September 3, 2012
Some Sourdough Basics and Recipes
Favorite sourdough websites (click on names to go to the websites; I linked them to where they talk about sourdough):
King Arthur Flour They have great info and recipes
Cultures for Health
Articles with lots of great tips
Kitchen Stewardship
The easy way to make a starter, and recipe links at the bottom of the page
GNOWFGLINS
This link is to a video with information on how to make a starter (and I think some benefits of sourdough?)
Sourdough Home
Basic Information:
How to feed sourdough starter and maintain it in the fridge
Favorite Recipes: (First I must say that these are my favorite recipes. My husband does not like sourdough, at this time. My goal is to become more proficient in it so that it's not quite so sour, and my husband will like it. This will be an ongoing list, so as I find new recipes that I like, or recipes that I like better than the one I have linked here I will change them.)
Bread
Crackers
Crepes (yes, this is the right link-I have never fried them for tortilla chips-my husband does like this recipe)
Pancakes (I like the recipe down near the bottom of this page)
Pizza Crust
Waffles
Do you have a favorite sourdough recipe? Let me know!
February 10, 2012
Baked Oatmeal and Bagels
Baked Soaked Oatmeal-This recipe has become a Saturday morning tradition. Soaking is great for your grains so that you get more nutrition from them. This recipe is adapted from Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
Baked Soaked Oatmeal
- 2-1/2 c. oats
- 1 T. whole wheat flour (provides phytase to help break down the phytic acid in the oats)
- 1-3/4 c. buttermilk
- ½ c. melted butter, coconut oil, or canola oil
- 4 eggs (or 1/4 cup powdered eggs)
- ½ c. honey, maple syrup, or sugar
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. Cinnamon
- 2 tsp. Vanilla
- 2-4 cups fresh or dried fruit (dried apples, raisins, apples, pears, etc.)
- Optional: 2 c. chopped nuts (or sprinkle on each individual serving after baking)
Whole Wheat Bagels-I made these bagels a few weeks ago. So good! They take quite a bit effort since I had to broil, boil, and bake them. What a fun treat, though!
December 1, 2011
Whole Wheat Sourdough
So here is how to make your own starter. Hopefully I'll share some recipes in a few days.
1. Mix equal parts of wheat flour (or any flour) and water in a quart-sized jar. I started with 1/2 cup of each.
2. Put a napkin over top, and screw it on with a lid. The napkin allows for airflow to get into the jar. The idea with sourdough is that you are getting natural yeasts and healthy bacterias from the air.
3. Set in a warm place.
4. "Feed" the starter twice each day, following steps 1-3. I usually use 1-2 tablespoons of each flour and water at each feeding. Be sure to mix well, making certain to scrape the bottom and sides of the jar.
5. Within 2-4 days you should start to see bubbles. This is all dependent upon things you can and can't control such as temperature. When I started my starter during the summer, I had a lot happier of a starter than I expect to this time. Just do your best to keep it warm. Keep the jar on the stove so that it warms up while your cooking, etc. (Note: When I tried in the future, I found it rather impossible to get good results in the cold winter temperatures. I'll give it another shot, and then I think I'll just have to wait for warmer weather.)
6. You can make crackers in less than a week of starting your starter, but you should probably wait 1-2 weeks prior to making bread, just to make sure your starter is happy (lots of bubbles).
7. When you're ready to make a recipe, take out as much starter as the recipe calls for, then replace with equal parts of flour and water.
Easy! This really only takes about 1 minute of work each day!
I learned how to make sourdough from Kitchen Stewardship. If you don't like my directions, you can check out her's. I also started by using her recipes. Then I got more adventurous.
April 26, 2011
Wheat Bread revisited
December 29, 2010
Red vs. White Wheat
| red wheat (left) white wheat (right) |
Wheat ground into flour looks like this:
| red wheat (left), white wheat (right) |
To test how the flours differ when cooking, I made my bread recipe using all white wheat flour in one batch, and all red wheat flour in a second batch.
| Bread made with red wheat |
| bread made with white wheat |
| red wheat (left), white wheat (right) |
When I use wheat flour in every day recipes such as cookies, pizza dough, or pie crust, I like to use white wheat, because it is lighter in color and texture. It blends in with all-purpose flour better.
Coming Up: Gluten Free Cooking
December 23, 2010
Storing Wheat Flour
December 18, 2010
Wheat Berries
Fast Stove-top Method: Heat 2 1/2 cups water and 1 cup wheat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 50-60 minutes. Makes about 3 cups of wheat berries.
Slow Stove-top Method: Heat 3 cups water and 1 cup wheat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 1/2 hour. Turn off heat and allow wheat to stand, covered 8-12 hours. Drain off any remaining liquid.
Thermos Method: Place 1 cup wheat and 2 1/2 cups boiling water in quart-sized thermos. Screw the top on lightly and leave until morning.
Slow Cooker Method: Place 3 cups water and 1 cup wheat in slow cooker. Cook on HIGH for 2-3 hours. Turn off slow cooker and let sit overnight.
So now what do you do with this wheat? I will admit that I don't use wheat berries a whole lot. I have eaten it as a breakfast cereal, warm, with milk and brown sugar or honey. I have put wheat berries in my meat loaf. That's my extent of wheat berries.
From what I read, though, you can use them in most any recipe to stretch the meat or other grain. Some ideas: use in chili, stroganof, noodle or rice salads, or stuffing.
Most important part: Introduce wheat into your diet slowly. If you do not, you will have severe pain. I believe this is the most important reason to introduce wheat into your diet now in slow amounts.
How do you cook wheat berries? Does anyone cook them in a pressure cooker? How do you eat them?
Coming Up: Red vs. White Wheat
December 13, 2010
Using Wheat Flour
It's easy and nutritious!
