Biscuits: Morning, Noon and Night

(Otherwise known as the exhaustive biscuit post)

I once heard a particular scathing remark for those who don't learn how to cook: shotgun biscuits. "It sounds like a gun done gone off in the kitchen..."

Ahem. These are not those biscuits. You see, you can't develop any sort of reputation as a cook in the South with those ungodly things. The truth be told, those biscuits can do many things when you're in a tremendous hurry, as many TV darlings with deep southern accents have proven. It still doesn't make them taste any better, though-- doughy and generic flavor that comes from oils produced from who-knows-what.

I have a couple of biscuit recipes that I keep in my overflowing recipe collection for whenever the urge strikes. For no matter how much I may need protein in the morning, sometimes nothing but biscuits and gravy will do.

I do have one caveat about my biscuits: I always, always use half whole wheat (soft white) and half all-purpose flour. Sometimes I'll even use all whole-wheat. The half-n-half thing actually makes most people think it tastes better.

I also find that some have issues with cutting flour into butter (or whatever fat you're using). It's a skill better learned by experience rather than taught, but it's something you can also see-- though it's even better to feel it with your fingers. Honestly, it's better to underdo it rather than overdo it. If you overdo it, you'll end up with a gluey mess and biscuits that won't rise. If you leave larger pieces of fat in your dough, you'll just end up with puddles of butter in your dough, which will eventually make holes. That doesn't do much-- it just makes your biscuits flakier. :)

This is what looks right to me: all of the flour is coated with fat, but there are still larger pieces of butter in the mix. Those larger pieces will create flakiness, which make your biscuits tender. This is especially essential if you're planning on shaping your biscuits. You need those larger chunks of fat in there to support the turning and flouring and patting down and rolling out that your dough will go through.

I also use a pastry blender rather than a fork or my fingers. If I'm in a kitchen without one, I'll cut my butter into small (1/2-inch) pieces, use my fingers for a while, and end with a fork. I'll also use the food processor when I have large quantities of flour and fat. It all depends on your comfort and your tools.

Easy Drop Biscuits

This first recipe is one I mastered as a teenager, intent on imitating my aunt D's skills as a baker. It's really her recipe, tried and true, from many family get-togethers. Of course, my aunt probably has more biscuit recipes than a butcher has cuts of meat, but this is the one I remember the best. Mine never turn out exactly like hers; I think it's in the way she shapes them, and the way I don't. These are lazy-day biscuits, for when you don't feel like getting out your pastry mat or your biscuit cutters. This is also the recipe I use when I want to throw in cheese, chives, spices, and other lovely things. They're incredibly flexible. They also make up for their ugliness by being melt-in-your mouth good, and they need nothing to make them better. (Not that a little maple syrup or honey hurt anyone... :)

These biscuits are also so fast that you can whip up a batch for Sunday lunch after you get in from church, while everything else is warming up.

2 c. all-purpose flour (half soft white, half all-purpose)
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2-4 T. sugar (depending on how sweet you want your biscuits--two is perfect for most)
1/2 c. butter
2/3 c. sweet milk
Preheat oven to 450 (230 C)

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces, and using your fingers, a fork, or a pastry blender, cut butter into flour. When the largest lumps of butter are pea-sized and the rest of the dough resembles coarse cornmeal, add in milk. Mix very briefly. Drop in mounds onto a baking sheet (you can use parchment, if desired). Bake for 7-10 minutes, depending on the size of your biscuits.

(You can shape these to make them more uniform: using floured hands, gently round spoonfuls of dough between your palms and put them, barely touching, in a high-sided pan to bake.

Cheese and chive variation: (or, the Red Lobster version)
Reduce sugar to one tablespoon; add in 1/2 c. cheese and 2 Tablespoons finely chopped/cut fresh chives right before adding in the milk. You can also 1/2 t. minced garlic.

Cinnamon and spice variation:Mix in 1 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg, and 1/4 t. cloves into dry ingredients before cutting in butter. In a separate bowl, mix together 2 Tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 Tablespoon butter. Drizzle the cinnamon-sugar topping over biscuits before baking.

