And Evem More Sourdough--post 6 AND Scrap Processing

Rum Raisin Bread Pudding

I'm continuing to cook my way through "Artisan Sourdough Made Simple" by Emilie Raffa. Goal number six on my June list was to post more results of the recipes I've baked. an In February, I baked Rum Raisin Bread Pudding. It was tasty and it was good recipe to use day old sourdough bread. The recipe calls for two tablespoons of caramel sauce to drizzle on the top. It is a sweet dish; but, it wasn't an excellent dish.

 

The loaf after baking

The next bread that I baked was the Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Sourdough loaf. Before baking, the recipe called for slivered almonds to top the loaf. Another time, I would ensure more of the chips are enclosed in the dough. Should you ask, I anticipate baking this recipe many times!

Delicious

Before cutting into the loaf, the recipe called for a dusting of powdered sugar. The sweetness of the bread came from the chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Decadent Chocolate Chip Loaf

The next loaf that I baked was the Chocolate Chip loaf. It was delicious on its own. The chocolate chips stayed gooey for a couple of days. The bread was light and moist. The sourdough flavor is prevalent. Yet, the combination of chocolate and sourdough is pleasing! It is a rich loaf and one slice was more than enough. The white top is due to dusting with flour prior to baking the loaf. I shared this loaf with one of my small groups and it was a hit! I must remember to snap a photo of a slice before all the slices were eaten!

Cinnamon Swirl Raisin

In April, I baked Cinnamon Swirl Raisin loaf. It took a long time raise and I probably should have given it another hour to raise before I baked it as I didn't get much pan spring. 

The first slices

For this loaf, I baked it at a lower temperature. The loaf didn't over brown on either the top or the bottom. It was light and delicious. The raisins and walnuts were a good addition.

Seeded Pumpkin Cranberry bread

Seeded Pumpkin Cranberry Bread was the next recipe I baked. It has three quarters of a cup of pumpkin in the batter which turned the dough a light orange color. The cranberries are soaked in a mixture of orange juice, vanilla and sugar. The mixture is added to the dough after the dough has rested.

The first slice

Before baking, I pressed some pumpkin seeds to the top of the loaf. The seeds add a professional looking garnish. It was tasty bread and such a unique color!

Almost No Knead Fougasse

Almost No Knead Fougasse was the next recipe I made. I chose to top it with herbs before baking. Next time, I'll also add the parmesan cheese before baking. 

First slices

This bread was best eaten warm. I liked the taste of adding the herbs to the loaf. I should have waited until just before I baked the loaf before I cut in the design to the bread as the bread rose and muted my design This would be a great recipe to bake when we have guests.

There are still more recipes to be made so I will be writing a few more posts to be written once I've done the baking. 

Now on to the stitching!

Scrap pile to be processed

Goal number 10 on my June list was to process the leftover bits from Good Fortune, Dash and Beyond the Surface. I had already processed the leftovers from making the quilts. These bits are the trimmings from the binding, backing and batting of those projects. 

Scraps ready to be added to the scrap saving system.

I put away a few strings before I remembered I wanted to snap a photo of the useable scraps I was able to process from that stack of leftovers. Also not pictured are some five inch squares and five inch strips. Additionally, I made a sleeve for Dash out of the green scrap. As I put the strips into my scrap saving system, I found that my strip containers were full too. I need to figure out another scrap project! 

These scraps become my precuts. The sizes of my precuts are 1 1/2, 2 and 2/12 inch strips or squares. These are the sizes I use most often. I smile when a pattern calls for fabric cut in those measurements! I store by size and by color in quart zip lock bags.

I also pieced a the leftover batting bits together. I often quilt densely so I'm not concerned that there will br a lot of joins in the batting. Trimmings and small bits go in a two gallon plastic bag. If I make a toy or a pillow, I'll use those bits for stuffing.

Batting bits combined. Top bag is full of the trimmings.

Stitching the batting scraps together as I process the other scraps ensures that I complete the task. I used to put the batting scraps into a tub until I couldn't close the lid. Piecing the batting scraps at that point was tedious! Having a pieced batting ready to use, helps me to move a project through the basting stage.

