I've been learning a lot about roux lately. Which is pretty neat considering a few months ago I didn't know what it was. I was working with my Dad to make gravy during the holidays. He usually uses a shaker to mix in wheat flour to thicken it. I've read articles that say you can use arrowroot instead, but I've never had that work at all. But then I ran across a reference to roux. And voila, the answer to our gravy problem. The gravy at Christmas dinner was much better than the one at Thanksgiving, lol.
Making roux is easy. You just use equal parts by weight of a flour and a fat, cook it for a while and then let it cool. Then you mix it into whatever you are wanting to thicken. Here is a neat guide I found about it.
I've been trying to think of a way I can make sauce for casseroles and such while on the Diet, but most of the ones I know use dairy as a sauce. And I know gluten free roux can be made with sweet rice flour and olive oil, both of which are ED compliant. So I'm thinking I can make some roux to use to thicken sauce to make nice savory saucy casseroles with! I'm excited to try it!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Canning Beans
Have you ever wondered how they do it? I mean, honestly. Look at Laura over at Heavenly Homemakers. She has 4 boys who eat huge amounts of food, which she mostly cooks from scratch every day. Add homeschooling those same boys every day. And writing a blog every day. And all the other stuff she does that we don't even know about. Every. Day. I look at what she accomplishes every day and I can't say I don't then look at everything I...don't.
It's easy to compare yourself to others who are doing what you feel like you should be doing, even if you aren't able. It's something that I have struggled with for years of being sick, first not even knowing I was sick, and even after learning what it was, of feeling like I should be able to do it even though I was sick. And even now when I am slowly (oh, so very slowly, grr!) getting better and having energy to do more, there is always more to do than I can possibly get done.
I make lists. Try to plan meals. Go shopping for said meals. And then hubby has a bad night where we are both up til dawn and I have yet another day where nothing gets done.
I bet you are thinking right about now, "hey, I thought this post was about canning beans?" Well, it is and it isn't. It's about doing what you can, when you can, and letting God handle the rest. I made tacos for dinner last night, and I put a jar of beans I'd canned a few weeks ago in them. They were delicious, thanks! And I was thinking that it really was nice to have that jar of beans. Obviously I could have bought a can of beans, like I have for most of my life, until a few weeks ago. But I think my jar tasted better than any can I've had before. And I was just thinking that it would be pretty easy to make some more in a few days. (By the way, have you ever thought it should be called "jarring" instead of canning? Just saying...)
My house is a messy, half started renovation. My kitchen is a disaster. I don't have a huge freezer (yet). I don't even have a place to put my jars of beans (yet). Right now they live in a box on the floor of the living room, lol. But I can do something small. Something that makes a little difference. So I do. :)
Oh, and if you really did want to know how to can beans, try this.
The easy way to can beans
(This is NOT an in depth guide, it's more of a work flow mindset. If you don't know how to can or pressure can, please read this and this instead. That is what I read to learn how to pressure can and I haven't blown anything up yet!)
Wake up at some point in the day. Measure 1 lb beans into a big bowl and fill the bowl with water and a splash of vinegar. Go do your day thing all day(ish). When you are done with that, after at least 8 hours, and at least 2 hours before bedtime, dump out the soaking water and rinse them a few times, then dump them in a pot with more water, but no vinegar. Bring to a boil, and boil at least 10 minutes. While you are waiting for the beans to heat up and boil, get the pressure canner set up and heating up too. Keep an eye on the beans while they are boiling, they love to foam and boil over.
Use a slotted spoon and fill the pint jars with beans til 2/3 full. Ladle the cooking liquid into the jars, leaving 1 inch head space. Wipe rims, place lids, screw on bands as tight as you close your mayo jar (unless you're afraid that mayo is gonna escape, then be gentler, ok?). Set jars in the pressure canner and close the lid. Turn burner on high (if it wasn't already) and clean up the bean pot til the canner starts to vent steam (unless cleaning doesn't take that long. Which is ok.) Set a 10 minute timer and continue puttering about. Or go read a book (me). Or go hug your hubby (also me).
When the timer goes off, put the weight on the canner and then putter around again while it comes up to pressure. I defaulted to 15 lbs, but I'm sure there's a guide involving complicated math somewhere that you can look up. At this point, I turn the heat down to medium low(ish) and go sit down. I can listen to the weight to hear if it needs adjusted as the canner settles into cooking. Cook for 75 minutes. This is a good time to read, or spend some (kinda) quiet time with hubby (that weight rocking is pretty loud, actually), but nothing too loud or distracting so I can hear if the heat needs adjusted.
Now comes the part I love, so pay attention. When the timer goes off, turn the heat off, (wait for it)... and go to bed! Cause I'm tired from all that day(ish) stuff. 'night...zzz
Yield: 4-5 pints
Active time, ~25 minutes
It's easy to compare yourself to others who are doing what you feel like you should be doing, even if you aren't able. It's something that I have struggled with for years of being sick, first not even knowing I was sick, and even after learning what it was, of feeling like I should be able to do it even though I was sick. And even now when I am slowly (oh, so very slowly, grr!) getting better and having energy to do more, there is always more to do than I can possibly get done.
I make lists. Try to plan meals. Go shopping for said meals. And then hubby has a bad night where we are both up til dawn and I have yet another day where nothing gets done.
I bet you are thinking right about now, "hey, I thought this post was about canning beans?" Well, it is and it isn't. It's about doing what you can, when you can, and letting God handle the rest. I made tacos for dinner last night, and I put a jar of beans I'd canned a few weeks ago in them. They were delicious, thanks! And I was thinking that it really was nice to have that jar of beans. Obviously I could have bought a can of beans, like I have for most of my life, until a few weeks ago. But I think my jar tasted better than any can I've had before. And I was just thinking that it would be pretty easy to make some more in a few days. (By the way, have you ever thought it should be called "jarring" instead of canning? Just saying...)
My house is a messy, half started renovation. My kitchen is a disaster. I don't have a huge freezer (yet). I don't even have a place to put my jars of beans (yet). Right now they live in a box on the floor of the living room, lol. But I can do something small. Something that makes a little difference. So I do. :)
Oh, and if you really did want to know how to can beans, try this.
The easy way to can beans
(This is NOT an in depth guide, it's more of a work flow mindset. If you don't know how to can or pressure can, please read this and this instead. That is what I read to learn how to pressure can and I haven't blown anything up yet!)
Wake up at some point in the day. Measure 1 lb beans into a big bowl and fill the bowl with water and a splash of vinegar. Go do your day thing all day(ish). When you are done with that, after at least 8 hours, and at least 2 hours before bedtime, dump out the soaking water and rinse them a few times, then dump them in a pot with more water, but no vinegar. Bring to a boil, and boil at least 10 minutes. While you are waiting for the beans to heat up and boil, get the pressure canner set up and heating up too. Keep an eye on the beans while they are boiling, they love to foam and boil over.
Use a slotted spoon and fill the pint jars with beans til 2/3 full. Ladle the cooking liquid into the jars, leaving 1 inch head space. Wipe rims, place lids, screw on bands as tight as you close your mayo jar (unless you're afraid that mayo is gonna escape, then be gentler, ok?). Set jars in the pressure canner and close the lid. Turn burner on high (if it wasn't already) and clean up the bean pot til the canner starts to vent steam (unless cleaning doesn't take that long. Which is ok.) Set a 10 minute timer and continue puttering about. Or go read a book (me). Or go hug your hubby (also me).
When the timer goes off, put the weight on the canner and then putter around again while it comes up to pressure. I defaulted to 15 lbs, but I'm sure there's a guide involving complicated math somewhere that you can look up. At this point, I turn the heat down to medium low(ish) and go sit down. I can listen to the weight to hear if it needs adjusted as the canner settles into cooking. Cook for 75 minutes. This is a good time to read, or spend some (kinda) quiet time with hubby (that weight rocking is pretty loud, actually), but nothing too loud or distracting so I can hear if the heat needs adjusted.
