Crispy Fermented Roasted Potatoes

This is a recipe from Phickle. I loved these. My wife didn't. The next time I prepare them, I think I am going to have to segregate the potatoes in the oven between fermented and not fermented.

The Phickle recipe uses a half gallon jar. I used a pint, so I've adjusted the quantities appropriately.

Fermenting

The recipe calls for 2.5 pounds of small roasting potatoes. I used baby gold potatoes. I measured the quantity by seeing how many whole potatoes I could fit in my pint jar to reach over the top. The potatoes are going to be quartered, so they will take up less space. I'll need some head room in the jar for the fermentation weight and some room for an air gap above that. This technique seemed to work. It was a bit more than 1/2 pound or 5 potatoes.

Wash, but don't scrub, the potatoes and quarter them. Place one clove of garlic (I crush mine) in the bottom of the jar and pack it about half way with the quartered potatoes. The Phickle recipe calls for rosemary sprigs. I'm using dried rosemary leaves. I sprinkle some of those on the potatoes at the half-way point, and then finish packing the rest of the potatoes. There needs to be about 1.5 inches of head room in the jar.

Next, the half-gallon recipe asks for brine made with 2.75 cups of water and 1.5-2 tablespoons of salt. Those are kind of weird quantities to start with, and I need to divide it by 4. There is no problem with having too much brine. I'll make the math easy. There are 3 teaspoons to a tablespoon, so I am going to use 1.5 teaspoons of salt with slightly more that 1/3 of the 2.75 cups of water. Voila, 1 cup of water and 1.5 teaspoons of salt.

I added a fermentation weight and a Pickle Pipe and set it in the basement for a week.

Cooking

For cooking, preheat the oven to 400°F. Drain the liquid and place the potatoes on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over them, and toss them to coat. It would seem easier to do the drizzling and tossing in a bowl, first. I think I'll try that next time. Phickle adds more garlic and rosemary to the baking pan, but I don't see how that flavors the potatoes. I skipped that step.

Bake for 40-50 minutes until brown and crispy. That seemed like a long time to bake at 400 degrees, but the result was crispy on the outside, and puffy and tender on the inside. They had a nice tang to them. That's the part that my wife didn't like. Go figure. She ordinarily likes strong flavors. I loved them. I didn't take a picture of the finished product, though. That will have to wait until next time.

Kefir: Single vs. Double Ferment

I had mentioned double fermentation in a previous post. I've been double fermenting my kefir by a full 24 hours. The result is a product that separates into whey and a curdled substance that is yucky. It's not bad for getting whey that I use in other ferments, and for making kefir cheese (I haven't written that post, yet). It's not a good drink, though.

First, let's review the growth of my grains. In the past I tried to judge their growth by eyeballing the result. In some cases it was looking like they were shrinking. To be more precise, I started weighing them after each batch of kefir. I am seeing progress, but it is no wonder I wasn't able to notice the growth by eye. Over the last 4 days, the weight of my grains has grown from 7.1 to 9.0 grams. That's pretty good on a percentage basis, but not anything that I could see.

My kefir is getting thicker, too. So, now it was time to try a side-by-side taste test of single fermentation versus double. I divided this morning's finished batch into two containers and set one out for a second ferment. The other one went into the fridge. I left the second ferment out for about 6 hours and then put that one in the fridge.

After they had both chilled, I tasted them both straight up. They were both good enough to drink straight. The double ferment was noticeably sourer, and the single was sweeter. Both were pleasingly thickened--not so thick as yogurt, but thicker than milk. Given the choice, I would take the single ferment. I might try this, again, with flavorings added to the second ferment.

Pickled Peppers

A few days ago, I packed a pint of peppers to pickle. I was following a recipe from Cultures for Health and modified it a bit. For one, I didn't use Jalapeños. They are too hot for me. I was looking for something like the sliced deli peppers that I buy at the grocery store.

Let's start with the peppers. The grocery store had a selection of peppers all labeled as "chili peppers." I bought these that were similar in color and size (after slicing) to the prepared peppers that I am used to buying. If you know what these are, leave me a comment.

The recipe is quite simple, just calling for sliced peppers, brine, and kombucha or raw apple cider. Well, I don't have any kombucha, or raw apple cider. On the other hand I do have whey strained from my kefir. The recipes in fermented foods at every meal often call for a tablespoon of whey with the brine to kick start the fermentation. Their recipes often call for just a few days of fermentation. I decided to go with that.

My version of this recipe is:

4 large peppers, tops cut off, seeds removed, and cut horizontally into rounds
Brine made from 1 cup of water and 1-1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of whey

This time, I decided to try removing the chlorine from my water. I boiled it in the microwave and set it out to cool.

These ingredients fit nicely into a pint mason jar with the fermentation weight, allowing a little head room for gasses to accumulate and vent off.

Taste Test

After about a week, I took out the fermentation gadgets and put the peppers in the fridge. There was a coating of thin white film at the top of the jar. This might have been a residue from the whey. I did not carefully filter the whey, I just poured it off from a jar of double-fermented kefir. It might also have been a type of yeast called kahm. It was above the fermentation weight. I just skimmed it off.

