Book of Fermentations

It's amazing how quickly something becomes habit, becomes normal. I've been making my own yoghurt for what, two months? And already it's something I have going on in the background while I do the washing up. I've had one or two less successful batches - not kept at warm enough temperatures to incubate, I end with sour-smelling milk. Not sexy. But when it sets perfectly and you can turn a jar on its side like this? I get a thrill that somehow I just don't get from sending emails.

 

But by and large, I'm finding that making yoghurt is a very easy addition to my routine. I'm making yoghurt once or twice a month - it lasts two to three months in the fridge, particularly as I can usually get an airtight seal in the jars by filling them right to the top and ensuring both milk and jar are hot. Yummy and super simple. I'm still making one litre at a time - I did try two litres once, but the jars took up too much space in the fridge.

I'm now moving on to my next fermenting challenge - growing a sourdough starter. I have recently started looking at some things on my want-to list and thinking: well that's straightforward, why don't I give it a go? I have flour, I have plastic tubs, I have water. Let's go.

So far so good - beginning signs of fermentation, and oh my god the smell. Somewhere between rotting fruit, dangerously cheap alcohol and feet. I am assured by my trusty book about bread that the smell will mature, but at this stage I'm opening all the doors and windows every time I take the lid off.

The starter is not yet ready for my first bake, but I've been working up to it by trying out the sponge method of baking bread. Basically, you mix the water, yeast and some flour into a batter the night before you bake, and leave it to ferment. I'm afraid my unsophisticated palate could not detect any great change in flavours and the yeast was not noticeably more active after its overnight feast, but the dough was much easier to knead and work.

The final bread was yummy - I'm gradually expanding the selection of flours in my cupboard and now have white, rye and multigrain. I really, really need to find a better solution to storing the flour than just folding over the tops of the bags but so far, nothing. We use glass jars for the 1kg bags of plain flour, but I generally buy larger quantities of bread flour.

Now wondering what my next adventures in fermenting will be... Any suggestions? I'm thinking of moving on to cultured cheeses, or turning my hand to brewing beer.

And next up... Yoghurt!

Thank you all for your advice on my dilemma last week. I have decided on my next challenge. As I am struggling so much with limiting and organising my stuff, in the end I decided to go with the option which did not involve buying any new kit or any ingredients which would need to be stored. For yoghurt, I have everything I need already in the house except the milk, which is easy enough to pick up.

After much reading, I decided to try incubating the yoghurt in the oven overnight. I had a slight mishap when I added the yoghurt starter while the milk was still over 80 degrees... Funnily enough the starter separated and didn't look yoghurty anymore. I realised my error, and prepared another starter which I added after the yoghurt had cooled. The jar spent the night in a slightly warm oven wrapped in a towel, and I popped it in the fridge in the morning. And lo! it had set!

Please excuse me while I do a happy dance... This has rather made my day, it's been a long, stressful, busy, hectic couple of days and very far from either simple or slow. I've also been rather cross and crabby, and a bit snappy at everyone, so I'm pleased to discover that checking on my jar of yoghurt has raised my spirits and put me in a more positive frame of mind for tomorrow.

The real test is of course the taste - I have't opened the jar yet but will let you know the verdict when I do. I've also realised that I have unintentionally made more than twice as much yoghurt as I normally eat in a week, so I might just have to make some cheese to use up the rest. (Sigh. It's a hard life.)

Experimenting

There's a lot of pressure that comes with trying to simplify. Not externally, but from ourselves. We look around at far more developed 'simple living' practices and feel that we're not doing enough. We look at the perfectly organised, minimalist cupboards and think guiltily of the topsy turvy pile of stuff at the back of the wardrobe. And every step can be fraught with not-good-enough not-fast-enough not-frugal-enough challenges. I'm really beginning to accept that this journey takes time, takes patience, and will also probably involve quite a few more tantrums.

This is why I really like Amanda Soule Blake's recent post about getting past her spinning block. We need to let go of the idea that everything must be perfect, and accept that learning and experimenting will mean some yarn that can't be used, some bread that can't be eaten, some clothes that can't be worn.

With this approach, I have this week vemtured my first ever attempt at making cheese. I found a recipe online that seemed the very simplest imaginable, in techniques, labour, ingredients and equipment. I am reluctant to invest money and space in a new kit before I know if this is a craft I will really use, but this recipe (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, published in The Guardian) seemed very doable.

Basically, mix yoghurt with spices and leave to drain. That's kind of it. The main challenge was finding a set-up allowing this to drain in the fridge for several days. I used a mixing bowl and wooden spoon but think next time I'll use a jug (smaller surface area needed) and cover it with a bit of tin foil to prevent the whole fridge from smelling a bit yoghurt-y. (I actually quite like the smell - tangy - but my boyfriend was less enamoured).

This morning I took the cheese out and put it in a clean jar with some olive oil. I think maybe it should have drained a little longer, as it was still quite wet, and I think maybe I need to try different ways of packing it to reduce the amount of olive oil used.

I'm using the whey to bake bread. (I was thinking of trying to make ricotta with the whey but decided to tackle one challenge at a time. Maybe when I get the hang of this cheese I can start experimenting with the next one!

I've had a little taste, although I'm saving most of it to have with the bread rolls, and it's cheese more by texture than flavour. It's very gentle in taste and mostly a platform for the flavours used - salt, pepper, lemon zest. A little too much lemon and not enough pepper or salt in this first batch... I think plenty of experimentation is in order for this recipe - there are endless possible variations with different herbs and spices. Maybe with some cinnamon and honey, and then rolled in poppy seeds. Or chives and black pepper. Mmmm...

Any favourite combinations or other suggestions? Have I tempted you to have a go at this?

Make Your Own: Butter

When life gets you down, churn butter. It somehow tastes so much better than shop-bought, as well as being cheaper. This is the second time I've churned butter, and this batch is even better than the last! I still need to work on my butter-making skills, but I'm definitely on the way.

For those who have not yet discovered this, butter is made from cream. You take normal cream and agitate it, traditionally in a butter churn but in my case in a sterilised used jam jar. The cream becomes whipped cream, then gathers together and then you can hear the lump of coagulating butter sploshing around in the buttermilk. Agitate until the butter and buttermilk are, like, totally separate. Pour off the buttermilk and retain it for later use. Add some water to the butter in the jar, agitate further, pour off the buttermilky-watery mixture. You've got to wash all the buttermilk out of the butter to stop it going rancid quickly. (This is one of the bits I haven't perfected yet.) Then you squeeze the water out of the butter by smashing it around with a wooden spatula on a wooden chopping board held at an angle over the draining board/sink, and pat it into, well, a pat of butter with two wooden spatulas (or Scotch hands, if you have them!). This is another of the bits I haven't perfected yet - my butter is still wet. But it tastes fine!

You can add salt, as a preservative, and herbs and things for flavour. I have not yet experimented with this, as my herb garden is still in the nursery stage.

Churning the butter can take ages, but the two key things are to use cream that's a few days old, and not too cold (ie not straight from the fridge). Good thing to do whilst sitting in front of the tv.

Regarding the buttermilk, it has many potential uses. You can drink it, although I don't like the taste. It is good for use in baking, making pancakes and similar, and is apparently also good in ice cream and smoothies. The internet tells me it is good in 'cream of' soups and in sauces. It is also apprently good for your skin, and I've seen it used in cleansers, moisturisers and treatments for sunburn. I'm going to try putting a bit on my face this evening, and seeing how that feels...