Here's the rundown on this week's Nourishing Traditions experiments recipes. A score of (-) means failure. (+/-) means that it was okay, but needs some tweaking. (+) is perfection.
1) Cultured Butter, p. 83 (-)
1) Cultured Butter, p. 83 (-)
- I let the raw cream sit out on the counter until it was nicely tangy and slightly sour. Perfect. I stuck a marble in the jar and went to shaking around 1:00 AM. After realizing that this wasn't going to happen quickly, I grabbed a book. Ten or so minutes later, the butter started to form.
- It was late, and I was so exhausted from shaking the butter, that I collapsed onto the couch and fell fast asleep until New Daddy woke me up to go to bed. I was too much in a fog to think about finishing the butter, so I stuck it in the fridge until this morning.
- This morning, I retrieved the butter-and-milk and emptied it into a colander over a bowl. I dipped my finger in the milk to taste. It was... hmmm. I smelled the butter. It was mildly putrid. Not overly offensive, but bad enough to warn a potential consumer.
- On the phone with Aunt Ma this evening, I realized that the jar was cradled in my 98.6-degree stomach while I napped for about an hour, which probably was the main factor in its unfortunate demise. Better luck next time. A little experience won't hurt, either, I'm sure.
2) Cream Cheese Breakfast Pastries- AKA Rugelach, p. 488 (+/-)
- The dough was delicious, and Precious felt very important to be able to lick the bowl clean. The dough was very sticky, though. During the baking process, the little logs flattened out and resembled cookies by the time they were done. I needed more kamut flour, maybe closer to 2 1/2 cups instead of 2, due to the extra air volume in the freshly ground flour. I also brushed a beaten egg on top of the logs, because I can't stand the thought of rugelach without its golden coating. We are enjoying our cream cheese-dough cookies very much.
3) Sourdough Starter, p. 489 (+/-)
- It smells icky, it's bubbling, and it's attracting fruit flies. However, I still have hope that by next Tuesday, I'll have some sourdough starter that is usable and not infested with fruit fly babies. I think my solution is going to be more tightly-woven cheesecloth.
4) Pickled Cucumber Slices, p. 97 (+)
- Finally, I got this recipe to work! The fresh dill did the trick. Lacto-fermented is a different taste from vinegar-pickled, but it's good stuff. YAY!
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