You know, one challenge that I never thought about when I decided to start exploring the world of fermentation was...cats.
There are two such beings who share my home with me. Two young guys who are friendly, active, curious and almost completely recalcitrant.
They always take an interest in where I am and what I'm doing, including when I'm in the kitchen. Most often, I can convince them that their help is not needed while I'm cooking or baking. It might take a couple of rapid elevator rides from the counter to the floor, but they are bright fellows, and can take a hint—eventually.
But any cooperation with my desires that they might be willing to entertain is as nothing when compared to their desire to consume ferments. Let me but take the top off of a jar of developing sauerkraut to press it back down beneath the brine and there is no keeping the cats away, short of locking them out of the kitchen.
Even worse is sourdough starter. It is, to hear them tell it, the most delicious substance in the universe, manna from heaven, their very life's blood. Usually when they find themselves locked on the other side of a door from me they might complain briefly, but will quickly settle down. Not if the smell of sourdough starter is in the air. In that case, it's meowing, howling, and banging against the door until I let them out.
And the complaints do not stop when I release them—unless, that is, I present each with a smear of sourdough starter on a saucer. Then, all is forgiven. They lap it up greedily, then switch saucers, each hoping the other missed a bacterium or two. I guess that probiotics are good for kitties, too.
These are two of the most affectionate cats I have ever known. Unlike some who share their homes with cats, I never fear that they will kill me in my sleep. I know, however, that if I ever deprive them of sourdough, all bets are off.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Saturday, May 16, 2015
100% Whole Grain 3 Seed Loaf
Bread is one of those things which, commercially, is not readily available:
Before I started experimenting with sourdough (which presents its own challenges for bread machine baking), I was experimenting with yeast breads, and this is, to date, my favorite. It's good for sandwiches and wonderful sliced thick and toasted. I've never weighed the loaf, but this must be at least two pounds, maybe two and a half.
Add all liquid ingredients to the bread machine pan first.
Carefully add all dry ingredients except for the yeast, with the aim of having the flour mostly floating upon the water.
Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the active dry yeast to it, making sure it does not come into contact with the wet ingredients.
Select the appropriate cycle for whole grain breads. On my machine that is "Regular Wheat". Start the machine.
When the "Add" signal sounds (or near the end of the kneading cycle, if your machine does not signal for added ingredients) add the seeds.
When cycle completes, turn the bread out onto a cooling rack and cool for at least one hour before slicing.
I allow the loaf to thoroughly cool on the rack and then store it in my counter-top bread bin, where it remains reasonably fresh for up to a week in winter, and for 3 or 4 days in summer. After those points, if this bread remains unrefrigerated I inevitably see mold develop.
(I prepare this in a Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker.)
- Vegan (no whey, honey, butter, milk, etc.).
- Without added oil.
- Without refined sugar.
- 100% whole grain.
Before I started experimenting with sourdough (which presents its own challenges for bread machine baking), I was experimenting with yeast breads, and this is, to date, my favorite. It's good for sandwiches and wonderful sliced thick and toasted. I've never weighed the loaf, but this must be at least two pounds, maybe two and a half.
- 415 grams water
- 30 grams agave nectar
- 20 grams blackstrap molasses
- 460 grams whole wheat flour
- 237 grams whole spelt flour
- 25 grams vital wheat gluten
- 10 grams salt
- 7 grams active dry yeast
- 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
- 1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
- 2 Tbsp. sunflower seeds
Add all liquid ingredients to the bread machine pan first.
Carefully add all dry ingredients except for the yeast, with the aim of having the flour mostly floating upon the water.
Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the active dry yeast to it, making sure it does not come into contact with the wet ingredients.
Select the appropriate cycle for whole grain breads. On my machine that is "Regular Wheat". Start the machine.
When the "Add" signal sounds (or near the end of the kneading cycle, if your machine does not signal for added ingredients) add the seeds.
When cycle completes, turn the bread out onto a cooling rack and cool for at least one hour before slicing.
I allow the loaf to thoroughly cool on the rack and then store it in my counter-top bread bin, where it remains reasonably fresh for up to a week in winter, and for 3 or 4 days in summer. After those points, if this bread remains unrefrigerated I inevitably see mold develop.
(I prepare this in a Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker.)
Accepting Responsibility
I'm not sure where this one's going to go. The name is inspired by a couple of areas in which I've started experimenting recently—sourdough, sauerkraut and other ferments; and sewing.
The sewing thing is new. I've always been fine with sewing buttons back on shirts or doing very minor sewing repairs by hand, but lately I've had several shirts that were only a couple of months old lose inches of seams. Obviously I need to find new brands of shirts to buy, but these shirts were not particularly cheap. I decided that I needed to learn to re-seam my own shirts, so I bought an inexpensive sewing machine. Who knows, maybe someday I'll try sewing a garment from scratch. That won't be soon.
