Peasant Bread Made with Kefir Whey

by Robin | Apr 21, 2025 | All Categories, All Posts, Baked Food, Recipe

Peasant Bread Made with Kefir Whey

I posted this bread a couple of weeks ago. Wanted to send this blog as I tweaked the recipe a bit and was pleasantly surprised.

Ingredients:

512g Unbleached all-purpose or bread flour

10g Kosher salt

8g Sugar

8g SAF Instant Yeast

50g Melange Pour Le Pain (can be purchased on line at Red Stick Spice Company)

454g Kefir Whey @ 78 degrees (If you don’t have whey of any kind, just use distilled water)

Softened butter

2 1 and 1/2 Pint Pyrex 441 Baking Bowls (They can be found on Ebay) If you can’t find any, no worries. Just use one 9 1/2 x 4 1/2 bread pan.

Directions:

Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, instant yeast and pour le pain.

Slowly add the whey (or water) and mix thoroughly until dry ingredients are absorbed.

Let rise in proofer or warm place (covered with a towel) until doubled in size. Usually about an hour or so.

Generously butter your baking bowls.

Once the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough in half and put in the baking bowls.

At this point, don’t forget to dust the top of the bread with rice flour. This keeps the dough from sticking to the towel.

Cover the bowls with towels and put back in the proofer or a warm place for another 30 minutes or so. The dough should be rising slightly above the edge of the bowl.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Once the dough has risen sufficiently, brush melted butter over the tops and bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.

Then turn oven down to 375 degrees, turn the bread if it’s browning more on one side than the other and bake for another 15 minutes or so until the tops are golden brown.

Remove from bowls and allow to cool on a wire rack.

*I found this recipe in Bread Toast Crumbs by Alexandra Stafford. This is a great and easy bread. She has a wonderful site, alexandracooks.com

Absolute Best Homemade Pizza

by Robin | Apr 11, 2025 | All Categories

Absolute Best Homemade Pizza

This pizza turned out to be a winner. The fresh basil, black olives, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella made for a wonderful afternoon delight.

Homemade Mayonaise

by Robin | Mar 30, 2025 | All Categories

INGREDIENTS

This is a very easy recipe for homemade mayonnaise.

1 egg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dry mustard

2 tbls. cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice

1 cup safflower oil

Put first 4 ingredients in blender and mix well.

Then pour safflower oil in a very thin stream into blender.

Try using different seasonings such as dill, tarragon, basil, or your favorite herb.

Keep tightly closed in a non-metallic container in refrigerator.

Roasted Garlic

by Robin | Mar 30, 2025 | All Categories

This recipe really works well for dipping your sourdough bread.

INGREDIENTS

3 lbs. peeled garlic cloves

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup kosher salt

1 tbl. cracked peppercorns

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Use enough foil so that it extends over the edges and tuck the extra foil around the sides and bottom of the pan.

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Spread the garlic mixture in a single layer in the pan and “roast” for 30 minutes, turning the garlic over half way through “roasting” time.

The roasted garlic is finished when it’s fork tender and golden brown.

Roast the garlic in batches and put each roasted batch in a another bowl, mixing as you add each batch.

Store the roasted garlic in an airtight glass container. I recommend using a Weck Jar (can be found on EBay).

Do not refrigerate. It can be left on the counter for an extended period of time, but remember to check it every so often.

When you get hungry for a slice of sourdough bread and something great to dip it in . . .

Spoon out a small handful of roasted garlic into a small bowl, add some fresh extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, cracked peppercorns, your favorite seasoning (i.e., pour la pain, herbs de provence, etc.), grate some parmesan reggiano cheese on top and enjoy!

Tremendous Texas Tri Tip

by Robin | Mar 27, 2025 | All Categories

If you enjoy great Texas smoked meat, this is something you will make time and time again. You will probably have to ask your butcher to get some Tri Tip for you. Don’t worry, he’ll know what your asking for. Coat the Tri Tip with Old Bay Seasoning, course ground black pepper and I like to add tarragon to the mix. Make sure the Tri Tip is coated on all sides. Put it in a Zip Lock bag and put it in the fridge until the next day. Soak your favorite wood chips overnight. Although I have a large propane grill, I just use one of the little black grills that you take on camping trips. Next day, using charcoal briquets, get your fire going. Keep the soaked wood chips near by. Once the briquets have burned and have turned white, spread the briquets out and add some of the wood chips. You want the heat to be hot enough to smoke the Tri Tip. You don’t want to get a flame under it. Put the Tri Tip on the grill, open all the vents and close the lid. Grab your favorite beverage and stay close to the grill. You don’t want to keep turning the Tri Tip over and over. It needs to be turned only once. Depending on the size of the Tri Tip, it will be ready in an hour or so. Once you’ve taken it off the grill, let it rest on the chopping block for 15 minutes or so before you start slicing into it. When you do start slicing, remember to always cut against the grain of the meat.