In the Kitchen with DirtDiva.

[dirtdiva]

My Basic Bread

3 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast (1 packet)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
7 cups all-purpose flour

Proofing the yeast: In a heat safe bowl add 1 Tablespoon yeast (1 packet) and 1/4 cup sugar, take a 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup and add 3 cups water. Put in microwave and heat to 100 degrees. Use a thermometer. Add hot water to sugar and yeast mixture and walk away. ( If water is too hot it will kill yeast). In a few minutes you will start to see a foam on the top of your yeast. As a few more minutes lapses your foam on top will get thicker meaning that your yeast is alive and growing. This is called blooming or proofing your yeast.

Now add your first 2 cups of flour and your salt. I am just using an all purpose flour. Stir until smooth. Add 2 more cups flour (4 total) you see that your dough is starting to thicken and pull away from sides of bowl. Add 1 more cup and you see a dough form. You can no longer stir with spoon so use those hands and mix.

Keep adding flour until you get a good dough that is not sticky but do not add too much flour. Although the recipe calls for 7 cups I only used about 6 cups adding a small amount at the time at the end. Now knead that dough. I set my oven timer for 6 minutes and kneaded until the timer went off. As my mother used to say "It builds the bosoms " : ) Now let your dough rest and take a large oven safe bowl and put a dab of olive oil in the bottom (about the size of a quarter) and grease the bowl good. Put dough in bowl and rotate dough and then turn over to get the oil on the outside of the dough.

First Rise
Now take a clean dish towel and wet it. Ring out until just damp and place over the bowl of dough and set in the cold oven. Place a casserole dish beneath it and fill with boiling water that I have heated to boiling in the microwave.

Set the oven timer for 1 hour and walk away. The heat and moisture from the boiling water help make a warm moist atmosphere for the dough to rise. This is your first rise. With lightly floured hands knead dough down again to release all the air pockets. Now split the dough into three equal sections. Flatten one and roll with lightly floured hands on a lightly floured surface. This is the seam of the dough where you rolled it. That will be placed on bottom of the pan. Basically you are shaping your dough like french bread baguettes.

Now take two of these shaped dough loaves and place in french bread pans. Remember they will be larger so allow room to grow. The pans can be sprayed with non stick spray or greased with butter or shortening.

Take the remaining third and place in a greased or sprayed loaf pan. I like glass so I can see when the crust is done

Second Rise

Place dough back in cold oven and replace again with fresh boiling water and close door. Set timer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes your loaves should be almost doubled in size. Remove all loaves from oven and place small loaf to side to continue rising. It will take longer. Preheat oven to 350 leaving water pan in oven.

While oven is preheating mix 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon milk in small bowl

Now brush loaves with egg milk mixture

Place loaves back in preheated 350 oven with water pan in bottom.

Bake for 35 minutes or until loaves tapped sound hollow. Remove from oven and set on rack to cool slightly before removing from pans. Brush warm crusts with melted butter.

Take remaining loaf and brush egg milk mixture on top and bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until brown. You may have to cover loosely with foil to allow bottom to brown and the top not to over brown.

You want the bottom of your loaf to be slightly brown also and sound hollow when tapped. Let cool before trying to remove from pan. Brush crusts with melted butter.

Allow bread to cool completely before attempting to slice. Best way to slice bread is with an electric knife. My husband slices my bread with his electric fish filet knife

[dirtdiva]

It's deer Season. Supper last night with some oven sweet potato fries and corn on the cob.


Shredded Venison Sandwiches
( beef roast can be substituted for venison)

1 boneless venison roast ( 4 pounds)
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground mustard
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Liquid smoke (optional)
2 tsp each celery salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder and garlic powder
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg



1. Cut venison roast in half and place in a 5 quart slow cooker

In a large bowl combine all other ingredients. Stir to combine and pour ketchup mixture over venison roast. Cover and cook on high in Crock Pot for 4 1/2 to 5 hours or until meat is tender.

2. Remove roast and set aside to cool. Shred cooled meat with two forks and return to slow cooker and heat through. Serve on buns.

[dirtdiva]

Cleaning out the freezer of things that have not been used over the winter. I still had frozen elderberries left over so decided to dehydrate them. Dehydrated they will last longer and take up less room for storage. They can still be rehydrated for pies and mostly I use them for elderberry tea. Elderberry is known to boost the immune system much the same as echinacea (purple cone flower). I make a tea by steeping berries in boiling water with lemon balm and adding local honey. 

The problem with elderberries is that they are small and when dehydrated it is like handling a bunch of BB's. They roll everywhere and fall through the screens of most dehydrator meshes. So here is my solution



I take parchment paper and fold the corners to make a tray with lips and fasten with a paper clip. I can then fill the tray and put in the dehydrator and not chase tiny purple berries all over the kitchen. 