Now comes the part I love, so pay attention. When the timer goes off, turn the heat off, (wait for it)... and go to bed! Cause I'm tired from all that day(ish) stuff. 'night...zzz
Yield: 4-5 pints
Active time, ~25 minutes
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Elimination Diet and Palio AIP recipes
So, my sister did the Elimination Diet earlier this year with us, and kept at it after we had to quit. Just before the holidays she challenged dairy and discovered that she has a pretty serious dairy allergy! Yikes, but so glad she found it! That is what the ED is all about, finding what you react to.
So I went looking for dairy free recipes to use during the holidays, and discovered an incredibly helpful thing! It turns out that the Palio Diet spin off, the Auto-Immune Protocol, is very similar to the Elimination Diet, and there are tons of recipes out there for it! This is wonderful, because while I am a very proficient technical cook, I am not a very creative one. I've gotten rather good at substitution to convert recipes either to gluten free or ED friendly, but coming up with new stuff? Hardly ever happens. And I can't wait to try some of the things I found!
So I went looking for dairy free recipes to use during the holidays, and discovered an incredibly helpful thing! It turns out that the Palio Diet spin off, the Auto-Immune Protocol, is very similar to the Elimination Diet, and there are tons of recipes out there for it! This is wonderful, because while I am a very proficient technical cook, I am not a very creative one. I've gotten rather good at substitution to convert recipes either to gluten free or ED friendly, but coming up with new stuff? Hardly ever happens. And I can't wait to try some of the things I found!
Monday, December 28, 2015
Blueberry Cucumber Ginger Smoothie
Most green smoothies have quite a bit of fruit in them to help sweeten up the typically bitter greens, but this was causing the same upset stomach and general feeling of unwellness when I have too much sweet anything. I definitely didn't want to give up the smoothies, so I started trying to think of things that might be able to sweeten up the greens without so much fruit. I came up with cucumbers! They have a lovely sweet, mild flavor that mellows the flavor of the greens nicely. I also put in some blueberries, which are not very sweet in general for a bit of flavor balance, and some spicy ginger I bought that is too hot to do what I bought it for (making syrup for ginger ale). This smoothie has become my staple smoothie the last week or so, and I'm not sure I'll be changing it any time soon!
Blueberry Cucumber Ginger Smoothie
3/4 c coconut water
2 oz greens (I'm currently using 1 oz baby kale and 1 oz of a spinach arugula blend)
3oz cucumber, washed and unpeeled
3 oz blueberries
1 oz (or more) fresh ginger, sliced against the fibers
a good sized pinch of broccoli sprouts
Blend coconut water and greens until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, adding a bit more coconut water if needed to keep it flowing in the blender.
Yield: about 2 cups
Blueberry Cucumber Ginger Smoothie
3/4 c coconut water
2 oz greens (I'm currently using 1 oz baby kale and 1 oz of a spinach arugula blend)
3oz cucumber, washed and unpeeled
3 oz blueberries
1 oz (or more) fresh ginger, sliced against the fibers
a good sized pinch of broccoli sprouts
Blend coconut water and greens until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth, adding a bit more coconut water if needed to keep it flowing in the blender.
Yield: about 2 cups
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Water Kefir Flavor Ideas
After you get your first batch of kefir water, you get the fun of figuring out what flavors you like! I'm still experimenting a lot, but here's what we've enjoyed so far:
Mulled cranberry: 1-2 tsp mulling spices, 1/2 cup pure cranberry juice
Blueberry: I filled up the rest of the 1 liter bottle with pure blueberry juice
Plain Sucanat: If you let the sucanat version finish fermenting, it doesn't get as fizzy, because most of the sugar has already been eaten, but it gets a wonderful fruity taste to it that is quite unique. I'm going to try adding a small amount of water with sucanat dissolved into it to the next batch to see if it gets fizzy.
2015-12-20 I tried adding 1 and 2 T dissolved sucanat to 2 bottles of the finished first ferment kefir, and it isn't getting fizzy for some reason. I'm not sure why, I'll have to experiment some more.
Dr Pepper: since this is the culprit that hubby needs, I've been playing with various blends to try to make something similar. I'll post a finished recipe when it passes the hubby test! For now, I've used prunes, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla extract, almond extract and some random other spices. Just throw stuff in and see how it comes out! I've been loosely working off of this recipe I found: Mockter Pepper.
2015-12-17: I did another trial with pure black cherry juice, frozen raspberries, cloves, mace, peppercorns, allspice, cardamom, a bit of a star anise, a bit of ginger paste, some vanilla and almond extract. I think it came out pretty good. Still not Dr Pepper, but better than the last trial. It took me a few days to drink it and it didn't age very well. I've got some wintergreen leaves coming in the mail that I will add to another batch. Gonna try just spicing some plain sucanat and seeing if that will be good.
Ginger: I've tried a couple times to make some kind of nice ginger drink, but I think the ginger actually kills the probiotics, so it doesn't get fizzy. Still working on it.
Just try whatever ideas you have, you are sure to find something that you like!
Mulled cranberry: 1-2 tsp mulling spices, 1/2 cup pure cranberry juice
Blueberry: I filled up the rest of the 1 liter bottle with pure blueberry juice
Plain Sucanat: If you let the sucanat version finish fermenting, it doesn't get as fizzy, because most of the sugar has already been eaten, but it gets a wonderful fruity taste to it that is quite unique. I'm going to try adding a small amount of water with sucanat dissolved into it to the next batch to see if it gets fizzy.
2015-12-20 I tried adding 1 and 2 T dissolved sucanat to 2 bottles of the finished first ferment kefir, and it isn't getting fizzy for some reason. I'm not sure why, I'll have to experiment some more.
Dr Pepper: since this is the culprit that hubby needs, I've been playing with various blends to try to make something similar. I'll post a finished recipe when it passes the hubby test! For now, I've used prunes, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla extract, almond extract and some random other spices. Just throw stuff in and see how it comes out! I've been loosely working off of this recipe I found: Mockter Pepper.
2015-12-17: I did another trial with pure black cherry juice, frozen raspberries, cloves, mace, peppercorns, allspice, cardamom, a bit of a star anise, a bit of ginger paste, some vanilla and almond extract. I think it came out pretty good. Still not Dr Pepper, but better than the last trial. It took me a few days to drink it and it didn't age very well. I've got some wintergreen leaves coming in the mail that I will add to another batch. Gonna try just spicing some plain sucanat and seeing if that will be good.
Ginger: I've tried a couple times to make some kind of nice ginger drink, but I think the ginger actually kills the probiotics, so it doesn't get fizzy. Still working on it.
Just try whatever ideas you have, you are sure to find something that you like!
What I'm Reading: Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz
Welcome to the first edition of "What I'm Reading"! I am constantly reading a multitude of different things, but I thought I'd share some that I think are incredibly useful.
I learned about lacto fermentation while reading the Elimination Diet book in May. Before this I'd never really noticed anything about it. Perhaps in vague ways. I knew that alcohol was a product of fermentation, and that yogurt was also. But I've never been a huge fan of cultured dairy (except cheese and sour cream) and had never considered it might have other uses. Making my own lacto fermented veggies for the diet was a life changing experience. I found out that I REALLY liked them. So crunchy. Tart and fizzy. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was having fun experimenting.
Since then I've learned a ton about lacto fermentation and how incredibly beneficial it is. I have since encountered it on many other websites, and marvel that I never knew about it before. I've also been completely through Sandor's website, WildFermentation.com and have been wanting to read his books about it.
This book has been an educational experience, it has consolidated information I acquired by randomly surfing the web, and added foundation, theory, and technique I didn't have. It does have quite a bit new age, hyper liberal, crazy commune rhetoric as part of it, but it doesn't make the book unreadable, and I can eat the meat and spit out the bones. It is unusual to find a dedicated crafter who is able to put his craft into words that other people can understand and follow, and I am deeply appreciative that Sandor is one of them. I can't wait to try some of these processes! (Can't really call them recipes, because they are very flexible...more like guidelines) I am looking forward to reading his other book, The Art of Fermentation and seeing what 10 years has done for his insight into this mostly mysterious realm.
Right now I have a batch of pickles fermenting, and I can't wait to see how they come out! If they are as amazing as I think they will be, I'll share the recipe! Alas, I still have to wait most of a week...or longer... (goes to poke at them as if it will hurry them up, lol)
I learned about lacto fermentation while reading the Elimination Diet book in May. Before this I'd never really noticed anything about it. Perhaps in vague ways. I knew that alcohol was a product of fermentation, and that yogurt was also. But I've never been a huge fan of cultured dairy (except cheese and sour cream) and had never considered it might have other uses. Making my own lacto fermented veggies for the diet was a life changing experience. I found out that I REALLY liked them. So crunchy. Tart and fizzy. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was having fun experimenting.
