Yeast
yeast
I fully realize this is rather old fashioned to make yeast and to use it for my baking. But I do it anyway. Because it is healthier than just using that quick rising dry business. Yes, dry yeast takes the nutrition down in bread while real yeast actually raises it. I am not above some dry yeast now and then, but this truly is my preference. Baking the way my great grandmother baked before quickness and convenience became the hallmark of good food. Back when nutrition still mattered and food was an art as well as a practicality.
This particular yeast is an einkorn whole wheat yeast. But you can do this with rye, whole wheat, and even all purpose flower. I use this yeast as a base for sour dough savory english muffins. But that is a recipe for another day. Today, I just want to share about making yeast.
I usually start with half a cup whole wheat einkorn flour and half a cup of water. I put them both together in a jar and mix well. I might also add a tiny pinch of that dry yeast to help support my real yeast in forming, mixing it into my flour and water mixture in a jar. Typically I leave my yeast out the first 3 days, feeding it a table spoon of flour and water daily and mixing it in very well. I leave the cap on but not screwed on. And I cover it with a dish towel and leave it in a warmish spot in the kitchen. Sometimes I put it next to the fireplace for a few days if it is winter to keep it warm. After that, I start feeding it a table spoon or 2 of water and flour while I keep it in the refrigerator. So that I only need to feed it a couple times a week. I like to keep about 2 cups of years on hand, from which I take what is called for for my recipes, for breads and english muffins and other yummies.
Yeast
The trick is to feed it for example on monday and wait to use it till wednesday, use it, add some flour and water in equal portion and mix. It is that simple. I use this for a great Alaskan bread recipe that is sour dough, a nettle sour dough bread. So good. But again this is just to discuss the joys of real yeast. It’s nice to be feeding my family something truly healthy and natural.
Thank you for reading
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: ag, agriculture, agro, bake, baking, bread, breakfast, diy old fashioned yeast, einkorn yeast, farm, farm wife, farm wife blog, farmer, farming, farmstead, food, homestead, homestead baking, homestead farm, homestead kitchen, homestead wife, homestead wife blog, homesteader, homesteading, homesteading New England, in the homestead kitchen, in the kitchen, inn keeper, inn keeper's blog, kitchen, lifestyle, new england, new england homestead, New England Homestead blog, old fashioned, old fashioned yeast, recipe, self sufficiency, self sufficiency homestead, self sufficient, self sufficient homestead, simple life, simple living, simpler way of life, sour dough, travel, wildflower farm, yeast, yeast bread, yeast recipe, yeast up keep
Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
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