Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Pioneer Diet - Fermented Flour

Picture 314

Have you cultured your own bread yeast today? Here's how I do it. Usually about twice a week I take about 4 cups of flour (usually I use brown rice flour) and I mix it with a cup of yogurt, kefir or tara culture in my big, blue pot. I add enough warm water to wet the mixture and I set it in a warm - not hot - place for 12-24 hours. It get's really fluffy and smooth and smells like sour dough.

I then pop it in the fridge and use it all week to make our grain products like bread, pizza crust, pancakes, muffins, english muffins, etc. I usually base my recipes for breads on conventional recipes I simply leave out there call for milk or water.

Here's my pancake recipe:

3 cups cultured flour
1/4 cup olive oil or melted butter
pinch of salt
teaspoon of baking powder and/or a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 farm fresh eggs
teaspoon of agave nectur or other sweetner
teaspoon of vanilla extract
pinch of cinnamon

Whisk everything together in a bowl until smooth, add a dash of milk or yogurt if it feels too thick. Set your pan on medium heat, when the pan is sizzling poor pancakes out a half cup at a time, cook on one side until bubbly around the edge, flip until golden on the bottom. Serve with butter and agave necture.

To make crepes use the above recipe but add another egg and leave out the cinnamon. Spoon out onto your griddle using a ladle spoon, swirl the mixture until thin and barely covering the pan. This will cook fast so flip quickly and often. Top with lemon juice and organic powdered sugar. Bon Appetite!