Sourdough Cheese Crackers

Sourdough Cheese Crackers ( my cracker tin, and then homemade mustard off to right)

We needed crackers again, so I pulled out my refrigerated Parisian Sourdough starter and started feeding it to activate it. I made the sausage cheese pie I posted about. I made crepes again since it was out, and I made some bread, then it'll go back into the fridge untill I want something else again. Like pulling it out in the evening and feeding it makes it usable the next day.

I have posted about crackers before. My cookbook has several cracker (as too, my "flake cereal") recipes - all prior to these days of soaking my ground flours with the wet ingredients for at least 8-12 hours before making the recipe - for better body assimilation.

Sourdough Cheese Crackers

1 cup sourdough
1/3 cup melted butter (or coconut oil)
1 1/2 cup whole grain flour

Mix this together till a not too sticky dough. Like start with 1 cup of flour and keep adding more till a pretty stiff dough and not too wet. It will absorb more of the flour as it sits, but I don't like it to be too sticky for my final mixing up and making.

Let this sit for at least 8 hours. I either do this in the morning to make in the afternoon, or mix it up at night to make the next morning. I think about oven usage. I like to turn the oven off once the baking time is done and leave the crackers in the oven overnight to let them dry out more.

Soaked dough flattened out and rest of ingredients sprinkle on

Flatten out dough on a silicone mat and sprinkle on -
1/4 tsp each: salt, onion and garlic powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup of grated cheese

Kneed this mixture together till seems well mixed. Divide the dough in half and roll out thin on two baking sheets. Score for cracker shapes. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Then as I said, I turn the oven off and leave them in to cool and dry more.

Cracker dough rolled thin and scored

You could add any seasonings you desire. You don't need to add the cheese. I've used all varieties of cheese and like them all. This time I used Kerry Gold Irish Cheddar. I like gouda too. Blue cheeses are good, but can't eat so many of them - like it gets overpowering - maybe depends on what you want to serve them with.

Use as you do any cracker. I took some yesterday to a wine tasting we did with neighbors - they loved them! Homemade mustard is great on them. Use them for mini 'sandwiches'. I like making kefir cheese - straining off the whey - mixing it with salt, onion and garlic powder and balling it up and pouring good tasting olive oil over. It keeps well in cold storage for a LONG time. My balls don't stay together, but that doesn't matter - but the mixture spread on these crackers is awesome! Add a thin cucumber or any veggie slice and it's even better!

Sausage Cheese Pie With Potato Crust

Sausage cheese potato crust quiche?

I made this wonderful comfort food dish for supper last night. I combined several ideas from Wardeh Harmon's Sourdough A to Z eBook, and a little Egg eBook she put together for this month's bonus gift. In the Sourdough book, it's most like her Cheese Pie recipe. In the Egg eBook it's a combination of a potato crust cheddar quiche and a sausage cheese pie. And then there's some of my additions . . . So what do I call it?

Sausage Cheese Pie With Potato Crust

Melt butter and stir in thin sliced potatoes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2-3 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced thin
3 Tb pastured butter, melt in the baking dish
Stir these together, spread about in dish and bake about 20 minutes while getting the rest of the ingredients ready.

Brown sausage, onion, and garlic

Brown 1 lb of sausage, mine is pastured pork breakfast sausage
with 1 chopped onion
add some minced garlic
1/2 Tb basil

Mix together
1/4 c milk
3/4 c sourdough, that's been fed within 12 hours
3 eggs
3/4 tsp sea salt

grate 1- 1 1/4 cup pastured cheddar cheese

Meat and cheese over potatoes, add sourdough

Add the browned sausage mixture on top of the cooked potatoes. Then add 3/4 cup grated cheese and pour the sourdough mixture on top of all. Bake for about 25 minutes, then add the rest of the cheese, and bake another 10 minutes. In all, bake about 30-40 minutes.

Next time I'm going to bake it in my cast iron skillet.

