Homemade Yeast

Most of the time when I make bread I use purchased yeast. But, because bread is an essential part of our diet, I wondered years ago what I would do if I couldn't buy yeast. (Yes, I was even thinking of things like that back then. :-}) A long time ago I was looking through someone's old German cookbook and came across a recipe for homemade yeast. I was very interested and copied the recipe down even though I was disappointed to find at the end you added the mixture to yeast you already had going. I wanted to know how to start from the beginning and felt it must be very difficult and mysterious. Several years later I read an article that mentioned capturing yeast from the air. Once again, I thought it must be very complicated but definitely wanted to learn more. After taking the time to learn more, I found that it wasn't difficult or mysterious at all! It can be as simple as putting equal parts of flour and water in a bowl, loosely covering it, and feeding it each day for a week.
If you already bake bread you will have plenty of wild yeast in your kitchen to capture. If not, you can crush unsprayed and unwashed grapes in cheesecloth and add that to your flour and water mixture. Grapes have a lot of yeast on them. Or, you can use whole rye flour for your mixture because it too has a lot of the naturally occuring yeast. (If you do one of those two things go ahead and cover your mixture well because you won't have to capture any from the air and won't have the skin form on top that you do when it is covered loosely.)
You will also have friendly bacteria called lactobaccili in your starter. They break down the simple sugars in the flour and that is what the yeast feed on. (That's why you have to feed your starter at least once a day, so there is new food for them. If there is little or no food it affects them just like it would us!) When the yeast feed on the sugar they produce carbon dioxide bubbles that stretch the gluten and that raises the dough. Pretty great, huh? The lactobaccili produce acids which give it flavor. There are many strains of wild yeast and bacteria that grow around the world so flavors vary. San Francisco is known for a very sour flavor. In other areas the taste is milder.
Some sourdough starter recipes call for adding a little commercial yeast. This isn't a good idea because the commercial yeast will compete with the wild. Another factor is that almost all of the lactic acid is gone in the commercial variety so you won't get the flavor. Some things just can't be rushed. Also, some say to add a little sweetener to the mix but this also isn't a good idea. You will have an imbalance of the yeast and bacteria and it isn't necessary.
(I read that goldminers used to sleep with their starters next to their bodies to keep the starter warm. Sounds like mighty important stuff!)
You can preserve the starter by pouring a thin layer out on parchment paper and letting it dry for a few days. Then peel it off and store it in a tightly sealed container. When you want to get it going again, dissolve the pieces in water and feed it for a week.
In case you're interested, here is the recipe that I copied so long ago for homemade yeast:
Add 4 potatoes to 2 quarts water in kettle. Add a handful of hops that have been tied up in a bag. Cook until potatoes are done. Remove bag, squeeze dry, and throw away what is left in bag. Put the squeezed juice in with the potatoes. Remove potatoes, mash, and return to kettle. Cool. Add 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup salt, and 1 cup old yeast (leftover from previous time). Let stand several hours and use.

Treadle Threshing Machine

Check out the great video about the treadle powered threshing machine sold by The Back To The Land Store at their blogsite: www.backtothelandstore.blogspot.com

The Yeast

From my own beginning breadmaking experiences years ago to those of the people that I've helped make bread over the years, one thing stood out more than any other when it came to problems. That was the yeast. The temperature of the liquids had to be just right. Too hot and you killed the yeast. Too cool and the yeast didn't activate. Or sometimes the yeast just wasn't good to begin with. All that work and all of those wasted ingredients made for some disappointment and frustration! (And lack of bread! :-[ ) After working with that type of yeast for years I was very happy to learn of a better yeast that didn't have such a temperament. SAF yeast (and another one that the name of escapes me right now) is a professional baking yeast that is so easy to use. This yeast will rise even of you use cool liquids. Of course, it will rise faster if the liquid is warm, but you don't have to worry about it. The dough rises a lot faster, too, because there are a lot more of the yeast cells. This is an instant yeast so it doesn't need proofing. You just stir it into your flour and then add the liquid.
Years ago this yeast was only sold in a few places but now it is easily found. ( I was going to put a picture of it here but for some reason it isn't working.) It is reasonably priced and will last a while.
When a recipe calls for a package of yeast I use one tablespoon of SAF yeast.

Psalm 104:15 "........and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."    

Small Farmer's Journal

If you've never read this magazine, you have missed out on a really good one.

Oven Rendering

                                     Beef fat baking.

                                           Straining.

                                            Cracklings.

                                           Strained fat.

                                        Hardened tallow.

I decided to render beef fat in the oven this time. When doing a large quantity last time, we cooked it in a large cast iron pot over a fire.
I cut the fat into small pieces instead of grinding it and was careful to keep any meat scraps out. After putting it in a roasting pan, the fat was heated at 225 degrees in the oven and stirred  around ever so often. When it looked like all of the fat had cooked out it was strained through a piece of muslin into a jar. Be careful to allow enough length in the cloth to be able to pick up the edges and squeeze all of the fat out without any bits spilling over into your jar. There is a lot of fat in the cracklin's! Get every drop you can out of there.
I originally planned to make soap with the tallow but used another soap recipe instead. After my neighbor said that she had heard McDonald's used to use tallow to fry their french fries years ago I thought I'd give it a try. Yep. You guessed it! Back to the potatoes.
I was a little skeptical because beef fat doesn't taste that good, but wanted to find out if it would be another use for something that you could produce on your own farm. I'm always up for that! I cut the potato into fries while a little tallow was heating in a saucepan and readied myself for the taste test. They were good! One more thing that you wouldn't have to buy.
Not only is tallow good for cooking and soapmaking, but you can use it for candles. I prefer beeswax for candles because it doesn't smoke and it smells great, but tallow is something you could use if need be. The easiest way would be a fat lamp.
And whereas, I might have used the cracklin's in cornbread or something if they were pork, because they were beef we fed them to some of the animals. And, oh, were those animals HAPPY!

What Are These?

                                                                      Hmmmmmm............            

                                                                  Finished product.

                                                                       The tool.
I had a craving for potato chips and  also had a bunch of fresh potatoes so I decided to fry some up. I've got to tell you. That big chip maker's chips had nothing on these. Wish I could show you the whole pan full but they were going as fast as I could make them! Three different flavors were made including RealSalt, Tony's creole seasonong, and Simply Organic all-seasons salt. I enjoyed the RealSalt ones the most, but they were all good.
This manual food processor is a blessing. It came with 5 cones for slicing and grating and I found it at an antique mall several years ago. You can purchase them new at places like Lehman's hardware but I have found three of them at antique malls and auctions. My daughter opted for buying a new one when she was visiting Lehman's a few years ago.
You'd be surprised at what you can do at home sometimes. Keeps you from spending money and from having to go somewhere. And you get the satisfaction of having done it yourself; not to mention: things are always tastier and better when made at home.
Hope your days at home are profitable and enjoyable.

Check Out This Video