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Bread, soaked in stock, layered with bolognaise sauce, topped with cheese and baked till it’s bubbling and crispy and all melded together. It’s this month’s #ancestralcookup – you can find the recipe via the link on my profile. I’d love it if you fancy cooking with me.

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Bread, soaked in stock, layered with bolognaise sauce, topped with cheese and baked till it’s bubbling and crispy and all melded together. It’s this month’s #ancestralcookup – you can find the recipe via the link on my profile. I’d love it if you fancy cooking with me.

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Borodinsky sourdough rye. It’s been a year since I made one of these and I don’t want to go back to ‘normal’ sourdough rye now, despite the fact that this bread needs me more during the fermentation. . It’s flavour, which gets better from days 2 and 3, is deep, fragrant and rich – from the molasses I added, plus the malt grain and caraway seed mix that I toasted and included. It’s soft and cakey – from the scald (flour mixed with boiling water) that makes up a large part of it. . I prep the starter and the scald the evening before and then mix them together in the morning. Half way through the day I add the remaining flour and molasses. A couple of hours later it’s ready to shape and then it’s baked before tea. . Thanks to @theryebaker for the formula. It’s a beautiful homage to this wonderful grain.

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Borodinsky sourdough rye. It’s been a year since I made one of these and I don’t want to go back to ‘normal’ sourdough rye now, despite the fact that this bread needs me more during the fermentation.
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It’s flavour, which gets better from days 2 and 3, is deep, fragrant and rich – from the molasses I added, plus the malt grain and caraway seed mix that I toasted and included. It’s soft and cakey – from the scald (flour mixed with boiling water) that makes up a large part of it.
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I prep the starter and the scald the evening before and then mix them together in the morning. Half way through the day I add the remaining flour and molasses. A couple of hours later it’s ready to shape and then it’s baked before tea.
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Thanks to @theryebaker for the formula. It’s a beautiful homage to this wonderful grain.

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Lunch is ‘primo sale’ organic raw goat’s milk cheese studded with pistachio. I found this Italian gem in our local health food store and love it. . I’ve also got a salad made from local greens/veg, herbs from the garden and raw onion (that I soak for a day in lemon so it’s flavour is gentler). The salad is topped with my sauerkraut and a dressing made from local lemons and olive oil plus my latest obsession – nigella seeds. . I’m generous with the dressing as mopping it up with the accompanying slices of my sourdough spelt bread is very almost the best bit!

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Lunch is ‘primo sale’ organic raw goat’s milk cheese studded with pistachio. I found this Italian gem in our local health food store and love it.
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I’ve also got a salad made from local greens/veg, herbs from the garden and raw onion (that I soak for a day in lemon so it’s flavour is gentler). The salad is topped with my sauerkraut and a dressing made from local lemons and olive oil plus my latest obsession – nigella seeds.
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I’m generous with the dressing as mopping it up with the accompanying slices of my sourdough spelt bread is very almost the best bit!

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Water kefir grains can be used in a lot of ways. You don’t just have to put them in a sugar/water solution. They work with honey, I’ve used them in green juice and here’s the result of putting them with watermelon: Watermelon kefir. . I’ve transferred it to a swing top with some sliced pear (added so its sugar can be further fermented and the drink will become fizzy) for a second ferment. . Feels a bit like pink champagne. Tastes complex – fresh from the watermelon, tart from my likeness for sour ferments (I leave them a long time) and sweet from the pear. . You do not need a juicer for this. I blended the watermelon flesh and then drained it through a sieve. . Cheers!

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Water kefir grains can be used in a lot of ways. You don’t just have to put them in a sugar/water solution. They work with honey, I’ve used them in green juice and here’s the result of putting them with watermelon: Watermelon kefir.
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I’ve transferred it to a swing top with some sliced pear (added so its sugar can be further fermented and the drink will become fizzy) for a second ferment.
.
Feels a bit like pink champagne. Tastes complex – fresh from the watermelon, tart from my likeness for sour ferments (I leave them a long time) and sweet from the pear.
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You do not need a juicer for this. I blended the watermelon flesh and then drained it through a sieve.
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Cheers!

