CUISINE

You seem to have a very interesting family Forest! And Ethiopia's place in history is too often overlooked. A historic book from there is a mystical treasure.

God help us all.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/chicken-fried-bacon-bacon-fried-172157067.html

Don't mind if I do!

This would fit as well in science or history, but very fascinating. I never knew!

https://medium.com/a-microbiome-scientist-at-large/why-cant-i-find-wild-broccoli-130c74c8a31d

That was very interesting, I never thought about the origins of Broccoli before, In fact I never think about any fruit or veg, I just stuff it in & eat it The only time I show interested is when a new fruit turns up & is being flogged at a local supermarket, often with claims of being the next super food that will cure everything

This is such a smart way to describe a healthy and simple recipe.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/six-days-ive-got-life-110000173.html

Netflix: ugly delicious. Hosted by David Chang. Some of the most enjoyable food doc I've seen, and I watch a lot. the first episode was about pizza (they referenced that Norwegians eat more pizza per capita than anywhere else) and now I'm about to dig into tacos.

So I'm trying to cultivate a natural sourdough starter: don't put in a packet of yeast, just leave it open for a few hours then let it do it's thing.

I started mine a week ago. It sort of has the right smell and some bubble action, but it's not puffing up - you know, doing what I've hired the little buggers to do!

I've tried moving it to a warmer place, feeding it more often, giving it a shot of whole wheat. Nothing seems to work. Even yelling at it doesn't motivate the damn thing. Maybe my mix is too watery?

sounds like you are looking after a very sick kitten or a bird that the cat brought in.

The online advice is along the lines of 'asking "why won't my starter rise?" is like asking "why won't my 2-year old go to sleep?"'. You've just got to keep feeding it and keeping it warm and eventually it will grow up and start behaving itself.

But my plans were to start baking bread this weekend. I think I'll make a small loaf, let it rise overnight. Maybe that extra environment of a firm dough and additives will wake it up. If not I'll just use it to keep feeding my starter.

So I finally made my bread.  It turns out the missing ingredient was temperature: I only needed to get it a few degrees warmer and my starter started frothing just as hoped.

I was stubbornly set on making pure whole wheat (have to use King Arthur flour for this!) so mixed up my dough and let it rise overnight.  It definitely doubled!  

Then my lack of experience and stubborness caught up with me.  You see, I knew I had kneaded in plenty of flour for a dry dough.  So when I took it out for the final shaping I had no intention of adding more flour.  But biology 101: when carbohydrates are consumed (which is what the yeast was doing) the result is not only CO2 to make the bubbles, but water.  

The dough was wet and thorougly annoying to work with.  My original plan was to shove it straight into the oven because it had been rising all night, why ruin it by working in more flour and knocking down the dough?  I had the stuff all over my finger and bowl, and grudgingly put in some flour just so I could handle it, but was too impatient to wait another 2 hours to let it rise again.  It had been rising all night, for chrissake!

So I stuck it in the oven as is.  I thought the heat would make the bubbles expand and it would rise more, but the loaf knew it had been maltreated and refused to budge.

From the picture it looks okay, but it was rather dense.



Also very sour - the natural bacteria I think overwhelms the yeast from this technique.  But I put on some of my chickpea spread, and that and a glass of wine made a very passable dinner.  the sourdough starter is in the background.

{{ Well it certainly looks the part Halfy, making me hungry! }}

I've got a second trial loaf doing it's level best to rise. This time I learned my lesson and greased the bowl it's in.

I just noticed way up at the top of this thread, Ringo classed tacos as junk food.

I protest.

I really admire people who experiment and cook new stuff. Baking bread smells so good.

halfwise wrote:So I'm trying to cultivate a natural sourdough starter: don't put in a packet of yeast, just leave it open for a few hours then let it do it's thing.

FWIW I'm told by the family experts that one of the secrets to a good sourdough is handling the dough with clean, but not TOO clean bare hands. The theory is that the natural yeasts that live symbiotically on human bodies are an important part of the process, and if you take the human element away you'll end up with other less helpful yeasts from other critters. Same theory as stamping grapes with bare feet.

Hmm...the dough gets handled by hands, but nobody wants to handle starter - gooey gloppy mess. How are hands supposed to get in that?

This might help ?  
When I used to live in a house, ( not my flat I have now )  that had an airing cupboard it was fun to make bread. The cupboard was always warm because it housed the boiler. When I put the dough in a bowl I used to drape a damp cloth over the dough then popped it in the airing cupboard, it helps it. Its such sticky stuff & you cant abuse it enough ( kneading ) but when its cooked & comes out the oven with that gorgeous smell and that first slice of soft bread puts a big smile on your face, nothing like it !

An admirable effort Halfy. Keep at it! I've never messed around with sourdough myself, but I know it's very popular amongst certain of the health freaks around here.

I think tacos can be junk food if they come from a freezer package, or Taco Bell. But regular tacos are healthy and delicious. My girlfriend made these shrimp tacos that were delicious. She sauteed the shrimp with spices and garlic and onion, made a yogurt-based cabbage dill kind of slaw, and served them up together in those little corn tortillas. It was quite good.

She's got some creativity.

Az - I think I have to shift away from pure whole wheat, and buy some good bread flour. And I need a warm cabinet. I think a heating pad may be the way to go.

This is cute, simple yet pleasantly involved in crafty rolling and folding. Shanghai-style scallion pancakes: a daughter calls up her mother to talk her through it.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-zakbrgsUZ/?utm_source=ig_embed

They look tasty & seem simple to do. tho I hate cooking I love eating !

What is it with Brits naming food after unappealing body parts? I just read the "bacon butty" was the most popular sandwich. Match that with spotted dick. And the sandwich itself is nothing to write home about. At least here we add lettuce and tomato with mayo and call it the nicely descriptive BLT.