Meet Jane Dough

An alternative to buying yeast, is to use a sourdough starter. It's a little bit different, but it’s how things used to be done. The yeast you buy only became a thing when folks started buying all their bread from bakeries and it was decided that sacrificing quality for the  convenience of faster production was more profitable.

Yeast is a living organism and a sourdough starter uses wild yeast, it captures from the air. This is why each starter has a slightly different flavor depending on location   

"To speed up the manufacturing process, bakers began adding sweeteners to their dough to give their new bakers yeast more readily-available food. Suddenly, yeast is no longer breaking down grain sugars, since it is perfectly happy working off cane sugar, corn syrup, molasses, or whatever other sweetener might have been used. Inspired by the added speed of the sugar, manufacturers then started to use even more yeast, and the need for speed continued.

This all meant a significant change in chemical composition of a finished loaf of bread - higher natural and added sugar content, tougher starches, and excess single-strain yeast. Without the lactobacilli that come with wild yeast, grain proteins, including gluten, were now unchanged by the fermentation process, leaving them fully intact and hard to digest. Nutrients that became bioavailable due to a long fermentation process remained locked up once sugar became the fermentable ingredient instead of flour.

Cue the rise of gluten-intolerance, and less noticeably, the rise (pun intended) of single-strain-yeast-intolerance. Have trouble eating a ‘normal’ loaf of gluten free bread? Baker’s yeast and sugar might be to blame." -https://www.breadsrsly.com/blog/2017/9/13/wild-yeast-vs-commercial-yeast

I always take a bit of starter out and spread it on a piece of wax paper to dry, then put it in a container so if anything should happen to my starter, I can re-constitute it. It can also be frozen indefinitely, but I find drying it to be preferable as it takes up less space and I can put it in a little baggie to mail it to someone if they need some. Maintaining a starter is as easy as feeding it equal amounts (in weight) of water and flour once a week, and putting in refrigerator. Use a glass or ceramic crock as many metals have a chemical reaction. Stir with a wooden or silicone spoon and cover so nothing can contaminate it. I use “Weck” Jars that have both a wooden and a glass lid. I have 2 because I clean the jar almost each time I use it so it doesn’t get all crusted up and hard. It’s easy to wash if the starter hasn’t dried on it.

 If a dark liquid forms at the top, and smells like alcohol, it means your starter is very hungry. It’s called hooch. You can stir it in or pour it out. 

To maintain your starter you need:

1. a clean jar or bowl, but not metal, 

2. clean, lukewarm water if you have a water filter or source of pure water, use this 

3. flour (you can use all purpose, bread flour or whole wheat, rye, etc. )

You can purchase dehydrated starter, or get some from a friend, or have someone gift you some already reconstituted starter or make your own, which takes awhile and there are some rules to go by to make sure it is ready to use and is safe as you want it to be active enough that the good bacteria can overwhelm any bad bacteria that may try to invade it. Don’t be alarmed, it’s not difficult to take care of. If you keep it on the counter, it needs to be fed daily. If you don’t use it everyday, you can keep it in the refrigerator and feed once a week. I take it out the night before I am going to use it and feed it, and it’s ready for me to use the next morning.

You will find that keeping a minimum amount of starter will keep it happier as the more you have, the more flour you have to feed it to keep it active. I keep about 50 g in the jar and feed it equal amounts of flour and water (50 g or more on a mature starter) This will also keep it from bubbling out of the jar and all over your counters. 

If you are taking a break from using it, you can freeze some or dehydrate as I mentioned previously and it will keep indefinitely until you are ready to revive it.

Your starter should bubble happily soon after feeding.

Sourdough bread is, in my opinion, superior to all other breads. It takes longer to go stale as it is a high hydration dough, has a greater depth of flavor and has many benefits. It is easier to digest, as the fermentation reduces both gluten and carbohydrates, although it is NOT gluten free. It contains probiotics which aid in digestion and promote absorption of nutrients, aiding in glucose regulation and aiding in weight loss, increases phytochemicals which offer anti inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. It’s a great alternative to white bread.

I find making sourdough to be a lot easier than making yeast bread as well. It’s very forgiving and although it’s not the best choice if you need to crack out a loaf in one day, it’s simple to double or triple the recipe or more, takes only a few minutes here and there through out the day.

I left dough out on counter last night and by this morning it had overproofed and was puffing out of the bowl.

I was going to toss it out, but decided to shape it and bake it instead. I shaped it, dusted a little flour on it, let it rest an hour and scored it. It was small, had not done any rising after I had shaped it, but I put it in the dutch oven anyway and decided to bake it for the chickens. I was happily surprised  when I took the top off and saw it had risen and baked up beautifully. Always give it a chance. You have nothing to lose by baking it.

