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.

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.

Blood Orange Marmalade

Marmalade is much easier to make than most people presume (particularly made in small batches like this one). There are plenty of recipes dedicated to making jams and jellies with low sugar content. This is not one of those recipes. Marmalade is traditionally a sugar preserve -- so I make no apologies about the sugar content of this recipe. This is a very elemental, traditional use of the naturally occurring pectin present in citrus to turn it into a delicious preserve. That's right: no powdery packets of pectin, no guessing about whether the acid and sugar content will be just right to make the pectin gel. With fruit, sugar and a little time you can make an irresistible marmalade. You can swap out other citrus fruit for the blood oranges to vary the recipe. (Meyer lemons are intoxicating.) It is fantastic swirled into plain yogurt-- a much cheaper alternative to individual flavored yogurts.

My instructions call for just a sharp knife, but if you happen to have a juicer, then by all means use it. Just be sure to grate the peel before juicing. I use a coarse grater to grate my peel -- I love biting into a robust strip of peel. If you prefer a more delicate texture, then you can use a zester.



3 Blood Oranges
3 Lemons
2 c. Sugar
Pinch of salt

Yield: 2 c marmalade

Grate Peel: Using a coarse grater, grate the outer layer of the peel from all of the oranges and lemons. Set Aside.

Cut Fruit: Using a very sharp knife, cut off the top and bottom of each orange and lemon. Set the fruit upright (on the flat surface that you just cut). To remove the rest of the the outer skin and pith, cut strips of the skin away from the fruit, following the curve of the fruit. So start with one strip cut top to bottom. Then follow right behind cutting the peel away in 1/2" strips, until you have worked your way around the entire fruit. Discard the trimmings of pith and skin. Slice the skinned fruit into 1/2" thick rounds.

Cook Fruit: Place the cut fruit and sugar in a large stainless steel stockpot. Place the pot over high heat and stir. Stir vigorously to break up the fruit. At this point you really only care about breaking up the fruit. When the fruit is thoroughly mushy, turn off the heat and pour the fruit and sugar mixture through a sieve. (If you are juicing the fruit, you can skip this step and go straight to cooking the marmalade)

Cook Marmalade: Add the reserved peel to the fruit and juice mixture and pour back into your stock pot. Place over high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once the mixture is boiling, turn the heat down to medium/low. At this point you are essentially waiting for liquid to evaporate. You will need to stir the marmalade frequently to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The mixture will begin to thicken after several minutes of boiling. To test the consistency of the marmalade, drip a little bit off of your spoon onto a cold, ceramic plate. The ceramic will cool down the test very quickly and you will be able to see what texture your marmalade is. Remember that the pectin will continue to firm up for a day or two in the fridge, so you should stop cooking your marmalade while it is still a little runnier than you want the finished marmalade to be.

Store: In the refrigerator for several months. Of course you can sterilize and seal this recipe in jars too, but stored in the refrigerator there is no need for these additional steps.

Whole Wheat Crackers

I enjoy all of the little-- shall we say-- particularities of working with pastry doughs. They must be carefully handled. (As one of my dear pastry instructors would say "like children: gentle, but firm.") They must rest, chilled, for the appropriate amount of time, allowing the gluten to relax. Then they must be cut and shaped precisely. Yes, I find all of this terribly endearing, but I also realize that it is not everyone's thing. Especially for something as everyday as crackers. So I wanted to make a recipe for crackers that you could make quickly and easily-- and avoid a lot of those typical, finicky demands of pastry dough. I had a hunch that a technique I have seen used to make tender cakes and pie doughs might work for crackers. And to my great surprise, my first attempt came out stellar: crunchy, wholesome and best of all a very easy, forgiving dough to work with. If you bake them in large sheets and break the crackers into shards you even avoid fussy shaping and trimming. And to my eye, the organic cracker shard-shapes have much more character than squares and triangles. So there you have it: there are no reasons left to not make your own crackers. They will be a fraction of the cost of the packaged supermarket crackers and miles apart in taste.


Yield: Three large sheet trays of crackers

10T. Butter (1 1/2 sticks, preferably at room temperature)
2c. All Purpose Flour
1/2t. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 1/3 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1/3c. Wheat Germ
1T. Barley Malt (typically found near molasses in most health food stores and well-stocked groceries)
2/3 c. Water
Salt, Sugar, Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, Fennel or Rosemary to sprinkle on top.


