Sourdough Bread, Making and Baking

The basic sourdough bread recipe is so simple.  You basically just need a lot of time to plan your bread making, fermenting, and baking.  Once you get the hang of it you won't find it too overwhelming.

Basic Recipe
4 cups organic white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup warm water

I add the flour and salt together in the mixing bowl then add the sourdough starter.  I turn the mixer on, which is fitted with the dough hook, and add the water as it mixes.

After the initial mixing I kneed by hand for a minute or two.

Then I cover the dough and set aside for 8-12 hours.  Or morning to evening.  As you can see from the picture below, things were getting a little warm inside this summer!  I usually ferment my bread in the mixing bowl to reduce the amount of dishes I have to wash any given day.  Once I came home and saw the plastic wrap ballooning up from all the off-gassing as the sourdough fermented.  Happy dough!

After the long ferment I kneed the dough again and shape it into my loaf.  I place the shaped dough in the pan and let that rise for another hour or so.

Bake the bread in a HOT oven, like 400 degrees!  It takes about 40 - 50 minutes to bake in the oven.,  You want to see a nice golden brown tint to the top. 

Sometimes your bread doesn't turn out the way you planned.  If you look at the picture below you can see my alien brain bread.  I can only guess that I rolled the dough on to itself, kind of like a cinnamon roll as I shaped it.  I think it unrolled while rising and baking! It still tasted GREAT, hard to slice though. 

It is fun to play with the dough.  My daughter and I like to braid the dough.  We divide the fermented dough into three pieces then roll them each out into long separate snakes then braid the snakes together.
We then place the shaped dough in the greased bread pan.
We let the dough rise like normal and bake the same.

 

Bread On The Grill

In the summer I hate heating up the kitchen with my oven.  I have found a way to bake bread on the BBQ grill outside.  All you need is a gas powered grill that has a cover on it.  I use a stoneware cookie sheet under my pans while baking.  It keeps the dough from over baking on the bottom.  The best part is ...... bread takes a mere 15 minutes to bake!

Follow the directions for the making and long fermenting of the dough then let the bread rise in the pan like normal.  Here is where you deviate into awesomeness.  

 Preheat the grill on high for five minutes then place the risen bread dough on the baking sheet and shut the grill top. Keep the temperature high for five minutes then turn it down to half heat for the remaining time.  You will know your bread is done when the top of the loaf is a nice golden brown.  Avoid opening the grill top too many times and letting the heat out.  You will have to periodically check the baking progress visually. 

The size of your bread pan will determine how long your bread bakes in the grill.  I have this extra long bread pan and it only takes 15 minutes after the initial grill pre-heat.

Spicy Rosemary Cashews

The recipe is pretty simple and it disappears fast! The price of cashews is the only thing holding me back from making this every week. 

These spicy Cashews make a great appetizer, lunch box addition, or topping for ice cream.

 

Ingredients

• 1 lb. cashews (raw, roasted, or even salted will work)
• 2 T butter
• 3 T fresh finely chopped rosemary
• 2 t dark brown sugar 
• ½ t cayenne pepper
• 2 t Kosher salt

Take the leaves off the rosemary stems and chop them up very fine.  Add the chopped rosemary and dry ingredients into a small bowl.  Melt the butter and pour it over the raw cashews.  Toss.  Add the bowl of dry ingredients to the butter coated nuts and keep tossing the nuts around until fully coated.

Bake the seasoned cashews in a 350* pre-heated oven.  I bake mine for 10 minutes then move the nuts around and bake them for another 5 minutes.  You don't want the nuts to burn.  You want to see a nice caramel brown color throughout.  Store them in a sealed container for a few days at room temperature or 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Spicy Sauerkraut

If you are familiar with making sauerkraut then this will be another fun recipe to try.  If you are unfamiliar in the art of making sauerkraut then click HERE for a little more information about it.

I was at a friends house and they had just finished a Kim chi recipe.  The taste reminded me of a nice spicy sauerkraut. Since I still haven't attempted Kim chi, feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the ingredients, I decided to create a spicy sauerkraut.

Ingredients

1 medium head of cabbage

1 tablespoon salt

3 small hot peppers

1 small head of garlic

Before you chop everything up and add it to the bowl, read this!

 Chop up the cabbage first and add the salt.  Massage the cabbage like you are making regular sauerkraut.  Massage the cabbage until you get a nice wet mixture.

