Baking…

My sister-in-law gave me some Amish Friendship Bread starter which I have been mushing and feeding per instructions. Today was baking day. I haven’t made this for years and had forgotten what it was like. It’s pretty good, although quite rich. I must admit it was hard for me to purchase the instant vanilla pudding mix which the recipe calls for since I try to avoid *faux foods* these days. While I did enjoy the bread I could detect a slight *artificial* taste.

A few days ago I pulled out my sourdough starter from the dark recesses of my refrigerator where it has remained totally ignored for a couple of months. It still smelled fine so I fed it and left it out a couple of days, adding a bit of instant yeast as well. I mixed up the dough tonight and will find out in the morning if the starter was still good and able to make the dough rise.

I made the Pioneer Woman cake Friday for a university homecoming reception. Man, oh man, was it ever hard to make that delicious cake and not get a single bite of it! I did eat the icing that was left in the mixing bowl, though.

I haven’t made my usual whole wheat bread from freshly ground wheat in quite awhile so that might be on my agenda next week. My recipe makes four large loaves and the bread freezes well. David loves this bread and the fiber is good for him since he needs to keep his cholesterol level down.

I’d love to bake some chocolate chip cookies but they are way too tempting for me. Storebought cookies hold virtually no interest for me but give me still-warm-from-the-oven Tollhouse cookies and I could eat an embarrassing number of them.