make for the next day! Do you do that too? I am thankful that I decided to start my sourdough adventure, and I must say…it is quite satisfying!! I love creating delicious things for the people in my life, and knowing that sourdough has so many health benefits makes it even better.

I have read that sourdough provides nutrients, including healthy carbs, protein, fiber, iron and vitamins like folic acid. The article I read said it may help improve digestion, lowers chronic disease risk such as rheumatoid arthritis, lowers the risks for certain types of cancer and even promotes healthy aging. While sourdough has been around for thousands of years and is the oldest type of leavened bread on record, it is still being enjoyed in many cultures today. The leaven (what makes the dough rise) is a natural formed yeast in the sourdough starter which is made from a mixture of unbleached flour and water. It is a wild yeast that produces lactic acid which is what gives sourdough its distinct tangy flavor, but the lactic acid also serves another purpose. It kills unwanted bacteria, keeping sourdough starter safer from going bad. It makes me feel good knowing that I can bake things that are healthier for my family.

And the smell of fresh baked sourdough is so wonderful. Even the dough itself smells fresh and good to me! I find working with sourdough to be a very therapeutic thing for me. I love the whole process, from feeding my starter to baking delicious things and filling my house with an aroma you can’t buy in a bottle…I just enjoy it all. And the reward of baking a recipe and being overwhelmed with the taste and appearance is priceless! I am sharing with you a picture of a recipe I baked a couple of days ago. I did not follow the recipe completely, but the results was awesome. Don’t be afraid to tweak a recipe to your liking. While I do create many of my own recipes and have shared some on this blog on the recipe page, I still use other recipes I find online and most of the time I tweak them to my own liking. Just enjoy your baking and don’t be scared to alter things a bit. You may be pleasantly surprised! Happy baking!!

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Crunchy and delicious…

Who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies? Add pecans to the mix and I am in heaven! In all my years of baking, I have found my cookies were never exactly how I wanted my cookies to be. They were either too thick and cake-like or they were too chewy and doughy.

Less than perfect…not what I was trying to accomplish!

My search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie led me to create my own recipe! I spent yesterday creating the recipe and last night was spent baking , testing and perfecting my recipe. The first batch was less than perfect…not quite sweet enough and too cake-like!

Adjustments were made and the results was amazing!

So I adjusted my recipe and baked again! The second batch was exactly what I have been searching for!! So crunchy…so thin and delicious!!

End results… a perfect, thin and crunchy sourdough cookie!!

I have posted my recipe on the recipe page..

For all of you that love thin, crunchy cookies, I have shared my recipe on the recipe page. While I don’t prefer a huge amount of chocolate chips in my cookies, you may and in that case I think you would be safe to add up to a cup more. I also added chopped pecans to mine, but this could be substituted for toffee brittle or another type of nuts. They also freeze after baking, really well. I froze some and got them out this morning to test them. I packaged mine 3 to a bag in sandwich bags, got all the air out and zipped them shut. Then I placed all the sandwich bags in a Ziplock gallon freezer bag and zipped it shut. Now when we want a cookie we can just take out a sandwich bag and zip the rest back up in the freezer! With the cost of groceries I am all about no waste!! I hope you will enjoy my recipe! Happy sourdough baking!!

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I don’t know how I survived all those years without it in my life!

I have been busy today baking kolaches and working on new recipes to try. If you love sourdough as much as I do.. then I am sure you have been busy, and you understand! And of course I have to feed my starter.

I have found out through trial and error that not all recipes turn out right. Therefore, if it is something that I love…like biscotti…I am determined to create a recipe that works for me. I have accomplished my mission for today! Not only did I create the recipe, I baked and tested the recipe(yummy!). And the great news is that you can actually bite it without breaking a tooth from it being rock hard! If you read my earlier blog post about biscotti then you know what I mean!! They are crunchy but biteable! The real icing on the cake, so to speak, is that they are absolutely delicious!

I have posted my recipe on the recipe page. They freeze well too. I usually package mine individually in sandwich bags, squeezing all the air out before sealing, then I place all the sandwich bags in a gallon freezer bag and zip them up. When I want one I just remove a bag with one and zip up the rest. Thaw and enjoy! I don’t recommend heating in the microwave!!

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Sourdough Sausage Kolache

These just came out of my oven and I have got to say they are absolutely delicious! I have had sausage kolaches from bakeries that were no match to these!

I love link sausage anyway and coming from Alabama, we have the best sausage ever made, and they are made in Conecuh county , Al., called Conecuh Sausage. This sausage comes in numerous flavors having six different varieties and one specialty variety that comes out around Thanksgiving. I am sure any of them would be off the chart delicious in this recipe. The variety I had on hand was the Hickory Smoked Conecuh Sausage and I can tell you right now they are awesome!! If Conecuh sausage is not available in your neck of the woods, they do ship!

The sourdough with the Conecuh sausage is a match made in heaven! They are seriously that good, y’all!!

So find you a good recipe for Sourdough Kolaches (I found my recipe online) and make you some! You won’t be sorry…unless you eat so many that you have to buy new pants, but that is a story for another day!! LOL

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