When Life Gives You Sour Milk make Soda Crackers!

Last Friday afternoon we piled into our car, yes even the dogs, for a spontaneous trip with a friend and her family to Polebridge, Montana.  Well, we never quite reached Polebridge.  Just two miles shy of the town, we pulled our chain clad tiny car between to giant banks of snow and waded through fluffy white to the front door of a cabin.

 

For a time that seemed to stretch longer than the day and a half we actually were there, we stared out of windows catching glimpses of the impressive, towering peaks of Glacier National Park.  We tucked our toes in warm downy slippers, sipped coffee and hot chocolate and spent just enough time sledding, snowshoeing, tobogganing, and riding through the snow on a snowmobile to warrant early bedtimes for everyone underneath layers of blankets.  

It was solidly winter; full of winter fun.  

Not until breakfast with four bright eyed children did we discover we had forgotten milk.  Between the two families we had both forgotten milk.  A half gallon of half and half had made the journey, and we leisurely sipped our coffees and decided to just hush about the missing milk.  It wasn't mentioned again - by anyone. 

We returned to our home with the muddy yard, stuck somewhere between winter and spring, unloaded the car started dinner and laundry.  There it was our forgotten milk, still sitting in the door of the fridge, undeniably sour.  

Time again has stretched.  It seems so long ago that I was sitting still with nothing pressing to do.  Between Ivory's sports class, laundry, late night ceramics, sunny bike rides, grocery store trips, I feel like we might have never left at all, that the stillness was just a momentary thought.  But there it is, the spoiled milk still sitting in the fridge, undeniable proof that just for a little time our life slowed down. 

I have been waiting for spoiled milk.  Ivory and Sylvan and I rolled up our sleeves, mixed and kneaded and rolled out and cut one thin sheet of dough after the other. 

Twisting dough sticks and cutting diamonds and flowers sliding cookie sheet after cookie sheet in and out of the oven.

Our freezer is stocked with flowers, and diamonds and twisted staves perfect for warm soup on chilly days. When life gives you sour milk make soda crackers!

Soda Crackers

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine in a bowl:

2 cups flour 

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

cut in (I use the paddle attachment on my kitchen aid mixer):

2 tablespoons butter 

add:

3/4 cup plus 1/8th cup sour milk (or 7/8 of a cup I suppose...  this is the easiest way to measure it out with my measuring cups)

• The amount of milk needed may vary a little, so start with 2/3 a cup and add a little at a time. The dough will form a ball if you are using a mixer, remove from the bowl and knead a few times.  It should feel a little tacky but not actually stick to your hands or the surface you are kneading on. 
• Roll it very thin.  To be quick just move the sheet of dough onto a baking pan and cut into squares, diamonds or triangles with a pizza cutter.  Or, if you have a little time or little hands to keep busy cut them into strips and twist or use your favorite cookie shape!  Anything that makes eating soup fun, right? 
• Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.