I may have bitten off more then I can chew!

Top Left: Sourdough starter  - which is basically a bunch of bacteria which kind of acts like yeast and smells sour. The starter takes about a week to make, but if you ever decide to make one follow the instructions - instead of discarding some of the starter to create your finished product (which is normal), I double my recipe and made twice as much. I now realize that I will never in my wildest dreams use it all. This picture of my fridge is my attempts to do that, but I still have 3/4's of the starter left.

Top Right: Sourdough bread rising (with extra yeast added). This bread contains 1/4 c of the starter. It will be baked today. It will most likely make 2 good size loafs.

Middle Left: This is my massive ball of sour dough pizza starter (which will become pizza dough). I should clarify that this starter is made from the beginning starter. It would have become finished dough last night, but I ran out of flour so I could only make a portion of it, but that's OK because this can sit in my fridge for 3 days. When I started to make this starter I tripled the pizza dough recipe to make sure I had left over balls of dough to freeze. It would have made 15, 10 - 12 inch individual pizza's.

Middle Right: This is my completed pizza dough rising - which will be supper tonight. 5 individual pizza's, though more likely 2 big ones.

Bottom Right: More sourdough. This difference with this one is - it does not contain any yeast. I am going to bake both the sourdoughs today and see if I notice a difference it size, flavour and overall quality.

I should point out as well, that it was quite a feat to fit all these bowls in my tiny fridge.

My new clay oven/Stone

I bought a pizza/bread stone the other day. I do already have one, but I currently don't have access to it, seeing as it's in Saskatoon.

Don't worry, I can justify having 2!

After seasoning it (Baking it by itself at a high temp for a few hours), I had to try it out so I made a no-knead overnight bread yesterday. Typically I make this in my dutch oven, but I would say it turned out just as good, if not better.

I baked it for 35 minutes at 425 to 450.

Lost in the Shuffle

So, I managed to lose/misplace the pictures of the ciabatta bread I made on Saturday.

I FOUND A PICTURE!

I guess my description of it will have to do.

The dough was quite soft and moist when I took it out of the fridge. I shaped it using flour to keep it from sticking and then I proofed it for 2 hours, before baking. I was quite dissapointed with the rise (Or lack of rise). The dough seemed really flat (Perhaps an inch - more like a foccacia, which also can be made with this same dough). The crumb (the inside) was really dense, but the flavour was great.

Something else that has been lost in the shuffle of my life are parsnips!

I am sure I have had a parsnip in my life at some point or another (Perhaps it was mashed into something and I was unaware), but I don't remember willfully putting one it my mouth. So I decided to remedy this situation. I picked up a little bag at the store and I am GLAD I did! They are so good! It's like a carrot but with a different kind of sweetness and a slight peppery flavour.

Here is a pic of a supper I made a few nights ago.

I was also excited to use my new tool (a Christmas present) a melon-baller. I found a recipe a few months ago for Potato Bells. You basically ball some potato's boil them and then fry them in butter and garlic. I used sweet potato's instead of the russets sitting on my floor. On top is some left over Curried Meatloaf.

French Bread

3 Days ago - I decided to mix up some French bread dough from my new Peter Rienhart book.

I found a sample of his book online HERE, which will give you the recipe and the rest of process.

To make this loaf I used 2/3rds of the dough - the other 3rd became pizza last night.

In the red bowl in I have started the next bread in the book - Pain a l'Accienne Rustic Bread. I will post pics once it's been baked - probably in 2 or 3 days!

The Bread turned out good, minus the seam that kind of popped open during baking (Which through the magic of photography is not seen). I was shocked (for some odd reason) at how much the bread actually tasted like French bread. The flavour was awesome!

I should also point out that the dough sat in my fridge for 3 days.

Just when I thought I was done with Turkey... Noodle Soup

The other day I picked up a young (7 pound) turkey - for some reason or another it was cheaper then a 3 pound chicken - who knows why!? Once home I carved up the turkey so I was left with only a carcass.

I marinaded the turkey breasts in a satay sauce (Recipe here, but doubled). and roasted them in a 350 degree oven till they reached an internal temperature of 180. It took about an hour to an hour and half. I then sliced up the breasts and the meat has been going on sandwiches ever since!

The Legs I also roasted (in the same oven - different pan), with a bit of salt, pepper and oil. Once done I shredded the meat and put in the fridge for the next day.

The carcass - accompanied by some carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, S&P, and thyme went into a pot and made a pretty good stock.

The following day I took the stock, heated it up and added the shredded chicken, some celery, carrots and egg noodles. To finish I used salt, pepper, thyme and some fresh rosemary chopped up. It was so good - very reminiscent of my Dad's homemade chicken noodle soup.

New Years Resolution/Challenge!

McDonald's is my not so secret guilty pleasure in life. I don't know what it is - but I love that crap!

So last night as we picked up some drive through, Teegan and I made ourselves a little new years resolution/challenge. No McDonald's for 1 year (excluding coffee)!

We were tempted to make it all fast food - but we know ourselves too well.

My New Book!

I picked this book up in Saskatoon over the Christmas holidays and I am quite excited to start making the breads and doughs inside. It explores the (newish) technique, cold fermentation (which is basically a pretty way of saying - allowing bread to rise and ferment in the fridge).

My first attempt - the"Lean Bread"