Mix Flour and Butter: This is the "weird" technique which is likely to go against everything else that you've learned about pastry, but trust me, it works like a charm. This is also the step that gives the dough its unique texture (kind of like play-dough, actually) and allows for it to be rolled out right away.* It is nearly impossible to overmix this dough, so there is no need to be delicate with your mixing and rolling. So, getting down to business... first mix together your all purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Place the flour mixture and room temperature butter in the bowl of a stand mixer** and mix on low for a few minutes until the butter is completely incorporated into the flour. It should look like a moist, homogeneous yellow powder-- think of the texture of slightly damp, clumping sand. As I said, you can't really overmix here.

Mix in Remaining Dry Ingredients: Add whole wheat flour and wheat germ. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Mix in Liquids: Dissolve malt in water. Mix liquids into dry ingredients until the dough comes together.

Roll Dough: Divide dough into three portions. Shape each portion into a rectangle .On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until it is uniformly thin-- your dough should probably be about as big as your sheet tray. In fact you should take note of the size of your sheet tray, and make sure that you are rolling your dough into a shape that will fit easily on it. You ought to be able to see the color of your countertop through the dough. As you are rolling, take a good look and note that you are rolling the center out as thinly as the edges--it is easy to have thin edges and a thick center. This is exactly what you don't want for even baking. The edges warm up before the center in the oven, so if you have thin edges they will overcook before the center is done.

Dock: Use a fork to prick the dough at even intervals. Brush the dough liberally with water and sprinkle with salt and sugar (or other seeds and spices if you want different varieties of cracker)

Bake: Place your sheets of cracker into a 315 F oven, bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating the sheets once during baking. The crackers are done when the edges are just barely beginning to brown, the center will still be puffy and soft, but don't worry. These crackers develop their crunch as they cool. (In this case, I would err on the side of underbaking-- overcooked crackers get an unpleasantly bitter edge.) Let the crackers cool on the sheet tray.

Store: In an airtight container for up to two weeks. The dough can be made ahead of time, tightly wrapped and stored in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for up to a month.

* The reason this technique works is that mixing fat first with flour inhibits gluten development. All of the "normal" rules of pastry dough-- letting doughs rest, not overmixing-- work to control gluten development. When you inhibit gluten development from the beginning you are truly working with a different beast.

**If you don't have a stand mixer, you can mix the butter in by hand. Make sure that your butter is softened, and use your hand to break up clumps and incorporate the butter into the flour. Continue mixing until all of the butter has disappeared into the flour, and the mixture is uniformly yellow.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

6 whole Whole Vanilla Beans for every
1 c. Liquor (rum, vodka, brandy even tequila)

Select Vanilla Beans: If you read the "ingredients" section in any book with a pastry chef's name on the front, you will likely find a discussion of that chef's preferred vanilla bean, complete with a discussion of its unique and superior qualities. Now let me first state that there is a marked difference between vanilla beans from different regions... but for the home cook, the much larger problem is not "Which of many equally high quality beans should I buy?"-- rather more "Where can I get a decent quality vanilla that will cost less than an introductory life insurance policy?" Many stores carry vanilla beans, but it is often a specialty item that doesn't move quickly-- consequently I've seen a lot of old, dried vanilla on store shelves. The most basic marker of quality is moisture: a good bean should be supple-- yielding just a bit to pressure. An old bean will be dry and brittle. My advice is to check your local providers for cost and freshness-- if none of them look good you might do better to order from an online supplier. If you are lucky enough to have more than one good bean option, I would chose a Madagascar bean for extract. Tahitian vanilla beans (which had at least a moment of being the trendy ingredient-du-jour a few years back) are not, in my mind, ideally suited for extract.


Select a Liquor: Most of the flavor in the extract comes from the vanilla, but you can alter the flavor by using different liquors. Rather obviously, the strength of your extract is affected by the proportion of beans to liquor and the length of time that the beans steep. Less obvious is that the higher proof liquor you use, the more concentrated extract you will achieve. I don't think that it is worth it to go out of your way to find the perfect liquor-- I'd just use whatever you have chaply available. Even if you select a very inexpensive vodka, you can still make a good quality extract.

Steep: Just cover the beans and liquor tightly, store away from light and heat and wait 2 months. At the end of steeping you can remove the vanilla bean and squeeze out the seeds (use in ice cream, custard, or to poach fruit). Then dry out the pod and use to make vanilla powder or sugar.

Store: Stored away from light and heat vanilla extract will keep indefinitely.