The peppers were hotter than I expected. Some friends suggested that I might be using banana peppers or cubanelle peppers. They came out rather limp. I might try these, again, or I might just stick with the store-bought version. I've had one sandwich with them added. It was pretty good.

Overnight Kefir Oats

Here's a nice use of my kefir for a healthy and tasty breakfast. I got this recipe from  fermented foods at every meal

The author's recipe is for four half-pint servings. It starts with 2-1/4 cups of kefir. Since, I have been making my kefir in 1 cup batches, I cut the ingredients in half. I started with kefir fermented with the Charlsie method. (See my previous post). 

They key ingredient in overnight oats is old-fashioned, slow-cooking oats. Do not use instant or quick oatmeal. I used Nature's Promise Irish Style Steel Cut Oats.

There is plenty of room to adapt this recipe for the ingredients that I had on hand. In this batch I used:

• 1 Cup of kefir
• 1/4 Cup oats
• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 banana, sliced (I've also used a few strawberries, cleaned and quartered)

Now, put everything in a mason jar and shake it vigorously. Put it in the refrigerator and enjoy it the next morning.

This is very easy to make, requires no cooking, and it is ready to eat in the morning.

I found this quantity to be a little too much for one serving, but not quite enough for two. Perhaps I'll use a bit more than a cup of milk in my kefir batch when I am planning this dish, use a little more oats, and keep everything else the same. That should make two satisfying breakfasts.

Overnight oats is not specific to kefir. Wholefully has a web page with lots of ads and distractions plus 8 variations on this recipe using yogurt and milk. I'll try some of those and report back.

So far, this is my favorite use for kefir.

Update:

I tried this recipe with 1/2 cup of oats to make a more satisfying double serving. That modification was based on the Wholefully.com recipes. I didn't add any fruit, but added peanut butter and cocoa. That tasted like a family recipe for bakeless cookies that I've been making since I was a kid. As a bonus, it is much healthier than the cookies. I'll be making this, again.

• 1 Cup of kefir
• 1/2 Cup oats
• 1 Tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 Tablespoon honey (Note to self: add the cocoa before you get the tablespoon gooey)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

Continuing with the Kefir

Everyone says that making kefir is easy, and that is true. Making it taste good is still a challenge. Let's review my progress.

Growing the Grains

I've been told that my kefir will not be satisfactory until my grains start to reproduce. I think I have achieved that state, but I'd like to prove it scientifically. I've tried eyeballing the growth of my grains in photos like these (in chronological order) 

First, using the strainer for scale

Then, using a tablespoon measuring spoon for scale

That last comparison looks like they shrank. I don't think that's the case, so I've started using a kitchen scale. The scale is showing the weight in grams to one decimal place.

The next day, I noticed that the wax paper weighs about 1/2 gram. I didn't tare that off in the picture above. Now, starting again, and working with the theory that my grains might not be getting enough to eat, I ate half the grains to start my next batch with 7.1 grams of grains. I used the tare function on my scale to subtract off the wax paper weight.

Types of Fermentation

There are three processes that I have used for fermentation.

One stage ferment

This is the basic ferment where I add the grains to milk, let it sit for 24 hours and strain the grains out. I haven't found this product to be too palatable, but it is OK if I am doing something else with the kefir, like 

• adding honey and/or fruit
• mixing it 50-50 with orange juice
• substituting it for milk in cooking
• making overnight oats

Double ferment

This method is recommended by many kefir makers to make the drink more potent, enhancing B vitamins, and adding flavor to it. Some say it makes the kefir more sour. Some say it makes it less so.

The process is to follow the one-stage ferment process and set the strained kefir out for another 6-24 hours. I've only tried 24 hours. Some suggest that if my kefir separates from the whey like mine always does that I might be fermenting for too long in the second step.

Many people suggest adding flavors to the kefir before the second ferment. I've tried

• coffee beans--not bad
• vanilla beans--not that special, and they are rather expensive
• sliced strawberries--pretty good. I still added a little honey

Some ideas for the future

• cocoa powder
• orange peel
• banana

Charlsie ferment

Charlsie is the person who sold me my grains. She suggests combining the grains and milk as in the one-stage ferment, then she stirs the kefir and replaces the loose lid with a tight lid and puts the jar in the fridge for another 12 hours. At that point, she strains the grains, and the product is ready to drink. I've found this method to give a more pleasant taste than the one-stage ferment, but I still don't like to drink it straight.

Ratio of Grains to Milk

These three sources from the resources list below give quite an array of recommendations:

• Dom suggests a 10:1 ratio of milk to grains by volume.
• Crohn's Babe suggests 1-2 tablespoons of grains to a quart of milk.
• Cultures for Health suggests 1 teaspoon of grains for up to 4 cups of milk. 

There are 192 teaspoons or 64 tablespoons in a quart (thanks Google), so there is some controversy here, but I think we can conclude that a grains to milk ratio between 1:10 to 1:192 is about right. Thanks guys and gals. I've been using about 1 tablespoon per cup of milk. That is a 1:16 ratio. Perhaps I should try cutting that back. Maybe my grains aren't getting enough to eat.

