Sunday, August 18, 2013

Family History

For about a year and a half I have been teaching the youth Sunday school class in our ward, ages 15-18. It is sometimes a challenge to hold their attention so I try to spice things up by having an activity or object lesson that will be entertaining as well as spiritually educational. This month our topics have been keeping a personal journal and doing family history work. Two weeks ago I gave my students an assignment to find a story about an ancestor they could share. If they did this I would reward them with a treat of some sort. The treat of some sort was my object lesson today.

When I came back from Utah this time I brought with me a sourdough start. I have enjoyed learning how to use it in different recipes. Today I made sourdough cinnamon rolls and took them to church. After all the kids finished sharing a story about his/her ancestor, I shared what I call "The Parable of the Sourdough" which isn't really a parable but it was a cool way to talk about family history and sourdough.

I explained the history of this particular sourdough start. It originated in 1890 and somehow Lydia Smith got her hands on a start. In 1966 Lydia gave a start to Aunt Joyce. I drew a diagram on the chalkboard illustrating the "family tree" of this sourdough start, how Joyce gave a start to Mary and Ann and how Ann gave a start to her kids and to me and I gave a start to Taylor and Alison. It was a quick way to show a family tree. Then I revealed the scrumptious sourdough cinnamon rolls. As they each ate one I told them how the choices our ancestors made are part of who we are now. It's just like the sourdough: part of that original 1890 start is in there somewhere and so is a bit of what everyone along the way added to it and that makes it unique. Did they buy it? I don't know, but they ate it!

Here's the recipe if anyone is interested

Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
1 cup sourdough starter (fed the night before)
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
2 Tbs butter
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
3 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp instant yeast

Add ingredients to bread mixer and knead about 10 minutes. Let rise for 1 hour. Roll out on flour surface shaping into a large rectangle.
Spread dough with softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up to make a long jelly-roll and pinch seam closed. Use a sharp knife to cut into 12 rolls of approximately equal size. Place in buttered 9x13 baking dish. Let rise for 45-60 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees until done, about 20-25 minutes. Frost as desired.
By the way, I have added a few posts to Grandma's blog: http://grandmaharris.blogspot.com/

4 comments:

Alison said...

I loved the analogy. I might have to use that myself, sometime. Thanks for the recipe, too.

Mary said...

That was a great analogy and the cinnamon rolls looked delicious. Lucky class!

BubandTay said...

remember how at grandmas party one of the cousins said that they wanted recipes and to write them out like you would to a five year old?... yeah well thats me. so i really want to try this, would i just add the flour and the milk the night before like with the pancakes and pull out the starter in the morning? and can i still do it if i don't have a bread maker?

Alison said...

Tay: yes and yes. Mix about 1/2 the flour with the rest of the ingredients, either by hand or with an electric mixer. Then knead in the rest of the flour by hand. Google that or ask your mother in law to show you how if you don't know. It's not too hard. Good luck!