Now chop up the peppers and garlic and add them to your massaged cabbage.  you don't want to get your hands into the mixture now, the peppers are hot!  I used a mixing spoon to incorporate everything at this point.

Next you add the spicy sauerkraut mixture to your jars. I use the outer leaves of the cabbage and a cut piece of the thick middle stem to hold the cabbage mixture down.  I have an airlock system.  You can just use the metal ring and lid.  If you use the metal lid make sure you burp it every day as it off-gasses, and place the jars in a bowl because the liquid coming out will stain.  

I let this sit for a few days. As the bubbles rise all the liquid seems to come to the top.  Since it is summer and the temperatures are pretty hot around here I test for doneness after five - seven days.

  It is done when it tastes pickley and sour! Take the air-lock and lid off and cover the jar with a canning lid.  It helps to write the date on the lid so you can keep track of your saurkraut age. Put your sauerkraut in the frig.  It keeps for a long time.  I just broke into a sauerkraut I made a year ago.  SUPER TANGY!

This Spicy Sauerkraut turned out super good!  My husband even likes it, and he doesn't like sauerkraut!  I love to eat this with my green salad, hot dogs, and over chili beans! It isn't too spicy with the hot peppers. The peppers give it a mild salsa flavor.  This might be a way to introduce newbies to the sauerkraut world!

Fermented Dill Pickles

Fermented dill pickles are pretty easy.  I was gifted some great cucumbers from my sister-in-law. I didn't have time to make pickles right away so I put them in water and stuck them in the frig.

Ingredients:

7-10 smallish cucumbers

7 cloves of garlic

4 sprigs of fresh dill

4 Tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon mustard seed

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

4 - 6 cups filtered water

1 half gallon canning jar

2 grape leaves

First pile in a layer of chilled cucumbers.  Then add some garlic and dill sprigs.  Continue layering until you have fit all your cucumbers in the jar with a two inch head space. 

Next add your peppercorns and mustard seeds. 

Mix up 4-6 cups of filtered water with your salt and stir until dissolved.  Add the water (brine) over the seasoned cucumbers in the jar.  Make sure the brine covers the cucumbers.  Add more water accordingly.  Top everything off with a grape leaf or two to keep the cucumbers from the air at the top. 

Finally cap your jar with an air lock or metal canning lid.  If you are using a metal canning lid you will have to keep an eye on the fermenting and may have to burp the lid once a day. 

Let your jar sit for about 2- 3 weeks, depending on your house temperature.  The warmer your house is, the faster fermentation happens.  You will start to see the color changing.  You can taste your pickles to see if they are done or keep fermenting longer for a really sour dill pickle. 

When your pickles are done.  Take off the air-lock and lid. Put a canning lid or plastic lid on the jar and pop it into the frig.  They will keep in the frig for a while.  Mine never last very long because we eat them so quickly.  ENJOY!

Zucchini Fruit Snacks

I came across this recipe a few years ago. http://commonsensehome.com/summer-squash-gummy-candy/ I love how I can use up zucchini from the garden and have a fun shelf stable snack on the go.

INGREDIENTS: 

Two large zucchinis

1 can of organic orange juice concentrate

PROCEDURE

First step is to peel the zucchini.  Be careful because the zucchini exudes a sticky sap like substance and it becomes very slippery.

Next core your zucchini.  Get all the seeds and pulp out. The seeds and pulp don't do well in the dehydrating process and tend to get very stringy. 

Next chop your cored zucchini into half inch pieces. I find that the job goes a lot quicker if I slice the halved zucchini lengthwise then slice all the little pieces together.

The more uniform your pieces are the easier it will be to get all the fruit snacks done at the same time.  

Add your chopped zucchini pieces to the orange juice concentrate.  It makes the cooking process go faster if you liquefy the concentrate before adding the zucchini.  I just let mine sit out while I cut up the zucchini then slide the concentrate out of the tube and warm it over the burner in the pot I'm going to cook the zucchini in.  It looks like there isn't enough liquid.  There is!  As you can see from the pictures, the zucchini pieces let out moisture as they cook.  Keep stirring and moving the zucchini around at a low boil. After it has simmered for about 20 min I usually turn it off and let it sit covered for up to an hour.  This allows all the juice to permeate the zucchini.   The next to last step is to drain out the excess liquid.

