Darlene

I’m thinking about making some sourdough crackers with the discard too. I think they’d be amazing with everything bagel seasoning on them.

Yeah, it took me a little bit to figure out how to incorporate it into an already packed day. I think the thing that motivated was that first loaf lol. I eat it every day now.

Awwww happy birthday!!! And thanks Dee for the announcement

Yeah I took a several year break mostly because while the recipe I used made great bread, it wasn’t that “it” for me. The KA recipe has blown me away and reignited my excitement over making bread. I started the process with my third loaf today. Less than a week from when I started the first loaf.

That’s interesting E. That’s one of the things I noticed right off the bat with this starter. It’s far more active and a lot more fragrant. I’m excited to see if there’s any aroma or taste difference with the San Fran starter.

What do you mean they’re all the same? I can see huge differences between my original sourdough starter and the new from smell to activity etc.

I know we have many posts about sourdough bread and making it, etc, but I wanted to share a few observations I've had recently with it. I made my original sourdough with a starter and a recipe. It was really good but something was missing in it for me but I didn't know what it was. After a while, I stopped making it and let my starter die. I bought a new sourdough starter last year, but it was too busy to use and I ended up losing it. A few weeks ago, my mom got on a kick of wanting to make sourdough bread and asked me where I got my starter. She ordered what I had always ordered, and my dad asked for a recipe for the 'no knead sourdough bread' I used to make. I ended up giving him a different recipe than I had always used...not sure why (probably because that recipe wasn't "IT"). When 2 daughters and I went down to help my parents a few weeks ago, they made us a loaf of sourdough bread. When I tried it, I flipped because it was like the bread we used to get from the european bakeries when I was a little kid. When I got home, I decided to get some new starter myself and found this amazing site with several different starters that are hundreds of years old. I made a loaf about a week ago and it was completely different (in a good way) from the sourdough I used ot make so I think it's partly the sourdough starter I have, plus a better recipe and I ate half the loaf in 2 days lol. I just made my 2nd batch of this sourdough bread, and instead of keeping it in the fridge for 12 hours of cold fermentation, I did 2 days. What a freaking difference even that made. I had some last night and was amazed at how the flavor of the bread stayed on my tastebuds for several hours later (not in a bad way). I also noticed something huge (for me). Normally, if I just have some toast or a bagel at breakfast, within 30-60 min, I will get really tired...must be my sugar tanking trying to process the carbs. But, when I eat the fresh sourdough bread I make, that doesn't happen. It's a weird testimony of how the fermentation breaks certain things down for the body that don't tax the system requiring extra work to process (if that makes sense). Also, when I was re-searching the sourdough starters I had forgotten how it breaks down everything to make it more digestible for humans and also unlocks a ton of vitamins and nutrients that are only unlocked during the sourdough starter fermentation process. I am seeing the truth of that as I completely switch over from store-bought breads...even fresh breads from quality bakeries...and instead, make my own sourdoughs. While I may not be able to live by 'bread alone' :), I certainly am eating it alot more than I ever had. If anyone is interested, this is the site where I got my '900 year old starter' and have been using that for the past couple of weeks. I just ordered the 233 year old sourdough starter because I want to see if there's a taste difference between the 2 starters. I also ordered the European rye starter because I'd like to see if I can replicate the black breads we used to be able to get as a kid, and also because I have ordered bread from all over the country from European bakeries, and NONE of it is like what we used to be able to get. The sourdough I have been making lately is better than any of those childhood memories so I'm excited to branch out and try other starters. Living Dough sourdough starters is where I got my starters. King Arthur's no knead sourdough bread recipe is the recipe I'm currently using. It really is an easy recipe to make...no traditional kneading, just a few folds and preshaping. Let me know if any of you try it!

We are currently looking into this. We had been having discussions with our board people about taking the site back a few days due to an unexplained accident that happened to one of our members’ account. It had barred them and deleted all their history. In an effort to restore that, we were inquiring about the process. It appears the board people took it upon themselves to do it without authorization so I am very sorry for the tumult this is causing y’all. Suffice it to say that I’m furious with them. We wanted to restore our members history but we wanted to do it in an organized manner, giving everyone a heads up beforehand etc etc etc.

*pout* I missed it too, but at least she'll remember how much she's loved and how grateful we are that she calls MrsS home

I have found that this strategy saves the most $.

Another one of the important benefits of vacuum sealing is that it is less likely to get freezer burn, which totally ruins foods for me. My mom had bought a bunch of those containers and I cooked a ton of food and we froze them in them. It DID take alot of space and I was always concerned about the eventual freezer burn.

Like you, I'm not a boxed cake kinda girl. Boxed brownie mix, yes, but cakes no...so unfortunately I have no creative ideas to offer...outside of maybe making streusel type cakes, where you mix some sugar, cinnamon, maybe some chopped nuts, oats, flour, and pour half of the cake batter into a 9x13 pan, put the streusel in the middle, and then top with the remaining cake batter, with a little streusel on top. Might mimic more of a coffee cake type thing instead of a traditional cake?

Awwwww...that was very thoughtful, Jeeps.

Yeah, we were able to get her sign in figured out so that she's able to read and relax And yes, she is much loved and revered.

Merry Christmas 🎁🎄 to our beloved MrsS family!!!

We can do that

Happy thanksgiving!!! 🦃

You can sometimes use parchment paper alone and forego the cooking oil depending on fruit

They definitely are a top brand. Not sure how her son burned out 2 with just chocolate shakes. I grind grain in mine, dog kibble into powder for pups etc and never had it whine or cry or give up.

How did you keep the 12 loaves for the week? In the fridge or freezer?

Bummer

You're such a goof. Good to see ya again chica.

I will let her know. It was a very special birthday with her fiancé here and I hope it filled her heart with lasting memories.

I admittedly have issues. Or, they’re not issues, but wisdom in action. Yeah, that’s how I’ll confess it - wisdom in action. I made my 3rd trip to the Amish market yesterday. Got there 15 min before it opened and there were 40+ elderly people politely standing in 2 lines in both sides or the building. I stood in the shorter line which was smart and when the market opened they went flowing into the store, straight to the strawberry counter. There was no way to get any at that moment so I wheeled my bright yellow shopping cart around to another aisle looking for rhubarb. I didn’t see it at first, glanced over at the elderly still frantically capturing quarts of strawberries. I turned my cart around and voila! There were 8 bundles of rhubarb. How could I have almost missed them? I scooped up the 8 bundles, threw them into my cart and made it over to the strawberry area that had calmed down a little although there were still several people grabbing as fast as they could. I finally made it up to the front of the area and started talking to a guy next to me. He had 3 flats (8qts/flat) and half of another one. He was waiting to finish off the 4th flat and he began to share that this was 2nd or 3rd run he had made getting strawberries over the last couple of weeks. He definitely helped me not feel so bad, especially with all the other people grabbing tons too lol. I share with him my Pamona pectin discovery- have known about it for decades but never tried it till this year - and how I’m loving the consistency of the jams setting with far less sugar than I have to use with the other brands. He got all excited, was struggling to remember the name and asked me several times to repeat it. Finally I went out of the market to get cell service and sent him a link on Amazon to check it to his cell and he was on top of the world. It was so cute and adorable to see all these elderly clamoring to get a healthy stash of these strawberries just like I was. And it’s a testimony of the quality of the Amish produce because nobody knows what real food tastes like better than those who have been around long enough to remember the truly good old days. My score? 8 bundles of rhubarb and 15 quarts of strawberries. Not as much as I would have liked lol but definitely enough to preserve and save for a rainy day.