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Zero-Waste Chef
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Posted on December 21, 2018by The Zero-Waste Chef
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How to Prevent Your Sourdough Starter from Taking over Your Life
Sourdough Measurements by the Cup (or Why I Use a Kitchen Scale...)
Sourdough Crackers 2.0
Sourdough Bread
Happy Birthday, Eleanor (How to Make a Sourdough Starter)
Sourdough Pancakes
Lockdown Cooking: 7 Humble Dishes from Staples
Vegan Sourdough Pancakes
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Recent Posts

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  • Will the Coronavirus Kill the Zero-Waste Movement?
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  • Online Petitions Can Lead to Change
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More fermenting in place. . I brought a kombucha S More fermenting in place. . I brought a kombucha SCOBY with me on my trip to Canada because of course I did. . A SCOBY is a culture of bacteria and yeast that you add to sweetened tea to brew very tasty and very inexpensive kombucha. I had planned to give the SCOBY away but have to wait until we can all safely go out and socialize again. And that day will come! Until then, I’m brewing at my mom’s. . My mom doesn’t have any large jars but I found this glass dish in a cupboard. It just fits four cups, the amount I usually make. It needed a “hat” to keep out impurities, so I carefully put the filled dish inside one of the clean homemade produce bags that my daughter left here for me. The dish is about as wide as the bag is, so the fabric is very taut and not touching the surface of the kombucha. . I don’t have any flip-top bottles here for a secondary fermentation but we do have a bottle of wine so after we polish that off, I’ll clean it and fill it with kombucha. I don’t have anything to flavor this batch with but plain kombucha tastes delicious. And once it’s ready, it may be the most delicious batch I’ve ever made. After a few weeks of drinking water or tea (or a bit of wine) only, I really look forward to something effervescent. . If you don’t have a SCOBY and want to brew kombucha, you may be able to grow one. I have done this with my homemade kombucha and many people have told me that they have successfully grown one with store-bought. Pour a couple of inches into a jar and cover it securely with a cloth. Within a couple of weeks, you should notice a thin film on the top of the surface. Wait for it to thicken to a few millimeters and use that to brew. . Link in profile for kombucha FAQs.
This may not be my most beautiful loaf I’ve made This may not be my most beautiful loaf I’ve made but it’s one that makes me very proud. . I came to Canada 🇨🇦 in early March to see my mom. I had finished writing my book, took a couple of weeks off from events and had planned to relax for a bit. Now, I am sheltering in place here in Ontario for a while. I don’t want to travel (I’m not sure I can, with the US-Canada border closure) and I don’t want to leave my 87-year-old mom all alone. . Fortunately, I always travel with my sourdough starter, Eleanor. I also brought my kombucha SCOBY, Etheldreda. (She dislikes the spotlight, so you don’t see her on here nearly as much as Eleanor.) This is my first lockdown loaf that I’ve baked up here. . The reason this loaf makes me so proud is that I have hardly any tools to work with. I baked this on a cookie sheet, not in a $300 Dutch oven. I proofed it in a bowl lined with a flour-dusted towel, not in a $25 banneton basket. I don’t have a scale, a lame for scoring, measuring spoons or even a glass measuring cup here. There are no rubber spatulas or dough scrapers in sight and I certainly don’t have a grain mill. But I’m making it work! My mom does have a bread knife though. And an oven. . So if you think you need all kinds of expensive equipment to make sourdough bread, you don’t. Of course these tools make baking it easier and they are definitely nice to have. But if you’re just starting out, and you want to jump on the sourdoughing-in-place bandwagon, you can make the bread without all the stuff. . If you don’t have a scale, you will need measurements for the three ingredients (yes, just three) by volume, not by weight. Link in profile for those.
How to help with the N-95 mask shortage. . The bes How to help with the N-95 mask shortage. . The best thing we can all do for health care workers and everyone else is to #stayhome to help slow the spread of the virus and relieve the strain on our hospitals. If you have hoarded N-95 masks or know anyone who has hoarded masks, please get those to a health care worker. You can also call your elected representatives and demand that they make personal protection equipment (PPE) a priority for health care workers. . You can also sew. Homemade masks are a last resort but they can help prevent an infected person from spreading the virus and many health care workers have reached out to the public asking them to sew masks. . Sewing will give you something to do at home during lockdown. If you have the basic skills to sew produce bags for your vegetables, you’ll be able to sew masks. . Latest blog post: "How to Help with the N-95 Mask Shortage." More info on all of the above in the post, plus links to patterns, a link to info on fabric types and a link to a very active Facebook group, Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies, where you’ll find posts on what people are making and posts from health care providers reaching out and asking for equipment. . Link in profile for the blog post.
A sourdough baby boom is underway! . The Instagram A sourdough baby boom is underway! . The Instagram stories I’ve been seeing are filled with newborn sourdough starters, loaves of bread and piles of pancakes. Thank you to everyone who has tagged me in those so I can see them. It gives me a little thrill every time I see your new starters. I feel like a sourdough midwife. . The names you choose never fail to put a smile on my face: Edna, Yeastie Boys, Pam Beesley (because she has a beeswax hat), Penelope, Pablo and Phoebe (twins), Lady Bird, Edeltraut... I know my Eleanor would hit it off with all of them 😃 . The proud parents of the starters you see here are: @beccagetspucked @ratatoeskri @plant_based_mommas @changemagnate @climate_action_mataro @itsv.e.r.o @tiffanynoelf @numack_art @sustainablesamantha . I hope that this group photo of just some of the starters you’ve all proudly shown off gives you a sense of community. Even though we’re self-isolating and separated physically, our offline and online communities are unified. We’re not alone, this period will come to an end and we will get through it 💪 . Link in profile for starting a starter.
