Cabin Baking: Refreshing Sourdough Starter

Sourdough bread baked in a Dutch oven at the cabin.

After being away from my float cabin home for nearly six months due to the pandemic, I was worried my sourdough starter might be dead.

When we left in January for our Snowbird RV Adventure, I took my starter to town because we turned off the propane fridge.

Active yeast bubbles formed while warming in the kitchen. It's ALIVE!

After the two week mandatory quarantine at the cabin after re-entering Canada, we went to the condo and I immediately checked my starter. 

I have two separate containers. One is my cabin batch that's been working since 2005. The other is my cloned city backup batch. Over time they've diverged in flavour, so I treat them separately. I've heard that's because natural environmental yeasts differ.

Float cabin batch on the left and city batch on the right.

I put each batch into a separate bowl and let them warm on the stovetop. I was socked to see how active they became.

To feed them, I stirred in 1/2 cup lukewarm skim milk, 1/2 cup white flour and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.

I feed each batch separately to preserve their unique flavorss.

I left the bowls uncovered to capture natural yeast from the air. I covered them overnight. In the morning, both batches were active and bubbling. There was no need to add commercial yeast to revive them. I gave them a second feeding and another rest overnight before returning them to their plastic containers for refrigeration.

I was careful to use non-reactive bowls and utensils (plastic, ceramic, glass or wood). Why do I have a town backup you ask? One year my cabin propane fridge went on the fritz and I lost my starter. Having a backup in town saved the day.

Do you have sourdough starter? How do you take care of yours? -- Margy

A Family Christmas Tradition: Norwegian Yule Kaga

Grandma was born in Norway. Her family immigrated to the States when she was a little girl. There's very little of my Norwegian heritage left except a few Christmas foods. One  is Yule Kaga. It translates as Christmas cake, but it's bread.

Grandma made it every Christmas, then it was Mom's turn. Now it's mine.

Mom's recipe file had two cards, one in Grandma's handwriting and one in Mom's. Using them I created a recipe for a single loaf.

Norwegian Yule Kaga

Scald milk then add butter and sugar.

Ingredients:

1 cup milk (scalded)
1/4 cup butter (melted)
1/4 cup sugar
1 pkg active dry yeast
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
1 egg (beaten)
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins

Activate yeast in warm water.

1/2 cup citron
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon

Directions:

Scald the milk. I had to look this up. Bring the milk to almost boiling then allow it to cool slightly. Add the butter, sugar, salt and cardamom and let the mixture continue to cool until

Add egg and yeast to cooled milk.

lukewarm.

Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water (100-110 degrees). If the water is too cold, the yeast won't activate. If it is too hot, the yeast will be killed. Stir occasionally. The yeast gets bubbly, releasing carbon dioxide gas, the stuff you need to make bread rise.

Beat mixture then add half of the flour.

When the milk mixture is cooled, add the dissolved yeast followed by the well beaten egg. Beat the whole mixture until everything is fully incorporated and smooth.

Then add 1 1/2 cups of the flour. Beat thoroughly. I used a wire whisk but this could be done with an electric mixer.

Mix in the raisins and citron.

Add the raisins and citron and blend together while the dough is still in a liquid form.

Add the remaining flour a little at a time. At this point I switched from the whisk to a large wooden spoon. At the end, it was easier to mix the last of the dry flour in with my hands.

Add remaining flour slowly.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Knead for 8-10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Work in any citron and raisins that escaped.

Place dough in a large greased bowl. I used soft margarine. Roll the dough over in the bowl to get some of the margarine on top of

Knead on a floured bread board.

the dough to keep it from drying out. Cover the bowl. I used plastic wrap covered with a tea towel. Grandma's recipe card called for a damp cloth.

Let the dough rise in a warm place for about two hours, or until double in size. Mine took one and a half hours in front of the fireplace.

Let the dough rise in a warm place.

Punch the dough down and form it into a round loaf.

I used 9-inch cast iron frying pan for my round loaf.  I lined it with parchment paper and moistened the top of the dough with cooking oil spray. Loosely cover. I used plastic wrap again. 

Form a loaf and let it rise.

Place the dough in a warm place and let it double in size again (about 45 minutes).

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown. Test by tapping the top with your finger. It should have a hollow sound when it's done.

Remove the bread from its pan

Bake until golden brown.

and cool completely on a rack. If you like a crispy crust, store it in a paper bag. If you want a soft crust, store it in an airtight plastic bag. 

For me, Yule Kage is not complete without gjetost cheese on top. The brand I find in the States is Ski Queen.

It's a semi-hard cheese made from whey, milk, goat milk and cream.  It has caramel colour, has a unique flavour, and melts in your mouth. It always reminds me of going to Grandma's house for Christmas.

Cooling and ready to eat.

