This is turning into a blog about sourdough, but that isn’t my goal. I just can’t help showing off all of what Brad IV does!
I have made these chocolate chip cookies multiple times, they are THAT good! I scoop out the dough and freeze it so we just bake a few at a time, as they are so rich we don’t need to eat but a couple at a time.
Here are some double chocolate chip banana muffins. In my opinion, banana muffins are better than banana bread. Just easier to manage, and I feel like more bang for my banana, you know?
So my first official bake back into sourdough were crackers, unfortunately not pictured because they are ugly, but also because I didn’t think about it. Instead, you can look at the second official bake which were these lovely, albeit slightly flat biscuits.
We had them with some homemade apple butter that I had made late last year. Let me tell you that apple butter was delicious—not too sweet and perfectly spiced. I made it with Arkansas black apples, a not-well-known variety, that are very crisp and slightly tart, but if you wait long enough, you can make great apple butter. I had a little over 2.5 pounds of apples, and if you have never made apple butter before, just know it’s an all-day affair of cooking, and you don’t get a lot out of it. But boy, is it really worth it? I had to make two quart jars—one for me and one to give to a friend. This was totally fine because I really didn’t want to get into the whole business of canning a whole batch of apple butter.
Brad IV showing us how he would win his 5th grade science fair if given the opportunity
Anyways, I had mentioned in my New Year’s post that I was throwing caution to the wind with Brad IV, and if you look above, this is day 8, and we are surely doing something right compared to my last journey with Brad III. Some of the new things I’m trying this time around are:
I did not discard ANYTHING the first 5 days. Usually you feed, you discard, you feed, you discard—rinse and repeat. This time, I just fed, fed, and fed.
the type of flour I’m feeding with is Einkorn All-Purpose Flour. I’m sure, if you recall, I strive to be gluten-free. I am not diagnosed as celiac, so I can tolerate limited gluten, and I have found that this flour does not bother me, especially when it comes to feeding my sourdough. Now, when I do full-on baking, I still use gluten-free flour (I also just recently came across King Arthur Gluten Free Bread Flour! which may or may not have caused Brad IV’s explosive episode last night in the oven…)
bringing me to my next point: keeping my sourdough baby in the oven at night after it cools from dinner. It’s winter time here, and it’s way too chilly in the house, so he’s been hanging in the oven at night, and that has helped tremendously.
really paying attention to my ratio when I feed! This is where a kitchen scale is super important. I use this with feeding my sourdough and baking recipes and it’s just more accurate than regular cup measurement methods (especially if you are using international recipes!)
Now some other things that I have considered doing include double-feeding during the day and/or supplementing my flour with rye flour for extra ‘protein’ if it seems like my starter is looking a little “sluggish”. As of right now, it looks like I won’t be needing to do that, but I will be keeping those tips in my back pocket, especially as I will be sticking Brad IV in the fridge for a day or so before I can feed him and use him again.
Happy New Year’s Eve everyone and welcome back to hopefully a more planned-out blog schedule.
History of New Year’s Day
So why do we start the new year with January? Well, it didn’t always. Previously, it would begin in March or even December! According to records, during the reign of Numa in ancient Roman times (c. 515-673 BCE), he declared January to be the start of the new year replacing March. January was named after Janus, the Roman god of all begins. However, it was not officially declared the start of the new year until 153 BCE.
In 46 BCE, Julius Caesar introduced more changes, with the Julian calendar adding more months. After the fall of Rome, many Christian countries altered the calendar to reflect their religion, with March 25th (Feast of the Annunciation) and December 25 (Christmas) becoming standard New Year’s Days.
After some time, the Julian calendar required more changes due to the miscalculation around leap years – this lasted for several centuries causing various events to happen in the wrong seasons. This included the date of Easter and Pope Gregory XIII introduced a revised calendar in 1582, solving the issue of leap years and restoring January 1st as the start of the New Year. Over the course of a couple of centuries, more countries and religions adopted the new calendar.
