Food is Medicine!
SOURDOUGH BREAD
The smell of freshly baked bread is irresistible - plus with the added benefits of sourdough, we can all indulge from time to time!
* It's good for your gut.
*Better for your digestion.
*Helps keep blood sugar low.
Basic Sourdough Bread Recipe
INGREDIENTS
170 g fed sourdough starter
230 ml water
400g flour (plain wheat )
7g salt
10g dried herbs (optional)
1tbs olive oil
METHOD
In a large mixing bowl, combine the water, sourdough starter, salt, dried herbs, and olive oil. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. Then add the flour. Mix everything well. Use your hands to form a soft dough. No kneading is required at this stage. Cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rest. During the next 2 hours, at 15 min intervals gently do the rotate and knead method. Grab a hold of the top part of the dough, gently pull it upwards and fold it inwards and rotate the bowl. Continue to do this until you've done a full rotation. After you've done this a total of 4 times, cover it again and leave it to rest for 2 hours. After this, knock it down and transfer it to the pan/dish you'll be using to bake it in, then place it in the refrigerator overnight. The following morning, take it out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Score the top of the dough with a knife and then bake it in a preheated oven of 200'C for around 50 minutes or until golden brown at the top.
GIARDINIERA
A Medley of Vegetables - carrots, onions, peppers, celery, cauliflower, beans, and garlic with added herbs and spices - fermented in saltwater brine. A crunchy sweet and sour condiment to be enjoyed with everything from eggs, salads to meats and pasta.
WHAT YOU NEED:
1 quart of non-chlorinated water
1 tbsp unrefined salt
1tsp black peppercorns
1 small head of cauliflower
2-3 celery sticks
1 head of garlic
3 small carrots
1 bell pepper (any color)
1 large onion
5-10 green beans
1 tbsp of honey
2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
Dried Herbs (whatever you have on hand)
A few raspberry leaves (rich in tannins to keep veggies crisp)
Glass jar/Mason jar
Fermentation weight
METHOD
Dissolve the salt in the water and set it aside. Add the dried herbs, garlic and a few of the raspberry leaves to the empty jar. Cut all the veggies roughly the same size and add half of it to the jar. Then add the remaining raspberry leaves, followed by the rest of the veggies. Pour the saltwater solution into the jar and make sure that everything is covered with the water. Use a fermentation weight to keep all the vegetables submerged. Cover the mouth of the jar with a cheesecloth and rubber band. Place it in a cool, dark place for roughly 4-7 days depending on the temperature. The longer you leave it, the sourer it'll be. I taste mine after 3 days and prefer them crispier. When you feel they are ready add the honey and apple cider vinegar. Mix it well and then store it in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Apple Cider Vinegar
A Miracle Food. From improving digestion to being used as a skin toner, in our house ACV is king. When I first read how easy it was to make your own ACV I couldn't believe it. Now I make a batch every two weeks.
Solo 3 Ingredients!
You need apples, water, and sugar! You start by cutting your apples into large chunks. I don't use the cork, but you can. Fill the jar with apples. I use roughly 13 apples for a gallon size container. When it is filled with apples I need 2 liters of water to cover the apples. Dissolve the sugar in the water. 1 tsp of sugar for every apple. Pour the mixture over the apples and weigh the apples down with some sort of lid or fermentation weight. Cover with a cheesecloth and rubber band. Leave it in a cool dark place. After 2 weeks discard the apples and pour the liquid into another bottle/jar. Again cover this bottle/jar with cheesecloth for another 2 weeks. Finally, you will be left with beautiful, rosy homemade apple cider vinegar which can then be labeled and stored for months.
Sauerkraut
Another staple in our house -Sauerkraut. Most people are familiar with this German delicacy and yet not many people make it at home. Saurkraut is an amazing side dish that pairs well with almost anything. It enhances the flavor of the rest of the food plus it is really easy to make at home.
Fermented Cabbage - Aka Sauerkraut
You start by peeling off two or three leaves of the outer layer of the cabbage. Save these for later. Then you cut the cabbage in half. Remove the hard inner core and weigh the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into thin strips and place the shredded cabbage in a large bowl. Next, weigh out your salt. For mild sauerkraut, we use 2% salt. For this recipe, I used 26g of kosher sea salt. Sprinkle the salt on the shredded cabbage and use your hands to make sure the salt is mixed through. Cover with a cloth and let it stand for 10 minutes.
The salt will start drawing liquid out of the cabbage. Use a wooden stick/dowl or anything that you can pound the cabbage with. The more you pound the cabbage the softer it will become and the more liquid will be released. I normally pound for a minute or two and then let it rest again for 10 minutes or so and continue with the pounding. You want to end up with about half of the volume that you started with and also when a decent amount of liquid has been released. Spoon your cabbage into a glass container and gently press on it to let the liquid come up as you fill-up the jar. Use the leaves that you saved at the start to tuck into the top of the jar. Make sure that everything is covered with the liquid. If your cabbage didn't release sufficient liquid you can make a small 2% salt water solution with salt and water to top it off.
Place the jar in a cool dark place for 4-10 days depending on the temperature. Check on it regularly. The jar I'm using has an inner rubber lid that I remove. If your lid seals completely you'll need to burp your sauerkraut once a day. You need to do this in order to release the gasses that build up. Just unscrew the lid for a few seconds and then re-screw it again. When you are satisfied with the taste and texture you can store the sauerkraut in the fridge or if you have a cellar you can do the fermentation and store it there.
