Month: July 2021

Do you know Elly? She’s a legend in the online sourdough world. If you want to bake sourdough, or want to bake more sourdough (and who doesn’t?!) her YouTube channel is such a fount of clear, non-nonsense, simple advice.
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And we got her on the podcast! Quite ambitious for our first ever guest. But the technology, working over three different continents held up and I’m delighted to bring you the interview.
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We talk about wholegrain baking, starters, milling, gluten-free sourdough, baking issues *and* we even get to chat about Elly’s other passion – soap-making.
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I’ll pop a run down of the contents from this @ellys.everyday episode in my story today. You can download by searching for Ancestral Kitchen on your podcast app, or stream it from the link on my site (click on my bio link to get there).
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And if you haven’t yet, head over to @ancestralkitchenpodcast 🙂

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This is sourdough oat polenta bread. That sounds like three different foods in one, right? Well, it kinda is…
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I fermented the ground wholegrain oats for a couple of days (inoculated with some sourdough starter). When fizzy, I cooked them up with water and made a polenta-style dish which we ate like porridge.
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I then stuffed the (intentional) leftovers into a small loaf tin and packed them down! A hour or so later and I turned out this 🙂
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We’ll slice it throughout the week to make an easy breakfast/supper and if I’ve got more time, I’ll probably fry some slices in ghee or lard.
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I plan to include this process in a set of three videos I’m hoping to film over the summer. They’ll walk you through the whole fermenting – polenta-ing – bread-ing process.
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In addition to IG, you can now sign up to my (forthcoming) mailing list (link in profile) if you want to keep in touch with my kitchen.

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If you fancy creating an ancient Turkish probiotic millet drink, Boza, in your kitchen (that is gluten-free, lectin-free, dairy-free and also happens to be vegan) then the first video course I’ve ever created is for you!
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It’s up on my website now. There are 35+ minutes of video that’ll talk you through it, 2 downloadable .pdfs that you can pin up in your kitchen, lots of photos and extra videos and you’ll have the opportunity to ask me questions too.
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Boza is dairy-free, gluten-free, lectin-free, vegan, probiotic, tasty, easy and versatile. Have I convinced you yet that you’ll love it?!
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Check the link in my profile to be taken to all the details.

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This is a Cornish Pasty. Well, not quite…
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Yes, the ‘pasty’ format was inspired by where we used to live (Cornwall, in the UK)…
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But:
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The pastry is sourdough spelt, infused with layer upon layer of lard paste (made with left-over-from-rendering lard cracklings) inspired the Slovakian recipe I got from @almost bananas.
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And the filling is slow-cooked mutton grass-fed on the Tuscan hillside (thank you @valledelsasso).
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Prepared by one big English person with the help of one little English person (see my story for a shot of the little chef at work) in their Italian apartment kitchen.
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Who needs boundaries when the eating is this good? Check my story if you want to see the process and a fatty-flaky-pastry moment.

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Underneath all those chives (can you tell I’m enthusiastic about my garden chives?!) is a stew made from mutton.
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When I heard from my farmer, Flavio @valledelsasso, that grass-fed mutton was available, I jumped. I love anything that I can slow-cook (for convenience, yes, but equally, for flavour). Plus 100% grass-fed – yes, please!
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There is no stigma, in this house, attached to ‘old’ meat. Why shouldn’t a sheep have a pleasant life on Flavio’s farm, being allowed to live, to nutrify the ground, to eat the grass and to provide wool? That seems a lot better than killing an young animal, just because it’s culturally fashionable (and easier to cook) that way.
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I bought 3 kg. One of those went in this, it”ll last us 4/5 days. I’ve already decided that the next kilo will be cooked with beetroot and warming spices.

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