Homemade Yogurt

Yogurt is one of my favorite ingredients. Add some savory herbs or spices and you have a zesty sauce or curry. Strain and layer with honey and fruit, and you have a tangy and tantalizing trifle. If you are a yogurt fan, and especially if you buy the little to-go yogurt cups, you can make much cheaper yogurt at home with surprisingly little effort. And making your own yogurt also gives you the benefit of being able to decide what kind of milk you want to use (skim, whole, goats and sheeps milk all make lovely yogurts). And on top of that you can decide what kind of culture you want to use -- different cultures will yield different textures and flavors of yogurt. There are plenty of sources that you can order powdered yogurt cultures from, but I tend to just buy small containers of store bought yogurt in the style I want to emulate. As long as you buy an active yogurt culture (which will be labeled on the container) you will be able to cultivate another yogurt batch.

There is one caveat; I recommend you get a yogurt machine. At the risk of sounding like a paid yogurt machine salesperson, let me tout the benefits of this device. In order to give your yogurt the proper environment to culture, you will need to keep it at 116 F for eight hours. I tried some makeshift water bath/thermos/in the oven contraptions, but eight hours is a long time and I spent a good portion of that time checking the temperature and adding hot water. And my yogurt didn't even turn out well, it was anemic and thin. Then I got a yogurt machine. It is a really simple device, just a low level electric heat source and a space to put little glass jars on top of it. Fill jars with yogurt, turn it on, then sleep/eat/run errands for eight hours and your yogurt is done.

Yogurt machines were kind of a fad in the 60s, so you might even be able to find an old Salter brand machine in your mom's basement, or at a garage sale. But don't pay too much: my brand new machine with small glass jars (perfect for single servings) was only 20$.

Ingredients:
1 qt. milk (I use a local pasture raised milk that is not ultra-pasteurized.)
2 T. active culture yogurt (or yogurt starter)

Equipment:
2 qt. saucepan
Instant read thermometer
2 small stainless steel bowls
stainless steel spoon
ladle
Funnel (optional)

Clean all equipment. Since you will be actively cultivating bacteria, and keeping your yogurt mix in the heat range that bacteria love most of all, cleanliness is especially important. Make sure all of your utensils and yogurt containers are scrupulously cleaned before you start out.

Heat milk. Pour your milk into a saucepan and place over high heat. Use your thermometer to monitor how hot the milk is. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Bring the milk up to 180 F.

Cool milk. Pour hot milk into the smaller of the two stainless steel bowls. You can just cover the milk and leave the milk to cool at room temperature, but I'm always in a hurry so I put it over an ice bath and stir it to bring the temperature down quickly. Once the temperature has dipped down to 116 F you can mix in the yogurt or yogurt starter. Make sure that the yogurt is thoroughly mixed into the milk.

Cultivate yogurt for 6-8 hours. Carefully pour the yogurt into the prepared cups or bowl. I find that using a funnel makes this a tidier operation. Seal containers and turn machine on. Leave for at least 6 hours.


Check for doneness. Most guides say that you want the yogurt to be the consistency of heavy cream, I find that my yogurt will usually thicken more before it is done. Once the yogurt is done, chill and use as you would use storebought yogurt.

Troubleshooting. It is possible to overcook your yogurt, at which point it will break, separating into a thicker curd, and lots of whey. Don't confuse a little whey on top (which is normal) with having overcooked the yogurt. Overcooked yogurt will be obviously thick and without any custard-like smoothness, even after stirring. If you overcook by just a little bit, all is not lost. Strain your yogurt for a day and you will have a wonderful, crumbly yogurt cheese. It is also possible to undercook your yogurt, which will likely mean that your yogurt will be thin. Other reasons that your yogurt could turn out thin would be that you are using a culture that is not active, or that the proper temperature to encourage yogurt cultivation has not been maintained.


Thickeners. The yogurt that I make usually has a beautifully thick consistency without adding any thickeners. But the process has so many variables (milk, temperature, culture) that you might get very different results going through the same process. If you want a thicker texture of yogurt you can experiment with adding thickeners pectin, gelatin or dried milk powder. Add these thickeners when you heat the milk. Or you can always just strain the yogurt afterward which will make the yogurt both thicker and richer.

