Homemade Rootbeer.....

When I was really young, we used to go visit my Great-Grandmother in Murray, UT.  Every once in a while, a loud "pop" would be heard.  It startled my sisters and I until we learned what it was.  One of Grandma's homemade Rootbeer bottles' lids had popped off.  She would make it in real soda bottles and would cap them.  They looked like the type you would buy out of the machine to me.

Just as a reminder, one of our target items this week is Yeast.  I discovered the following recipe from Dr. David Fankhauser's website.  I love his site, he teaches anyone how to do so many things....like make Root Beer!  The following recipe and steps are from his site.

You will need the following equipment: 

• A clean 2 liter plastic soft drink bottle with cap.  (Dr. Fankhauser does not recommend glass bottles because of the risk of explosive shards of glass),
• funnel,  
• 1 cup measuring cup,  
• 1/4 tsp measuring spoon,
• 1 Tbl measuring spoon. 

You can see my laptop.  I am using it to follow the recipe so I don't have to print it out and have to find a place to store an additional piece of paper!

Here is a list of ingredients: 

• 1 cup table sugar,  
• 1 Tablespoon of Root Beer Extract (He recommends Zatarains's, but I found another brand locally.  We often make Dry Ice Rootbeer, and I just had this particular bottle in the cupboard). 
• 1/4 teaspoon of Powdered Baker's yeast. 
• Cold fresh water.  (I found several discussions on-line that recommend that you use as little chlorinated water as possible as the chlorine reportedly can kill the yeast. So, I chose to use our water filter pitcher for the fresh water).

Pour in the sugar through the funnel.

Add your yeast via the funnel.

 
You can see the yeast on the sugar.
 

 
Shake the bottle and mix the yeast and the sugar. Swirl the mixture around in the bottle to create a small well or a concave surface in the mixture.  This will receive the Extract.
 

 
Add the Root Beer Extract via the funnel.
 

 
You can see that most of the Extract is in the middle of the mixture.
 

 

Pour water over the spoon to get all the Extract off the spoon and use the water to clean the funnel to get all the yeast and sugar particles inside of the bottle.   Fill the bottle and leave an inch of head space. 

 

 

I found that I initially needed to shake the mixture as sugar settled into the bottom of the bottle.  I had to go back about an hour later and do the same thing again.  The directions state that you need leave the bottle at room-temperature for about 3-4 days. When the bottle feels "Rock hard", place it into the refrigerator to chill. Before serving  (within 24 hours), crack the lid of the thoroughly chilled bottle to release some of the pressure.

 

Now, the LRH did research this, and found that some folks reported that their bottles did blow their top which left quite a mess to clean-up.  I thought about putting it into the garage, but it is too cold right now to let the yeast activate.  So, I am giving myself a "fail-safe" just in case.

 

 
I am enclosing the bottle inside of a garbage bag.  That way, if something unforseen does occur, it will all be contained inside of the trash bag.  Watch for the results of this project very soon!

Dig out that Breadmaker....you know where it is!

I realize I am about date myself.....but do you remember when everyone just had to have a Breadmaker....machine?  All the hype about having homemade bread when you woke up in the morning to having fresh bread for dinner?  For me, I told myself that I could use my food storage staples more readily if I had one.  Well, I did use it, and burned out my first machine.  This is my second one.....and this one has seen more of the inside of the cupboard than the countertop.  I don't have a really good reason why.

Well, since we are focusing on Yeast, I knew I had to dig this beast out of the darkness of my cupboard, so I did.  When I got home from work, I had a quick dinner, but knew the Rooster of the house would be coming home in a couple of hours.  I decided to either make bread....or something from the dough.  I decided upon scones....which are very easy.  I only had to use the "dough" cycle.

In case you have never done this, pull out the manual to your machine and find the recipe for bread. You can use white or wheat bread recipes.  Mix it, and allow it to rise, again on the dough cycle.

Heat ~2 inches of vegetable oil on the stove.  Have a dish nearby with a lid to put the hot scones in.  I place a folded paper towel at the bottom of the dish to catch any excess oil.

Pull a small amount of dough from the ball.  Flatten it.

Place it in the hot oil.

Turn it over when golden brown.

Retrieve the scone with tongs and allow the excess oil to drip off into the pan.

I set a place for the Rooster complete with butter, syrup, powdered sugar, and two types of Jam.   I'll bet my son, who didn't want "anything", will surface to help his Dad eat all of these scones!

Now, it didn't take me any real time to put the ingredients into the Bread Machine....and the machine did all the work.  I cooked a few scones, which took about 10 minutes, and it was all ready!  Since today turned out to be a snowy day outside .....and it is the end of April, this seems liked an appropriate hot meal to be having in celebration of our wacky weather!

Remember how delicious scones are?  Try them soon!

Does Making Multi-Grain Bread Intimidate you?

(Image coutesy of http://stresscake.files.wordpress.com)

Oooooo....I love Multi-Grain Bread...don't you?  However, the thought of using my Grain Mill to grind several different types of flour just doesn't appeal to me.  So, wouldn't it be nice if there was a slick way to do it?  Well, look at this!

There is "Fungus Amoung--us"

Yeast is essentially a fungus that we used to help our baked goods rise.  Yes, you actually ate Fungus when you ate the warm bread that had just come out of the oven!

Here is a little video explaining different types of Yeast so that you can make a decision as to the type of Yeast you would like to store.

It's Week #4, and the focus items are......

Hi Food Storage Enthusiasts!  I hope you are well on your way to stocking for your Long-Term Storage.  Last week, we had Oats as the focus item.  Can I just say, I couldn't get to all the wonderful things Oats can be used for....time just wasn't on my side.  However, I may stick some of them in as we go along this year.

(Image is coutesy of www.aprtmenttherapy.com)

Yeast is one of our target items this week.  Yeast is a one-celled fungus that converts sugar and starch into carbon dioxide bubbles and alcohol. Bread is made with baker's yeast, which creates lots of bubbles that become trapped in the dough, making the bread rise so it's light and airy when baked. A small amount of alcohol is also produced, but this burns off as the bread bakes. This information and more information on the different types of Yeast comes from http://www.foodsubs.com/LeavenYeast.html.  It is well done and has great pictures!

(Image courtesy of newlywejourney.files.wordpress.com)

Vinegar is the other target item for the week. This is a very, very versatile staple to have not only for cooking, but also cleaning.  Here is are two short segments to introduce you to the cleaning aspects of Vinegar.