Today's the big day!  Your starter has been sitting patiently for three days now fermenting, bubbling into such nutritional value; you'll want to make this bread a couple of times a week!  All you need to do is replenish your Sourdough Starter with 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup of warm water and let it sit eight hours on the counter covered,  then store in the refrigerator for future use.  If you have a breadmaker, this bread can be made feasibly several times a week with only a flick of the button set on the dough setting.  Then just take out loaves and let them rise!

1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. softened butter
1 package active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
4-5 cups of flour

Add everything but flour to bread machine.   Set on "dough".  Add 3 cups of flour and allow blades to whirl until smooth.  Add another cup.  Then add the final cup in increments allowing the bread dough to be soft, slightly sticky, and not dry.  A lovely ball should be rotating at the bottom that is soft.  You can mix this by hand, knead slightly, and let rise an hour in the bowl covered.

Take out bread dough and make three equal size portions.  Shape into a ball and slit at the top crisscross.  Cover with towel and let rise an hour or until double.  Bake at 400 degrees on greased baking sheet for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve immediately with butter! 

One bread that is a must  have in your recipe archive is a good sourdough starter.  It is important that your food be nutrient dense to offer optimal health benefits.  Sourdough bread boasts numerous qualities that normal bread just can't hold a candle to.  It has pre-digesting starches, making the bread more easily digestible.  There is a lowering insulin response which improves glucose tolerance.  It protects Vitamin B1 from the damage of the heat in baking.   The recipe breaks down gluten, which may result in  bread that gluten-sensitive people 
can eat.  It activates phytase to hydrolyze (dissolve) the phytates, thus freeing up minerals such as: zinc, copper, magnesium, iron, and phosphorous.

Legend has it that prospectors who went to Alaska in the 1890's to seek their fortune in gold took sourdough starters with them in the knapsacks.  These miners ate so much of the bread they came to be known as sourdoughs, a term now associated with backwoodsmen in general.

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tab. sugar
1 package of yeast
2 cups warm water

Combine flour, sugar, and undissolved yeast in a large glass or ceramic bowl.  Add warm water slowly and begin stirring until smooth.  Top with plastic wrap and let sit three days.  Open plastic wrap to allow air flow when top bubbles then readjust.

Take amount needed for recipe and replenish starter by adding 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup of water to remaining starter.  Beat until smooth and let stand in a warm place until mixture bubbles well, at least eight hours.  Store loosely covered, in the refrigerator and use again once ever two weeks.

There's an upcoming holiday again soon to be bestowed upon our feet, and as always I offer you a less practical recipe to make the day a bit more fun.   There are days you just need to spend that extra dollar on something special to make a memory.  These are a family favorite treat and will be a joy to add to your Valentine's Day fare.  Deliciously moist, you won't be able to stop with one, and I'd be pleasantly surprised if you had any left the following day.

When making this special treat I frequent Save a Lot and Aldi.  Canned milk and semi sweet chips can be found for a little over a dollar.  Some stores offer their own variety of Bits 'O Brickle (Toffee Bits) at reduced rates, too.

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)
1 can 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1 1/3 cups Heath Bits 'O Brickle, Toffee Bits, Divided

Heat oven to 350 and grease a 13 x 9 inch pan. Combine flour and sugar in bowl and cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg and mix well. Stir in 1 1/2 chocolate chips and nuts if using. Set aside 1 1/2
cups of this mixture.

Press remaining crumb mixture into bottom of greased pan. Bake 10 minutes. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over top. Set aside 1/4 cup toffee bits. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over milk. Add remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips on top. Bake 25 - 30 minutes or until golden. Top with remaining toffee bits. Cool completely.

It's the weekend and if money is tight.  You may be hearing the constant bantering of, "Mom, what are we going to do this weekend?!" 

At the moment you're in-between pay sources, and you may be wondering yourself,  "Gosh, I don't know myself, but I do know I don't want to be stuck inside without something fun to do."  Why not clear off you counter and open your own crafty bakery with those little darlings?  Here is an easy recipe that reaps rewards when freshly baked from the oven.  Then all you need is a bike or some walking shoes to get outdoors and top off the day.

This recipe comes out of the box with torn corners showing usage and spots from the last 30 years.  Enjoy!

3/4 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
4 1/2 - 5 cups flour
1 egg
1/4 cup coarse salt

Place water into a large bowl.  Sprinkle on yeast and stir until dissolved.  Add sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of flour.  Beat until smooth.  Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.  Turn out on floured pastry and knead 8-10 min. until smooth. 

Place in a clean, large, greased bowl.  Turn dough over to grease top.  Let rise for one hour then punch down.  Work with hands to form a ball again.  Cut in half.  Set one half on the side and cover other with towel.  Cut remaining half into eight equal pieces.  Keep others covered.  Roll each out to a rope 20 inches in length.  Keep rolling and stretching the rope while doing so.  Twist to form pretzel.

Place on greased sheet one inch apar.  Beat egg slightly with fork.  Brush egg on pretzel, sprinkle with coarse salt.  Let rise for additional 15-20 minutes until they look puffy.  Bake at 400 degrees 15 - 18 min.  Then begin again!