 I will share the  recipe I most like to use. There are a few tools that I find make it easier for me, (I have severe rheumatoid disease so many things are not possible) and I will list those as well. You can certainly substitute or do without most of these, but as I make ALL of our bread, it was worth it to me to have these on hand.

First of all, for me, a stand mixer is a must, but you can use a dough whisk or wooden spoon, or even your hands to mix the dough if you need to.

A kitchen scale is also a must have for me. My bread never fails if I measure the ingredients in grams rather than cups.

I have 2 “Weck” jars with lids that I keep my starter in, they are very easy to clean and I tend to change jars almost every time I make bread only because dried on starter is hard to get off, so I put the left over starter in the clean jar and feed it before putting it away.

A plastic scoop spoon. I find this makes it really easy for me to measure out my starter. 

Separate acrylic containers for putting my starter&water in and flour in the other.

Instant read thermometer. Although not a total necessity I have found it handy to check the internal temperature of loaves to make sure they are done which one of my recipes, never is when I bake it and having the thermometer has saved my bread which would be undercooked and gummy if I just trusted the baking timer. (It’s called the Unloaf)

A bread lame to score your loaves so they can expand properly.

Rice flour (not a deal breaker but it does make it easier to score your loaves and also makes decorative scoring show up)

Kitchen towel, or shower cap type cover to keep your dough from drying out.

Banneton- for letting your dough bulk ferment. You can use a bowl and dish towel instead.

Now you are ready to bake bread!

The ONE Sourdough 

500 g bread flour

350 g water (distilled, although I use spring water)

100 g unfed starter (I feed the night before)

15 g kosher salt

This can be multiplied to make however many loaves you need.

Measure and mix everything together to make a shaggy dough. 

Cover and let rest for 1 hour.

(IF I make multiple loaves, I will put the dough in a one gallon food safe bucket)

Begin doing stretch and folds, lifting and folding over dough, turning 1/4 turn, repeat until all 4 sides have been done.

Wait 30 min and repeat.

Do a total of 5 series of stretch and folds with 30 min in between.

Set Dough to rise 50%

Note, you are NOT letting it double like you would a yeast dough

Shape, (if dough is difficult to shape, continue turning it in place until it has developed more tension and holds it’s shape. You can use a dough scraper to push it around if necessary) place in well floured banneton, cover and put in fridge for a bulk ferment. ( I leave mine in for 2 nights then bake the morning of day 3)

When ready to bake, put parchment paper or dough sling over dough, and dump it out, set in cold dutch oven. Sift a little rice flour over the top and score with a razor blade or bread lame.

Place in cold over and bake at 475 for 55 min covered.

Remove cover, reduce heat to 425 and bake an additional 15 min to finish and brown the crust.

Remove from oven, place on rack and let cool for one hour before slicing, or it will be gummy inside.

Enjoy your amazing bread with a chewy crust and soft, open crumb. 

*note

It is easy to do inclusions to make flavored loaves such as jalapeno&cheese, adding during the stretch and folds.

*As a high hydration bread, do not put your bread in ziplocs to store, as the moisture will cause it to quickly mold. I prefer to place mine in a linen bread bag, then into a bread box. It allows the bread to breath, without letting it go stale.

The Journey Continues

 

Boone is 4 1/2 months now and is already enormous. Just guessing but I would bet he's close to 70 lb already. He's on IAM's large puppy food and eats 5 cups a day. Ouch!

Fen's food lasts almost 3 months. Boone's doesn't quite make it a month, I had to get an emergency delivery from Chewy, as we obviously can't just go to the store and buy dogfood. As he has bonded so much to me, more than to Fen, I am having to send him outside more as I don't want him resource guarding me from Fen. I hope to pick up a couple of bottle lambs this week that we will butcher when they are big enough...actually I plan to butcher 1 and sell the other two, hopefully getting enough to help pay for a couple of hair sheep, that will be permanent. I really miss my sheeple. Especially Rosemary. She was the absolute best. Anyway I will move Boone outside and the lambs can hang out with Mister, on the other side of the fence from Boone as he is too young to be with young stock. This way he can bond to livestock, and I can take the lambs to the round pen to let Fen do a little herding practice. Win-win.

Fen had a hard month this past month. Because of the roosters attacking him, he developed a fear of chickens. Of course I killed both roosters, so sadly unless I can find a dog friendly one, no chicks for us. He's been attacked by ranch dogs, so he has also developed a little fear and a bit of reactivity to strange dogs (but it doesn't stop him wanting to go out front anyway *sigh*) which is not acceptable in a Service Dog, so we are also working through that. With Boone out back, in the house with me is

Fen's safe space, although he still prefers to be out playing with Boone or standing in the open front doorway, watching all the other dogs. He runs in and shuts the door if he gets scared and watches from the window, then opens the door again when he feels safe. He's the funniest dang dog!