Since then I've learned a ton about lacto fermentation and how incredibly beneficial it is. I have since encountered it on many other websites, and marvel that I never knew about it before. I've also been completely through Sandor's website, WildFermentation.com and have been wanting to read his books about it.
This book has been an educational experience, it has consolidated information I acquired by randomly surfing the web, and added foundation, theory, and technique I didn't have. It does have quite a bit new age, hyper liberal, crazy commune rhetoric as part of it, but it doesn't make the book unreadable, and I can eat the meat and spit out the bones. It is unusual to find a dedicated crafter who is able to put his craft into words that other people can understand and follow, and I am deeply appreciative that Sandor is one of them. I can't wait to try some of these processes! (Can't really call them recipes, because they are very flexible...more like guidelines) I am looking forward to reading his other book, The Art of Fermentation and seeing what 10 years has done for his insight into this mostly mysterious realm.
Right now I have a batch of pickles fermenting, and I can't wait to see how they come out! If they are as amazing as I think they will be, I'll share the recipe! Alas, I still have to wait most of a week...or longer... (goes to poke at them as if it will hurry them up, lol)
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Waffles: Whole Grain and Gluten Free
This is the recipe that started it all. After Hubby went gluten free in February 2015, I asked my friends who were also gluten free what to buy, and they recommended the flour blend Namaste. Now, I'm not trying to bash Namaste, but after using it and having everything turn out soggy and gummy, I was getting frustrated. I also started to have digestion problems and feeling bad from all the starches and gums that seem to comprise main stream gluten free baking. I knew that there were grains that were naturally gluten free, after all, there is more to life than wheat, barley and rye. So I went searching for a gluten free whole grain waffle recipe and happened upon Alissa Segersten's blog, Nourishing Meals. Turns out that she loves whole grains too, and tries to avoid the gums by using naturally gelling things like flax, chia and psyllium. I spent weeks looking for all the weird flours her recipe calls for, and when I was finally able to make it, we knew that it would change our lives. This is my adaptation of the recipe off of her blog, mostly just downsizing and streamlining it, because hubby and I can't eat 16+ waffles by ourselves!
Waffles: Whole Grain and Gluten free, adapted from Nourishing Meals
Yield: about 6 waffles
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 C (210g) whole grain gluten free flour (I like to use equal amounts of teff, sorghum and millet, but you can mix and match whatever you want or have!)
1/3 C (46g) starch (I use arrowroot, but tapioca, potato, corn or some other kind of starch will work also)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cinnamon
Wet Ingredients
2 eggs (I've also used flax eggs, which are 1 T ground flax seed and 3 T water per egg, mix and set aside 5 minutes to allow to gel up)
3 T liquid oil, (I prefer melted butter, but coconut oil or something else works great too)
2 T maple syrup or honey
1 1/4-1 1/2 C milk (Dairy or non-dairy, buttermilk is awesome too)
Heat waffle maker.
In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients together until uniform. This is an important step in baking, but especially in gluten free baking because of the many different flours that are used. In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients together, then add to the dry ingredients. Start with the lesser amount of milk and add more if needed. Depending on which flours and starches were used and how you measure depends on how much milk will be needed.
Yield: around 6 waffles, depending on your waffle iron
Spoon batter into waffle maker, cook until done and enjoy! One of our favorite toppings for waffles are lingonberries! I find these at my local Wal-Mart in the canned fruit section for around $6 a jar.
When we are feeling like we want something really special, I open a tin of this Herren Konfiture that we learned to love in Germany.
Waffles: Whole Grain and Gluten free, adapted from Nourishing Meals
Yield: about 6 waffles
Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 C (210g) whole grain gluten free flour (I like to use equal amounts of teff, sorghum and millet, but you can mix and match whatever you want or have!)
1/3 C (46g) starch (I use arrowroot, but tapioca, potato, corn or some other kind of starch will work also)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 tsp cinnamon
Wet Ingredients
2 eggs (I've also used flax eggs, which are 1 T ground flax seed and 3 T water per egg, mix and set aside 5 minutes to allow to gel up)
3 T liquid oil, (I prefer melted butter, but coconut oil or something else works great too)
2 T maple syrup or honey
1 1/4-1 1/2 C milk (Dairy or non-dairy, buttermilk is awesome too)
Heat waffle maker.
In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients together until uniform. This is an important step in baking, but especially in gluten free baking because of the many different flours that are used. In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients together, then add to the dry ingredients. Start with the lesser amount of milk and add more if needed. Depending on which flours and starches were used and how you measure depends on how much milk will be needed.
Yield: around 6 waffles, depending on your waffle iron
Spoon batter into waffle maker, cook until done and enjoy! One of our favorite toppings for waffles are lingonberries! I find these at my local Wal-Mart in the canned fruit section for around $6 a jar.
When we are feeling like we want something really special, I open a tin of this Herren Konfiture that we learned to love in Germany.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Beginners guide to tempering chocolate in a home kitchen
Tempering your own chocolate is a work of love. It takes time, precision and persistence. I learned to do it because my sister and father are both allergic to chocolate solids, but can have white chocolate. One of their favorite candies is cherry cordials, but they don't come in white chocolate. So I learned to make them (recipe coming eventually, lol). The following guide is the result of several months of research and experimentation on my part, to be able to use the equipment and space I mostly already had to temper chocolate. The only things I bought were a glass chocolate thermometer and the dipping tools. And chocolate of course! If you need to buy some of these tools, they will still be cheaper than the cheapest automatic chocolate tempering machine, and the result will be more consistent and better.
I know it's long, but please, please, please read the whole thing before you try to start on your chocolate. It will save you from making a ton of easy mistakes and potentially ruining your chocolate!
Quick temperature guide (in F):
Milk Chocolate- melting 115, working 86-88
Dark Chocolate- melting 120, working 88-90
White Chocolate- melting 110, working 82-84
Melting temperature- the temperature where all the cocoa butter crystals are melted, making the chocolate a blank slate ready to be reformed.
Working temperature- the temperature that will form the ideal cocoa butter crystals, the longer it is at this temperature, the more crystals will form.
Picking your chocolate:
-Make sure that the ingredients list has cocoa butter in it. If there's no cocoa butter, it's not real chocolate and doesn't need tempered.
-Chocolate chips that you can buy for making cookies are formulated to hold their shape as they are baked, so are not ideal for dipping and candy making, but they will work in a pinch.
Chocolate (or more precisely, cocoa butter) is an unusual substance and needs to be treated in a precise fashion to have that creamy texture and nice snap that we are all so familiar with. To successfully temper chocolate for dipping and candy making you will need some...
Equipment:
-a double boiler where the top pot has a long handle. You can jury rig this by putting one pot on top of another one, as long as it doesn't sit in the water, or have direct contact with the heat from the burner.
-a flat bottomed glass bowl or fairly thick ceramic bowl (to maximize surface area on the heating pad)
-a heating pad with multiple temperature settings that won't automatically turn off after a while (like the kind you get for sore muscles, you can find them in the pharmacy area of most stores)
-several hand towels, small and easy to work with, but not too small like a washcloth
-a nice comfortable spatula you can use continuously for 30 minutes to an hour
-a chocolate thermometer: special thermometer that will accurately display temperatures from around 70 degrees to around 125 or 130F. Infrared thermal guns are relatively cheap these days and are pretty awesome because they can measure precisely and don't touch the chocolate, and one less thing to juggle is pretty helpful. I actually ended up using both. If you buy a thermal gun, you will find tons of uses for it, I use mine all the time.
-dipping tools if you plan on dipping and coating things (The spirally one in this set is awesome)
-a silicone baking mat if you plan on making hot candy that will later need dipped in chocolate, if not wax paper is sufficient
-wax paper
-a cookie sheet or other stable flat thing to put the silicone or wax paper on
-a timer of some sort you can use without too much trouble. An oven or microwave clock is fine if you can keep track of it, doesn't have to be super exact.
