Rolling in Dough - Day 3

So far, all three of my "test" sourdough starters are bubbling along merrily. Even the potato water wild yeast version is humming right along. 

In the photo below, despite how it looks, there is no mold growing on the tops of the starters. Since they were loosely covered with tea towels, a dried crust formed on the tops. The crust on the rye starter was thick, so I scraped it off and threw it away.

Day 3 is feeding day. I added 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water to each of the starters, then gave them a good stirring. An hour later, all three were bubbling up vigorously.

Rye starter 

Unbleached flour

Potato water wild yeast

The starters will rest and grow on the kitchen counter for another three days before it's time to feed them again. 

When they are a week old, it'll be time to try using them. With three big bowls of starter, I'll be eating sourdough everything...biscuits, bread, pancakes, donuts.

Who wants to come help with taste-testing?

New Uses for Old Things

I have a new favorite store. It's called Repurposed Materials and is located in Denver. They deal in products that are cast-offs or waste from industry.  For example, old mining tires which buyers have repurposed as stock tanks...

or old ski lift cable this customer repurposed as handrails. A very elegant repurposing, I must say!

Their warehouse is an awesome place to find stuff you never knew you needed for projects you didn't know were on your list of things to do!  

They have old logging chains, fire hose, roofing membrane, huge lengths of conveyor belting, reclaimed snow fence wood, rubber snow plow edging, street sweeper brushes, pool covers, 275-gal beverage totes....it was something to see!  

It was a good thing I was in a hurry because I could have wandered around in there for quite a while...with my project gears whirring madly. I really would like to use the reclaimed snow fence wood to make a board fence for the property. The boards are pressure treated, in good condition and are 2"x 6" x 8'. They are sold in bunks of 49 boards. Prices average $300 for a bunk. Not a bad price at all!

I went there for a specific item...old vinyl billboards to use as tarps for my big bales of hay.  The billboards are "made of UV-protected and waterproof vinyl layers that sandwich between them a layer of rip-stop nylon scrim to keep them from tearing". 

Regular tarps won't last long in this climate. These vinyl billboards are heavy-duty and should provide years of service protecting my hay from the elements. 

The last snow storm caught me before I was ready with my billboard, so I covered the hay the best I could with what I had.

Repurposed Materials had 14' x 24' billboards, which are just about the perfect size. They are heavy, weighing perhaps 40 pounds each, and are awkward to handle, especially if you try to do this alone.

My billboard's first job was advertising Kawasaki Mules. The people at Repurposed Materials ask that you keep the printed side down when using the billboards. 

At 14 feet across, it was just enough to fully cover both sides of the hay. The far end is completely covered, too. Just the "working" end is open. I'll fold back the billboard as I use the hay. 

 I need to drag a few more old boards and/or posts up from the barn to use to hold down the sides and then I'm good to go! 

My next order of four of these 1,000 pound bales of hay should be arriving in a couple of weeks. I have another billboard at the ready for them. I wonder what it advertised?

Inside the Hoop House

Today I opened the hoop house for the first time since October 24th when I battened down the hatches for the snow storm. The temperatures have been warming up steadily, with today's high in the low 60's.

Happily, everything inside the hoop house is fine. Even better, the last batch of seeds I planted have begun to sprout!

Here's the spinach....

...and the new spinach sprouts.

Here is the Swiss Chard...

...and the new sprouts.

The collards and new sprouts.

The lettuce with new sprouts just barely visible on the left.

I have an idea for how to add vertical supports to the hoops for added stability and ability to bear weight.  The next storm could bring snow we measure in feet, so I have to be ready.

I'm still playing around with it, but will post photos soon.

Rolling in Dough

For the vast majority of the history of baking risen bread, sourdough was the leavening agent. Only recently did we begin using commercial yeast as a time saver. "Modern" home bakers don't seem to have the interest or time commitment to nurturing a sourdough starter.

There's something about living on a historic homestead that makes me want to revert to the "old" ways of doing things. I'm also very curious about how well sourdough will work at high altitude (about 6,800 ft).

I was very tempted to put this post in the "livestock" category, since yeast is a live organism.  Sourdough also contains lactobacilli. The lactobacilli produce lactic acid, which gives it the classic sour flavor.

The best way to begin with sourdough is to get a good, proven starter. Some are available commercially from places like King Arthur Flour. You can beg a starter from a friend. One starter has been kept going since 1847 by Carl Griffith and his friends. You can get some of his historic starter for the cost of a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

While I'm waiting for my Carl Griffith starter to arrive, I am experimenting with three I've begun myself. Two use commercial yeast; one with rye flour and one with unbleached all purpose flour. The third uses potato water and wild yeast. Yup...wrangling wild yeast right in my kitchen. YeeHaw!