Seriously! EVERYTHING I've made from the A to Z eBook has been fabulous, and have become everyday eats. Like the English Muffins, Biscuits ... I've posted about the crackers and crepes. And now we regularly have sourdough waffles in a freezer bag for popping in the toaster. Cookies, chips, cakes . . . There's even gluten-free suggestions, for those needing that variety.

I used the last of last years potatoes I'd grown. I grew them in buckets. I'm giving up on that idea. Yesterday I researched growing potatoes again and have a plan. I've tried the large bucket method for several years. I think the temps fluctuate too much as too the moisture. They used to grow potatoes and oats up here years ago - before elk were moved in and became a nuisance! Knowing they grew here makes me not want to give up on them.

Elk in velvet from my kitchen window!

A funny story . . . Monte used to archery hunt for elk. We ate elk for 20 years. One year he'd not been seeing elk. I chuckled, and told him, "No, cuz they're in my potato bed, pulling up plants and munching away!"

Shared with: The Homestead Barn Hop, The Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Groundhog Day / Candlemas? and Sourdough Crepes

Candlemas Day

February 2, considered the "midway point of winter", halfway between the darkest day and Spring Equinox.

So what day is February 2? Groundhog Day!
Yes and No.

On the Christian calendar February 2 is Candlemas Day - a Festival Day ("mass") of the Candles. This was the day Jesus was brought as a baby to the temple - the Feast of the Presentation. Old Simeon and Anna were there waiting for years! for the Messiah, and proclaimed "Jesus the Light to lighten all peoples". 

A meeting of the old and new.

For some, this is the official ending of the Christmas season. In some places candles may still be brought to the church to be blessed. In some parts of Europe it's traditional to eat crepes on Candlemas Day. I like Holidays with meal suggestions.

Once done I flip the sourdough crepe onto a plate

I make crepes on Fat Tuesday/ Mardi Gras (which is coming up, February 12 this year). My blog post on Mardi Gras into Lent is here. My crepe recipe is here. Now I mostly make sourdough crepes.

Since I found this crepe recipe (I bought the A to Z Sourdough eBook) I'm making them quite often. Sometimes for breakfast with unsweetened grated coconut, homemade yogurt, fruit and maple syrup. Sometimes for lunch or supper with leftovers of meats and veggies. These crepes can even be fried crisp like chips - use for nachos!

Before I jump into the recipe I have to start from the beginning, a very good place to start. One of my sourdough starters is made from rye flour. I used to have a starter I made from potatoes and wheat flour (it might have used a bit of yeast at the beginning, I don't remember) from an Alaska Sourdough book. When I bought Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions book in the early 2000's I started my rye starter. I use this starter for everything including the sourdough pancake recipe I got from the Alaskan book. My starter how-to along with the Sourdough pancakes I've made for years is here. Now I also have a Parisian sourdough starter.

Starter in jar and crepe ingredients

SOURDOUGH CREPES

1 C sourdough starter
3 Tb butter or oil
3 eggs
pinch of salt

I usually start with melting the butter in a 2C Pyrex mixing bowl, then mix in the eggs and starter. I use a silicone whip, keeping it in to periodically stir while making the crepes.

Pour a few Tablespoons batter and tilt pan to spread batter

Crepe ready to flip, this one looks a bit thicker than I usually make them

Have a very well seasoned smaller cast iron skillet preheated. First add a bit of oil and swish it around by tilting the pan. Then add a few tablespoons of batter depending on what size pan you're using - mine is 8". Wait till the crepe develops little bubbles all over, then with spatula quickly flip it over. It doesn't need to cook on this side for long, like just a few seconds and then flip out onto a plate. The crepes can stack till you're done with all the batter. This amount will make about 10 crepes.

I've put leftover crepes in a zip-close bag and frozen. It works great. No need to put waxed paper between. I've often used these in place of tortillas for enchiladas. Happy crepe-ing. Sharing of crepe filling ideas could be numerous, so how about you? what have you tried, and what's your favorite?

