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)
 

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.

Maple Walnut Muffins

Day 30 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made these Maple Walnut Muffins for our Bed and Breakfast guests this morning. Here's what we thought of these muffins...

MAPLE WALNUT MUFFINS, great flavor, spongy texture...

These muffins were really pretty good, for a light muffin. We've notice that when you try to lighten some things up, especially breads, the change in ingredients, or lack of oil really, can make them be either dense or spongy. These muffins ended being more on the spongy side.

However, the flavor of these muffins was very good. You could really taste the maple in these muffins and it was quite nice. There was just a small amount of walnuts sprinkled on the top, it would have been nice to have had some walnuts in the batter as well.

Overall, a good muffin, and if you're wanting a lighter version of a muffin, these are definitely worth making, very good flavor. And, our bed and breakfast guests gobbled them all up, and my daughter and son in law liked them as well.

56 recipes down, 491 more to go.

Dutch Baby Pancakes, Pear Dutch Baby

Yesterday was Day 26 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made us a Pear Dutch Baby (Dutch Baby Pancakes, which can be vary in a number of ways.

PEAR DUTCH BABY, very good...

I make a recipe somewhat like this at our Bed and Breakfast Lodge, Apple Sausage Puff Pancakes (you can click on the link for that recipe); I don't have a picture of it, but will try to take one the next time I make them. They're always a hit with our guests, and it's one of my daughter and son in law's favorite breakfasts that she makes for him frequently.

I make mine slightly different. I found a recipe similar to this one that called for fresh fruit with an orange glaze sauce, cooked in a pie tin. I altered it created my own apple sausage filling and serve them in individual ramekins for the guests. They love them because not only do they taste wonderful, but the presentation is usually impressive. The ramekins are hot, the pancake rises above the ramekin by an inch or so, and I drizzle some of the sauce around the edge to make it sizzle when it's served.

Anyway, back to THIS recipe. I followed the instructions as the recipe called for and made it in a cast iron skillet as directed. For some reason the pancake only rose on half of the skillet and was flat on the other side, not sure why it didn't work all the way around, but when I make these in ramekins it can be a fickle recipe and if a little drip of batter gets on the edge of the ramekin it can stop the rise. Temperature of the skillet, or ramekins, is also important, and how hot the butter is. It can be tricky getting it to be "just right" every time, and I guess it's no different with making it in a skillet.

We really liked the flavor and texture of the pears as the filling. You had to use a lot of lemon juice, which I'm guessing is what's substituted for butter and/or syrup, and we thought it would be WAY too much, but it turned out fine. Knowing that there was so much lemon in it made us more aware of it, but I don't think you would have noticed it so much had you not known there was so much in it.

Also, the pears were a bit on the mushy side, however, I don't think that's a fault of the recipe, I just think my pears were a bit more ripe than they should have been. And the recipe does not tell you to peel the pears, which I would have done. The picture in the cookbook looks like they were peeled, but since the recipe didn't tell you to, I did not peel them. It only tells you to core and thinly slice the pears. Peeling them would have been better.

Final synopsis... this was a really good recipe that I would definitely make again. And I think I'll use pears in my puff pancake at the B&B instead of apples sometime to change it up a bit. This is a keeper recipe.

49 recipes down, 498 more to go.

Waffles and Berries, Linguine with Two Sauces

Today was day 24 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made two dishes. I made some Waffles and Berries (Waffles with Two-Berry Syrup) this morning, and some Linguine with Two Sauces for dinner tonight. Here's our critique of these two dishes...

WAFFLES WITH TWO-BERRY SYRUP, tough waffles, good sauce...

The waffles themselves had really good flavor (made with white flour, whole wheat flour, flax seed, and wheat germ), but they were a bit tough. We like our waffles a little lighter and fluffier. But, the flavors were very good and we liked the taste, just not the texture.

Also, the batter was really wet. I ended up letting the batter sit for a few minutes to allow the liquid to absorb into the flours and it helped quite a bit.

The syrup, however, was really good, and really easy to make. I thought it was really watery so I let it cook down a little bit and ended up cooking it down a bit too much. I may use this syrup at our Bed and Breakfast to top my own pancakes, waffles, blintzes and crepes. it was good, and really easy.

I probably will not make this particular waffle recipe again, however, and definitely would not serve it at our B&B since the texture was tough. But I did like the flavors. If it could be variated somehow so it wasn't so tough, I'd love to make this dish again, but it needs to be lightened up a bit.