Homemade Pumpkin Taffy

Happy Halloween, everyone! Now let's all make our own candy! Homemade candy can be a fun, interactive alternative to the ubiquitous processed, artificial sweets. While most candy making is not particularly kid-friendly (think dangerous, boiling sugars and the most impossibly messy ingredient of all: melted chocolate). Taffy is a happy exception. Once the tricky boiling part of the equation is over, pulling the taffy is fun and kind of mesmerizing. What starts out as a lump of dark, but clear sugar slowly turns to a shiny, almost metallic mass before finally arriving at the opaque, soft, chewy substance we recognize as taffy.

I wanted this recipe to both taste fantastic and to use natural ingredients for flavoring and coloring. I'll be honest: it took more than a little experimenting to hash out a recipe that lived up to the challenge, but I finally arrived at one I feel great about sharing. Carrot juice provides bright orange color and an earthy-sweet base for the flavor, cinnamon and molasses fill out the flavor to make it convincingly pumpkiny and honey keeps the whole mass soft and pliable. A huge thanks to Jes (photographer extraordinaire) for the title pictures. Enjoy!



Ingredients:
1/2 c. honey (light flavored honey like clover or wildflower)
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. carrot juice
2 cinnamon sticks
2 t. molasses
1 T. butter
1/2 t. corn starch

candy making equipment:
candy thermometer
parchment paper or silicone cooking mat
wax paper or cellophane for wrapping candies



Calibrate Your Thermometer: I realize that starting out a recipe with "calibrate your thermometer" may not be the best way to convince you that home candymaking can be accessible. But it can, really! The trick to getting soft, chewy taffy is stopping the cooking at exactly the right temperature, and it is very difficult to know what that temperature is without an accurate thermometer. And, trust me, the extra time you spend calibrating is worth it to avoid the disappointment of a brittle or impossible sticky mass of sugar. So here's how to do it. Place your thermometer in a pot of water and bring it to a boil. When the water is boiling check and see what temperature your thermometer is reading. If you are at sea level your water will boil at 212 F. If you are at a higher altitude, the boiling temperature will be 2 degrees lower for every 1000 feet of elevation. So if I were cooking at my parents house (at a 5500 ft. elevation) my water would boil at 201 F. Make sure that your thermometer is reading an accurate boiling temperature for your altitude. Adjust the thermometer if necessary. If you can't adjust your thermometer and the temperature reading is off, make a note of how many degrees your thermometer is off and adjust the final cooking temperature accordingly.

Cook Sugars: First set aside a sheet pan with a large piece of parchment paper or silicone mat lining it. Put all ingredients in a 2 qt saucepan and place over high heat. You can stir the mixture a few times to dissolve all of the ingredients, but stop stirring once it has come to a boil. The mixture will bubble up quite vigorously. Do not walk away from the stove. I know that the mixture will seem to heat very slowly, and it is normal for the sugar to hover just below the "thread" stage on your thermometer for a long time. But then when it starts to heat up, it goes very quickly and it is essential that you stop cooking immediately. You want to stop cooking right at 245 F (right between soft and firm balls on most candy thermometers). When your sugar finally reaches the correct temperature, pour it in a thin stream onto your parchment or silicone sheet. Pouring slowly helps cool the sugar down and the cooled sugar is not as runny and so you can pour it all onto your sheet without making a mess. Remove and discard the cinnamon sticks.

Cool: Leave candy to cool for about 30 minutes. This should bring the candy down almost to room temperature. * Now is the moment of truth. If you have cooked the candy to the proper temperature it will be soft, but firm enough to handle (though it will be very sticky). If you cooked it too long it will be very firm and possibly even impossible to pull. Now you see why I bother with calibrating the thermometer, right? At this point if your candy is in one of these two categories, you can have a do over. Scrape the candy back into a clean saucepan and add a half cup of water. Bring the whole thing to a boil and stir to dissolve the candy. Once all of the sugar is boiling you will cook the candy as before, making whatever adjustments you need to to get the proper consistency.

