CAphyl's blog

We really love this simple recipe which is equal parts sourdough starter and flour (I did 1 cup to make a small pizza, 1-1/2 for larger), tablespoon of olive oil, and teaspoon of salt.  Let it sit for 30 minutes and then roll it out very thin. Just bake it on a pizza stone at 500 degrees for four minutes or so, take it out and coat with olive oil to seal, and then add your ingredients.  Bake it for 5 or so more minutes, and it's done.  Fantastic.  We really enjoyed it.

I am still trying to figure out how to post multiple photos on my blog, so I am posting this one after my initial blog on this bread.  I think it came out OK, but I would have liked a little more height.  Thanks again for your comments and suggestions.  I use this recipe below for the classic sourdough, which I love. 

http://breadmakingblog.breadexperience.com/2012/02/classic-sourdough-in-la-cloche.html

I tried something different with this one in that I used a starter that I fed with rye flour.  It really took off and improved the "lift" for my starter.  I had used all AP flour previously and was not getting much rise lately. It's getting colder as well, so that doesn't help.  The dough was a bit wetter than usual, and the shaping was much more difficult than I anticipated. I had to knead in a bit more flour, but finally got it to where I wanted it.

This is the second time I have made this recipe, so I am still working on it.  First time I made it, the starter was really active, and after I made the dough, I had to go out and left it too long, so it was over proofed. I brought some sourdough starter to my hometown of Milwaukee when my husband and I were in town this summer.

I just posted the Sicilian Lemon Orange Sweet Bread that I made for dessert for my husband's birthday.....the main course was pizza (with salad made from lettuce and vegetables from the farmer's market.

When I was in the UK lfor a wedding around Easter time, I made this Paul Hollywood traditional Sicilian lemon orange sweet bread for my husband's family at Easter.  I didn't do the best job as I never made it before, but it tasted great and everyone liked it.  My husband requested it for his birthday yesterday, so I made it.  It turned out well.

When I made it earlier, it didn't rise very much and was more like cake.  This time, it got huge!  Live and learn.  I've attached a link to the recipe below:

I just made some bread from some dough that I had frozen some time ago.  I didn't mark the time and type--so naughty!  I pulled it out of the freezer and let it defrost for a day.  Then I folded it and let it rest a bit before I put it into the basket to proof overnight. I baked it in my LaCloche baker, which helps me get a better crispier crust.

We got some wonderful blackberries from the farmer's market, so I had the idea to alter my sourdough English muffin recipe to include blackberries and then I added pecans for something different.  They turned out really well, not too sweet, and were perfect with a touch of butter.  I have made the sourdough English muffins in multiple ways: plain, cinnamon raisin and blueberry before this new version.  I will keep experimenting!

We had a good crop of jalapeno peppers growing, so I thought I would look for a good recipe to use some of them and my sourdough starter.  I found the recipe below, and I really liked it.  I learned some things along the way that I would do differently next time, but my husband really enjoyed it.  We made tilapia piccata, grilled asparagus, and tomato/basil salad with smoked mozzarella to go along with the bread.  It was really delicious.  We ate outside with a great glass of wine. Heaven!

Like so many of you, I hate to throw away my sourdough starter, so I made pretzels for the first time.  They really turned out very well; a much better first time bake than some of my other first-time experiments!   My husband is a bit picky, and he really enjoyed them.  We ate one fresh out of the oven.  I tried a few things that were different than the recipe, and I think I will do the same the next time I make them.  I really wanted a recipe where the pretzels were boiled, so I found one that was fairly simple.  The shaping will take some practice, but