After one day of rest, it’s day 4 of the sourdough test now. It has a distinct sourly smell, rather fresh and not pungent or moldy and it bubbles. I’ll feed it one last time today and then try it out for baking bread. After all, I can sum up the process as follows:
Garlic Butter Smashed Potatoes
They’re garlicky, buttery, crispy and simply yummy. If you gave me a bathtub full of them, I’d want to drown in it. Had them last night again and here’s how:
Ingredients:
500g small, round potatoes
2-3 tbsp. butter
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
2-3 big cloves of garlic, minced
Dried rosemary to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
Hauke, Part II (Sourdough Starter)
The second day is over. I couldn’t see much change when I added 100g of flour and another 100ml of water today. Also, it didn’t smell sourly yet. So let’s wait for day three.
The trick seems to be to “feed” it day by day, until it bubbles. The naturally occuring wild yeasts and lactobacilli in the flour need some time to wake up, reproduce and populate the mixture thoroughly. When this proliferation has reached a certain level, the developing carbon dioxide makes the dough bubble up and the ongoing fermentation produces a wide variety of aromatics – that finally also end up in your bread.
Looking forward to tomorrow evening and on how it is going on.
The complete Hauke series: part 1 | part 2 | part 3
Hauke, Part I (Sourdough Starter)
Let me present to you: Hauke (a somewhat unusual boy’s name in germany), my first homemade sourdough starter – at least my first try. Since I’ve read that they’re living organisms and thus you’re obliged to give them names, I’ll simply call him – well – Hauke. I started him off today with 50g wheat flour (Type 1050) and 50 ml water @ 27 °C (lukewarm). Recipe taken from here.
Part two and more information on how to make a sourdough starter tomorrow, when I’ll have to fill it up.
The complete Hauke series: part 1 | part 2 | part 3
Zippo Maintenance Tutorial
Everybody knows Zippo Lighters and I, personally, love them. Since there might actually be a non-smoker among my 5 – 7 frequent readers and I’m un-motivated to work at the moment, here’s a simple tutorial on Zippo lighters. I have to refill mine anyway.
Bangers & Mash
I made “Bangers and Mash” today, which is sausages and mashed potatoes with onion gravy. Veeery yummy! Here’s how:
The Lady of the House
May I introduce to you:
“Gattina”
my most beloved and precious Lady of the House. Unofficial Head of State in my dwelling, cheerer-up in bad times and general scurrying-around sunshine.
We found her 11 years ago under a bush in Italy, abandoned by her mother, skinny, sick and hungry and we slowly pampered her back into shape. “Gattina” is just the italian word for “Kitten”, but meanwhile she’s a really heavy Momma, well nourished, self-confident, very cuddly and with a character of her own. We love her.
Pressure Cooker How To
Since I was an absolute beginner when it came to using a pressure cooker (and I somehow lost the manual…), I looked for instructions on the internet lately. Some were plain BS, some just dramatically told elementary stuff and left out the real instructions and, finally, some (especially the relevant forums!) were very informative. I threw everything together and tried it out (BTW – here’s a good article on what a pressure cooker actually does – I won’t describe the principles of pressure cooking here).
So, here’s my personal “Pressure Cooker How To for Dummies” (tested, illustrated and in full color!):
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