Pull: Now you're ready for the fun part! Wash and thoroughly dry your hands. Take a dab of oil or butter and rub it into your hands (just a teeny bit, though). If you have several people pulling the taffy, divide it into the right amount of pieces. Stretch the taffy into long cords and then fold over into halves. Keep pulling the taffy as is cools until it is opaque, light in color and has become difficult to pull (About 15 minutes). It will be very sticky.


Shape: Roll or stretch the taffy into a 1/2" thick rope. Use lightly oiled kitchen scissors to snip the rope into 1" pieces.

Wrap & Store: While the taffy is still soft, wrap each piece in 3"x 2 1/2" wax paper or cellophane rectangles. Taffy keeps best in dry environments. It will keep for quite a while well covered. I suggest wrapping each piece tightly (with as little air as possible) and storing wrapped candies in an airtight container.

*You can prepare this portion of the recipe ahead of time. When sugar mixture has cooled, use the parchment sheet to fold it over into a compact square. Wrap tightly in plastic. You may need to heat up the taffy before you can pull it. Reheat very slowly in a low (200 F) oven or on defrost in the microwave. Check frequently and mix the mass together until it is evenly heated and pliable.

Homemade Veggie Burgers

Veggie burgers don't always have to be seen as a second-rate meat substitute; at their best they have a wholesome, not-too-filling-but-still-satisfying vegetable-y goodness. From a culinary perspective, veggie burgers are just a savory vegetable croquette topped with all of the delicious trimmings of a burger. The freezer section of your local grocery probably has its own section devoted to various veggie burgers: from hard-core processed soy to what appears to be squat alfalfa pellets. One thing they share is cost: being a more processed food they are much more expensive than their constituent ingredients. I wanted a veggie burger that was made of wholesome veggies, has a pleasant texture and most importantly a big enough flavor to deserve the name burger.


That's why I started with mushrooms- their big meaty taste seemed like a logical point of departure. I chose the smaller siblings of portobellos, cremini (1$ per pound cheaper!) but portobellos would work the same way. The mushrooms are cooked with garlic, and then chopped up in a food processor with cooked lentils, olive oil and breadcrumbs and an egg to help hold the whole thing together. Shape the patties, freeze and voila! Delicious veggie burgers cooked straight from the freezer. Perfect for a busy weeknight dinner or a backyard barbecue.



8 c. cremini mushrooms, stemmed and brushed clean (save mushroom stems for making vegetable broth)
2 large cloves of garlic
1 T. olive oil
2 c. savory cooked lentils (see recipe) or you could substitute canned, cooked lentils.
1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2t. salt
the juice from half of a lemon.

Yield: 10 large burgers

Prepare Mushrooms: Mince garlic. Coarsely chop mushrooms (1/4-1/2" thick). Toss chopped mushrooms with the minced garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Drizzle a little olive oil into a large frying pan and place over medium high heat. Add mushrooms, cover and reduce heat. Simmer, covered, until the mushrooms have released their juices and are soft. Remove the cover and gently stir the mushrooms. Simmer until the juices are almost gone and the mushrooms are soft and dark.

Puree Mix: Set aside half of the cooked mushrooms in a bowl. Place the other half of the mushrooms and all of the rest of the ingredients into your food processor. Pulse until thoroughly combined and pulverized, scraping down the sides if necessary. Add the reserved mushrooms and pulse until these mushrooms are chopped and well incorporated, but still have some visible chunks (this adds some texture variation to the burger).

Shape Patties: Dip your hands in cold water and shape the veggie puree into burger-sized patties. Place patties on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Refrigerate Patties: Refrigerate the burgers, uncovered, overnight to allow the surface of the burger to dry out.

Store Patties: Using kitchen shears, cut the sheet of parchment into squares beneath each burger. Stack patties with parchment squares separating each burger. Thoroughly wrap burgers and store in the freezer.

Cook Burgers: You can cook these burgers by any method you would normally cook a burger. You'll get the best results by starting with a high heat ( 1-2 minutes per side) Then reduce the heat to low to warm the middle of the patty. If you are grilling or pan frying the burgers, brush the surface of the burger with oil first to prevent sticking.