Linking to Oh Scrap and Sew & Tell.

And More Sourdough--post 5

Overnight Baguette Twists

This is post number five of documenting recipes from "Artisan Sourdough Made Simple" by Emilie Raffa. There is no quilt related information in this post. Gertie, my inner squirrel, disagrees with me. She believes sourdough fuels the quilter. She has a point!

As I bake a new recipe I try to remember to take a photo before cutting into the bread so I can document the recipe. Sometimes, I am successful! For New Year's Eve, I had planned a quiet evening with appetizers as dinner as the way to ring in the new year on Central time. My family had other ideas; but, I had already started the bread so I made it anyway. This was the Overnight Baguette Twists recipe. 

Checking out the texture of a slice

We ate the first loaf as a snack. That loaf evaporated! I wrapped the second loaf in plastic. We ate it for dinner on New Year's. I froze the third loaf for another day. I liked the size of the slices as they were the perfect size for spreading with cheese from the charcuterie.

No-Knead Chocolate Chunk Focaccia with Cream Cheese and Nutella

Miss A, the youngest granddaughter, asked for a chocolate bread. She loves chocolate! I baked No-Knead Chocolate Chunk Focaccia with Cream Cheese and Nutella. We tried a slice while it was warm. It was too rich for all of us!

Light. and Fluffy Brioche

In the middle of January, I baked the Light and Fluffy Brioche. It was light, tender and delicious. I wondered how it would be because small chunks of cold butter are kneaded via a dough hook into the dough. Shaping the loaf was different because some of the butter was still in chunks. I chose to shape four balls and make a decorative loaf.

The first slice

I think the holes are where there was a chunk of butter! I would make this recipe again. It is a rich dough. It tasted great warm and it tasted great after it had fully cooled.

A few weeks into the new year, Jennifer, who writes the Elefantz blog, posted this link about medieval peasant bakers. It's about a twenty minutes video which I found enlightening. No wonder when I eat "store" bread, I feel hungry in about 20 minutes; but, a slice of my sourdough bread will keep me going for hours! Jennifer also shared a video link from Homestead Kitchen about how to make sourdough starter. If you already have a starter, skip to about the two thirds point to watch her bake a loaf.

My grandmother baked sourdough bread. For my grandfather she baked rye bread because he became gluten intolerant. I know that her bread had yeast and she didn't wait 12-24 hours to bake a loaf. . .but, if she had, perhaps, my grandfather could have eaten her bread. 

Perhaps, I'll be phasing out the store bread purchasing and begin eating my homemade sourdough loaves instead. The challenge is the loaves don't last all that long. Three days is about the limit. Perhaps, I need to bake smaller loaves and freeze one or give one away. 

Mighty Multigrain loaf with a dusting of flour

Mighty Multigrain was the next recipe that I tried. I've wanted to try this recipe for sometime; but, it was challenging to locate the spelt flour and 10 grain cereal that were two of the ingredients. Instead of going to the grocery store and searching, I did an internet search to find the products locally. My husband picked up the items. Yes, he still had to search. . .the 10 grain cereal was the last package in the store and it was located behind another product! How he found it was through the help of one of the shoppers who fills store orders.

Cutting the first slice

This recipe allows the fermentation to take place on the kitchen counter so the loaf can be made in a day. The crumb is soft and bouncy. I liked the flavor and will make this recipe again as it is a favorite!

Flaxseed with Spelt Flour

Flaxseed with spelt flour was the next recipe I tried. The actual recipe called for golden flaxseed. I had regular flaxseed so that was what I used. Again, it took a long time for the bread to raise and the dough was sticky; but, in the end it baked well. It is another recipe that can be made in a day. There isn't a photo of it as a whole loaf because I forgot to take a photo before I cut into it!

We decided that while good, it wasn't as good as the mighty multigrain recipe that I had baked the previous week. It is a recipe that I would make again!

