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Easy Sour Dough Sandwich Bread

Here’s my easy sour dough sandwich bread recipe. You won’t even be forced to read a dissertation to get it. You’re welcome.

Easy Sour Dough Sandwich Bread

Tools needed:

Ingredients:

  • 100-110 grams of starter
  • 11 grams of salt
  • 425 grams of water
  • 512 grams of flour

Steps:

  • Combine starter, salt, and water using the spatula
  • Add flour to the mixture, and stir with a spatula or your hands.
  • Once the dough is mixed, cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes.
  • Pull and fold the dough by pulling the dough from one corner and folding it over the center, turn and repeat until you are back at your starting point. Repeat this process 2-3x more times. Then cover and let rest 30 minutes. Repeat this cycle 3 more times. This helps build gluten and improve the bread’s elasticity
The dough before the folds
After the 1st fold
After the 3rd fold
After the 4th fold
The folding process
  • After the last set of stretches and folds, place the dough in the clear cylinder. Measure on the side where the dough comes up. Depending on the time of day, you can place the dough in the refrigerator to rest overnight or leave on the counter until it doubles. If you’re resting the dough in the fridge, take it out the next morning and let the dough prove until it’s doubled. I use measuring tape to confirm when my dough doubles. This can take anywhere from 4-18 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
  • As soon as the dough has doubled empty onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two even pieces. I use the kitchen scale here.
  • On the lightly floured surface, shape each piece into a rectangle by folding the top corners like a business envelope and using the pastry scraper to pull the bottom up into the middle. Transfer to prepared loaf pan and shape into a loaf. Rub or drizzle the top of each loaf with olive oil.
  • Set the loaf pans on a baking sheet and slip the baking sheet into a baking bag to keep the loaves from drying out. At this point, you can put it in the refrigerator overnight or you can let the loaves prove on the counter until they hit the top of the pan. (I only use the baking sheet to help easily transport the loaves between the garage fridge and the kitchen. You won’t bake on the sheet.). The second proof can take anywhere from 4-6 hours depending on where you live.
  • Preheat the oven to 425 F. Place the loaves pans on the top rack and back for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, turn down the oven to 375 and back for another 20-25 minutes. You want to bake until the bread is golden brown and has an internal temperature of 206-210

  • Let cool on a wire rack for an hour before serving

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): I made it into February and haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m reading  The Eagle and The Hart by Helen Castor.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

The most important invention in your lifetime is…

There are so many incredible inventions that have happened during my lifetime. I would say the internet is probably the biggest. It’s changed the world completely for better and for worse.

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Wednesday

Well, it’s Wednesday. We’re halfway through the week. The work week had been going well, but today has been an absolute train wreck. Such is life in sales. Tomorrow is a new and better day. I just have to survive the last thirty minutes of my day. My schedule is changing tomorrow. Instead of starting at 8:00, I’ll start at 9:00. This should ensure I’m busy all day.

After I’m going to take a spin class. Starting this week, they reduced our schedule to eight hours a day, so I’ve increased my workouts to two a day during the week. I did my strength workout over lunch and will do my spin class afterward. The extra hour of work wasn’t doing me a lot of good anyway. The extra daily workout, however, will put me closer to achieving my goals.

Once spin class is done, I’m going to bake the sourdough loaves that are currently proving on the counter. I had started the loaves Monday night but had to start over yesterday as I left the dough out overnight. The dough was way overproved and wouldn’t have been edible in any iteration. Tomorrow I’m going to share the sandwich loaf recipe that I’ve been using. It’s easy and tastes great. I think it’s the perfect loaf for a new baker to bake. Anyway, I’m off to finish my fabulous Wednesday.

Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.

My ideal day starts with some hot Dunkin’ coffee and a walk with my dogs. After the walk, I’ll sip my coffee while watching the Great British Bake Off. I really enjoy spending my time with my dogs and my family. As long as I’m with them, I’m happy. My perfect day ends with me cuddling with Anakin while I read my book.

