Sourdough Starter, Sourdough Starter Recipe

My family love sourdough bread, pancakes, waffles, doughnuts, etc. And I also make them for our guests in our Rocky Mountain Bed and Breakfast Inn as well. You have to have a basic sourdough starter to use in all these recipes. 

Sourdough starter can be kept for years, and I've heard of restaurants and people that have had their starter going for decades. Some people think it can be a lot of work to keep it going, but it's actually really easy and quite forgiving. I cannot keep plants alive for the life of me, but I've had my sourdough starter going for a few years now. 

I have this recipe in the cookbook I wrote, Rocky Mountain Lodge & Cabins Favorite Recipes, and sell at our B&B. This cookbook, which has 350 recipes in it, including a number of sourdough recipes, can be purchased at our gift shop for just $16.95.

Here's the recipe and a few tips at the end. I will also be sharing some recipes in the future, but the starter is the base, and it needs about 5 days to get started, so get your starter going and I'll be back in a few days and share some sourdough recipes.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

• 1 pkg. dry yeast
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. sugar

In a large non-metal bowl soften yeast in 1/2 cup warm (110 degrees) water.

Stir in 2 cups warm (110 degrees) milk, 2 cups flour and 1 tablespoon sugar. Beat until smooth.

Cover with cheesecloth, or place in a jar with a loose fitting lid and let stand at room temperature 5 days, stirring once or twice a day. It will be ready to use in 5 days.

TO KEEP STARTER GOING:
After using some, add 3/4 cup milk, 3/4 cup flour, and 1 teaspoon sugar to the remaining starter. Leave at room temperature, stirring every day or two.

If not used after 10 days, add 1 teaspoon sugar to keep it going. Repeat adding sugar every 10 days if necessary.

This will last indefinitely and can be passed down for generations.

It also makes great gifts at holiday times to give some starter along with some recipes.

TIPS:

I keep my starter in a decorative cookie jar with the seal from the lid removed so it's not a tight seal. It can get kind of gunky at the top after awhile and by not having it in a clear jar you won't notice it, and it looks nice on the counter.

I'll put the starter in a large bowl for a little bit every once in awhile while I wash the jar.

The starter is VERY forgiving. If you forget to stir it for several days, don't worry about, just stir it, it will be fine. It will end up separating a bit, just stir it and all will be well. If it's been more than a week, just add a teaspoon of sugar and stir it.

St. Patrick's Day Recipes, Holiday Recipes

I'm still trying to play catch up on my blog recipes. I'm finally sharing my St. Patrick's Day meal from this year, just about 3 weeks behind, but better late than never, right? They will be here early for next year's Holiday recipes :)

I've never really made a full blown Irish dinner on St. Patrick's Day before and wanted to this year. I searched through a number of cookbooks and found a LOT of different Irish foods. I ended up going with Corned Beef and Cabbage, Irish Soda Bread, and some Glazed Mint Brownies for dessert. They were all a hit and everyone in the family loved them all. Here are links to each of the dishes, with the recipes included for the Irish Soda Bread and the Glazed Mint Brownies.

I will definitely continue the tradition of making Irish food next year. Maybe I'll find some other recipes to try next year. In the meantime, enjoy these, we loved them all!

IRISH SODA BREAD (includes recipe)
CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE
GLAZED MINT BROWNIES (includes recipe)
 

Glazed Mint Brownies Recipe, Taste of Home Recipes

I wanted to make something appropriately festive for dessert for St. Patrick's Day and decided to go with this Glazed Mint Brownies Recipe from a a little small publication I picked up from Taste of Home last year called Irish Food & Fun. I can't find the publication online anywhere to provide a link to purchase the publication, nor could I find it at Taste of Home's website either, so apparently it was a one time, limited publication. That being the case, I'll share the recipe since I can't find it anywhere to purchase.

