Vintage Home and Farm

 I've been experimenting with fermenting again, this time making a ginger bug so that I can make various kinds of ginger ale. In addition to making basic ginger ale (ginger beer) with it, I plan to make cranberry ginger ale during the holidays, as well as strawberry-rhubarb ginger ale and turmeric ginger ale. There are so many possibilities! It took about 10 days to get the ginger bug going. Once that step was done, I was on to making ginger ale. The ginger ale recipe I'm using only makes a small batch each time. To make the ginger ale, you scoop out a bit of the ginger bug (the "mother") from the jar and put it into a bigger container. Then, and to it some water, sugar, grated ginger root, and lemon juice. Cover it with a cloth and rubberband, and let it ferment for a while. Last, you strain it into bottles with swing-top, gasketed lids. The bottles sit a couple of days until they are delightfully fizzy. Once a day, though, you have to open the lid so the air can esc...

Yesterday morning I made traditional sourdough bread without using a recipe. Feeling lazy and deciding to try winging it, I figured traditional sourdough only contains three ingredients and so how hard could it be to get it right without measuring? It's just flour, water and salt.  So I put a couple scoopfuls of flour into a big bowl, added a little bit of salt, dumped in some bottled spring water, and added the sourdough starter (which is actually made with only fermented flour and water).  Then I stirred it with a big spoon and continued to add more bottled water until the dough reached a really gooey consistency that I liked. I did not knead the dough. I literally spent less than 5 minutes making this dough. After the dough was well stirred, I put a lid on the bowl and placed it on my seedling heat mat ( here's the article that explains why I use this ), covered it with a pretty kitchen towel and tucked it into the corner on the kitchen counter.  Two hours later I came...

Who doesn't love the crunchy crust and soft interior of perfectly baked sourdough bread? Getting started with sourdough baking takes considerable gumption - it's no easy feat to get sourdough starter to come alive and begin working. But, when you bake your first loaf of sourdough and it rises beautifully, the sense of accomplishment is amazing! Today, I would like to share some sourdough love and give a shout-out to my sweet and brilliant sister, Cathy, for her recent accomplishments with sourdough.  Cathy started her sourdough from scratch and stuck with it until she achieved a beautiful, bubbly starter.  Then she began using her starter to bake the most lovely loaves of bread! Take a look at her sourdough creations: Above is a crunch loaf that she baked in a dutch oven.  She also recently made a loaf of sandwich bread, shown below. Below is her starter, which she keeps in a gallon-sized jar on the counter, where it's covered with a charming tea towel. If the tasty creat...

I've been baking sourdough bread with starter for long enough now to have come across what I find to be the easiest, most consistent and tasty recipe. It's time to share! The recipe I'm using started as a dough for making cinnamon buns, which I found on the King Arthur Bread website. But then I altered it (of course!) to make it lactose free, replacing the milk with soy milk and the butter with canola oil.  Then I tried using the basic dough to make not only rolls but also bread, and it came out light, soft and incredibly yummy! In the bread version, I omitted the sugar from the recipe.  I've then used this recipe to make bread that has herbs in it as well as bread stuffed full of roasted garlic.  Then there was the sweet version of the bread that had a swirl of cinnamon, sugar and chopped walnuts rolled up into it.  One day I patted little balls of the dough into rounds and placed them into a greased muffin tin, brushed the tops with a little olive oil and garlic po...

Last year I tried and failed horribly at making sauerkraut. My beautiful homegrown cabbage that was fermenting in a salt brine on the counter turned into a terrifying science project with white mold growing on top of gray, smelly, soggy-looking cabbage.  The jar of yuck turned so horrible that I tossed it into the compost pile and figured I'd never give home fermentation a try again.  Then I started reading a book about fermentation that a friend gave me for my birthday last year, Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes  by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey.   After giving it significant consideration, I decided fermentation was worth another try.  After all, fermented foods (when properly prepared and not moldy science projects) have enormous health benefits from the probiotics they contain, which promotes healthy digestive and immune systems.  A ...

I recently decided to brew my own Kombucha after coming across this magical elixir in a health food store and realizing how expensive a habit it could become. In most stores, it can cost $3.99 for a small bottle.  If you were to drink several bottles of this brew each week, the cost would really add up.  Brewing Kombucha is incredibly easy and affordable, as it requires only a few simple steps and relatively inexpensive supplies. It's the unusual aspects of Kombucha that shrouds it in mystery, giving the impression of it being difficult. The greatest mystery involving this unusual brew is the scoby.  Scoby is an acronym for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast.  A scoby grows on top of the brew and is what causes it to ferment. Take a look at the scoby that is currently growing on top of my latest batch. Now, I realize you're probably thinking, Eeeeuuuwwww!  A scoby is indeed an odd looking creature growing on top.  Some people might hesitat...