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Made it

We made it to Friday and the end of eternal January! I will tell you what it seemed like this week and the month would never end. Honestly, I am stoked for a weekend without work. Tomorrow we’re headed to brunch, the Panthers game, and the casino. It should be a spectacular day. Sunday the Mayor has his second to last league game at Skate Zone. His team is playing the second-place team, so it should be an amazing game.

January was long and arduous, but it taught me a few lessons. Importantly, I took two key lessons away from our Nashville trip. First of all, the party bus taught me that I need to stretch before I “get low” again. Secondly, I hate the cold. I legit cannot cope with the cold dry air that winter brings or the icy roads. Outside of the Nashville trip, this January I learned that blizzards can come to Florida. Okay, it wasn’t a blizzard by Minnesota standards, but certainly was by Florida standards. January also taught me that while time flies by on a macro scale, the month of January lasted 17 years. I’m just glad we made it to the end.

Goalielocks at the Beach Volleyball Social

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 31 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

I’m afraid to skydive. There’s nothing you could do to induce me into skydiving. I have no desire to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

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Friday Eve

It’s Friday Eve! Thank goodness it’s getting closer to the weekend. Unfortunately, I woke up to the tragic news of the AA crash in DC. As someone who flies and whose family flies a lot, last night’s crash was my worst nightmare. Today my heart aches for the family and friends that woke up to the news their loved ones were gone forever.

I’m so sad for the larger figure skating community that lost many of its own in this crash. We travel all the time for hockey. A lot of sports families travel all the time for their sports. There’s never a moment where the sports parents stop to think they may never come back home with their athlete. So hold your loved ones close and pray for those who lost someone they loved. They’ll need all the support we can give.

Meanwhile, life cruelly marches on. I remember thinking how cruel it seems when the world keeps moving after the death of a loved one. The loss makes time stop for you, but the sun keeps rising like nothing has changed. Anyway, I digress. The Mayor is six days into life with the pump. We’ll do our second pump change tonight. It’s been a smooth ride so far with a few lows in the mix.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 30 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

What do you complain about the most?

I complain the most about being tired because I’m always tired. I wish there was a lever I could pull that would leave me feeling refreshed and awake. If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know. And now I’m back to Friday eve.

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January

Is it just me or has the month of January taken an entire year? Ordinarily, I’d be ok with time going too slow, but January is dragging in the worst way. Or maybe I, along with everyone else is dragging. It’s just this January has felt like a lifetime between the historic weather, inauguration, and fires. This doesn’t even include any of the small day-to-day stuff that piles on the stress.

January has been busy. I haven’t baked bread since the second weekend of the month. In fact, my sourdough starter is feeling neglected, but don’t worry a reunion is planned. I will feed the starter tonight, so I can start a bread over lunch tomorrow. This will give us fresh bread going into the weekend. I will also have the starter ready to bake more loaves on Sunday night, so we have bread for the week. I bought a bread slicer from Amazon so I could slice up the loaves and give the mayor precise carb counts by slice.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 28 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Write about a few of your favorite family traditions.

One of my favorite family traditions is our Christmas brunch. We have a lot of good food, drinks and company and very little stress. I love my Christmas brunch crew. The other tradition I love is baking cookies both regular and Christmas cookies. It’s something that brings me back to being a child and baking with my mom, my brothers and grandmother. Moreover, it harkens me back to the days of baking with my boys when they were little. In fact, I’ve been craving some chocolate chip cookies. I should probably bake some tonight.

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Sunday Best

Yesterday it was all about our Sunday best. We combined two of my favorite things for a fantastic day. Since my older brother and his wife were in town, we sandwiched brunch with the Mayor’s last youth hockey home games. If you’re feeling Deja VU, that’s normal. We thought he gave youth hockey for juniors two years ago, but he realized the shit show that is Junior hockey isn’t worth the time or money. This time he is aging out. Consequently, my twenty-one-year career as a youth hockey mom is coming to a close.