I couldn't wait. I cut a slice, toasted it with butter, and topped it with gjetost. Closing my eyes I could feel my family enjoying Christmas and New Years morning with me once again.

Do you have any traditional holiday foods that make you feel connected to your heritage? -- Margy

Cabin Journal: Homemaking

I grew up in the 50s and 60s. In junior and high school, classes in sewing, cooking and homemaking were "electives" girls had to take.

When I was working, homemaking was farther from my mind than algebra. I did the minimum possible and Wayne shared in the duties. Now I enjoy homemaking, especially up at the float cabin. You'll find me sewing, cooking, baking, canning, gardening and even housework.

June 27, 2019

With cooler weather we had a fire in the woodstove and I turned on our battery powered inside decorative lights. It's the first time since we've been home that it was dark enough to enjoy them. Unless we stay up past 10:00, there's plenty of sunlight to keep the cabin bright. I used the indoor time to do some hand sewing. I patched a cloth grocery bag and covered new holes and thin spots in my work sweat pants. I had them before I met Wayne, so they must be pushing 40 years old. Wow!

I call my sweatpants Patches for obvious reasons.

Click here to read "The Story of Patches".


July 2, 2019

We are running low on fresh food. Yesterday was the last doughnut and the bread ran out on Saturday when I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our breakfast while driving the barge to the Shinglemill. I had a banana and a half going brown, so I looked up a recipe online for banana bread. I was short some mashed banana so I settled on a recipe or pineapple banana bread. I didn't have any crushed pineapple, but I did have some tidbits left over in the fridge from our fruit bowls. I diced them finer and had everything needed to make a late breakfast with fruit, a hard boiled egg for Wayne and yogurt for me. Yum! Plus we have extra for dessert or breakfast tomorrow.

Cooking and baking are now fun.

Click here for the recipe and directions to make Pineapple Banana Bread with Pecans.

Did you take homemaking classes in school? Or were you a lucky guy who got shop? Educational offerings have changed a lot over the years. More classes are co-ed, but unfortunately many of the home arts and shop classes have been eliminated. -- Margy

Cabin Baking: Pineapple Banana Bread with Pecans

All of my ingredients ready to go.

I had bananas going brown. At the same time we ran out of bread and breakfast rolls. A town trip wasn't on the horizon. What to do? Make Pineapple Banana Bread. Now that we have Xplornet satellite Internet, I went online and found a recipe using items I had on hand at Taste of Home.

Pineapple Banana Bread with Pecans

Ingredients:

A measuring cup for wet ingredients.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup mashed banana
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Directions:

Combine wet and dry ingredients.

Note: My recipe modifications are in italics.

In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients.

Combine the egg, oil, sugar, banana (about one) and vanilla. I used a large measuring cup.

Add to the dry ingredients just
until moistened.

Greased pan with parchment paper.

Fold in pineapple and nuts. I diced pineapple tidbits and used pecans. I like their flavour.

Pour into two greased and floured 5-3/4x3x2-in. loaf pans. I used a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray and a piece of parchment paper to make removal easier.


Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

With fruit, hard-boiled eggs and coffee (with lots of 18% coffee cream) we had a nice late morning breakfast.

What do you do with your over-ripe bananas? -- Margy

Cabin Baking: Banana Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Getting organized.

I wanted something sweet for dessert using two things from the freezer, grated zucchini and a mashed banana. I found a recipe online that looked perfect. A bonus was I had everything else I needed on hand. Running to the store isn’t easy to do from up at the cabin.

Banana Zucchini Cake

I used a recipe from Real Housemoms. It was called bread, but easily doubled as a cake. My modifications are in italics.

Ingredients

Beat wet ingredients together first.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed banana (about 2)
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup zucchini shredded

Mix dry ingredients and stir together.

1 cup walnuts chopped

Directions

Beat oil and sugar together. I don’t have mixer so I used a whisk.

Add the mashed banana, egg and vanilla. I only had one mashed banana in the freezer but the batter was plenty moist.

Blend in nuts and raisins (optional).

Mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt then add them to the wet ingredients. I’m lazy. I mix my dry ingredients together on top of the wet before combining wet and dry.

Using a spoon, fold in the zucchini and walnuts (I used pecans). 

I used a baking dish not a loaf pan.

I had 2 cups of frozen grated zucchini. By the time it thawed and I discarded the water it was one cup. I also added one cup of soaked raisins.

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and pour in the batter. I wanted to frost it as a cake so I used a baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting

I chose a frosting recipe from All Recipes.

Ingredients

Cream the ingredients together.

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. I didn’t have enough cream cheese so I made half a batch.

All dressed up and ready to enjoy. Yummy!

I let the cake cool and then spread the frosting on top. Because of the butter and cream cheese, I kept the leftovers in the fridge. But they weren't left over for long. -- Margy

Cabin Cooking: Clam Chowder and Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits

Cool fall evenings beg for comfort foods. One evening using pantry and garden supplies I made clam chowder and sourdough biscuits.

Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits

First came the biscuits. I used my sourdough starter to make Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits from Rita Davenport's Sourdough Cookery.

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¹⁄₂ cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• ¹⁄₂ cup buttermilk 
• butter for brushing the tops

Stir starter and buttermilk together (I used milk) and let rest. Mix flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Cut in margarine until crumbly. Combine liquid and dry ingredients. Turn out on a floured board and knead for 30 seconds. Pat the dough in to a 1/2-inch thick round. Cut biscuits and place on a lightly greased sheet (I used vegetable spray). Brush with melted butter. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.  Bake for 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees until golden brown.

 These are flaky biscuits with a distinctive sourdough flavour.

Easy Clam Chowder

While the biscuits were rising, I made the chowder. I didn't follow a recipe, but here's what I did.

Melt 1/4 cup butter. Saute diced vegetables until translucent. I used a stalk of celery, a carrot (from my garden), 1/2 onion, 1/2 pepper (from my garden), 3 cloves of garlic (from my harvest) and 2 teaspoons of dried thyme (from my harvest).

I moved the vegetable to the side of the pan then added 2 tablespoons of flour to the middle and cooked it on low until bubbly.

Next I added milk (about 2 cups) a little at a time, stirring constantly until the consistency was smooth and slightly thick.

I used a pint of my home canned potatoes to add to the chowder. I cut half of them into small cubes. I added the rest with the liquid to the soup and mashed them with a whisk. This really thickened the chowder. Next I added the diced potatoes.

Lastly, I added a can of clams from the pantry, juice and all. To season, I used Lawry's Lemon Pepper (a go-to favourite of mine). As the chowder simmered, I added more milk to keep the consistency from getting too thick.

While the chowder simmered, I baked the biscuits. It took about an hour to prepare, but well worth the wait.

Do you enjoy using staples on hand to made a quick, comfort food meal? What are some of your favourite things to make or recipes to share? -- Margy

Cabin Cooking: Chocolate Chip Muffins

Making my own tulip muffin cups with parchment paper.

Wayne and I will be going on quad camping trips and boat cruises this summer. I like to prepare foods in advance to make meal preparation easy. Here's a recipe for yummy muffins from Kraft Canada that pack well and eat even better.

CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS:

Mix dry ingredients first.

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS:

Mix wet ingredients and sugar.

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Combine first 3 ingredients in large bowl. Stir in the semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Whisk the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl until blended. I will increase the sugar to 3/4 cup next time because I like a sweeter muffin.

Adding the wet to the dry mixture.

Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and stir until moistened. Don't over mix or the muffins will turn out tough. The batter should be lumpy not smooth.

Spoon into muffin pan cups coated with cooking spray. I also used squares of parchment paper in each cup.

Filling the muffin cups.

Fill each cup until it's three quarters full.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire wire rack and cool completely.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

The recipe is for a dozen muffins, but with my smaller pan I got fifteen. Store in a sealed plastic bag or container for best results.

Muffins ready for our quad camping trip to Goat Lake.

Do you have any favourite foods to take on vacation trips to make meal preparation easier? -- Margy

Cabin Cooking: Streusel Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Pecan Crumb Topping

Wayne and I don’t go shopping before we return to our cabin after a long trip. It makes a travel day easier, and we have lots of food in our pantry to tide us over. Two things that make this method difficult are fresh foods and breakfasts. Our garden helps fill the gap for fresh food. For breakfast we make things from scratch.

Today I made coffee cake to go with our morning brew. I went through my recipe books but didn't find one I liked, so I went online (thanks to Xplornet) and picked one by Diana Rattray from the spruce Eats.

Streusel Coffee Cake with 
Cinnamon Pecan Crumb Topping

Ingredients:

For the Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sifted flour
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans

For the Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Heat oven to 325 F. Butter and flour an 8 or 9-inch pan.

Prepare the topping:

Combine brown sugar, flour, chopped pecans and cinnamon.

Cut in room temperature butter with a whisk until the streusel is crumbly. Set aside.

Prepare the cake:

In a bowl blend flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk.

In another bowl. Lightly beat the egg then blend in sugar and melted butter. Add the milk and vanilla and mix well.

Stir in flour mixture until well blended.

I did all of my mixing with a whisk because I don't have a mixer due to our off-the-grid electrical system. The original recipe called for an electric mixer to blend the batter.

Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter. Cut in with a knife.

Bake in a preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Partially cool in the pan. Cut into squares while still warm.

In addition to serving this rich coffee cake for breakfast you can serve it as a dessert with whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream. Don't you just love something that gives you double a duty?

What do you do about shopping when you came home from a trip away from home? -- Margy