Tag Archives: sorghum

The Most Marvellous Bread!

Bread 003Bread 004I have brought many loaves into the world over the years: German Rye, Swedish Rye, French Baguette, Challah, Sally Lunn, Farmhouse, Wheat, lots of different kinds. Now I have finally hit upon the most fabulous, I love it, oh boy bread ever.

The recipe is based loosely on Challah, with substitutions and additions.

Flint Springs Loaded Egg Bread

2/3 cup warm waterblog june 068

3 T sorghum molasses (I just drizzle some in)

3 T Butterblog june 052

A little salt

3 eggs

1C plain flour

1C whole wheat flour

1C multigrain flour

handful of nuts (I love walnuts)blog june 070

Note: the bread machine breaks up the nuts during processing. If kneading by hand, decide how big you want the nut bits.

handful of dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, raisins, currants)

a little cranberry, cherry or such juice as needed for kneading

2-1/2 t yeast (I buy bulk yeast and keep it in the freezer)

3 T dough conditioner

3 T vital gluten (These last two ingredients help the whole wheat and multigrain behave)

blog june 062

This is a high riser! I let mine bake in the bread machine, but you could easily bake one big or two small loaves as you would any whole wheat recipe.

 

 

 

 

Dreaming of Beverages To Be!

I made an astounding batch of mead a few years ago, but have been inhibited more recently by the high cost of authentic honey. Imagine, here at work I happened to see a little jar of honey with a local address! HoneyThe guy’s son works here! I haven’t had a chance to hook up with them yet, but did talk to a homesteader-type that works in the back and he verified that place, plus gave me a line on local sorghum molasses.

Wow! The fella really near the cabin had a bad sorghum year and had none for sale blog june 052this fall. Apparently 40 miles to the northwest, they did okay. I’ve been buying quart jars of sorghum from the IGA, and it is from Kentucky. I don’t brew with sorghum, but it is a local sweetener.

I’m a firm believer in buying locally when I can, but it can be tough finding these guys. I don’t know of a proverbial Farmer’s Market where I can find them…there’s a small one in Beaver Dam but it’s closed whenever I go by. I need to seek more diligently, there has to be something like that around.

As I let visions of ribbons of honey going into a fermentation bucket play in my brain, the homesteader fellow mentioned a variety case of stouts he’d recently tried. Stouts! I’m particularly fond of a thick oatmeal stout and made a fine batch of it once. As I told him, the cheater kits I get make six gallons of ales, Porters and Bitters. Stouts? Only about 4 gallons, and the kits cost more. Cabin June 2015 086Being frugal, I stick with Porter when I want something inky. Yet, he made a thirst for genuine 20W50 grade stout cry out, “Life is too short NOT TO!” I haven’t actually bought a bottle of beer in years, but if I did I would seek out an Old Peculiar. They aren’t stouts, but are so good and any stout lover ought to appreciate them. If you haven’t tried one of those yet, I encourage you to get directly on it! Theakston’s Old Peculiar.

News Flash: Both the county I live in and the one a half a mile south of me are dry, as are half of Kentucky’s 120 counties. That means no alcohol sales, no beer in a pub, no wine with your meal, no picking up a six-pack at the grocery. The south county just had a referendum. The Baptists rallied their congregations. By 54%, they elected to stay dry. My county is going to vote soon. That’s not why I make my own (I love to make things), but it is very handy that I do!