Making butter

Ever since I read the Little House on the Prairie books, (we're on another run through Farmer Boy right now)  I've wanted to make my own butter.  When I read this post  I thought it may be time for me to try. 

We've been getting our raw milk from a local dairy of pasteured cows for a while now and I've been itching to try something with it other than drinking.  This morning Morgan and I were looking for something to do and decided to try it. 

We had gotten milk yesterday, so it had settled and separated.  The bottles I use are the old fashioned, half gallon type with a narrow opening.  I didn't have a great way to get the cream off the top.  With a little finagling, I was able to get about 1 cup of cream off the top.  We put it in a pint canning jar and started shaking.  Morgan got bored pretty quickly, so I sat and shook it for my arm workout for the day.

After about 20 minutes I could see it really getting thick and coating the jar quite well.  All of a sudden you could see it forming the butter.  The curds had formed and the sides of the glass cleared.  There was no mistaking the fact that we had created something here. 

I dumped it into a sieve and ran water through it to get the excess buttermilk off.  All the while I was kneading it and forming it.  We certainly don't have much, but there is potential.  I've been wanting to make cheese and now have an excuse to get more milk each week.  I can take the cream off the top for butter and use the rest for cheese and drinking.  I'm so excited!  Another goal reached for my yearly list.

Trying my hand at bagels

While my computer was being fixed, I had lots of extra time.  So, I decided to make bagels.  They were surprisingly easy.

They are a bit of a hodge podge of a recipe.  I started with my whole wheat bread dough.  After the first rise I used half the dough for a loaf of bread.  With the second half, I divided it into 8 pieces and formed them into bagels.  The dough got roughly formed into a ball.  I then poked my finger through and made a larger hole.  The bagels were placed on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 

Next, I heated my electric skillet filled with water and 1 heaping tablespoon of brown sugar and brought it to a simmer.  Then the bagels were transferred 4 at a time (that's what fit in my pan) for 2 minutes on one side and 1 minute on the other.  They went back on the baking sheet and I finished the rest of the bagels. 

The bagels went into a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes.  If you want to add a topping, pull them out after 15 minutes, brush the bagels with water and sprinkle it on.  Then you can finish baking.  I used the Everything Bagel Topping from King Arthur Flour. 

They came out really well, although I will probably make them smaller next time.  I also had a few issues with the topping falling off more than I would like.  I may try using an egg wash to stick them next time.  These were far easier than I would have thought and I love that I was able to use my own bread recipe for them. 

English muffins

As part of my goals for the year, I've been working on making more items from scratch that we would normally buy.  Today, it was making english muffins.  I wanted them to be whole wheat and made with ingredients that I could pronounce.  They were remarkably easy. 

The recipe is
1/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast (1 T of bulk yeast)
2 C whole wheat flour, plus about another 1/2 C for kneading
1 C white flour, or use all WW  (guess what I did)
1 t salt
1 C milk
3 T oil
1 T honey
1 egg
cornmeal for dusting

Bloom yeast in water, until foamy.  Mix flour and salt in large bowl.  In separate bowl, mix milk, oil, honey and egg, then add water and yeast.  Add liquid to the flour slowly and mix to combine.  I did this in my kitchen aid with the dough hook. 

 

Add enough extra flour to make a loose dough.  I tend to make my whole wheat doughs on the wet side.  It needed another 1/2 C of flour for me.  Then let rise in oiled bowl, covered with a towel, until doubled.  It will take an hour or so, depending on how warm it is.  My house is cold, so it took over an hour, even sitting next to my crock pot.

Then turn the dough onto a surface covered with cornmeal.  You then pat, or roll it to about 1/2 inch thick and cut out your rounds.  I used my 2 3/4 inch biscuit cutter.  Put a towel over them and let them rise for another 20-30 minutes.  

 

Lastly, heat a griddle, or large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the muffins for 5 minutes, flip for another 5 minutes.  Continue flipping every 2-3 minutes until they are browned and the insides are soft, but not gooey.  You may need to cut into one to test it.  

 

They look like english muffins, don't they?

I had to try one with butter and my Triple Berry Jam.  It was delicious!

Food Goals for the Year

Going right along with my garden goals from yesterday are my food goals for the year.  They certainly go hand in hand with the garden goals.  These are things that we've been working on for the past few years and every year I try to expand on things. 

1.  Expand my repertoire of breads.  I can already make a rather nice loaf of bread, so it's time to move on to bigger and better things.  We're talking bagels, pita breads and crackers.  I've been having a great time grinding my own flour recently.  I only grind a small amount (say 3-5 pounds) at a time, so that it can be used up before it loses its freshness.  I would love to not have to buy bread or crackers from the store.  I also need to perfect my tortilla making skills.  When I made them the first time, they were yummy, but a bit thick and oddly shaped. 