(note: the links here are not affiliate links, they are just trying to show you what I have that has worked very well)
Rules:
1. Read the directions completely before melting your chocolate. Make sure you understand what you are doing before starting.
2. Be paranoid about temperature. If you're not, you can easily burn and ruin the chocolate, or have it drop below working temperature and have to start over.
3. Be paranoid about water. Chocolate hates water. MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS PERFECTLY DRY (including what you will be dipping, like fruit) BEFORE BRINGING IT NEAR THE CHOCOLATE! If the slightest amount of water gets into melted chocolate, it's ruined for tempering, though it can be used for other things. To salvage seized chocolate, just keep adding teaspoons of water until it's smooth again and you can use it for frosting, cakes, brownies, ganache, etc. You just can't temper it anymore for dipping.
4. Keep stirring, and stirring, and stirring.
5. Did I mention being paranoid about temperature and water?
Directions (this method is called the seeding method): Ambient temperature needs to be around 70 or lower, humidity 45% or lower.
1. Setting up the dipping station: Place the heating pad on the counter and spread a kitchen towel over it. Set the other towels in a place you can easily reach them. Turn the pad on to what you think will be a good setting for whatever kind of chocolate you are tempering and place the glass bowl on top of it to warm up. Wrap another towel around the outsides of the bowl to help them warm up too. The glass bowl is nice because it has thermal mass both on the bottom and sides and can help keep the chocolate at working temperature. By the time it is done heating, the bottom of the bowl needs to be at the upper range of the working temperature, maybe 1 degree higher though you will have to stir it more if it is higher. Moderate the temperature to what is needed by placing more layers of towel between the bowl and the heating pad. I have a thermal gun, so I can easily tell what temperature the bowl is at while it heats up, which allows me to adjust the heating pad and towels to get the perfect temperature. You might be able to place the chocolate thermometer with the tip resting on the bottom of the empty bowl to tell its temperature if you don't have a thermal gun, but I'm not sure how accurate that would be, and you will need the thermometer while stirring at the cooling station also.
a. Place the timer beside this station, or set it up so you can see your oven clock.
b. Spread the wax paper that you are going to be putting dipped product on beside this station also.
c. Set out a small piece of wax paper to do a smear test on to test the temper of the chocolate.
2. Setting up the cooling station: Put another towel, or an oven mitt, or something padded on the counter where you want to stand (or sit) and stir the chocolate for 30-45 mins, depending on how much you are making. The point is to have some insulation between the cooler counter and the warm pan with the chocolate in it.
a. Beside this station, set aside 10-15 of pieces of the store bought chocolate. If it's a chocolate bar, the pieces need to be sized about 1/2 inch. It comes from the store already tempered, and we are going to use this as our "seed" to help the melted chocolate learn how we want it to form its crystals as it cools.
3. Melting: Make sure the pot you are putting chocolate in is perfectly dry! Put about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom pan of the double boiler, and the chocolate you will be working with in the top pan (the one without the water). Heat it on medium on the stove until the water starts hissing and steaming like it does just before it simmers, then turn the burner off. Stir the chocolate with the spatula until all of it is melted, and then keep stirring and leave it over the hot water until it has reached melting temperature. If it won't get up to melting temperature, go ahead and turn the burner back on to give it a boost, but watch the temperature carefully! If the chocolate gets too hot, it will burn and not work very well, so pay close attention.
4. Cooling station: Once melting temperature is reached, remove the upper part of the double boiler (the pot the chocolate is in) and set it on the towel at the stirring station.
a. Drop in a piece or two of the seed chocolate. Hold the handle of the pot and with smooth easy motions, stir by working the spatula around the edge of the pan, scoop the bottom up and over several times, give it a brisk stir around in the middle, then around the edge again. All the chocolate needs to be moved constantly while its cooling to promote good crystal growth. Don't touch the pot with your hands because the warmth of your body will affect how fast it cools.
b. Take its temperature every few minutes (paranoid, remember?) and drop in another piece of seed when the last one has melted. Don't drop in too much seed as we don't want lumpy chocolate, and as it cools the seed will eventually stop melting. The cooling process is the longest part of tempering. It can take between 30-45 mins for about 1lb of chocolate, depending on the ambient temperature.
5. Dipping station: When the chocolate is 1 or 2 degrees above the upper working temperature, take the pot over to the dipping station and pour it into the glass bowl (which should be at most 1 degree above working temperature). It should cool that last degree or two during the pouring and scraping process. If it still needs to cool a bit, keep stirring and taking its temperature until it is at working temperature. You might have to remove the bowl from the heating pad briefly to help it cool. At this station you need to constantly maintain the chocolate at working temperature after it has reached it.
a. When it has reached working temperature, set the timer for 5 minutes and keep stirring with the same motions you used during the cooling process. This is the last part of crystal formation and essential for well tempered chocolate.
b. After 5 minutes, put a fairly thick smear of chocolate on the small piece of wax paper. It should be about 1/8th inch thick so you can get a good idea of how the chocolate will set up. Set the timer for another 5 minutes and keep stirring.
c. When 5 minutes is up, check the smear. It should be set up, have a nice sheen, and snap when you break it. It might still be just a touch soft and not snap sharply, but you should still be able to tell if it is good. If it is still melted, or has a dull finish, or is mushy when you try to snap it, it is not tempered properly. You might want to try another smear and see if the extra stirring at working temperature helped. If not, you have to reheat it to melting temperature and do the cooling and stirring again...ugh.
6. Dipping! Yay, we reached the fun part! We still have to be paranoid about both temperature and water, but the long cooling grind is over. Find the last little piece of seed and scoop it out so it doesn't mar your perfect dipping technique.
a. If you have an actual chocolate thermometer, wrap a piece of tape around to be double sided and put it on the edge of the bowl to rest the thermometer against and lightly hold it in place. The bottom of the thermometer should NOT be touching the bottom of the bowl, it should be in the middle of the chocolate mass so it can accurately measure the chocolate's temperature. We will be putting cool things into the chocolate, which will be cooling it off. But the heating pad will be heating the bottom of the chocolate, which will help keep it warm. It's a delicate balancing act that you need to pay close attention to. If the heating pad is too hot, it will ruin the temper of the chocolate by getting the chocolate touching the bottom of the bowl too hot, which will get mixed in to the rest when you stir it and melt all those lovely crystals you worked so hard to get formed. If the chocolate gets too cool, the wrong type of crystals will start forming and that also ruin the temper, so be vigilant.
b. Make sure the things you are dipping are perfectly dry! After every 2-4 pieces you dip, take the thermometer out and give the chocolate a good stir, using the same motion you used to temper it. I just use my spiral wire dipping tool to stir, keeps from having to juggle one more thing. Scrape the chocolate off the thermometer and stir that in too, then put the thermometer back in place and dip some more pieces.
c. As you use the chocolate, its mass reduces. This changes the balancing game, because the warmer chocolate on the bottom of the bowl has less mass to distribute its warmth into, which makes the chocolate warmer overall. When this starts happening, just put another towel between the bowl and the heating pad, or fold the one you have already there.
d. As the chocolate remains at working temperature for longer periods, it will get slightly thicker. This is because the crystals are still forming, so it's a good sign! Don't think you need to heat it back up, or thin it out somehow, that would ruin all your hard work tempering it.
e. If you finish dipping and still have chocolate left, its no problem. Just get a fresh piece of wax paper and spread out the leftover chocolate on it in a sheet that will be easy to break apart and re-melt for more goodies later. Or have something set by to use it! You could make nut or mint bark, or spiced chocolate, or whatever else catches your fancy!
Helpful info:
All of these brands work well and only have cocoa solids, cocoa butter, lecithin, vanilla, and sugar as their ingredients (and milk if it's milk chocolate).
Baker's
Guittard
Ghirardelli
Lindt
Valrohna (expensive but most people like the flavor over the majority of other brands)
Dagoba
Scharffen Berger
Endangered Species
Reference:
http://candy.about.com/od/candybasics/a/chocguide.htm
http://www.chocoley.com/resources/how-to-temper-chocolate
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/155/Tempering-Chocolate
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/the-food-lab-best-way-to-temper-chocolate.html
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/what-is-white-chocolate-best-brands.html
I know it's long, but please, please, please read the whole thing before you try to start on your chocolate. It will save you from making a ton of easy mistakes and potentially ruining your chocolate!
