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It’s a wintry wonderland out my windows as I write this morning. The snow is sparkling under the early morning light and the only clouds in the sky are the wispy contrails left behind by planes, perhaps on their way somewhere tropical. Some days I long for the sun to feel warm again, and yet the wood fire in the hearth reminds me that even the coldest days have the joy of a different kind of heat, one that comes from logs split by my husband, stacked by my boys, and carried in with my girls.

When I make bread it engages different parts of my brain. For breads I make often, like my house sourdough, my hands go into autopilot when I’m carrying out various steps. But there is still a technical side of planning, calculating, milling, and measuring that goes on well before any mixing. The creative side comes in as I’m considering a menu for the month, the flavors I’d like to use, and the forms. Sometimes I like to think about the seasons, and sometimes I plan to make things that are just plain fun to make!

Sourdough challah certainly fits into that last category. Challah is a slightly sweet bread that is fluffy, flavorful, and an absolute delight. We’ve enjoyed it many ways, but if any happens to be left over it makes killer french toast! I love the creativity it affords with shaping – loaves can be braided with a simple three strand, or a complex eight strand, or anything in between! I’ll likely make four strands for all of you, but we’ll see what I’m feeling up to on the day 🙂 Challah has a rich history; if you’re interested here is a great article going in-depth on this bread! If you’d like to see some stunning challah loaves, check out this guy on Instagram. If you’d just like to eat it, I’m making a sourdough version for pickup on Thursday, February 20th!

With one birthday in the books, and the next coming this week (mine!) we are rolling through birthday month beautifully. My oldest boy turned 8 and wanted a tropical layer cake. I made him a coconut cake with a mango jam filling and coconut lime cream cheese frosting. Dairy doesn’t sit well with him, so the whole thing was dairy free – he loved it! The big smile on his face and pure joy of the day made all the celebrating that much sweeter.

Growing up, with my birthday so close to Valentine’s Day, there were always heart motifs surrounding my birthday and gifts. I have heart-shaped cupcake liners, heart cake pans, and even a stunning enameled cast iron heart-shaped baking dish from a dear friend! Even if you’re not celebrating a sweetheart, the sentiment behind St. Valentine’s Day is one to enjoy with the whole family. One of our favorite picture books is about St. Valentine, by Robert Sabuda. The illustrations are done in mosaic, and it is really beautiful!

This coming week for Valentine’s Day I’m making one of my favorite sourdough combinations: dark chocolate, sweet and tangy dried cherries, and about 50% rye flour. Friends, this bread is so, so good. Whenever I bake it, it’s hands down my favorite breakfast – a slice of this, toasted, and a little good butter. The chocolate warms and melts just enough in the toaster to feel indulgent. There is no added sugar in the dough; the sweetness from the chocolate and the cherries are enough to let all the flavors shine. I’ll score it with a heart on top for a special touch!

Always available is my house sourdough, made with a blend of four different grains that I mill just before mixing. This ensures that all the nutrients from the grains make it into your bread! I love that this bread is so satisfying, so easy to digest, and just so delicious!

Orders are open now and will be until Tuesday or until sold out. Payment is by cash, check, or cashapp on pickup, or by credit card when you order.

For Christmas this year, my eldest daughter gifted a cookie cookbook to my husband. His look of surprise and confusion was amusing, but then she revealed the real gift: that she would make cookies every week for him to take to his office hours, where he makes tea for students. They looked through it together and chose a few varieties that looked especially good. The first batch was well-received and they’re both looking forward to the upcoming weeks.

Cookies are also on the menu for you for the last week of January! I’m making a household favorite: white chocolate cranberry. I’m going to take these up a notch by adding orange zest to the mix. And for even more flavor, I’ll mix in some sourdough discard to put these over the top. I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we do!

Our backyard chickens experienced winter for the first time these past weeks. The plan had been to keep them in the movable (and very breezy) coop until the cold set in, then move them to the less breezy coop for the winter. (We’ll use the regular coop for raising meat birds in the spring and summer). But in order to move them, the coop had to be finished! The last necessary parts were added the day before the sub-zero temperatures hit, and I think those birds were grateful to be out of the wind. Thankfully, they’ve continued to lay eggs over the winter, and we’re enjoying those very much.

Sourdough bread has become for us much more than just a type of bread we enjoy. The more I learn about it, the more I am so grateful to put it on the table for my family. We all feel good eating it, and it continually brings a smile to the kids’ faces when a warm, fresh loaf is brought to the table. From nutrition to flavor, this is such a wonderful addition to any meal! It’s always on the menu at my house, and available to order every week.

Orders are open now and will be until Tuesday, or until sold out. February subscriptions will come out on Friday, January 31st, so keep an eye out for that! Good things are coming your way 🙂

We’re back from a fun and rejuvenating few days in Wisconsin and ready to start a new semester of school. This morning I’m headed out to make my regular pickup of a trunk full of flour in 50-lb bags! I’ll be well-stocked for all the breads over the next few months 🙂

This week I’m baking savory scones, filled with cheddar cheese and chives. I love the combination of the sharp cheddar with the mild chives. Sweet scones have their place, for sure, but savory scones are such a nice change of pace and I’m looking forward to baking these for you this week.