Savory Lentils & Greens

I didn't mean for this dish to be so good. I was really just looking for something serviceable as a vehicle to explain how to cook lentils. But it turned out to be so easy and delicious, I might just be making it all the time. Is two nights in a row too much?

I have organized the instructions to make this as quick of a recipe to prepare as possible. Just to show that cooking dried beans doesn't always require tons of foresight and careful planning. The flavors are very Italian, inspired by the traditional lentil and escarole soups of Italy. But this dish is even simpler, and apart from the greens, you might find everything to make it already in your pantry and fridge.


Yield: 3-4 large servings(as a main course), 5-6 small portions (as a side)

Ingredients:
2 c. lentils, rinsed.
1/2 t. salt
2 1/2 - 3 c. vegetable broth or water
2 T oil, butter or bacon fat
1 small onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
The juice of 1 lemon
1/2 c. grated pecorino or parmesan cheese
two handfuls of greens (escarole, kale, mustard greens, spinach)
olive oil
freshly ground black pepper


Quick-soak lentils: Bring the water or broth to a boil. Rinse the lentils and discard any off-color or strange looking beans (they can have nasty pieces of grit in them). Toss the lentils into the hot liquid and add the salt. Set aside. I know, I know, lentils don't have to be soaked, but since I'm trying to make this dish really quick to prepare, the quick soak in salted water (remember salt helps preserve their shape) will reduce the cooking time. So why not soak while you peel and cut your onions?

Prepare Onion and Garlic: Dice onion and mince Garlic. Place your Butter or oil in a saucepan or skillet over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic. Cook for about a minute until garlic is fragrant, but not browned.

Cook Lentils: Throw the soaked lentils, the garlic and onion and the bay leaf into a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer. Cover and set your timer for 20 minutes. Stir the lentils at least once during cooking and add a little water if necessary so that the lentils stay submerged. After 20 minutes check the lentils often for doneness (they can quickly go from under to overdone). When lentils are tender remove from the heat.

Add Greens and Season: While lentils are cooking wash and coarsely chop your greens. Grate cheese. When lentils are done, throw in greens and stir to combine, allowing the heat from the lentils to cook the greens. Add lemon juice and about a third of the grated cheese. Stir to combine. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve: Ladle into bowls , sprinkle liberally with grated cheese and finish with a drizzle of olive oil and some black pepper.

Cooking Dried Beans

Dried beans are one of the few food products that are cheap and durable enough to also double as childhood craft supplies. But they are good for more than gluing to your turkey themed collage or for filling tiny sacks of potatoes in your latest diorama; dried beans can and should have a starring role in many a thrifty meal. Did I mention that they are highly nutritious and also quite tasty?

So... all of this begs the question: why don't more people cook dried beans? Well, there are a few pitfalls you can run into: mushy or grainy beans, beans that won't cook no matter how long you boil them. And then we also have, as Harold McGee calls it in On Food and Cooking, "the problem of legumes and flatulence." (At this point in my reading, I could not help but giggle both from childish amusement at the word "flatulence" and out of deep satisfaction that I have a book that directly addresses this issue.) But there are a myriad of ways to combat beans' difficulties: soaking the beans overnight, soaking with baking soda (but not too much or they'll taste soapy and bitter), soaking with salt (but this can make the beans grainy), pressure cooking, long cooking at a low temperature (but be careful if you're at a high altitude). All of this conditional and contradictory advise can be enough to make you reach for what suddenly seems like a very reasonably priced can of beans.

But don't worry, I'm going to try to make some practical sense out of all of this advise, so roll your sleeves up and get ready to cook some beans! I'm going to broadly group beans into four categories and will address each with additional posts, further relevant information and (of course) recipes. Small beans (like lentils) cook relatively quickly and do not need to be soaked ahead of time. The trick to cooking small beans is to fully cook them while not letting them get mushy. Large beans (kidney beans, black eyed peas) need to be soaked and cooked for a longer period of time. The trick with them is to get them cooked all the way through and have a soft, creamy texture. And split beans (such as split peas) are different altogether, with the outer shell of the bean removed they easily dissolve into a puree. Lastly, soy beans could be part of the large bean group, but they are different enough in their preparation and versatility to warrant their own category. So I shall begin a legume themed odyssey and make my way through all four types of beans and try to make some practical sense of how to turn humble beans into delicious foodstuffs.