Although he has proven to be pretty resilient, I still want to work at restoring his confidence, because even though his overly exuberant personality used to drive me crazy, I have come to be very fond of it, along with his clownish ways. He's a hard dog not to love, not that I would try. Our beginnings were a little difficult as it was right after Heath's death and Fen had some baggage, but we worked out all the bugs and I am crazy about him. He's a great riding partner, and chore partner, and even though he isn't fond of doing public access still, he's a pretty good Service Dog for his age and limited experience.

I've been making a LOT of sourdough bread, and loving it! The bread bowl recipe wasn't really what I wanted in a sandwich loaf so I finally found another recipe, that I have labelled "THE ONE". It's a little bit of a learning curve to make bread using such a wet dough but it's actually a lot easier than yeast breads. There are a few things I highly recommend having on hand before you start.

Of course you need a really active starter. I keep 2 jars going. One is in the fridge as backup and it gets fed once a week. The other jar I keep out and the day before I make bread, I pour everything out of the jar and either use or dispose of the discard. (don't pour it down the sink because it will clog your pipes when it hardens. It is great for your compost pile as the yeasty beasties help keep it going) Then I feed what is left in the jar which is just the stuff sticking to the sides and the bottom. I feed equal amounts of flour and water by weight to make enough for what I need the next day. It makes for a super happy bubbly starter that doubles itself in just a few hours, even in our very chilly house.

Another must is a kitchen scale, as to be successful, you need to measure your ingredients by weight not volume. I have this one:

I like it because I can fit my mixing bowl on it if I need to, and still read the weights. It's plenty easy to tare and to change units of weight, and easy for me to read, even with my terrible eyesight, which is competing to be as bad as my hearing.

A dutch oven is also necessary. I have two and I'm glad I have 2 because we are easily going through 2 loaves a week and I want to be able to give some away to ranch family...and also try and ship some to my kids as I have heard you can actually ship sourdough without it getting stale.

The first one is just some cheap cast-iron I got on sale through a magazine ad when I was in my 20's, the second was my grandma's and then my mom's. It might even have been my great grandma's originally, as these things last forever and ever. They both measure 10' across at the top so are probably about 9' inside.

Three other things I would not do without are a 

1. a dough scraper. Mine are stainless steel and flat on the bottom, fine for dividing dough but a pita to try and scrap wet, sticky dough out of a bowl. I recommend the plastic, rounded edge ones.

2. bannetons to let the shaped dough sit in to ferment

3. a bread lame to slice it so it will allow the dough to expand when cooking

Amazon has a pretty nicely priced kit with all the stuff except the DO right now.

 I recommend watching a few videos on making SD. especially any that show you how to do the stretch and folds or slap and fold. Then if anyone is interested, just leave me a comment and I will post recipes.

We very nearly lost Mister last month. It began with an odd swelling on his mid belly but it wasn't "pigeon fever" aka "dryland distemper". He also had problems with his mouth. He went completely off feed, right away. I flushed his mouth with peroxide, which he didn't appreciate but it seemed to help. A few days later, he was eating some, but his face and chest was horribly swollen and the edema continued all the way to his sheath and down his hind legs. I couldn't find my thermometer (as my tackroom is pretty much non existent. Stuff is there, but you cannot get to it, much to my annoyance. ) One of the ranch wives who has worked for a vet for years said it looked like either heart or renal failure, but in his condition, we all agreed that 1. he would most likely not survive the trailer ride and 2. we couldn't afford the tests anyway. Nothing was likely to help him.

My friends on FB were all helping me to pray for him, the cowboys were on standby for if he started to suffer. I was praying to not have to make that decision and that if it was his time that he would just lay down and go quietly, with dignity.

A week later, he was eating fine, he was running and bucking and demanding his breakfast before we fed everyone else, and very little swelling was left. Now he is back to his old self, looking and feeling amazing. I am so grateful that he survived whatever this was. I will still have to face that day, sometime, but that day is not today. I pray when it comes, he will go quietly into the night. I pray we will have another summer of riding ahead of us as he and Fen and I had such great times last summer though they were far too few.

lookin' good old man!!

Til next time, your friend Petey, (aka Kim) and the critters

2024 Already?

Those of you who knew me when the blog was active, know that my health took a dump and I quit blogging. There was also a great deal of depression, which comes with my condition, and I would not subject my readers to what I felt or wrote. So in short, I got pretty flakey with my blogging. I will probably continue to be flakey about it, as my condition is incurable, but manageable at times I will try to write when I am able. 

Fen came home shortly after I lost my Heathen. It was a little challenging as his temperament is very different than Heath's was and his energy levels are HIGH. His mind is going constantly and I can hardly keep up. 

