you don't have to be an aging hippie

A,
I have been reading for a while about how sprouted grains are supposed to have great health benefits, but I never really pursued the topic. I kept finding bits and pieces of information about them, but never any recipes or directions. And I didn't pay much attention to these pronouncements of health anyway, since I don't have a grain mill.

But! I was reading in this cookbook about how to prepare sprouted wheat with just some water, a little bit of time, and a food processor. It won't make flour, but it can still be used in a loaf of bread. And as the book informed me, I don't have to be an aging hippie to sprout my own grains.

So here's how it works. You take some wheat berries and soak them in water overnight.


Then, you rinse them thoroughly in a colander, put them back in the jar (this time on its side) and let them sit on the counter for 8-12 more hours. You repeat this rinsing and resting process for 1-2 days or until the sprouts are about 1/4 inch long.


At this point, I believe you could dry the grains and then put them through your grain mill. But because that's not an option for me, all I did was add a little water to the wheat and process it all in a food processor. Then this milky-white concoction can be added to your bread dough.

For anyone who might be interested, here is the bread recipe that I used:
6.4 oz (1 1/2C) white flour
6 oz (1C) whole wheat flour
1.75 oz (1/4 C) wheat berries (which expands to make about 3/4 C of sprouted wheat berries)
5.4 oz (2/3 C) water (you will mix this in with the wheat berries when you process them)
3 oz (1/4 C) honey
1 oz (2 Tbsp) butter or oil
1 oz (2 Tbsp) orange juice
2 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt

You should knead the dough, give it a first rise before shaping the loaf, and then a second, final rise. This will bake for about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Tent with foil halfway through, as the honey will make the loaf brown quickly. This will make one loaf of bread (though it can be doubled to make two, as shown below).


In the category of soft, spongy sandwich loaves, I found this to be delicously soft, spongy, and sandwichy. I couldn't quite pick out the flavor of the sprouted wheat, but then again, this loaf had a lot of extras in it, what with the butter and honey and all. I would like to try making a simpler loaf so that I can actually taste the sprouted wheat.


So there you have it! Sprouted wheat. And bread. And deliciousness.

K

PS. Has Kris done any sprouted grains? I'm curious since I know he's a big bread person.

PPS. I wish I understood the chemistry of this. I really haven't researched sprouted grains (and maybe I should to answer my questions), but I am wondering how the extra nutrients (zinc and iron and vitamins and what-not) appear after being sprouted. Where do they come from? Surely they don't come from the water or air. . . So is it just a re-arrangement of atoms in the seeds that form the nutritional goodness? I am curious. Maybe a rearrangement of atoms put these nutrients in a form that is more digestible to us?

PPPS. Okay. This is just a side-note, but for plants in general, the majority of mass that is accumulated by a growing plant does come from the air. It's from the carbon in the carbon dioxide. I thought I would share that since I would assume most people wouldn't know that. And because I think it is rather interesting.

a secondary purpose for knitting needles

A,
Apparently, knitting needles are quite versatile. Not only can they be used to create delicious knitted items; now the can be used to create delicious, homemade cheese!


Here I am perforating a wedge of castle blue with this knitting needle. The intent is to expose some of the interior to the outside air so that the blue mold will grow inside the cheese as well as outside. I've already got some of the blue mold starting to proliferate on the outside, and it's getting moldier every day:


I love blue cheese. Mmmm. It can be pungent when eaten on its own, but I don't think there's anything better than homemade mac and cheese made with blue cheese. I hope this turns out.

Karen

PS. James and I were hoping for a Halloween baby. I think James moreso than I. Unfortunately, Halloween has come and gone, and still no baby. This did, however, afford us the opportunity to rock our awesome Juno/Bleeker costumes last night (I didn't end up getting any great pictures with just the two of us, so this will do). I think James really enjoyed rocking his short shorts.

a cheese post

A,
I have something to show you. I made this:

I know, it's not knitting. But it's brie! Look how moldy it is. I'm calling it a success. It is very important for me to consider this a success, because the brick cheese that is sitting around in my cheese refrigerator is not ripening properly, and the sweater I am about to cut open to see if it fits will presumably be a disappointment. So, surrounded by likely cheese and knitting failure, I am going to label this brie as a success.

Speaking of cutting open:


Look at that delicious gooieness. Doesn't it make you want to grab some crackers?

Well, okay. This cheese was not a total success. I let it over-ripen and it was . . . well, powerfully flavorful. And runnier that it had a right to be (see picture below). But this is the first aged cheese that I have ever made, and I am proud of it! Roar! Awesome cheese!


Also, as a side note. Because I look like this right now:

I am not really supposed to eat soft cheeses like brie (for fear of listeria or something). I just wanted to add a disclaimer and mention that I did bake the cheese before I ate it. Although it was as runny as the picture shows even before it was baked.

Karen

PS. You may wonder about the robot arms in the picture. I was attempting to hug the baby palm tree, but it was too tiny.

the search for the perfect squash

A,
Before this week, my primary indication that the seasons were changing was the change of produce available at the grocery store. And of course, the fall produce of greatest significance to me was the vast array of squashes available for consumption. This is a selection of some of the different types of squash that I decided to sample:


I would say that I am the primary (sole) squash eater in this household, so I embarked on a solitary culinary escapade in order to determine my squash preferences. This week, I sampled from the turban squash (top right), a rather large specimen with plump seeds. I was really rooting for the turban squash, because it was ridiculously easy to slice into prior to being cooked. If I had found it delicious, it would have sealed the deal. Being easy to cut into would make my squash habit more self-sufficient (as in, I wouldn't need to require the services of a more muscular husband).

Here's the bad news. I have a huge bowl of turban squash sitting in the refrigerator right now, languishing in watery stringyness because I found it sub-par to more desirable squash species. Ahh, well, at least I am learning.

