Best Homemade Sourdough Bread Recipe A fresh loaf of sourdough bread comes from a fermentation process that involves wild yeast and bacteria, which is lactobacilli. They give that familiar tangy, sour taste (and smell) that I love. Sourdough bread acts as a prebiotic, which simply means that the fiber contained in the bread feeds the "good bacteria" in you gut. These are necessary to help maintain a healthy digestive system. FYI, it's also much lower in gluten than other breads. I make my sourdough from a starter that I created several years ago. You can also buy a starter online or in a store. Unfortunately there are no stores where I live that that sell an active starter. Why I like this recipe . . . • Like most homemade breads, there are no additional ingredients like like you find it store-bought bread. • Because of the fermentation, it's so much easier to digest. • Over time, making your own bread is more cost-effective. • Learning to bake bread is a skill that will continue to grow as you widen your baking techniques. Best Homemade Sourdough Bread Recipe Ingredients • All-purpose flour, I use organic unbleached or einkorn* • Warm water (free of chlorine and fluoride) Instructions 1. Day one; in a glass bowl or jar (no metal), add ¾ cup flour and ½ cup water. Stir thoroughly (wooden spoon or a dough whisk), making sure to incorporate every bit of flour. Scrape down the sides and stir again. It will be very thick. Cover with a clean loosely woven towel and leave it to rest in a warm spot (70-85°F) for 24 hours. 2. Day 2; look for bubbles, there should be a few. If not, don't worry. Add another ¾ cup flour and ½ water; stir until smooth; scrape down sides; stir again until no flour remains. Cover and let rest for 24 hours. 3. Day 3; remove half of the starter. There should be bubbles by now. Add ¾ cup flour and ½ cup water; stir until smooth; cover and let rest for another 24 hours. 4. Days 4, 5, and 6; repeat day 3. During this time, the dough will be more bubbly each day as the yeast and bacteria multiply; it will start to smell sour and earthy. When the starter is foamy looking, and doubles in size within 8 hours, it's ready. Refrigerate half and use the other half to make bread. Tips • Each time you feed the starter, stir vigorously. It's important not to have any dry lumps of flour. • To keep your starter going, it must be fed. Follow step 3 above if you're going to be using it often. • If you have a food scale, measure the ¾ cup flour and weigh it. Add the equal weight of water each time you feed. • If you refrigerate the starter, you will need to take it out once a week and follow step 3 above. On the days you feed, leave it on the counter so the bacteria can multiply. • For longer storage, double the amount of flour and water; store in the fridge until ready to use. • Take it out of the fridge 2 days before you plan on baking. Discard half, feed and mix thoroughly; cover. After 24 hours, it should be bubbly again and ready to use. Facts • It make take longer than 6 days for your starter to double, depending on the temperature of the room. • Always use fresh flour, that is absolutely necessary for a successful sourdough starter. Jump to Printable Recipe▼ Share Pin Share LAURA LEE ALICE COOKS PIN PRINT Don’t love it Not great Good Great Love it Best Homemade Sourdough Bread Recipe

Soups & Chowders Southern Style Potato Soup French Onion Soup Easy Creamy Pumpkin Soup Recipe Fish & Potato Chowder Cream of Broccoli Soup Chicken Noodle Soup Homemade Vegetable Soup Potato Leek Chowder Mushroom Soup Creamy Asparagus and Potato Soup Soup tureens , like this one, are a wonderful way to serve your soup or chowder.

Sourdough Starter First of all, I am by no means an expert in sourdough. I have made sourdough bread for many years before it became a household word. But I am going to share my "system" of making sourdough starter and bread. It IS NOT rocket science, but you do need two things to start- water and flour. And a warm place to put it. The water cannot be from the tap, it needs to be good filtered water*. And the flour must be a good quality unbleached flour, in this case, the simpler the better. I also use glass containers and wooden spoons. Step 1 of making your sourdough starter (in the pictures above) show how it looks after the flour and water looks are mixed. Normally I put a rubber band on the jar to mark the top of the mixture but this time (not always) it is on the cup and a half mark on the jar. We'll see how it looks tomorrow. Sourdough Starter First of all, I am by no means an expert in sourdough. I have made sourdough bread for many years before it became a household word. But I am going to share my "system" of making a sourdough starter and bread. It IS NOT rocket science, but you do need two things to start-water and flour. The water cannot be from the tap, it needs to be good filtered water*. And the flour must be a good quality unbleached flour, in this case, the simpler the better. Ingredients • Flour (1 cup to begin with, you will need more) • Water (preferably filtered, free of chlorine and other contaminants, including fluoride) You will need a glass container to mix, and preferably store your starter. I like to use a large jar (a quart to begin with; eventually a half gallon) that has a screw-top. Instructions 1. Day one, add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of room temperature water to the jar. Mix thoroughly until there are no dry bits of flour, then mix again. Place a single layer of a tea towel over the top of the jar, and walk away. I like to use a rubber band to keep the tea towel in place. 2. Day two, discard half of the starter ** , add 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water. Mix as before, cover and walk away. 3. Days three, four and five, repeat step two. 4. Day 6, discard and feed every twelve hours. 5. Day 7, discard and feed. By this point it should rise quicker, be bubbly and smell very pungent just a few hours after feeding. If so, you can begin to use it in your recipes. Or if not using it right away, refrigerate. * We are on "city" water and do not drink it. Our refrigerator has a filter but even that is not good enough. I have a ZeroWater and that seems to work. It really depends on where you live and your water situation. * * Start another jar, share it with a friend, or put it in your compost

Southern Fried Cabbage PRINTABLE RECIPE ▼ 4 to 6 SERVINGS One of the easiest and tastiest vegetables to prepare is fried cabbage. It's a dish I enjoyed throughout my childhood, and I can't recall a time when it wasn't a regular feature on our dinner table. Three basic ingredients make up this dish-cabbage, bacon and garlic. That's about as simple as it gets. Favorite Things from the Kitchen I love this skillet from Caraway An easy dish to prepare with a minimum of ingredients. Ingredients • LAURA LEE ALICE COOKS PIN PRINT Don’t love it Not great Good Great Love it Southern Fried Cabbage

Looking for an easy bread recipe? Discover the ultimate guide to making delicious batter bread. Perfect for beginners and food lovers alike! Easy Batter Bread PRINTABLE RECIPE ▼ 8 to 10 SERVINGS Jump to Printable Recipe▼ I love making batter breads, especially when there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. They only need to rise once, so that frees up time to do other things. Makes 1 loaf (about 20 to 25 ounces) Ingredients • 2 cups all-purpose flour * • 1 Tbsp sugar • ¼ tsp sea salt • 1 ¾ oz pkg active dry yeast (1 pkt) • ¾ cup milk • ¼ cup water • 2 Tbsp butter • 1 whole egg, lightly beaten Generously grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan or a 1 quart casserole. Instructions 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Set aside. 2. In a small pan, heat the milk, water, and butter to 120°F. Pour into the flour mixture then add the beaten egg . 3. On low speed, blend until moistened; then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour until you have a stiff batter. I use a dough hook for the last step. If necessary, you can add up to an additional ½ cup flour to get the right consistency. Just make sure all the flour is thoroughly mixed in. 4. Spoon into the prepared pan; cover and let rise in a warm place until light and almost doubled in size, 30 to 50 minutes. 5. Preheat oven to 350°F; bake for 30 to 45 minutes until bread is golden brown. Remove from pan; cool on rack. * Start with 2 cups and add up to ½ cup more if needed. LAURA LEE ALICE COOKS PIN PRINT Easy Batter Bread

Southern Banana Pudding PRINTABLE RECIPE ▼ MAKES 12 HALVES This is a basic recipe for deviled eggs with no frills. We do give options below to make them a little more interesting. Ingredients Makes 12 halves • 6 large eggs • ¼ cup mayonnaise • 1 tsp prepared mustard (like French's) • Salt & pepper for seasoning • Paprika (I like smoked paprika) Instructions 1. Place 6 eggs in a saucepan; pour in water until it's 1-inch over the top of the eggs. Place over high heat and bring to a boil; remove from heat; cover; let stand 20 minutes*. 2. When time is up, remove eggs and put them into ice water for 10 minutes; dry and transfer to a sealed container; place in the refrigerator. They should keep for 4 days if not used right away. 3. After eggs have cooled, peel, then slice in half lengthwise; remove the yolks and place them in a small bowl. Mash the yolks with a fork until it's smooth. 4. Stir in mayonnaise and mustard, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Pipe or spoon into the egg white halves. Then sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate (covered) if not using right away. Options • Add 1 teaspoon finely minced dill OR sweet cucumber relish to the egg yolks. • A splash of hot sauce or ¼ tsp of finely chopped jalapeno pepper gives a little kick. Tips • Don't use fresh eggs; those that are a week or two old tend to do better. * Another option to boil eggs is this Dash Egg Cooker that cooks 6 eggs or this one that cooks 12. LAURA LEE ALICE COOKS PIN PRINT Don’t love it Not great Good Great Love it Deviled Eggs Favorite Things from the Kitchen Pickled Eggs Makes 12 halves I was introduced to pickled eggs by a friend of my parents. She was of German descent and a fabulous cook. One of the first things she made for my parents was pickled eggs, and they were in various shades of pink, orange and yellow. The instructions for boiled eggs is in the recipe above. Ingredients • 2 cans (16 oz) small whole beets, undrained • 1 cup apple cider vinegar • ½ cup sugar • 1 tsp salt • 6 hard-boiled eggs (refrigerated) Instructions 1. Drain beets into a strainer reserving the juice; put the drained beet Into a glass container (to hold 2 quarts) or bowl. Measure beet juice and add water, if needed, to make 1 cup of liquid. 2. Put vinegar, sugar, salt and beet liquid in a small pan; bring to boil over medium-high heat while stirring constantly; pour over beets and cover tightly; put in refrigerator until the next day or 24 hours. 3. Remove beets from the liquid and refrigerate; add peeled eggs to liquid and refrigerate again until the next day. 4. Remove eggs from beet liquid and drain; cut each in half to serve. Tips • Yellow beets + vinegar solution = yellow eggs • You can mix the vinegar solutions to make various shades. • Less time in the solution will give paler eggs. KEYWORDS pickled eggs PRINT

Southern Poundcake (1950') PRINTABLE RECIPE ▼ 10 to 12 SERVINGS One of my fondest memories as a child in elementary school was the Fall Festival put on by the PTA. It was the way they raised money for the little extras for the classrooms such as Kleenex, colored pencils, and the like. There were the obvious games where you "fished" for toys and pin the tail on the donkey, but my favorite was the Cake Walk . After buying a ticket and while the music played, you would walk around in a circle where there were numbers taped to the floor. When the music stopped, they would choose a number out of a bag and that person would win a cake of their choosing. The cake that would most always be chosen first was Mama's Southern Pound Cake . This recipe has a pound of butter, 8 eggs and a pound of confectioner's sugar, so you know it has to be good. This was her go-to recipe for many functions, including those at church and family reunions. Facts about this recipe from mom's kitchen: • The confectioner's sugar came in a one-pound box so there was no waste. That was one of the many things that my mother liked about this recipe and I do too. • Butter and milk were delivered from the Biltmore Dairy. The milk came in glass bottles (returnable) and the butter in one-pound packages like it does now, although it was wrapped in waxed paper. • She loved her Sunbeam Mixmaster and used it to combine all the ingredients of this cake. Next to the toaster, it was probably more used than anything else in her kitchen. • The vanilla she used and maybe the baking powder came from the Jewel Tea Company. They were like a general store on wheels. I still have her Autumn Leaf Pattern China that she collected piece by piece from that ► company. I know some of you are probably familiar with that pattern. • Although she didn't have a decorative pan to bake her cake, she did have a large tube pan with a removable bottom and feet for support. (also used for her angel food cakes). Ingredients • 3¼ cups all-purpose flour • 1 tsp baking powder • ½ tsp salt • ½ tsp nutmeg • 1 lb. butter • 1 lb. 10x (confectioner's) sugar • 8 large eggs (or extra-large) • 1 tsp vanilla • 1 tsp almond extract Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a bundt or tube pan then dust with flour. Instructions 1. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together 4 times. 2. In a large bowl, cream the butter until it is like whipped cream; slowly add the sugar and beat until it's light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well after each one. 3. On low speed, mix in half the flour mixture, then the extracts and finally the rest of the flour. Pour into the prepared pan; cut through the batter with a paring knife several times to reduce the bubbles. 4. Bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. Test for doneness by using a toothpick. Let sit in pan for no longer than 5 minutes; remove and cool on rack. Wrap and/or put in an airtight container to keep fresh. Southern Pound Cake Toppings • Strawberry Sauce • Vanilla Sauce • Chocolate Sauce • Whipped Cream • Simply dust with powdered sugar. LAURA LEE ALICE COOKS PIN PRINT Don’t love it Not great Good Great Love it Southern Pound Cake Favorite Things from the Kitchen 3.0 150 Product ratings average rating is 3 out of 5, based on 150 votes, Product ratings

German Pancake (Dutch Baby) PRINTABLE RECIPE ▼ 4 SERVINGS Favorite Things from the Kitchen Ingredients • ½ cup butter • 3 eggs, beaten well • ¾ cup flour • ¾ cup milk • ¼ tsp nutmeg or cinnamon • 3 Tbsp confectioner's sugar • Juice of 1 lemon • Fresh fruit or syrup Preheat oven to 425°F. You will need a 10-inch pan* with sloped sides or a paella dish. Instructions 1. Warm pan and place butter in it to melt*. 2. Combine eggs, flour, milk and nutmeg; leave a little lumpy. 3. Add all of batter to pan; bake 15 to 20 minutes; remove from oven. Top with the powdered sugar and lemon juice; serve with fresh or frozen berries (thawed). You can also serve it with syrup. *A pie pan will work; just make sure it's oven-proof at 425°F. LAURA LEE ALICE COOKS PIN PRINT Don’t love it Not great Good Great Love it German Pancake (Dutch Baby)

