Chestnut Hill Ranch

With T-Storms, rain, hail, even snow on the dogwoods, farm chores took a break to do some baking, enjoyed a cozy fire, even did some longarm quilting today.

So my question for you is what did you do today???
Chestnut Hill Ranch
Lady Di Quilts this is me too!!!

So grateful for this big team of many hands that helped clean up all the trees downed by snow a couple weeks back. The day started at 9:am, ended at 7:pm wowser’s a long day for all:

Setting pruning aside this week to break down several of the piles of trees that fell into the road during a recent snow storm. Trying out my 16” battery operated Ryobi-gal. I worked 1.5-hrs cutting out firewood.

Renting a shredder this weekend.
Hey Kevin Cason, what do think of me now??

I let my multigrain sourdough come to room temp near my woodstove a couple hours while I remove snow from the solar array.

I made a Sloppy Joe pizza for dinner that was really tasty. Multigrain sour dough is more fragile to work with. If you decide to bake a bread round, I’d recommend a bread pan to help with more vertical rise. See my multigrain dough recipe in the comments.

My sloppy Joe topping is a simple mix of saute’ onion and red pepper, 1/2 pound ground beef, about a cup of blended canned tomatoes, and spices: garlic powder, thyme, chipotle pepper, salt, pepper and a tablespoon brown sugar (I use a monkfruit sugar by Nature’s Besti).

2/20/26
Beautiful morning surrounded in so much snow. Yesterday I had to remove 17” of snow off our solar array. To get additional house power since PGE’s last notification that power should be restored by 2/23.

This gal is sore this morning at Chestnut Hill Ranch

I did a little stress baking today, actually prepped the sourdough yesterday when it started to snow in earnest.

The recipe will yield 18 cinnamon rolls
*I use monkfruit/erythritol as my sugar to reduce some of the glycemic load.
**You can replace with standard white or brown sugar as well.

Rolls made with:
300 grams of active sourdough starter
750 gram liquid made up of:
2-eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup regular sugar or honey
1/2 cup melted butter
Plus enough water to get to 750 grams.

Add 1,000 grams flour and 25 grams salt.
*This recipe will make 18 thick cinnamon rolls or you can half the recipe to make 9 to 10 rolls (but why??)

Mix together to make a shaggy dough, let rest an hour (or go work on a generator like I did), then perform 3-4 stretch and folds. Bulk ferment until almost double, for me it was 6-hrs.

Cut dough in half since this is a double batch. Roll out into 2-large rectangles around 1/4" thick.

Mix and spread half of a butter-sugar-cinnamon mixture across both rectangles:
1/2 cup soften butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used a monkfruit sugar) and a generous amount of cinnamon (measure with your heart).

Roll both rectangles and pinch the seam shut. Cut each rolled up tubes into 8-9 rolls each, around 1"- 1 1/2" rolls. Place onto lightly greased parchment. Let rise an hour then refrigerate overnight to cold ferment.

Next morning, check if power is back on or not to detemine if i use my electric or gas oven downstairs. This morning was a gas oven option and wanted to warm up my sewing studio Lady Di Quilts.

Remove rolls from refrigerator for 1-2 hours, let rest in a warm spot (by my woodstove on a little tv table stand). Rolls should come to room temp and expand slightly, depending on how warm your room is, I’m probably 68-degrees.

Preheat oven to 350-degrees, then bake at 35-45 minutes until golden brown. While warm add caramel glaze to the tops.

Caramel glaze: Heat in a saucepan, medium heat:
1/2 cup brown sugar (Monkfruit brown sugar)
1/4 cup half-n-half
Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, watch temp as the mixture will bubble up, mixture will thicken slightly.

You can add just enough caramel sauce directly to 1 cup powder sugar (Monkfruit-Erythrotal), whisking until smooth.
*Alternatively I added 3 tablespoons of cream cheese to the heated caramel sauce toward end of simmer and whisked until smooth. Add a generous pinch of salt, a 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Drizzle caramel sauce over all the rolls, while still warm, lightly coating the tops of each roll. Let cool before digging in.

Cover cooled rolls with plastic wrap to reduce drying. Can stay on the counter a couple days or up to 1-week refrigerated.

I almost forgot, I had 1/2 pint jar of leftover caramel sauce to add to my coffee.

I fed my refrigerated inactive starter twice before using it for this recipe and it’s why I made a double batch of cinnamon rolls.
1 part starter
1 part water
2 parts flour, let rise on counter until doubled.

Discard 1/2 to make something else or set it aside for my multigrain sourdough bread (recipe to be posted later).

Feed the starter(s) one more time 1:1:2, let it increase to double once again, as mentioned above, then move onto making your cinnamon rolls.
*Feed your starter twice builds a healthy colony. Who knew I was a colonizer, lol (What, too soon??)

What a fabulous day at Chestnut Hill Ranch.
Family and friends helped out fertilizing the orchard, some pruning started, equipment serviced/oil changed, even the Ford Ranger tested to find a battery was needed to keep him running.

Thank you Victoria, Josh, Leif, Cullum, Aaron (Independent Solar) and his kids:Jalie, Isaiah, Silas. Arminda, Tosh and their kids: Pierce, Regan, Fiona, Aubrey and her daughter Claire, and my favorite marine Richard.

I will post multiple vids on the maiden voyage of the pull behind manure spreader in the comments below. It worked great.

Happy 13th birthday Leif! Thank you for choosing to spend your day helping out. Outstanding effort mister and one & all!

Blessings upon you as you have been to Wayne and I at Chestnut Hill Ranch. Merry Christmas to you and yours:

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If Christmas Chaos was a song!🎄😂 #HolidayMusic #ChristmasMusic #HolidayVibes #StraightNoChaser