Continuing with my careful measurements of the grain growth, my next batch has 7.1 grams of grains and 240 grams of milk (1 cup). That's a 1:34 ratio.

Resources

I've found these web sites useful. Donna Schwenk's video also has a section on kefir cheese (similar to cream cheese).

Dom's Kefir FAQ

Donna Schwenk kefir video

Crohn's Babe kefir video

Cultures for Health kefir video

Cultures for Health second fermentation video
Phickle They've got lots of other fermentation information and recipes on their site.

Yogurt

I've been eating store-bought yogurt for many years. Some have suggested that my original attempt to make kefir from store-bought kefir was actually yogurt. Considering how easily it thickened, that may be right. Now, seemed to be the time to try making yogurt on purpose.

One motivation is economics. I pay $1.29 for a container of yogurt that is about 3/4 of a cup. A gallon of milk is $2.59. If I can turn that gallon of milk into twenty-one 3/4 cup servings of yogurt, the cost of one serving comes down to 12 cents. OK, saving $1.17 per day on yogurt is not going to fund my retirement.

Another good reason to make yogurt myself is that I know what is in it. The whole theme of this blog is to nurture the microbes that have taken residence in my gut. The yogurt container says it has live cultures. I believe it, but making new yogurt from the store-bought is proof.

The other issue is fat versus sugar. Many of my favorite yogurt flavors proudly proclaim that they have 0 grams of fat. Unfortunately, they make up for the lack of fat by adding sugar. There isn't too much fat in my diet, but there is too much sugar. So, that settles it. I'm going to make my own yogurt.

I found instructions in a book titled fermented foods at every meal (yeah, they didn't use capital letters) by Hayley Barisa Ryczek.

The process starts with a confusing step to heat the milk to 185°F and then letting it cool to 110°F. Why not just heat the milk to 110°F and be done with it? I guess the answer has to do with a change in the protein structure that happens when the milk is heated. I dutifully followed directions. This process took quite a bit of tending and it left a film on the bottom of the pan that was difficult to clean. I might try a Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave next time. Once I figure out the heating time, that process should be repeatable.

Update: Next time I tried the microwave. I started with 12 oz of milk from the fridge. I nuked it for 2 minutes, and that brought the temperature to 100 degrees. Then, another 30 seconds for another 20 degrees. Another minute brought it to 160 degrees. I stopped it after an additional 40 seconds when it started to boil. My thermometer read 200 degrees. Next time, I am going to try 3:30 and see where that leaves me.

The milk took much longer to cool to 110 degrees in the Pyrex measuring cup, than in the pan. I had to wait about 40 minutes. Still, I like this method better. I can just toss the measuring cup in the dishwasher. The pan was a little troublesome to clean.

My recipe called for a quart of milk and 1/4 cup of yogurt used as a starter. I was just experimenting, so I used 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of yogurt. I wanted to test two brands of commercial yogurt for live cultures, so there were 2 cups of milk total.

Another confusing step in the recipe asks me to combine the yogurt with an equal quantity of milk before adding it to the rest of the milk. Why? I don't see any reason for this. I just put a tablespoon of yogurt into a mason jar, added a cup of milk, and shook the contents.

Incubation

The next step in the process is to incubate the yogurt for 8 to 24 hours. There were many ideas suggested for keeping the developing yogurt near 100°C during the incubation. I have an electric thermal storage heating system in my house. The night before my yogurt trial, I put a mason jar filled with water on top of the heater. In the morning, the water was around 90°F. That seemed close enough for me. I'll need to explore some other options after the heating season is over.

I incubated my yogurt for about 20 hours. 

Results

My starter cultures came from a carton of Chobani yogurt and from a carton of Stonyfield Farm yogurt. Both claim to have live cultures, and both yielded successful homemade yogurt. Hence, there are live cultures in both brands, as advertised.

I tilted the jars here to show that the yogurt thickened properly. The yellowish color is just a remnant of the lighting. The yogurt was the expected off-white color and it tasted like unsweetened yogurt. Chalk up another success.

I've read that the incubation time will affect the sweetness of the yogurt. The longer that it incubates, the more lactose (milk sugar) that the bacteria eats, and the more lactic acid it produces. Thus, shorter incubation periods yield sweeter yogurt. I'll experiment with that in the future.

Understanding Kefir Grains

I think I'm starting to understand why everyone says that it may take a few cycles to activate some sleepy kefir grains. My vendor told me that they needed to start to reproduce before I would get satisfactory results. Now, my grains are multiplying and my kefir is much more palatable.

I added some strawberries to my batch a couple days ago, and it was rather good. I didn't need to add any other sweetener.

Notice how the kefir is getting thicker.

I think the idea is that until the grains are very active, I have just been making sour milk, instead of kefir. No wonder it tasted so bad.

After straining the grains for this batch, I separated out about one teaspoon for the next batch (about half of the grains) and ate the rest. After the next cycle, I ended up with about twice as many grains. It's not obvious from this picture. I'll be more scientific next time.

The batch that is working, now, used all the grains from the photo above. I'll post an "after" picture tomorrow.

I'm glad that I didn't give up.