Sourdough Bread

Whilst I was researching ginger beer plants, I learned more about microbiology than I expected. A proper ginger beer plant is a symbiotic organism containing a yeast (saccharomyces pyriformis) and a bacteria species (brevibacterium vermiforme) living together in a mutually cooperative culture. That's pretty neat.

There are other symbiotic microorganisms which humans make use of. For example sourdough bread is made with a "starter" which contains wild yeasts and lactobacteria, instead of shop-bought yeast. Just like the ginger beer plant, you keep your starter and feed it so it grows. When it has doubled in size you can take part of it to leaven some bread. As well as making the bread rise, the starter gives the bread a unique tangy taste.

As far as I know, there is only one authentic ginger beer plant. But there are many sourdough starters, with different qualities. I am trying to get hold of a couple to compare them, but I may try to make my own from scratch later today. Watch this space.

What's Sprouting?

My sister, Steph, dropped off her two kids, TJ and Rebecca, here yesterday and then swanned off to Vienna with her husband for a long weekend. It's not too bad today because my three kids are still at school, but it's going to be crazy on Monday and Tuesday with five kids in the house between ages three and nine.

Ed took our lot to school, and I cleared up the prodigious mess five children had made between getting up and leaving the house at 8:20 whilst TJ and Becca watched a Bagpuss DVD. Then the kids helped me feed Ginger and Fred ("OK Becca, you put the sugar in and then give Fred a stir", made me laugh. If you don't get it, try saying it out loud. And remember I have a slight Liverpool accent).

Then they sowed some cress seeds on kitchen paper, and made some bean sprouts. Becca chose a combination of fenugreek, black eyed peas and mung beans. TJ chose alfalfa, soya beans and green lentils. They spooned their beans into a glass and poured water over them. Then we put them on the windowsill to soak. Tomorrow we'll strain off the water and put them in the sprouter, and by the time their mummy and daddy return they should have a crop of bean sprouts.

Now they're eating yogurt for a mid-morning snack and I'm drinking reheated coffee I didn't have time to finish at breakfast and updating my blog. Expect my posting frequency to go down a little for the next few days. I've got my hands rather full.

I've Got A Real Ginger Beer Plant

I think I mentioned that the ginger beer plant I made wasn't a real ginger beer plant after all. The real deal is a complex symbiotic organism made up of a yeast and a bacillus (and a bunch of other microorganisms) all living together in a culture. You can't make one, any more than you can make a radish from scratch. You have to get a radish seed from someone who grew radishes themselves. And you have to get a ginger beer plant from someone who already has one.

Well mine arrived in the post this morning, sent by a lovely man in Ulster who I contacted via the internet. When it arrived in a ziploc bag inside a jiffy bag, it looked like pale yellow beads of jelly. It smelled fresh and slightly gingery. I made it up according to his instructions, by mixing it with water, sugar and ginger in a loosely-capped coffee jar. Since my yeast culture ginger beer plant is called Ginger, I have named this one Fred.

I will let you know how Fred progresses. I can't wait to make him into ginger beer, and I'm keen to compare ginger beer made this way, with the yeast culture I already have.

Real Ginger Beer Plant

I've lost the cable that connects the camera to the computer again, so I can't show you the cute pictures of the kids drinking ginger beer. They loved it, and I had to ration them or they would have drunk the whole lot at once.

Whilst surfing the web looking for ginger beer links, I found something very surprising. Apparently I haven't made a ginger beer plant at all. What I've made is a ginger beer yeast culture. It's very nice, but it's not the real deal.

The authentic traditional ginger beer plant (pictured) is a gelatinous symbiotic organism consisting of a yeast and a bacillus. You can't just make one, you have to get it from someone who already has one. Where did the first one come from? And who figured out that you could use it to make ginger beer?

I find myself fascinated by this weird compound organism that can make delicious spicy drinks. It's like the bit in the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy where someone says that the babel fish (which can translate any language if you drop it in your ear) is proof of God, because how could anything so fantastically useful have evolved by accident? Or the Eddie Izzard sketch where he expresses amazement that bees make honey. He says "Do earwigs make chutney? Do spiders make gravy?".

I'm trying to get my hands on an authentic ginger beer plant, so I can compare the ginger beer made that way with the yeast culture method.

Ginger Beer Plant

Meet Ginger, the ginger beer plant.

We made her by adding half an ounce of baking yeast to 3/4 pint of warm water, 2 tsps sugar and 2 tsps ground ginger in a roomy bowl. Then we covered her with a clean cloth. See how much she had grown half an hour later.