He was 5 months old when he came to us, and technically had 3 owners in that short time. He knew how to counter surf and demand bark really well, but at least he was housebroke. So there's that.

Every morning at 5:30, he would demand breakfast, getting louder with every second he had to wait, and of course I had to comply because waking TheMan is a big no-no. Interestingly, his demanding has taken the form of climbing in his crate and quietly waiting to be served by his inferiors. (That's me) 

Also, if I am slow in feeding him, he makes scary faces at me.

Then he would begin his extortion. He would find a plethora of things he knew he shouldn't have, and threaten to destroy them if I didn't "purchase them" with cookies. 

Every cloud has a silver lining. As Fen was consuming a fortune in cookies with his criminal activities, he was also learning to bring me anything he had, that I asked him to, as well as learning to hand me things. It translated really well to his picking up things I drop and handing them back to me, as well as bringing items I request.

Ten months later, I still have to feed him at 5:30 every morning, but now he nuzzles me to wake me up, instead of screaming at me.

 I had a REALLY great summer! I fought like crazy to get stronger. I have been out of the wheelchair for over a year now and I don't want to go back to it. I started in spring by doing a TON of pruning overgrown bushes, and trying to find what plants survived the years of neglect while I was housebound. Not many did. But I still have roses, and hollyhocks seed like crazy here and even though they have overtaken the yard and choked most everything out, they are pretty.I planted annuals and stuff from seed to make me happy, and got a garden in (late, because the stupid pig was living in my garden and TheMan procrastinates a lot, and moving pig was no different) We had lots of squash and tomatoes. I canned straight tomatoes and made a bunch of the best Marinara sauce I have ever tasted. It was too late for the brocolli and peas, the greenbeans were tough and the basil and everything tender was destroyed by a locust invasion. But I. Had. A. Garden. And I have plans for next year. Everything else had a bumper crop. The raspberries were amazing. Fen was picking and eating them off the canes himself. Then there were millions of tiny apricots. (nothing got pruned)Then blackberries. Then more of the best peaches in the world. (Everyone on the ranch agrees, this peach tree is magical) I had tons of beautiful apples, but have no idea what kind because we bought the tree with three different kinds grafted on, but that was when we had goats and they broke into the yard and broke the trees and only this one of the grafts made it. They ate the tags so we are clueless but they are the best apples I ever had. VERY crisp, and both sweet and tart so perfect for cooking, canning and eating. And lastly, my elderberry bush produced tons of beautiful medicinal berries for me to dehydrate to help us battle colds and flu this winter. I'm learning more about natural medicines so am encouraging the yarrow and prickly wild lettuce, and what I always considered weeds, are now going to be given a prime spot in my garden. I spent time with Mister who is 29 this year. He still looks amazing and feels good as well, so we took a couple of rides when we could get Randy to saddle for me. We didn't go far, because the locusts were all over the ranch and Mister wasn't enjoying them jumping up in his face at all, but I am grateful for every second I got to ride. I hope next summer we ride much, much more. I am still battling to gain strength and endurance. I haven’t gained a lot of ground, but today I lifted 59 lb Fen onto the grooming table. ( He’s like Pigpen, he hates to be groomed) The fear of doing this, is that the surgeon who reattached my bicep tendon (which tore completely off of my shoulder while lifting my saddle onto Wimpy’s back) said if I tear it off again, he won’t be able to fix it, because I have had so many rotator cuff tears there is nothing to attach it to. Therefore, I get nervous when I have to use my arms for heavy stuff, like cleaning the floor of the chicken coop after TheMan threw straw down to combat the mud. Anyone who has had livestock, knows what a huge mistake this is. Common sense should tell you that straw in mud turns into adobe brick.As we aren’t building any structures in the near future, adobe or otherwise, I am desperately using a garden fork to peel up the heavy stuff in layers before it’s too late. Then I proceed to push (or pull) the heavy manure bucket full of the stuff to the front of the yard by the garden where Pig is spending the winter, for TheMan to empty. I won’t risk losing the use of my arm for that. :) Then I wrestled Fen and carried him from the end of the couch to the grooming table where I proceeded to clean him up. I had to risk it because his nails were getting too long So I’ve been trying to stay busy between flares. I’ve been cooking, cleaning, painting the kitchen, taking care of meat rabbits aka rabids, training the dogs, etc. I have a lot of sewing projects to complete but my hands need to be in better shape for that. Fen has been helping as he is able and the spirit moves him. Our stove AND washing machine went out in November, right before Thanksgiving, and right before a very good friend came to spend a week. We muddled through just fine though and several weeks later, we had a new stove and new washer/dryer, courtesy of the ranch Last night I made sourdough bread bowls and homemade clam chowder for dinner. The bread bowls I started yesterday as they needed bulk ferment overnight in the fridge. It was a new recipe and it is AMAZING!! I’m posting it here.

 https://myculturedpalate.com/sourdough-bread-bowls/ They really were excellent. I tied tea towels to hold the shape when they were rising for last time before baking, but this recipe was so excellent, I am going to invest in little bannetons for them. We have a new LGD puppy, who is not going to be an actual full time LGD, but a farm dog. When Bruno passed, the predators slaughtered all my chickens and ducks in one night, the same week, as they realized he was no longer here. We now have 5 young hens who are just beginning to lay, and two roosters, soon to be just one…and I am not willing to lose them, so Boone, the Anatolian puppy is here. He weighed 43 lb at 12 weeks of age. Fen is 59 lb at 15 mo and is a little overweight.