I sit and listen to audio books and pick the berries out cleaning them well of any stems or trash and then dehydrate.



Once dry they go into recycled glass jars with an oxygen absorber and I store in a dark cabinet. This gets them out of my freezer making room for other things. With 3 quart jars of dried elderberries I should have plenty to tide me over till the next crop. 

The trick with the folded parchment paper is a great trick when drying those small berries or anything that falls through your dehydrator mesh. 

DD

 

[Tim Horton]

Busy time... For almost a week now.. We harvested 12 meat rabbits and 15 roosters.. So that, raw pack canning boneless meat cubes, canning all the meat picked off the cooked bones into heat and eat soups.. Canning the balance of the broth as well has kept us busy...
- - - -
Will be taking a bit of time off after this flurry of activity.. As soon as I can dig the snow out to have access to the smoke house we plan to process one or more of the fresh pork whole ham legs we got.. Scored 8 (?) when they were on sale $.99 a kilo..

Plan is to thaw, trim fat to render, cut off and partial smoke a couple good size roasts. Can smoked cubes, cook bones and pick off bits to can as heat and eat soups.. When trimming off fat, will cut into strips and bits to chill and put through the grinder.. Render lard and have ground cracklins to use also..

Dirt Diva.... My red neck cousin in Georgia is telling me about homemade Scrapple... I know it won't be quite the same with out the head and organ meats, but thinking of using some of this ham meat..

Would appreciate advise from experience..
- - - -
We have made homemade Spam from a recipe and instructions from a you tube guy called The Wolfe Pit... Worked out very good for us...

[dirtdiva]

Busy time... For almost a week now.. We harvested 12 meat rabbits and 15 roosters.. So that, raw pack canning boneless meat cubes, canning all the meat picked off the cooked bones into heat and eat soups.. Canning the balance of the broth as well has kept us busy...

I love canning soups. I just cooked 2 smoked hams and cubed some for bean soup to be  canned in the future. The rest I sliced for breakfasts with eggs and meals and vacuum packed for freezer.

Dirt Diva.... My red neck cousin in Georgia is telling me about homemade Scrapple... I know it won't be quite the same with out the head and organ meats, but thinking of using some of this ham meat..

Would appreciate advise from experience..

I have made scrapple with just ground pork usually after we slaughtered in the fall. I am enclosing a recipe. I will point out that I grew up in the southern US. (Cajun Louisiana) and we grew up on scrapple when we butchered on the farm. Nothing on that pig went to waste! Southern scrapple is a little different and usually consists mainly of cornmeal and the meats in scrapple were usually hog head, livers and meat possibly off the feet and other tidbits. You want to add the collagen from the heads and feet to help bind the cornmeal, meats and spices. If you use lets say ground smoked meat throw in some unflavored gelatin to help bind it. I like mine a bit spicy and run a jalapeno or two through the blender and lots of pepper, garlic and onion. I find northern scrapple somewhat bland. Originating from the Pennsylvania dutch though they were not known for their spices.

When grinding your meat my husband like to throw some chopped up onion, garlic and the jalapeno right in the grinder with the meat.

Ingredients
FOR THE PIG'S HEAD

1 pig's head, with or without the jowls
3 carrots, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 to 6 bay leaves
1 tablespoon black peppercorns, cracked

SPICE MIX
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon savory
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning (optional)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne

TO FINISH
2 heaping cups cornmeal
1/2 cup flour

Instructions
Set the pig's head in a large kettle and cover it with water. Bring this to a boil and skim off all the scum that floats to the surface. When this is done, add the carrots, onion, bay leaves and black peppercorns. Simmer this, adding more water if the level drops below the pig's head, until the meat wants to fall off the bone, about 3 hours.
Carefully remove the pig's head and pick off all the meat and random bits. I toss the eyes and the palate, which aren't very tasty. Chop everything up very fine, and combine with the spice mix in a bowl.

Strain your pig broth and pour about 10 cups into a large pot. Bring this to a simmer and add the cornmeal and flour, stirring constantly so you don't get lumps. Add salt to taste. Cook this, stirring often, about 30 minutes.
Add the chopped pig bits in with the mush and stir well to combine. If you happen to be using the unflavored gelatin, now is when you would add it. Let this all cook for 10 minutes or so.

Pour this into loaf pans, or a terrine pan. While not strictly necessary, it will make the scrapple easier to remove if you line the pan with plastic wrap first. Pack it in well. Let it cool to room temperature uncovered, then cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight before slicing and frying.

Notes
This recipe makes about 4 pounds of scrapple.

When growing up my grandmother cut both ends off metal coffee cans and greased them well. The cans were put on top of waxed paper lined baking sheet and stuffed with scrapple and then refrigerated. The scrapple was then pushed through the can the next day a little at a time to make thin wafers (1/2 inch maybe ) and dusted with flour and fried in lard until the outside is crispy. They were then served with a topping of thick fresh sugar cane syrup. Hogs were butchered in the autumn as well as the syrup boiled down around the same time.

