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Sunday, January 5, 2014

Making Sourdough Bread

 l recently ordered Sourdough Starter from Amazon.com for $6.00 (shipping was extra) at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002C0E5VG/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1.

The vendor for the Starter was Breadtopia at:  http://www.breadtopia.com/store/sourdough-starter.html

Luckily, I found this 1/2 gallon crock at Good Will for $2.00.  It works great for growing my Starter.
 

 The instructions for reviving my Starter came with it. 

After adding flour and non-chlorinated water, I covered the mixture in the crock with plastic saran wrap.

After 2 days, my Starter began bubbling.


Every 12-24 hours I added more flour and distilled water.

After mixing.
  
For my first sourdough loaf using the Starter, I made the Plain and Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe found at the following link:
 http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=7075&origin=detail&servings=16&metric=false

I made one substitution by replacing 1 cup of the white flour with whole wheat flour.  

This is my bread machine.

My machine tends to "overbake" so I compensate.  I always bake bread using the Quick cycle with Light Crust. 

Add 1 package of yeast per recipe.

Prior to using the 1 cup of bubbling Starter called for in the recipe, I fed it 1/2 cup non-chlorinated water and 2/3 cup of flour this morning.  I waited about 3-4 hours for it to begin bubbling again.  At that point scoop 1 cup of Starter out of the crock.  Start adding more flour and water to the original batch to "grow" more Starter.


I placed water in the bottom, salt, flour, and yeast in the pan.  I put the Starter on the top.

 Bread machine is kneading the dough.

The finished product  was delicious.  It was an easy recipe and I will use it again!



Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Birds Visiting My Yard Today - 1/2/14

I had time today to watch my yard for visitors here in North Texas.  My first guest was unexpected - a hawk arrived this morning looking for a chicken dinner - luckily all my hens were safely in their pen - what a beautiful bird!  For the record - in addition to the birds that I snapped pictures of, I also had a visit from a killdeer.

Swainson's Hawk



Mockingbird


Chickadee


Dove

Female Cardinal


 Another Female Cardinal

A blurry picture - but I got a shot of a male and female cardinal together.

Male cardinal


 This is a newcomer to my yard - I have never seen one of these before!  It is a very small bird with yellow cast to its wings.  It is a ruby crowned kinglet.  I saw a red patch on it!




 

 White Crowned Sparrows

House sparrows.



House finch.