 Fen is thrilled to have someone to play with and its working out well, as Boone sleeps outside in his big crate, with the door open. Fen gets to go out when he wants, and in when he wants, Boone is allowed in for a little while each day to socialize with us. I will be using him for counter balance because I have fallen 8 times in the past few months for no apparent reason, and have nearly fallen about 2 dozen other times. Whatever is causing it, (one Dr thinks its a crystal in the ear, another thinks it’s my meds ) Fen is able to pick up on it by sniffing behind my left ear. He checks me out daily and if he only does a cursory scan of my ear, I never have a problem, but on the mornings he is fixated on my L ear, at some point that day, my balance fails me.

It's all a little scary but it is what it is and I will deal with it. 

Meanwhile, Boone has gone from 43 lb to 55 lb in less than a month. He's already bigger than Fen as of today. All I can say is, he grows on ya.

Onward to April

It snowed again last nite. The apricot and peach trees had blossoms on them but may not have fruit again this year because of the cold snaps. 

My sweet tooth flared up. I pulled out the sourdough starter and started feeding up a ‘Herman” starter. My regular starter (Sam) gets just flour and water, but when I want to make cinnamon rolls or biscuits, I take a portion and feed it equal amounts of flour, sugar and milk for 2 or 3 days. Everything here gets a name, btw. Even our truck. It makes me feel like I am surrounded by friends and family.

It was a happy, happy starter and when I made the rolls, they rose in just a few hours and I had to bake them that afternoon. Usually it is 8 hours for the first rise and over night for the second. Not so with this happy mixture!!! The difference seemed to come from measuring my flour and water in the first starter. Instead of just scooping equal volume of each, I weighed them. 5 oz of flour was a heaping full measuring cup while the 5 oz of water was barely more than half. It became absolutely giddy.

I also made 4 loaves of bread. It is so much easier now that I have the Bosch mixer and can make twice as much at one time as I did before, plus it is a lot faster.

I didn’t take a picture of the rolls, but I split the batch with the new neighbor. They have a cute little girl that giggles and waves at me. Makes me miss my grandkids even more, if that could be possible...but they will have fun together when the kids come to visit.

As there is a half beef coming and we lost one of our freezers and it is NOT in the budget to replace it, I'm canning more meat. A few batches of jerky is on the shelves and I canned up a lot of meatballs to use on sandwich rolls, in spaghetti or just to eat out of the jar. I use this recipe,  mix it up in the stand mixer, use a cookie scoop to put them on baking sheets but I only bake them about 15 min. then put them in sterilized canning jars, cover with hot spaghetti sauce and into the pressure canner for 75 min pts and 90 min qts. Keeps several quick meals on the shelf, and makes room in the freezer for other things.

I am thinking I will can the recipe for swedish meatballs as well, just to change things up and have more choices.

The volatile changes in weather have taken their toll on me and I have spent too many days unable to do much. The house became a dungeon and a filthy one at that. With company coming I was struggling to get things back in order when a neighbor, from the ranch down the road, showed up with her daughter to clean it! I was flabbergasted as they tore through the house cleaning, walls, ceiling fans, pictures, dusting, vacuuming, mopping...and all just to be a blessing. The next day the mom came back and washed windows. Ranch folk are the best and as far as all concerned, they are also part of our ranch family which we are so lucky to be a part of. As we were conversing, she told me that wolves are already in the neighborhood. I am desperately hoping to keep Bruno and Potamus safe without having to dispose of our flock. We’ll be using radio fencing around the big pasture and hoping that keeps them contained by day. However, the problem is, even if it keeps my dogs in, it won’t keep anything else out...so we also have to pray that the activity around the ranch headquarters here will keep wolves away during the day time, and I will have to lock the dogs and sheep up securely by night. Hopefully, we will know in a few weeks if the fence works or not. Otherwise, all the sheep will have to go, as I will not risk the lives of my big dogs, who would sacrifice themselves to protect them.

