Sourdough starter

When I was in St. Louis last winter I bought a sourdough starter that I've just started using. I've made three types so far and have vowed to never buy commercial bread again, because with a bread machine it's sooooooo easy to make delicious varieties. I started out with a recipe from a sourdough bread machine book, with cheddar, garlic, and chives added, to make rolls. They were good but not exactly what I'd wanted.

For the next batch I just modified the recipe that came with the starter. I threw in a cup of Asiago cheese, which canceled out some of the sourness of the bread and made for a loaf that will be great for sandwiches. I've also been using milk instead of water.

Next I tried for brioche. I'd made a bunch of jam - strawberry cherry jam and nectarine jam, also in the bread machine - and needed something to put it on. I added half a cup of sugar and some cinnamon. It's good toasted with jam, but not as sweet as I'd like, so I'm going to try it again today with more sugar and possibly honey or molasses.

Any other combination suggestions?

Cinnamon rolls

I've recently fallen in love with my bread machine. Is there nothing it can't do? Yes, actually, there is - making non-bread machine-sized loaves. But fortunately there's the dough setting, which has allowed me to make the AWESOMEST cinnamon rolls ever. They were really easy and really delicious. James and I ate half a pan as soon as they were out of the oven, and I got Jax some extra love from his teachers by sending a pan to school.

Cinnamon Rolls
(Used this recipe) In your bread machine, combine the following: 1 c milk, 1/4 c softened butter, 1 egg, 3 c flour (I threw in some gluten too because I didn't use bread flour), 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp cinnamon, and 2 tsp yeast. Set to dough setting.

After the dough is done, combine 3/4 c brown sugar, 1/4 c flour, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and 1/3 c chopped cold butter until it resembles course crumbs. Divide the dough in half and on a floured surface roll out to a 12"x8" rectangle. Sprinkle half the brown sugar mixture on each and roll up, starting with a long edge. Cut into 12 pieces and arrange in a greased 9" cake pan. Cover both pans and allow to rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

To make the glaze, combine powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tbsp softened butter, and 3-4 tbsp milk. Pour on top.

Apple night

I hosted craft night again this month, and the theme this time was apples. Here's the menu:

1. Apple cheddar puffs, half with chicken and half with bacon (made the same way as the spinach artichoke puffs but with shredded chicken or crumbled bacon, grated apple, and cheddar cheese)
2. Apple and red Leicester risotto
3. Apple cranberry crumbcake
4. Baked apples

At the end of the night the only thing left was some baked apples, which I think I'll make into apple enchiladas.

More bread experimentation

Two more friendship bread varieties:

Carrot cake (vanilla with extra cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, and grated carrot) with cream cheese frosting

Bumbleberry cheesecake cake (vanilla bread cut in half, sandwiched with cream cheese frosting and leftover bumbleberry filling), great frozen.

Thanks a lot, Amish people

I kept one of my Amish friendship bread babies to experiment with (I actually gave the other one away, for the first time since I started). I made four different kinds (I divided each batter in half), all using vanilla pudding, and each was delicious.

1. Plain old chocolate chip, which made six large muffin cookies.
2. Apple and cranberry crumbcake - cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, an apple, and a handful of craisins, topped with a food-processed mixture of a stick of butter, cinnamon, a cup of sugar, and about 1/3 c flour. We sent this into daycare for the assistant director's birthday, and she was very disappointed that she only got one small piece - the kids and other teachers ate the rest! One of Jax's teachers was telling everyone that she gave me the recipe (she's been giving me several that she finds in magazines). Nope, came up with it myself!
3. Spiced vanilla - all the spices of the apple and cranberry one but without those or the topping; it also made six large muffin cookies.
4. Maple pecan - mixed a cup of chopped pecans into the batter, then drizzled maple syrup on the top before I baked them. This made eight tiny baby loaves.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...

...and sometimes it rains.