Quick temperature guide (in F):
Milk Chocolate- melting 115, working 86-88
Dark Chocolate- melting 120, working 88-90
White Chocolate- melting 110, working 82-84
Melting temperature- the temperature where all the cocoa butter crystals are melted, making the chocolate a blank slate ready to be reformed.
Working temperature- the temperature that will form the ideal cocoa butter crystals, the longer it is at this temperature, the more crystals will form.
Picking your chocolate:
-Make sure that the ingredients list has cocoa butter in it. If there's no cocoa butter, it's not real chocolate and doesn't need tempered.
-Chocolate chips that you can buy for making cookies are formulated to hold their shape as they are baked, so are not ideal for dipping and candy making, but they will work in a pinch.
Chocolate (or more precisely, cocoa butter) is an unusual substance and needs to be treated in a precise fashion to have that creamy texture and nice snap that we are all so familiar with. To successfully temper chocolate for dipping and candy making you will need some...
Equipment:
-a double boiler where the top pot has a long handle. You can jury rig this by putting one pot on top of another one, as long as it doesn't sit in the water, or have direct contact with the heat from the burner.
-a flat bottomed glass bowl or fairly thick ceramic bowl (to maximize surface area on the heating pad)
-a heating pad with multiple temperature settings that won't automatically turn off after a while (like the kind you get for sore muscles, you can find them in the pharmacy area of most stores)
-several hand towels, small and easy to work with, but not too small like a washcloth
-a nice comfortable spatula you can use continuously for 30 minutes to an hour
-a chocolate thermometer: special thermometer that will accurately display temperatures from around 70 degrees to around 125 or 130F. Infrared thermal guns are relatively cheap these days and are pretty awesome because they can measure precisely and don't touch the chocolate, and one less thing to juggle is pretty helpful. I actually ended up using both. If you buy a thermal gun, you will find tons of uses for it, I use mine all the time.
-dipping tools if you plan on dipping and coating things (The spirally one in this set is awesome)
-a silicone baking mat if you plan on making hot candy that will later need dipped in chocolate, if not wax paper is sufficient
-wax paper
-a cookie sheet or other stable flat thing to put the silicone or wax paper on
-a timer of some sort you can use without too much trouble. An oven or microwave clock is fine if you can keep track of it, doesn't have to be super exact.
(note: the links here are not affiliate links, they are just trying to show you what I have that has worked very well)
Rules:
1. Read the directions completely before melting your chocolate. Make sure you understand what you are doing before starting.
2. Be paranoid about temperature. If you're not, you can easily burn and ruin the chocolate, or have it drop below working temperature and have to start over.
3. Be paranoid about water. Chocolate hates water. MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS PERFECTLY DRY (including what you will be dipping, like fruit) BEFORE BRINGING IT NEAR THE CHOCOLATE! If the slightest amount of water gets into melted chocolate, it's ruined for tempering, though it can be used for other things. To salvage seized chocolate, just keep adding teaspoons of water until it's smooth again and you can use it for frosting, cakes, brownies, ganache, etc. You just can't temper it anymore for dipping.
4. Keep stirring, and stirring, and stirring.
5. Did I mention being paranoid about temperature and water?
Directions (this method is called the seeding method): Ambient temperature needs to be around 70 or lower, humidity 45% or lower.
1. Setting up the dipping station: Place the heating pad on the counter and spread a kitchen towel over it. Set the other towels in a place you can easily reach them. Turn the pad on to what you think will be a good setting for whatever kind of chocolate you are tempering and place the glass bowl on top of it to warm up. Wrap another towel around the outsides of the bowl to help them warm up too. The glass bowl is nice because it has thermal mass both on the bottom and sides and can help keep the chocolate at working temperature. By the time it is done heating, the bottom of the bowl needs to be at the upper range of the working temperature, maybe 1 degree higher though you will have to stir it more if it is higher. Moderate the temperature to what is needed by placing more layers of towel between the bowl and the heating pad. I have a thermal gun, so I can easily tell what temperature the bowl is at while it heats up, which allows me to adjust the heating pad and towels to get the perfect temperature. You might be able to place the chocolate thermometer with the tip resting on the bottom of the empty bowl to tell its temperature if you don't have a thermal gun, but I'm not sure how accurate that would be, and you will need the thermometer while stirring at the cooling station also.
a. Place the timer beside this station, or set it up so you can see your oven clock.
b. Spread the wax paper that you are going to be putting dipped product on beside this station also.
c. Set out a small piece of wax paper to do a smear test on to test the temper of the chocolate.
2. Setting up the cooling station: Put another towel, or an oven mitt, or something padded on the counter where you want to stand (or sit) and stir the chocolate for 30-45 mins, depending on how much you are making. The point is to have some insulation between the cooler counter and the warm pan with the chocolate in it.
a. Beside this station, set aside 10-15 of pieces of the store bought chocolate. If it's a chocolate bar, the pieces need to be sized about 1/2 inch. It comes from the store already tempered, and we are going to use this as our "seed" to help the melted chocolate learn how we want it to form its crystals as it cools.
3. Melting: Make sure the pot you are putting chocolate in is perfectly dry! Put about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom pan of the double boiler, and the chocolate you will be working with in the top pan (the one without the water). Heat it on medium on the stove until the water starts hissing and steaming like it does just before it simmers, then turn the burner off. Stir the chocolate with the spatula until all of it is melted, and then keep stirring and leave it over the hot water until it has reached melting temperature. If it won't get up to melting temperature, go ahead and turn the burner back on to give it a boost, but watch the temperature carefully! If the chocolate gets too hot, it will burn and not work very well, so pay close attention.
4. Cooling station: Once melting temperature is reached, remove the upper part of the double boiler (the pot the chocolate is in) and set it on the towel at the stirring station.
a. Drop in a piece or two of the seed chocolate. Hold the handle of the pot and with smooth easy motions, stir by working the spatula around the edge of the pan, scoop the bottom up and over several times, give it a brisk stir around in the middle, then around the edge again. All the chocolate needs to be moved constantly while its cooling to promote good crystal growth. Don't touch the pot with your hands because the warmth of your body will affect how fast it cools.
b. Take its temperature every few minutes (paranoid, remember?) and drop in another piece of seed when the last one has melted. Don't drop in too much seed as we don't want lumpy chocolate, and as it cools the seed will eventually stop melting. The cooling process is the longest part of tempering. It can take between 30-45 mins for about 1lb of chocolate, depending on the ambient temperature.
5. Dipping station: When the chocolate is 1 or 2 degrees above the upper working temperature, take the pot over to the dipping station and pour it into the glass bowl (which should be at most 1 degree above working temperature). It should cool that last degree or two during the pouring and scraping process. If it still needs to cool a bit, keep stirring and taking its temperature until it is at working temperature. You might have to remove the bowl from the heating pad briefly to help it cool. At this station you need to constantly maintain the chocolate at working temperature after it has reached it.
a. When it has reached working temperature, set the timer for 5 minutes and keep stirring with the same motions you used during the cooling process. This is the last part of crystal formation and essential for well tempered chocolate.
b. After 5 minutes, put a fairly thick smear of chocolate on the small piece of wax paper. It should be about 1/8th inch thick so you can get a good idea of how the chocolate will set up. Set the timer for another 5 minutes and keep stirring.
c. When 5 minutes is up, check the smear. It should be set up, have a nice sheen, and snap when you break it. It might still be just a touch soft and not snap sharply, but you should still be able to tell if it is good. If it is still melted, or has a dull finish, or is mushy when you try to snap it, it is not tempered properly. You might want to try another smear and see if the extra stirring at working temperature helped. If not, you have to reheat it to melting temperature and do the cooling and stirring again...ugh.