We'll feed her every day for a week with a teaspoonful of sugar and a teaspoonful of ground ginger, and keep her warm and covered.

After a week, we'll strain her and add the liquid to 24oz of sugar, 2 pints of water and the juice of 2 lemons. Then we'll add 5 more pints of water and mix well. Then we'll bottle her in clean screw top bottles and store her in a cool place.

I'm pretty sure this was mum's ginger beer technique. I got it from Marguerite Patten's book 500 Recipes for Home-Made Wines and Drinks, which mum had. And I remember helping mum make and feed her ginger beer plants. The "beer" is only weakly alcoholic - the main point of the yeast is to make it fizzy and extract the flavour, not to make alcohol - so this drink is perfectly suitable for children. I think there's a way of dividing the plant at the end so you make a batch of ginger beer and keep the plant going for the next batch. I need to do a bit of research and find out how to do that, because it isn't mentioned in the book.

I'll keep you posted about Ginger's progress. Watch this space.

Soft Cheese

I mentioned that you can make soft cheese out of yogurt. It's ridiculously easy. You can use skimmed milk to make a low-fat version, or gold-top to make an extra-creamy version, and of course it can be organic if you like. If you use goat's milk it will be goat's cheese.

You can also have fun adding herbs, garlic, or any other flavourings you like. Lots of freshly ground black pepper is nice (I really mean lots and lots so you get a distinct hot peppery taste), or shredded smoked salmon. Chives or finely sliced spring onions are also good. I've never tried it with little shrimps, but you can buy cottage cheese with shrimps so I'm sure it would work.

Yogurt Soft Cheese

Line a colander with a clean non-fluffy cloth and pour in a pint of home-made plain yogurt mixed with two teaspoons of ground sea salt. Fold the cloth over the top and put something heavy on top - I use a cast-iron pan full of water. You want to squeeze all the whey out of the yogurt. Leave it overnight on the draining board, then wring the yogurt in the cloth. Clear liquid will come out. When thick white creamy bits start coming through the holes in the cloth you know you have wrung enough. Scrape the thick yogurt cheese off the cloth into a container. Now you can add any flavourings you want, and keep it in the fridge.

Use it just as you would use any soft cheese such as Philadelphia. I like it spread on crackers with a slice of tomato or cucumber.

High culture

The organic veg box gets delivered each Thursday, so on Thursday nights I use up all the week-old veggies that are still in the fridge. Stir fries, soups and casseroles are all good ways of using up assorted veg, but last night we had a veggie curry, with naan bread and popadums, couscous and salad.

I wanted to make a courgette raita as well, but discovered we'd almost run out of yogurt, so today I made some more. Like bean-sprouts, I've been making my own yogurt for years. It's easy and it's cheaper than buying the stuff. It's also satisfying and fun to make things.

You boil a pint or so of milk (skimmed will work just as well as full-fat or anything in between), then cool it to blood temperature, which is a bit hotter than you think. Then you stir in a tablespoon of live yogurt. I use the last bit of the old batch unless it fails or goes mouldy, in which case I buy a small pot at the health food shop. Then you need to keep it warm for a few hours. I have a yogurt maker that is a sort of wide-necked thermos flask, and another type that is more like an electric incubator. I have to say the incubator type is more reliable.

After a few hours (or overnight) you'll have thickened plain yogurt. You'll want to chill it because warm yogurt is kind of yukky. You can add syrup and fruit to make it more like shop-bought fruit yogurt. I like it with sliced banana and maple syrup. Or you can use it for cooking, for salad dressings, smoothies or frozen yogurt and even make a kind of soft cheese. I'll talk about that in a future post.

One of these days I will make yogurt with milk from my own cow or goat. I'm looking forward to that.

Courgette Raita

Grate a couple of courgettes, mix with a teaspoon of ground sea salt then put them in a colander and leave them to drain for an hour or so. Squeeze any remaining liquid out of the courgettes with clean hands, then mix them with about a half pint of home-made plain yogurt. Heat 1 tsp black onion seeds in a dry frying pan and keep them moving until they start to pop, then quickly tip them onto the yogurt/courgette mixture. Add freshly ground black pepper, and a crushed clove of garlic, and more salt if necessary. Stir well and refrigerate until needed. Serve with crudites and mini popadoms as a dip, or as a side dish with an Indian meal. It is excellent for cooling your mouth when eating very spicy dishes.