---

Sky-High Biscuits
If I'm really in the mood for butter and jam, what I want are my Uncle D's biscuits. (Well, really, he's my second cousin. He just treats me so well, I feel like his niece instead.) When I visited him and Aunt B. last fall, I woke up one morning to D. mixing up this recipe. I'm not sure anyone can make these biscuits quite as well as he does, but I'm still trying. When made right, these biscuits are beautifully buttery, fluffy and--the name doesn't lie--sky-high. An appropriate name for a recipe that comes from a former Air Force pilot, no?

These biscuits have a similar delicate flavor to the ones above, but they are built for butter and jam. They remind me of what's best about baking powder biscuits.

3 cups all-purpose flour (half soft white, half all-purpose)
2 Tablespoons baking powder
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 c. butter
1 egg, beaten
1 c. milk

Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C).

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add butter, cut in until crumbly.

Mix together beaten egg and milk; add to flour mixture and mix quickly. Knead lightly, folding dough over itself to build layers.

Pat gently to about one inch thickness and cut into 2-inch biscuits. Place slightly apart on a cookie sheet; bake for 15 minutes.

---

Heavenly Flour-Bread Biscuits (or in Southern vernacular, Angel Biscuits)
from Dori Sander's Country CookingThe last biscuits, I'm almost beyond words to describe. They aren't a bit like the other two--because they include less fat, copious amounts of buttermilk, lard, and yeast. Yes--though most don't consider yeast to be a part of biscuits, they are in this recipe. And it makes these biscuits wonderfully hassle-free and delicious. Because these contain yeast, I usually start the dough the night before and place it in the fridge. The next morning, all I have to do is roll out the dough and cut them out-- though I usually fold the dough several times (as you would puff pastry) to make sure it's the right consistency. This also helps the dough develop layers, which makes it a great pull-apart-with-your-fingers kinda biscuit. The other great thing about this recipe? They taste good for at least one day after they're freshly made, sometimes two--but only if you use lard. I've made them with all butter before, and they just weren't as good.

This makes a massive amount of biscuits, but don't fear, you will use them up. You could also halve the recipe or freeze the leftovers.

1 Tablespoon dry active yeast
2 Tablespoons warm water

5 cups all-purpose flour (half soft white, half all-purpose)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar

1 cup lard or butter (I use 6.5 ounces of lard and 1.5 (3 Tablespoons) of butter)
2 cups buttermilk

In a medium bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles very coarse cornmeal. (I usually use a food processor.)

Add the buttermilk to the yeast water, stir, and add to the flour mixture. Stir until the mixture is just moistened. The dough, which will be very soft, may be covered and refrigerated overnight at this point. (I always do this.)

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, sprinkle the top lightly with flour, and knead 6-8 times. Reflour the surface and roll the dough out to a thickness of a bout 1/2 inch. Using a biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut into rounds and place on a lightly greased (or parchment-lined) baking sheet. For lighter biscuits, cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for twenty minutes. For quick biscuits, proceed directly to baking.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Pizza Tonight!

My dad once went to a junkyard near home and bought a part for his still running, decrepit, '69 Datson 510 station-wagon, also known as the "Little Green Lima Bean". I don't remember what part he bought, but I do remember his description of the northern red-neck manning the junkyard. Scraggly hair, missing teeth, dirty pants and shirt. When daddy forked over the fifteen bucks for the part, the old codger crowed back towards his shack, "Pizza t'night!"

And that was that.

The car is long gone; the phrase stuck. I still think about it when I make pizza. And I love to make pizza. The dough is amazingly forgiving, and (with enough olive oil), it's crispy-tender loveliness. The toppings aren't half-bad, either.

