good afternoon y'all!!!!!!! how's your day going so far? ours has been good so far. we got out early this morning and got our walk done. it was just a brisk 37* and I felt every degree of it. we do dress for success when we walk, but it was still a little nippy. I got in well over a mile and wished I could have gotten more. but my feet had started hurting and I call it quits when that happens. if I keep pushing and try to push thru the paain, I'll be down for 4 or 5 days. so when they start hurting, I stop. I had a horse step on my right foot when I was 12 or 13 years old and it's been painful ever since and it gets worse with age. so, since I'm almost as old as dirt, I feel it in every step. hahaha but I can walk, so for that, I'm so very thankful.
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Years ago when we still lived in a different town, I baked bread. it seems I've always baked bread. I baked it the hard way, without a bread machine, without a stand mixer, without a food processor, of which any one of those will properly knead your dough. I was even called the "crazy" bread lady. I will admit the crazy part, but only in a good way.
Anyway, the church we attended delivered meals on wheels to the sick and shut in of our church and the community at large. During that time, I started making sourdough bread. I delivered the meals for several of the Sunday Schools Classes, on a weekly basis, that prepared the food. I started making the sourdough bread in small loaf pans and would take everyone a loaf or two depending on how many we had that week. Anywhere between 10 to 15 people we ministered to on a weekly basis.
One of the elderly ladies I delivered to was a lady of few words, she was kind, just didn't have much to say. She would let me hug her and that's about it, she wanted her door shut. I understood then and I understand now.
Anyway, the 3rd week after I started making the bread and bringing everyone a loaf, she was at the door and eagerly waiting for me. She had a smile on her face as big as those little loaves of bread. She had the door open and the first thing she asked me was "did you bring more bread?" I smiled real big and said "yes mam I did." She wanted to know if I made it. Again, "yes mam I did."
Then she wanted to know who told me her secret about making sourdough bread. I laughed and told her that no one had told me her secret that it was my own recipe so to speak after I tweaked the original recipe. She laughed and said "I know what your secret is." I finally laughed and said, "well, yes, I do make it with love." She said, "ok, that too." But she pulled me close and whispered in my ear exactly what I put in my sourdough in addition to the usual ingredients.
I asked her how she knew and she said because hers was the best sourdough bread she had ever eaten and she said mine tasted just like hers!!! When I started making my sourdough starter last week, that conversation with that sweet lady popped in to my head and I just wanted to share it because it has made me smile for between 25 to 30 years now.
Anyway. my sourdough was finally ready to use and I decided I wanted to make something that my husband and I both enjoy, but I have never made them before. I have made a boat load of all kinds of breads, but I've never made these before, but I finally made some. I can assure you, I would not have made them today were it not for my Bread Machine to mix it in. I just set it on the knead function and walked away for an hour and a half.
What, you may be asking? I made English Muffins!!!!! Yes and Amen!!! I did and I don't mind telling you one of my secrets in these was a whole lotta prayer. Thank You Jesus for helping me today with my English Muffins. I only made a half batch, which should have been 8 regular sized muffins, but I ended up with 8 ginormous muffins. hahaha So, when I make a whole batch, I plan on getting about 20 and will have plenty for the freezer.
I don't see me buying English Muffins anytime in the near future. Yay!!! I almost forgot to take pictures, but I did remember and snapped a few. Hope y'all enjoy. And they do smell as good as they look. Go ahead and drool, it's ok. I won't tell anyone. hahaha
if you can make heads or tails out of my recipe, you're free to use it. hahahaha
you know what, these are not the prettiest things, but they are quite tasty.
and look at all those nooks and crannies that english miffins are famous for.
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so, let's do a "2 minutes in the kitchen with me" real quick. I had been wanting to do a mixed veggie ferment.
you can buy pickled mixed veggies called Giardiniera. it's an Italian relish that's usually done in vinegar or oil. mine is done in neither. it's done in a ferment brine. I don't care for veggies in vinegar any more, although I do eat them and I certainly don't want veggies in oil. I know, I know, those are the most popular ways of preserving lots of things, but I'm going for what I like. hahaha
I used cauliflower, bell peppers, orange bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, red onion, vidalia onion, carrots, zucchini, and yellow squash. that's it. I didn't use anything else, because I didn't have anything else fresh. hahaha I do wish I would have had some greenbeans. but I have a container of fermented greenbeans in the fridge. I didn't use any kind of spices either. you can use spices and most people do, but I wanted to keep these tasting like the veggies.
My brine is a mixture of 1 gallon of filtered water and 6 tablespoons of kosher salt. you don't want to use any salt with iodine or any anti-caking agents. sea salt is best if you have it. I didn't, but I did have kosher salt, so that's what I used.
cleanliness in the fermenting process is very important. I can't stress that enough. make sure everything is clean. you can even run all jars and cutting board and utensils thru the dishwasher to sterilize them if necessary. just make sure you're very clean with doing this.
wash and scrub your veggies and I always cut away any blemishes or spots. cut your veggies however you want to cut them. on the carrots, since they are the firmest veggie I used, I did make smallish sticks. I cut the squashes in half and then cut them where they was thicker on one end than the other. I made sticks out of the bell peppers. and I cut the cauliflower segments pretty small too. I made wedges out of the onions and then broke them up some. nothing fancy at all.
I had gotten a separate gallon jug with "filtered" water in it. you want to use filtered water so there is no chlorine. chlorine will inhibit the fermenting process. then I added the 6 tablespoons of kosher salt and got that dissolved.
once all the veggies was cut up and mixed together, I put veggies in my jars. pressing them down as I went. you don't want to overfill the jars.
once the brine is in the jars, I put the wieghts in on top of the veggies to hold them down in the brine. it's important for all the veggies to be under the brine at all time. the big jar has a split weight and the quart jar has a small clear glass weight.
once the weights are placed, I then get a spoon and take out any of the small pieces that float. I take a small zip lock sandwich bag and fill it with some of the extra brine and press the air out of the bag and put it on top of the weight. this is just extra protection. it's not necessary, but I do it.
for the lids on the jars, they have a water lock on top of them that will allow any gasses to escape without the jars exploding or having to open them. also, set your jars in a tray or a bowl to catch any bubble over. when this starts really bubbling, there can be a mess, so I always put my jars in a tray or bowl to fit the size jar. put the jar in a safe place. I wish I had a cabinet that I could dedicate to fermenting. now the hard part.....waiting, waiting, waiting, patiently waiting. hahaha
in a couple of weeks, I'll check the taste and go from there. once they have the flavor profile I'm looking for, I'll put them in the fridge and they will last a long time, or not, depending on how fast you eat them. hahaha
what I like about ferments is that the veggies are still raw. but the fermentation process preserves them. the fermenting process creates a lot of good gut healthy bacteria. fermented produce is really good for you. do a little research on it and find out just how good it is for you.
I hope you enjoyed this. I hope if you haven't ever done a ferment that you'll give it a try. do a little research and then dive in. it's delicious and it's fun.
this turned out to be a most wonderful ferment. it only gets better with age.
one thing that I did learn, is that the amount of salt is way too much. I used what the recipe recommended, but since making this recipe, I've found that most recipes call for much less salt. if you have a blood pressure problem or a water retention problem, this may not be for you. but if you can eat this, it's really good and the fermenting process is really good for your gut health.
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that's about it for today. hope you seen something here that you may be willing to try.
since it'a almost the end of the year, what will you miss most about 2023? and what do look forward to most in 2024?
may love, joy and peace be yours today. hugs and blessings, patty
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