Sneak Peeks: Baking to come!

Sourdough Starter

I have a full day of baking ahead of me, one of my favorite ways to spend a day off. I thought I’d give you all a little sneak peek, to tempt you about the exciting things that will be posted here soon!

Yes, I’m attempting sourdough once more. Last time, I tried to make my own starter, which was, sadly, a disaster. This time, I bought a starter from King Arthur Flour. Did you know that King Arthur sells more than just flour? This company has been around for more than 250 years, AND it is entirely employee owned. That impresses me mightily. The sourdough starter they sell is also more than 250 years old, and that also impresses me mightily. It is bubbling away in my kitchen right now as I bring it back to life, and I just hope that it wasn’t too cold in the kitchen last night for it to do its thing. We shall see!

And I swear I’m not being sponsored by King Arthur or anything, but I’m also really excited about this:

Vermont Cheese Powder

Along with my sourdough starter, I bought a package of this cheese powder with which I am going to make homemade cheez-its! I’m probably not supposed to call them cheez-its or anything, because that is trademarked and whatnot. But cheez-its are my absolute favorite snack, one that I almost never let myself actually eat because they’re not exactly natural and healthy. When I saw these cheese crackers on the King Arthur Flour blog I was instantly so excited! I’ve been vowing to make crackers again since my first experiment, and cheese crackers! I can’t even string sentences together properly, that’s how excited I am.

If that’s not enough for you, I’m also hoping to find time to bake Peanut Butter Bread, a recipe I found in the 1927 Good Housekeeping cookbook my housemate gave me for Christmas.

To tide you over while I’m baking, I also wanted to share something I’m reading right now: American Food Writing: An Anthology. This book is fantastic fun, full of all kinds of food writing spanning American history. I’m still in the early essays, and am really enjoying reading about some of the earliest foods and food traditions enjoyed in America. An excellent book, and well worth picking up.

So come back soon, because there will be A LOT of good stuff coming out of my kitchen today. Uh, I hope I didn’t just jinx myself.