Sourdough Round

I've been cooking with a sourdough starter that I got from David (that he got from Steve (that Steve got from the air in his house)) for a couple months now, trying my hand at bread, pancakes, and biscuits. I've been pretty disappointed with the bread, though, which turns out dense and pretty flavorless. I guess I'm just too accustomed to FrankenBread from the store.

But I believe a sourdough should be pretty sour and tangy, and also have a lot of air pockets inside. So I was intrigued to try Janell's d0llar-a-day bread recipe. It turned out pretty good, though I'd still like to have more of the sourdough flavor and a few more air pockets in the bread. Maybe I need to let it rise more. (Steve/Rachel, do you have any thoughts here?)

Nothing prettier than a fresh, piping-hot loaf of sourdough bread.

You'll have to imagine the heavenly smell and steam rising from these slices.

All tucked away in its bread bag (thanks, Rachel!) to cool off overnight.

Meringue Clouds

This actually happened almost two months ago (so no need for me to feel guilty about posting them during Andy and Janell's self-imposed dollar-a-day diet).

When Steve was in town in January we made meringue clouds. These are the "clouds", which are basically egg whites, sugar, an extract (we used almond), and a bit of cream of tartar whipped to stiff peaks. They bake and then sit overnight.


Then we mixed together sour cream and whipping cream with some sugar and a little more extract (again, almond). That cream mixture got spooned on top of the clouds, and we placed a couple spoons of fruit on top. Fresh fruit is hard to come by this time of year, so we bought frozen fruit and let it thaw before spooning it on.



The experience of eating these is unlike anything else I've ever eaten. The cloud is crispy on the outside, but quickly becomes chewy as you bite into it (the cream mixture helps contribute to this chewiness). The cream mixture itself is pretty light with just a tinge of sour (from the sour cream). And the fruit rounds out the flavor nicely. I think you could use almost any fruit, so long as it has a little bit of sauce with it. Here's the recipe we used.

Meringue Clouds
5 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. of an extract (almond, vanilla, etc.)

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks and gradually add sugar till firm and glossy. Then add and carefully mix in the extract. Spoon onto parchment paper and bake in a 275º oven for 45 minutes. Turn off oven at this point and let them remain in the cooling oven for 20 minutes.

Cream
1 C. heavy whipping cream
1/2 C. sour cream
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. of an extract (same one used in the clouds)

Beat these ingredients until they reach soft peaks.

To prepare, spoon cream onto clouds and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Then spoon berries (or other fruit) on top and enjoy.