This dough recipe comes from Rosemary Levey Barenbaum's Bread Bible-- a great cookbook for reading, learning, and baking. It's also one of the cookbooks in my growing-collection-that's-already-too-big that gives weights instead of just volume for flour. I've had a kitchen scale for a couple of years; I got it (for less than fifteen bucks) soon after I got my wheat grinder. I love it for several reasons:

• Flour's volume is affected by the weather and can vary up to (I think-- don't quote me) 1/4 cup, depending on how dry or damp the weather is. And 1/4-cup can be the difference between a dry cake and a moist one. The safest option is to weigh your flour when your concerned about moisture, or if you're just wanting to be careful.
  
• If you grind wheat, the volume between wheat berries and ground flour is quite different. If you're wanting to grind just enough, then your safest bet is to weigh your flour. (Though that's not really such a concern for me anymore; I just store the extra in the freezer.)
  
• It's also easier to just measure while you pour everything into the mixing bowl-- it actually takes a step out of the process of mixing and baking.

But this post is about pizza. I've made pizza dough before, but I never made pizza that tasted this good until I happened upon this recipe, in this cookbook. I think the key difference between this recipe and others is the wetness of the dough and the massive amount of olive oil. I also modify this recipe to include 1/2 whole wheat, though I'm sure you could do all. I would add about a teaspoon of gluten, and and I think you'd be set.

I also double this recipe from the original, since the amount of dough you get from the original recipe makes either a very small pizza or a very thin-crust pizza. I like thin crust, but my dad doesn't. And the little pizza doesn't make enough for even our small family.

One last note about the recipe: Ms. Barenbaum is nothing if not exact in her directions-- it's one reason her cookbooks are great for doing something for the first time. I tend to read through the directions the first 2-3 times, then follow my nose the rest of the way. You choose. :)

Perfect Pizza Dough
from the Bread Bible

8 oz. (1 1/2 c. plus 2 T.) flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 bread flour)
1 teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 c. water
8 t. olive oil
1/2 - 1 t. wheat gluten (If using whole wheat and want a little more lift)

equipment:
1 large pizza pan, or a large brownie/edged sheet pan (my preference)
1 large pizza stone (I leave mine in the oven all the time-- it helps everything bake more evenly)

1. One hour before shaping, (or for best flavor development, 8-24 hours ahead) mix the dough: Whisk together flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in water. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, gradually stir the flour into the water until all the flour is moistened and a dough just begins to form, about 20 seconds. It should come away from the bowl but still stick to it a little, and be a little rough looking, not smooth. Do not overmix-- it will make the dough stickier.
   
   
2. Let the dough rise: Pour the oil into a 4-cup measuring cup (to give the dough room to double) or a bowl. With oiled fingers or an oiled spatula, place the dough in the measuring cup with the oil and turn it to coat on all sides. Cover it tightly with plastic wrap. If you want to use the dough immediately, allow to sit at room temperature for one hour or until doubled. For the best flavor development, make the dough at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours ahead, and allow it to sit at room temperature for only 30 minutes or until slightly puffy. Then set the dough, still in the measuring cup, in the refrigerator. Remove it on hour before you want to put it in the oven.
   
   
3. Prepare the topping (ideas below)
   
   
4. Preheat the oven: One hour before baking, move oven shelf to lowest position, place baking stone on shelf, and preheat to 475 Fahrenheit.
   
   
5. Shape pizza and let it rise: With oiled fingers, lift the dough out of the measuring cup or bowl Holding the dough in one hand, pour a little of the oil left in the cup or bowl onto the pizza pan and spread it all over the bottom of the pan with your fingers. set the dough on the pans and press it down with your fingers do deflate it gently. Shape it into a smooth round (or rectangle) by tucking under the edges. IF there are any holes, kneatd it very lightly until smooth. Allow the dough to sit for 15 minutes, covered, to relax it.
   
   Using your fingertips, pres the dough from the center to the outer edge to stretch it into the size of your pan. (I use oiled plastic wrap to help me stretch the pizza dough; if I do it with just my fingers, I always end up tearing the dough.) If the dough resists stretching, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for a few minutes longer before proceeding. After dough is stretched, brush it with any remaining olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30-45 minutes, until it becomes light and slightly puffy with air.
   
