Starter

The coronavirus stay-at-home strategy is in full force here in the Seattle area. A lot of people in my area did some panic buying a few weeks ago. I didn't do any panic buying. I also assumed that the panic buying was mostly for TP, pasta, beans, and rice. That was a bad assumption. All the flour and yeast are gone from the stores. You can't even find yeast online.

Time to make my own starter!

I've always known that making a starter was pretty easy. I read some stuff online and watched some videos. Then I got a one quart mason jar, added 3 tablespoons of brown rice flour, and 2 tablespoons of distilled water. I had soaked some raisins in the water for five minutes to recruit some additional yeast for my starter. I think some additional sugar from the raisins also made it into the water. I stirred it up, put a lid on the jar very loosely, and put the jar on top of the fridge.

I added 3 tablespoons of rice flour and 2 tablespoons of distilled water each day. I also stirred the starter a couple of times a day.

The starter looked and smelled like it should... very yeasty. One of the keys to making sure the starter ferments well is to use distilled water or highly filtered water. The chlorine and other additives to city water apparently inhibit yeast growth.

The bread that I made with the starter turned out very well. It took a lot longer to rise than bread I've made with store bought yeast. I let the dough rise for about eight hours. I usually only need 20-30 minutes of rise time when I use store bought yeast. I used a ratio for the starter in the bread recipe called the 1-2-3 weight ratio: one part starter, two parts liquid, and three parts flour by weight.

The bubbles in the bread are evenly distributed, and the bread isn't weak or crumbly. This is often the case when I use store bought yeast. The bread also has a much more noticeable sour flavor. It is not as strong as a sourdough bread, but it is definitely tangy.

Cole Slaw

I made cole slaw! It was pretty good!

I found the recipe here, but I used green cabbage instead of purple. I also used rice milk and vinegar instead of buttermilk.

Sauerkraut

I stopped making sauerkraut over the summer because of house construction. At first I thought my family would be moving out of our house, but then that didn't happen. Then I decided with all the distractions of the construction project, that I just wouldn't do sauerkraut as well.

I started my first batch since March in November. I did my standard recipe.

5 pounds cabbage (shredded on a mandoline)

1 apple

2 tsp sea salt per pound of cabbage/apple

2 tsp caraway seeds

4 weeks fermentation time

I gave some of the harvested sauerkraut away as xmas presents. Then I started another batch of kraut just before xmas. I took some of the fresh kraut and started two small batches in which I added some ground red chile. I tasted the brine and it was delicious! I harvested one jar three weeks later and the spice level of the sauerkraut was negligible, but the flavor was pretty good. If I want more spice, I'll either have to add more at the beginning or use a different/ hotter spice.

Gin Infusion: No. 2

This is my second attempt at a gin infusion. The first one had way too much cardamom for my taste. This second batch has half the cardamom, uses twice the orange peel, and replaces the licorice with fennel. I liked the result a lot more. It's not like the gin you get from the store. It's a lot more aromatic.

Fermented Brussel Sprouts

It's Brussel sprout season so I fermented some with some carrots and caraway seeds. I was hoping that they'd taste like sauerkraut. They were very bubbly during their time on top of the fridge and they were pretty powerful in their odor (Jordan thought they were quite foul), but they didn't taste like sauerkraut. They were pretty good though. I ate them all up.

Licorice Carrots

I had some licorice root left over from the gin infusion that I made so I added some to a batch of fermented carrots. They turned out to be delicious! (But I'm partial to licorice.)

Gin Infusion Harvest

I harvested the gin infusion after four days. While it was definitely gin, I felt that it was to heavy on the cardamom and licorice. If I make it again, I'll dail those ingredients back a bit.

Here are all the ingredients after I strained them out.

Here's the gin in the jar.

Here's the gin in a class.

I have also tasted and am eating the gin fermented carrots. They are delicious! I'm definitely going to make more of them.