Multigrain loaf

Another recipe using the 10 grain cereal was the Multigrain loaf. The recipe makes a huge loaf. It was delicious. It was moist and had a soft crumb. While my husband was munching his slice, I asked him which was his favorite. He replied, he needed a bake off and even then, he wasn't sure he could decide! I'm glad he didn't ask me for my favorite. . . as I'd have to answer as he did!

View of the first cut

I'll be baking a few sweet recipes next. 

More Sourdough with a Few Strings Thrown in at the End--post 4

Sourdough Bagels

I've continued baking sourdough recipes from the Artisan Sourdough Made Simple cookbook. In October, I baked bagels. Years ago, I baked bagels and didn't have good results. These bagels, however, were delicious. The recipe states that a New Yorker will tell you after taking one bite that the bagel is a taste of home. Well, my friend, Wendy, is a New Yorker. I brought her a couple. I didn't even get home before she had texted me about how good the bagels were and how they reminded her of the ones she would eat in New York.

I was lamenting the fact that the bagels didn't have holes and she wrote, "Who needs holes when these are so good?" Actually, the bagels are better with smaller holes because you can add more stuff without it falling through the hole!

Pita Bread

In November,  I baked two new to me recipes. First, I baked pita bread. I rolled half of the dough  super thin and these were more like what I have purchased from the store. The other half of the dough, I rolled the recommended 1/4 inch thick. I liked eating these better. 

I baked some of the pitas on a pizza stone and some of the pitas in a cast iron skillet. The pitas browned better in the cast iron skillet; but, both methods worked. This is not a recipe I will make often. I think I didn't like the flavor that the whole wheat flour imparted. I may try the recipe again using only white flour to see if I like the results better.

They split well and we filled them with pulled pork one day, egg scramble another and roast chicken on a third day!

Soft and Tear Rolls

At Thanksgiving, my daughter asked if I would bring rolls--my choice on what I wanted to make. I baked two kinds. The Soft and Tare rolls which I've shared before. These turned out the best ever. 

Cranberry Pecan Sourdough rolls

The other recipe I made was Cranberry Pecan Sourdough rolls. These went well with the turkey and would also work great at a brunch because they were sweet. Both were even better tasting than they looked!

Blistered asiago rolls with sweet apple and rosemary

In December, I baked the Sourdough asiago rolls. I've wanted to bake these since I first perused the recipes in this cookbook. The recipe calls for dried apples; but, I followed the hint and sautéd apple slices in a pan until they were wrinkled and those worked great. After you form the rolls, you bruh the dough with water and then roll that piece of formed dough in the shredded asiago cheese. The rolls raise once more before baking. Eating these warm was the best of all the recipes. My husband said that we weren't sharing the remainder with anyone! 

Pickled jalapeno, cheddar and chive bread

Later in the month, I baked the Pickled Jalapeño, Cheddar and Chive bread. My husband likes foods with a kick and cheese is always a win in his book! There are more recipes I have tried so I'll keep documenting baking the recipes in this cookbook. While I like to bake a sourdough something each week, the requests for favorites don't leave much room for a new recipe!

Writing this post was goal number nine on my January list.

Sorting blue strings

Yesterday, I started sorting and stitching blue strings for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I hope to stitch enough strings to make a huge dent in the blue string bag!

The Village of Artists--made from a variety of house blocks

My daughter delivered the house quilt on Monday. The recipient loved it. He ist 35 years old with a wife, three year old son and a baby on the way. He is recovering from a burst embolism. His speech improves every day and he has a little movement in his right side. He is hopeful to walk again.

 He was awed someone he didn't know would make him such a beautiful "blanket." He said the letter that I wrote about the quilt touched his heart. Yesterday, his wife saw it. She wrote "The blanket is absolutely amazing. Your mum's letter brought me to tears. Honestly, it is so beautiful and it was so kind of her."

This quilt definitely is where it needs to be! Linking to Finished or Not Friday and Quilting and Patchwork.

Sourdough Bread Baking--post 3 And A Fabric Palette for Kaffe Prints--post 1

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers!

Goal number one on my October list was to document recipes from the Artisan Sourdough Made Simple cookbook written by Emile Raffa. This is my third post regarding recipes I've baked from that cookbook.

