Waffles. Sourdough waffles.
I wasn't quite sure what to do with my growing sourdough started. I've been cooking more, which means fewer bread/cheese/salami nights. Gerd doesn't seem to mind yet, but I'm sure he'll want a German dinner sooner or later. So I'm keeping that starter going, but I hate to throw away extra dough.
I ran across a blog that had a link to sourdough recipes. I made the blender waffles, and although I consider adding a bit of baking soda to the mix cheating, they were sooo good (and quick)! I can't wait to try out more recipes.
Meanwhile my Nature Mill composter is grinding away. It's a bit louder, at times, than I expected. Usually there's just a little electric hum in the background, but when it mixes stuff up there are cranks and clunks and who knows what coming from the box. I dared to open it yesterday (a no no, it's only been 24 hours instead of the required 48) and whew did it smell. But after closing the lid I couldn't smell anything after a few minutes. Today I get to add more compost to the mix and get a better look. It was already starting to look like soil before (albeit stinky soil) so I'm hoping for the best. It definitely does make composting more convenient.
By the way, I wasn't paid for talking about Nature Mill, but if they wanted to give me a job I wouldn't mind. Baking is great, but I need something real to do with my time.
2 comments:
One of the cooking blogs I follow--either Baking Bites or Joy the Baker--did a bunch of stuff with sourdough about a year back. Could be worth looking up for more ideas. Also you could freeze the bread and probably dough for later too--I've successfully frozen shaped cinnamon rolls before (freeze after the first rise and after they're shaped, then the thaw becomes part of the final rise before baking).
I had a starter going for a couple of months at one point, probably 6-7 years ago. I love baking breads too, but we couldn't eat ours fast enough either. The kids now don't eat much bread either, so I rarely make it anymore.
We gave up our big compost bin in the back yard (basically a big black bottomless trash can) when we put a little swing set under the deck for the kids (the bin also got broken in a storm). I keep seeing the drum kind that can go outside and wondering if its worth trying again. We just have no space in our little yard for things that are not toddler proof (though as long as they're not dangerous, a small child might have fun tumbling the compost for us...)
Thanks for the cooking sites, I'll have to look them up. We were eating bread almost every night, but I've recently become recommited to vegetables. When I make veggies I rarely bake bread, I wonder why? They're not exclusive.
My little indoor composter doesn't smell unless it's open (and man does it smell when it's open). It stays inside and has a charcoal filter to prevent smells from escaping. So far I'm not so sure about it being the best method when there's an outdoors to be had. I don't really like the noise when it's mixing, but I think when we move and I put it in the pantry it won't bother me at all.
Between efforts to limit stuff bought in packaging and now by composting I'm hoping to reduce the amount of trash we put out each week. Trash is a huge pain in the city. Boston city streets are too narrow, with cars parked along both sides at all times, to have those big trash bins that are collected by a trash lift. We put our trash bags out on the streets and people looking for bottles often split the bags open leaving garbage everywhere. So composting isn't just about nice soil, it's also about the trash.
You know what your kids might really enjoy? Worm composting. I'm just a little too squeamish to do this indoors but I think you could put a bin out on your deck. Kids tend to like worms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxhEQEA0GN8
http://www.nyccompost.org/how/wormbin.html
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