Cook/Bake: Now that the tasty compounds that make vanilla taste like vanilla have seeped out into your extract, they are a bit volatile. To get the most flavor from your extract add it at the end of cooking to hot dishes (such as fruit compotes of custards). If you are baking with the extract then cream the extract together with the butter. The fat magically* stabilizes the vanilla flavor and allows it to persevere even after being subjugated to the traumas of baking.


*Okay, not really magic. The volatile aromatic compounds are more soluble in fat than water, so they seep out into the fat before baking. Then they stay there (in the fat in your cookies and cakes) rather than evaporating in a puff of perfumed steam.

Candied Citrus Peel

I first candied citrus peels when I was living in Florence. In fact, I'm not sure that I had even heard of candied citrus peel before. I was amazed to find out that the pithy, spongy white part of the rind could be miraculously transformed into something far better than edible.... I would even say delicious. Do not be put off if you have made the mistake of buying some sticky, mute candied citron and swore that you would never, never again give your support to such an assault on fruit. Citrus peels candied at home are indescribably better. Even candied, the zesty peels have enough kick to pack a serious citrusy bite. Most American pastry chefs seem to like to candy just the zest, but I'm a sucker for the thick slabs of peel cut into chunky little strips.

I wanted to get this post up before Christmas, as candied peels can make a laudable addition to many Christmas goodies. (While in Florence I fell head over heels for Panforte and Panettone-- both traditional Italian Christmas treats- and have made them every Christmas since. Though I am still searching for a recipe for a fabulous christmas cookie I stumbled across--a butter cookie with candied orange peel, hazelnuts, and coriander. Mmm.) You can use candied citrus peel in anything that uses dried fruit-- cake, cookies, muffins, breads. Save your citrus peels in a bag in the freezer until you have accumulated enough to make a full batch. Then , with just a little time and sugar, you can turn your leftover lunchbox scraps into one of my favorite confections. If you are feeling particularly hedonistic, candied peels are exquisite dipped in chocolate.


1 part Citrus Peels (any citrus peel except for lime will work)
1 part sugar (measure your complete volume of peels, and use the same amount of sugar)
1/2 part water
optional seasonings*- cinnamon stick, allspice, star anise, coriander, black pepper, vanilla, a slice of fresh pineapple.


Prepare the Peels: If you are saving peels that have been pulled by hand off of the fruit, you don't need to prepare them any further. If you have cut the peels off of the fruit then it is essential that you scrape off any of the fruit membrane that is remaining, you want only the white spongy interior. ( If there is any fruit left, then you will end up with an impossibly hard, leathery piece of peel.)

Blanch: The whole reason that citrus peel is palatable in this preparation is because of blanching. By boiling the peel in water several times, you dilute some of the bitterness in the peel. Put your peels in a saucepan cover with cold water. Cover the pan and bring it to a boil. As soon as the water comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and pour off the fragrant, lightly colored water. Once again cover the peels with fresh, cold water and bring to a boil, then pour off the water. Repeat the process once more-- a total of three times. I have seen some recipes specify blanching as many as five times, but I think the amount of just-slightly-bitter tang after three boils is just right, but you can go ahead and blanch a few more times if you want a milder end product.

Candy: Add the sugar to the drained peels. Then add water (half the volume of the sugar and peels) Cover your pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting that will maintain a simmer. Keep your pan covered and simmer for about an hour. Every so often stir the peels and check to make sure that the syrup hasn't cooked down too much (you want the peels to remain submerged in syrup). If needed, add a little bit of water. Take a close look at the peels-- you want them to be translucent all the way through, even at the thickest parts of the peel. When the peels are fully cooked remove them from the heat and allow them to cool in the syrup.

Dry: Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Then place a wire rack on top. Spread out the peels to dry. Let sit at least one day. (I find the oven a convenient place to store the drying peels undisturbed)

Store: At this point the peels can be stored as-is, but I prefer to cut them up into strips. Then they are ready to be measured for any purpose which might arise. If your peels are still moist and sticky, you can toss them in a bit of granulated sugar. Candied peels will keep at room temperature for several weeks-- I keep mine in the freezer where they last indefinitely.


*I only add the optional spices if the peel is to be in a starring role-- if it is just going to be mixed in with a bunch of other dried fruit or nuts, then the subtleties of the spice will be lost. But if you are going to have the peel as a centerpiece I highly recommend the combination of vanilla, pineapple and coriander. Your kitchen will smell more delicious than I can articulate.