Soft Semolina Breadsticks with Buttery Crumbs

At the beginning of June, I made the Soft Semolina Breadsticks with Buttery Crumbs. My youngest granddaughter likes hard breadsticks. She might like these. When she comes for a visit, we will need to bake some to see what she thinks!

I baked these a few minutes too long so they weren't as soft as they should have been. The buttery crumbs are tasted panko bread crumbs with a little parmesan cheese mixed together. To get the crumbs to adhere to the breadsticks, I brushed the warms breadsticks with melted butter and then I rolled them  in the crumb mixture. This recipe was husband approved!

Crispy Sourdough Grissini

At the end of June, I made the other bread stick recipe, Crispy Sourdough Grissini, in the cookbook. From the oven, these were crisp; but, even in an airtight container, they didn't stay that way long! I would make them again; but, be sure to use them the same day that I baked them!

Roasted garlic and rosemary sourdough

Roasted garlic and rosemary were in the next loaf of bread I baked. My husband thought this was the best recipe yet.

Rolls before baking

Overnight Sourdough Bialays With Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese was the next recipe I tried. My husband does not like goat cheese although he did eat it in these rolls. He liked the carmelized onions and gave the recipe a thumbs up.

Rolls after baking

We ate one hot from the oven. The verdict was delicious! We ate them room temperature with our dinner. The verdict was good. We froze half of the batch. When we ate a couple that had thawed in the microwave, they were just as good as eating them at room temperature. I would definitely make this recipe again. It would be easy to leave off the goat cheese for those that don't prefer it.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Knot

Salted Chocolate Caramel Knot was absolutely delicious. I had my reservations. First, I doubted that the sourdough would be light enough to be a sweet bread. (It was!) Second, I doubted that I'd be able to shape the dough as was done in the recipe.(I sort of got there!) Third, Nutella and caramel? (It was a wonderful combination!)

A slice

My sweet husband said it would be no problem to "have" to eat this recipe again! It was best fresh from the oven; but, it was still great after it was totally cool. The next day and the day after it was still good! I would definitely make this recipe again!

Raspberry Gingersnap Twist

Raspberry Gingersnap Twist was good too! We would have enjoyed it even more had I done better about following the directions. I missed adding the cinnamon and chocolate chips at the right time in the recipe. I also didn't have Raspberry jam; but, I had plum butter that I had made from my friend Wendy's fruit tree. I made homemade gingersnap cookies to crumble so there was some effort in prepping for this recipe!

A slice

This twist was easier for me to do and it looked beautiful. The lightness of this loaf wasn't as much as in the Nutella loaf. The weather was a little cooler so maybe that was part of the reason or maybe, I should have let it rise a little longer before I baked it. All good reasons to try the recipe again!

There are about 70 recipes in this cookbook. (Artisan Sourdough Made Simple)So far, I've baked about eighteen of the recipes. There are more recipes to try so I will be writing future posts!

Because this is a quilting blog. . .I will share that I settled on my palette for a challenge one of my small groups is doing. A recognizable amount of the three printed fabrics must be used. We can make any project and can add as many additional fabrics as we want. There is no size limit.

Challenge palette

I have an idea of how I want to proceed so the next step was to prewash all the fabrics. I know many people don't prewash. I do because our water contains chlorine. I don't want surprises when I wash a project! I will report that the red print bled a bit; but, the dark orange was the worst bleeder! It took two rounds with synthrapol before the water was clear! Since pre-washing fabrics is a list item I avoid, I made it goal number seven on my October list. 

Pre-washed, starched and ready to cut

I have starched the pre-washed fabrics and ironed them. I'm ready to begin cutting the fabrics. First though, I need to stitch some blocks together so the design wall is available for this project. Linking to: Oh  Scrap and Sew and Tell.

Baking More Sourdough with A Scrappy Chain Bliock --post 2

My last sourdough post was November 2024. While I've baked some waffles and pancakes since that post, I haven't made any other recipes from the "Artisan Sourdough Made Simple" by Emilie Raffa. The lack of baking was partly due to my knee recovery, partly due to not needing to eat those calories and partly because I wasn't motivated to bake! 

