breakfast salad

OK, now that's ART ↑.

Salsa, if you like. NAB, 8th in a series, devoid of grain and that makes me a little bit sad because I like things made of grain.

These are the components of guacamole assembled as a salad. The avocado is coated with lime and dusted with coriander, salt, and pepper. The tomato is gently crushed to release water and is treated separately with diced chipotle peppers in adobo. It's very hot. White onion. Variety baby salad greens marketed as separate little heads. They're adorable.

Finely diced, this was like eating a bowl of guacamole without the chips. It got to be a little much there near the end. Next time I'm going to roughly chop the vegetables to chunks, how I prefer them, and consider another dressing, possibly flavored mayonnaise or another type of vinaigrette. And croutons, of course. This wasn't one of my better ideas.

volunteer sourdough culture trials extended

From left to right:

* Trial 1: Same home milled whole-grain flour repeated with stove top heat rising from the oven temperature held at 95 ℉ / 35℃.

* Trial 1b: Same culture held in reserve from the first batch that was put into cold storage before the rest of the culture was mixed with refined white flour and subsequently failed. Also with heat rising from the stove.

* Trial 1B: Same flour without heat.

These trials were run with no concern for exactitude regarding time. All three ran for approximately 16 hours and were all fed additional flour but not water at 8 hours, more or less. (they were very wet at first, closer to dough at the end)

The first two trials were rinsed down the sink. Those were the two warmed with heat. After all of that, they didn't smell right, and they didn't act right. Had they behaved normally, they would have at least doubled or tripled in the jars, but they didn't. The trial without heat took much longer but looked better and smelled more pleasant. That jar hissed when opened, and that's a reassuring sign. The bubbles visible through the glass were what I was looking for. The heated ones never did hiss when opened, and that's a very bad sign, they didn't rise well, and the visible bubbles were disappointing.

So only one, the slow one cultivated at room temperature (74℉ / 23℃) was feed again to double its weight and (and approximate mass when stirred) with enough additional flour to create a sponge that is near dough, which will loosen as it proofs which produces alcohol and CO_2.

Another problem I encountered that might affect this present trial is that when I went back to Whole Foods to get more grain, they didn't have the original type. I bought 5 LBS of what they had because the guy who buys it told me they only keep one type at a time. This is different than before when I had a choice of types. The first type was hard red Winter wheat, this new kind is soft white Spring grain. They obviously originate from different fields at different locations within the country and therefore contain different strains of yeast and bacteria.

Incidentally, the guy I was talking to at WF was incredulous about the grain that he was buying containing yeast and bacteria. I had to put down my hoofie and say, "Well, it does. I have three jars of sourdough culture proving it right now." He appeared delighted to learn that, at least a broad grin formed on his face. I find the employees at WF are all like that -- the fromagiers, the butchers, the greengrocers are all very engaging people. This guy told me if I really wanted that specific type of grain he could contact the other WF around town, or better yet, he could order it by the 50LB bag and get two discounts on top of that along with a much broader range of specific grain types. Now, that's service!

volunteer culture failure

Epic fail. Thing wot I made then didn't eat. Bleh.



You know what they say: if you fall of your horse then pick yourself up, dust yourself off, shoot that stupid-ass horse in the head and get yourself another one. Or something. I was never any good at axioms.

For the life of me, I do not understand why this culture rejected so thoroughly the refined white flour. That's the point where it all went downhill, and this confounds me greatly. I have suffered a crushing defeat, and you know what this demands don't you? More experiments, that's what.

This culture worked astonishingly well starting off with the assistance of added heat, which assisted only to the point of a regular hot summer day, or perhaps a regular day on the Serengeti or maybe Death Valley, and nothing beyond. 95℉ / 35℃ max, and that's hardly very hot. It even did surprisingly well at the next stage at room temperature, which here right now averages 75℉ / 24℃. It grew to three times it's starting height as observed through the jar at a much faster pace than ordinary cultures at that lower temperature, although more slowly than with the added heat. But then, when the refined white flour was added, which should have made things even easier, faster, and more mind-blowingly virile, the whole thing went flat. Flat as clay and just as dead. Nothing, and I mean nothing could coax the sponge to activity, and that was most depressing. It smelled bad. It felt wrong. I didn't like it, and it didn't like me.

So I'm back to square one.

Actually, I'm back to square 1, square 1.b and square 1.B. I started three new trials simultaneously, we obsessed types are like that. Plus there's nobody around here to yell at me.