LINGUINE WITH TWO SAUCES, one of my favorites so far!

I REALLY liked this dish a lot! My hubby liked it ok, but he's not a big time creamy sauce guy, so wasn't as in love with it as I was, but he still liked it well enough to make again in the future sometime.

It was a little on the sweet side, however. I'm not sure what caused it to be sweet since there was no sugar in it. Maybe the tomatoes, maybe the 1/4 of white wine (which was supposed to be a dry white wine) was not as dry as it should have been, which may have been the case as I'm not a wine connoisseur. But, I loved it.

The combination of the creamy white sauce that the pasta was mixed in with, and the red sauce that the pasta was topped with, blended really well together. I knew it was going to be good when I smelled the sauces cooking before it was put together and baked in the oven. And then when I pulled the foil off the top after baking it the aromas were delightful. I could not wait to try it. And once I did, I was so very pleasantly surprised.

I will be making this dish again and again I think.

46 recipes down, 501 more to go (close to breaking the 500 mark!)

Salisbury Steak, Drop Biscuits

Day 21 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made Superfast Salisbury Steak, and Drop Biscuits. It was a quick, easy dinner to make, and went over well with everyone, read on...

SUPERFAST SALISBURY STEAK, really good, and easy...

This recipe was a hit with everyone. The meat was very moist, and the flavors of the sauce were extremely good as well. The sauce would have also been good over mashed potatoes as well. I used the leftover potatoes and carrots from the Pot Roast I made the other day, and they went with it well also. I wouldn't say the recipe was "superfast", but it was fast, under an hour from start to finish; compared to many of the other recipes in this cookbook, it was really fast to make. However, it was really easy. Everyone liked this dish, and it's definitely a keeper and one I'll probably make again.

DROP BISCUITS, good, quick, and easy...

My family are really biased by my own biscuit recipe, so it's difficult to make a new recipe without them already having in their heads that there's not a better biscuit. However, they all liked these biscuits. They said they're not as good as my biscuits, but they were good and all liked them. As for me personally, I thought they were going to be dry and tough, maybe that's just the way drop biscuits are, but I was surprised that these biscuits had a crunchy outside, but were still moist enough inside. Not my favorite biscuit, but they were super easy to make since you just mix all the ingredients and drop them into muffin tins. They really were ok, I'd eat them again, but probably won't since I have a better recipe.  There are a few other biscuit recipes in this cookbook that aren't drop biscuits, so we'll see how those turn out in the future.

39 recipes down, 508 more to go.



Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls; Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Buns

Day 19 of cooking from THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT and I made some Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Buns as they're called in the cookbook). I was a little unsure about these since I already have a Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll recipe that I've learned to master, and I make a regular cinnamon roll frequently that I've been making for years that my family think are the best ever (they're biased, however). Here's what we thought of these cinnamon rolls...

PUMPKIN-CINNAMON STREUSEL BUNS (Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls), good, but need just a tad of tweaking...

Surprisingly, these were actually pretty good cinnamon rolls. My hubby was convinced you could not make a "light" version of a cinnamon roll, but lo and behold, this recipe passed the test, even by him. He still prefers my cinnamon rolls, but these cinnamon rolls were acceptable, even to him.

Just a couple edits that should be noted...

The recipe tells you to cut the dough into 12 slices and place in a 9-inch square pan, however, 12 rolls don't fit proportionately in a 9" square pan so I used an 8-inch by 11-inch pan and had them 4x3 in the pan and it worked just fine.

The recipe says to cook them at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, but they needed to go longer. I cooked them at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, and they were still slightly doughy. 30 minutes would probably be more adequate. My usual cinnamon rolls get cooked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

And the icing measurements were not appropriate. The book says to use 1 Tbsp water, but it was nowhere near a drizzle consistency, not even a spreadable consistency, it was still dry clumps. I had to add an extra tablespoon to get it to a thick drizzle. I didn't think it was going to be enough icing, but it was just the right amount.

I served these to our Bed and Breakfast guests this morning as well and they all disappeared, so they went over well with the guests also.

Overall, these were a good cinnamon roll and I would make them again if I needed to make a light version.

35 recipes down, 512 more to go.

Jalapeno Corn Bread, Corn Pie, Tomato Salsa

Today was day 6 of cooking from "THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT". I made a Buttercrust Corn Pie with Fresh Tomato Salsa, and Jalapeno Corn Bread. I didn't think these would be a hit, especially with my hubby because I knew he didn't like some of the ingredients, but I wanted to keep the recipe true to how it was written. Here's what we thought, and what I might do to tweak on it a little...