Firstly, however, here's our critique of these chocolaty minty brownies.... We liked them, but they came out more fudge like than brownie like. Not that we're complaining, we liked them a lot and ate every single one of them over the course of the next few days, but they weren't as much cake like as they were fudge like. 

It is a recipe I'd make again, as we all liked them flavor of them, but they need a little tweaking on. Mine didn't rise very much in the middle and kind of sunk so they were very thin in the middle. I do, however, live at 7,500 feet in elevation, and tweak on my recipes a little bit to adjust for high altitude cooking, but these still didn't really work in adjusting for the altitude. If they were made at a normal elevation I'm sure they'd turn out perfectly.

Another thing I'll mention is that these were to be made in a 9-inch square pan, which I did, and I thought they were quite thin, especially when it came to the layers. I barely had enough of the layers to cover the previous layers, especially with the chocolate glaze on top. Just a little more would have been better. 

Bottom line, they were good, just need a little tweaking on, at least in high altitude.

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

GLAZED MINT BROWNIES

BROWNIE LAYER:

• 2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

In a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and flour until blended. Stir in the chocolate mixture.

Pour into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

MINT FILLING:

• 3 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' (powdered) sugar
• 2 Tbsp. milk (approximately)
• 3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
• 3 to 4 drops green food coloring, optional

In a small mixing bowl, beat the filling ingredients until creamy, you may need a little more milk if it seems too stiff. Spread over brownies.

GLAZE:

• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp. butter

For glaze, in a microwave, melt chocolate chips and butter on half power, stirring every 15 seconds, until smooth. Spread over filling.

Refrigerate until filling and glaze are set.

Makes 12-16 brownies.

Irish Soda Bread Recipe, St. Patrick's Day Recipes

For St. Patrick's Day this year I really wanted to make a few traditional Irish recipes. I'm not really even sure if this is a traditional Irish dish, but since it's called Irish soda bread I just assumed it is. But you know what happens when one assumes. 

I buy these mini magazines at the grocery store sometimes when I'm standing in line; yes, I am an impulse shopper sometimes and it's a weakness of mine to flip through cookbooks at the store. Last year I bought this little booklet from Taste of Home called Irish Food & Fun. I did a search for it online and at Taste of Home's website and can't find it. Since I can't find the cookbook to purchase anywhere, I'll share the recipe here.

I've never had Irish Soda Bread before and I really LOVED this bread, as did everyone else in my family. I'm kind of picky about raisins and fruit in my breads. I like them in some things, and not in others. My hubby loves them in anything. He likes them in the cinnamon rolls I make, but I don't like hot, plump raisins. But I do like regular raisin bread. So I wasn't sure how I was going to like this bread. Turns out, I loved it, as did everyone else. My daughter doesn't like raisins in her cinnamon rolls either, and didn't think she was going to like this either, but she did. 

And the leftover bread was great toasted the next morning with some butter or jam on it. 

I will probably make this recipe again next year as part of our traditional Irish dinner. 

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

IRISH SODA BREAD

• 1 pkg (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
• 3 Tbsp sugar, divided
• 1 cup warm buttermilk (110 to 115 degrees)*
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup golden raisins

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add 1 tablespoon sugar; let stand for about 5 minutes. Beat in the buttermilk, butter, salt, baking soda, 1 cup flour and remaining sugar until smooth. Stir in raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer with the bread hook for this and just walk away while it's kneading). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes (I put mine in the microwave and turn the light on under the microwave and the heat from the light helps warm it; or in the oven with the light on and the temperature off).

Punch dough down. turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead for 2 minutes. Shape into a round loaf. Place on a greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut a 1/4-inch deep cross on top of the loaf. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.

Makes 1 loaf.

*Warmed buttermilk will appear curdled. The first time I heated my buttermilk in the microwave I did it for too long and it not only curdled, but separated as well. The second time I did it in short intervals of 15 seconds on half power and stirred it in between. This worked much better.