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My experiements have shown that having pink piggy slippers helps with fasting. They are so cute, I’m more likely to put my feet up to see them and and actually get some rest! . Fasting isn’t as exciting as glorious food, but an important part of an ancestral kitchen. Our ancestors would have lived in a feast or famine way a lot of the time. I’m doing it 2 afternoons/evenings a week at the moment – going from lunch till late breakfast the next day without solid food. . Psychologically and physically it helps me reboot. AND it means I can eat with a little more abandon the rest of the time. I like that! . The hardest thing is resting whilst doing it. I want to support my body the best I can, but it’s hard to stop. Enter the slippers :-)

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My experiements have shown that having pink piggy slippers helps with fasting. They are so cute, I’m more likely to put my feet up to see them and and actually get some rest!
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Fasting isn’t as exciting as glorious food, but an important part of an ancestral kitchen. Our ancestors would have lived in a feast or famine way a lot of the time. I’m doing it 2 afternoons/evenings a week at the moment – going from lunch till late breakfast the next day without solid food.
.
Psychologically and physically it helps me reboot. AND it means I can eat with a little more abandon the rest of the time. I like that!
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The hardest thing is resting whilst doing it. I want to support my body the best I can, but it’s hard to stop. Enter the slippers 🙂

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This is a wholegrain rye sourdough. I make one every week, along with my wholegrain spelt. My hubby eats the rye, it’s lower in gluten and suits him better. . Because it’s lower in gluten, the technique is quite different to my spelt loaves. In its simplest form, with a good starter, it pretty much looks after itself. . And horrah! The rye is local. Italy being a bread basket suits me ;-) . Anyone else love rye sourdough?

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This is a wholegrain rye sourdough. I make one every week, along with my wholegrain spelt. My hubby eats the rye, it’s lower in gluten and suits him better.
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Because it’s lower in gluten, the technique is quite different to my spelt loaves. In its simplest form, with a good starter, it pretty much looks after itself.
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And horrah! The rye is local. Italy being a bread basket suits me 😉
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Anyone else love rye sourdough?

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Watermelon rind ferment. I added garlic, coriander seeds, yellow mustard seeds and black pepper. Never done this before – thinking of cracking it open early next week, so I’ll let you know how it tastes! . I juiced most of the flesh. It’s sitting in a glass jar with water kefir grains now. Hoping I’ll have a fizzy pink kefir nectar soon. . I love summer in Italy :-)

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Watermelon rind ferment. I added garlic, coriander seeds, yellow mustard seeds and black pepper. Never done this before – thinking of cracking it open early next week, so I’ll let you know how it tastes!
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I juiced most of the flesh. It’s sitting in a glass jar with water kefir grains now. Hoping I’ll have a fizzy pink kefir nectar soon.
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I love summer in Italy 🙂

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How gorgeous is this picture? I have stove envy. A big ol’ part of me longs to me a Mamma in charge of this beauty, creating with it in my kitchen, knowing it inside out. . According to Darra Goldstein’s latest book on Russian cuisine (where this pic comes from), there’s a high ledge that I could cuddle up on in winter, it’d transform into a sauna, and of course, I could keep all my ferments warm as it cooled. . And I like her outfit too :-)

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How gorgeous is this picture? I have stove envy. A big ol’ part of me longs to me a Mamma in charge of this beauty, creating with it in my kitchen, knowing it inside out.
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According to Darra Goldstein’s latest book on Russian cuisine (where this pic comes from), there’s a high ledge that I could cuddle up on in winter, it’d transform into a sauna, and of course, I could keep all my ferments warm as it cooled.
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And I like her outfit too 🙂

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This is soppressata toscana. It is made with ‘waste’; the parts of a pig which, these days, most people don’t eat. It came to us from Francesca, who runs the organic farm up the hill with her husband. . It tastes delicious. . I adore the fact that I live in a place where nose-to-tail traditions are very much alive. . And I want to learn how to make this :-)

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This is soppressata toscana. It is made with ‘waste’; the parts of a pig which, these days, most people don’t eat. It came to us from Francesca, who runs the organic farm up the hill with her husband.
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It tastes delicious.
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I adore the fact that I live in a place where nose-to-tail traditions are very much alive.
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And I want to learn how to make this 🙂

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