I’d like to introduce you to my friend and truly I’d like to introduce you to my friend and truly wonderful human being, Rob Greenfield. . If you’re looking for a source of positivity in these difficult times, please follow @robjgreenfield. . Rob is a voice of calm—and inspiration. He has dedicated his life not only to simple living but also to helping others, be it through raising awareness about food and other waste, donating 100% of his media income to grassroots nonprofits, teaching others in his local community how to grow their own food and much much more. . Rob is always working on something inspiring and he recently wrapped up an ambitious project. For a year, ending in November 2019, he bought no food. He grew and foraged 100% of what he ate, all while living in a city in his tiny house—and not on a sprawling farm. Half of his food came from his garden—he produced 100 different kinds of food over the year!—and half came from foraging. . Rob set out on this project not merely to sustain himself, but also to empower others to sustain themselves and build self-sufficiency and resilience. We can rely on ourselves—and our communities!—more and the industrialized food system less. That doesn't mean each of us must go all in and grow every morsel of food that we eat. But even thinking about growing a tomato plant can open up a whole new world and shift our mindset. . So, if you’re looking for a source of light in your Instagram feed, please follow @robjgreenfield. He will inspire, empower and uplift you.
Enjoy a good book while you hunker down. . I start Enjoy a good book while you hunker down. . I started Johnathan Safran Foer’s latest book, “We Are the Weather,” last week and highly recommend it. In it, Foer asks, if we really do acknowledge the fact that the planet is heating, why don’t we change our lifestyles? . One (of many) gems from the book: “When a radical change is needed, many argue that it is impossible for individual actions to incite it, so it’s futile for anyone to try. This is exactly the opposite of the truth: the impotence of individual action is a reason for everyone to try.” . Every individual action matters as COVID-19 is showing us in real time. We can all help flatten the curve and reduce the speed of the pandemic’s spread. So please stay safe, stay home and read some good books. I know this is a very difficult and stressful time but we’re all in this together. . What are you reading?
During COVID-19 many of us are coming to realize j During COVID-19 many of us are coming to realize just how important self-sufficiency is. If you’ve wanted to try baking bread, making pasta from scratch, fermenting vegetables or learning how to sew, for just a few examples, now’s a good time to start. . Learning new skills boosts our self-sufficiency, keeps us busy and in the moment (rather than in a panic about the future) and provides tangible rewards (i.e., the stuff we make). . Link in profile for a new post: “Hunkered Down During COVID-19? Make Something.”
Many of us could use a cute cat pic right about no Many of us could use a cute cat pic right about now. . Resourceful Cleo doesn’t need an expensive, store-bought cat bed. She loves this makeshift one—a towel folded up on a warm radiator. She wishes you a relaxing and safe weekend.
Eleanor in her travel outfit (the small jar) posin Eleanor in her travel outfit (the small jar) posing with her new friend. The two sourdough starters met shortly after we arrived in Ontario 🇨🇦 last night. 🍞 This starter came from my sister’s partner’s mother and has been going strong since the late 1970s! Six-year old Eleanor hopes to be just like her when she grows up—strong, active and nourishing. 🍞 Michelle hasn’t named this starter. I think she should. What would be a fitting name for a sourdough starter of a certain age, living in Bobcaygeon, Ontario? 🍞 Tonight I think I’ll combine a bit of both of these, feed them and see how they get along living together in a jam jar. (#sourdoughgeek) 🍞 If you’ve wanted to start a starter and have had trouble getting it going or you’d like to skip the week or two it requires to mature, you may be able to find some from another baker or through Craigslist, Buy Nothing groups, Facebook Marketplace and so on. You need only a spoonful to get going. 🍞 Eleanor and I will be at the High Park Nature Center on Tuesday, March 10th, where @roncyreduces is hosting me for a talk on zero-waste living. I look forward to meeting my fellow Canadians there! 🍞 Link in profile for information and tickets.
How will the coronavirus affect the zero-waste mov How will the coronavirus affect the zero-waste movement? . Starbucks announced Wednesday that it will not fill customers' reusable mugs or provide for-here cups in the US and Canada during the coronavirus outbreak. Many low-wasters who ordinarily take their reusable mugs to Starbucks and other cafés will no doubt avoid the stores altogether, as will millions of other consumers until the virus has run its course. . Similarly, Bulk Barn has temporarily suspended its bring your own container program during the outbreak. If you can’t buy bulk at the moment, you can reduce your packaging to product ratio by buying the largest package possible if that makes sense for you (i.e., if you will eat all of the food). You’ll get more food for less packaging than you will if you buy a bunch of small packages. . Of all the things to worry about in this world at the moment, a bathroom tissue shortage seems absurd. If we run out of it, we’ll survive. Now might be a good time to switch to a bidet, the family cloth (with rationed bathroom tissue for doo-doo) or a combo. As clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology Lauren F Streicher, MD, told @guardian recently regarding using cloth, “People urinated long before toilet paper became available. There are zero health concerns with this … people have urine on their underwear all the time.” . Most importantly, keep calm! Hoarding bathroom tissue and food becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of shortages and panic. . Link in profile for a new blog post “Will the Coronavirus Kill the Zero-Waste Movement?”

Upcoming Events

  • Kimchi and Kombucha Workshop CANCELLED April 4, 2020 at 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • San Mateo City Earth Day Event April 25, 2020 at 10:00 am – 12:00 pm San Mateo Public Library, 55 W 3rd Ave, San Mateo, CA 94402, USA
  • Sourdough Bread Boot Camp May 2, 2020 at 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • Zero Food Waste Workshop, Dublin May 3, 2020 at 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
  • Sourdough Bread Boot Camp May 9, 2020 at 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
  • Rainbow Grocery Produce Bag Giveaway May 16, 2020 at 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Rainbow Grocery, 1745 Folsom St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA

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