New Year’s Celebrations
The start of new year may begin on January 1st, but many start celebrating the evening of December 31st – New Year’s Eve. Some traditions include the bolting down of a dozen grapes, popular in Spanish-speaking countries, which symbolizes their hopes for the months ahead. Traditional New Year’s dishes feature legumes, which resemble coins and wealth. Pigs represent progress and prosperity in some cultures and many countries have pork as their main dish. Some countries have ring-shaped cakes and pastries, a sign that the year has come full circle. My family usually has a bowl of black-eyed peas, a slice of spiral ham, collard greens, and a slab of cornbread; all to represent wealth, health, and prosperity for the new year.
However you celebrate it, I hope the New Year brings you happiness and is full of fun adventures.
Traditional style Jack-O-Lanterns carved by yours truly and fiance
Halloween has a long history and originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in) around 2,000 years ago. During Samhain, people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. This was the day that marked the end of summer and harvest season and the beginning of winter, a time associated with human death. It was believed that the night before the new year (which was celebrated on November 1) was when the boundary between the living and the dead became blurred. Celts believed that the presence of these spirits caused trouble and damage to crops and that the Celtic priests (known as Druids) were able to use their presence to predict the future. The Druids built huge bonfires where people gathered and burned crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities while wearing costumes made of animal heads and skins.
Over time, the Roman Empire conquered the majority of the Celtic territory, and two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, celebrated in late October, where the Romans would commemorate the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. Her symbol was the apple, and this is believed to be where the tradition of bobbing for apples came to play.
In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as a time to honor all saints, becoming what we know as All Saints Day, which included some of the same traditions as Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve and is now known as Halloween. November 2nd was named All Souls Day to honor the dead. It was celebrated in a similar fashion to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and costumes such as saints, angels, and devils.
Centuries later, Halloween came to the New World. It took a while for Halloween to be celebrated in colonial New England, due to the rigid Protestant belief system. It was more common in Maryland and the southern colonies. With the meshing of different European ethnic groups’ beliefs and customs, along with those of the American Indians, a new Halloween began. Some of the first celebrations included “play parties”, where public events were held to celebrate the harvest. During this time, people would share stories of the dead, tell fortunes, and sing and dance.
It wasn’t until the second half of the 19th century that America started celebrating Halloween nationally after it became flooded with new immigrants, especially those from Ireland during the great Irish Potato Famine.
Today it is now a big celebration with more and more countries celebrating Halloween or their own version of it including Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), modern versions of Samhain, All Saints’ Day, and other traditions that celebrate and honor the dead.
To learn more about Halloween history, check out History.com.
I love potatoes. LOVE them. I love them fried and cheesy and loaded with bacon. I love them mashed and garlic-y. I love the sweet ones with butter and cinnamon and sugar (although they are not of the same family.)
A bowl of delicious loaded potato soup
A versatile starchy tuber, it is native to the Americas and was domesticated approximately 7,000-10,000 years ago (with genetic studies pinpointing to present-day southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia.) It is now a staple food in many parts of the world and integral to the world’s food supply, listed as the world’s fourth largest food crop (after corn, wheat, and rice). There are over 5,000 different types of potatoes! Can I make it a bucket list item to try every kind of potato? Instead of a coffee/tea subscription service, it’s different types of potatoes.
The English word potato comes from the Spanish patata, a hybrid of the Taino batata (‘sweet potato’) and the Quechua papa (‘potato’). The name was originally for sweet potatoes, however, potatoes and sweet potatoes are not closely related (as I mentioned earlier). An English herbalist from the 16th century, John Gerard, refers to sweet potatoes as common potatoes, and the terms bastard potatoes and Virginia potatoes for the potatoes we know of today. In several other languages, the term for “potato” translates into English as either “earth apple” or “ground apple”.