BUTTERCRUST CORN PIE WITH FRESH TOMATO SALSA, pie was ok, salsa was good...

I didn't think this would go over well with my hubby as he doesn't usually like corn cooked in things, and really hates olives. There's not very much olives in the pie, only 2 tablespoons, so I didn't tell him, but of course you can see them in the pie. His first word after his first bite was "olives", so I knew he didn't care for it. But that's a personal taste preference, I personally like olives and couldn't really taste them in the pie at all. I tasted corn more than anything. The crust, however, was dry and crumbly and didn't hold up at all. It needed more butter in the crust mixture. It calls for 3 Tbsp, but should have probably been 4 Tbsp. instead. When you ate the pie with the salsa, however, it was very good. Hubby probably won't have any more of the pie, so I'll end up eating the rest of it. The salsa, however, he really liked. It was made with lemon juice, but I think lime juice would be a better substitute. We've been to Mexico a few times and they don't use lemons or lemon juice, they use lime. I think I'll use lime juice next time. I may also add a little cilantro to the salsa as well next time. It was a good fresh tomato salsa, however.

JALAPENO CORN BREAD, this was good...

When I first made the batter for this bread and poured it in the pan I thought it was too dry and stiff, and though I still think it was a little dry, it wasn't nearly as dry as I thought it would be, it actually turned out pretty good, just slightly on the dry side. I didn't think my hubby would like this bread either because he doesn't like whole corn in his corn bread. However, he liked it and said it was a good savory corn bread that I could make again. I was pleasantly surprised that he liked it. It was a savory corn bread, not a sweet bread. I liked the flavors of the jalapenos and red peppers in the corn bread, and you could taste the cumin in it as well, which was a nice touch. Instead of using canned whole corn, I may use creamed corn instead to add a little extra moisture to the cornbread next time. Though there are almost 1/2 cup of jalapenos in the corn bread, it was mild and it wasn't spicy. Will probably make this recipe again as a side the next time I make a Mexican dish, it was good.

One thing I have noticed about most of the recipes I've cooked out of this cookbook... it's a LOT of work and VERY time consuming. These are not easy recipes and have a lot of prep work involved. For these recipes, however, I bought fresh jalapenos and roasted, peeled, and seeded them, which took about 45 minutes. It takes me about 2 hours or so to prepare dinner every day, which is not really something I have extra time for owning and operating a Bed and Breakfast Inn. But, we're eating good, healthy dinners. If you're looking for quick and easy meals to prepare, this cookbook is not for you. If you're looking for a lighter version of good food, there's some good recipes in here. Will keep at it.

14 recipes down, 533 more to go.

Baked Potato Soup, Beer Cheese Bread

Today was Day 5 of cooking from "THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT". My daughter asked what I was making for dinner tonight, and when I told her the recipes I was going to make she said "no, not that, what else?" So I told her what I'd be making tomorrow and she wanted me to make that instead, so I switched today & tomorrow's dinners for her. Then to top it off, my son, who lives an hour and a half away in college showed up to surprise me for the afternoon and evening, so he was home for dinner too. Instead of 2 of us at the table for dinner we had 5, which was wonderful. I love having my family around and miss those times when the kids were growing up when we always had dinner together and had many lively conversations around the table together. When we get together now we still have those conversations where we talk about anything and everything, laugh, and share joys and trials of life. I think dinners together are SO very important, and no matter how busy we are we should always take time to share meals together. Anyway, on to the food... today's dinner was Baked Potato Soup and Beer Cheese Bread. I was looking forward to trying both of these recipes since I absolutely love carbs, potatoes, cheese, and bread.

BAKED POTATO SOUP, a good, hardy meal with lots of flavor...

We all liked this dish, though it was a bit heavy, even though it was "lighter" than a typical baked potato soup recipe. I ended up adding an extra potato to the recipe because I didn't think it had enough potato flavor for me. The toppings really made a huge difference in making it really taste like "baked potato". I have another potato-cheese soup recipe that I make that I think the family likes better than this one. But it's a tasty recipe and quite filling.

BEER CHEESE BREAD, a hit with everyone...

