Feijoas collecting behind the timber, having rolled down the driveway on the carpet.
When the feijoas are ripe, there are more than can be given away most years. Though we have trees around several sides of our property, they don’t fruit consistently – they were not ‘selected’ for anything much other than shelter.
Almost all the feijoas we’ve had this season have come from one tree. Maybe not the best fruit – but easy to collect. I put a piece of carpet on the drive, and they roll down into a clump to collect.
Feijoas meet the citrus juicer.
But with this quantity of feijoas, even cutting them in half and scooping out with a spoon can be tiresome. So this year, I’ve tried using the citrus juicer. It works a charm.
In the top is the coarser pulp, and what does fall through the slots is an even finer consistency.
I’ll use the skins for making vinegar.
I’m going to try making a sort of fruit leather from it. I spread it evenly in a shallow bakng dish, then drizzled it with some persimmon pulp, just for the colour and taste treat.
I’m baking it very, very slowly in the oven, hoping to have it dry within a few hours.
It isn’t quite as thick as it looks here – I’ve spread it as thin as I could with a spatula.
I kept the temperature down around 40 to 50 deg C, and kept the fan on. After some hours, I moved the baking dish to the area above our hot water cylinder – only in the high 20s there, but overnight it has dried out quite a bit.
Put down my first sauerkraut two days ago. Still at least another day before I should be tasting it, but I’m hopeful.
I chopped up cabbage (food processor…) and mixed in salt and some caraway seeds. I did two batches – I think the second one will be the better of the two.
Just because I haven’t made any postings doesn’t mean I haven’t been baking, messing with kites, and exploring an on-going interest in cultured things…
I’ve continued to make a lot of labneh, mostly trying out different brands of soy milk, but also doing some enrichment through the addition of coconut cream of various qualities. The culturing has been in the 5 pot yogurt maker.
The press. I need to modify heights of various components so it will allow me to more readily use the springs (sitting on the top) to apply the pressure. Without them, it is a full time job just continuing to crank it tighter!
I’ve recently found ($5 at the Sally’s) a larger, single pot yogurt maker. I’m going to standardise at making about 1 litre of yogurt at a time, then working to press it into something resembling a cheese.
So I made a small cheese press! Still some changes to be made, mostly to enable consistent pressure but also user convenience. But it is certainly working as a proof of concept.
Today’s pressing is using a 500mm square piece of cotton for the liner. The ‘curds’ that I am working with are too soft and delicate for such as ordinary cheesecloth or butter cloth. It seems to be a fine enough weave to still allow the ‘water’ out when under pressure, but keep most all the creamy part inside the cheese.
I can tell when I’m putting too much pressure on the cheese. It will occasionally spring a small hole, and a fine white mist will erupt sideways. It is somewhat messy…
I don’t know what the device is called – I’m calling it a ‘waffle form’. Got it at a second hand shop some time back, but first time I’ve cooked in it.
I just used the sourdough starter as is, with a bit of added salt for flavouring. Ladled into the ‘form’ and baked it!
The starter is going through a lactic period, with a sharp, almost acidic flavour. Much more challenging than when it has the sweetness it did in the first month or so. I’ll need to manage it so that it doesn’t get any stronger than it is now…
These were great for breakfast this morning, covered with fresh labneh!
OK, the bread machine hasn’t been in use for months now. And I’ve weaned myself off of making entirely sourdough and/or entirely wholemeal type breads…
This post describes two recent loaves, but covers my general ‘technique’ for bread…
Feta and onion bread. I waited until the kneading was almost finished before ‘layering in’ the feta.
I’ve always like to proof the dry yeast to get it well and truly bubbling before I get started. Usually just the yeast sprinkled over warm water or milk, and generally putting a handful of flour on the surface so I can better see the yeast coming alive and multiplying. The size of a batch for me is determined by that amount of water. I’m mostly now going with about 250mg – a bit more than an Imperial cup. That will make enough dough for one large or smaller loaves.
Turned onto the flour-covered counter to work and knead.
Starting from my early breadbaking, I also like to use a sponge in the process. That is, after the yeast if starting to grow, add enough flour to make a thick mud texture and stir it to incorporate more air. That gets put aside to grow – catch it before it collapses, but let it go as long as you want.
Then, I add a bit of salt and all the rest of the flour I need. I time it so this step is when I know I’ll have 15 minutes or so to knead and prepare things. Once I’ve added enough flour to turn it out of the bowl, I start working it on the bench. Only just coming back to using a scraper – I used one in the bakery I worked in 40 years ago, but only just got one for home use.
Loaf with left over almond meal (from making almond milk/cream several days ago). I used a soy milk glaze so the crust would not be so hard.
This is the point I ‘enrich’ things, too – add an egg, maybe some left over almond meal, and maybe some butter.
With white flour, it is hard to go wrong in breadbaking. Using all wholemeal means more care and attention so you don’t damage the gluten development.
But I’ve always liked the kneading process – getting the dough smooth and shiny, you can feel the potential for the bread to come.
Let it rise again for a long time as the ‘finished dough’, then gently punch down and form into the shape for baking.
Last rising is as a formed loaf – ready to go into the oven. That means 4 main periods of waiting (ie, carry on with the rest of life):
While the yeast is coming to life, ‘proofing’ with the liquid
While the sponge is rising
While the finished dough is rising
While the shaped dough is rising before going into the oven
Spurred on by the fact that the amount of almonds in almond milk is near negligible, I figured to try making some of my own – but more pronounced as a cream rather than a milk, even.