Potatoes are FULL of vitamins and minerals, including fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B6, potassium, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, niacin, and folate. They are rich in antioxidants, which are known to neutralize harmful molecules known as free radicals (which cause an increase in heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.) Some studies show that they may improve blood sugar control as they contain a type of starch known as resistant starch. This also may improve digestive health, as the resistant starch becomes food for the good gut bacteria in your large intestine. Of course, frying your potatoes causes more harm than good, so eat them in moderation. In the meantime, as the days get colder, warm yourself up with a hearty bowl of loaded potato soup!
Place sliced potatoes into a stockpot and completely cover with 1″ of water. Season with ½ tsp salt and cook 8-10 minutes or until potatoes pierce easily with a knife then drain.
Meanwhile, saute bacon in a dutch oven until crispy then transfer to a plate, reserving 1 Tbsp bacon grease in the pot.
Add 4 Tbsp butter and chopped onions then saute until tender. Add garlic and cook another minute until fragrant.
Quickly whisk in the flour. Slowly add 2 1/2 cups milk and 2 1/2 cups broth, constantly whisking then bring to a soft boil.
Add drained potatoes and season soup with 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper or season to taste.
Stir in 3/4 cup sour cream, 1 cup shredded cheddar, and half of your cooked bacon (reserving the rest for serving). Bring to a boil then remove from heat and serve with your favorite toppings.
It’s been a busy week for me, as I’ve been working at the local bakery every day (minus Monday, because we are closed). 4:30 is early, but waking up 10 minutes before my alarm feels even earlier! I’ve also been trying to be more social and force my body to stay awake instead of trying to take a nap as soon as I’m home from work. Some days I succeed, others I don’t. Who knew that standing in place kneading dough for hours at a time could be so tiring?
But when your final product looks like the following croissants, who can complain?
Beautiful, hand-rolled croissants. The tiny deformed ones in the corner were from the trimmings of extra dough.
Croissants are known for being super buttery and flaky and these live up. The way to get super flaky croissants is through the process of lamination. Lamination is the process of folding and rolling butter into dough repeatedly to create layers. Once the croissant is in the oven, the water in the butter evaporates into steam – causing the pastry to puff up and make steam pockets in between layers. After the water evaporates, you are left with an airy structure inside the croissant. This is a very time-consuming process (we are talking at least 7 hours and even up to 3 days!) as you have to chill your dough in between each round of folding and rolling. The butter has to remain cold or else it will “leak” out of the dough and your croissants will become flat and sad. There are some shortcuts you can do, even buying already-made croissant dough* if you don’t have the time or the patience to do it yourself.
*spoiler alert, we buy the already-made croissant dough because we do not have the time or manpower to make the croissant dough ourselves with how fast we sell everything.
Your options are endless when it comes to croissant dough – you can make pain au chocolats, cruffins and cronuts, cinnamon rolls, or even go savory with ham and cheese croissants!
It’s biscuit week for our bakers in the tent and we are starting to see some bakers crack under pressure.
Just kidding, I am (unfortunately) not in the tent but if you do watch the BBC/Netflix show, The Great British Bake Off, you know that biscuits are no joke. Another unfortunate event, I am also not talking about the British cookie, but the lovely and flaky American biscuit.
Look at that golden, salty, and flaky goodness!
I made these yummy biscuits with my sourdough discard that I’ve been hoarding and they were tasty! Especially with some homemade blackberry jelly.
Nothing beats a warm, buttery biscuit and chilled blackberry jelly.
I used Feasting At Home’s quick sourdough biscuits to make these biscuits. I made them with gluten-free flour so they came out a little stickier and I couldn’t roll-fold-cut them, which is fine because they worked perfectly fine as drop biscuits.
Now, these aren’t my usual biscuits, but I love finding new ways to make sourdough discard. Although I guess I could just make crackers forever.
If you want another biscuit recipe to try (and you don’t have sourdough discard), these buttermilk biscuits are THE best! I don’t have a recent photo to show you, but I will share the recipe so you can enjoy them.
