Sourdough Skillet Loaves

Sourdough Skillet Loaves,
originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

Early frontier cooking was greatly influenced by the place they were located at the time. Families had to obtain the bulk of their food according to what was available locally and in season. Other supplies that were purchased tended to be products that could be shipped easily such as flour, beans and sugar. Any other products were either too expensive to consider or unavailable because they could not withstand the shipping. Pioneers were also limited by what they typical cooked with and were usually limited to using frying pans, pots and splits. Cast iron was durable and easily obtained in those days.

Many of these pioneers came from families that had sourdough starter passed on from generation to generation. One example is the Boudin family who in 1849 discovered the Wild yeasts in the San Francisco air had added a unique a flavor to their traditional sourdough.

This recipe below uses baking soda with the starter to produce a loaf that can be prepared in more rustic conditions and to produce a loaf which is very good in its own right. The frying pan I used was too large to make a nice shaped loaf. A ten- inch frying pan or dutch oven would give much better results

1 cup sourdough starter
2 !/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons honey or sugar
7 to 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons cornmeal

Combine the starter, water, sugar or honey and 5 cups flour in a large mixing bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or wet towel; let the mixture stand at room temperature for 12 hours or overnight.

Stir in oil. Combine salt, soda and 1 cup flour. Stir into dough; beat until smooth.

Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn dough onto a floured surface; continue to work in flour until dough is stiff enough to knead. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes).

Divide in half. Roll each into a 10-inch round.

For each loaf, melt 3 tablespoons butter in a heavy 10-inch cast-iron skillet with heat-resistant handle. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cornmeal. Place dough in skillet. Turn over to coat top with butter and cornmeal. Let rise 15 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until done.

Makes 2 loaves.

Banana Bread

I was cleaning out my freezer today and noticed I needed to use up some frozen bananas and some chocolate. I decide to make some banana loafs. These recipe makes one large loaf but since I prefer smaller loafs I made three. Quick breads do not require a lot of time so you can have hot breads in a flash.


Banana Bread

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoonful baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (2-3 medium)
1/3 cup shortening, margarine, or butter
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

In a large mixer bowl combine 1 cup four, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the banana; shortening, margarine or butter and milk. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed till blended, then on high speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and remaining flour; beat until blended. Stir in nuts, if desired.

Pour int a greased 8x4x2 loaf pan*. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes or when you put a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from the pan, Cool on a wire rack until thoroughly cool. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Makes on loaf (16 servings)

* I used three smaller loaf pans.

Saint Patrick 's Day Menus

Irish Americana St Patricks Day "Emerald Isle Erin go Bragh"!!!


I will be actually making some of the meals today and will make corn beef and cabbage in my crock pot on Monday which is the real St. Patrick's Day.



BREAKFAST

Country Style Hash Recipe
Bacon
Scones
Irish Coffee

LUNCH

Potato-Bacon Soup
Irish Potato Soda Bread

DINNER

Hearty Beef Barley Stew
Shepherd's Bread

Dessert

Chocolate Mint Eclair
Oatmeal Spice Cookies
Easy Gingersnaps

Dinner

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage
Parsley Dumplings

Other Ideas

st-patricks-day-parfait
classic-reuben-sandwiches
Hawaiian-style-corned-beef-and-cabbage

Cabbage wedges with hot tangy dressing

Irish Stew

Rasin Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup buttermilk (or add some lemon juice to milk)
1 egg while, lightly beaten
Additional sugar, for glaze


Preheat oven to 425 degree F. coat baking sheet with vegetable spray.

Combine flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, soda, slat and nutmeg in large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs.

Stir in raisins, mix in milk, with fork. Gather into a ball and knead on lightly floured surface about 2 minutes, Roll or pat into a circle 3/4 inch thick and cut into wedges. Place 2 to 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Brush with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar.

Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls, originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

Makes 14 buns

1 cup whole milk
1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine
4 1/2 cups to 5 cups of-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
optional:
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup raisins

Gaze:

2 cups confectioners sugar
1 to 3 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream


Directions:

Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bail. Remove from heat.

Sprinkle the yeast over warm water in a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoons of the sugar and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
Beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, eggs and butter, Beat in cooled milk.

