Pumpkin-Shaped Artisan Style Sourdough Bread

I have, along with much of the world delved into the world of sourdough baking. It has taken over my Instagram feed and posts, so if you're into that, I'd love it if you'd go give me a follow! :)

For the first day of fall, I made a pumpkin-shaped loaf, which quite frankly turned out adorable! I had a few people ask about it, so I decided to share my go-to sourdough recipe with you (I use The Prairie Homestead recipe with a couple alterations, and timed to my schedule), and finish off with my instructions on how to make it pumpkin-shaped. (I have a video tutorial in my highlights on Instagram as well.)

Ingredients:

3 cups (scooped and leveled) / (for me this came to) 480 grams all purpose flour (the internet says 3 cups should be more like 390 grams, I say, play around with it until you get a consistency you like/can work with)

1 1/4 cups / 300 grams lukewarm water

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup / 100 grams active sourdough starter

Tools:

Dutch oven

baking paper

sharp blade or knife

string (white or off white)

scissors

polenta/corn meal

Directions:

 

(I'm going to write the timing of this for what I do. It's basically a 24 hour process.)

1. I feed my starter first thing in the morning, 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour. After about 5 hours, it’s reached its peak.

 

2. In a large bowl combine 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 ¼ cup water, 1 ½ tsp salt. Using your hands combine it until it forms a shaggy dough. Cover your bowl with a dish cloth and allow it to rest for about 20 minutes. This is the autolyse portion. 

3. After the 20 minutes add ½ cup of your active starter. Combine it with your hands again, cover it with a dish towel, and leave it somewhere warm to rise. I use my laundry room. 

 

4. After ½ hour, perform a stretch and fold motion on your dough. Cover. Wait another ½ hour and repeat. Do this 2-4 times. After that, allow the dough to rise for 6-7 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

  

5. Lightly flour your surface, scrape out the bowl, and carefully (you don’t want to lose your precious bubbles), form your dough into either a ball or an oblong shape, depending on your proving basket. (For the pumpkin, I used a round one.)

 

6. Allow your dough to rest on the counter for about 30 minutes. 

 

7. Next, flour a dish towel, place it in your proving basket, place your dough inside, cover it with a dish towel, and place it in your fridge overnight.

 

8. In the morning, turn your oven to 430-435 F / 225 C. While it is warming up, pour some polenta or corn meal in the bottom of your dutch oven. The polenta helps the bottom of your bread not burn, and the reason you bake your bread in a dutch oven, is you create steam to better help your bread rise in the oven.

 

9. Place a sheet of baking paper on your counter. Cut 4 long pieces of string, lay them criss-cross, and tie them at the middle.

 

10. Remove your dough from the proving basket, place in the middle of the strings. Tie the stings in the middle - not too loosely, or you won't get those nice segments. Space out the string to make sure the segments are pretty equal. Cut the excess string off the top.

11. This is the fun part. We are going to score the bread. Use a straight blade or sharp knife. You can go as simple or as elaborate as you want! I've done just a simple slit in each section, but I've also done a couple different designs. (If you want, you could push a cinnamon stick into the top for a stem if you don't have a pumpkin stem.)

 

12. Once that is done, place the whole thing - bread and baking paper - in the a dutch oven. Place the lid on your dutch oven, and put it in the oven. Bake it for 20 minutes. At this point take off the lid, and bake it for another 25-30 minutes, depending on how brown you want your loaf to be.

 

13. Once you take your loaf out of the oven, unfortunately it is best to wait until it comes to room temperature before you try cutting into it. Cutting into it too early ruins your crumb, and doesn’t allow the middle to cook as well as it should.

14. Cut the strings, remove them from the bread, pop a pumpkin stem on top, and voila!

*For a non-pumpkin sourdough loaf, just skip the strings, and go ahead with scoring, and follow the rest of the recipe as written. 

Happy baking!

Saturn Peach Galette

It must be the nesting bug (11 days and counting) combined with the longing for Fall - but I've been dying for tasty dessert that made me feel accomplished, and made my family feel loved!

We've recently gotten into quiches, so there's been more pie crust lying around, and I've also now located where the puff pastry is in the grocery store.  

Also, at the beginning of summer we were introduced to a new fruit - the Saturn/donut/flat peach, which if you ask me, is the reigning queen of all peaches.  It's lovely shades of pink and white, and has a crisp sweetness that is addictive.  

So, we bought some at the market on Friday.  Although everything from the market TASTES better, and is most likely better FOR you, it spoils so much quicker.  I had them in a bowl with some nearly-too-ripe figs, which didn't help.

I was searching for a tart, or a pie, and came across something called a galette.  I read a few recipes (I drew heaviest from here), and decided to give it a go.  It seemed pretty dummy-proof, and I had most of the ingredients, so that helped.  Apparently galettes are best with pitted fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, etc), I'm assuming because they are a little heartier fruit.  I also learned that pretty much EVERYONE'S looks great, because it's supposed to look rustic and home-made.  Score!!  Also, it had cinnamon in it, and it's rainy and cooler out, which to me screams cinnamon!!!

Here we go!

Ingredients:

1 puff pastry (that you've thawed, and had out of the fridge for 10 minutes-ish)

3 cups (approx.) Saturn peach, sliced thinly

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon (depending on how cinnamon-y you like it)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg beaten

Coarse sugar

Whipped cream/mascarpone/vanilla ice cream - something yummy to top it with.

(Next time, I might add some nutmeg!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F, or 190 C.  (Adjust for convection oven if needed.)