Coming Up: Cooking wheat kernels into berries. This is how you can use wheat if you don't have a grinder!
December 2, 2010
Wheat Grinders
I have two wheat grinders: a manual grinder, and an electric. I don't use the manual one very often, because it takes a long time, and manual labor, to grind the wheat. But I have it in case of emergencies. They cost less than $100, most around $60. I have seen them on sale for around $40.
I love my electric grinder, when I use it correctly. I have a Blendtec K-Tec Wheat Grinder. I bought it several years ago because a friend recommended it to me. She had one, and her mom had one that she used for 15 years before she had to get a new one. The other reason I chose this grinder is because of the price. I bought it for less than $200. Most electric wheat grinders cost closer to $300.
I made the comment that I love my grinder when I use it correctly. The reason I say that, is because I have not used it correctly two or three times, and I have had wheat flying around. One time I did not put the lid on all the way, and so the wheat was flying out instead of into the holding container.
Since buying this grinder, I have found this video, and this video that I would recommend watching if you would like more information on this wheat grinder.
Coming Up: Using wheat flour in your recipes.
November 27, 2010
Purchasing and Storing Wheat
I love Gamma Lids. They are air-tight, and easy to open and close, and install onto buckets. The usual price is around $8, but I have bought them several times on sale for less than $5. I have even seen them less than $4 a few times.
November 20, 2010
Nutritional Properties of Wheat
Wheat is high in fiber, which will help you keep regular, and it contains a large number of vitamins and minerals.
Source: USDA
¼ cup (30 g) | 1 cup (120 g) | |
Calories | 102 | 407 |
Protein | 4.11 g | 16.44 g |
Carbohydrate | 21.77 g | 87.08 g |
Dietary Fiber | 3.7 g | 14.6 g |
Sugars | 0.12 g | 0.49 g |
Total Fat | 0.56 g | 2.24 g |
Saturated Fat | 0.10 g | 0.39 g |
Trans Fat | N/A | N/A |
Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0 mg |
Iron | 1.16 mg | 4.66 mg |
Calcium | 10 mg | 41 mg |
Sodium | 2 mg | 6 mg |
Magnesium | 41 mg | 166 mg |
Potassium | 122 mg | 486 mg |
Vitamin A | 3 IU | 11 IU |
Vitamin A | 0 RAE | 0 RAE |
Vitamin C | 0 mg | 0 mg |
Vitamin E | 0.25 mg | 0.98 mg |
November 16, 2010
Beginning Wheat
- Who wants to eat 30 year old food? Bluck!
- You should know how to use it before you have to use it.
- It's nutritious! Eat it every day!
- If you start eating a lot of wheat suddenly, you will get very sick. You need to build up your tolerance gradually.
Coming Up: Nutritional properties of wheat--Why you should eat wheat today (and tomorrow)
June 21, 2010
Child Friendly Wheat Bread
I developed this recipe from my Whole Wheat Bread recipe to be more friendly toward my not-quite 1 year old. I wanted it to not include the honey or egg, and to have less sugar.
Whole Wheat Bread for Children
6 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 ¼ T yeast
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/3 cups lukewarm water
1 T salt
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 T oil
2 T brown sugar
1 T molasses
1 ¼ T bottled lemon juice
Mix 3 ½ cups flour, yeast, and baking powder together in an electric mixer with dough hook attached. (On a KitchenAid, you should never exceed speed 2 when using the dough hook.) Add water all at once, and mix for one minute, scraping sides as needed. Cover with a dish towel, and let rest for 10 minutes. Add salt, applesauce, oil, brown sugar, molasses, and lemon juice, and mix for one minute. Add remaining 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time, mixing between each cup. Beat until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl (mostly), about 10 minutes. If after 11 minutes dough has not come away from the edges of the bowl, you may add additional flour, a couple of tablespoons at a time. The dough should feel a little sticky, but soft.
Preheat oven for 1 minute (at any temperature), then turn off oven. Divide dough, and, with oiled hands, place in 2 oiled 8x4 inch bread pans. (You may shape the dough if you wish, but it is not required.) Let rise in warm oven for 10-15 minutes, or until dough reaches the top of the bread pans. Do not remove bread from oven. Turn oven on to 350ºF, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove bread from pans, and cool on racks.
Note: This recipe must be made in an electric mixer. If you make it by hand, you will need to use a lot more flour, which will give you a much tougher dough.
June 2, 2010
Crepes
Crepes
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (4 1/2 tab. powdered milk, 1 1/2 cups water)
1 cup flour (wheat, white, or rice)
1. Put the eggs and milk in a blender, and blend.
2. Add the flour and blend until combined, about 5 seconds, scraping sides of blender as needed.
3. Put the blender in refrigerator, and chill for 30 minutes.
4. Attach blender to base and blend for another few seconds.
5. Heat a small fry pan over medium heat until hot.
6. Grease fry pan (even if it is non-stick).
7. Take the fry pan off the heat, and pour a small amount of batter into fry pan, while rotating the pan so that the batter will cover the entire pan. If you pour too much batter in, pour the excess batter back into the blender.
8. Cook over medium heat for about 30 seconds.
9. Flip the crepe over and cook for an additional 15 seconds.
10. Serve with your favorite fillings and/or toppings.
Fillings/Toppings
applesauce, peanut butter, pureed fruit, berries, peaches, chicken, fish, ham, steamed vegetables, cheese, cottage cheese, white sauce, powdered sugar, lemon juice, pudding
My favorite dinner filling: cottage cheese and canned salmon, topped with a thin white sauce with garlic powder, parsley, rosemary, and pepper mixed in.
May 26, 2010
Wheat Bread
Recipe revisited here.