Rustic Pumpernickel

At the end of January, I pulled out my cookbook and settled on the Rustic Pumpernickel bread. My pantry didn't have fennel seeds. I used anise seeds instead. The bread was delicious. I really liked the flavor and aroma the anise seeds gave the bread. Eaten warm, the texture was  coarse; but, I liked the chewy crust. I remarked that it would be delicious toasted and topped with goat cheese.  I ate it the next day, toasted and topped with goat cheese, it was delicious! I would make this recipe again.

Overnight Danish Rye 

At the beginning of February, I made a couple recipes. First, I baked a loaf of Overmight Danish Rye bread. This recipe contains sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds and flax seeds. It is a dense loaf. A slice is filling and delicious with goat cheese. Pickled onions, smoked salmon and cream cheese would also be great toppings for this bread.

Soft Share and Tear Rolls

Then, for Super Bowl Sunday, I made Soft Share and Tear Rolls. I was surprised at how light and airy these rolls were. As per the recipe, I used the dough hook on my mixer to knead the dough. Of all of the recipes that I have made from this cookbook, this was the first one that didn't require the dough to raise overnight. These were delicious with a little butter. I will definitely be baking these again!

Easy Bread Basket Rolls

When two of the granddaughters came to spend a little time with us during Spring Vacation, I baked Easy Bread Basket Rolls. They were easy and they were also delicious! They were even delicious the following day. I paired these with homemade chicken noodle soup. I made a double batch so that the granddaughters could take home some for their dinner. I will make these rolls again!

Roasted Garlic Sourdough Knots with Parmesean

With Easter approaching, I decided it was time to try another roll recipe. This time I baked xx rolls. What makes these rolls different is the way the rolls are shaped. You stretch the dough into a rectangle and then tie it in a knot. Think of the first step in tying your shoe. When the rolls come out of the oven, they are drizzled with butter and rolled in parsley and Parmesan cheese. I didn't have Pecorino cheese on hand so substituted Parmesan. These were delicious!

Toasted Sunflower

In May, I baked a loaf of Toasted Sunflower. It contained semolina, rye, whole wheat and bread flour. I got us use a proofing basket that my mom gave me for Christmas. It was a pretty loaf. I forgot to take a photo before I cut it. It was good and so filling!

Toasted Sesame Semolina

Also in May, I baked a loaf of Toasted Sesame Semolina, This time, I remembered to snap a photo before I cut into it! It was delicious! The sesame scent while it was baking was divine!

Make Ahead Stuffed Spinach and Artichoke Dip Bread

For Mother's Day, I baked the Make Ahead Stuffed Spinach and Artichoke Dip Bread. It was a little time consuming with steps to prepare the filling. It was good! Although, I could go with less cream cheese next time! We tried it warm and again at room temperature. We liked room temperature better. I didn't snap a photo of it whole as I forgot! It was a pretty braid and would be a good conversation starter at a potluck!

Layout of the block pieces

Now the second part of this post. . .after all, this is a quilting blog! Cynthia over at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework posted her next block drive pattern which is a scrappy chain. I have patriotic fabrics and figured why not make a sample block because maybe later I can make another Quilt of Valor.

Two blocks stitched 

These strips all came from my scraps. Stitching one block went so quickly that I decided to stitch a second block; but in a blue color way. The scrappy chain blocks went together like a dream. I had no issue with getting it to the 12. 5 inch measurement when I finished the block.

Some tips that I have learned over the years. . .cut with the ruler line on the edge of the fabric not the line straddling the fabric edge ; sew with a thin thread. . .Aurifil for example. Pay attention to the 1/4 inch seam mark. I do a test before I start the block. I check my seams after each press. Yes, it is time consuming; but at the end I know that I will have the correct sized block.

I will be making more of these blocks. I look forward to seeing the variety of layouts that Cynthia, her crew and her readers will use. Making a block was goal number 12 on my June list.  Linking to Cynthia at Oh Scrap and Carol at To Do Tuesday!