Tonight, while it rained a bit, I tried making strawberry roulade with the Amish friendship bread. I made plain vanilla and baked it in a 9"x13" pan, 3 cups of batter per pan (next time only use 1.5 cups and try a cookie sheet), for about half an hour instead of the full hour. I let it cool briefly (just long enough to make the frosting and puree the strawberries). Then I sliced it in half and frosted one of those with cream cheese frosting (1 stick butter, 1 package cream cheese, and enough powdered sugar to make it spreadable), topped with pureed strawberries (great to have on hand in the freezer, especially if you buy too many at the farmers' market like I tend to do). Roll it up, wrap in wax paper, and chill. Voilà!But when I tried it with the other half it stuck to the waxed paper underneath it when we tried to roll it. So that became strawberry cheesecake cake. I'd already made up the other sliced sheet, so we flipped it onto the second, whole sheet, sandwiching the frosting and strawberries between. I then made more frosting (same recipe), frosted the top, and put more strawberries on top.

More bread flavors

Looking through my Complete Baking cookbook, there are a lot of types of bread I think I can adapt to the Amish friendhsip bread, which I think I may have to start up again because we're down to only about a dozen mini loaves left in the freezer right now. Here are some I'd like to try:

1. Raspberry crumble - add fresh raspberries and grated lemon rind, then for the crumble top use 1 oz finely chopped nuts (I think I'll do granola instead), 2 oz brown sugar, 3 tbsp flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 3 tbsp melted butter
2. Blueberry
3. Apple cranberry - orange juice (maybe in place of some of the milk?), cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, 1-2 apples, 6 oz cranberries (craisins); dust with powdered sugar
4. Pumpkin - 8 oz pumpkin, nutmeg, currants or raisins
5. Maple pecan - maple syrup and toasted pecans with pecan halves on top
6. Cherry marmalade - glacé cherries, orange marmalade, with marmalade brushed on top after they're baked
7. Blackberry almond
8. Orange and honey - use orange juice and grated orange rind
9. Apple loaf - applesauce and currants or raisins
10. Pineapple apricot - dried apricots, chopped crystallized ginger and pineapple, and grated lemon and orange rinds
11. Apple apricot - dried apricots, 1 apple, grated rind and juice of an orange
12. Pear and sultana
13. Saffron and cardamon - plus honey and honey for brushing
14. Bilberry - probably I'll use blueberries because I don't know where I'd find bilberries; top with 4 oz sugar, 1 1/2 oz flour, cinnamon, and 2 oz butter cut into all that

Poundcakes

A while back, a friend gave me an Amish bread starter. We've gone a tad overboard with it at our house, to put it mildly. I discovered that you can either make two large loaves (six mini) and four starters, or four large (twelve mini) and two starters, or six large (eighteen mini) and no starters. You're baking these poundcakes every ten days, so this adds up fast! Fortunately you can also freeze the starters, if you've run out of space in your freezer and already given tons away.

Here are some of the kinds I've made:

• butterscotch
• butterscotch with white chocolate chips
• marble (chocolate and vanilla swirled)
• chocolate
• chocolate with chocolate chips
• chocolate with white chocolate chips
• chocolate with mint chips
• chocolate with peanut butter chips
• chocolate with caramel
• oreo
• cheesecake with cranberry
• vanilla
• vanilla with strawberry chunks
• vanilla with chocolate chips
• vanilla with swirly chips
• vanilla with Kissables (mini Kisses with a candy shell)
• vanilla with caramel chips
• pistachio
• banana
• banana with nuts
• lemon
• carrot, complete with cream cheese frosting

I have given these to my coworkers, parents, friends, Jax's teachers, and TM'ers. Right now, the freezer is beyond full because I made a few last week (34 mini and 1 large, to be exact). They are really yummy! I'm planning on giving a bunch to family and friends we're visiting next week.

A friend's review: "Those were the most amazing cakes I have ever eaten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I love cake :) "