2. Wash and slice your peaches into thin slices.

3. In a large bowl, combine them with the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and lemon juice.

4. Put parchment paper on a baking sheet, then roll out your puff pastry.  Because of its rectangular shape, I decided to cut the end off, and make two little tarts, too.

5. Pour the mixture into the middle of the pastry puff, leaving about 2 inches around the edges.

6. Fold up the edges.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  Just be careful not to tear it, because if you do, your yummy juices will leak out while baking.

7. Brush the egg wash on the crust, and sprinkle the coarse sugar on the crust.

8. Bake for about 35 minutes (adjust time for convection oven, if needed) - until golden brown, and fruit is bubbling.

9.  Allow to sit for about 5-10 minutes, then serve!

Tips:

- For some extra decadence, top with whipped cream.

- If making the little tarts, make sure you drizzle/add some of the sugar and cinnamon "juice".  We liked the galette better, simply because it was juicier.

- This tart is one of those things that is best served soon after making - a few hours later it was still scrumptious, but I don't know well it would do overnight.  I imagine the crust would get soggy.

It turned out totally delicious, and when I asked Dan if I should make it again, he said, "yes, every week!"  Sounds like a win to me!

Fall Family Pictures - 5 Tips On What To Wear, What To Do

One of the reasons I love the Fall, is because it means it's time for family pictures.  It's one of those things that Dan lets me indulge in.  I love thinking about the colors, the location, and the feel.  I thought I'd share my top suggestions for achieving the pictures you dream about.  

Again, full disclosure; I am not a photographer, and have not taken photography lessons.  I just love colors, and think I have a pretty good eye for things.  We loved our photographer, Hilary from Southern Sisters Photography and will be using her again.

1.  Colors 

Think about where you're going to display your pictures.  If you have a very dominant color in the room you will be displaying it in - say red - don't go for clashing colors - like purple and orange.  Neutrals are usually a pretty safe bet.  Also, think about colors already in your wardrobe.  For example, we bought Aidan's outfit, and loved it.  We coordinated our colors around it.

2. Black and White

Some pictures look better in black and white, some don't - it's worth a try, either way.  Different textures make for more interesting black and white pictures.

3. Lighting 

After sunrise, and before sunset are the prettiest times of day.  We opted for morning light.  We met with our photographer at 8:30 at a beautiful park here in Jacksonville.  I love what the light did in the pictures!

   

4. Work with what you've got / be patient

For the first little bit, Aidan was really into the whole process, and smiling at the camera, and being a ham.

After a while though, he needed a break, so we did some more candid shots.

5. Know the shots you want

I really wanted a sweet picture of Aidan with each of us.

I wanted a cozy snuggly one.  Now here, we ran into a little trouble.  The blanket wasn't big enough to wrap around all of us (hence the slightly awkward arm in one of the pictures), but I love how we all look!

And lastly, our photographer brought a "Merry Christmas" banner for us to hold.  I really love how this picture turned out, however the picture we used last year was very similar, and we wanted to do something different.  So, what I'm going to do, is have it printed, and bring it out as a Christmas decoration.

I hope these tips and suggestions helped you with planning your pictures!  Please let me know if you have any extra ideas you would add!  Thank you for stopping by!

10 Minute, DIY, No-Sew Maternity Tunic!

Ahhh... maternity-wear.  Such a sticky, touchy subject.  You wanna wear it, and you kinda want people to know you're finally wearing it, but you also want to look cute, and like "you".

So you buy some, refashion some things you already have, and you can... DIY!

I found this adorable, and super simple DIY maternity tunic at abeautifulmess.com.  Their instructions are really easy to follow, but I'll give you my instructions here as well.  The more the merrier! :)

You will need:

2 yards of jersey knit fabric

Bust, or someone to stand still for a couple minutes, who is approx. your size

Scissors

Exacto knife

Belt/ribbon

So, the first thing you'll want to do, is go to a fabric store, and pick out a jersey knit you like, and buy 2 yards of it.  Jersey isn't expensive, the one I bought was 6.99 a yard.  

I chose gray, because it's an elegant color that goes with a lot, and it's very versatile.

I happen to have a bust, because my fabulous mother-in-law gave me one.  Having a sweet friend, or a helpful husband works just as well.  

The first step is, to find the middle of the fabric.  The same thing that makes jersey so scrumptious also makes it hard to deal with.  it's hard to find a definite "middle".  

Once you find it, line that up with the middle of the back of the neck of the bust, and drape it to the front, to how you want it to eventually lay.

Pull out the edges, to ensure that your material is as centered as possible.

Tie a belt, or ribbon under the bust line, so it'll be as accurate as possible.

I used an exacto knife to start the arm holes.  The original instructions say to cut a 5 inch slit, I say make it 6 inches.  We don't all have spaghetti arms, plus, I think it's more comfortable.

Basically, you're done!  All that's left is evening out the bottom.  and then...

Wear it!!!

Baby Aidan is the size of a papaya!!!

I really liked it with the black leggings, black belt, sweater, boots and chunky necklace.  I kept it simple with the monochromatic colors, but you could and SHOULD mix it up with some color!

I plan on wearing this for our Blair family pictures in a month or so, and I'm going to mix it with navy, yellow and brown, so I'll let you know how that goes! :)

Here's some extra ideas:

- You can leave the tails long, or cut them shorter, whichever suits you best!

- This is a really quick and easy way to look pulled together, even on days when you feel as big as a house.

- Try a patterned jersey!  Be adventurous!  

- This is a super easy and inexpensive gift for a friend who is pregnant!

- This doesn't only have to be a maternity look!  I'm totally wearing this after Aidan arrives!

Hope you enjoy this tutorial, that your project brightens your day, and makes you feel as beautiful, pulled together and rockin' as you are!