I started with 500gm of almonds. Soaked them with water to cover. Kept the bowl in the fridge after the first few hours. I changed the water daily for two days then made the milk on the third day.
Adding as little extra water as I could get away with, I used a mixing
Meal after the first pressing
wand – what are they called? – to grind the almonds finely in the water mix. Then, pour into a fine mesh draining cloth and press as much out as I could. I count that as ‘first press’ – with no more added water than necessary to extract.
I got just under 500ml of this almond ‘first press’ cream.
I then added more water into the now quite dry almond meal, and did it all again – to get the ‘second press’. Obviously not so pure and creamy, but another 600ml or so by volume.
I figure the meal, even after being ‘washed’ in this way, might still be good as the basis for either a loaf of bread or some such baking.
Meal after the second pressing
And not really sure how to use the milk yet, either – got to see what it all tastes like later when we have a ‘tasting’ session!
I made labneh without knowing the name for it about 40 years ago. I had access to yogurt that was at/beyond expiry dates. So I did try hanging some of it in cheesecloth to drain. I don’t remember being all that impressed with it, but it was an interesting approach.
And now, years later, I find it is related down that line from yogurts to such as Greek yogurt (a drained product) and then more directly to labneh. Labneh – reallabneh – would be made with probably cow’s milk yogurt, hung for a few hours to drain. Incredibly easy to make…
Well, for whatever various reasons, what I make is off-recipe, I guess. I got a cheap yogurt maker a few weeks back at the Salvation Army. Works fine – no thermostat, but what seems a pretty consistent heat.
The batch today is from soy milk. Just off the shelf. I did add a blob of coconut cream into this yogurt, but can’t say I can taste it. I use a couple of blobs of a commercial coconut cream probiotic yogurt. I haven’t tried any cow’s milk, but I think for the most part they rely on same/similar bacteria.
I let it set for 8 hours – overnight. I put the finished product into the fridge for a few hours. Sometimes it can still be a bit runny if it is warm, just out of the maker – best to let it cool completely.
Sometimes the yogurt will be pretty much ‘set’ – but still seems to be too creamy and smooth and loses the ‘yog’. I just runs down like cream through the cloth. Today’s was somewhat like that. I first tried pouring into two layers of cheesecloth. Too open – ran through too readily. So I used a piece of Metric Fat Flat. Cotton, apparently made for quilters? But a slightly open weave – and it drained the yogurt just fine.
Then, after a couple of hours of hanging, I put it into the tofu press – and this time, it will be a full sized block, not like the thin thing I made last time!
I’m not going to press it quite as heavy as I did the last time, but may increase it depending on how much liquid comes out. It still has quite a bit of liquid to drain, I think…
This is not a ‘real time’ posting. I had taken a few photos of baking I’ve been doing, but not very consistently.
I’ve made several pretty good loaves of basic sourdough. Still pretty solid, but getting the crumb better as I practice. Biggest thing seems to be in the timing – just can’t go off to the pub when it needs forming or whatever!
Averil has been making a pancake using the sourdough. Egg, flour, salt and the starter. When the starter is really active, the bubbles really work through this wet dough.
But I have made another few sheets of dried sourdough starter. This one I did in bands of ground pepper, paprika, tumeric and dill tips – mostly just interested in the colours. When it was dry, I crumbled them all together very coarsely so the colour is still dominant.
But I’m determined to move into other than sourdough. I made some bread roll type things based on a recipe for bastounakia, a Greek bun. I never stick to the recipes, but mostly used the technique described. It involved something similar to making a croissant, but instead of butter, it was brushing olive oil on as you fold, roll and turn about 3 times. The recipe used coarse salt and bits of rosemary to sprinkle on the olive oil as the layering is done. I used tumeric and cheese.
And finally – labneh! But not as it is generally known. I’ve started making yogurt using soy milk (adding the starter from some coconut yogurt, probiotic and all that). The yogurt is beautiful and creamy. But even better when it has hung in a cloth for a few hours – think sweet cream cheese.
And finally yesterday went a step further – not only hanging but putting it into a small press originally intended for tofu making. I made the press back in December 1976 – haven’t used it much over the years.
I used three containers of yogurt, quite a lot. But then I probably over-pressed it – I had as much as 7kg of weight bearing down on it. It is great, but quite a thin layer. Next time may not press so hard, or may start with even more yogurt.
Far too long since I’ve written anything. I’ve been quite busy, mostly with baking activities that I’ll have to ‘backfill’ as I get a chance…
But yesterday, finally got a decent day to put the blue parafoil up at the Tauranga waterfront, along with the GoPro camera. I had, earlier in the day, ‘re-rigged’ the Picavet camera stabilising rig (see an earlier posting) using a heavier line – not that it needed to be stronger, but I was getting tired of untangling the finer line I had originally used.
Click on this image to see the larger version so you can spot my kite off to the right above the wharf!
What I was hoping was that I could have it in the air long enough to get recorded by a Tauranga webcam. That camera takes a picture every 10 minutes through the day – and I figured if I had the kite up, it should be visible when I get home to check that webcam. And it was – you can see the blue shape appearing to float above the wharf off to the right side of the picture!
The flight itself was not particularly long (a bit over 4 minutes of film) and somewhat limited as I only had a small roll of line, so couldn’t put it especially high into the air. Given it is central city and not a very big place to fly a kite, that’s probably a good thing.
You can see me launching the kite. I had it relatively low in the air, up until the 3 minute mark when I have let out all the line. I see there’s something of a scratch of some such on the lens, just to the left of centre – I try not to look at it…
And naturally, when I was finished, I went to have a beer at the Crown and Badger!
