Click here to go straight to the recipe Updated 04/19/20 A year ago I wondered if Eleanor would make it to this day. I had baked with a couple of other sourdough starters before Eleanor came along, and I thought they exhibited fundamental flaws—they lacked vigor, they smelled too acidic, they produced lackluster loaves. As I’ve come […]
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Winter and Spring Fermentation Workshops
The idea that kombucha (or any ferment) is safe only in the hands of technical experts denies the long lineages of home and village production that spawned them and plays right into the disempowering cult of specialization. — Sandor Katz, The Art of Fermentation Last week, when Vlad tasted my first variation on sourdough bread (coriander-raisin), […]
Sourdough Bread from Starter to Finish
At a holiday office lunch last week, some of my coworkers complained about women they have blocked on Facebook. Their crime? Posting too many new baby pics. While I understand not wanting to see every minute of a newborn’s life documented in one’s feed, I’m just like these new mothers, except I post pictures of bread […]
Free Fermentation Webinar: Saturday, January 10, 2015
If you read my blog at all, you may be thinking one of the following: 1. Fermentation sounds revolting. Why does she keep going on about it? 2. OMG. I love fermentation. I named my sourdough starter [insert name]. 3. I have never tried fermentation and would like to but it scares me. I don’t want to […]
Fermented Hot Peppers
Updated 01/18/18 Click here to go straight to the recipe I grabbed a handful of hot peppers at the farmer’s market a couple of months ago to ferment. It was so easy! Every time I try a new ferment, I find myself saying that. I’m convinced that anyone attempting to simplify their life will eventually […]
How to Make Free Apple Scrap Vinegar
Updated 09/24/22 In my home, homemade vinegar has been the Holy Grail of scratch cooking. My daughter MK tried a few years ago and came very close, but flies invaded her apple scraps and ruined it. It sure smelled great though as I tossed it onto the compost. I have tried making vinegar a couple of […]
5 Reasons to Ferment Food
I find fermentation fascinating. I’m pretty much obsessed with it and wish I had discovered it earlier in my adult life (better late than never). I can’t really be too hard on myself though. In just a few generations, we’ve lost (most of) our food-growing and food-preparing skills. Fortunately slow, local, organic, real food has gained […]
My First Attempt at Homemade Hooch: Mead
Click here to go to the recipe “It looks terrifying.” That’s what my friend Amy said when I opened my jar of homemade mead and poured her a cup to try. Mead is honey wine. Aristotle speaks of it. Beowulf drank it. Shakespeare mentions it. The simple recipe likely explains mead’s persistence throughout the ages. In a nutshell, […]
Crispy On the Outside, Fluffy on the Inside Sourdough Waffles
Click here to go straight to the recipe. Or use the batter to make pancakes! I love baking with sourdough starter. Actually, I’m obsessed with my starter. When my boyfriend asks how my day went, I often include an update on my starter: “Eleanor smells fruity” or “Eleanor didn’t rise as much as I had hoped” […]