I've had rosacea for a few years, and while I'm pretty much used to it now, I can't say that I would mind if it were to diminish. So when I saw a reference somewhere, late last summer, to probiotics possibly being good for rosacea, I was perfectly willing to add some kimchi and sauerkraut to my diet and see what happened. At the very least, I figured, I'd end up with a healthier gut. Well, I discovered that I love sauerkraut (and I quite like kimchi, too, though in more limited contexts). I also discovered that buying organic, natural, probiotic sauerkraut is somewhat expensive. So I started making my own.
Only a short while after I decided to investigate probiotics, Netflix recommended a movie to me called Forks Over Knives. The summary said something about plant-based diets, a subject which certainly interests me, as I've been vegan for 21 years, and vegetarian for 34 years. I watched it and was inspired. It led to me reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell & Thomas M. Campbell and Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn. All of these have a very strong emphasis on health, which is something that has not, historically, been much of a concern for me in my diet. I also watched another movie, Planeat, which covers much of the same material as Forks Over Knives, but with more of an environmental emphasis, which very much appealed to me.
Anyway, the upshot of all of that is that last autumn I changed my diet. I started making every effort to eliminate added oils and other highly processed foods (like refined sugar, white flour, etc.) from my diet. Still vegan, of course, and retaining my strong preference for organically grown produce. What I found—and I suppose this shouldn't have surprised me—is that this means preparing pretty much all of my own food. I don't always make everything completely from scratch. There are packaged organic, whole wheat pastas and a couple of oil-free pasta sauces that work for me, for instance. By and large, though, I cook a lot, now.
This isn't going to be a cooking blog. I am no gourmet chef, and my own tastes are fairly simple. But what I think that I will include here are any successful experiments. Things that I had trouble finding recipes for, and managed to cobble together myself, to my own satisfaction. I do not necessarily expect anything that I post here to appeal to you, gentle reader, but perhaps you'll at least find a jumping off point for creating something that you will love.
So I guess that what I'm planning to write about here is accepting responsibility for my own health, for my own food, for my own clothes—for my own life.
The sewing thing is new. I've always been fine with sewing buttons back on shirts or doing very minor sewing repairs by hand, but lately I've had several shirts that were only a couple of months old lose inches of seams. Obviously I need to find new brands of shirts to buy, but these shirts were not particularly cheap. I decided that I needed to learn to re-seam my own shirts, so I bought an inexpensive sewing machine. Who knows, maybe someday I'll try sewing a garment from scratch. That won't be soon.
I've had rosacea for a few years, and while I'm pretty much used to it now, I can't say that I would mind if it were to diminish. So when I saw a reference somewhere, late last summer, to probiotics possibly being good for rosacea, I was perfectly willing to add some kimchi and sauerkraut to my diet and see what happened. At the very least, I figured, I'd end up with a healthier gut. Well, I discovered that I love sauerkraut (and I quite like kimchi, too, though in more limited contexts). I also discovered that buying organic, natural, probiotic sauerkraut is somewhat expensive. So I started making my own.
Only a short while after I decided to investigate probiotics, Netflix recommended a movie to me called Forks Over Knives. The summary said something about plant-based diets, a subject which certainly interests me, as I've been vegan for 21 years, and vegetarian for 34 years. I watched it and was inspired. It led to me reading The China Study by T. Colin Campbell & Thomas M. Campbell and Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell Esselstyn. All of these have a very strong emphasis on health, which is something that has not, historically, been much of a concern for me in my diet. I also watched another movie, Planeat, which covers much of the same material as Forks Over Knives, but with more of an environmental emphasis, which very much appealed to me.
Anyway, the upshot of all of that is that last autumn I changed my diet. I started making every effort to eliminate added oils and other highly processed foods (like refined sugar, white flour, etc.) from my diet. Still vegan, of course, and retaining my strong preference for organically grown produce. What I found—and I suppose this shouldn't have surprised me—is that this means preparing pretty much all of my own food. I don't always make everything completely from scratch. There are packaged organic, whole wheat pastas and a couple of oil-free pasta sauces that work for me, for instance. By and large, though, I cook a lot, now.
This isn't going to be a cooking blog. I am no gourmet chef, and my own tastes are fairly simple. But what I think that I will include here are any successful experiments. Things that I had trouble finding recipes for, and managed to cobble together myself, to my own satisfaction. I do not necessarily expect anything that I post here to appeal to you, gentle reader, but perhaps you'll at least find a jumping off point for creating something that you will love.
So I guess that what I'm planning to write about here is accepting responsibility for my own health, for my own food, for my own clothes—for my own life.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)