I had a couple of good days and really, really wanted to ride so I grabbed Mister, who turned up sore footed. Nephew who now works at the ranch down the road is going to try and fit him in for a trim, when he gets a chance. Next day I got up and limped out to the corral early before they turned all the horses back out and I was hoping I could catch Wimpy. He’s a wily old thing who loves to make me run around after him, between every other horse in the cavvy, to avoid being caught. This time though, I walked right up to him and he never moved. That seemed odd. I was feeling the effects of another barometer change already but hoped I could manage at least a short ride. As I brought him into the corral behind our house, I noticed he was keeping right up with me, which was also uncharacteristic of him, as he normally prefers to lug back at the end of the rope being slow and lazy for the most part. 

He had lost a great deal of weight since I’d seen him only 3 months earlier. He also had bite and kick marks on him, which was unusual as he always got along with everyone.

 Bringing him in with Mister, who, being a herd-bound turd was always excited to see Wimp, was another puzzling occurrence because Mister bowed up his neck and came at him like he was a total stranger. I began to wonder if it was really my horse. I looked at his distinctive snip (white marking on the muzzle) checked the two white saddle scars on his withers and the old barbed wire cuts on his hind leg. They were all the right ones, but I knew there was a horse that looked similar to him which is one of the boss’ horses. I became more and more fuzzy and confused and started second guessing myself. I actually posted before and after pictures of him asking people if it looked like the same horse to them. The loss of weight changed his angles dramatically and even Randyman said he didn’t think it was really Wimpy at all. Not that he would know, since he never rides and had hardly ever laid eyes on him. Since the horse had a bad looking coat, I wormed him and turned him loose again.

The ranch kids were home from college and THEY would know. Sure enough, it was Wimpy after all. (Which I would have known for certain, had I not be 'fuzzy headed' as now he looks exactly like himself only with a bad coat and much thinner.) 

One of the boys kindly re-captured him for me as I was no longer able to get up early enough or walk far enough to get him. I figured I had better find out why he lost so much weight and if it was his teeth, I needed to attend to it. When I was finally able to go out to see him, he kept his distance. I set out a flake of hay and a little SR feed for him and backed away. It took him awhile to come close enough to eat it as he could see me through the crack in the gate. It relieved me to see him acting like his usual anti-social, ornery old self. He’s not in BAD shape or poor by any means, but has lost enough weight in a short time for it to be disturbing. If he was fit and had lost the weight from working it would be a good thing, but that isn't what has occurred. I wonder now, if it is just the drought and the manner in which the cavvy is being fed. He’s getting older and he has always eaten REALLY slow. He might just not be getting his share. I found no sharp points on his molars and when I give him supplement, nothing falls out of his mouth. I’m pretty confident he will be just fine and I will be riding the next good day I have.

I spent a day making more Whipped Tallow and another trying out some new wax tart fragrances. The house smells amazing. My niece will be here in a couple of days and is bringing up an order from the candle supply store, so I’ll have plenty to do to keep me out of trouble.

First thing on the list, however, is fencing. The dogs are my top priority, and part of that will be buying a stronger fence charger, then after that is all handled, a rototiller for the garden and getting Randyman to actually help me put up the fencing he promised oh so long ago, as the meatie chickens will be here in May.

EmmaLouMoo is due anytime and I am still hoping Sushimoo is pregnant, but still don't know for sure. I should have had the vet palpate her, but I was just not well while he was on the ranch. If she is, she won't calve until August and if she isn't…there won't be a bull around for awhile anyway.

Well, it's time to go do what I do. Have a great day/week/month and if you are looking for soap, candles or body butter, check out Ranch Rustics !

Cold Feet and Warm Rolls

Winter gained momentum after Christmas. The temperatures here dropped, frequently falling below 0 at night and rarely rising above the teens by day. It snowed several times, leaving a good crunchy base below our feet and tires. There are heaters in every trough, making sure the animals will drink plenty of water, as they don't like to drink much when its cold and icy water is not so refreshing in the wintertime. 

The wildlife is having a hard winter. The birds can find nothing to eat and daily, the local quail, mourning doves and crows hover over EmmaLou's corral hoping to pick thru droppings seeking undigested grains. 

Coyotes, cougars and bobcats are stealthily roaming the ranch. The Maremmas are staying busy at night, patrolling and running packs off from kills, discouraging them from coming any closer. The sheep remain locked in a small pasture where the pups spend daylight hours and some nights, with them. They'll have to be in there 24/7 the week we are gone, which will be in just a few days.

Bruno remains alert, keeping the crows out of the pasture where the lambs are, as they are known to cause injury to them when there is nothing else for them to scavenge.

Notice that "Salty" sticks her tongue out in a 'neener neener' as she remains tucked safely behind her guardians.

All the cows and horses have to be hay fed as there is no forage at all to be found right now.

Luckily, Wimpy shares my metabolism and loses no weight, regardless of how little he might consume.