Here are the two commercial yeast versions.  Both consist of 2 cups of the flour, 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast and 2 cups of water. Why did I choose these two flours and this particular combination? If you do an internet search on sourdough starter, you will find many different recipes. I just picked a couple to try out. No method or special reasons.

It took less than an hour for it to completely get away from me. The unbleached flour version (on the left) was actually moving like it was breathing as it bubbled. Good reminder that we are dealing with living organisms here!

I've read that you should avoid using anything metal (bowls or spoons, for example) when working with starter. Something in the metal interferes with the yeast and bacteria. Here are the two starters which are now in my largest glass containers. Let's see if they crawl out of these!

For the wild yeast starter, it begins with boiled potatoes. Boil them in their skins, until they are soft and falling apart.

Remove the skins, then mash the potatoes up. Let them cool for about an hour then add enough water to make 2 cups. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of flour. Put this into a big glass or ceramic bowl/crock and beat it by hand until it looks like pancake batter.

How does yeast and lactobacillis grow in this starter? It's possible that wild yeast spores that are in the air will land in my bowl of starter (rather than say, on my coffee table). It's much more likely that there are already yeast and lactobacilli in the flour and potatoes. Given the right environment and food, they'll grow. Knowing me, it's equally likely that nothing will happen and this will be a non-starter. Time will tell.

All three of my test starters will live and grow on the counter for the next three days. Stay tuned for updates on how they're doing.

The Hoop House Survived the Snow...just barely

Yesterday's storm began with rain and even some hail. It quickly changed over to sleet and then to heavy, wet snow. We even had some 'thunder snow'!

This morning, there was three to four inches of snow on the ground. It was beautiful.

Our horses fared quite well and were in a playful mood.

The big news is that the hoop house survived. Amazingly! I had foolishly hoped the pitch of the hoop would be steep enough that snow would slide right off. It didn't. 

The PVC pipes bent, but didn't break. Once I brushed off the snow and big pools of heavy slush, the hoops rebounded.

After about an hour, they were back in a 'hoopish' shape again.

It's been snowing again this afternoon. Since the temperature is below freezing, the snow is light and dry this time. So far, the hoop house is shedding the snow, but I'm keeping a close eye on it. The forecast is for another 5"-8" of snow tonight, so I will have to continue to monitor the situation closely.

As is typical for Colorado weather, temperatures will rebound into the 60's over the next four days. Once it warms up, I will add some internal vertical braces for the hoops. It's too cold to open the hoops up now. Hopefully, it'll hang in there for a few more days!

It might help keep snow from building up if I stretch the plastic more tightly over the hoops, too. I may add a couple of purlins for extra stability.

Oh, I did sneak a peek into the house. It was considerably warmer in there than outside. I was impressed at the temperature difference. Maybe I'll get a remote sensor thermometer so I can see just how much warmer it is in there.

Uncle Carl and the Tomato Plants

Back in the mid-70's when I was a kid, I wanted to plant a garden in the back yard. I did not receive parental approval for the project, though. I don't remember why the answer was no. My budding green thumb was apparently itching to grow and I had no outlet for the urge.

My Uncle Carl, who lived up the street, came to my rescue with a half dozen tomato plants complete with stakes and fencing to keep the rabbits out.  At the time, I didn't even like to eat tomatoes, but I was thrilled with the prospect of growing them anyway! Some sort of parental negotiations must have happened, because I was given a bit of ground under the kitchen window for my garden. Yay!

It's funny, the things you remember. I have a vivid memory of Uncle Carl teaching me how to pinch off the suckers so that the plant grows stronger and produces more tomatoes. But I don't remember who dug up the ground and helped me put the tomato plants in. 

I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank Uncle Carl for giving me my first garden! And to thank my parents for giving in and letting me grow something. It's been thirty years, but I will always remember those tomato plants....

Two Tons

It's getting very hard to find quality hay. The drought has caused prices to skyrocket, too. I'm seeing a lot of people selling crappy hay at jaw-dropping prices. 

Our horses get straight Timothy grass hay. It's more expensive than some other varieties, but they like it and seem to be doing very well on it. Over the course of a year, they will eat a total of ten tons of hay. 

In late August, I had five tons of the small, 50-pound bales of hay brought in and stacked in the barn.

That's 200 bales and it filled my hay room. 

Today, I had another two tons brought in. This time, I went with the 1,000 pound bales. They're on pallets and will be covered with tarps for protection from weather and the deer.

The supplier gets these big bales in by the semi-truck load from Alberta, Canada. It's very nice hay and very popular with local horse owners. Customers are limited to four bales per shipment so that everyone gets at least some of the hay they need. I'm on the list for another four bales when the next shipment comes in. 

Batten Down the Hatches

The first real winter storm is knocking on our door today. The prediction is for several inches of snow by morning.  When I took this photo, it was sunny and the clouds were just beginning to roll in over the mountains. In the two hours since then, the temps have dropped 20 degrees, the clouds have socked us in completely and it's spitting sleet. 

