The Dough Diaries

06/03/2026

When I teach my sourdough classes I always tell the participants that there are no mistakes in sourdough. Just happy little accidents.

If you think you underproofed the dough? BOB ROSS IT! Bake it anyway. You think you over proofed it? BOB ROSS IT! Bake it anyway. (Overproofed dough makes very tasty focaccia, BTW!)

I mixed up two loaves of bread Saturday and decided on a long cold proof. When I went to bake them last night they both looked lovely until I plopped them out onto the parchment paper. They both flattened a bit and the surface had dried out a bit. But you know what????

I BOB ROSSED IT and baked them anyway. Do they look perfect? No. Are they even close to being my best loaves? No. But they will still taste good and we will enjoy them anyway!

Lesson of the day…never throw out sourdough that doesn’t look perfect. BOB ROSS IT and bake it anyway. What’s the worst that could happen?

05/30/2026

Heads up to anyone who took my sourdough class today…my dough rose FAST! (Warmer temps and high humidity). Check your dough! Mine was ready to be shaped one tucked into the fridge already to cold proof for a couple of days.

Attached is an older video post but shows how your dough should look when it’s risen and ready to shape.

Reply or message me with any questions you may have!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18cy3zXhZf/?mibextid=wwXIfr

04/26/2026

Hubby and I visited one of our local farmer’s markets today. So much fresh produce and other nice items available! Live music, food trucks and plenty of seating to sit and enjoy ourselves.

Watch to the end to see what all I made from my market haul today.

04/21/2026

Come join us for a sourdough class!

LAST CALL TO SIGN UP FOR THIS SATURDAY'S BEGINNER SOURDOUGH CLASS!

Saturday, April 25
Noon - 3pm

JUST A FEW SPOTS LEFT!

Send us a message, grab a buddy and get signed up today!

04/13/2026

Mixed a bunch of Whipped Tallow Butter up last night and I’m obsessed! So rich and creamy and soaks right in when I apply it after my shower.

A few weeks ago I made Healing Tallow Salve and have been using that on targeted areas like lips, heels and elbows.

This combo pairs so well together. Anyone else on the tallow skin care wagon?

04/13/2026

Start to finish steps to mix up a batch of sourdough bread

04/13/2026

Old video but this shows how to feed your starter. My measurements are higher than you probably need so adjust them accordingly. Most homemakers use 50 g starter, 50 g water and 50 g flour to prepare for baking one loaf.

03/30/2026

Productive weekend at my house!

Pressure canned:
23 pints of black beans (8 Ibs dry)
10 pints of carrots (6 Ibs)
11 quarts of diced potatoes (10 Ibs)

Water bath canned a small batch of Vanilla Cherry Berry jam:
5 - 1/2 pints and 8 - 1/4 pints

Bottled 20 - 4 oz bottles of vanilla extracts:
7 bottles of vodka based
7 bottles of rum based
6 bottles of bourbon based

Made 8 - 113 g sticks of salted butter. This process also produced almost a full quart of buttermilk which I will use to make sourdough pancakes or sourdough biscuits for the freezer sometime this week.

Made 6 - 2 oz jars of healing tallow salve.

I got almost everything on my to do list at least partially completed except juicing some fresh fruits (orange, apple, pineapple and ginger). That's on the agenda for this evening.

The black beans will take me a bit to complete as I purchased a 25Ib bag of dry beans and I only completed canning 8 Ibs so far (23 pints). That I will tackle in smaller batches at a time until finally completed. I also have a few more pounds of tallow to mix up some additional face and body products with.

How was your weekend? Busy like mine or more relaxing? Believe it or not, I did find some down time to relax and even had lunch with friends and had my parents over last night for dinner (thanks to Gary for the awesome fish fry last night!)

03/22/2026

Another fun and successful class in the books yesterday at Main Street Creations!