Also here is a link to a recipe for Cajun Couche Couche. It is a cornmeal dish that is similar and traditionally your crushed cracklins were added to it and cane syrup served over it.

www.deepsouthdish.com/2021/02/couche-couche-cajun-breakfast-cereal.html


Hope that helps DD

[Tim Horton]

Copy, paste, save as the recipes...

Thanks for the tip on the gelatin tip...
I tend to do a bit more spice than many even having grown up "Volksdeutsche" Germans from Russia, and Scandinavian in the north west.. Both cook hearty, but tend to be blander...

Scrapple sandwich with grape jelly or yellow mustard, or both... Looking forward to that..

[dirtdiva]

The Rhubarb crop is coming in now and is plentiful. Eat what you grow and grow what you eat!

Grandma's Rhubarb Cake

1/2 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rhubarb sliced in 1/2 inch pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt

Topping

1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

Combine 1/2 cup softened margarine, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar and cream well. Add 1 egg and mix well.

Mix 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 cup sour cream and mix well. Add sour cream mixture to sugar mixture and stir until combined.

(I freeze my rhubarb in 1 cup increments and they work great in this recipe when halved)

To this mixture add 2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sliced rhubarb, 1 teaspoon vanilla and a pinch of salt. Stir well.

Pour batter into buttered 9 X 13 baking dish

Topping:
1/2 cup chopped nuts. I use my frozen pecans or walnuts from last year from the freezer.

To your chopped pecans add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon melted butter and 1 Tablespoon flour. Mix it all together just until all flour is incorporated and pecans coated.

Sprinkle pecan, sugar and cinnamon mixture over cake batter.

Bake in 350 oven for approximately 40 minutes or until top of cake is golden brown.
**********************************************************************
You can also half this recipe and bake it in a skillet. What a great snack cake or morning coffee cake. Something a little different than the traditional rhubarb pie but just as good and simple too! And a great use for that frozen rhubarb.

Other cubed fruits may also be used. Gooseberries work well for this also!

[dirtdiva]

Freezing Rhubarb



Rhubarb is plentiful here on my place right now. Easy to grow pest and disease free perennial crop. I separate every other year and always have plenty. 



Simply wash, slice and I put on baking sheets and freeze. No blanching required! Once frozen they are put in vacuum sealed bags and into the freezer. I like to freeze in 1 cup bags.

[dirtdiva]

Frozen Strawberry Rhubarb Pie in a bag

For my filling I use an old but simple recipe out of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I simply mixed all the ingredients in a gallon zip lock bag. Squeeze as much air out as possible and then take a drinking straw and suck out any remaining air. Lay flat to freeze so that they can be stacked easily in freezer. Ready to go. 

Simply remove and allow to thaw for an hour or so and add to a double crust.

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE

4 cups sliced rhubarb
2 cups mashed strawberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 heaping Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons butter cut into small chunks
pinch salt
1 double pie crust

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into pie crust. Add top crust, flute edges and bruch crust with egg white and 1 Tablespoon milk or cream.

Bake in Preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 40 minutes or until golden brown and filling is bubbly.

Allow to cool and thicken before cutting.

[Tim Horton]

DD....
I will e mail your recipes to Sweetie... I know she has similar, but something new is always nice to know and try... Thanks for sharing..

This year seed heads are growing gang busters in the rhubarb... Especially the patch near the outhouse... I have cut out all the seed heads I find and the fruit stalks seem especially good now..

[dirtdiva]

Jun 8, 2021 15:56:30 GMT 10 Tim Horton said:

DD....
I will e mail your recipes to Sweetie... I know she has similar, but something new is always nice to know and try... Thanks for sharing..

This year seed heads are growing gang busters in the rhubarb... Especially the patch near the outhouse... I have cut out all the seed heads I find and the fruit stalks seem especially good now..

Yeah sometimes it's a pain keeping up with those seed stalks!

What does your Sweetie do with rhubarb to preserve it?

I have canned it but prefer frozen. I have made wine before with it. Also I have cooked it down for the juice. Add to a container of frozen pink lemonade and a couple cups crushed strawberries and freeze. It never freezes solid and you can scoop it out frozen. Makes killer margaritas   

[Tim Horton]

Sweetie makes a number of things with Rhubarb....
Curd
Jam
BBQ sauce (my MOST favorite)
Strawberry Rhubarb pie
Cake...

She does not freeze it anymore as it is too easy to get lost in the freezer and go bad..

I have made a garden bug repellant with the leaves, if you are interested.. I think it works OK, but then I'm the black thumb of the family..