6. Dipping! Yay, we reached the fun part! We still have to be paranoid about both temperature and water, but the long cooling grind is over. Find the last little piece of seed and scoop it out so it doesn't mar your perfect dipping technique.
a. If you have an actual chocolate thermometer, wrap a piece of tape around to be double sided and put it on the edge of the bowl to rest the thermometer against and lightly hold it in place. The bottom of the thermometer should NOT be touching the bottom of the bowl, it should be in the middle of the chocolate mass so it can accurately measure the chocolate's temperature. We will be putting cool things into the chocolate, which will be cooling it off. But the heating pad will be heating the bottom of the chocolate, which will help keep it warm. It's a delicate balancing act that you need to pay close attention to. If the heating pad is too hot, it will ruin the temper of the chocolate by getting the chocolate touching the bottom of the bowl too hot, which will get mixed in to the rest when you stir it and melt all those lovely crystals you worked so hard to get formed. If the chocolate gets too cool, the wrong type of crystals will start forming and that also ruin the temper, so be vigilant.
b. Make sure the things you are dipping are perfectly dry! After every 2-4 pieces you dip, take the thermometer out and give the chocolate a good stir, using the same motion you used to temper it. I just use my spiral wire dipping tool to stir, keeps from having to juggle one more thing. Scrape the chocolate off the thermometer and stir that in too, then put the thermometer back in place and dip some more pieces.
c. As you use the chocolate, its mass reduces. This changes the balancing game, because the warmer chocolate on the bottom of the bowl has less mass to distribute its warmth into, which makes the chocolate warmer overall. When this starts happening, just put another towel between the bowl and the heating pad, or fold the one you have already there.
d. As the chocolate remains at working temperature for longer periods, it will get slightly thicker. This is because the crystals are still forming, so it's a good sign! Don't think you need to heat it back up, or thin it out somehow, that would ruin all your hard work tempering it.
e. If you finish dipping and still have chocolate left, its no problem. Just get a fresh piece of wax paper and spread out the leftover chocolate on it in a sheet that will be easy to break apart and re-melt for more goodies later. Or have something set by to use it! You could make nut or mint bark, or spiced chocolate, or whatever else catches your fancy!
Helpful info:
All of these brands work well and only have cocoa solids, cocoa butter, lecithin, vanilla, and sugar as their ingredients (and milk if it's milk chocolate).
Baker's
Guittard
Ghirardelli
Lindt
Valrohna (expensive but most people like the flavor over the majority of other brands)
Dagoba
Scharffen Berger
Endangered Species
Reference:
http://candy.about.com/od/candybasics/a/chocguide.htm
http://www.chocoley.com/resources/how-to-temper-chocolate
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/155/Tempering-Chocolate
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/the-food-lab-best-way-to-temper-chocolate.html
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/what-is-white-chocolate-best-brands.html
Greek Salad, from Greece (honestly!)
Back in 2006 my hubby had to work, but our church took a trip to Greece and he sent me along with them as a present! It was really an experience of a life time. One of the best things about traveling is experiencing different culture's foods, and I fell in love with the ubiquitous cucumber salad that was served everywhere. It was pretty warm there and I never wanted a very heavy lunch, so I would get this where I could! When I got back to the States, I missed it so much I decided to recreate it so I could enjoy it any time. The amounts are approximate, it all depends on what you like. Sometimes I put more feta in because I'm wanting it a lot, sometimes I put less so it's just a taste. Sometimes I don't even put olives in if I'm lazy and don't have any around.
Greek Salad
1 large cucumber, try to find a sorta skinny one, the fat ones can get dry and hollow inside and aren't as tasty
2 medium vine ripened tomatoes, because it really does make a difference in taste
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
a nice feta, preferably from sheep
pitted kalamata olives, or get a nice european olive blend. The standard american pimento or black olives don't have the zing the kalamata olives have and won't work the same in this recipe.
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
sprinkle of garlic powder
a nice olive oil
Sometimes the skin on cucumbers can get bitter, especially if it's thick. You can completely peel the cucumber, or leave zebra stripes on it if you want a bit of skin. Cut into quarters lengthwise, and then cut slices around 1/8 inch wide or thinner. Put in a bowl that's big enough you can stir everything together. Dice the tomatos into around 1/4 inch cubes, chop the onion and add both to the bowl. If you have feta crumbles, add a goodly amount to the bowl, if not, chop some up into 1/4 inch cubes and add. Put your kalamata olives in, leaving them whole is traditional, but you can slice them if you want. Sprinkle spices over everything and then pour enough olive oil to coat. Mix it all up good, allowing the spices and oil to coat everything. Serve right away or set it in the fridge to allow the spices to blend and leech their flavor into the oil and veggies.
Greek Salad
1 large cucumber, try to find a sorta skinny one, the fat ones can get dry and hollow inside and aren't as tasty
2 medium vine ripened tomatoes, because it really does make a difference in taste
1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
a nice feta, preferably from sheep
pitted kalamata olives, or get a nice european olive blend. The standard american pimento or black olives don't have the zing the kalamata olives have and won't work the same in this recipe.
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
sprinkle of garlic powder
a nice olive oil
Sometimes the skin on cucumbers can get bitter, especially if it's thick. You can completely peel the cucumber, or leave zebra stripes on it if you want a bit of skin. Cut into quarters lengthwise, and then cut slices around 1/8 inch wide or thinner. Put in a bowl that's big enough you can stir everything together. Dice the tomatos into around 1/4 inch cubes, chop the onion and add both to the bowl. If you have feta crumbles, add a goodly amount to the bowl, if not, chop some up into 1/4 inch cubes and add. Put your kalamata olives in, leaving them whole is traditional, but you can slice them if you want. Sprinkle spices over everything and then pour enough olive oil to coat. Mix it all up good, allowing the spices and oil to coat everything. Serve right away or set it in the fridge to allow the spices to blend and leech their flavor into the oil and veggies.
Apple Fritters: Whole Grain and Gluten Free
This recipe is one of mine and hubby's favorites for an easy breakfast. I found it back when he still ate gluten, but it easily adapted for gluten free! You can make it with just about any fruit you like, though if you use frozen fruit, the batter might not stick as well to the fruit, because it's wet.
Apple Fritters
Fritters
~3 C apples, cut into approximately 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 c (70g) whole grain GF flour (we like teff) and 1/2 c (70g) sweet rice flour OR 1 C all purpose flour (non GF)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon (+1/2 tsp for teff mix)
1 egg
1/3 - 1/2 C milk, dairy or non-dairy (1/2 for teff, then keep adding 1 tsp at a time until the right consistency, described below)
oil for frying
Glaze
1 C powdered sugar
3-6 tsp milk, dairy or non diary
I usually mix the batter first, then turn the oil on to heat, then chop the apples and mix them in. But I only make 2-3 apples at a time, depending on their size. If you are doing more I'd wait to heat the oil so it doesn't get too hot.
Mix all fritter ingredients except the apples in a large bowl. If making wheat fritters, the batter should be thick and kind of elastic. For GF it should be barely loose enough to stir easily, just a little smooth and slumpy, not stiff and not even close to runny enough to pour.
If it's too thin, add a bit more flour, too thick a bit more milk. After mixing the batter, set it aside to hydrate while you chop apples and heat the oil.
Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a wide frying pan on the stove. On a regular burner, usually about medium is a good temperature, on a power burner, it's a bit lower. Chop the apples and mix them into the batter. There should be just barely enough batter to cover the apple pieces and kinda glue them together.
Drop piled spoonfuls of the mix into the oil and use the spoon to move the apple chunks into a single layer so it cooks evenly.
Yield: 8-12 fritters depending on how big your spoonfuls are
Apple Fritters
Fritters
~3 C apples, cut into approximately 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 c (70g) whole grain GF flour (we like teff) and 1/2 c (70g) sweet rice flour OR 1 C all purpose flour (non GF)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon (+1/2 tsp for teff mix)
1 egg
1/3 - 1/2 C milk, dairy or non-dairy (1/2 for teff, then keep adding 1 tsp at a time until the right consistency, described below)
oil for frying
Glaze
1 C powdered sugar
3-6 tsp milk, dairy or non diary
I usually mix the batter first, then turn the oil on to heat, then chop the apples and mix them in. But I only make 2-3 apples at a time, depending on their size. If you are doing more I'd wait to heat the oil so it doesn't get too hot.
Mix all fritter ingredients except the apples in a large bowl. If making wheat fritters, the batter should be thick and kind of elastic. For GF it should be barely loose enough to stir easily, just a little smooth and slumpy, not stiff and not even close to runny enough to pour.