Gradually add the flour and salt, scraping down side of bowl, until soft dough forms. Turn dough into a floured work surface and knead the remaining flour into the dough adding more flour if too sticky. Knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and soft.

Grease a large bowl and place dough in the bowl. Cover and place in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Coat two 9 inch baking pans with non-stick cooking spray. line with wax paper and cat paper with spray.

Prepare the filling: mix the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl.

Punch the dough down and roll int a 18" x 12" rectangle. Spread the butte-sugar mixture over the dough. Spring nuts and raisin if desired. Starting on long side roll up jelly roll fashion and pinch seam to close.

Cut crosswise into 14 generous 1 inch pieces. Arrange 7 pieces on each pan. Cover and let rise until double in size. or put in refrigerate until the morning.

Heat oven to 350 dergess F and uncover pans and bake until they are golden brown and bubbly, 30 to 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool 10 minutes.

Glaze:
mix confectioners sugar and 1 tablespoon of the milk , adding more milk as necessary to make a s smooth glaze. invert the buns to a serving platter. Drizzle glaze on top of buns. Serve warm.

Swedish Lucia Buns

IMG_2642, originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

These sweet, cardamon-scented buns are a traditional served pastry in Sweden on December 13 for the begging of the Christmas Festival Many times they are made with saffron and shaped in a number of ways. I used the popular S shape in this recipe. These tend to get dry family quick so if you are not able to eat them up fairly quickly I suggest freezing them when they cool and take them out and warm them before serving.

24 buns

2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2/3 cups luke warm milk (scaled, then cooled)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cups raisins or currents

Margarine or butter softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoons sugar

dissolve yeast in warm water in large bow. Stir in milk, 1.2 sugar, 1/.2 cup margarine, 2 eggs, cardamom, slat orange peel and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth, Sir in more flour until dough is easy to handle.

Turn dough into lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl and turn , Cover ; set rise until double.
Punch dough down; divide into 4 equal parts. Cut each into 6 parts. Roll out into a rope 10 to 12 inches long. Shape each into a S shape.

Place a raisin in center of each curve. Place on greased pan and let rise until almost double.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush buns with egg mixture and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown about 15 to 20 minutes.

Soudough Pancakes Flint hills style.

I have some sourdough starter in the fridge and had taken it out the other day to add more four and grow it some more. I decided I will make pancakes this morning so I opted foe some sourdough ones to use up some of the starter. I did not have a recipe on hand so I came up with an adaption of the normal one we use for pancake mix.


INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups buttermilk pancake mix
* 1 cup water
* 1/2 cup skim milk
* 3 eggs (you can adjust for this ingredients and even add none.
* 1 cup Sourdough Starter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla



1. Place the pancake mix in a large bowl. Add the water and Sourdough Bread Starter and stir until well combined.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

******************************************
A neat little tip I came across but have not done yet is to save a squeeze bottle and use it to squeeze out the pancake mix. This could be a time saver too for when you do not have a lot of time during the week and can mix it up on Sunday and make pancakes really quick.

Zucchini Bread

This is a moist and flavorful bread and one way to use that zucchini.

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice


optional: 1//2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup golden raisins or currants

Preheat oven to 30 degrees F. Grease a 9x5" loaf pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugars and mix well until completely blended.


Add eggs one a at time, beating well after each addition.


Add zucchini, buttermilk and vanilla and mix well.




Add flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice to the batter until combined. Stir in the nuts and raisins or currants if desired.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F. for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Moist Banana Bread

This banana bread is nice and moist but i still think I prefer my other recipe. Even with the whole wheat flour it turned out very well. This recipe could use a little more experimenting with ingredients. It would still make a nice bread for a tea or coffee. I used colored white chocolate chops in two of the loafs and I think the look very nive. I have only started eating the large loaf and froze the four small loaves . I prefer making my sweet bread in this small loaf pan and freezing some to use at a moments notice for guests. I also freeze any bananas in the freezer if they start getting over ripe to use for bread.

1/2 stick butter, softened
2 eggs
2 to 3 very ripe bananas
1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt

Mash the banana. and mix all the ingredients together.

In another mix mix:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients are blended together.

If you like mix in other ingredients such as nuts, dried cherries or chocolate chips.

Pour the dough into greased baking pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Small loaves take about 30 minutes and a normal loaf take around 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven. After they have cooled for 5 to 10 minutes they can be removed from the pan.