[tomatoes]

Jun 7, 2021 8:10:02 GMT 10 dirtdiva said:

Frozen Strawberry Rhubarb Pie in a bag

…..
For my filling I use an old but simple recipe out of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I simply mixed all the ingredients in a gallon zip lock bag. Squeeze as much air out as possible and then take a drinking straw and suck out any remaining air. Lay flat to freeze so that they can be stacked easily in freezer. Ready to go. 

Simply remove and allow to thaw for an hour or so and add to a double crust.

….

Love the idea of freezing the pie filling - we love strawberry and rhubarb pie but I don’t often get around to making it. This would make it easy.

Does your rhubarb not have any red/pink in the stems at all?

[Stealth]

Woooooow Diva I'm in absolute awe of your rhubarb! I LOVE the stuff, but almost always forget about it until it's too late in the season. It always reminds me of my grandmother, she used to make rhubarb and apple crumble quite often for us when we stayed with her on the holidays so I have very fond memories of anything with rhubarb in it.

[dirtdiva]

Jun 10, 2021 22:39:27 GMT 10 tomatoes said:

Jun 7, 2021 8:10:02 GMT 10 dirtdiva said:

Frozen Strawberry Rhubarb Pie in a bag

…..
For my filling I use an old but simple recipe out of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I simply mixed all the ingredients in a gallon zip lock bag. Squeeze as much air out as possible and then take a drinking straw and suck out any remaining air. Lay flat to freeze so that they can be stacked easily in freezer. Ready to go. 

Simply remove and allow to thaw for an hour or so and add to a double crust.

….

Love the idea of freezing the pie filling - we love strawberry and rhubarb pie but I don’t often get around to making it. This would make it easy.

Does your rhubarb not have any red/pink in the stems at all?

It is an heirloom variety that was given to me and has a little pink in it sometimes. It is very prolific though and tastes good. 

[dirtdiva]

Jun 10, 2021 22:45:24 GMT 10 Stealth said:

Woooooow Diva I'm in absolute awe of your rhubarb! I LOVE the stuff, but almost always forget about it until it's too late in the season. It always reminds me of my grandmother, she used to make rhubarb and apple crumble quite often for us when we stayed with her on the holidays so I have very fond memories of anything with rhubarb in it.

Grandma's never change regardless of what country they are in. I make rhubarb cakes and desserts when my grandchildren come to visit too. They love it and hope they will have memories of it like you. I had never heard of rhubarb and apple combination before as most people in the states combine it with strawberries. Then years ago I had a visit from a young Australian man that was dating my god daughter. He loved my rhubarb crumble and told me that his mother always combined it with apples.  So now I occasionally combine mine with apples also. He later married my god daughter and carried her off to your country. He does bring her home to visit often though. 

[Stealth]

Lol good man, at least he brings her back haha.

I've heard about the strawberry and rhubarb combo, but never had it myself. I might have to get organised and actually try it! My grandmother has a real thing for ginger, when I was little she'd eat crystalised ginger as a candy. I always thought that was a horrible concept but as I get older I've found that I really love it now myself too. So I do remember a few times where she'd make rhubarb and apple crumble with ginger in it and call it 'Rhubarb grumble' instead. It was too potent for me back then, but I think I could definitely get in on that nowadays

[dirtdiva]

Jun 11, 2021 14:59:39 GMT 10 Stealth said:

Lol good man, at least he brings her back haha.

I've heard about the strawberry and rhubarb combo, but never had it myself. I might have to get organised and actually try it! My grandmother has a real thing for ginger, when I was little she'd eat crystalised ginger as a candy. I always thought that was a horrible concept but as I get older I've found that I really love it now myself too. So I do remember a few times where she'd make rhubarb and apple crumble with ginger in it and call it 'Rhubarb grumble' instead. It was too potent for me back then, but I think I could definitely get in on that nowadays

I buy crystalized ginger from the health food store and keep in the glove compartment of my car. My youngest used to get car sick/motion sickness. It would settle her stomach to suck on it. I keep it now for the grandkids. Cuts down on having to clean puke off the upholstery!
Told ya Grandma things are universal 

[dirtdiva]

My kitchen has been busy preserving those spring cool weather crops and getting the summer crops planted. 



Carrots were the first to go into the freezer and jars both.





Asparagus frozen and vacuum sealed ready to go into the freezer.



I also dehydrated some for soups and asparagus tea.

[dirtdiva]

Many people do not but I preserve greens every year. Our personal favorite are mustard greens. We harvested 4 large laundry baskets full of Southern Giant Curled mustard greens. 



Some were blanched in boiling water, drained and then frozen in vacuum sealed bags




Some went into jars. When the snow is flying this winter this will satisfy that craving for greens.




The traditional way of preparing these in the southern US is to boil them down with onions and usually some sort of smoked pork or bacon. Eaten with cornbread on the side the liquid is called pot liquor and the cornbread is dipped into it.