   
6. Bake the pizza: Set the pizza pan directly on the hot stone and bake for 5 minutes.
   
   
7. Add toppings
   
   
8. Finish baking: Return the pan to the stone for another 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden. For an extra-crisp crust, use a pancake turner or a baker's peel to slide the pizza directly onto the baking stone.

Toppings are something I don't get too persnickety about. There are thousands of ways to dress a pizza, and everyone's going to have their favorites. Here are some of mine:

Pizza Bianca with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Zucchini:

There aren't pictures of this one, since I haven't made it since last summer's zucchini.
This pizza is great with a super-thin crust.

1/2-1 c. ricotta
3-4 T. Parmesan-Reggiano (freshly grated is the best)
1- 1 1/2 c. mozzarella
Sun-dried tomatoes
1 med. zucchini, sliced thinly
2-3 T. olive oil
Salt, pepper and spices (onion powder, garlic, parsley, a touch of nutmeg... whatever.)
(Or, my favorite store-bought seasoning blend for a lot of things--including zucchini-- is Simply Organic's Grilling Mates Chicken Seasoning.)

1. Pour oil into a cast iron or frying pan and allow to heat. When hot, saute zucchini with salt, pepper and spices. Set aside.
   
   
2. Spread ricotta on crust, sprinkle Parmesan-Reggiano and mozzarella on top. Finish with sun-dried tomatoes and sauteed zucchini. Finish in oven.
   

Caramelized Onion and Sausage Pizza:
1/2 lb. sausage
~2 T. olive oil
1 med-large onion, sliced in thin strips, end-to-end
~1 t. sugar
~1/4 c. white wine
salt to taste

Basic Pizza Sauce
OR: 1/2 c. Alfredo Sauce (homemade is super-wonderful)

1 T. Bleu Cheese or 1/4 c. feta cheese, crumbled
2 c. mozzarella cheese

1. Fry sausage in a cast iron pan (or any frying pan-- I just like cast iron.) Remove from pan, leaving drippings.
   
   
2. Add olive oil to pan and allow to heat. Add onions. Fry on medium-low heat. As onions start to color, add in white wine, sugar and salt (I usually eyeball these amounts). Let cook until onions are soft and caramelized, 20-30 minutes.
3. Spread pizza or Alfredo sauce on pizza crust. If using Bleu cheese, sprinkle on top of pizza sauce. Add mozzarella on top, top with onions, then sausage. If using feta, sprinkle feta on top. Finish in oven.
   

Basic Pizza Sauce:
I never used to know what to do for pizza sauce until my friend Alyssa taught me a trick: just use tomato paste with some seasoning. So that's what I do now.

1 can tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoons Italian Seasoning

• Mix all ingredients together. (Whew! Wasn't that hard?!) :P

Alfredo Sauce:

2 T. butter
1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
(dash of nutmeg--optional)

1. Melt butter into a sauce pan; add cream. Bring to a simmer, cook until cream starts to thicken. Remove from heat.
   
2. Add in Parmesan and whisk until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
   

Mangia!

The Lard Post

I threatened to write this post long ago, but there's no time like the present to do it!


Lard is the fat that comes from a pig, and pigs are big animals. There's no getting around that fact. I'm sure, back in the day when people actually raised their animals from life to death, making lard was much more of a chore than it is now. For some, they look back to all of that work and ask:

Why choose to make lard when you can actually buy it from the grocery store right beside the shortening?
As our food becomes more factory-oriented, it becomes less pure. Shortening is a chemically modified fat, whether or not it has trans-fats, and the lard you get from the store is hydrogenated to improve its shelf life. You also don't know where the pigs came from, what they ate, and how they lived, which are all things to take into account when you're talking about the health of your fat. The quality of life an animal has when it is living shows up in all of its products, but especially in its fat. That's why I attempt to buy pure fat when I go to make lard. I usually buy Eden Naturals pork fat from a farmer's market.

Making your lard is also pretty cheap. This is about ten pounds worth of fat.