Folklore: "If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight; (meaning: more winter)
But if it be dark with clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again."

Groundhog Lore: If he sees the sun ...
and is frightened by his shadow he'll crawl back to sleep for 40 days.
If it's cloudy ...
and stays above ground; it's a harbinger of early spring.

Did dislike of religion bring the change from Candlemas to Groundhog Day?

Watch the movie "Groundhog Day".
Bill Murray, a TV weatherman seems condemned to live the day over and over again. He tries every role or small story he can think of. When all fail him, does he discover the real meaning of life?

It's Ecclesiastes in modern film--all is vanity. I love the fact that you can find a part of the Gospel in most every film.

Shared with: The Homestead Barn Hop, The Clever Chicks Blog Hop

Home Sweet Home

I was gone for two weeks - my daughter had her second baby - this time a girl - Bridget. What did I do the day I got home? I pulled out my Water Kefir grains and Sourdough starter from the fridge. Soaked nuts to dehydrate. Started the soaking process for Cold Cereal and Sourdough Crackers. And then got a batch begun for sourdough bread (which I'm going to have to post about). Those are now staples I always have on hand.

Bridget Lynn

Sourdough Cheese or Plain Crackers

Rye Sourdough Cheese Crackers

I've been making homemade crackers for years. In fact I've got four recipes in my Hearth and Home cookbook I wrote seventeen years ago. Plain wheat thins and adding grated cheese have always been my favorite. I've often brought them places along with homemade mustard and/or a good cheese. The only thing I'd change now-adays would be soaking the flour in the liquid overnight, as the more I read the more I think that's the healthiest way to make anything with flour, unless you use sprouted grain flour. And as I wrote in my book ... think beyond wheat flour. We consume enough wheat in breads - everything else can be made from other grain flours. Our favorite crackers now are -

SOURDOUGH CHEESE CRACKERS

1C sourdough (click here for recipe)

1/3C melted butter or olive oil

1 1/4-1/2 flour

Mix this till a stiff dough, not too sticky, but tacky. Cover the bowl and let it soak for at least 8 hours.



When ready to make the crackers, preheat the oven to 350. I usually grease the counter with olive oil and my hands, then flatten the dough onto the counter. The hope, is to not be too sticky. If it is then you'll have to mix in some more flour till not too sticky. My sourdough is made with rye flour. When adding the flour I use a 7-grain flour. Once the dough is flattened on your counter, add -



1/4 tsp each salt, garlic, and onion powder (any seasoning you desire)

1/4 tsp baking soda



Knead to incorporate, then knead in

1/2C grated cheese



Divide in half and roll out thin to cookie sheet edges. Score, cutting into small squares - I have a fluted rolling tool, or you could use a pizza cutter. Bake 15 minutes. I often just turn the oven off at this point and leave them in the cooling oven. You want them to be crispy-done.

Any cheese can be used. We love flavored goudas - like smoked, or chipotle. Another favorite is with a garlic cotswold. I've even used a fancy cheese that had strips of stilton blue cheese - that was great too!



I have some old cracker tins I store them in. My other tin has crackers made from sprouted wheat flour, or was it flour soaked in yogurt ... I don't remember. Homemade crackers are so easy to make, why buy them!!!!



In case you don't have sourdough started and are dying to make crackers, here's my Wheat Thins recipe from my book -



3C whole wheat flour (any grain actually)

1/3C olive oil

1C water

1/2 tsp salt



Mix all the ingredients together. You could add other spices or herbs. Knead as little as possible till it makes a smooth ball. At this point I'd roll thin on ungreased baking sheets, cut into squares and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until crisp. But now I'd let it sit covered for at least 8 hours before rolling out and baking. Sometimes, depending on your oven, if outer edges are getting too brown, remove them and return to baking.