Always available is my house sourdough with freshly milled grains. This loaf is packed with flavor and good-for-you fiber and minerals. Grab a few loaves for easy accompaniments to meals throughout the week. We enjoy many of our loaves as toast with eggs, open-faced sandwiches, and dipped in olive oil alongside a big salad. 

Ordering and pickup is back to normal this week. If you are a subscriber I will have your orders ready on Thursday, January 16 either at my home or at the college. If you’re ordering this weekend, yours will be ready at the same time. Please indicate your pickup preference when you place your order!

I hope you all had a blessed and merry Christmas! We are enjoying some quiet days at home with each other after all of our celebrations.

January is nearly upon us and I’m gearing up for a new month of subscriptions. Despite the five weeks in January, I will be baking for just four of them. There will be no bread orders for January 9th!

For this month I’m baking some family favorites for you. On offer each week will be my house sourdough loaf (1.5 lbs) with a freshly-milled four grain blend, as well as a bake of the week. Here’s the bake-of-the-week lineup for January!

January 2: sourdough baguette

January 9: no orders!

January 16: cheddar and chive scones (4 per order)

January 23: sourdough bagels (2 per order)

January 30: white chocolate and cranberry cookies (6 per order)

Orders are open now through Tuesday, or until sold out. Subscriptions are available for both house sourdough loaves and for the bake of the week. Orders can also be placed weekly for the items you would like, or to add on to your subscription. Watch for your Friday email from me so you know what’s available as orders open for the week!

Do I have a fantastic bread for you this week: cinnamon sugar babka. It has its origins in Poland and the Ukraine, and is a sweet braided bread filled with any manner of fillings. There are a lot of good options; I chose a cinnamon sugar filling for this week’s bake. The dough gets a long, cold rest in the fridge and is then filled with cinnamon, sugar, and butter, rolled up in the dough, then cut and twisted to form the beautiful babka shape. While this is typically a yeasted bread, I’m making a naturally leavened version for you this week in mini loaf pans. When I cut one into slices, I got about 7-8 slices from each mini loaf. 

This coming week, December 19th, will be the last Thursday pickup for 2024! I will have one more order for the year, for pickup on December 23rd. I’ll send that email next week, but you can plan on soft sourdough dinner rolls and white chocolate peppermint scones.

My house sourdough loaves are a great bread to have on hand for any and all occasions. They make a killer breakfast strata, a perfect addition to a hearty soup, garlic toast for a bowl of pasta, or as a part of a charcuterie platter for a party. December 19th will be your last chance to pick up a loaf (or a few) before January.

Just after Christmas I’ll send out the January menu, so keep an eye out for that as well!

Orders for the 19th can be picked up after 1pm either at my house or at Hillsdale College; orders on the 23rd will just be at my house in Hillsdale.

‘Tis the season for eggnog! Every year at Christmas, when I was little, my mom would pour eggnog into special Christmas mugs and sprinkle a bit of nutmeg on the top. We’d have eggnog and Christmas cookies while opening a few gifts on Christmas Eve. When we moved abroad, and eggnog was nowhere to be found, I decided to make my own. Turns out, the homemade version is outstanding! For this week’s bake, I wanted to take those nostalgic flavors and bake with them. Muffins seemed a natural fit – the muffins have eggnog in the batter and are topped with a nutmeg-infused streusel. They are on the sweeter end of what I like to bake, but pleasantly so. 

I usually try to wrap up Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving time, so that Advent can have one less item on my to-do list. I’m mostly there, with a few things left to order for parents/grandparents. Everyone seemed easy to shop for this year, but it’s not always that way. If you’re looking for a gift for someone local, think about a subscription for fresh bread for a month! Gift subscriptions are available on the website. Or, if you’d like to gift a week, just put that in the notes when you order.

My house sourdough is available to order every week. I’ve tweaked this recipe over the years, depending on which grains are most readily available. i’m really enjoying the current version with red wheat, white wheat, spelt, and triticale. So much flavor, so many great vitamins and minerals in these four grains! These loaves have a long proof, first on the counter and then overnight in the fridge. This long period of time (24+ hours) makes them most easily digestible, even for those who are sensitive to gluten. 

We’re looking forward to a fun weekend – our church hosts a Maker’s Market for kids from all over the community, where they all make sweet crafted items for sale. If you like handmade gifts, this is a wonderful group of kids to support! It takes place at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church from 2-4 on Saturday. The tail end of a basketball game and Founder’s Fest round out our Saturday, then Lessons and Carols at the College on Sunday! 

What does post-Thanksgiving look like at your house? Are you up early for Black Friday sales? Do you sleep off that big meal as long as you can? After the days here of cooking, baking, and readying the house everyone looks forward to a slow day to pursue their own activities. Today I’m hoping to spend time outside planting garlic and perhaps to finish my Christmas shopping.

