Salad: Fresh organic lettuce, Salad Dressing and homemade sourdough croutons
Salad Dressing:
½ Cup Olive Oil
1 T. dijon mustard
1 T. garlic infused olive oil
3 T. white wine vinegar
1 T. Maple syrup
1 t. Dried basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Homemade Croutons:
Sourdough (this is the one I always use)
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt
Cube bread and toss everything together and bake at 400 until crisp
Hummus
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas
Lemon juice from one large lemon
1/4 cup tahini
1 garlic clove
¼ C Olive oil
1/2 t. ground cumin
1-2 t. Mild curry powder
Salt to taste
Mix in food processor until smooth
Cucumber and Avocado Sandwich
Homemade Sourdough toasted
Mashed avocado with Redmond’s salt
English Cucumber
Lemon and Pistachio Scones
I used this recipe and added lemon zest to the dough, used normal sugar which is why mine were lighter in color and then added more pistachios on top of glaze
Orange and Rose Shortbread cookies
For the base I used this shortbread cookie recipe and added dried rose petals (make sure they are organic and clean) and orange zest to the dough. Roll them out cut them and bake for 9-10 minutes
Make a glaze for the top with squeezed orange juice, orange zest, rose petals and powdered sugar. Just dip and put them on a rack to dry.
Lemonade Drink: ½ Crystal Light ½ white grape juice and lemon slices
Tea: I love the Taylor Brand fruit infusions. You can find them a few places online to be shipped from England.
]]>When I first started researching sourdough I was a bit intimidated with all the many recipes and techniques and the fear that if I didn’t do everything exactly right that my loaf would be a disaster. While I have had a few flat loafs over the years I have found that sourdough is much more forgiving than we may believe.
What you will need
Ingredients:
Starter: I made mine by feeding it flour and water everyday for 2 weeks and I have somehow managed to keep it alive for 3 years which is pretty impressive as it was in my fridge for a good 2 months without being fed. Like I said before sourdough is very forgiving
Flour: Bread flour will make a better load but any flour will work
Salt: Any salt will work. I use redmonds salt.
Water: I have read that you must use purified water or it will kill your sourdough. I just use plain old tap water and have never had a problem.
Supplies:
Scale: Any scale that does grams will do.
Large bowl: I have one with a lid that makes it easy to cover and uncover and I don’t have to worry about plastic
Baskets: Sourdough baskets help keep your dough in the correct shape as it slowly rises in the refrigerator.
Knife/scoring blade: something to help you score the bread before you bake it
Dutch oven: You bake your bread in a large dutch oven or pot
Not necessary but nice to have items:
Dough Whisk, Dough scraper
Now that you have what you need you can make your sourdough!
Making your Bread
Feeding your starter:
I feed my starter 1-2 days before I am going to start making my bread. Otherwise I keep it in the fridge.
Feed by scraping on the first couple ½-1” of starter and discard. Then add 60g Flour and 60g water and stir.
Levain:
Add 125g Warm water to a small bowl
Add 2-3 TBS of starter to water and stir
Add 125g Flour and stir
Allow to sit overnight
Dough:
In the morning your levain will be nice and bubbly.
Add 800g Warm Water to a large bowl
Add about 225g Leaven to water and mix
Add 1000g Flour (can use a mix of wheat and white-I like 15-20% wheat and to use white bread flour)
Mix dough until the flour is all incorporated and allow to sit for 45 min
Add 20-22g salt to dough
Add 50g water to dough
Now mix with hands until fully mixed
Let sit for 30 min
Folding:
Fold dough 4 times into itself so you are taking each quarter of the bowl and folding it over
Let sit for 30 minutes and repeat folding of dough 4-6X for 2-3 Hours until the dough holds its shape for a few seconds after folding.
Bulk Rise:
When you have finished your folding allow dough to sit covered in a warm place for 2 hours to rise
Shaping:
Tip of dough carefully onto a floured surface and cut the dough into two equal pieces
Gently form into two rounds and allow to sit for 20-30 minutes.
Now shape each loaf by bringing sides of dough into the center and allowing the dough to form a sphere. Use your hand to allow the dough to form a tight sphere and place the dough into the basket. Repeat for the second loaf.
