Starting Sourdough Starter

At the begining of the year, I made it a quest to become a domestic goddess which including making a killer loaf of bread.  So that hasn't happened yet and this morning I woke up deciding to start my own sourdough starter.  Which by the way, is super easy and I can't believe I haven't done things before; it's just the whole feeding it everyday thing I need to remember. 

I remember the first time I heard of sourdough starter I was kinda grossed out.  Years ago, I saw a story about a bakery in San Fransisco that makes their bread from a starter dating back to the 19th century or earlier 20th century. Admittingly, I had no idea what went into making a sourdough starter and this was pre-eating bacteria is good for you phase of my life.  The chance of that San Fransico's starter still having flour that was over 100 years old is pretty slim and later, after learning what a starter was I was less grossed out. 

Sourdough starter is the tratitional way of leavening bread; how our ancestors made bread before they could go to the store and pick up some Fleshmanns. When the mix is left on your contertop, wild yeasts are cultivated in the container.  How in the world does that happen?  Well, when the flour and water become one in your container, it starts to ferment yeast which creats lacto bacteria which feed on metabolic products produced by the yeast, while producing lactic acid preventing unwanted organisms from infecting your starter (The Urban Homestead).  Whew!  Alton Brown explains it much better, don't you just love his videos?

Sourdough bread is reported to be "richer in certain vitamins and enzymes that are by-products of lactic fermentation, and it contains less phytic acid, which blocks mineral absorptoion." (Good Bread is Back). A perfect loaf of sourdough bread has a crispy crust and soft, chewy, tender inside.  Delish if you ask me. 

To make your starter:

1. Get a glass container with a lid that can hold at least 4 cups of liquid.
2. Add 1 cup white flour & 1 cup lukewarm water (I used unbleached, organic flour from a local mill).
3. Stir until smooth.
4. Put lid on the jar and place it in a warm place to rest.  I am keeping mine on top of my stove. 
5. Everyday pour off 1 cup of starter and add 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup warm water. YOU MUST FEED IT EVER DAY!
6. After a few days it will start to get bubbly, this is good and a layer of liquid forms on top. 
7. After two weeks, you shoud have active culture of wild yeasts that you can bake bread with. 

You can use the cup of starter that you throw out every day to make pancakes, muffins, etc... Which I intend on doing, so it doesn't go to waste!

I will keep you updated on the progress of my yeast!

Easy Peazy pickles

I found this super easy pickle recipe on Punk Domestics they other day, so when I saw 5 for $1 cukes at the farmers market I grabbed a bunch to try my first ever batch of pickles!

They were delish after just one day! Oh my god, I can't stop eating them.  I can't wait to get more cukes to make more pickles, it's an addiction!

 

 

Small Batch Refrigerator Pickles
makes two pints
1 quart kirby cucumbers (approximately 1 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup filtered water
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons dill seed
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 spring onions (whites only), chopped

Wash and dry kirby cucumbers. Chop ends off and slice into spears. Set aside.
Combine vinegar, water and salt in sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Equally divide the dill seed, garlic cloves and chopped onion between the two jars. Pack the cucumber spears into the jars as tightly as you can without crushing them.

Pour the brine into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Put lids on the jars and let them cool on the counter top. Once they’re cool, put them in the refrigerator. Let cure for at least a day before eating. Pickles will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

Note: Your jars may seal during the cooling process. The USDA will tell you that this doesn’t mean that your pickles are then shelf stable. However, there are people who flout those rules. Use your best judgment.

Freezing Greens Time!

I finally bought another Food Saver yesterday.  For years I had one, used it and loved it. Then it died.  After grieving, I  couldn't decide which one to get, they have so many models now! Yesterday, I just went into the store and picked one out!  It was  good  timing because I have all those blueberries and raspberries I picked that I don't want to get freezer burn.  AND I had a ton of kale & basil to freeze. Tomorrow I'll post how I froze the basil, today it's kale!

I  got busy washing the kale and cutting the stems off.  To freeze kale, you want to make sure you blanch it first. This basically kills the enzymes that can cause it to get bitter in the freezer.  To blanch the kale,  boil water, throw some kale in, let it sit for 1-2 minutes, remove the kale, dump it in ice water, let it dry.  The ice water shocks the kale and stops it  from cooking - you don't want to freeze soggy greens!