Buttermilk Biscuits 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp salt 1 tbsp sugar 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and diced 1 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Cut butter into the flour mixture (use a fork or your fingers) until there are pea-sized pieces. Make a well in the center, pour in the buttermilk, and stir until just combined. Turn dough onto a floured surface, and pat it into a rectangle. Fold the rectangle in half, turn the dough half a turn, and flatten it into a rectangle. Repeat twice more. Roll the dough 3/4 inch thick. Cut out 2-inch biscuits and place them onto a prepared baking sheet. Melt 1 tbsp butter and brush the tops of the biscuits. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Okay that was supposed to be to the tune of Sound of Music’s, So Long, Farewell, when Friedrich says “Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu”, so just pretend you got it.
Choux (pronounced as “shoe”) pastry is a cooked, eggy dough made with butter, water, flour, and eggs. Instead of using any raising agents, it uses its high moisture content to create steam which causes it to puff in the oven. Some notable desserts that use choux pastry are profiteroles (cream puffs), eclairs, croquembouches, St. Honore cake, and chouquettes. Cream puffs and eclairs are usually filled with cream, while chouquettes are unfilled and sprinkled with pearl sugar.
According to some cookbooks, chef Pantarelli or Pantanelli, the head chef of Catherine de’ Medici, invented the dough in 1540. He originally made a gateau, a rich cake that contains layers of cream or fruit, and named it a pâte à Pantanelli. Over the years, the recipe for the dough evolved along with its name. Pâte à popelin, was used to make popelins, named after Pantanelli’s successor, small cakes that were made to resemble a woman’s breasts. They were very common in aristocratic circles in the 16th century and were prepared from dough that dried over a fire to evaporate water, called pâte à chaud (literally meaning ‘hot pastry’). This is where the name pâte à choux comes from.
Well, hope you enjoyed a tasty Thursday food fact! Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you!
Okay, say you’re in your mid-to-late twenties, no longer in school and you don’t like your coworkers (mixing friends with business isn’t always the greatest of ideas), but you’re feeling a little lonely, especially on Monday nights when your partner is playing online games with his friends. What do you do with yourself? Sure you could take up knitting, use the time to read, and maybe work on your blog, but what if you actually want to see people? Not only see people but actually, talk to them about things you both find something exciting and fun.
In school, most of your friendships are based on location and seeing them every day. This is a great and easy way to make friends. Some of these friendships even last after school is over and you don’t see them every day anymore. So how about making new friends when not in this situation? Maybe you see them sort of every day because they live in your apartment complex, but you don’t know if you would actually get along and you don’t want to be weird and just leave a note. Right? WRONG!
The most important thing when it comes to making new friends is to put yourself out there. You find one thing you might have in common, and you capitalize on that. The worst they can do is say no. Then you just nod, say okay, and move on.
If you want a friend IRL – not one you meet in your super niche online chat – you have to lean into what you like and just talk about it. Starting up a new friendship is just like dating, except you don’t have to think about if you should kiss goodbye on the first date. You ask questions to get to know each other, you laugh and smile when you’re having a good time, and you listen to what they have to say. Afterward, be honest with yourself. Is this someone I could spend my free time with? Is this someone I can invite out to brunch with? Are they nice? Would my partner like them and not be upset if they came home and found us watching tv and drinking wine? This is the same sort of process you go through with school, you are just a little more in touch with yourself.
By this point in your life, you are relatively set in your ways. Don’t be afraid to be yourself.
Salamanders are a group of amphibians with a lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, and short limbs. They can range in size from minute salamanders of 27 mm (1+1⁄8 in) to the Chinese giant salamander which can reach 1.8 m (6ft) and weigh up to 185lbs! Most salamanders are between 10 and 20 cm (4 and 8 in).
Okay, why am I talking about salamanders? Well, salamander diversity is the highest in eastern North America, with approximately 56 different species in North Carolina alone, some only in specific isolated habitats! As someone who just came back from Western NC, you can’t visit any nature center without learning about salamanders.
Spotted Salamander, art by me
More information on Salamanders can be found here.
Just a Little Bit of Everything 