I pour my soaked zucchini over a strainer and a bowl so I can catch the orange juice.

I use the orange juice in fruit smoothies later.  It does have a zucchini after taste, but isn't so bad.

Last step is to dehydrate!  In the summer I can make a batch in about 10 hours on medium temperature.  As you can see the zucchini really shrinks up a lot.  All the orange flavor is concentrated in each bite. 

I have also tried a sour grape flavor.  First I used only the grape concentrate and it tasted too bland.  Adding the lemon concentrate made the grape so much more interesting.  It isn't even that sour, just super good.  To make this flavor simply follow the above procedure and substitute one can of grape and lemon concentrate for the orange concentrate. 

We have had a lot of fun making and eating these little gems.  These make a great alternative to Halloween candy!  When packaged the right way anything looks appetizing and exciting!

 

You can use this for your labels or make your own.

Simply print this double label sheet on a full page of regular printing paper.  Cut the page in half and fold each label over the Ziploc bag then staple on each end.  

Fermented Salsa

We love, love, love, fermented salsa around here.  It is one of the faster ferments I do in the summer.  

There is a lot of chopping, and crying (because of the onions) it is all worth every second.  This ferment only takes two days at my warm California home.  

INGREDIENTS:

10 large tomatoes

1 large onion

5 peppers (hot or mild)

5 cloves of garlic

a bunch of cilantro

2 Tablespoons salt

These ingredients are an approximate amount, you can add more or less of anything but the salt. As you can see in the following pictures I have set out to make a lot of salsa.   

 

Chop, chop, chop, add everything to a large bowl or pot so you can really mix them all in together to marry the flavors.  You can let this mixture sit for a bit while you clean up the kitchen and get the jars ready for filling.  

Fill each canning jar to a half inch of the top.  wipe the jar rim clean and screw on the canning lid

Let the sealed jar of salsa sit out at room temperature for about 2 days.  There will be a lot of lid action going on near the end.  Lids will bulge and pop even!  This is good, this means that fermentation is taking place. 

I hope the video below plays well.  This is my jar of salsa on day two. I unscrewed the lid and the salsa was expanding out of the jar.  So much pressure had built up it started overflowing.  The salsa should be moved to the frig at this point.  It will continue to ferment slowly in the frig and can last for months unopened.  I lost a jar in the back of the frig and found it months later in winter.  Super good salsa, very, very tangy though!

Kombucha Flavors for the Second Ferment

 I have been making Kombucha in our household for about two years now.  Everyone has come to love this sparkling tea.

  I know many other people who have an entirely different way they do the second ferment. I am just showing what we have come up with.

I am not going to go into the history or basic techniques of making Kombucha.  This post is mostly about the second ferment.....with all the FLAVORS!

A group of neighbors and I have formed a support group for our Kombucha brewing.  I guess it is more of a think-tank where we share recipes and ideas.  We have tastings and trouble shoot our problems.  There have been a lot of great recipes created in this group.  I'd like to share a few of our best so far. 

I like to use a glass drink dispenser to brew my kombucha in.  It makes filling the second ferment jar super easy.  As you can see from the above picture I can turn the knob and fill my half gallon jars while getting other things done.  

I use half gallon mason jars to second ferment in.  They are easy to clean, have interchangeable lids, and are easy to replace when broken.  The second ferment is a CLOSED jar, no air exposure.  You want this to carbonate.  I second ferment for 24 hours.  The pressure from fermentation builds up and puts a lot of pressure on the lid.  I have had lids burst with the pressure.  I like to use the canning lids because they will bend and let the pressure out.  I have heard of jars exploding under pressure.  Dangerous!

After 24 hours I strain out the solid material and bottle my flavored Kombucha.  Making labels is fun and helps people get more excited about drinking your brew.  Come up with fun names, Razzellime, or, Berry Blast! I just use plain computer paper and stick it on with clear packing tape.

RECIPES: 
All recipes are for second fermenting in a half gallon mason jar. Add your recipe ingredients to your mature kombucha and seal the lid tightly.  Ferment for up to 2 days.

Vanilla Cinnamon:
1 split vanilla bean
1 teaspoon cinnamon chips

Raspberry Lime:
1/2 cup raspberries ( I think frozen work best)
juice from 1 lime

Apple Cinnamon:
1/2 chopped up Granny Smith apple
1 teaspoon cinnamon chips