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pandemic pantry - food, getting it, storing it, baking during lockdown

#41
How often are you feeding it? We feed ours everyday.
What is the temp you're keeping it at/around?
We started ours a couple weeks ago and it's been doing great. At this point, we're getting to sourdough overload. With limited options to give away parts of it, we keep making more and more things with it.
I didn't take a picture, but we did apple cinnamon rolls the other day. Thinly sliced apples rolled in with the layers.
Top it off with fresh ground cinnamon. Oh my was that good.
Pizza last night, focaccia bread this afternoon, bread in the morning and sourdough rolls with dinner tomorrow.
Today we got six pounds of the King Arthur sprouted wheat flour, so it'll be interesting to see how everything tastes now in comparison to what we made last week.

-Mike
 
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#42
blastoff99 said:
Couldn't get wheat or yeast for my bread recipe (not that I actually eat much wheat, mind you, so I really don't know why this is suddenly a thing) so I made a sourdough starter. It has been a disaster!

The first person to get some discard followed my feeding instructions to a T. The instructions had an omission. The starter died.

The second person to get some discard got the starter home, left it on top of the fridge overnight, and it crawled out and made a bit of a mess. She then forgot to feed the rest of it. It died.

The third person to get discard used ALL of it in one bread recipe. She now wants more. This is a problem, because...

I made bread with some of my starter, and it was awful because of a really stupid thing I did. I have admitted some pretty personal stuff on this forum, but it will cut me far too deeply to fess up to this terrible culinary error. Since I'm sick (still) and cranky and exhausted, this has hit me far harder emotionally than it should. Meanwhile, I fed what's left of my starter wrong and am pretty sure I've killed it.

So that's how it's going here.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your starter, and that you're feeling so crummy right now. I hope you feel better soon.

Sourdough is tough. It's true you have to baby it a bit.

I was thinking about that this morning because i made pancakes for everyone at breakfast, and I used to live in a boarding house where we'd all have sourdough pancakes every Wednesday morning, and I was the pancake cook.

I'm not a huge fan of sourdough bread, but sourdough pancakes are to die for. I was mentioning this to my housemate and husband this morning and they were suggesting I start some for future pancakes. I would love to, but I'd have to make sourdough pancakes for the rest of my life, and I'm already gaining way too much weight.
 
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#43
After a feed, an interesting read: What a simulated Mars mission taught me about food waste.

"As a food waste researcher, I'm interested in how humans prepare food, eat and manage leftovers."
…

"According to the latest figures, in 2016-17 Australia produced 7.3 million tonnes of food waste. And every year, each one of us sends almost 300kg of food to landfill.…"
​
Where we're concerned, this isn't true :) Nothing edible goes to waste here unless we make mistakes.

"
My research highlights that non-perishable food can create less waste in constrained circumstances — a finding highly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, waste is more likely when preparing meals that alter in form (such as cooking dried rice) and/or combine multiple ingredients.

Also, waste is generated differently due to individual human behaviour responses and our socioeconomic background.

These lessons are timely. Member states of the United Nations, including Australia, aim to halve food waste by 2030. These steps can help:
  • buy only what you need, and will use
  • if you run a food business, divert excess consumable food to food rescue organisations and charities that feed the hungry
  • where possible, give food waste to animals, such as backyard chooks
  • composting food in your backyard or a community garden
  • Allow ample time to eat, as more waste is generated during rushed mealtimes.
"​
 
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#44
blastoff99 said:
Couldn't get wheat or yeast for my bread recipe (not that I actually eat much wheat, mind you, so I really don't know why this is suddenly a thing) so I made a sourdough starter. It has been a disaster!

The first person to get some discard followed my feeding instructions to a T. The instructions had an omission. The starter died.

The second person to get some discard got the starter home, left it on top of the fridge overnight, and it crawled out and made a bit of a mess. She then forgot to feed the rest of it. It died.

The third person to get discard used ALL of it in one bread recipe. She now wants more. This is a problem, because...