This leads to another question:

Why choose lard, or another traditional fat, when shortening is available at the store?
A lot of people might wonder this when they haven't heard of Nourishing Traditions, the Weston A. Price Foundation, or other sources of information that challenge commonly held pseudo-nutritional beliefs. Here's a little bit of information: the diets of your great-grandparents were much healthier than ours today, not just because they didn't eat as many pesticides and chemicals. They ate food full of lard, tallow, butter, and coconut oil. The modern industrial diet today includes more monosaturated fats, such as corn oil, rapeseed (canola) oil, and soybean oil. These are some of the most common oils in the modern U.S. diet, and each has its issues: corn oil can come from GMOs and can cause bone density loss, canola oil comes from a toxic plant and goes through many chemical processes to make it fit for human consumption. (It's also registered by the EPA as a pesticide). The last one is common as an ingredient in processed foods. Soybean oil has all the bad characteristics of soy: it's difficult for many to digest, it causes a spike in estrogen production (in both males and females), and it can be a factor in cancer or IBS. Basically, your best bets for fat are to try to eat like your great-grandparents. That's where making lard comes in.

The Process:

So far, I've tried three different ways of making lard: on the stove, in the oven, and in the crock pot. The crock pot batch was the last, so that's the one recording first.

1. First, it really helps to have some equipment:
   
   
   Last time I made lard, I used just a cleaver to cut up the fat. This time, the food processor saved my hand, even though I still had to chop up the larger slabs of fat.
   
2. Put all the fat into the crock pot on low heat, and let it cook for a really long time: 8-12 hours (depending on how hot your food processor is). What you're looking for is the fat to leach out of the structure of the cells and leave behind cracklings. You'll also smell it--a sweet, cloying pork smell. It's not the greatest, and it seems to be worse in the crock pot than on the stove or in the oven.
   
3. Once your fat is rendered, you've got to remove the cracklings from the lard. It's easiest to do this by first dipping out the lard that you can, and straining it through a piece a clean rag. I've found that cheesecloth isn't fine enough and lets some sediment through, so I like to use a piece of old sheeting. (I also like that I can throw it away afterward, guilt-free.)
   
4. Many folks will be content with packaging up the lard now, but I take one more step. There are still some protein fibers floating around in the lard, so I like to clarify it. All that means is that I add some water to the liquid lard--usually about 2 cups--and stir it around. I then put it in the fridge to harden. The water will pull the proteins to the bottom of the fat, and what's on top will better quality.
   
5. If you don't feel like going through the last step, package up the lard into the containers you wish to use, and refrigerate or freeze. If you did do step four, take it out of the fridge, cut it up into smaller chunks, trying to leave out the protein bits. Usually, when you're down to half a container, the big lard "chunk" will come out of the water on its own; you can then scrape off the proteins on the bottom.
   
6. I like to divide my lard into the right portions for biscuits, since that's what I use it for most often. I also freeze lard, since it will keep in the refrigerator for three months and in the freezer for over a year.

On the Stove:

Put the lard from the food processor in a large stock pot along with 1-2 cups of water. The water keeps the lard from burning or catching on fire. Just like the crock pot method, put the lard on the lowest heat, cover, and let cook for 8-12 hours.

In the Oven:
Put the lard on a rimmed cookie sheet or oven-proof pan. Warm the oven to 250-275 degrees and put the fat into the oven.  Let render for 3-6 hours, checking every thirty minutes or so to pour off the already rendered lard.

So, which method do I like the best? After doing the crock pot and stove methods and finishing with the oven method, I think the oven method will be my go-to one from now on. It smells less, it seems like it's less clean-up, and the whole process seems more contained.

Of course, if this sounds like too much work you can do what my sister does: she buys lard and tallow (among other things) from US Wellness Meats.

Food Philosophy

When I start to talk food with the average Joe/Josephine, he/she starts to back away. I can see the wheels turning: Whoa Nelly!