This batter is too thick.
I added about 2 tsp more milk and now it's just right.
Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a wide frying pan on the stove. On a regular burner, usually about medium is a good temperature, on a power burner, it's a bit lower. Chop the apples and mix them into the batter. There should be just barely enough batter to cover the apple pieces and kinda glue them together.
Fry until golden-brown and crispy, about 5 minutes, flipping them half way through.
Mix powdered sugar with 3 tsp milk, stir and add more 1 tsp at a time until its a nice thick glaze.
Dribble onto fritters and serve.
Yield: 8-12 fritters depending on how big your spoonfuls are
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Review for Bosch NutriMill Harvest
My review reposted from Amazon:
Exactly what I wanted, and opens possibilities I'm loving being able to explore!
Hubby bought this for me for my birthday and I absolutely love it! I have to bake gluten free for his health, and it is very difficult to find organic gluten free whole grain flour, especially those that have good textures for affordable prices. With this mill I can buy whole grains, grind what I need when I need it and not worry about the rest going rancid. This mill can make various textures as needed, from coarse cracked grains for hot cereal (porridge) all the way to superfine textures for fine baking in a single pass. I also love the options it opens up that simply aren't available without something like this. For instance, we have recently discovered black rice, and I have been a big fan of porridge for breakfast for most of my life. I make black rice porridge from cracked rice and it is amazing! I'm wanting to make black rice bread at some point too!
Function: I have found that the trick to a superfine texture in a single pass is to crank the stones as tight as they will go, and then back them off just a bit. Start up the mill, pour the grain in and watch it come out all fluffy! I do this even with long grain brown rice.
-I do not find the sound terribly loud or uncomfortable at all, and I am quite sensitive to too loud noise. It has a medium pitched sing to the stones when I turn it on and before I add the grain. While the grain is grinding, it is actually a lot quieter than when it's empty, sort of reminds me of the garbage disposal sound (sorry for that mind picture, just trying to explain!) and overall it is much quieter than my food processor, which another reviewer compared it to.
-The grain hopper is a bit small, the tension wheel for the stones takes up a good bit of the interior volume. I haven't measured it, but it probably only holds 3 cups or so.
-Due to the small hopper size and the way the flour comes out and kind of piles in the bowl, I haven't found that it's a set it and walk away type of thing. I don't have to constantly babysit it, but I do need to be there to turn the bowl, or brush the flour down into it, or add more grain.
-It is NOT at ALL dusty or messy to grind grain. Grain goes in the top and flour pours out the spout very gently. There is no dust or residue even on the counter around the bowl when I am done grinding.
-I have used a thermal gun to measure the flour temperature after grinding superfine in one pass, and it is a somewhat high temperature at around 115F. I don't know enough about rice and other gluten free grain flours to know if this changes the structure like it can for wheat.
-I'm very pleased I can get a nice, fine texture in one pass, because putting anything that's been ground already through the mill is really somewhat labor intensive. The hopper is designed for grain, so if I put anything in it that doesn't flow easily, I have to constantly brush it down into the milling chamber. I tried milling some teff flour to a finer texture than it came with, but I don't really think it was worth the effort... The small hopper, the big knob in the middle of it, the fact that I had to stand there and constantly use a brush to push the flour into the milling chamber, just not worth it. Even re-milling cracked grain is a chore. Re-milling is doable, but a chore.
-The mill is quite hefty, but even with a bad back I don't find it difficult to pick up and put away because it is so sturdy, and the spout makes a great hand hold.
-Some of the older reviews I have seen online for this mill mention it coming with a separate set of stones and a separate insert for the milling area, for swapping out due to allergies, but mine did not come with this. I don't think they are included in this latest version. I actually haven't seen any kind of insert in the milling area or spout at all, it is just the plain bamboo case.
Packaging: The packaging for the mill was really outstanding, in my opinion. I was worried about something so densely heavy flopping around in the standard Amazon box, and sure enough when I received it, it was (one piece of packing paper in a too large box for something this heavy? Really, Amazon? Couldn't have used air packs?? ...back on topic). But the box that Bosch packs it in is really sturdy, and the mill was very well supported in it with multi layered form fitting cardboard, so it hadn't been bashed around at all, even in the loose Amazon box.
Price: I have seen people argue that something like this mill is soooo expensive, but it can pay for itself very quickly, especially if you have to bake gluten free, or deal with other food allergies, or want organic, or multiples of the above. One 3lb bag of Authentic Foods superfine flour is almost $15 (no other rice flour is worth using, it's all horrible). I bought a 12lb bag of organic long grain brown rice at a local big box store for about $12. That's $1 a pound compared to $5 a pound, AND it's organic, which Authentic Foods is not. And that is only one price comparison, if you bake gluten free then you probably have 4 or more grains you bake with to get a good texture, and I have found similar savings in the other grains I use. This mill is about $100 more than the common impact mills, but I think the increase in function and decrease in annoyance is more than worth it. Being able to very specifically control your output to exactly what you need is a huge benefit (yay, porridge!). Not having to deal with the extreme noise and mess of impact mills is very worth it to me (small kitchen, awkward house, I simply don't have a spare cabinet or a room that can be coated in flour to run it in.) Even if you only do a moderate amount of baking (me), and have to deal with food allergies, this mill is worth it. If you do a lot of baking, it's definitely the way to go!
Hubby bought this for me for my birthday and I absolutely love it! I have to bake gluten free for his health, and it is very difficult to find organic gluten free whole grain flour, especially those that have good textures for affordable prices. With this mill I can buy whole grains, grind what I need when I need it and not worry about the rest going rancid. This mill can make various textures as needed, from coarse cracked grains for hot cereal (porridge) all the way to superfine textures for fine baking in a single pass. I also love the options it opens up that simply aren't available without something like this. For instance, we have recently discovered black rice, and I have been a big fan of porridge for breakfast for most of my life. I make black rice porridge from cracked rice and it is amazing! I'm wanting to make black rice bread at some point too!
Function: I have found that the trick to a superfine texture in a single pass is to crank the stones as tight as they will go, and then back them off just a bit. Start up the mill, pour the grain in and watch it come out all fluffy! I do this even with long grain brown rice.
-I do not find the sound terribly loud or uncomfortable at all, and I am quite sensitive to too loud noise. It has a medium pitched sing to the stones when I turn it on and before I add the grain. While the grain is grinding, it is actually a lot quieter than when it's empty, sort of reminds me of the garbage disposal sound (sorry for that mind picture, just trying to explain!) and overall it is much quieter than my food processor, which another reviewer compared it to.
-The grain hopper is a bit small, the tension wheel for the stones takes up a good bit of the interior volume. I haven't measured it, but it probably only holds 3 cups or so.
-Due to the small hopper size and the way the flour comes out and kind of piles in the bowl, I haven't found that it's a set it and walk away type of thing. I don't have to constantly babysit it, but I do need to be there to turn the bowl, or brush the flour down into it, or add more grain.
-It is NOT at ALL dusty or messy to grind grain. Grain goes in the top and flour pours out the spout very gently. There is no dust or residue even on the counter around the bowl when I am done grinding.
-I have used a thermal gun to measure the flour temperature after grinding superfine in one pass, and it is a somewhat high temperature at around 115F. I don't know enough about rice and other gluten free grain flours to know if this changes the structure like it can for wheat.
-I'm very pleased I can get a nice, fine texture in one pass, because putting anything that's been ground already through the mill is really somewhat labor intensive. The hopper is designed for grain, so if I put anything in it that doesn't flow easily, I have to constantly brush it down into the milling chamber. I tried milling some teff flour to a finer texture than it came with, but I don't really think it was worth the effort... The small hopper, the big knob in the middle of it, the fact that I had to stand there and constantly use a brush to push the flour into the milling chamber, just not worth it. Even re-milling cracked grain is a chore. Re-milling is doable, but a chore.
-The mill is quite hefty, but even with a bad back I don't find it difficult to pick up and put away because it is so sturdy, and the spout makes a great hand hold.
-Some of the older reviews I have seen online for this mill mention it coming with a separate set of stones and a separate insert for the milling area, for swapping out due to allergies, but mine did not come with this. I don't think they are included in this latest version. I actually haven't seen any kind of insert in the milling area or spout at all, it is just the plain bamboo case.