I found the easiest way to move the kale from the pot of boiling water to the ice water was to stick my colander in the pot and put the kale on top.  Instead of removing the kale with tongs or some other useless kitchen gadget,  I just had to lift the colander out.   Soooo easy!

After it dried I divided it up into bags and used my handy dandy Food Saver to freeze it! All that kale fit nicely into three bags.  I did not measure the kale, I prefer the throw some handfuls into the bag method of measuring. I need to figure out how to get the bags to lay flat after the air is sucked out, these bags are taking up too much room in my freezer! Any tips?

First Cabbage Fermentation

One of my intentions this year was to make more stuff from scratch: bread, cheese, yogurt, etc..  I can now add sauerkraut to that list.  I haven't tasted it yet, but it's in the jar, sitting on my kitchen table looking delish.

I used the basic recipe, cabbage, carrot, salt.  Packed it into a jar and now have to wait.  I don't like waiting, my patience is non existent so waiting for food to ferment is going to seem likes years for me. And although the cabbage looks really good, I am not sure if this type of cabbage makes for good sauerkraut.  I picked it from the summer program that I volunteer.  The school planted a lot of veggies with the kids and I have been going down a couple days a week to work with the kids in harvesting all this food that is ready.  They planted a lot of cabbage that I had not seen before.  It's a dark green, loose head cabbage.  It doesn't grow in a tight head and it's for sure not Napa cabbage.

So I chopped it up, salted it, put it in a bowl and started squeezing to get the juices out.  After a minute I discovered this type of cabbage doesn't have much juice or it's already gotten to tough while growing. So, I added more salt and let it sit on the counter for a bit hoping the salt would draw the juices out.

 After about 2 hours I had a couple of tablespoons of juice, so I packed it into the jar.  Now I must wait.

I will taste it tomorrow to see if the fermentation is taking place.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

How does your garden grow?

In the past week I've picked almost 20 pounds of blueberries! My freezer is packed with berry goodness.  When  cleaning out my freezer to make room for all the stuff I am going to freeze soon I found four bags of cranberries, three of which that were opened! So much for looking in my kitchen to see what I have before I go grocery shopping.

I finally got around to getting some pictures from the garden.  It's been a week since I visited my plot at the community garden and the grass has taken over.  I seriously need to go down there to do some weeding, but it's so hot! Yes, I am lazy.  You can see my gypsy peppers in there somewhere! My strawberry plants are hidden. 

Everything else is looking great.  Over half my tomato plants are fruiting, hopefully I'll have some tasty tomato goodness soon.  I have two eggplant growing, I am surprised at how small the eggplant plant is, I would have thought it would be much bigger.  I guess because eggplants aren't small.  I picked my first zucchini and squash yesterday and they look tasty! Look can be deceiving because my squash was no so tasty. Very bitter and hard.  I asked a farmer at the farmers market yesterday what might have happened and he said it was either bad seed or it cross bred with a gourd plant.  I don't have any gourds growing nearby, maybe a neighbor at the community plot does.  So we'll see what happens when more start to grow. 

Yummy Homemade Ricotta Goodness

I am supposed to be sewing my blouse this week for the Colette Spring Challenge, but I will be honest and tell you I have not started. I know, I'm slacking.  Instead I have been reading about making bread, cheese, and vermicomposting: all very exciting stuff but not sewing. 

Tonight I decided I was going to try my hand at making ricotta cheese because I had been reading about how super easy it was to make.  Technically, ricotta cheese is made from the whey of another cheese, but you can do the cheaters method and make it from milk and add an acid (lemon juice or vinegar.  The combination of heat and acid causes milk proteins to bind together, trapping in some moisture and fat, and forming soft white curds).  This is also  how paneer is made. 

I found a ton of recipes on how to make the cheese using everything from just milk & lemon juice, to more complicated recipes adding cream and other ingredients.  The KISS (Keep It Simple & Sweet) method always works, so I decided to use as few ingredients as possible and cross my fingers.  Using  whole milk from a local farmer, I poured it into a saucepan, added a pinch of  salt, and set the burner to medium heat.