This week was the first week that felt like fall to me. Most of October was spent in the mid-nineties, but it's starting to cool. James said it felt like winter, but he was out at night, when the temperatures drop a bit more dramatically. Anyway, I am home today, and I decided to break out the knitted sweaterly items.


In any case, this is my creation, and it's finally cool enough to wear it in person, so I thought I would take a photo to commemorate. Plus, climbing in trees is fun. This was made from local alpaca, and it felt like I was wrapping myself in my own personal blanket when I put it on today.

Karen

PS. Do you remember the yarn turbans that we sported while trying on makeup and watching naked soccer?

PPS. I support potato intolerance. Squash over potatoes forever!

Summer Spinning

K,

I've been busy. So busy, I've lost in the world of medicine for the last year or so. My deepest, heartfelt apologies. Let's just not talk about that.

However, this summer I did buy Morels at the farmers market. If you've never had them, buy them fresh, and then saute them in just butter and a bit of fresh cracked pepper.



Kris and I went to the Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival in Adel, Iowa, as I was living in Des Moines this last few weeks. This is a great adventure, and worthy of the $5 admission. I think it is, in fact, perhaps, worthy of it's own post. Let's leave it to say that I came away with more fleeces from the silent auction to add to my already growing collection of 1 that I obtained from Firefly Fields. Firefly fields has beautiful finnsheep fleeces. I love you Emmi!



I picked up 4 more fleeces, a Rambouillet, a Shetland, a Jacob, and a Cormo. You really can see all five, though in the above picture. Yes they are taking over the apartment, along with the plants. I've started cleaning the Rambouillet with the fermented Suint Method, which you can read more about here and here with pictures, but if you want a very good description, check it out here!



My Rambouillet is sitting the rainwater that I've been (im)patiently collecting over the last day or so with my bins. This will be a long and stinky seven days.

Love,
A

P.S. Kris has a new blog documenting all the plants and gardening we do in our apartments. Go check it out!

Foodstuffs

A,
About five years back I read a book by Barbara Kingsolver called The Poisonwood Bible (per your recommendation, I believe). This book was huge. It made me think, it made me question, and it led to several long conversations. Ultimately, there aren't too many details that I remember anymore from this novel, but there is one piece of it that made an impression and has stuck with me. There's a character who stays in Africa, is raising a family here, and is struggling to find enough protein for her child. Malnutrition is rampant, and it is difficult to find the necessary nutrients to keep her family strong and healthy. Later, she comes back to visit her parents in the United States, and there is a scene in which she walks through an American supermarket, marveling at the abundance and immediacy of food options here. It is in such contrast to the world that she came from. (In retrospect, this also reminds me of the ending for the movie Cast Away)

And here's the thing. We have infinite food choices in the states. We have the ability to make almost any nutritionary and dietary choices that we want! The food is available. But we make bad choices. We choose processed and packaged over whole foods. And this is the thing that stuck with me: I have the opportunity to make any dietary choices that I want--why not make the healthy decision? This book is one of the reasons why I try to make healthy food choices and to do it from scratch as much as possible.

The reason why I am posting about this is because I just found out that Barbara Kingsolver wrote another book about her family's year of living off the land. She spent a year only eating food that her family raised or grew themselves, or that they bought from local farmers' markets. I guess it wasn't coincidental that the part of her novel that I took to heart was an issue that meant something to her as well. I'm not in a position to do what she did, but I was excited to make this find and I look forward to reading what she has to say.

K

PS. Barbara Kingsolver used to live in AZ. I guess she had to move to Virginia to pick up gardening and start a farm. I wish I could be successful at growing plants here, but maybe in a year or two we will find ourselves in a more growing-hospitible climate. Even if I had enough shade and nutrient-rich soil, the amount of water required to plant a garden would be unsustainable.

PPS. Apparently the adhesive that is used to attach non-stick coatings to pans will break down at high temperatures. Fumes that are released from this process have been known to kill household birds. I did not know this. And I have a whole lot of non-stick pans. But I wanted you to know, that in the interim between switching out my pans, I have been doing a lot of cast-iron cooking. I highly recommend. Cast iron rocks.

A fine crumb

A,

Why baking bread is similar to knitting:

it's a tactile, hands-on process
smells wonderful
often involves following a recipe
you want to show everyone your finished product


Why baking bread is not similar to knitting:

you can eat bread
you can wear knitting


This is my sourdough starter. It is over 250 years old.


Plus, it's amazing. I even made waffles out of it.

I hope you're enjoying the holiday. My Easter bunny says hello.


Yes, that's an Easter turd next to her.

Happy knitting and happy baking.

Love,
K

Same Old

A,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but if feels like I've been working on the same old same old for far too long. Look at you though! Spinning away. No wonder you don't get any sleep. All those hours at the spinning wheel.

I'm afraid that when my classes end so too will my productivity. As in, my knitting productivity. Possibly 90% of my knitting is done during class; and not just the mindless knitting either, anymore. I'm becoming a careless student and a craftier knitter. Which is okay with me. It just makes for bad learning habits. Plus that over-arching fear that once the classes end I won't have a daily time slot to pick up the needles.

In other news, I picked up this handy bread book last week and was delighted to find recipes and technical instructions and delightful tastes. This is the most technical bread tutorial I've ever seen. I mean, the thing has graphs, and calculations for what temperature your water should be, and it wants me to figure out the rpm of my mixer. Mmm, tasty bread though. I've been frustrated by the graininess and short life-span of the bread that I've been making recently, and I think I may have found a solution to both those little troubles.

So while the knitting is feeling momentarily stagnant, the bread is coming out of the oven. And nothing smells better, not even fresh yarn.

K