2.  Learn to make cheese and butter.  We are fortunate to live near a wonderful dairy farm.  We get raw milk from pasteured cows.  The price is amazing as well.  I guess when you don't pay for feed, you can sell for less.  It's wonderful stuff.  Now to learn to make some other wonderful things from it.  There is a woman in the western part of my state who does classes.  It will entail a weekend away, I guess I'll have to suffer through it. 

3. Learn how to forage for wild edibles in my area.  Again, we are fortunate to have a man nearby who does classes on such things.  I have self identified a few things in my yard, but would like someone who isn't looking at a computer picture to tell me what they are.  I think it would be wonderful to use some of the weeds growing quite plentifully in my yard and garden for something other than compost.  It is really amazing how many weeds one has in their yard when she doesn't use chemicals.  It is also really amazing how many weeds one has in their yard when they just simply don't care.  The neighbor with the perfectly manicured Scotts lawn loves me.

4.  Try my hand at fermentation.  I keep reading all these wonderful tales of fermented foods and the wonderful things they do for our bodies.  Being someone who loves pickles, saurkraut, kefir and kombucha, it would be wonderful to be able to make these things myself.  It should save me quite a bit of money as well.  That is always a great side effect.

5.  Learn to make my own pasta.  I have the machine, I just need to do it. 

Now looking back at this post, I realize that I'm slightly off my rocker.  I think that most of the people that read this blog are slightly off their rocker as well.  So, here's to being off our rockers!  Rock on!!

Garden goals for the year

Like every gardener, I'm always dreaming of the perfect garden.  In reality, there is no such thing.  The perfect garden will only exist in my imagination.   So every year I spend my time planning what I can do better next year.  Some things can't be controlled.  This year the weather was a major factor.  There wasn't much I could do to improve the fact that we got rain for the entire month of June.  All I can do is work with  what I'm given.  My plans for this year will include dealing better with what I'm dealt. 

1. Plant more storage and cold weather crops.  I live in New England, not an area well known for long hot summers.  The more I read, the more I realize that I need to stop concentrating on things like tomatoes and peppers that are really forced to grow here.  I'll still grow them, but want to increase the crops that really thrive here.  I'll be looking to grow more root veggies and greens.  Which brings me to.

2.  Work on season extension.  We have a relatively short growing season here in my zone 6 garden.  Those who have read my blog for a bit know that I added some beds made from cinder blocks.  I will be making some of them into hoop houses.  With some electrical conduit or PVC pipe and heavy duty plastic, I should have a nice large area to nurture some spring crops and keep fall and winter crops next year.  This is something I've wanted to do for 2 years now, but haven't had the nerve to try.  I'm certainly someone who needs to think about things for a while before I do them.  My inspiration came from Eliot Coleman's wonderful Four Season Harvest.  I highly recommend this book for anyone who dreams of having fresh veggies in January.  Its certainly my dream.

3.  Increase the perrenial fruits and veggies.  I've been doing this for a few years.  So far in my tiny suburban yard I have 5 apple trees, 2 peach trees and a cherry tree.  Last year I also added 6 blueberry bushes, 5 of which survived my kids.  This year I'll be adding strawberries at the least, but would also like to add asparagus and possibly grapes.  Herbs have been added to as well and will continue this year as well.  I have thyme, oregano and sage.  I'll be adding more oregano, mint and some medicinal herbs as well this year.

4.  Increase my own seed saving.  I've been slowly learning to save my own seeds.  This year I saved tomato and pumpkin seeds.  Next year I'd like to try my hand at saving some more difficult seeds.  I love the thought of saving all my own seeds.  As much as I love looking at seed catalogs each year, it would be nice to only have to buy one or two new varieties every once in a while.

5.  Keep better track of, my harvests.  It's been neat to watch so many bloggers weighing their bountiful harvests.  It's truly amazing to see how many pound of produce come from relatively small plots of land.  I'd like to see how much I can get from my little suburban plot as well.  This will also help me to see where I can make improvements. 

I'm sure I'll be adding more goals along the way, but this is a start.  What are some of your garden goals for the year? 

Making lists

I love to make lists.  These are actually 2 older lists that were sitting on my desk.  I seem to always have several going at the same time.  There are small pads of paper all over the house.  I'm not the best housekeeper, so very often they will be found under furniture, in piles and other places that they get lost in. 

With the New Year coming, the lists start to take on the form of goals for the year.  I've given up on formal resolutions, instead I make lists of things I'd like to accomplish over the year.  If  few of those things get done, then I've been successful.  As you might imagine, many of those goals have to do with gardening and the other things I do to simplify our lives.

I find the more that we pull away from the life that we once led, the longer my lists get.  It is funny that we call it simplifying.  I find it so amazing that these things were commonplace not so very long ago, and still are in many cultures around the world.  How did we go so far in such a short period of time?  Now it's considered strange to try to simplify. 

I'll be posting lots of those lists in the coming weeks.  I'm thinking that many of my goals will be placed in the side bar to keep better track of.  That should keep me honest.  Since there are lots of categories in my lists as well, I'll probably do separate posts on many of them.  How is your list making coming?