But even the average Joe has heard enough information nowadays to become an informed consumer. Local ways of eating are all around us. In fact, where I live, we are singularly blessed to have 1) legal raw milk, and 2) a community that does their part to support local agriculture and businesses. And I am incredibly blessed to have my own source for goat's milk, cheese, pastured organic eggs, grass-fed ground beef, and (sometimes) chicken in the same farmer. I love my farmer. She's incredibly good to my family.

I get on this kick of telling others about it every blue moon--usually when I haven't talked about it in a while. Like I said, when I start talking food and local and real fat, people start getting a little scared. Or offended? Something.

It's not a matter of being better. It's not even a matter of loving to cook, which I do. In fact, I'd love to cook even if I weren't a crazy health food fanatic (in a very traditional way) trying to once again convince my daddy to try raw milk. (Really, we just let it slide. At least he drinks it in his coffee.)

I also recognize the need for convenience in food, especially since I teach and go to school and have a busy life. I've consumed waaayyy too much McDonald's mocha to say too much about it. But the principle of the matter remains the same: America's food problems stem from the over-industrialization of its food sources. Fake food does not a healthy population make.

So, what do I do, on a consistent basis, to make my family a healthier and happier group?

Meat:

• When Mama heard about Mad Cow Disease a couple of years ago, it scared her away from beef. Now we mostly use ground beef from my local farmer. We know what these cows were fed, in fact, I even visited them at the farm. I'm starting to get closer to my food.
  
• Local sausage: There are several meat processors in our area that do a lot of processing for local hunters and farms. One makes sausage which our local grocery store sells, and on the package it advertises "No MSG". I don't know about the quality of the pork, but at least I know it doesn't have MSG.
• Chicken: Our egg lady is out to do some serious good. She not only provides almost my entire family with eggs, but every once in a while she will process birds specifically for her customers. I'm really thankful; it makes it easy to get clean (soy-free) meat. I'm still experimenting to get a true grasp of cooking these birds perfectly, but high-heat roasting in a covered dish really works well. (My Thanksgiving turkey also came from her last year!)
  
• Venison: I'm excited about this one! Our next-door neighbor loves to hunt for the sport, but doesn't want to see the meat go to waste. It looks like we'll get our venison without being hunters ourselves; we'll just pay the processing fee and have plenty of natural meat for cheap. (And if any body knows what to do with it, I'd be mighty thankful for some recipes!)
• Eggs: of course. Why else would I call my farmer my egg lady? :)
  

Fat:

• LARD: I'm about to make it again--perhaps I'll record the process this time? It's very easy, and even easier when you chop it in the food processor, and make it in the crock pot! I think I saw this recommended somewhere; I don't remember. A friend of mine tried it and says it worked like a charm. What I do know is this: It makes wonderful fried anything, biscuits, and pie crust. I get my fat from Eden Naturals Pork.
• Butter: Right now is the time to stock up on Organic Valley's cultured butter: it's a brand/ style that Sally Fallon mentions in Nourishing Traditions. I'm waiting for it to go on sale at my awesome local grocery chain, which really does a good job on the organic and local side of things.
• Animal Fats: When we buy bacon, we usually buy the expensive kind: organic or natural, without nitrates. We save the fat, and use it for all kinds of things: vegetables, morning fried eggs, onions--whatever. We probably have too much in our fridge right now, but that's okay by me.
  
• Olive Oil: organic, extra-virgin is our standard. I'd like to get some less flavorful oil for other situations, but right now this is what we have and use.
  
• Coconut Oil: can too much be said about this wonderful stuff? What else can you cook with, and also use as the best-ever moisturizer? It's not only amazingly good for you, but it also is antiviral and antibacterial.
  
• Peanut Oil: because it's natural, it fries well, and it's mild, we also keep this on hand.
  

Dairy:

• I've probably said enough about this already, but here goes: local, grass-fed goat or cow's milk. Usually cow's milk is what we get.
  
• Raw cheese (most of the time)
• I should buy local ricotta, but I don't usually.
  
