Sourdough-like Beer Bread

MDS and I recently returned from a week in San Francisco. While there, we ate well, including some delicious sourdough bread. I don't know if there is something special about San Francisco sourdough but I have never tried to bake it. A true sourdough requires a starter, which is a method of cultivating wild yeast with flour and water. I don't have a starter, so when I found this bread recipe among Mom's recipes, I thought I should give it a try.

Typically, beer bread uses beer and baking powder as a leavening agent. This recipe uses yeast. The dough rose very well and made two very large loaves. The beer gives this bread the sourdough-like taste. Although this bread is no San Francisco sourdough, it is very delicious in its own right. This bread rose very quickly, so if you don't have all day for a slow-rising bread, this one is a good alternative to a non-yeast bread. The bread is great fresh out of the oven, but also good leftover for sandwiches or toast.

Sourdough-like Beer Bread 

• 5 1/2 cups flour
• 2 packages yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup warm beer
• 3 tablespoon oil
• cornmeal

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, and salt well. In a saucepan, heat water, beer, and oil until warm (120 to 130 degrees). Add flour to mix. Blend until moist, then beat for three minutes. Gradually stir in the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about five minutes. Place in a greased bowl and turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in a warm place until dough doubles (about one hour).

Punch down and divide in two. On a lightly floured surface, roll or pat dough to a 7x11 inch rectangle. Start with the  longer side, tightly roll, pressing dough into roll at each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal. Place seam side down on greased cookie sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. With a sharp knife, make three or four diagonal slashes across the top. Cover; let rise again for about 30 minutes. Bake at 375 for 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool. Enjoy!

Moist Chocolate Cake with Favorite Icing

Early in 2016, I made this cake to bring to Mom's for her usual Saturday night with her grandkids. It was a full house, just about all the kids were there: Tim, Ryan, Amanda, Ava, Patrick, Lorelei, Delilah, and even Mike stopped by for a bit (but, sadly for him, Mike did not stay to try this cake). The cake was a hit. I had been wanting to try this cake out for a while, but was afraid to make it when MDS and I would be the only ones to eat it. If I had been left alone with this cake, I know that I would have eaten it all myself. So, if you ever have to feed a full house, this cake should work just fine.

This cake is delicious and could be made for any occasion. I baked the cake in a pan instead of as a layer cake, which was called for in Mom's recipe. I think cupcakes would also be terrific. So, whatever size pan that you use, just adjust the baking time a bit. For example, Mom's recipe calls for nine-inch round pans and baking for 25 to 30 minutes; I used a 9x13 pan and baked the cake for about 40 minutes. The frosting takes a little more work than some frostings, but is worth the effort. But, I still need to work on the frosting texture because, although the resulting frosting still tasted delicious, it did not quite have the creamy texture that bakery cake frostings have. Interestingly, the recipe calls for a cup a coffee, but you do not taste the coffee in the cake.

Moist Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup hot coffee
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Sift the dry ingredients. Add oil, coffee and milk. Mix at medium speed for two minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat two more minutes. The batter will be very thin. Pour into two greased and floured 9X1 1/2 round pans. Bake at 325 for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans. Cool on wire racks.

Favorite Icing

• 1 cup milk
• 5 Tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Combine milk and flour in a saucepan; cook over medium heat until thick. Cover and refrigerate . In a mixing bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add chilled milk and flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes. Frost the cooled cake. Enjoy!

Grandma's Cheesecake

In celebration of Megan's "39th" Birthday, I made this cheesecake. I found this recipe among Grandma's recipes. As I have said before, Grandma loved cheesecake, as you can see from some previous recipes. I also love cheesecake, so I was happy to try these recipes. The cheesecake was a hit with the adults, Tim and Amanda. This particular cheesecake has a certain tartness that might be difficult for kids to like.

Because I know Meg loves strawberries, I made a simple strawberry sauce that could be used on top of the cheesecake. Simply bring 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 cups chopped strawberries, 1 tablespoon corn starch to a boil for about two minutes. Then reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Also, instead of using graham crackers for the crust, I used plain vanilla cookies. Megan suggested that golden Oreos would make for a good crust. Maybe next year.

Grandma's Cheesecake 

• 20 graham crackers, rolled to crumbs
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 8-oz. packages cream cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla, divided
• 1 cup sour cream

Make the crust by combining the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar. Press the crumb crust into a pie pan. Bake at 375 for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling by blending together the cream cheese, eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Pour filling into the crust.Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes. Mix together the sour cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Pour over the top of the cheesecake and smooth over with a spatula. Bake at 475 for 5 minutes. Allow to cool. Enjoy!