Normally, our little rock house stays pretty cozy with the small gas stove that heats it. This past couple of weeks however, even with the heater running 24/7, the oven on with the door open and the small heaters on in the bathrooms, we were unable to get the indoor temperature above 55 degrees. One day it stayed as low as 48. Today is much warmer and it is up to 61. Long johns are a nice thing to have and there are periods during the day I will even don cotton gloves to keep my hands from hurting too much and a light down comforter remains on the couch to snuggle under during breaks from whatever I may be doing.

I think of how much more difficult it was for the pioneer women and for the first inhabitants of the ranch, with no indoor plumbing. They had wood heat which was probably sufficient, but there is not a lot of wood here on the desert. I have great respect for the women who lived here then, who also only got supplies for food and clothing once a year, after sending someone with a buckboard on the two week long wagon trip to Winnemucca.

We got a little better taste of what that might be like, when the pipes froze for 4 days and we had no water in the bathrooms. Luckily, it did run in the kitchen so I could wash dishes. Still, I'd rather face these challenges than live in the city. There are benefits to attend the hardships here.  

Even with the below freezing temperatures, the winter sun shines from time to time and melts just a little snow, creating awesome yet treacherous, icicles on some of the old rock houses. One such day, there were rays of sunlight and a light snow falling from the clouds around it. It was so cold the snowflakes came down in tiny crystals, reflecting the light and resembling glitter falling all over the world surrounding us. It was truly breathtaking.

The beauty of ice laden trees around the ranch headquarters

EmmaLouMoo ventures out of her 'cave' for a peek

Another benefit of our battle against the elements is that baking warms up the house a bit.

Lately I have been making a lot of cinnamon rolls because I finally found the PERFECT Sourdough Cinnamon Roll recipe. It’s a no yeast recipe that is so easy it almost makes me suspect the “Awesome flavor fairies” must come and do something magic to it. There is nothing quite as wonderful as a hot, homemade sourdough cinnamon roll with cream cheese frosting oozing all over it, unless of course, you have gooey, warm caramel pecan rolls. It’s really a toss up. So Randyman decided he wanted both.

Because it is hard for me to get up mornings as a result of it also being hard to sleep at night, my man is kind enough to go out in the incredibly cold temperatures, (the other morning it was 1...yes that is ONE degree, fahrenheit) to slip and slide over the ice and snow and feed all of my critters for me. EmmaLou and SushiMoo, Mister, the sheeples and the chickenhearteds. He also lets the polar-bears in to keep me company if they happen to be back from night patrol. They look forward to the visits as much as I do. Often times, after doing this kind and thoughtful service for me, he will even make coffee, which he does not drink, as well as make breakfast from time to time, before starting his long, cold day of work outside on the ranch. How could I possibly refuse him two kinds of breakfast rolls? I would have to be a truly heartless fiend. I think I did originally tell him it wasn’t possible but that is because I was still experiencing my ‘morning fog’ and hadn’t realized I only had to split it in half and make them in 2 pie plates instead of the big 9x13 casserole dish.

So that is what I do.

To begin with, for the very first time I took my regular sourdough starter and made it into a ‘Herman’ starter. This is done by taking 2 cups of starter and instead of feeding with flour and water, instead give it 1/2 cup each of flour, sugar and milk. Feed it twice (8 hours apart) the day before using.

My new friend, Herman

Here is the recipe I got online, but I cannot remember the source. My bad. I do so much web surfing and cut and paste things that look interesting and I get lost on where they came from. As long as I don’t lose the recipe, I am happy.

So, into the kitchen aid goes:

STEP 1-DOUGH

2 cups of Herman starter

3 cups flour (I haven’t tried this with my fresh milled flour yet)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbl baking powder

2 eggs, beaten

Mix it all in bowl and if hand kneading, knead 5-7 minutes. In the Kitchen Aid it only takes a couple minutes, and I turn it out on a pastry cloth to give it a couple turns by hand to feel it and make sure it feels nice and smooth. You can almost feel what a happy dough this is.

I put it in a well oiled bowl, cover with a well wrung out towel that was dampened with warm water. It will take HOURS for this to rise in a warm place, such as near the heater, inside the oven with a bowl of hot water underneat, or on a heating pad. (I would only use the latter during the day when it can be watched. I'm not a big fan of electric blankets or heating pads as I have known them to short out in the past. If you have one of the new seed starting mats, that might be a safer option) There is no yeast in this bread and sourdough always takes a long time to rise. If you put this together in the evening you could let it rise overnight in a warm place.Just know you won’t have it for breakfast that day, it's a slow process, but worth the time. I usually do this in the morning and let it rise most of the day then go to step #2:

STEP2-INNARDS for cinnamon rolls

1 cup white sugar

1 Tbl ground cinnamon

 Mix together in a small bowl

After dough has doubled in size, dump it back out on the floured pastry cloth and pat or roll it out to about a 10x20 inch rectangle. For the Caramel Pecan Rolls, I skip the sugar/cinnamon step and just skip to the rolling up and cutting part.

