Farmer's Market Week 38 (Sunflower Sour + Fig n Fennel)

Well the great produce is really kickin into gear and the amazing fruit is just starting to show.  I opted to go with the Sunflower Sour Rye I made http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/38296/farmers-market-week-30-sunflower-sour and make a few changes.  I reduced the Sunflower Seeds to 15% and added a Rolled Rye Soaker (10% rolled rye soaked in 150% it's weight of water the night before).  The rest remained the same but a very different loaf indeed.  With 22% prefermented flour, all of which is fresh milled whole rye, this dough was gonna move quick.  

For Tuesday I finally used the Organic Non-GMO Calimyrna figs for my Fig n Fennel loaf.  Formula is the same as http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/38207/farmers-market-week-29-fig-n-fennel with different figs and some Oregon grown hard white wheat.  It's hard not to love this loaf.  I was smart this time and sliced up one and stashed in the freezer for toast treats til the next time.  

And with all the stems from the figs I made my own yogurt culture.  I've been making yogurt for a few weeks now and I can't express how easy it is.  And this has made it so I can produce 1/2 gallon of yogurt a week with local organic milk for less than $3.  After a few tries I got curious and wanted to make my own starter.  I dug around and found the most common answers to be fig stems, chili pepper stems, and ants.  I had the fig stems so no need to gather the ants just yet.  Basically you just inoculate your milk with one of these and treat just like yogurt.  You do need to do it a few times to build up the culture and remove off flavors from stems/ants.  I've done two builds successfully and it smells like good yogurt so my next full batch will be "au natural".  Then I'll find some ants just to see.

Cheers

Josh

Pluots, cucumbers, local honey, local tuna, zucchini, broccoli, Walla Walla Onions, fennel, asparagus, mustard greens, wasabi arugula, and some fresh eggs came later in the day. 

Cheers

Josh