Packaging: The packaging for the mill was really outstanding, in my opinion. I was worried about something so densely heavy flopping around in the standard Amazon box, and sure enough when I received it, it was (one piece of packing paper in a too large box for something this heavy? Really, Amazon? Couldn't have used air packs?? ...back on topic). But the box that Bosch packs it in is really sturdy, and the mill was very well supported in it with multi layered form fitting cardboard, so it hadn't been bashed around at all, even in the loose Amazon box.
Price: I have seen people argue that something like this mill is soooo expensive, but it can pay for itself very quickly, especially if you have to bake gluten free, or deal with other food allergies, or want organic, or multiples of the above. One 3lb bag of Authentic Foods superfine flour is almost $15 (no other rice flour is worth using, it's all horrible). I bought a 12lb bag of organic long grain brown rice at a local big box store for about $12. That's $1 a pound compared to $5 a pound, AND it's organic, which Authentic Foods is not. And that is only one price comparison, if you bake gluten free then you probably have 4 or more grains you bake with to get a good texture, and I have found similar savings in the other grains I use. This mill is about $100 more than the common impact mills, but I think the increase in function and decrease in annoyance is more than worth it. Being able to very specifically control your output to exactly what you need is a huge benefit (yay, porridge!). Not having to deal with the extreme noise and mess of impact mills is very worth it to me (small kitchen, awkward house, I simply don't have a spare cabinet or a room that can be coated in flour to run it in.) Even if you only do a moderate amount of baking (me), and have to deal with food allergies, this mill is worth it. If you do a lot of baking, it's definitely the way to go!
Water Kefir Basics
I've been playing with water kefir lately. I've never really cared too much for most cultured dairy, so when I learned about water kefir, I was really excited! Hubby only ever drinks Dr Pepper, and I'd really like to find something he likes that is better for him than that. The water kefir sounds like it might just be the ticket. I did a lot of reading before ordering my grains, ended up buying them off ebay for a really reasonable price, and they arrived just after Thanksgiving. I was concerned about not feeding them enough at the start, so I think I actually ended up feeding them too much. I ended up with kefir that was way too yeasty and therefore the final product was rather alcoholic. Nothing wrong with that, but not what I was after! The good thing about that was that my grains really grew fast, and gave me enough to do a lot of experimenting with. I seem to have come up with a good system of making kefir water without them growing too fast or getting alcoholic. It looks like this:
Equipment:
-1 half gallon Ball wide mouth mason jar
-1 metal lid band
-Small coffee filters
-Nut milk bag or nylon strainer
-Long handled wooden or plastic spoon
-Non metal bowl to put the grains in while you refresh the sugar water. There are many theories out there about metal harming fermenting agents. I don't know what I believe yet and I haven't had time to experiment and gather evidence, so I just follow the mainstream because it's not too much trouble.
-Bottles that can hold pressure for the carbonation phase. I purchased my 1 liter plastic bottles at Kroger. They held sparkling water, which I drank and then saved the bottle. Many people buy flip top bottles because they are glass, but I prefer the plastic ones because they won't explode glass shards all over my kitchen if they over pressurize and I can avoid fizz explosions by releasing the pressure gradually instead of all at once.
Ingredients and process:
7 cups filtered water at room temperature
1/2 cup water kefir grains
1/4 cup sucanat or demerara sugar, alternating. The sucanat has more minerals, which feeds the kefir, but if used exclusively it seems to develop more yeast. I'm still experimenting with this. Most of the recipes out there call for 1/2 cup of sugar per half gallon, but that was making the kefir too sweet and too yeasty, which has the natural result of becoming alcoholic. If you are using plain white sugar, you can add 1 teaspoon of molasses to supplement minerals, or get trace mineral drops.
Heat 1 cup of the filtered water and the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Sugar crystals can damage the kefir grains, so make sure it is all dissolved. Pour into the jar and add the rest of the water.
Add the water kefir crystals.
Take out a coffee filter and write the date and time along the edge (because I can't keep track of things otherwise, lol), then place over the mouth of the jar and screw the metal band on over it.
Sit it out on the counter and stir it every 12 hours or so. It will start to sound fizzy after you stir it and smell a bit sour and yeasty, but not too much. Taste it after stirring it each time to see how it's coming. A cooler kitchen will take longer, a warmer kitchen will be faster. Right now it's winter and we keep the house around 65-70, so it's taking about 2 days for it to get where I like it. In the summer I imagine it will only take 1 to 1 and a half days. If your kitchen is colder than 68, you might try putting the jar in the oven with the light on and the door cracked to help it be warm enough to be active. I'm finding that even though the house gets colder at night, it's warm enough during the day to keep it active.
After it is pleasantly sour, I line my 4 cup measure with a nut milk bag and pour 3 1/2 cups into the measure, then place the bag into a ceramic bowl while I pour the kefir water into a 1 liter bottle.
Replace the bag into the measure and pour the rest of the water kefir into the measure, swirling at the end to get all the kefir grains out. If there are some left, you can pour some of the kefir back in the jar, keeping the grains separate in the bag, and swirl again to remove the last of them. Pick up the bag with the grains inside and squeeze it very gently to help the kefir flow out.
Set it aside in the ceramic bowl. Pour the kefir into the other 1 liter bottle and set aside. Gently flip the grains out of the bag, and gently scrape the sides of it with a spoon or spatula to clean what sticks to the bag off.
Rinse the bag so the leftover grains won't dry and get stuck on it. Then you can scoop the grains into a plastic or glass measure cup to measure out 1/2 cup. Restart the process for making kefir water.
The extra grains can be stored in a more concentrated sugar water solution in the fridge for a week or two. I put them in a quart jar with 1/4 cup sugar and about 2 cups of water. Date when you put them in so you don't forget and let them starve. When you have enough, pass them to a friend!
Equipment:
-1 half gallon Ball wide mouth mason jar
-1 metal lid band
-Small coffee filters
-Nut milk bag or nylon strainer
-Long handled wooden or plastic spoon
-Non metal bowl to put the grains in while you refresh the sugar water. There are many theories out there about metal harming fermenting agents. I don't know what I believe yet and I haven't had time to experiment and gather evidence, so I just follow the mainstream because it's not too much trouble.
-Bottles that can hold pressure for the carbonation phase. I purchased my 1 liter plastic bottles at Kroger. They held sparkling water, which I drank and then saved the bottle. Many people buy flip top bottles because they are glass, but I prefer the plastic ones because they won't explode glass shards all over my kitchen if they over pressurize and I can avoid fizz explosions by releasing the pressure gradually instead of all at once.
Ingredients and process:
7 cups filtered water at room temperature
1/2 cup water kefir grains
1/4 cup sucanat or demerara sugar, alternating. The sucanat has more minerals, which feeds the kefir, but if used exclusively it seems to develop more yeast. I'm still experimenting with this. Most of the recipes out there call for 1/2 cup of sugar per half gallon, but that was making the kefir too sweet and too yeasty, which has the natural result of becoming alcoholic. If you are using plain white sugar, you can add 1 teaspoon of molasses to supplement minerals, or get trace mineral drops.
Sit it out on the counter and stir it every 12 hours or so. It will start to sound fizzy after you stir it and smell a bit sour and yeasty, but not too much. Taste it after stirring it each time to see how it's coming. A cooler kitchen will take longer, a warmer kitchen will be faster. Right now it's winter and we keep the house around 65-70, so it's taking about 2 days for it to get where I like it. In the summer I imagine it will only take 1 to 1 and a half days. If your kitchen is colder than 68, you might try putting the jar in the oven with the light on and the door cracked to help it be warm enough to be active. I'm finding that even though the house gets colder at night, it's warm enough during the day to keep it active.
After it is pleasantly sour, I line my 4 cup measure with a nut milk bag and pour 3 1/2 cups into the measure, then place the bag into a ceramic bowl while I pour the kefir water into a 1 liter bottle.
The extra grains can be stored in a more concentrated sugar water solution in the fridge for a week or two. I put them in a quart jar with 1/4 cup sugar and about 2 cups of water. Date when you put them in so you don't forget and let them starve. When you have enough, pass them to a friend!
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