2016-03 Bread

Almost too easy this time: I had wanted to try a bread-maker for a while and found one at a garage sale for $5. It came with books too.
Bought some yeast and had a go at a basic white loaf. It all worked very well. I tried adding some rye meal flower on the next loaf. 1 cup of rye and 2 cups of white flower. A bit dry. This loaf: half a cup of rye and 2.5 cups of white. Very good.

Here's the  machine. It had some small scrapes in the loaf container where the Teflon had been damaged by using a knife to loosen the loaf but it didn't look too bad and tha price and books made it worth a go.

 Nice simple display and controls. The time is a count down and you can set a start delay and the total time for the loaf to be ready is then shown.

 Here's the dough ball being kneaded after the first rising.

Let it cool for 1 minute before tapping it out on a board.	... and it seems to come out quite cleanly.	I eat the end that had the stirring blade in it first.

With some olive oil, sharp cheese, tomato and basil .

2012-05 Sauerkraut

I had a go at Sauerkraut last year.
Not too good a result. I think I used too much salt and so the fermentation didn't happen very well. Cabbages are 90 cents a head right now and I've kept my eyes out for a good vessel for 'krauting and found a candidate a month back so lets do this properly this time:

Parts:
Cabbage.
Salt.
(some call for juniper berries but I have none)

Tools:
Kraut Crock.
Good knife and chopping board.
Tea towel.

The crock I found for $1 at an op-shop. I looks like the inner bowl of a dead slow cooker. It's perfect: Parallel sides so it's easy to pack and weight down without letting light and air in and wide enough to easily pack the cabbage in. I'd like it to be taller then I could do more kraut at the same time.
I have an enamel pot that is a close fit inside and I'll fill with water for a weighted lid. That's it in the photo inside the crock.

Now chop the cabbage.

First discard and dark green outer leaves. I cut out a wedge and then finely chopped that.
You can not chop too fine but it must not be pulped or the kraut will be mush.

Put the sliced cabbage in the crock to depth of about 10cm.

Salt lightly. I used about the amount of salt I'd use salting a tray of oven roasted vege' and spuds.

Pack the layer down. Really hard. I leant down on my fist around the edges and then packed in the middle. It gets crushed and stays down if its done well.

Chop more cabbage and pack in another layer salting before packing as you go.

before packing

after packing

I just got the whole cabbage in so maybe the crock is a good size.


By the time I was finished it was starting to get damp. This is the idea: the salt draws out the cabbage juice and it ferments in it so the damp is a good thing.

Now put on the lid and press it down. You should get cabbage juice rise to the brim of the crock.


Leave this somewhere handy for the first day and each time you pass it press the weighted lid down.


After that put it somewhere cool and cover it with the tea towel. I put it on a

plate too to catch any cabbage juice overflow: The cabbage will pack down as it ferments and becomes tender and the weighted lid might push out the juice.


Check it after a week or so and remove any bloom.


In two weeks it should be done.


It does not need to be washed before cooking. I put it in a pot with sliced green apple, some bay leaves and pork spare ribs and simmer for 1 hour then eat with boiled buttered spuds.

2008-04 Garden boxes

When you have no garden and have a very sunny balcony and you are me then this is the thing to do because I miss gardening and eating things I've grown myself.
The place I live in now is on the second floor and the front balcony faces north and gets good sun all day. I'd been keeping an eye out for a growing stuff solution to take advantage of this and satisfy this need; maybe just some herbs for a start. I finally found a strawberry planter at an Op-shop and so decided the time had come for a gardening based P.O.T.M. Here's what would be good:

• Grow herbs for daily use.
• Grow Salad for daily use.
• As self maintaining as possible. (self watering?)
• Grow some experimental veggies you can't buy anymore.
• Platform for experimental PC maintained garden?
• Should be enjoyable to use, make and see.
• Make as much of it as I reasonably can reusing materials when reasonable.
• But use cheap and common materials if I need to get it done.
  

As I said, found a plastic strawberry container in an op-shop for $3.00. Got a bag of potting mix from the warehouse ($6.99) and re-claimed some herbs I'd potted out at my brothers. I transplanted them semi-careful into the strawberry container fulled with potting mix, watered well and are doing fine now. Could do with a drip tray yet.
(Though seen in this photo they look a bit crook. They've been growing in there about two weeks here.)
There's Mint, Sage, Parsley and Thyme right now. I have Lemon Balm, Lemon Grass, Vietnamese Mint and French Tarragon to Squeeze in.
Not going to fit. Need. . . more. . . dirt. . .
Warehouse had a special on some seed houses. A sort of small plastic glasshouse (nice oxymoron) for $20 so I got one to keep things going in case the cold of winter bit before I got plants into soil. It also allowed me to start collecting plants before I had anywhere for them and I thought I could grow monster amounts of Basil in it through the winter. Yeah. Basil. Awright. Checked with the neighbor (who would have to walk past it to get to her washing line) and she was cool so I got one.
Wacked the spare plants in it and it got so hot the Vietnamese Mint nearly karked it (we've been having a long hot Autumn). Moved them to the bottom of the seed house and they've been fine.

I still needed a solution to the lack of dirt. "Window boxes but big. " I thought. But that would need wood. Himmmm woooood.... Now, not many people know this but in town a good source of free wood is pallet bases.
There's been one lying by the mini-bin at work so I snarfed that. It'd been there for 3 months in the way in the car park and I was pretty sure they weren't going to chuck or claim it. Dragged it home and spent an hour or two knocking it apart and removing all nails then stacked it to see what I had to work with.
I'd hope to get two window/planting boxes out of it but after stacking the boards this way and that to get a good idea of the volume I decided to just do one. A kind of prototype and it worked quite well.
It's a bit more then 1 metre long and 30cm by 30cm. This is an unmeasured sketch, I just held stuff up and cut it to fit. The next one I'll refine and measure properly.
OK That I did and here is the one page PDF plan for you enjoyment.

I did some work on the "greenhouse" ; moving the basil into a bigger container that I hope will last the winter. Moved the tarragon into the strawberry container and tidied up some. The Lemon grass, Lemon balm and Vietnamese mint are still looking a bit fragile so they're in here too for now. I hope the basil ( and perhaps peppers and tomatoes) will go in the bottom and seedlings in the top.

Bad back and a stupid little cold have stopped me doing much more more on this. I'll put together proper plans and note on building a garden-box, add a few after photos' and that will be it for this part of this project.
I guess I will add the two boxes I'd wanted in the next few months and I'll post comments and photos if anything of interest occurs.

Final Notes:
TODO

Plant List:
Already Have:
Mint, Thyme, Sage, Lemon Balm, Chives, Parsley, Lemon Grass, Basil, Tarragon, Spinach.
Need:
Sorrel, Chicory.
Want List:
Salsify (Oyster Plant - sow in autumn.), Florence Fennel, Kaffer Lime, Rosmary,
coriander (perhaps Cilantro instead?), Endive, Chervil, Marjoram, Oregano,
Dill, Lettuce, Caraway, Cedronella, Collards, Purslane, Horse radish,
Jerusalem Artichoke, Lovage, Sweet Marjoram, Parcel.