Cinnamon Pull Apart

Cinnamon Pull Apart, originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

Very Easy for a Weekend Brunch.

2/3 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans)
2/3 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla flavor
2 cans refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing

Heat oven to 350 F . Get a fluted tube pan greased or sprayed with a baker spray.

In a large bowl mix all of the ingredients except the cinnamon rolls and icing.

Take the rolls out of the can and cut into quarters
Coat the roll with the mixture. Spoon mixture into pan.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool ten minutes, and then turn into serving plate. Spread with icing, serve warm.

Sour Cream Pancakes

Sour Cream Pancakes, originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

2 cups pancake mix
1/2 cup sour cream
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 eggs

Heat grittle and grease if necessary.

Stir all the ingredients until blended. Pour batter small amounts on to griddle. Cook until edges are dry. Turn, cook until golden. Serve.

Bread Machine Rolls

Rolls, originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

I made these for the Christmas Dinner. They had a wonderful flavor and texure. If you do not have bread four see about getting wheat gluten to help make the bread rise.

3 cups bread four
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dry milk powder
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
2 tablespoons water

Place the flour, sugar, salt, milk , water , butter and yeast into the pan in the order recommended by the manuffacrer. Set on Dough cycle; press Start.

Remove dough after cyle is complete. Deflate and turn into floured surface. Divide into twelve equal parts and form into rounds. Place the rounds on lightly greased baking sheets. Cover the rolls with a damp cloth, and let rise unitl doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a small bowl mix the egg white and water. Brush lightly on the rolls.

Place into the oven at 350 deress F for about 15-20 minutes or until brown and you tap the top and get a hollow sound..

Blueberry-Coconut Pancakes

Blueberry-Coconut Pancakes, originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

This may seem like a stange combination at first and it did to me it is really a nice combination. The coconut lends a tropical taste to the typical blueberry pancakes without overpowering.

Add 1/4 cup each of blueberries and coconut to 2 cups pancake batter.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes, originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

Very easy and quick to make if you use a panckae mix. For 2 cups of pancake mix add add the the ingredients accoridng to the package plus add 1/2 cup pumpkin puree.

Cook according to instructions and enjoy.

Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins

Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins
Originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins

Chocolate Brioche Loaf

Chocolate Brioche Loaf
Originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

Chocolate Brioche Loaf

Easy Cheesy Drop Danish

Easy Cheesy Drop Danish
Originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins

As I wait for my pumpkins to ripen on the vine I looked for interesting recipes I may want to try. This recipes has a small amount of buckwheat to enhance the sweetness of the squash. I look forward to trying this recipe adupted from The Splendid Grain by Rebecca Wood.

Ingredients:

2 cups coarsely grated pie pumpkin, winter
squash, or sweet potato

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

2 large eggs

3/4 cup milk, or soy milk

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, melted

2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 packed light brown sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.


Grease two 12-cup muffin tins.


Mix together the pumpkin, pecans, eggs, milk, butter, and orange zest in a medium mixing bowl.


Put the buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, baking powder,
ginger, nutmeg, and salt in a seperate bowl.

Stir to combine and sift into the pumpkin
mixture, a little bit at a time, stirring to blend after each addition.

When all the dry ingredients are mixed, fill the muffin
cups about two thirds full. Be careful not to overmix this.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until lightly browned and a cake tester or tooth pick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Remove muffins from tins and serve warm or cool thoroughly on the rack.

Corn Pancakes

IMG_0200
Originally uploaded by Lakenvelder.

I just added corn to the panckae mix.

Tortillas de Harina- Flour Tortillas

Picture


12 tortillas

8 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 plus 1/4 cups lard or shortening
2 1/4 cups warm water

In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Using you hands quickly blend together the flour, salt and 1/2 cup shortening. Slowly add the warm water to mixture until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out on board and knead for 10 minutes. Form into a ball and pat the remaining lard/shortening onto ball. Let rest for 5 minutes.

Divide into 12 equal pieces. Roll out into at least 6 inch size circles. While forming the tortillas heat a heavy well-seasoned griddle to very hot. Do not grease it. Add tortillas and let it bubble slightly. turn cook until light brown spots form where it bubbled. Wrap in foil or plastic until serving.