Cottage Cookies

Fat TuesdayNothing more needs to be said

Wishing you a wonderful Valentines Day with all the ones you love

I had a bagel mania weekend. Made 3 different types of bagels: Cinnamon Raisin, Cranberry Orange and Blueberry Almond.

The Sourdough Starter I used was developed for the home baker who only needs a small batch for baking 1 to 2 loaves per week. It’s best if you go to the site, so you can print out the recipe and instructions. I made a little adjustment to the recipe, instead of using only All-Purpose flour I used half All-Purpose flour and half Whole Wheat. It is my understanding that Whole Wheat flour has more wild yeast on it and will give your starter a better chance of becoming active. Search on Google for: thekitchnsourdoughstarter. The sourdough dough bread recipe I used is on King Arthur site recipe is called Extra-Tangy Sourdough Bread. This is a lower hydration bread, so it’s easier to work with.

The sourdough starter worked. I baked these yesterday and the bread had a crispy crust, soft open crumb and tasted delicious with a very mild tang. This was a success and I’m definitely going to use it again. If anyone would like the starter recipe, let me know and I’ll post it. The best part of this starter is you don’t discard half of the starter each day you feed it.

This week I grew my first sourdough starter. Why you may ask, would anyone do that. Well, I was intrigued when I read you can grow and develop wild yeast from flour and water. Science was never my strong suit in school and I wondered if it would work. According to the recipe the starter is behaving as it should. After work I will start a pre-ferment and add it to my dough tomorrow and bake some Sourdough Bread. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Happy New Year everyone 2019 will see some changes here at Cottage Cookies. For one, I did not renew my CA Cottage License, so I will not be selling cookies any longer. But instead I am expanding my baking skills by practicing making other baked goods, like macarons, croissants, cinnamon rolls, artisan breads and other French pastries. It’s way to early to tell what I will do with the knowledge I gain in this area. I’ll post pics so you can follow along with my journey. We can giggle at the flops and marvel at the success, together.

Put the finishing touches on the butterfly cookies yesterday and now they are ready to fly away...

Marbled butterfly cookies today for the nurses and doctors at Terry’s Oncology treatment center and his Oncologist office. Busy day