The Mayor played his first games yesterday wearing the Omnipod. I’m thrilled to report that his blood sugar was much better controlled during the game with the pump. For the first time since his diagnosis, I wasn’t stressed about his blood sugar during the games. He also played great and I think the pump helped. We’re blessed that the technology exists to manage type 1 diabetes effectively. It’s an absolute game changer for type 1 patients and their families.

Back to hockey, his team won both games but insisted on making the second game more interesting. The Mayor played defense for the first game and forward for the second. He scored a gorgeous goal in the third period of the second game. After the dominant six-goal third period it almost seemed silly to quibble over the first two periods. We are all, however, hockey parents and therefore always the critic. In the end, the first two periods were not great, but the third period showed off the team’s resilience, perseverance, and skill. Turns out the team brought their Sunday best.

Brunch between games was the perfect way to spend the day. We met my brothers at the Patio Bar & Grill at the Wyndham on the Beach in Deerfield Beach. The view from the restaurant was second to none. I love looking out over Deerfield Beach and the fishing pier. The waves were beautiful, but it was a bit cold with the breeze coming off the ocean. Our food, as well as the company, was tremendous and I’ll go back again. I love it!

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 27 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

What books do you want to read?

Right now I’m finishing Armadale and then I’m going to start on a biography of Henry Bolingbroke and his cousin Richard I. I’m looking forward to reading the analysis of their relationship.

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Pump Day

It’s pump day for the Mayor. The nurse educator set the Mayor up with his insulin pump this morning. The training and setup took just over an hour. Once it was completed, he was ready to rock and roll. Now he’ll only need one type of insulin, fast-acting, instead of two. Also, no more injections for him! Instead, he’ll use insulin from vials to fill his pump. We will, however, still need to keep both types on hand in case there is an issue with the pumps.

Obviously, we have no chill about this pump. It’s an absolute game changer for him. Honestly, it should make managing his diabetes and staying in range much easier. For the hubby and I, it should help us get more sleep. My hope is the pump eliminates the high blood sugar alerts in the middle of the night. Those are the worst. We still need to be watchful about the lows, but even those should be less.

Speaking of chill, it is still cold here in South Florida. We may not have gotten any snowfall like the panhandle did, but boy is it chilly. In fact, it hasn’t gotten out of the fifties today. As someone born and raised in Minnesota, it pains me to say I’m cold when it’s 50 degrees. Nonetheless, I’ve definitely acclimated to South Florida’s amazing climate. While we have been in the 50s all week, Minnesota was nearly 100 degrees colder. In case you were wondering, the weather was a driving factor behind our move.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 24 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.

I’ve always wanted to visit the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. It’s fed by an aquifer daily and looks stunning.

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About Last Weekend

About last weekend, I had a blast in Nashville. Technically, we were there for hockey. Unfortunately, the hockey was not nearly as good as our nights out in Nashville. The first game was beyond abysmal. Apparently, the boy had forgotten how to play hockey. Honestly, it didn’t get much better from there on out.

Typically, the hockey is front and center on these trips, but it wasn’t this time. And thank god for that. The hockey was ancillary to all the fun I had with my Mayor and my fellow hockey parents. The hockey will end and the biggest takeaway will be the incredible memories we’ve created. I have more to say on hockey and am on the verge of saying it, but that can wait until my boy is fully done playing. Hockey folks can be sensitive, so for his survival and mine my lips are sealed.

The cherry on top of the shit hockey was the Mayor getting injured in the early Monday game. For some unknown reason, the tournament felt the U-18 teams and their parents should revisit the early morning game hell that usually ends in squirts. To make matters worse, the 5:40 am wake-up call was greeted by temperatures that were barely above zero. You can imagine my feelings when the Mayor was injured early in the game.

List five things you do for fun.

