Throughout the fall and winter, we will be growing, harvesting, processing, preserving, and cooking a lot of food. On this page, we will document many of our meals, from harvest to the table, with photographs and recipes. We don’t claim to be great chefs, but we love good food. Our favorite and most memorable meals have been those we produced for ourselves, especially holiday meals with turkey we raised right here on our own farm.
For a good beginning to any meal, here’s a basic yeast bread recipe. With bread, it’s important to remember that there really isn’t a whole lot that will go wrong, as long as all the ingredients get into the bowl. Humans have been baking yeast breads for thousands of years, before there were measuring cups, before commercially produced yeast packets, and before cane sugar was discovered. It’s easy to bake bread. Just put the ingredients together, kneed it, and give it plenty of time to rise.
Basic Bread Recipe
Put ¼ cup lukewarm water into a large metal or ceramic mixing bowl and add 3 Tablespoons white sugar.
Cut open 2 packets of active dry or rapid rise yeast and pour them into the water and sugar mixture. Stir a little bit and let it dissolve some in the bowl. It will begin to multiply and you can see that happening. It looks like tan clouds moving out away from the main clumps of yeast in the water. If you do not see this happening, it means the yeast is dead and you should get your money back. (Dead yeast will not rise bread dough.)
Once the yeast is going well, about 5 minutes, add 2 ¼ cups of water.
Then, sift in about 4 cups flour with 1 Tablespoon of salt. This is the only step that can mess anything up irreparably. If you put the salt into the water, instead of mixing it with the flour, it can kill the yeast. Do not stir before adding oil.
Before stirring, pour 3 Tablespoons oil on top of the flour in the mixing bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon (or whatever big spoon you have handy, the wooden spoon is traditional among bread bakers) until it is well mixed.
Add 3 cups more flour by the cupful, stirring, then kneading it in as the dough becomes more firm. It is a good idea to flour your hands before kneading the dough to keep it from sticking. It won’t help much, but it will help some.
Sprinkle flour by hand and knead in until the dough feels just a bit firm and has a doughy surface (not wet and sticky, not dry or cracking), pull the dough out of the mixing bowl onto a clean work surface, and knead, folding it in half repeatedly, mashing it down, then folding and mashing again, adding a sprinkling of flour when it seems to be getting sticky to maintain just the right doughy consistency, not too wet and not so dry that it cracks or won’t fold.
Kneading bread dough is done to release the gluten in the wheat. This helps with rising. It is really only necessary to knead today’s fine flours for a few minutes to achieve the release of the wheat gluten. It takes a few tries to get comfortable with the appearance and the feel of a good dough. Once it has been kneaded and looks like a good dough, it is ready to set out to rise.
Using a pastry brush dipped in either olive oil or vegetable oil, brush lightly on the inside of another mixing bowl of a medium to large size. Place the dough inside. Brush the top of the dough lightly with the oil to prevent the dough forming a crust on top and cover with foil or plastic wrap. Place it out of the way and leave it alone.
The dough will rise over the course of 1 to 3 hours. Very occasionally, if the room is cold, it may take 4 hours, but that usually only happens in the dead of winter. It can be punched down and allowed to rise again, but this is not completely necessary. We have found no difference between bread made with all-purpose flour that was allowed to rise once instead of twice. If you are using bread flour, it is important to let it rise twice. Bread flour makes a much coarser bread that does not slice as well.
Once the dough has risen to nearly double the size it was when it was placed in the bowl, it should be removed to a clean work surface, divided in half, and shaped into two long, cigar shaped loaves. Brush a full size cookie sheet with oil, sprinkle corn meal on the cookie sheet (to prevent the bread sticking) and put the dough side by side on the sheet, leaving some room to rise.
Using a sharp knife, make 5 or 6 cuts on the top of the tubes, just ¼ to ½ inch deep, evenly spaced. These cuts will make it easy to break the bread when it is eaten. Largely traditional now, it was once important so that people could divide the bread evenly by breaking off pieces.
Crack an egg into a cup, use the pastry brush to whisk it until the yolk and white are well mixed, then brush over the top and sides of the bread loaves to give it a yellow hue. Let the dough rise for 30 to 40 minutes.
