Our usual routine this morning was pray together as a family, feed and manage the animals, clean the kitchen, make breakfast, begin dinner. Today's dinner is chicken soup and was made on the wood cookstove used as a slow cooker to simmer the soup all day long. Yum! I will make biscuits to go with it, my first baking in my wood cookstove! I will share it with you in a minute. But first, I need to make fire starters.
Fire starters are made in cardboard egg cartons filled with lint from the dryer (my mom and dad help save lint for us.) Then we pour hot wax over the lint and let it cool. Finally, we cut the carton into small pieces.
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| egg carton filled with lint |
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| wax melting on the stove |
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| pouring wax over lint |
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| egg carton, lint and wax cut into small 'eggs' |
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| fire starters in a basket ready for use at the stove |
After the fire starters were finished we made biscuits for our dinner. This was my first time baking in my wood cook stove. Here is the recipe:
Angel Biscuits (adapted from Whole Foods for the Whole Family)
I am making biscuits to go with our chicken soup tonight. I have used this recipe for years and it is wonderfully fluffy and light. I make them a bit different each time according to time and what we are eating them with. In this recipe I'll suggest options and how those options change the recipe.
1 T Yeast
2-5 T warm water (not hot)
2 c warmed cultured buttermilk (I use 1 c kefir and 1 c milk, or you can put 1 T lemon juice into 2 c milk, let sit for 10 minutes if you don't have buttermilk)
1-3 T honey (use amount according to how sweet you want them. With soups I use 1 T, for breakfast biscuits I use 3 T unless I make them to eat with gravy. You can also use sucanant, turbinado, or other sweetener, adjusting according to taste preference. If you use dry sweetener add to dry ingredients)
6 c freshly ground flour (I use soft wheat, spelt, and sometimes a bit of hard red wheat for a change of flavor, sometimes I also add millet and flax for health and higher protein. You can also use ww pastry flour with germ and bran added as well)
6 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
3/4 cup butter (you can use half olive oil half butter or all olive oil to make spoon biscuits)
Disolve yeast in warm water, buttermilk and honey (omit honey if using dry sweetener).
Sift together 5 c flour, baking powder, soda and salt (add dry sweetener here if desired).
Cut in butter.
Add yeast mixture, kneading in last c of flour (for spoon biscuits just mix, no kneading required, dough should be wet and sticky.) Cover and put in fridge for 12-24 hours (to break down the phytic acid in wheat). Dough can stay in fridge for up to a week.
Roll out dough on pastry sheet to about 1/2-2/3 inch thickness.
Cut biscuits and place on a greased cookie sheet (or ungreased stone) and bake in a moderate oven, 350 for 15-20 minutes. (In my wood cookstove I have to turn the biscuits 1/2 way through the cook time.)
These biscuits do not have to rise before baking. If you make spoon biscuits, you can bring them to room temp before baking and spoon them right onto the cookie sheet. Makes about 24 biscuits depending on what size you make them. Great for any meal!
I was right in the midst of eating my soup and biscuit and Satch came in and said, "Get your coat, boots and camera, we have a lamb!"
So I set my bowl aside and ran out to the barn!
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| First lamb is a boy! |
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| another lamb is coming can you see the little white tips on the hooves? |
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| second lamb is a girl |
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| Leah is cleaning her up |
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| Leah and her twins! |
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| Finally, on her wobbly feet! |
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