Miracle Wheat

One of the staples of our diet has been hard red winter wheat flour from Richardson Farms. Joe Richardson shows up to the Sunset Valley farmers market and sells a variety of meats however recently (last year I think) he started harvesting and milling wheat on his farm. On January 30th we bought two 5 lb. bags for $10 bucks a pop and a bag of wheat berries as well. I’ve maybe got a pound and a half left and I think Sam has about the same. Here is the plethora of recipes we have been using to keep our carb count up.

Natural rise sourdough bread

Starter:

2 c. water

2 c. flour

Whip this up a bit and leave in a bowl with a loose plastic lid in a warm spot. Stir up the mix twice a day. It took about two and a half days to start seeing bubbles and there was a bit of a funk smell as well (I’ve been told its ok even though it smells nothing like sourdough). On day 4 I split the starter in half and gave one to Sam. One day later I fed mine some honey and the day after that I put it in my food processer and added a bunch of flour and mixed with the dough blade. I’ve never used that attachment before and it seemed a bit harsh for yeasted dough, however I hear its great for piecrusts. I let the dough ball rise for another day and a half, mostly because it seemed to have lost its rise ability. Today I was tire

d of waiting and threw a hunk of dough in a low temp oven. I thought it had totally failed but about an hour later I broke it open and it was real bread! The second batch I did was in a 350 oven for 30 min and then I bumped it up to 400 for another 30min. Not the prettiest loaf I have ever made but it goes great with cheddar and olive oil.

Griddlecakes

1 cup milk

2 tbsp honey

splash of vanilla

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 eggs

1 cups flour (I think)

Warm the milk on the stove without scalding and dissolve the honey in it. Pour in a bowl with oil, vanilla and eggs and mix well. Add the flour until you get a nice batter consistency. Cook up in your favorite pancake pan or pour a thin layer of batter in a cake pan and pop it in the oven. These are fairly dense but have a nice sweet flavor that really hits the spot. I have been eating these in the morning with yogurt and also carrying them around in my

bag as a mid afternoon/ post drinking snack.

Parmesan Crackers

2 cups flour

1 cup milk

1 tbsp oil

grated parmesan

Mix flour, oil and milk until it forms a sticky ball. Press into a thin layer on a cookie sheet and top with parmesan cheese. Bake until the bottom is nice and brown and the cracker is hard enough that you have to snap a piece off. A higher heat oven seemed to work better

Quiche

Dough:

¼ cup cold water

¼ oil

1 cup flour

Wisk the water and oil so it looks cloudy, this simulates the fat globules you would get from butter to make a flakey pie crust. Add the flour and press into a pie pan.

Filling:

4 eggs

½ cup milk

sautéed veggies

Mozzarella

Put veggies into crust, pour egg and milk mixture over them. Top with mozzarella and bake at 400 for 45 min or so.

I was pretty excited about the browned motz on the top, it was delicious.

…and for you meat eaters, Sam’s Carne Guisada Style Buffalo Tacos

tortillas:
2 cups flour
1.5 cups warm milk
olive oil
whisk together milk and oil
slowly add milk/oil and knead for a couple minutes
cover for 20 minutes
make 8 balls
cover for 20 minutes
roll out to about 6-8 inches across
cook on a dry hot pan

Filling:
marinate 1lb buffalo meat in grapefruit and orange juice with parsley, onions, garlic
sauté mushrooms with garlic and onions
cook meat with oil, onion, garlic, and some marinade until desired temp (medium rare for me)

savor

There you have it, our wheat repertoire (including pasta too). I never thought we would be able to bake so many different things with so few ingredients. Its amazing that liquid and wheat can take on so many forms with a minor tweak in texture and heat method. We are still looking for a local butter (or raw milk) source. With the addition of another fat source the possibilities are endless.