But first, I'll outline a few of the key techniques and common recommendations of bean cookery that will help you understand how beans cook, and why your recipes call for certain techniques or ingredients.

1. Cooking times. Just a warning: they might be long (like hours) and they might vary, by a lot. It's easy to forget that these dried little suckers are produce. Yes, dried produce, but they are plants nonetheless. And just like your apple pie will taste different from year to year based on the apple crop, your beans might cook differently from batch to batch, based on the crop. Watch out that your beans are not too old, while they might look and smell the same for years very old beans can take much longer to cook. So when you're cooking be prepared to test the beans for doneness, and don't panic if they're not done yet, just add more cooking liquid and increase the cooking time.

2. Flatulence. Beans have lots of good-for-ya proteins and carbohydrates in them. But they've also got a few carbohydrates we humans are not good at digesting. And when we eat them the digestive process can take a comical turn. There are a lot of ways to get rid of these undesirable carbohydrates, but it depends very much on the type of bean and how you're cooking it. Many recipes list salt and baking soda as ways to cut down on the gas, which is only sort of true. They help beans cook faster, and a long cooking will break down the indigestible carbohydrates. In my book the most important thing you can do on this account is to never, never undercook your beans. Trust me on this one.

2. Soaking. There are two reasons to soak beans. First it decreases the cooking time. Second some of the indigestible carbohydrates in beans leach out into the soaking water, then you can toss the water and have less gas-inducing beans. But (as always) the whole picture is not that simple. When you toss out the soaking water, you also toss out lots of good nutrients and flavor. Welcome to the complicated trade-offs to balance while cooking beans. I usually soak, and then cook thoroughly with the soaking liquid.

3. Baking Soda & Salt. Soaking or cooking beans with baking soda decreases their cooking time. But use it sparingly, too much will taste terrible. Salt also decreases the cooking time, but salt also reacts with the proteins in the bean to make them firm. This can be a good thing (and help to keep your lentils from disintegrating) or it can be a bad thing (making your kidney beans have a grainy texture).

4. Acid, Sugar & Calcium. All of these ingredients increase the cooking time of beans. So if you're boiling beans add tomatoes, lemon juice, wine, and vinegar after the beans have reached their desired consistency. Again there's an exception: if you are going to cook beans for a really, really long time (like baked beans) then these ingredients will keep your beans firm, when they would otherwise turn to mush.

Oatmeal Sanwich Bread

To be perfectly honest, I am really more of an artisanal bread person. I swoon over a chewy yet crisp ciabatta, or a thick slice from a rustic boule. But I'm no bread elitist. I am not blind to the pleasures of American-style sandwich bread. It's soft, moist even crumb is perfect for toasting, and the delicate, yielding texture is ideal for sandwiches (especially those spreadable classics of childhood-- peanut butter, banana, jelly, nutella, honey). And from the occasional baker's perspective, sandwich bread is a great, relatively low-hassle project. It really doesn't need a starter, or a lot of specialized breadmaker's equipment, and the loaves are done in a few hours.

So sandwich bread is cheap enough, right? Why go to the trouble of making your own? I can offer a few reasons: first and foremost is quality. I think this bread is much tastier than the bland grocery store loaves. The second is control of your ingredients-- If you like to use organic ingredients, or want to have a lot of whole grains in your daily intake and don't want the preservatives that come in grocery store loaves, you will do much better to make your own. I used oats as a main ingredient-- I love the soft texture and wholesome oatiness that they give this loaf. I've also added a sponge to the more typical sandwich bread procedure which helps give the bread a more nuanced flavor. (If you're a breadmaking novice, don't worry-- a sponge is just mixing some of the ingredients into a batter and letting it sit out for a while, easy!)