December is a great month for warmth – warm sweaters, warm blankets, warm boots and jackets. It’s also a time for warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and others. They’re some of my favorites to bake with as the house is filled with comforting scents! With that said, here’s your December lineup:

December 5: House sourdough and gingerbread biscotti

December 12: House sourdough and eggnog muffins

December 19: House sourdough and mini sourdough cinnamon sugar babka

December 23: White chocolate peppermint scones and soft sourdough dinner rolls

With many people traveling around Christmastime, subscriptions will only be for the first three weeks of December. Orders for the 23rd will open at least a week ahead of time and I’ll send out an email about those orders as the date approaches. Instead of an extra treat for subscribers this month, I will add in a few biscotti or eggnog muffins to that week’s order. When you order, let me know which one you would like!

Gingerbread biscotti bring all of the warm flavors! I like the crunch of biscotti, and that it’s not usually as sweet as a cookie. I can see these dipped in coffee, or (if you were going to be fancy), Mexican hot chocolate. Biscotti will come with six to each order.

Just a note about babka, if you’ve not had it: imagine a cinnamon roll in bread form, but richer and with more filling. Babka is one of my favorite breads to make, and also to eat. Plus, they’re gorgeous! I’m planning to make these in mini loaf size in a few weeks. 

The wood stove is blazing as I write this morning, filling the quiet house with its glow and heat. I could sit here all day, an endless mug of tea in hand and a good book. Yesterday we picked up books from the library; this morning there are piles of books in various stacks all around the living room where children left them after sitting by the fire and reading when we returned home. Much of life seems to center around this hearth in the cold months when we’re home. i’m grateful for the warmth and also for the calm and togetherness that it seems to bring!

We’re at the end of November already and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. While I like to experiment with food, I’m also glad for traditions that remain the same year after year. Our Thanksgiving menu doesn’t change much, nor does the schedule for getting everything to the table when it’s still hot. We’ll start prepping a few things this weekend – cranberry sauce, gravy, pie dough – and get all the shopping done. And for all of you I’m baking sourdough pumpkin dinner rolls for the big day! These are gorgeous, fluffy rolls that will be the perfect addition to any festive table. Enriched with butter, pumpkin puree, and a bit of honey these are just a little sweet and so, so good.

I’m also making scones for you this week! For me, it’s challenging to muster up creative energy to make food on the day after Thanksgiving. These scones will give you a quick, easy, and delicious breakfast option! Made with buttermilk, I’m also adding in lemon and dried apricots for a super fresh and bright treat. We really enjoyed these and I hope you will, too!

Orders will be ready on Wednesday this coming week, November 27th. I will still have orders available on campus for those who would prefer to pick up there, and will have the rest here at my home. If you subscribed and would like to change your pick up location for this coming week, please let me know!

Due to the earlier pick up day, orders will close on Monday, November 25th or when they’re sold out.

I will also have sourdough house loaves this coming week, perfect for making stuffing or for leftover turkey sandwiches! 

This time of year always arrives with bane and blessing for me. The gray, cold days are hard on everyone, and it seems that we all start moving more slowly. Yet, as soon as it’s just cold enough, we also keep a fire going in our wood stove and have a pot of tea always under the cozy. There’s something so special about a wood fire on any day, but especially on a day that’s dreary outside. Most mornings here find children slowly getting out of bed and pulling up a chair to be close to the fire. Sometimes they have books in hand, sometimes they just gaze into it for a little while. But it warms my heart to see them snuggled together by the fire as the day is beginning.

This week I’m making a special sourdough that feels like the thing for the changing weather. A friend requested this quite a while back, and I’ve been playing with different recipes to find just the right mix of grains. It’s a sourdough loaf made with freshly milled whole wheat flours, tart dried cranberries, and toasted pecans. Friends, this is an absolute delight! I made two loaves earlier this week, and the first was gone as soon as I sliced it. Toasted, with good butter, it will be a fantastic way to brighten your day.

I have a budding photographer in the family who has graciously offered to take bread photos for me! Thanks to a friend who is loaning her a very nice camera to try, she has been photographing anything that catches her eye this week. She spent some time deciding how she would stage the bread, then took it to where the light was best. I think she did a great job!

My house sourdough is available every week, and is a wonderful bread to have on hand. I make every loaf by hand from start to finish, and the freshly-milled flour is a flavor boost like none other. All of my sourdough is long-fermented, which adds not only to the flavor but also to its digestibility. If you have the job of making stuffing for Thanksgiving, you’ll want a loaf of this! Pick up one for stuffing, and one for post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches and you’ll be all set to celebrate.

Orders can be placed at hillsdalehearth.com, and pickup is either at my home or Hillsdale College (Kendall 413) on Thursday afternoon. Please indicate your preferred pickup place when you order. Payment is by cash, check, or cashapp when you pick up, or by credit card when you order.