Cover and place the baskets in the refrigerator overnight
Baking:
Preheat oven to 450 in the morning
(preheat dutch oven empty so it’s nice and hot for your bread, some dutch ovens are not recommended to be heated empty so just double check yours)
Turn out dough from basket using parchment and score with blade or knife
Place the dough in your dutch oven and bake with the lid on for 30 minutes. I like to put a cookie sheet under the dutch oven because it helps the bottom not get burnt.
After 30 minutes take the lid off and bake for another 25 minutes.
Take out and allow to cool for 1 hr before slicing.
Repeat with the second loaf that has been in the fridge.
Enjoy!
Here are some amazon affiliate links for the supplies I use
I don’t have this but you could try this kit!
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In my blog post for 2020 found here, my top rose was Francis Meilland. I still love this rose and I added a ton of them to my farm in 2021 because it was such an amazing rose for me in 2020. Sadly with the very hot summer we had and the late cold spell this spring our Francis roses are looking very sad and I didn’t get nearly the blooms I was hoping for in 2021. Farming can be really tough to predict how things will go for the year. luckily we had a unexpected winner for 2021-Tranquilty.
Tranquility is a white rose from David Austin. I planted 3 in 2020 and I don’t think it even bloomed once the whole year. But wow in 2021 it bloomed so much and the roses were perfect! I am now wishing the whole garden was just these because they are so hardy and healthy.
Although I say I wish I had all Tranquility that of course gets washed away when I have other amazing flowers blooming and I forget about how much trouble roses are. I think Ambridge rose is the most perfect apricot rose I have ever seen. Another David Austin and you really don’t get much prettier then this!
Lichfiled Angel was again at the top of my list for Creamy rose of the year. it’s just prefect and hardly has any thorns.
And my top favorite rose for scent for 2021 was the Alnwick Rose by David Austin. It is the most fruity yummy smell ever. Kind of smells like cherry’s and citrus. I can’t wait to do tours of the garden in the future just to force everyone to smell this rose.
So, how do we use our roses on the farm? I put them in our subscription bouquets and sell them to florists. This year we will also be doing a tea cup arranging class the first week of June when they will all be blooming like crazy.
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We also have wonderful Mothers Day gifts like our summer subscriptions. I love gifts that keep on giving and this will be a present they will remember. We focus on unique long lasting cut flowers and are happy that our subscribers are able to enjoy our freshest blooms cut within 24 hours of when you pick up or when they are delivered.
Last year we were busy adding lots of new peonies to our farm and so we have a limited amount of space to grow our annuals and have had to be extra picky in what we are planting. I think we have found a good mix of very unique long lasting blooms that will be ever changing throughout the season.
One last Mothers Day gift idea we have is to come to our tea party class in Kaysville, Utah. We will be filling beautiful tea cups, shipped from the UK, with all fresh locally grown flowers from our farm, including our roses. You can read about some of our favorites here. The class will also include a light spread of fresh food that we are very excited about. More info can be found about our class and subscriptions on our website.
We love when you are able to support local growers and local business so please comment if you have any local businesses you love to support for Mothers Day! I love getting plants from Joes greenhouse, they are so nice and fairly priced and located just north of us in Layton, Utah.
]]>My all time favorite rose from 2020 was Francis Meilland. It has a citrusy floral smell and a beautiful pink center with petals fading to the lightest pink. The vase life of these are amazing – lasting upwards of 7-8 days.
Lichfeild Angel is the best creamy rose we have grown so far. The petals are very layered giving it that classic old garden rose look. We were also able to get about a week vase life out of these beauties. I also loved their long stems and small amount of thorns. We are definitely adding a more this year.
Queen of Sweden! This rose is on the cover of Vintage Roses by Jane Eastone. Every since I bought the book a few years ago I knew I had to grow it. It has a smaller bloom but the shape and style of the petals more than make up for the size. It has a lovely old rose sent and looks wonderful in bouquets.
Wollerton Old Hall Rose. I first saw this rose in the David Austin Rose Handbook I received after I had already placed my rose order for the year. The pictures were so lovely of this rose and the petal shape so unique that I placed a second order for a few of these. These fragrant climbers did not disappoint and I can not wait until they have filled the arch in the entrance to the rose garden.
We are adding a few more varieties that I am so excited to grow this year and I am curious to know if these four roses stay at the top. I will say that my camera roll by far has more pictures of roses than any other flower we grow at the farm. Roses are very photogenic!
If you have any questions please comment below and also let me know your favorite roses. We are always looking for good additions.
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