For cinnamon rolls:

I take softened butter and rub it all over the top of the dough rectangle.You can melt it and paint it on with a pastry brush if you want. I just use my hand.

Next take the cinnamon sugar mixture and sprinkle it liberally all over the dough.

Roll the dough up longways. Try and make it as tight as possible, by sort of lifting the dough as you roll and letting the weight of it work for you.

After the dough has been rolled up, I cut it into 1" rolls. Randyman loves these so much and wants them so often, he made me a ‘roll cutter’. This is a very complicated piece of equipment made with dental floss and a lollipop stick. Break the stick in half and tie each end of a long piece of floss onto each half. Now you can just lay the roll on top of the floss, cross your ends and ta dah! Perfectly cut, unsmushed, raw cinnamon roll. Fabulous. I’d get very excited at his invention, but surely someone else will beat us to the patent.

If you are making a whole pan of cinnamon rolls, put these in a 9x13 casserole dish with space between them and cover them, set in a warm place and let them rise. They tend to rise quicker the second time, but it still takes longer than conventional dough. It’s worth the wait though. They will swell up and fill in the gaps as well as gain height.

Usually, it is just Randyman and myself, so I will, instead, put half the rolls in a glass pie plate and the others I quickly freeze on a baking sheet then put them in a ziplock bag for another day.

FOR CARAMEL PECAN ROLLS:

Before cutting your rolls, butter a 9x13 casserole, or if you are baking 1/2 the rolls, I butter a glass pie plate instead. Cover the bottom of your baking dish with chopped pecans.

Now cut and set your rolls in the dish with space between them so they have room to swell and rise and fill in the gaps. They should be touching by the time they are ready to bake. 

The next step is to take a box of Cook N Serve butterscotch pudding and sprinkle the dry mix over the rolls. (This recipe is from ‘Overnight Bubble Bread’ on the AR Website.)

Next, take equal amounts of butter and brown sugar and melt in saucepan until smooth. Bring mixture just to boiling then pour over the rolls. 

Cover with plastic wrap and let these sit and rise overnight.

When rolls are done rising and are ready to bake, place them in a preheated 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.

For the Caramel Pecan Rolls, find a plate or a baking sheet, place over the top of your baking pan and invert them so the ooey, gooey pecan/caramel mix is on the top of your rolls. Caution while scooping the reticent bits with your finger...it is hot and will burn both your finger AND your tongue. I will not explain in detail how I know this.

If you made Cinnamon Rolls, hopefully you had the foresight to soften a brick of cream cheese, or if you are fortunate like me and have your own Jersey cow in milk, it will be a portion of homemade cream cheese.

For a whole pan of rolls I use:

1 brick cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)

1 1/2 Tbl heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla (again, homemade is the best)

Beat until well mixed and fluffy then liberally slather it all over your warm cinnamon rolls.

Do NOT let anyone take pictures of you while eating your first roll, as you will look like a zombie with your eyes rolled back in your head. The gooey goodness of these rolls is a heavenly experience.

Our good friend the chef (there is no term to describe his amazing culinary skill, words truly do fall short) is opening a bakery far from here in one of the cold, cold states. He asked me to give him the recipe for these rolls and is taking some starter back with him when he goes home next month. I figured that was a pretty good recommendation for the rolls and I am sharing the recipe with you first. I wish I could remember where I got it, because whoever wrote the original deserves kudos. Oh well. If they should run across this blog, Bless you, whoever you are! You have made the world a better place.

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

  ● 2 cups Herman Sourdough Starter

  ● 3 cups all-purpose flour

  ● 1/2 tsp. baking soda

  ● 1/2 tsp. salt

  ● 3 tsp. baking powder

  ● 2 eggs, beaten 

  ● 1/2 cup margarine

  ● 1 cup white sugar

  ● 3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. In a large bowl combine Herman Sweet Sourdough Starter, flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder and eggs until well blended.

 2. Knead dough in bowl for 5 to 7 minutes, or until mixture is smooth.

 3. Let rise in warm place until doubled. (CAN TAKE SEVERAL HOURS)

Punch down. On a lightly floured surface, press dough into a 10 x 20 inch rectangle. Combine melted margarine, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Spread mixture over dough. Sprinkle with walnuts or raisins, if desired.

 4. Starting on long side, roll up dough, jellyroll fashion. Press ends together to make a seam. Cut in 1-inch slices with a piece of dental floss and place in an ungreased baking dish. 

Allow rolls rise to double their size. This can be overnight.

 5. Bake in a preheated 325 F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned.