Back in December I joined a “back to your roots challenge” on Facebook and little did I know it was going to lead me to a new found love of baking!
I have always loved being in the kitchen since I was very young – it’s where I find peace, joy, comfort. However, I have never been one to bake. I mean, I can make delicious cookies, cakes, muffins, and banana bread, but they are never very pretty and it’s just not my thing so I tend to shy away from it.
Well, the first month of this challenge was learning how to make sourdough starter and baking from scratch. I really was not optimistic about this month because as I said previously I am not a baker by any means but that was until I learned how incredibly easy it is to make bread!
Baking From Scratch
If you are anything like me, you shy away from baking anything other than a tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe and doctoring up boxed cake mixes. Your version of baking is buying the fresh bakery breads from the store and doctoring them up to make garlic bread. This was me for years until I learned how easy and simple it is to bake from scratch bread, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, sourdough bread.
At the beginning of the month, I started a challenge that encourages people of all skill levels teaching them many lost skills – baking and cooking from scratch, preserving, gardening…all the things. Well, I started out making the sourdough starter and then did my own thing.
I chose recipes that did not call for a stand mixer as I don’t have one. Recipes that were simple to understand and make, but was also teaching me new skills, such as, learning to knead dough. The first time I made bread, I had to YouTube how to knead dough to make sure I was doing it right. Now I love kneading dough and it comes easily to me.
Anyway, I wanted to share these recipes for beginners like me or even skilled bakers. There was not one single recipe that I didn’t love or have compliments on. Seriously. These recipes are amazing and I encourage you to try them! You won’t be disappointed!
The Recipes
Disclaimer: The majority of these recipes I found on Pinterest or they were shared with me. I am simply sharing the link with you and do not claim these as my own unless stated otherwise.
Sourdough Starter I shared my own recipe for how I made my gluten free sourdough starter – the process is the same whether you have a specialty flour or use regular ole flour. Now I use unbleached flour from Walmart and it works wonderfully.
Sourdough Pumpkin Muffins These was the first sourdough recipe I made and my kids LOVED them! They are also really good if you bake it in a cake pan and make them into bars instead of muffins.
One Hour Cinnamon Rolls This recipe was sent to me by a friend on Instagram and thank God she did! I had no idea how long sourdough cinnamon rolls took to make (36 hours) and when I went to make them I couldn’t because I would have ran out of time by the time I needed them. So I used this 1 hour recipe and oh my goodness….drooling just thinking about them. I sent 24 of these GIANT cinnamon rolls with my husband to work and there were devoured. Everyone loved them. Something about homemade goodness I think.
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls This is my husbands favorite recipe of all that I made. Fair warning: Sourdough recipes are a time game – From start to finish these take 36 hours – 12 hour from feeding your starter, 8 hours for the dough to rest, and overnight for the rolls to rise and rest in the fridge (12 hours). These are so worth every second of prep time, I promise.
Cinnamon Roll Frosting I won’t use another recipe. This one is the winner by far.
Dinner Rolls I had NO idea that dinner rolls were this easy to make. Like scary easy. I took these to my moms for Christmas and everyone complimented them. So delicious and you don’t even need butter – but let’s be honest, a roll is not a roll without butter.
Amish Milk Bread This is just regular white bread that rises beautifully and tastes delicious! My second oldest son will eat a whole loaf right of the oven he loves it so much. This is the first bread I made and now I make it a couple times a week so we always have it on hand.
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Muffins We call these “Mookies” because to us they are a cross between cookies and muffins. They are so good but definitely a treat and not something you want to eat all the time. More of a milk and cookies after dinner kind of treat!
French Bread This fluffy bread was so good and was the prefect find to turn into garlic bread. My kids loved this recipe and devoured it. This recipe made two loaves and the next day they ate the whole other loaf. We think this would also be delicious to use as a sub bun for homemade subs.
Homemade Egg Noodles This wasn’t exactly a baked recipe but I worked with dough and learned how to make homemade noodles and they were a hit! I used them in my chicken noodle soup and everyone loved them.
Sourdough Artisan Bread This is the easiest recipe I have found to follow in making a sourdough boule -a round loaf of sourdough. This bread is so good and pairs so well with soup or stew. It’s the perfect crusty loaf of bread. I especially love this the next day as toast! yummm!
Sourdough Discard Brownies This recipe is from Little Spoon Farm and I find a ton of amazing recipes from her on her site. Highly recommend!
All these breads and baked goods pair perfectly with soups, stews, or are delicious the next day as some toast with your coffee. Try them with some Zuppa Toscana or Taco Soup.
These recipes were perfect for the beginner baker I am and I think would be perfect for other beginner bakers. If you make them, I hope you enjoy them as much as my family and I did!
Until next time,
