In My Kitchen | November 2015

Sourdough loaves are a weekly occurrence in my kitchen. This one was smaller than my usual bake, as I made savoury scrolls at the same time and didn't have enough flour for both. I could have gone and ground more spelt, but I couldn't be bothered. With my love of baking, sometimes I think it is definitely a good thing that I grind my own flour, as if I didn't have that to stop me in my tracks I dread to think of how much flour I would buy, and how much bread there would be in the house!

Speaking of sourdough, I made a double batch of sourdough cinnamon scrolls during the week. They turned out especially nice and I have been enjoying one every morning with my first cup of tea. I blogged the recipe here if you'd like to make some too.

Baking Tips for Spelt & Whole Wheat Baking

Spelt Butter Cake made with homegrown/made cultured butter & dusted with rapadura & cinnamon & decorated with edible flowers and leaves 

 Making the switch from using white flour (either bleached or unbleached) can be tricky.

Whole grain flours can be harder to work with in the beginning. When we swapped from using "normal" flour to grinding our wheat ourselves I thought I wouldn't be able to make a loaf of sandwich bread, a cake that didn't crumble or cook a crepe ever again.

I looked for tips and advice but had trouble finding it as we were a year or two ahead of the whole food movement and information on baking with alternative ingredients was limited.

We've been grinding our own flour for about 5 years now, and I can tell you that cooking a whole batch of crepes is a breeze and that spelt makes the best tasting, fluffiest pancakes you've ever had.

Home Grown

It's a grey wet winter's day here. It' been like this, off and on, for the last few weeks. A mixture of cold winds, damp days and some actual rain. 

I'm supposed to be planting veggie seeds, planning a tea party menu, finishing my Pixie Bonnet pattern, photographing new stock, waking up my sourdough starter, bathing a dog (or two), picking veggies for dinner, skimming thick cream off the top of milk and a heap of other things. 

But instead I'm taking a minute here to share some of the home grown happenings in my kitchen for Celia's monthly kitchen tour.

In My (Home Dairy) Kitchen ~ June 2015

In My Kitchen | April 2015

A quick peak into a few of the happenings of my kitchen for the month of April. 

Joining Celia of Fig Jam & Lime Cordial for a look at kitchens all around the globe.

In My Kitchen ~ March 2015

I wasn't going to write an In My Kitchen post this month, because despite the fact interesting food-things have been happening here, I seem to have been very slack at capturing them with the camera. Actually, to rephrase that, most things have been made late afternoon or for dinner, and I'm reluctant to photograph things under fluro lighting at night, the result just isn't pleasing..

Here & Now

Summer Gardening + Harvest

Of Cheddar & Pompoms

In My Kitchen ~ January 2015

2015. I am being completely honest here when I say that the fact it is a New Year hasn't hit me yet. I just can't believe that not only are we in a new year, we're back at the start of January, and thus heading into mid summer. The speed at which the year flys is actually easier to follow, I find, when I look at it in four seasons, rather than twelve months. I don't know why, but somehow it makes me feel better about it. I'm trying not to hold onto 2014, trying to embrace the new year that lies before us. I guess maybe in a few days it might sink in. Right now it just feels a little strange though.

Anyway, my very first post for the year is one filled with food. Food that is, or has been in the past week, in my kitchen. I do hope you enjoy.

Recipe: Baked Spelt Doughnuts

Ever since hearing about baked doughnuts I have been wanting to try them. I make fried doughnuts probably once or twice a year, if we're lucky, so I didn't feel the need to bake them due to an over consumption of fried food. I just wanted to try it. And last weekend I did just that.

Pepato

On Milking & Cheese Making

 It's so new all this milking business. We've had our ups and downs, had a few challenges we've had to overcome and (inevitably) lost a few buckets of milk along the way. Since becoming the owner of a lactating milking cow and learning to milk by hand, I have found myself on one or two occasions literally crying over spilt milk.

In My Kitchen ~ December 2014

I made my first ever sourdough loaf the other day. I've been making yeasted bread for years, and now I've began what will hopefully be a long sourdough baking journey. I used City Hippy Farm Girl's starter & basic sourdough recipes. My loaf was made on 100% Spelt though, and in the starter I swapped the white flour for spelt too. I was really happy with how my loaf turned out. I loved both the process of making the starter and the loaf itself, and of course the taste too!

Here & Now

Loving...wood fires at night (and sometimes even in the day)

Eating...frozen mango cheesecake (homemade, of course) 

Drinking...tea! It's always tea :-)

Wearing...my new cape from Pretty Parcel & gloves from Myer

Feeling...worn out

Wanting...sunshine

Thinking...how lucky we are to be able to grow our own eggs and some of our meat and veggies

Dreaming...of sheep

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Looking at the first photo - and the others with a little sunshine in them - you probably wonder while I wrote that I am wanting some sunshine. Those photos were snapped on the only afternoon in weeks were we've had a patch of sun...I say patch because I mean about an hour or two.

The constant drizzle does make it colder, though, and since I actually love a cold winter I really shouldn't complain.

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I'd love to know what's been happening in your Here & Now, either through the comments or maybe even a blog post of your own? 

I realised my blog was started to look a bit like a recipe blog so before I share any more I thought I'd better get a post about something else up....

Have a lovely weekend!

Sarah x

In My Kitchen ~ June 2014

There is always heaps going on in our kitchen, as we grind our own flour, grow our own meat (aside form pork, which we are lucky enough to be able to purchase from a local free range pastured pig farm) and make almost everything from scratch. Lately I've been determined to capture it more often and share more of our kitchen happenings here, so I couldn't think of a better way than to join Celia and a host of other bloggers in the monthly kitchen tour at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Make sure you pop over and enjoy a peek into everyone else's kitchen too.

In my kitchen is....

A large batch of meat pies cooling. Made with our organically grown home-beef and shop bought puff pastry. I wrote mostly from scratch above as we still purchase some things, such as this pastry. I'm not brave enough to attempt making puff pastry, especially with home ground flour! 

This time around we made about 32 individual pies. Out of this we had dinner and lunch the next days, still leaving lots to go into the freezer. Now when we're short of time one evening all that has to happen is heat up some pies in the oven and steam some greens to go with it!

A friend gave some chillies to Mum and she made a beautiful sauce from them. It tastes so good! I plan on posting the recipe soon :-)

Baked beans with pork is a perfect easy dinner on a cold night. It tastes even better enjoyed in front of the fire! 

It's so nice to be able to eat food from our own garden again! We've been enjoying lettuce for a while now but we got to harvest the first of the winter vege the other night. It was simply steamed with a little butter and it was oh-so-yummy!

Killed that morning, into the pan that evening. Poultry is a treat in our house, and one that is always relished with delight. This particular night we crumbed the breast and had it with the steamed greens above and some mashed potatoes. The rest of the meat is in the freezer.

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What's been happening in your kitchen lately? Are you an all-the-time baker or a weekender?
Hope you're having a good Sunday!

Sarah x