Gingerbread Cookies

Yesterday morning I made gingerbread cookies. Then last night I made deviled eggs. And today I have beans soaking and a ham bone so I'm going to make a crock pot full of beans for dinner. My boyfriend isn't a fan of beans, so I think he plans to make stuffed grape leaves.

I thought I'd share the cookie photos. I love to bake, don't you? I got the scotty dog cookie cutter at a junk shop in Quartzsite AZ. It seems we had one as a kid so I had to have it.

A Boy and His Dog

Today I made some gingerbread boys and gingerbread Scotty dogs. The house smells wonderful.

Tonight I'm going to make deviled eggs. But I'm taking a cookie break.

Calzones for a Crowd

Calzones for a Crowd

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I wanted to try making some Calzones for dinner using the pizza dough recipe in my bread machine. So I needed a little help and found this recipe. I want to freeze some for later too.

If At First You Don't Succeed

I don't want to give the impression that I'm the perfect cook and everything comes out great. Such is the case with my bread. Everything was picture perfect until the last rise. The directions said to form a loaf, put it on a cookie sheet, and let it rise from 1 to 3 hours. Well, after 4 hours, it still hadn't risen and I had no idea why.




Also, I was supposed to sprinkle corn meal on the pan first. I thought we had some but we didn't. So I used flour.
I brushed the top of the loaf with water. I put the bread in the oven after 4 hours. I checked the thermometer and it was 400 degrees spot on. I baked the bread 20 minutes and it wasn't even browning. So I left it in another 5. Still no browning. Left it in another 5. It was a little brown but I was afraid to overbake it so I took it out. I let it cool half an hour as per the directions. Then I tried to pry it off the pan. It has become one with the pan. I cut off/pulled off 3 slices. Later I tried to get the rest unstuck and broke the spatula trying. It was my boyfriend's grandmother's spatula.

Anyway, the bread did taste good. It tasted like sourdough and the inner bread was perfect. My teeth aren't the greatest so I didn't even try to eat the tougher parts of the crust. I'm sure it would be fine dipped into vegetable soup or spaghetti sauce.

At any rate, I fed my starter again, and maybe I'll try again. If the second attempt doesn't rise, I guess I should toss the starter.

Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Sourdough Bread Project

I've been working on the sourdough bread all day. It's doing the last rise now. It's in loaf form and has to rise until double it's size, which will be from 1 to 3 hours. I hope it's 1, because it's already 8:43 PM. Then 30 minutes baking time at 400 degrees. Then 30 minutes of cooling time. Next time I won't try to do it all in one day. I'll let it rise in the refrigerator and bake it the next day.
I'm having fun though, and that's what counts. Anticipation is a big part of breadmaking.

Greenman Cooking: Vegetable/Spinach/Shrimp/Water Chestnut Dip

Greenman Cooking: Vegetable/Spinach/Shrimp/Water Chestnut Dip

Sourdough Bread

I had to postpone my cooking projects for a while because of preparing for a craft sale and making a business trip. So now I'm home again, somewhat caught up on my sleep, and ready to dive back in. Or at least wade back in.

I took the sourdough starter out of the fridge. I'm going to let it warm up, feed it, and then hopefully make my first loaf of sourdough bread.