Bake anything good lately?

[Galley Wench]

Having a great time . . . headed back toward Grenada tomorrow, we leave next Thursday! Asked for the Gingerbread recipe and she jokingly said she'd give it to me, but then she'd have to kill me! Hope your feeling better soon Bonnie!

[Bonnie G #2]

GW, I'm getting better every day, but it's been a long, painful trip. To make it even tougher DD had major surgery just this week and now trying to get her feeling better. But it's getting better every day. DH is now in Trinidad but I can't go until around August when the doc releases me. Looking forward to that as he seems to really like it.

[Galley Wench]

THAT may be a good thing, it's really hot and HUMID down here right now! It was 86 today with at 96 feeling "comfort" rating today! Don't go until you're ready!

[Bonnie G #2]

You are so right, I'm finally getting to were I'm feeling more comfortable, but it takes a long time and I'm getting bored with it

[Red Apple Guy]

Do you folk like vichyssoise? I do, it's the best and simpliest potato soup around. So...I looked over the ingredients: potato, leeks, onion, water or broth, and a little cream and sour cream. All good in bread, so that's what I did. I made a vichyssoise (potato leek) bread. And talk about good!! I'll post the recipe soon.



Red

[duonyte]

Beautiful - and I love it, serve the soup and the bread!

I got some kefir grains last week and have been making kefir every day. I intend to use it in some breads, pancakes etc but right now I am enjoying it as a soup sort of - with fresh herbs and boiled potatoes.

[Leggy Peggy]

That bread looks wonderful. Look forward seeing the recipe.

[tasb]

Yummy looking bread.

Me, well I have to restock the freezer with bread, so today I did up 12 loaves of white bread. I was planning on making some pizza sticks with 2 of the loaves but we had a movie to watch so I ended up just doing bread.

And the newest baker in the house, aka my 14 yr old son making up for a missed lab in Foods 8, made Apple Crisp today, poor him, since he made it at home he had to double the recipe. Nothing like confusing a kid by telling him that 60 ml double is 125 ml. I guess his first classes weren't about converting cups into milliliters. I still bounce back between the two.

[Red Apple Guy]

duonyte,
I've heard about kefir but don't really know what it is or what to do with it. Fill me in a little.

Red

[duonyte]

Milk kefir is a cultured product - like buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream. It's got a bunch of myth and nonsense surrounding it as to its origins, but essentially it's a fermented milk drink made from grains that most likely originated in the Caucasus region. The grains are not grains as we usually understand the word, but rather a cluster of bacteria and yeasts that have the general appearance of cauliflower florets. You put the grains into milk - or cream - and let it stand on the counter for anywhere from 12 to 48 hours and it makes a tangy, sometimes slightly effervescent drink.

Commercial kefirs are sold pretty widely, but the homemade one has a lot more probiotic value - there are a lot of real and claimed health benefits. I wish I had known about it when I had some problems with my gut after taking a certain antibiotic.

It is a bit thinner than yogurt, tangy - which depends on how long you let it culture. The culturing reduces the lactose tremendously and some people who are lactose intolerant can use it.

It reminds me very much of clabbered milk, which is just naturally soured milk, and I posted this recipe Rugusis Pienas - Lithuanian Clabbered Milk, which I have eaten every day for about 10 days now. Just love it. And will use it to make saltibarsciai - cold beet soup - when it gets hotter again.

I've read some recipes of using kefir instead of yeast or sourdough starter and apparently the yeasts within it will also raise bread - somewhat slowly, like a more conventional sourdough starter. Definitely want to try some of those.

I also drained some to make a soft cheese, and that was really good - mixed in some chopped fresh herbs and enjoyed it a lot.

There is also water kefir, which is a different little beasty and which makes a slightly fizzy water that has the same probiotic benefits but of course is completely dairy free. I have some of those seeds too, but have not activated them yet.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir

[Leggy Peggy]

Thanks for the info duonyte. I was going to ask too.

[duonyte]

You are welcome!

Also, it's a lot less fussy than yogurt - you just pour out milk straight from the fridge (or the cow, if you are so lucky) and set on counter - no need to heat it first or to keep it at a certain temperature.

[Bonnie G #2]

Oh Red, that bread looks awesome, can't wait to see the recipe.

Some great info Duante, I've heard the name before but didn't know what it was.

tasb - sounds like both your and your DS have been busy.

[PaulO in MA]

duonyte wrote:
... you just pour out milk straight from the fridge (or the cow, if you are so lucky) and set on counter ...

Made me think of the Little Rascals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dhOXhbYgsY

[duonyte]

Gosh I'd forgotten that scene!