Yield: 2 Loaves (14-16 slices each)

Sponge:
1 1/2 c. water (at room temperature)
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 T. + 1 t. yeast (do not use instant or fast acting yeast)
1 T. barley malt

Dough:
2 1/2 c. oats
6T. butter
1 1/2 c. boiling water
3/4 c. milk, buttermilk or whey*
1/4 c. brown sugar
2 1/2 t. salt
5c. bread flour
1c. whole wheat flour

Prepare Loaf Pan: Lightly butter two 9" loaf pans and set aside.

Prepare Sponge: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, making sure that the barley malt has dissolved. Take your butter out of the fridge so that it will be at room temperature by the time you need to mix your dough.

Ferment Sponge: Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave to ferment at room temperature for one hour. After an hour the sponge should have roughly doubled in size and have lots of bubbles at the surface.

Mix Dough: Bring the 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Meanwhile measure your oats and butter into a bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook if you are lucky enough to have one). Pour boiling water over the oats and leave them to stand for five minutes. Add the milk or whey and stir (you want to make sure to cool the mixture down before you add the yeast). Add the sponge, brown sugar and salt. Mix. Add the flours all at once and stir until the dough comes together.

Knead Dough: If you are using a stand mixer begin mixing at low speed until the dough comes together. Increase the speed to medium and leave the dough to knead for 8-10 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. To knead by hand: work dough on a clean surface for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be smooth (apart from the oats) and springy. Try to avoid kneading a lot of extra flour into the dough when kneading on your counter. If the dough is sticking to the counter (it will, at first), use a scraper to gather stray scraps of dough back together. Then lightly dust the surface with flour. After a few minutes the dough should begin to hold together by itself and clean the counter as you knead.

Shape loaves: Divide the dough into two equal portions. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Stretch and press each piece of dough into a 9"x9" square. Firmly roll the square up into a thick log and pinch the end of the dough to hold the roll together. Place loaves seam side down into the loaf pans. At this point you can brush the top of the loaves with a beaten egg and sprinkle with rolled oats for a completely optional but pretty oat crust.

Proof: Cover loaves loosely so they don't dry out while they rise. I keep a couple of plastic shopping bags for this purpose, just put the whole loaf inside the bag and tuck the handles of the bag under the loaf pan. Leave the loaves out (preferably at a comfortable room temperature) to proof for 1-2 hours until they have puffed up to just fill the loaf pan. When you press one finger gently on the loaf it should feel spongy and leave a depression that slowly springs back into shape.

Bake: Pop the loaves into a 475F oven. Set a timer for 10 minutes and then decrease the temperature to 425F. Bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, rotating the loaves once. Loaves are fully cooked when the crusts are deep brown and make a hollow sound when you tap on them. Place the loaves on a rack to cool.

Store: This bread is at its best when it is fresh. Cut off whatever you think you will use in two days and wrap loosely. Slice the rest of the loaf, wrap well and freeze. When you warm or toast the bread straight from the freezer it will taste like you just baked it.

*If you are addicted to strained yogurt, or have taken up the questionable habit of cheesemaking (future post, I promise!) then you have a lot of extra whey. Whey is great in bread, and it is a fantastic example of how to recover some goodness and nutrition and put it to good use in another dish.

Intermission

So... *ahem* it's been a little while. I don't like to write too much about myself (food is much more interesting, I promise), but it would seem strange to just pick up again after so long without any acknowledgment. So here it is, an acknowledgment that yes, I have not written in blog form for a long while. It's an old story by now-- with so many other activities demanding time (moving! writing! teaching! underground kitchen!) the strict-financial-regimen-as-blog became too cumbersome for me to maintain. But I have still found myself fascinated by cooking with an eye for economy. And the subject is certainly as timely as ever. So with a little makeover (no strict food budget anymore, just general writing about kitchen economy) and adjusted expectations (I'll write when I can, but no guarantee of twice weekly postings), I'm diving back in. And I've got a lot of cooking coming up-- cider, DIY yogurt, apple jelly made from apple skins, home-brewed beer, foraging for greens! More tasty, thrifty treats for everyone!