Successful Weekend

Yesterday morning I started off my spring break with mini egg custart tarlets, mimicing the ones I love from Dim Sum, unfortunately no pictures! They were gone very quickly.

Yesterday I also started my sourdough challah. I used a rye firm starter that has been growing for about 3 weeks, switched from a liquid started to a firm starter early last week. I also planned on baking the entire bread yesterday, but was so exhausted that after the first 2 hour raise, I left it unshaped in the fridge overnight, until nearly noon, when I had the first opportunity to play with it again. I took it out and let it sit for about 30 minutes, braided it (somewhat successfully), and let it sit braided for about 2.5 hours. During this time it only rose slightly. I was nervous when I put it in the oven, figuring that I had messed with the recipe too much and that the sourdough challah would be my downfall, but it popped up wonderfully and turned out rather nicely. I was happy with it as a first try, although my braiding skills need some work.

Afterward making the bread, I made dinner for the family. Balsamic carrots and celery, couscous, a small arugala salad with apples and chick peas and a honey champagne vinagrette, and herb crusted salmon.

Im on a roll.