Here’s my list of fun activities:

  • Read
  • Run
  • Watch hockey
  • Yoga
  • Bake
  • And of course play with my dogs
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Winter

Winter has made an appearance here in Florida and the rest of the country. While we haven’t had any snow here, it has been in the 50s and rainy all day. I haven’t even seen the sun today. That rarely happens here in the homeland, aka South Florida. Meanwhile, Jake and Melly got some of the white stuff up in Tallahassee. It looks like they got an inch or two. At Jake’s base, it looks like they got several inches. The pictures from the Panhandle are incredible!

I haven’t spoken with the kids since this morning, but I’m sure the snow has already melted off. Thankfully, The weather has warmed up. They got a lot of sleet and freezing rain to go along with the snow. Undoubtedly, there’s nothing that scares me more than having to drive in freezing rain or sleet. Tonight the melted snow will probably refreeze, so hopefully the kids won’t have to travel anywhere tonight.

Obviously, I’m thrilled we got home Monday night before the weather wreaked havoc on travel. Atlanta had a ground stop, specific to Delta for most of the day. We would have had an extremely long travel day to get home from Nashville. Fortunately, our trip home on Monday was very smooth. The only blips are we lost our upgrades when I moved up our flights and the Mayor’s rumbustius pleadings for fast food.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 22 days in, I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?

I could make my dogs understand one thing: how much they are loved and valued as members of our family.

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Nashville

Nashville was amazing. The Mayor had a tournament there this weekend, so we flew up early Friday morning. Thankfully, we got home late last night. Obviously, we are so glad to be back in the warm air. My only complaint about Nashville, aside from lackluster hockey, was the weather. Clearly, it was entirely too cold and too dry for us Floridians.

Friday night we started by hanging out on the Vanderbilt campus, which is stunning. Obviously, we had to take pictures at the wings and visit Kittenish (Jesse James Decker’s store). Both the wings and the store provided the perfect backdrop for photos. After the photo shoot, I had the best chicken sandwich at the Pub down the block. It was so perfect pre-game food.

Afterwards, the kids headed back to the hotel and the parents headed for the party bus. The Honky Tonk Party Express drove us around Broadway blasting music and serving drinks. We had an absolute blast! Midway through the journey, we stopped at a brewery for a bathroom and shot break. For our shot, we chose the sour watermelon moonshine. Honestly, it was pretty darn good. Since I had a very early start to the date, it felt late when we got back to the hotel at 10:30.

Saturday night after the kids’ game, we headed downtown to Jason Aldean’s bar. Since most of the kids they served food at his bar, the kids could enjoy some live music and a meal with their parents. After dinner, we sent the kids back to the hotel with a couple of the parents who were ready to call it a night. The rest of us, however, headed to Jelly Roll’s new bar, which was fabulous. We even saw him twice. My only complaint about the bar scene in Nashville is that there is a profane amount of stairs in each of the bars.

Saturday night, or Sunday morning, we rolled into the hotel at 2:00 am with 20 chicken tacos. Our Uber driver was simply the best. I slept better Saturday night than I’ve slept in months. For the first time, I woke up Sunday morning feeling refreshed. Who knew it would take two nights out and many stairs to fix my sleeping conundrum. The months since the Mayor’s diagnosis have been tough. Friday night and Saturday night out in Nashville with good friends was exactly what the doctor ordered. I’ll update y’all on the hockey tomorrow.

2025 Goal Tracker:

  • Run a 5K: in training
  • Complete Kayla Itsines program: in progress
  • No afternoon Starbucks (except for travel/vacations): 21 days in and I haven’t buckled!
  • Top performer at work: on it!
  • Travel: working on it
  • Eat to lower inflammation: in progress
  • Read daily: in progress. I’m currently reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins– so good.
  • Get out of debt: in progress
  • Financial independence: in progress

Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.

My name comes from my Grandpa T’s paternal grandfather, Andreas. He was born at the farm we visited in Romskog before immigrating to the USA.