Labne (Yogurt Cheese)

Cutting back on my budget has, inevitably, meant cutting back on cheese. Cheese really ought to be an expensive product. To get a little perspective on food costs, I'll often think of all of the steps it takes to produce a particular food product. Cheese gets very involved: first feed must be grown to nourish the animals, the animals themselves must be cared for and milked, then that milk is condensed to produce the cheese curds, and finally the cheese has to be carefully aged. It makes sense that such a labor intensive product like cheese should be relatively expensive. But it is lovely isn’t it?

Lately I’ve been making a lot of labne to fill my cheese cravings. I can buy a quart of yogurt for just over three dollars, even though the finished volume will be about half of what you started with-- for a good quality soft cheese, that’s still a steal of a deal. All that is required to make labne is yogurt, a strainer and a piece of clean cloth. (A double layer of cheesecloth would do fine, I have a small square of linen reserved for this purpose.) Simply line your strainer with fabric, pour in your yogurt and let it stand in your refrigerator to strain for 1-2 days. The longer you strain the yogurt the more dense your yogurt cheese will be. I typically let mine sit for 2 days. This leaves you with a soft, spreadable, delicious cheese. Remember, though, that the finished cheese is only going to be as good as the yogurt you buy-- I like yogurts with a distinct lactose tang. You can also make different tasting yogurt cheeses with different yogurts (I’m looking forward to experimenting with goat labne). Labne can be used for either sweet or savory applications, so I’ll post a recipe for each. But I don't want to give the impression that you need to fuss too much to make labne palatable. It is also wonderful served very simply, either dressed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt or drizzled with a little honey.

Seeded Granola

I have done a lot of fussing with granola recipes. I wasn't able to find one that I liked (crunchy, clumps that don't dissolve at the sight of milk, not too sweet). So I was forced to fiddle until I found a method that I liked. The procedure I've arrived at is, admittedly, not the most direct. First the oats and seeds are toasted, then the whole mix is baked a second time at a lower temperature. Yes, it's a little bit fussy, but the end product is well worth the bother. I was inspired to make this particular granola after baking some wonderful seeded German ryes. I thought that the hearty seeds and spices would translate perfectly into granola. The seeds also make this granola a perfect exemplar of a home-made, cost conscious product (nuts are really the only expensive ingredient in granola; seeds are a fraction of the cost). To really save money, look for a store that sells grains and seeds in bulk; they are almost always cheaper. While I have worked out several tasty granola flavors, this is the one that I can eat every day and never get sick of. It tastes like what those packages of whole-grain-oat-honey-seed-nut bread should taste like but never do.

The barley malt in this recipe gives it a hearty, bread-like quality. Look for barley malt on the counters of your health food store near the molasses. I like my granola with fresh fruit, but if you like dried fruit, go ahead and mix it in after the granola has cooled.



4c. oats
4T. butter, melted
1c. wheat germ
1 1/4 c. seeds (any mixture of sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flax and poppy seeds.)

2/3c. sugar
1/3c. water
1T barley malt
1tsp whole coriander seeds
1/2tsp fennel seeds
zest of 1 orange (or 3/4t. powdered orange peel)

1/2tsp Kosher salt
1/4c. All Purpose Flour
1egg

Yield: 2 quarts

Toast Ingredients: Preheat oven to 350 F. Toss the rolled oats with the melted butter. Spread oats on a sheet tray and bake for 10-12 minutes. On a separate sheet toast sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds for 8-10 minutes. Stir each sheet once to achieve even toasting. Reduce oven heat to 300 F.

Prepare Seasoning and Sugar Solution: Finely grind coriander and fennel in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestel. Bring the sugar, water, spices, orange zest and barley malt just to a boil and turn off the heat. Set aside.

Mix: Place oats, seeds, wheat germ, salt and flour in the processor*. (This recipe will fit into an 11 cup food processor). Process in batches if you have a smaller processor or are making a double batch. Pulse five or six times for a few seconds. Add sugar mixture and egg. Pulse the food processor until the liquid is evenly distributed.

Second Baking: Grab handfuls of the granola, squeezing and breaking the mixture into walnut sized clumps onto your sheet tray. Bake at 300 F for 30 min, stirring once -- the granola might get a slight golden hue, but do not wait for it to turn visibly brown. Let cool. Store in airtight container for up to a month.

*If you don't have a food processor, you can still make this recipe. The clumps will not be quite as solid, but you'll still have a lovely granola. Just stir the sugar mixture and egg into the oats by hand.