I made bread with some of my starter, and it was awful because of a really stupid thing I did. I have admitted some pretty personal stuff on this forum, but it will cut me far too deeply to fess up to this terrible culinary error. Since I'm sick (still) and cranky and exhausted, this has hit me far harder emotionally than it should. Meanwhile, I fed what's left of my starter wrong and am pretty sure I've killed it.

So that's how it's going here.
Click to expand...

i found my starters were pretty high maintenance, but they worked well for bread. you can buy dried starter culture on amazon, and i see flour re-stock and sell out, and you can currently buy a 25 pound bag of whole grain spelt flour on amazon or several other brands sell smaller amounts. whole grain spelt works almost exactly like wheat; it's actually an ancestor of modern wheat. i can't eat wheat, but i bake with whole grain spelt all the time from whole wheat recipes.

if you have baking powder, i can send you a super easy small loaf recipe that only uses 4 ingredients including salt, baking powder, flour and buttermilk - or i'm using buttermilk powder and water these days. it was my first successful loaf - my first loaf was a sourdough brick that i ate anyway *lol*
 
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#45
We've been buying fresh food and are trying to keep the shopping trips down. I feel the supermarket is a higher risk environment. I'm saving a good supply of the canned, frozen and enough dry food in case one of us gets sick and are quarantined for 14 days.
 
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#46
Can anyone recommend a particular model of electric hot plate ? One that actually allows you to control the temperature well ?

The only one I have is the old style coil element type and I pretty much have to stand there and babysit it.
 
#47
lowplaces said:
Can anyone recommend a particular model of electric hot plate ? One that actually allows you to control the temperature well ?

The only one I have is the old style coil element type and I pretty much have to stand there and babysit it.
Click to expand...

these days, they pretty much all have temperature control. do you want one burner or two? budget?

i haven't owned this, but it comes with 2 or 1 burner, is made to be compact and gets good reviews. it's one i'd consider
https://www.amazon.com/Cusimax-Electric-Cast-Iron-Portable-Upgraded/dp/B07B46C4CG/

if you're looking for induction, this one i have owned and do recommend -
https://www.amazon.com/Duxtop-8100MC-Portable-Induction-Countertop/dp/B0045QEPYM/

they also make a non-induction version
https://www.amazon.com/Duxtop-Electric-Portable-Single-Stainless/dp/B082MKC87H/

i had the basic proctor silex models if you run across that, but i felt it ran a little cool.
 
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#48
pcake said:
i found my starters were pretty high maintenance, but they worked well for bread. you can buy dried starter culture on amazon, and i see flour re-stock and sell out, and you can currently buy a 25 pound bag of whole grain spelt flour on amazon or several other brands sell smaller amounts. whole grain spelt works almost exactly like wheat; it's actually an ancestor of modern wheat. i can't eat wheat, but i bake with whole grain spelt all the time from whole wheat recipes.

if you have baking powder, i can send you a super easy small loaf recipe that only uses 4 ingredients including salt, baking powder, flour and buttermilk - or i'm using buttermilk powder and water these days. it was my first successful loaf - my first loaf was a sourdough brick that i ate anyway *lol*
Click to expand...


Thanks. It wasn't the starter that was the problem - it was something really stupid I did with the dough. My starter looks much less dead this morning so maybe there's hope. I did eat (most of) the resulting loaf anyway, but it was baaaaaad. And if I have to do another starter from scratch, so be it. It was probably good for my mental health to have to keep SOMETHING alive during whatever illness I have. If I did nothing else that day, I had to feed my starter.

When I was young, I used to make a very simple whole wheat bread that went from kernels of wheat to out of the oven in 90 minutes. Mom and I would make up to eight batches of six loaves on a Saturday morning then make the deliveries to people who had ordered it. I have the heavy equipment for that process (hasn't been used in 25 years but I bet it still works) and four loaf pans, so I could make a small batch... if I had hard red winter wheat and yeast. But again, I eat very little wheat so I'm not sure what I'm doing here, ha.
 