Corned Beef & Cabbage, St. Patrick's Day Recipes

I made this CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE recipe as one of my St. Patrick's Day recipes this year. It's from the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes cookbook, but it's not a slow cooker recipe, which was surprising to me. 

I've never actually made corned beef and cabbage before, and can't remember if I've ever even eaten it specifically, especially on St. Patrick's Day. I wanted to make a whole meal of Irish food for St. Patrick's Day this year and one of the most traditional, of course, is Corned Beef and Cabbage. I looked through a number of my cookbooks and found recipes in most of them. I decided to go with this one thinking I could just put it in the crock pot in the morning and forget about it, but that's not the case with this recipe.

The meat cooks in a dutch oven (large pot) on the stove for a couple of hours, then you add your veggies to it, and finally the cabbage. It took about 3 hours to cook from start to finish, but the actual time I spent in prep and actual cooking was very minimal, less than 20 minutes, total, with a little of it here and there with the veggie prep.

I must say we were all very happy with how this recipe turned out. The meat was so tender and flavorful, and the veggies were good. I also served sauerkraut with it as well. We didn't have very much meat left, but did have quite a lot of the veggies left, which I served as a side to another dish a couple days later.

Everyone in our family liked this dish and it's a definite keeper. My only regret is I didn't buy 2 corned beef briskets and make twice as much meat. I love Reuben sandwiches and was hoping to have leftovers for some Reubens, but there really wasn't enough meat leftover. The recipe says it will serve 6, and I bought my brisket just a little larger, hoping for leftovers. There were 4 of us that ate this dish and I would say the meat portion is really suited for 4, not 6 as the recipe suggests.

I think this recipe will become a yearly tradition for us :)

Butternut Squash Soup with Sauteed Radicchio

Still trying to play catch up with my blogging. This BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP with SAUTEED RADICCHIO I made a few weeks ago along with the Chicken Pot Pie that I made (which was a hit, by the way.

This is another recipe from the Best of Cooking Light cookbook. We really liked this soup, with the exception of the radicchio, which was very bitter. Even trying to eat it with the soup it was still way too bitter for us. We ended up tossing the radicchio and eating just the soup.

The soup itself, however, was delicious. It was a rich, creamy, and surprisingly hearty soup. The squash gave it a sweetness, which I'm guessing the radicchio was supposed to balance, but we loved the soup without the radicchio. The flavors in the soup blended very well. And it was pretty easy to make.

This is a soup I would definitely make again during the fall or winter months, skipping the radicchio, however. 

Chicken Pot Pie, Southern Living Cookbook

I have always loved pot pies, but my hubby has never been a fan of them, mostly because he hates peas, which are always a staple in pot pies, and he's never had a "good" pot pie, so he says they're just filled with "pea swill". Since I haven't had a pot pie in years I've been craving them, so decided to find a home made recipe and make them. 

I found this CHICKEN POT PIE recipe in the  Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook. I used the pie crust recipe from this cookbook instead of my own cookbook, and it was a good pie crust recipe. I made these into 3 small pies instead of 1 regular pie. Each of the pies were large enough for two people. 

I thought the pie turned out really good. It really had a lot of chicken in it, which my husband liked. And here's the kicker, my hubby actually LIKED this pie. When I was making it, I told him I was making a pot pie from scratch and he was "going to like it", even though I pretty much knew he wouldn't. But, we were both surprised to find that he really liked it... a lot. He said he could see several peas in every bite and he kept thinking..... yuck, I'm going to taste peas.... yuck.... but he never could decipher or pick out the pea flavor, so he was pleasantly surprised. There were other vegetables in there as well.... corn, carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms, along with the generous portion of chicken. And the sauce was made from scratch as well, and even had a little cheese in it. My hubby even told his Mom (who knows how much he hates peas), that I worked my magic on the peas and the pie and he loved it :) That really was the best compliment I could get, I was a happy camper, and still am :)

So this recipe is a definite keeper. My hubby says I can make pot pies again and he'll eat them, so I'll be happy to oblige :)