I had a little trouble with the bread at the beginning, which I will probably tweak on a bit when I make it again in the future (I WILL make this recipe again and tweak on it since everyone liked it so much). I make breads and cinnamon rolls and can tell by the feel and texture of the dough if it's going to work or not, and when I added the 2nd amount of flour as described in the recipe, it was too tough and I knew it wouldn't turn out right. It didn't rise quite as much as it should have and was a bit more dense, rather than lighter. Next time I make it I will only add 1 cup of flour in the second addition of flour instead of the 1 1/2 cups of flour the recipe calls for, and gradually add in more if I need it. Too much flour made the bread a little denser than it should have been. The recipe called for it being light and it wasn't. But I think that can be an easy fix next time around by decreasing the flour a little bit. However, the family didn't care about the density and loved the flavor and ate 2/3 of the loaf of bread (that says it will serve 16!). This is a keeper recipe and I'm sure will be fantastic with just a little tweaking.

12 recipes down, 535 more to go!

If you're wondering about the recipes, I can't post them all because of copyright laws, but I will share 1 recipe a month as our favorite of the month. However, you can buy the cookbook here.

Gingersnap Scones, Scallops with Linguine, Gingerbread with Lemon Glaze

Day 3 of Cooking from "THE BEST OF COOKING LIGHT" and I made Gingersnap Scones with Espresso Glaze for breakfast this morning, Pan-Seared Scallops on Linguine with Tomato-Cream Sauce for dinner, and Warm Gingerbread with Lemon Glaze.

GINGERSNAP SCONES WITH ESPRESSO GLAZE, good but needs a tiny bit of tweaking...
I changed the recipe just a little. The recipe called for the dough to be rolled out to a 10-inch circle and cut into 10 scones. I thought they would be a bit on the thin side if I did that, so I rolled the dough into an 8-inch circle and cut it into 8 scones. I liked the size of the scones. The texture of the scones was good, not as dry as scones normally are, and we liked that about these scones. The glaze was much too thick and not of a "drizzle" consistency, so I needed to add additional water to it to thin it enough to drizzle on the scones. We liked the flavor of the icing. The scones themselves were not sweet and the icing helped with that. I didn't really care for the walnut on top, so I only put the walnut (for garnish, really) on half the scones. We served these to our guests in our Bed and Breakfast Inn, Rocky Mountain Lodge & Cabins, this morning, and they were a hit. I'd make this recipe again, the same way I made them this time, but without the walnuts.

PAN-SEARED SCALLOPS ON LINGUINE WITH TOMATO-CREAM SAUCE, Brian said a 10 on a scale of 1-10 (obviously one of our favorites)...

Since Brian can never get enough pasta, and loves scallops, I thought I'd make this recipe for him. He loved it and said I could make this recipe as much as I wanted and he'd eat it over and over again. The only variation I made on this recipe was that I used whole wheat linguine instead of regular linguine. Part of the recipe was a little unclear; it called for 1 1/2 cups hot cooked linguine, but it did not tell you how many ounces of dry pasta to cook. I cooked about 6 1/2 ounces of dry pasta, which I think was more than 1 1/2 cups, but Brian says you can never have too much pasta. The recipe said to cook the scallops for 2 minutes on each side, but the scallops did not look done on the sides so I cooked them for 3 minutes on each side, and they were done perfectly. Chef Gordon Ramsey would not have reason to throw these scallops out for being raw or overcooked (in my humble opinion). The portions seemed to be large, but that could be because I had a little more pasta than the recipe called for, but there were a lot of scallops too. So far, this has been Brian's absolute favorite recipe.

WARM GINGERBREAD WITH LEMON GLAZE, good, but needed more glaze...
I have another gingerbread with lemon sauce recipe that I make every year for Christmas, it's Brian's favorite Christmas dessert. I didn't make it this year because I wanted to make plum pudding instead (which took a month to prep and make) for a novelty. We'll be going back to gingerbread next year. Anyway, this recipe was up against my gingerbread recipe, and although this recipe was good, we still prefer my standby recipe. We liked the bites with the lemon glaze through the cake, but thought the gingerbread itself lacked a little flavor and the bites that didn't have the glaze throughout it was a little dry. The flavor of the lemon glaze was delicious, however, there was a lot of fresh squeezed lemon juice in it. We like my other recipe where you serve warm lemon sauce over the cake. And the frozen reduced-fat whipped topping does not stand a chance against home made real whipped cream.

Man, you'd think I was a food critic the way I talk about these recipes, sheesh! We ARE enjoying eating them. I don't think Brian likes the clean up afterwards though ;)

8 recipes down, 539 more to go.

Until tomorrow...