Most of the recipes said to heat the milk to between 190 - 212 degrees, (this is the point where the milk starts to get frothy and gets that film on the top).  I the recently bought a liquid thermometer, and have to use it for everything; its so cool, you just attach it to the side of your pot! I think I will be using this all the time, just cuz. 

I wasn't sure on how much lemon juice to add as every recipe was different, so I started with 2 Tablespoons and waited a minute and this is what I got. Wasn't exactly looking looking like ricotta cheese. 

So I added another tablespoon....nothing.  A fourth tablespoon and no sooner had I put the bottle of lemon juice down did magic start to happen.

I give it a stir, let it sit for about 2 minutes, the poor it into a cheescloth lined colander to let it drain. 

Because my bowl wasn't deep enough, the whey was still sitting in the cheese, so I had to make a hanging system to make sure all the excess whey drained. 

After about 20 minutes I had beautiful ricotta cheese which tastes more than delish! And even better; it was super easy to make, I will never buy store bought ricotta cheese again. Now, you don't have to let your cheese drain for so long, I wanted a firmer texture which you get if you let it drain for a while.  If you prefer a softer cheese, then a 5 minute drain will suffice. 

I plan on making ricotta pancakes tomorrow and oatmeal bread with the whey (but more on that later).  

Have you made ricotta before? How did it turn out?

Yummy Sweet Potato Goodness

I have been putting cumin & cinnamon on my sweet potato fries for a while, but I recently came across this recipe for a sweet, spicy dipping sauce and when I was processing inventory this afternoon and craved a snack, I decided to make it.  The picture is not from my potato fries, as my camera is still broken, but from the recipe page at Food 52. 

To make my fries, I cut up 2 sweet potatoes into strips and coated them with olive oil, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and cumin.  I baked them at about 400 degrees until they were soft.  I like softer fries, but if you prefer them cooked, you can cook them longer to make them crispy. 

Now the recipe I found recommended using sour cream, but I was out, so I used mayonnaise.  Mix Mayonnaise, juice of 1/2 lime, salt, pepper, chopped cilantro, Vietnamese Sweet Chili Sauce, & Sriracha,  I always mix to taste,  so I can't tell you how much of each to add. 

Let me know if you make this sauce and how you like it!

Yummy fish goodness

I have this horrible habit of not planning my meals ahead of time.  As a result, when I go to the market I buy what looks good or I'll decide at home that I just have to have chili, so I'll run out right then and buy the ingredients needed.  This year, I decided to set intentions for the week rather than the entire year, and this week my intention was to reorganize my kitchen and plan out meals for the next week - and I did!!

This afternoon I got down some of those cookbooks and picked out some scrumptious recipes to make.  Tonight for dinner I made Balti Fish Fillets in Spicy Coconut Sauce and let me tell you it was beyond delish.  I bought an Indian cookbook several years ago and usually make the same recipes over and over, so I decided to try a new one.  I've included the recipe below of you, I don't have step by step pictures because the screen on my camera is cracked and it takes about 10 tries for me to get a nice picture now.

What you will need:

2 tbsp corn oil (Olive oil or Canola Oil will also work)
1 Tbsp Onion seeds  (I omitted the seeds because I didn't have any)
4 dried red chilis  (adjust for your preference of spicy, I only chopped up 1/2 chili)
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 MD onion, sliced
2 MD tomatoes, sliced (us your favorite tomato)
2 Tbsp shredded coconut (I used about 1/3 cup)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander
4 fish fillets (Sole, Flounder, or Plaice)
2/3 C. water
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp Chopped Cilantro

Step one:
Heat the oil in a hot skillet.
Lower the heat and add the following cooking for 3-minutes

• Garlic
• Onion Seed 
• Chili
• Onion

Add:

• Tomatos
• Coconut
• Salt
• Coriander 
• Lime juice 

Add Fish pieces and cook for 5-7 minutes
Add:

• Water
• Cilantro

Cook for 5 minutes more until water has evaporated.
Serve with rice and enjoy!