What’s cooking?

You do not need to make sourdough in order to get the all the benefits of fermented grains. Here’s farro monococco (‘little’ spelt – the grains are tiny!) which I soaked, sprouted and blended. I added a little sourdough starter before I whizzed them up; this is optional, if you don’t have it you could use kefir (milk or water), whey or nothing. Leave the mix at room temp to ferment.
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From there you can use it in many ways. Get a pan really hot and make it into pancakes. Add some water and make a porridge. Pour it into a greased baking tray and oven yourself a flat bread.
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We’re having this bubbly spelt as pancakes tonight, along with eggs and some fresh asparagus.

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I drink a cup of freshly-ground green coffee most mornings.
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It began when my hubby started roasting his own coffee. I was sad I couldn’t join in…there was no way; I just cannot handle ‘normal’ coffee. Despite being, according to 23andme, a fast caffeine metaboliser, I literally do not sleep after having coffee and it makes me feels shaky. There’s more to roasted coffee than just caffeine, me thinks.
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And then I heard @bengreenfieldfitness talking about green coffee. So I tried grinding then steeping the beans. I liked it. I felt good. My sleep didn’t seem affected.
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I’ve honed it a lot since them. I use organic, arabica beans. They are lower in caffeine than varieties such as robusta and also not as hard (I’ve broken a few grinders on this adventure!) I boil then simmer 2 tsp of the ground beans for 10 minutes.
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I drink it mainly for pleasure. I have read that the harder you roast a coffee the higher the caffeine is. I have also read that green coffee has other compounds in it that help mitigate any caffeine. I do know there are many anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds in the green stuff!
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My hubby still roasts his own beans, in our cast iron pan. I can’t convert him ;-).

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I have tried baking a lot of different scones. Hands down soda bread scones are my favourite. The dense texture and particular flavour of soda bread lends itself amazingly to these little bundles of treat.
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Want to cook them along with me this month? It’s easy. You can do them wheat, ancient grain, spelt, gluten-free – whatever flour you like. You can use raw dairy like I did here, or one of the many milk alternatives out there.
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The template recipe is linked to in my profile – it’s the Ancestral Cook Up for this month; ‘nutrient-dense soda bread’. It’ll walk you through what you need to do.
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And I’d recommend topping them with coconut oil and peanut butter. Sometimes it’s just darn necessary!

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This is lardo. It’s back fat from a pig that’s been cured in salt, rosemary and other goodies. It is soft and buttery in texture. And absolutely delicious.
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When we lived in Cornwall in the UK, we got pig fat from a local Cornish farmer and we rendered it down into spreadable lard ourselves. Lard is great to cook in or even slather on bread.
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But lardo is like it’s super-refined cousin. The word I’d use is divine. Just as it is. Sliced thinly, wrapping an almond. Or a date.
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This lardo comes from the farm up the hill. I am so grateful to those who do the work of raising animals sanely; who look after the animal, the soil, our planet so I can eat, create with and share what nature gives. Thank you.

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Here is the inside of the milk kefir-leavened spelt loaf. It has a beautifully open crumb considering it’s 100% wholegrain and the only ‘yeast’ is from kefir.
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Although this loaf doesn’t need a sourdough starter, it does need a warm place to do its thing. I keep it at 29C (84F) for almost 2 days. I do this thanks to a DIY proofing box my husband made for me. .
I’ve almost finished writing an article on how to make an at-home proofing box. I’ll link it here when I’ve posted it. In the meantime, there is an article on my site now walking you through how to create a sourdough starter. You’ll find a link on my profile.
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And, when I’ve got some more raw milk, I’ll make this one again and document the steps.

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100% wholegrain spelt leavened solely with milk kefir. I’d forgotten how good this bread is. It has a creamy, milky flavour – which I guess is from the predominance of lactic acid bacteria in the ferment (as opposed to acetic, which is more dominant in ‘normal’ sourdoughs).
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The crumb is very open for a wholegrain loaf. I’ll snap a pic later and post so you can see.
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Quite a few people have said they are interested in trying this loaf themselves. The good thing about it is that you don’t have to have a sourdough starter. I’ve made a little file in my brain entitled ‘figure out how to explain how to make the kefir loaf’ 🙂

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I’m making Kefir Bread. That is a long-fermented loaf leavened solely with milk kefir. Here is the first part – a mix of 50g goat milk kefir/50g wholegrain spelt flour. It’s like a sourdough starter (but without the days of preparation). I’ve left it in a warm place for just over a day and it’s done this.
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Next will come more wholegrain spelt flour, salt, a little honey and some water. And again a warm place.
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I’ll show you the loaf when it’s done. It is a recipe I worked on for a long time in the UK, but this is the first time I’ve made it here in Italy, with Italian spelt. Fingers crossed.

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My Birthday Borscht! This includes home-made beet kvass, chicken stock, beef stock, beef, lots of cabbage and lots of beets. I ate it with foraged dill (quite a feat, considering lockdown!), fermented ginger carrots and a chunky slice of wholegrain spelt sourdough covered in goat butter.
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Thanks @darra.goldstein for the recipe. It helped make turning 45 very special.

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