I took advantage of the calm before the storm to secure the garden.  The garlic has begun to sprout.

It'll be just fine until spring if it's mulched heavily. Here's the garlic bed with about six inches of pine needles for mulch. My hoop house is in the background.

Inside the hoop house, the little plants are doing well. 

Spinach...

Chard...

Collards...

And lettuce.

Temperatures will be in the teens the next few nights, so I've placed a floating row cover over the plants inside the hoop house to give them another layer of protection. The row cover is made out of a thin woven fabric. It looks like the stuff they use as backing on box springs for a bed.

The photo is looking down the inside of the hoop house with the floating row cover over the plants.

These next few days will be a test for how well this hoop house protects the plants. I'm very curious about what it'll be like when I wake up in the morning.

Duck!

I haven't cooked a lot of ducks before. I like the taste of duck, especially the crispy skin, which is horrible for your arteries but tastes amazing.

There's a lot more fat on a duck than on a comparably-sized chicken. The recipes I've tried have always turned out deliciously crispy skin but the meat is very greasy. Until now.

Ina Garten's recipe for Roast Duck has an unusual twist to the preparation. You poach the duck before roasting. The poaching allows a lot of the fat to cook out before you roast it.(I copied the recipe in at the bottom of this post.)

I was blessed with this duck, which weighed in at about 4 1/2 lbs. Ina's recipe calls for two, so I just halved the recipe. The skin and fat on the plate is what I trimmed off.

If you plan to eat the roasted skin, you'll want to use needle nose pliers or tweezers to remove any pin feathers that are left in the skin.

Here it is, soaking in the hot tub...err, I mean in the stockpot.  I put the giblets, extra fat and skin and the neck into the poaching broth. I'll use this broth later to make soup with the duck bones. 

After I took the photo, I squashed it down so it was completely covered by broth.

Forty-five minutes later...

After just 30 minutes in a 500 degree oven the duck was golden brown and done all the way through.

It would be good to make this on a day when you can open a window for ventilation. There will be smoke while it's roasting.

There was still quite a bit of fat in the pan, but the meat wasn't greasy at all. This was the first time I made duck for G.W. and he liked it. 

This duck fed the two of us with virtually nothing leftover. I'll use the bones and the poaching broth for soup. 

Raising ducks for meat is supposed to be easier than raising chickens for the same purpose. Ducks grow faster and are ready for slaughter in just 7 weeks. I'm giving serious thought to raising a few in the spring to see how it goes.

Roast Duck

Ingredients

·         2 (5 to 5 1/2 pounds each) ducks, innards and wing tips removed

·         6 quarts chicken broth

·         Kosher salt

·         1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Unwrap the ducks and allow them to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. With a fork, prick the skin without piercing the meat. This will allow the fat to drain off while the ducks cook.

Meanwhile, in a very large stock pot which can hold the 2 ducks, heat the chicken broth with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt until it boils. Add the ducks very carefully and bring the stock back to a boil. If there isn't enough stock to cover the ducks, add the hottest tap water to cover. If the ducks float to the top, place a plate on top to keep them immersed. When the stock comes back to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the ducks in the stock for 45 minutes.

When the ducks are finished simmering, skim off enough duck fat from the top of the stock to pour a film on the bottom of a 14 by 18 by 3-inch roasting pan. This will keep the ducks from sticking when theyroast. Carefully take the ducks out of the stock, holding them over the pot to drain. Place them in the roasting pan, pat the skin dry with paper towels, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. If you have time, allow the ducks to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the skin to dry.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. (Be sure your oven is very clean or it will smoke!) Roast the ducks for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to rest, covered with aluminum foil, for 20 minutes. Serve warm

The Hoop House Survived the Wind Storm

Yesterday, we experienced howling winds of 40-50 mph and the hoop house didn't blow away. I did learn to keep it closed up when the wind is blowing hard, though. I'd opened the south side (the long side) to let in some light and air. But that allowed the wind to push out on the opposite side, which popped the binder clips off the hoops, so then the plastic was blowing loose in the wind.

Luckily, I caught it before the plastic was completely loose. Good to experience winds like this while it's still mild. Had this happened in the dead of winter, I'd have lost the plants to the cold.

So, as long as it's closed up and the sides are anchored down, it does well in the wind.

Even when it's closed, there's quite a bit of light getting through to the plants. I'm guessing maybe 80% ? And it's much warmer in there, too. This crappy photo was taken by poking the camera through the plastic at one one end so I could try to show how bright it is inside.

The crops are doing well. Nighttime temperatures have gone as low as 21 degrees but these tender little seedlings haven't been frost bitten.

The lettuce (below)...

 ...and the spinach (below) are doing the best.

 I planted more of all four things about a week ago. I'm curious to see how long they take to sprout now that it's colder and the days are shorter.