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Baking experiments with a starter

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Hiya, Susan the baker here to report back on my new starter. This past week I have used it in blueberry pancakes, pizza dough, rolls and a rustic loaf. I am pretty happy with it over all and it is certainly fun to experiment. I honestly had the most doubts with the rustic bread round because I did not follow a recipe but it turned out perfectly edible – it made fantastic french toast anyways. The pizza dough was a success and it enhanced an already fool proof recipe. The pancakes were great. The rolls satisfied a craving for meatball sandwiches I was having. The outside was crunchy from being cooked in covered cast iron pot to begin with in the baking process and had a nice soft inside. Paired with sauce, veggie meatballs and sauteed cabbage it was my favorite meal this week.

I have been keeping the starter out on the counter and regularly feeding it as I take most of it out for baking. I have been going through a lot of flour during a time it is a bit hard to come by in the stores. I am comforted knowing I could always use it less and keep it in the fridge and the starter will stay alive receiving less attention.

lately

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Lately I have been mostly in my apartment. I am homeschooling Emma. I am cooking and cleaning up after 21 meals a week. I have been doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming. But really I wanted to share some fun things today.

I have been watching The Musketeers.

I have been reading The Hazel Wood.

I have bought new house shoes/slippers.

I have been making and eating peanut butter bread and anise biscuits.

I have been listening to old jazz and spanish guitar.

I have been thinking about places that I have been and miss. My hometown, Santa Cruz, Japantown, Point Reyes.

I have felt love and sadness and worry and joy and frustration and everything in between, sometimes all in an hour of these never ending days.

starter day

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I make bread almost every day now that we are home. I like the simple bread recipe and the no knead recipe and use the Saf instant yeast with great results. Lately I have been wanting to challenge myself so I created a starter. Today it is just a mixture of flour and water but it will develop as I continue to feed it more flour and water over the next week or so. It will take a while before it is ready to bake with but I am looking forward to adding this natural leaven to my breads and baked goods.

back to homeschooling: a year in review

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Aside from working on math, writing, phonics and geography books Emma Clover enjoyed many other ways of learning. We used the world around to enhance our school year and it gave us all so much purpose and community involvement. She wrote letters, played with her dollhouse, read stacks of books, helped with cooking and gardening, played games, made artwork, went on play dates and traveled all around the Bay Area during this past school year. It gave us time to be together and all of us felt lucky to return to a slower pace of life.

Emma started off making a book about the water cycle and how she uses water. She also observed how her community needs water as well.

Our first school field trip was to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Emma experimented with dry ice at a school hosted science activity day.

We went to see a Dia de los Muertos dance performance, attended the Hansel and Gretel opera and saw the Nutcracker ballet.

Emma read so many books this year! I am impressed with how many books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder we read together and she also read on her own. We checked out stacks and stacks of books from the library and listened to many audio stories.

This year was all about playing games! Lots and lots of them.

We took an unforgettable walk with a naturalist through the redwoods.

We visited many museums including the San Francisco MoMA and the Oakland Museum of California.

Emma is privy to a technology teacher and has been learning about computers for years. Lately they have made digital art and discussed future game designs.

From summer to present Emma has been practicing her knitting. We were fortunate to attend a supportive knitting club at the library.

We attended a musical event at the library given by the SF Chamber Orchestra. They were very kind and played world music for the children.

Of course the most important part of our homeschooling year was the people in it. Emma thoroughly enjoyed the classes that she took with Hickman this year. The classes were Shapes and Structures, Art (this one was art inspired by children’s book illustrations), Faire Science and Kids Cafe. She loves all of the different teachers she has and appreciates the mixed age group settings. The content was so fun that she never wanted them to come to an end. This winter/spring she was able to attend a modern dance class at the Shawl Anderson Dance center with Maurice and she loved it. Unfortunately the session was cut short but we will be sure to return if the opportunity arises.