Experiment square 1 is starting over with flour from the same grain as before except milled the ordinary way instead of using the coffee grinder like before, and assisting the first stage with additional heat to 95℉ / 35℃ exactly as before.

Experiment 1.b is the exact same culture that was reserved from the first batch before it was fed refined flour and subsequently failed. This culture was chilled, as usual, and it was taken out and fed again at room temperature with more of the same whole wheat flour and water, and it did rejuvenate but not very well. It' is now being assisted with additional heat, just like before this all went so terribly bad.

Experiment 1.B is flour from the same grain, with water, activating at room temperature without the benefit of any assisting heat. I read in a book to do this and to give it 24 hours, so I thought, "eh, what the heck." It is activating, but it's doing so extremely slowly and unenthusiastically. So far, I'm not impressed.

So that's two trials with heat and one without assisting heat.

I'm not keeping precise records on these trials because I'm a careless and rather dull scientist and I doubt anybody else is interested in those details. And besides, if climatologists can get away with careless crap science with so much at stake then so can I.

To review, these were the steps that led to this disastrous waste, from grinding the grain to start the culture in the coffee grinder through additional feeding at room temperature with flour from that same grain milled the customary way, to final feeding with refined white flour that led to collapse. Not shown, the fermented sponge worked into loaves and final rising, to tell the truth, there wasn't much to show except enervated lifeless sponge that could hardly be termed dough and wasn't worth the garbage bag it was put in.

eggs and vegetables with wine sauce

NAB, 7th in a series. You'll notice immediately what could be stir-fried vegetables substituting for a giant pile of filler starch. Grain is present sparingly and judiciously in the form of naturally leavened whole-wheat bread, just a small portion mind you, a little of this dense bread goes a long way. Unless you're a teenage male, in which case a single sandwich made of meat packed between an entire loaf cut lengthwise might hold you off between real meals.

The sauce is red wine with butter and it's surprisingly good on the vegetables.

oatmeal, apple, blueberries, pecans

New American Breakfast, sixth in a series, where new is quite old indeed, where American is Scottish, and where breakfast occurs late in the afternoon because sometimes other things come up. The point is oats are a nice slowly digested grain and do not rapidly convert to sugars which are then converted to body fat.

* steel-cut oatmeal from the bulk bins at Whole Foods. Cut because they cook a little faster but not rolled because those are flattened, cut and steamed to become more like instant and something is lot in the processing. Of course whole groats are best of all but they take too long to suit me because I want oatmeal NOW! It's a bit bewildering faced with all those choices and all those bins so you should know what you want in advance so that you don't look like a dummkompf when you get there. Kidding. The people there are exceedingly helpful.

* 3/4 cup steel-cut oatmeal
* 1.25 cup water
* 1/2 large Granny Smith apple cut into wedges.
* handful of pecans

* 1/2 handful raisins
* handful of blueberries
* I got big hands
* butter
* sprinkle brown sugar

* cinnamon
* dash salt
* heavy cream

⚡⚡ ZAP ⚡⚡ Five minutes in microwave. Careful, it tends to foam up and spill over. Ask me how I know.

apple and cheese with balsamic snack

Pomme et fromage avec du vinaigre balsamique âgé. ← That there's French don'tchaknow.

I know this little kid that likes candy so tart it'll crinkle your face in. It's weird. The one time I ever saw him have a really good time laughing like a kid is when he gave me some of his candy just to watch the change of my visage to extreme discomfort. These apples remind me of that. Then he popped one in his own mouth to prove he can endure it.

pork chop breakfast, green beans, applesauce

Strange look'n breakfast, in'nit? New American Breakfast, sixth in a series, extolling the virtue of vegetables and avoiding an over reliance on grain.

Pork loins fried and pressure cooked to tenderness earlier, like probably even a week ago, and held in the refrigerator.

Green beans steamed.

Applesauce -- one large Granny Smith (not recommended by applesauce makers -- too tart) peeled, chipped into pot, cooked on low until tender, with butter, cinnamon, processed with Grand Marnier because it was just sitting there and I thought, "Eh, what the heck."

I have a whole bag of limes on the counter, sort of in the way actually, but for some strange reason, and I do not understand this so I cannot explain the utterly contemptible laziness, but I was completely resistant to simply cutting one and squeezing it over the beans. Then the whole time I was eating it I was sitting there thinking, "This would be a lot better with lime," while they were still there available for cutting and squeezing. I guess I subconsciously figured the Granny Smith was tart enough.

Water instead of coffee because my abject laziness extended even to making coffee, although it sounds pretty good right now.