If it rises too long, the cuts will disappear. It may look like a blob, but it will still taste fabulous. If it doesn’t rise long enough, it will not bake up as big, but it won’t hurt the flavor. The flavor is most important, but bread baking is an art, so it’s nice when the loaves are pretty too.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then bake for 30 minutes. After 15 to 18 minutes, it is a good idea to lay a sheet of foil on top of the bread. This will prevent it from burning. If you set a timer to 15 minutes, then reset the timer for another 15 minutes, that is the surest way to remember that you should put the foil on. Have a sheet ready that is large enough to cover the bread and be careful not to touch the sides of the hot oven when putting on the foil
There is nothing like the way the kitchen smells when bread is baking. It is wonderful.
Once a person has baked this recipe a few times, they can begin to add seasonings or vary the recipe to get different types of bread. All bread begins with flour, water, yeast, oil, and salt in different amounts.
The real secret to baking the best bread is in growing a starter. By growing a yeast culture for different lengths of time, it is possible to bake bread so flavorful people can never really enjoy eating any other kind of bread for as long as they live.
A starter is grown by mixing water and flour in equal parts, yeast, and at least 3 teaspoons of sugar per yeast pack. You can make a small starter by putting 3 cups flour, 3 cups water, 2 or 3 teaspoons sugar, and 1 yeast package into a jar with a lid that just rests on top. If the lid is screwed on, the jar will shatter from the increasing pressure of gas released by the yeast.
All starters are different, even when using the same brand of yeast. Some grow quickly while others take longer. That is because yeast is a living organism. By experimenting with the amounts of sugar and yeast, a baker learns the best mixture for growing a starter in their particular climate. Once a starter has been used, it can be replenished, but it is necessary to wait 2 or 3 days before trying to use it again. It is simpler to make a new one and let it grow for about 24 hours before using it. In that time, the starter should “go” until it is more than twice the original volume, and then it will begin to drop back to it’s original level in the jar. When the starter has dropped all the way back down, it is ready for use. Before dipping starter for bread, it’s important to stir it to mix the yeast evenly throughout the culture.
Everyone who bakes with a starter begins with too small a jar. We did it. Everyone does it. And what happens is, the starter goes while no one is looking, pours all over the table until someone notices, and then, in trying to stir it down, it ends up being pushed higher over the edge of the jar, so that more pours out on the table. When this happens, the starter may be ruined. It may lose too much of it’s yeast content. Replenishing it may help, but it’s better to just start over and feed the ruined starter to the pigs or chickens. Starters do not need refrigeration if they are used regularly. If they are not used regularly, putting them in the fridge will keep them alive longer.
The amount of starter used depends on the size of the recipe. A big dough for 3 or 4 loaves will use 2 cups of starter or more. A smaller recipe will use only 1 cup starter. You really can’t use too much, but you can use too little. Adjust the water in any bread recipe that calls for dry yeast, reducing it by ½ the amount of starter being used.
A little experimentation goes a long way in baking bread, but it is best to begin by using dry packaged yeast. That ensures easier success and it gives the baker more confidence to continue baking bread.
It is so wonderful to have fresh cucumbers again. They won’t last past the first frost, but we are looking forward to pickles for the winter. When I can pickles, I include lemon juice or lemon balm with the dill. The addition of a hint of lemon to canned pickles makes them absolutely irresistible. Beats will usually grow all winter in our area. The beats I planted were heirloom seeds purchased from a major, big box retailer. Imagine my surprise when the first generation produced both beats and turnips. I thought the turnips volunteered from previous plantins or spilled seeds, since they were not in the former turnip bed. In fact, the turnips have a wonderful beat flavor and the beats have white inside. It seems the turnips and beats cross pollinated at the grower’s. Hmmm… It makes no difference to me because they still taste like beats, but they lack the dark red flesh and so they are not suitable for sale to the general public. I will pickle some of them for the family and we will use some in recipes just the same, but it is sort of disconcerting to see the dark purple outsides, peel them and see the white insides. The greens are regular beat greens and we love those too. The amount of milk Hornet produces is less important to us than her reliability. Hornet produces for months on end and always nearly a gallon at peak production with good nutrition. She was already trying to wean her buck and doeling and the pair have been good and quiet since they are only separated from her by a fence-line. We pasturize all of our milk and we do not sell milk. Later, when we have enough milk produced year round, I hope to learn to make cheese. We will then sell fresh, goat milk cheese. For now, our milk production is necessarily limited to what the family consumes, due to the long drought we experienced in South Texas. During the drought, the milk does were beginning to look shabby. I was deeply concerned about dehydration. Their production was adequate, but they were all in danger of negative health effects from the intense heat. With cooler temperatures, more moisture in the vegetation they consume, and more nutrition in better quality feedstuffs, it is possible to put all of them back into production. We expect two more does to kid in January and two in March. By that time, we will have bred several of the younger does and will hopefully have some first fresheners. For now, we are enjoying wonderful, fresh milk for the first time since June. October 29, 2009
At Long Last...