Sourdough Crepes

Once done I flip the sourdough crepe onto a plate

I like calendar days that contain stories and meal suggestions. For many years I've made crepes on Fat Tuesday/ Mardi Gras. My blog post on Mardi Gras into Lent is here. My crepe recipe is here. This year I made sourdough crepes.



Actually, since I found this crepe recipe (I bought the A to Z Sourdough eBook) I'm making them quite often. Sometimes for breakfast with unsweetened grated coconut, homemade yogurt, fruit and maple syrup. Sometimes for lunch or supper with leftovers of meats and veggies. These crepes can even be fried crisp like chips - use for nachos!



Before I jump into the recipe I have to start from the beginning, a very good place to start. My sourdough starter is made from rye flour. I used to have a starter I made from potatoes and wheat flour (it might have used a bit of yeast at the beginning, I don't remember) from an Alaska Sourdough book. When I bought Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions book in the early 2000's I started my rye starter. I use this starter for everything including the sourdough pancake recipe I got from the Alaskan book. My starter how-to along with the Sourdough pancakes I've made for years is here.

Starter in jar and crepe ingredients

SOURDOUGH CREPES

1 C sourdough starter

3 Tb butter or oil

3 eggs

pinch of salt



I usually start with melting the butter in a 2C Pyrex mixing bowl, then mix in the eggs and starter. I use a silicone whip, keeping it in to periodically stir while making the crepes.

Pour a few Tablespoons batter and tilt pan to spread batter

Crepe ready to flip, this one looks a bit thicker than I usually make them

Have a very well seasoned smaller cast iron skillet preheated. First add a bit of oil and swish it around by tilting the pan. Then add a few tablespoons of batter depending on what size pan you're using - mine is an 8" (and sometimes I'll use a 6" pan). Wait till the crepe develops little bubbles all over, then with spatula quickly flip it over. It doesn't need to cook on this side for long, like just a few seconds and then flip out onto a plate. The crepes can stack till you're done with all the batter. This amount will make about 10 crepes.



I've put leftover crepes in a zip-close bag and frozen. It works great. No need to put waxed paper between.



Happy crepe-ing. Sharing of crepe filling ideas could be numerous, so how about you? what have you tried, and what's your favorite?

Sourdough Pancakes

I'm currently at my son Travis and Sarah's home, sitting at the dining table with the back sliding glass door open to the back kitchen garden. We came yesterday for a 4th of July family bar-b-q meal using my grandpa's sauce on ribs. I'll have to post that recipe - it's in my cookbook Hearth & Home. We spent the night ... were going to go to fireworks, but it was pouring rain. Sarah's Mom and Dad drove in last night from TX and we made sourdough pancakes for breakfast.

Sarah's sourdough starter came from my starter (below). The pancake recipe comes from an Alaska Sourdough book.

Monte making sourdough pancakes

The Alaskan sourdough is made from potato water, sugar and flour (maybe yeast initially?). I've never made sourdough using milk like some recipes use. The current recipe I'm using is from the book Nourishing Traditions  by Sally Fallon. She claims the best results for sourdough starter are obtained from rye rather than wheat flour. And that's fine with me since we consume so much more wheat than any other grain. Her reasoning is because rye contains a lower phytate content (don't ask me what that means cuz I haven't researched it yet).

Rye Sourdough Starter

Start with mixing 2 cups rye flour and 2 cups water and cover the bowl with cheescloth and let sit out on the counter (I've got my bowl covered with a dish towel and rubberband). Each day for a week add another cup each of rye flour and water (or if you do have potato water left over from boiling potatoes, use it), then it's ready for bread. (I'm still working on creating a favorite sourdough bread.) Once your starter is created you can jar some of it up and refrigerate it, then take it out the night before, or a day or two ahead depending upon how much you need, for your next batch of pancakes.

So, from the Alaskan cookbook-

Sourdough Pancakes

Start griddle heating.

