It's Alive

I've been getting a sourdough starter underway for the last two weeks. Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery fame has a chapter in one of her cookbooks on this process which uses grapes, flour and water to create a starter. After ten days, the starter gets fed three times per day with a total of 38.5 ounces of flour plus seven cups of water. The last feeding results in a nearly full container that weighs about seven pounds. Each day starts with discarding all but two cups of the starter before the feeding process starts anew. After four days of these feedings the starter is supposed to be ready for use.

This morning (day 14) instead of throwing out the usual amount of starter before the first feeding, I poured off some and made pancake batter. The recipe called for starter, eggs, oil, maple syrup and some salt, baking powder and baking soda. Ever hopeful, I mixed the ingredients together and ladled some into a pan. Apparently the starter is alive and well as witnessed by the mass of bubbles in the batter as the pancake cooked.

I'm getting close to making some bread dough - maybe tomorrow I'll begin the two day process of baking some bread. However, I've already gone through a number of 5-lb. bags of bread flour creating this starter so I think I may head out to Sam's Club and purchase a 40-lb. bag of bread flour . . .

Salty Oatmeal Cookies

One of my favorite foods is a salty oatmeal cookie which my mom used to bake. However, she hasn't made them in years and I've never bothered to make them even though we had a recipe for them.

I finally decided to make them and I even searched the internet for similar recipes. Mom had changed her recipe by substituting shortening for butter so when I finally made these wonderful cookies, I used unsalted butter. I also refrigerated the dough to firm it up before I baked the cookies. The first batch was sort of bland; I guessed that using kosher salt instead of table salt was the reason (even though additional salt is sprinkled on top of the cookie before baking).

My second attempt I thought was better. I used table salt in the cookies and also added a small amount (1/2 tsp) of cinnamon. I might try using a small scoop next time to get a more uniform size cookie . . .

I really like these cookies!!