The yellow squash has been giving enough to sell some and eat some. We grill our squash with meats over oak and pecan wood, giving it a wonderful flavor. Larger squash must be sliced thin, but smaller squash can just be split and grilled for a few minutes. The new grill has turned out to be a big time saver. It has enough surface area to prepare a whole meal all at once, pots, skillets, and meat all fit easily with room to spare.
In addition to the garden yielding squash, cucumbers, and beats, our sweet old doe, Hornet, is finally giving milk again. We weaned her babies last night and milked her today. Hornet is an Alpine doe and was likely culled from a proper dairy because she doesn’t give quite a gallon a day, though she comes close. At peak production, she might be only a cup or a pint shy of a gallon, but for commercial goat dairies, that is enough to make the difference between profit and loss. Any goat with that narrow miss will be sold off and replaced with one that gives a gallon a day or more.
Last night, we smoked two ducks. Roast or smoked duck is a meal fit for a king and it's one of my favorites. I call this recipe Pineapple Roast Duck. While most recipes say that a single 5 lb duck can feed four people, those people must be very small and already full when they sit down to the table. One duck is just enough for two people.
We selected two of our male Pekin Ducks for the meal. Pekin Ducks are larger than our other ducks with more meat. The white feathers are great for crafts and decorations. They take dye well and Christmas is right around the corner, so we thought it would be nice to have some smoked duck and a bunch of white feathers for use in Christmas decorations.
It's not hard to roast or smoke a perfect duck everytime with this method. If you prefer to smoke the duck, just use the bottom of the roasting pan, leaving off the top. Build the fire with oak, pecan wood, and if you can find it, a few small sticks of maple.
Pineapple Roast Duck
Fetch a duck. Make sure it's dead, fresh, and has plenty of breast meat. Do NOT skin the duck. Duck meat can get too dry if it is cooked without the skin on. Plucking the feathers takes a long time, but you can just burn off the fluff that remains by holding the carcass over an open flame after you have removed all of the real feathers. After plucking and burning off the fluff, remove the innerds and trim any fat. (Our ducks don't seem to have a lot of fat but I'm told that commercial ducks have fat that needs to be trimmed). Scald the duck in boiling water. You can place it in the pot of hot water, removed from the heat, and use a soup ladel to drench it, rinsing it inside and out for 2 or 3 minutes.
Shake salt and pepper all over the outside of the duck. In a mixing bowl, mix 2 teaspoons vegetable or corn oil, 1 Tablespoon honey, 1 cup of orange juice, and one 8 ounce can of chunky pineapple with all the juice. Cut up 1 apple into chunks, leaving the skin on and add it to the mixture. Add a couple of tablespoons of raisins and about an ounce of slivered almonds or pecans if desired. Stir to mix.
Prick the skin of the duck all over with a fork on both sides. Poke hard enough to prick the skin and hopefully get into the meat a little way. It will require a little effort.
Line a roasting pan with enough foil to completely enclose the bird. If you are using a conventional oven, it's a good idea to put a rack under the foil, or several butter knives to avoid burning the bottom. Place the duck in a roasting pan lined with enough foil to enclose the bird. Place the bird breast side down on the foil in the roasting pan. Pour the juice mixture all over the bird, then stuff the pineapple, apples, and nuts into the cavity. Tuck the tail into the cavity and tie the legs together, if you like to make it look like a restaurant duck. This is not necessary to produce a good roast or smoked duck though, so if you don't have any cotton string, don't worry about it.
Add 1 cup water to the roasting pan. Do not pour it on the duck. Just pour it to one side of the duck.
Wrap the foil over the duck, completely enclosing it. Jab a meat thermometer into the duck at the meatiest part you can feel through the foil. Cover the roasting pan if you have one with a lid. Place in a 325 degree oven for an hour to an hour and a half. Check the thermometer every 30 minutes. The duck should be at a temperature between 160 and 190 when it is done. Cooking duck at higher temperatures tends to dry the meat and burn the skin, especially at the wing tips, but with all the juices in the pan, higher temperatures are not nearly so damaging. You should be able to pull out a perfectly roasted, tender, beautiful duck. If the skin is not brown enough, you can remove the duck from the oven and set the oven to broil on 500 degrees. Wait and let the oven heat up, then put the duck in for just under 1 minute. That should do the trick without doing damage.