• Yogurt. I should make it at home, but I've not done it in a while. We do (usually) buy organic, usually Stoneyfield Farm.
  

Breads:

• I'm kinda off the freshly ground whole wheat bread thing. I still love the taste, but I'm afraid it's not as good for you as I originally thought. I usually buy Ezekiel Bread, which my dad won't touch. (He eats that awful white wheat stuff from the store--bleck. Of course, he says the same thing about my Ezekiel bread.)
  
• Any pastries, biscuits, cookies, or quick breads coming from my kitchen usually end up being any where from 50-100% freshly ground soft white flour. It's still better for you than plain ole' bleached white!

Sweets:

• My daddy doesn't really care about this, but his apple juice is organic. So is the sugar he puts in his coffee. And most of his baked goods (when he gets them from our kitchen) have organic and/or local ingredients in them. We also keep sort-of local raw honey, sucanant, and stevia on hand.
  

Fruits and Veggies:

• We tend to stick to this article on what to buy organic in the grocery store: onions, lettuce, carrots, apples, grape tomatoes. We don't always buy peaches an other fruits organic, though we should.
  

I think this post is long enough, but I want to add one more thing: this didn't happen overnight, and the process is still continuing. I think my next big purchase I'll make (other than my recent birthday present to myself--more on that later) is going to be a dehydrator. You need one if you want to make crispy nuts, sprouted flour, and certain soaked grains the right way. And I do.

If you've ever wanted to learn how to cook...

Here is a great article, just for you.

I really like NPR's kitchen window, but because it doesn't play on my NPR station--as far as I know--I read the blog instead.

I couldn't help but laugh at her description of Joy of Cooking. I looove that cookbook, and if you've ever looked at my copy, you can tell it's been cooked out of.
It. is. not. new.

Whether you're a seasoned cook, or a newbie, the article's a great reminder of all things simple and good in cooking.

As Promised...

Saturday, I started out with just a coupla goals:

• Open my wheat grinder (That I had for a week, and still not been able to play with...)
• Learn how to use it (Pretty easy if you know what you're doing...)
• Bake bread (Also not too hard, provided you know what you're doing...)
  

First--opening the box and reading the instructions.
Then, time to clean the grinder... which basically meant using it for the first time.
I put the wheat in the hopper:

Turned it on...

And flour went everywhere.



Hmmm.... They'd forgot to mention to make sure the bottom basket was shoved in all the way!
(Or else, I was skimming it too quickly...lol... also a possibility...)

After I cleaned up the mess... It was time for coffee.



And time to make more flour, to make bread.




Now, Bread has 4 essential ingredients: Flour, salt, yeast, and liquid. That's really all you need.
This recipe had more than that, but that's not too important...

So, I'm mixing away, talking to Heather on the phone, having a great time with Mama's 6-quart Professional KitchenAid mixer, and the bread's looking good. Really good.



As you can see, the dough hook's doing its job, and I hardly had to get my hands messy,
with the mixer doing all the work!

And then, I noticed something laying on the counter. The packet of yeast.
(Sigh) So much for not getting into it...



I mixed the yeast with a bit of warm water and honey, poured in the flour to make a sponge, and then hand- kneaded the two doughs together. So-- now you know what to do if this happens to you! --Lol...

A couple of hours later, this is what it looked like:



Shaped:




And ready for the second rising. Except one problem: I had to go to the "Family Fall Birthday" party at my aunt's house. 1 1/2 hours away. And I knew it was gonna be late when I got back.

But, thankfully, I really like to read cookbooks, and I remembered from somewhere:
If you stick bread in the fridge during a rise, it won't kill the yeast, but it will slow it down...

Good news.

So, after I got back at 1 AM, (and Sharon, who'd gotten home an hour earlier than me, had pulled the loaves out of the fridge, ) I stuck them in the oven on the "proof" setting for a little longer:



And then. Time to slash the tops. Which seriously reminds me of popping a balloon:



For obvious reasons. Poor bread.

Thankfully, the oven does wonders:



And the slashing pretty much did it's job.

The final result:

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