a unique take on Our Easy Lemon Roasted Potatoes Recipe. Easy Lemon Roasted Potatoes Recipe This is such an interesting and fresh tasting side dish, that once you make it, you'll question why you didn't try it sooner. Why I Like This Recipe . . . • This recipe contains simple, easy-to-find ingredients. • It's very versatile; can be roasted in the oven or in a skillet on top of the stove. (see Options). • Other varieties of potatoes can be used. • Fresh herbs do make a difference. • This is similar to the Greek lemon potatoes recipe but easier. The fingerling potatoes make a colorful dish! • The potatoes can be cooked in chicken stock for more flavor! Easy Lemon Roasted Potatoes Recipe Serves 4 Ingredients • 1½ pounds fingerling potatoes* • 2 Tbsp clarified butter • 2 Tbsp of a good olive oil • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice • 1 tsp grated lemon rind (the colorful part) • 3 cloves garlic, minced • 1 tsp sea salt • ½ tsp black pepper • ½ tsp finely chopped rosemary • ¼ tsp finely chopped thyme (optional) Preheat oven to 400°F. You will need a sheet pan lined with foil and/or parchment, lightly oiled. Instructions 1. Scrub the potatoes, cook in boiling water (or chicken stock) about 10 minutes until they are SLIGHTLY tender and can be pierced with a fork but not overdone. Drain well. You can slice the potatoes in half lengthwise at this point. 2. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients; add potatoes and gently combine until coated with the mixture. 3. Add the mixture to the prepared baking sheet; spread evenly; and roast 15 to 20 minutes. Turn the potatoes halfway through the cooking time. I like to put the cut-side down. For crispier potatoes, place under the broiler for 3 to 6 minutes, checking often to make sure they don't burn. *Other potatoes can be used and cut into shapes such as wedges or chunks. Options • The potatoes can also be prepared in a skillet; follow step 1 above. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Briefly sauté the garlic in the skillet; add the potatoes and gently toss until browned. Add the lemon juice, zest, salt, pepper and herb(s). Cook about 5 more minutes, until brown and crispy. Share Pin Share Jump to Printable Recipe▼ PRINT

Our colorful slaw recipe with the addition of cheese! Confetti Slaw with Cheese This slaw recipe serves a lot of people, but can easily be halved. And that's what I usually do. It is simple to make but big on flavor! The colorful sweet peppers make it so much more appetizing and the one thing that makes it even more special-cheese ! I like to use grated sharp cheddar but you can use any firm cheese that you like-maybe pepper jack or even Parmesan! Confetti Slaw with Cheese Ingredients • ¼ cup sugar • ¼ tsp dry mustard • ½ tsp salt • ½ tsp black pepper • 1½ Tbsp apple cider vinegar • 1 cup of a good mayonnaise • 1 lb cabbage, shredded, then chopped • 1 medium carrot, grated, then chopped • ½ cup chopped multi-colored sweet peppers • ½ cup grated sharp cheese You will need a storage container that seals tightly. Instructions 1. In a large bowl, whisk the first 5 ingredients together until the sugar dissolves; add mayonnaise and whisk to mix thoroughly. 2. Stir in cabbage, carrots and peppers until combined; fold in cheese. Spoon into a sealable container and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight. KEYWORDS best slaw ever, easy slaw, simple colorful slaw, everyday slaw

Puffy Bowl Puffy Bowl Makes 1 Simple to make but so many uses. It works great as a centerpiece filled with one of our chicken or shrimp salads. I like to add Italian seasoning to melted butter and drizzle that on the bread right when it comes out of the oven; it makes a great pull-apart bread. Ingredi ents • 2 eggs • ½ cup unsifted flour • ½ cup milk • ¼ tsp salt • 2 Tbsp butter, melted Preheat oven to 425°F. Gre ase a 9-inch pie pan. Instructions 1. In small mixing bowl, beat eggs until very frothy. 2. Gradually beat in flour; beat until smooth. 3. Add milk, salt and butter; mix well; pour into the 9-inch pie pan. 4. Bake 15 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 350°F; continue baking 10 to 15 minutes until browned; cool. KEYWORDS bread bowl

Sauerkraut Casserole 12 servings Do you want a dish that will have people scratching their heads wondering what it is? Well, this is it! It's actually delicious and that alone surprises everyone that tries it. It's really good as a side dish for pork, especially BBQ or a pork loin. Ingredients • 2 (1 lb) cans sauerkraut, rinsed and drained • 2 (1 lb) cans of tomatoes • ¾ cup brown sugar, packed • 6 strips bacon, fried and drained Preheat oven to 275°F. You will need a greased, 3-quart casserole. Instructions 1. In a large bowl, combine the first 3 ingredients. Pour into the prepared casserole Smooth top and cover with the bacon. 2. Bake for 3 hours. This is a great side dish with pork. KEYWORDS sauerkraut casserole, ways with sauerkraut, sauerkraut ideas