Fall is in the air, and it's time to fire up the Wolf ovens for some more bread baking!

It's hot today, but cooler fall air is coming, which means more comfortable temperatures for baking.  Beast has been lying around like he's about to die from heat exhaustion, but as soon as the nights get cooler, he bounds into the kitchen eager for the next baking adventure with me.

Recently we participated in the King Arthur Flour Bake Along and made Pane Bianco, which turned out great!  http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2016/08/08/pane-bianco-bakealong/

We also made these Lemon Raspberry Cupcake Beauties http://bakerbynature.com/lemon-cupcakes-with-raspberry-buttercream/

And then over Labor Day we made Cinna Buns from King Arthur's recipe, and used some sourdough starter in the mix: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/cinna-buns-recipe 

More to come soon!  

Strawberry Season

It's Strawberry Season in Wisconsin!

Thankfully the weather is mild and the humidity low for this Independence Holiday weekend so yesterday Beast and I made some strawberry jam.  It's a love-hate relationship much like canning tomatoes in the heat of August.  I love the end result, but can live without the tedious process which keeps me indoors when I would rather be outside.

The berries are beautiful and sweet.  One of the best parts of processing day is coming up with adult beverages to enjoy during the processing adventure.  This time I made a Strawberry Mint Basil Cocktail with Vodka, Mint, Basil, SanPelligrino Limonata, and a little mint simple syrup.

Sometimes the jam turns out a bit runny but this year it is perfect.  It set well and has great flavor.  Step one of holiday gift canning complete!

Sourdough Starter

Beast and I have taken a break for a long time from blogging, but we have not stopped cooking and baking!  During the winter a customer of mine sent me some of her 8 year old sourdough starter and I have hosted a few Sourdough Bread Classes at work to share the starter with others and teach them how easy bread from scratch with starter can be.

There are so many things to do with sourdough starter and much of it is ridiculously easy.  Besides awesome bread we have been making the most delicious tortillas, biscuits and incredible pancakes.

Here's the recipe I have been using for the tortillas.
Flour Tortillas Recipe Link
You will not believe how velvety smooth they turn out, soft and melt in your mouth delicious!

The first time I made them I was not sure if they were supposed to rest at room temp or in the fridge.  I made them for Cinco de Mayo and mixed the dough the day before.  I left the dough in a plastic bag overnite then looked at it in the morning and thought I had ruined it because it was so moist.  I chucked the bag into the fridge for the day and took it back out after work and decided what the heck, I'll try anyway and see what they are like.  After preheating my cast iron pan I floured my hands and grabbed a gooey handful and mixed it with some more flour then rolled it out.  I knew as soon as I started rolling that I had something here.  The dough rolled so easily and was great to work with.  They turned out beautiful and you could taste the sourdough in every bite.  AWESOME!

I have struggled with flour tortillas for years because they always get too dry from the flour and cooking in the pan.  These were not dry at all.  New favorite recipe!