Mix together:

(I typically double the recipe all the time and it feeds 4-6 people)

2 C starter (I've been using 4C in a 2 quart pyrex bowl - it'll bubble up, so bigger is better)

2 Tb (sucanat) sugar

1 egg (I've used both 2 or 3  when doubling, and either works)

4 Tb oil

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together: 

1 tsp soda

1 Tb warm water

and fold into batter and let set a bit to rise.

Using a ladle, pour the pancakes to cook on an oiled griddle.

They are best with maple syrup. Sometimes we'll make up a rhubarb sauce. I often cook up berries or old fruit, adding in any old jams needing to be used up. The fruit syrup is good with yogurt (I always have homemade yogurt on hand). Leftovers are good - spread with almond butter and raspberry jam, and roll them up for a quicky meal when running errands.

The Alaskan cookbook tells historic stories and it's said a special place was always made in their cabin/tent/cave/home for their starter and that they'd rather live a year without their rifle than without a sourdough starter. I also found it interesting that a ball of starter could be stored in the midst of flour in a flour sack, like if you were crossing the prairie in a wagon. Think about it ... no stores, no yeast (except for wild yeast, and that's another story that I have from my own experience) you'd sure love biscuits and bread rather than just crackers or tortilla like flatbread all the time.

Sourdough Pancakes

I just ground more rye flour for the sourdough starter I began almost two weeks ago. I've not had sourdough around for several years and we've been missing it - primarily for sourdough pancakes - our favorite!

I have a cookbook called Alaskan Sourdough I got years ago, though it's currently packed in boxes with most of my cookbooks in the garage because we dismantled a wall that the bookshelf was on almost two years ago, opening up the kitchen and great room more - and I'm seeing what I can't live without. I google recipes now and look on FoodNetwork.com, SplendidTable.org and find most anything I want. Like I googled sourdough pancakes and the first entry was from that Alaskan cookbook of mine.

The Alaskan sourdough is made from potato water and sugar and flour (maybe yeast initially?). I've never made sourdough using milk like some recipes use. The current recipe I'm using is from the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. She claims the best results for sourdough starter are obtained from rye rather than wheat flour. And that's fine with me since we consume so much more wheat than any other grain. Her reasoning is because rye contains a lower phytate content (don't ask me what that means cuz I haven't researched it so I don't know).

Start with mixing 2 cups rye flour and 2 cups water and cover the bowl with cheescloth and let sit out on the counter (I've got my bowl covered with a dish towel and rubberband). Each day for a week add another cup each of rye flour and water, then it's ready for bread, which I've not made yet, and may not get to make, as the demand for the pancakes rules! and I don't have enough starter left for bread.

So, from the Alaskan cookbook-

Sourdough Pancakes

Start griddle heating.

Mix together:

2 C starter (I've been using 4 in a 2 quart pyrex bowl - it'll bubble up so bigger is better)

2 Tb sugar (double)

1 egg (I've used both 2 or 3 and either works)

4 Tb oil (double, using 1/2 cup, and I'm using olive oil)

1/2 tsp salt (double)

Mix together: 

1 (2) tsp soda

1 (2) Tb warm water

and fold into batter and let set a bit to rise.

Using a ladle, pour the pancakes to cook on an oiled griddle.

They are best with maple syrup. I often cook up berries or old fruit, adding in any old jams needing to be used up. The fruit syrup is good with yogurt (I always have homemade on hand, look for my recipe). Leftovers are good. I haven't done it lately, but I used to spread leftovers with almond butter and raspberry jam, roll them up, and put in a sandwich baggie for a quicky meal when running errands.

The Alaskan cookbook tells historic stories and its said a special place was always made in their cabin/home for their starter and that they'd rather live a year without their rifle than without a sourdough starter. I also found it interesting that a ball of starter could be stored in the midst of flour in a flour sack, like if you were crossing the prairie in a wagon. Think about it ... no stores, no yeast (except for wild yeast, and that's another story that I have from my own experience) you'd sure love biscuits and bread rather than just crackers or tortilla like flatbread all the time.