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#49
pcake said:
these days, they pretty much all have temperature control. do you want one burner or two? budget?

i haven't owned this, but it comes with 2 or 1 burner, is made to be compact and gets good reviews. it's one i'd consider
https://www.amazon.com/Cusimax-Electric-Cast-Iron-Portable-Upgraded/dp/B07B46C4CG/

if you're looking for induction, this one i have owned and do recommend -
https://www.amazon.com/Duxtop-8100MC-Portable-Induction-Countertop/dp/B0045QEPYM/

they also make a non-induction version
https://www.amazon.com/Duxtop-Electric-Portable-Single-Stainless/dp/B082MKC87H/

i had the basic proctor silex models if you run across that, but i felt it ran a little cool.
Click to expand...

Price isn't a big deal. I'm just hoping to find one that works by controlling the temperature rather than simply cutting off and back on.

Double burner would be best, and the digital ones seem like a better choice rather than just turning the knob and guessing.

The one you owned looks good.
 
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#50
Quiet Easter Dinner this year.
Just my wife and youngest daughter who is home from university.

Last year we had a houseful and a feast. Whole Angus Fillet, Asparagus, Garlic mashed potatoes.

This year I just cooked something sensible that would last a few days.

A Classic Yankee pot roast, Brown rice, and green peas.
(If someone would like the recipe, I'll post it)

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#53
Better success today. I've been cooped up in my house with healthy food and no appetite, which in spite of being utterly sedentary has been great for the weight-loss goals. But I've had a hankering for something sweet, and after failed banana bread two weeks ago, failed sourdough bread last week, I finally just searched online for a basic apple cake recipe and went for it.

It's good! Always a bit of concern as an inexperienced baker with the 'well it says 9" round cake pan and that means metal and what I've got is a 9" glass pie plate so I suppose I should drop the temp 25F and meanwhile there is no center rack of my oven so do I go higher or lower' but it's fine. And it hit the spot. Yay me.
 
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#54
Here’s a mongrel dinner made with a bought dry crust mix, smoked sausage, (semi) fresh white button mushrooms, a sauce built on a base of canned tomato sauce and a few extra dry and wet ingredients, and shredded mozzarella.
Last year i spent several months housebound after having a hospital gift me a case of MRSA. During that time several people brought me care packages of groceries. Somewhere in all that i wound up with a couple of dry mix pizza dough packs. I’ve never tried it that way but i had enough sausage to top a pizza but not enough to cook for my recently adopted neighbors and the same for some white buttons and grated white cheese. I decided to give it a whirl rather than let the food go to waste. It was somewhat funky with the smoked sausage but was not that bad. Different for sure, but not bad.

DCB4B95A-7A6C-4289-8EEA-30F0A8DBBF7C.jpeg
 
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#55
lowplaces said:
Price isn't a big deal. I'm just hoping to find one that works by controlling the temperature rather than simply cutting off and back on.

Double burner would be best, and the digital ones seem like a better choice rather than just turning the knob and guessing.

The one you owned looks good.
Click to expand...
Go commercial. Something like this — Stoves and boiling tops : Professional electric boiling top - 2 burners (4 kW). Hard to beat these. Induction versions may be better but they're expensive. These are fine. You can use the latent heat to warm up some water for the washing of the dishes etc.. :)

Rechaud-electrique-double-4kw-ELR4.webp

​
 
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#58
Oxy absorbers in mylar bags and before sealing with a crimping iron suck all air out with a vacuum cleaner as you seal it. Best poor mans long term food storage.

Rice goes bad in about a year. Dry beans don't really go bad but after some years they will not rehydrate for cooking so you'd need to grind them into a powder.
 
#59
Metalbasspro said:
Oxy absorbers in mylar bags and before sealing with a crimping iron suck all air out with a vacuum cleaner as you seal it. Best poor mans long term food storage.

Rice goes bad in about a year. Dry beans don't really go bad but after some years they will not rehydrate for cooking so you'd need to grind them into a powder.
Click to expand...

i have oxy absorbers and a vacuum sealer on the way, but i really like the idea of the vacuum cleaner and crimping iron.

how long does rice go bad if vacuum sealed or is that it? i've read you can soak the beans longer with - i could recall wrong - a little baking soda if they're dried out. btw, i like grinding beans to flour, then using them in baking or as hummus.
 

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