Baking Day

It may be frigid outside but it is warm in the kitchen. Overnight a loaf of sourdough bread and sourdough sweet rolls spent the night in the fridge. This morning they went back to the proofing box to rise a little more and then into the oven.

The recipe for this sourdough is one I have been working with for a time. There are two batches of sourdough in the fridge. One is named Marx and the other Engels *. One I started with the instant yeast and the other with the fresh yeast. I alternate using them, but by now I am not sure I can tell the difference in their performance. I use these starters for the recipe found on the page with the post about sourdough bread and starter.



I think that the overnight time in the fridge improved the outward appearance of the loaf.

To make the rolls, I just took a little less than half of the dough and rolled it out into a rectangle. I should say coax, because it doesn't want to roll really. Slather it with soft butter, and a generous amount of brown sugar. This time I put dried cranberries in the rolls because that is what I had on hand. Raisins, nuts, cinnamon also work well. Then beginning on the long end of the rectangle, roll the dough up and it will elongate somewhat as you roll. Place it seam down and cut into 6 slices. When you place them into a round greased pan, you need to place the 'seam ends' so that the seam is next to the edge, they like to try to open up as they rise. I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. They were done, the loaf took about 10 minutes longer. Check with an instant read thermometer. The desired temp is 200 degrees F.

 I put a glaze on the sweet rolls of fresh orange juice and 10x sugar on the rolls while they were still warm, but the bread just browned nicely on its own.

Nothing beats fragrance of fresh baked bread !

*Husband Don was a history teacher and years ago we had a couple of hamsters that he named Marx and Engels. They lived here at home for many years longer than a normal hamster life span. When one finally died, the other died within a few weeks. When I was reading about sourdough starters, one of the articles suggested 'naming' your starters. Since I had two at that point, Marx and Engels seemed like a good idea. At the moment they seem to have control of the lower shelf of the fridge.