Sourdough fruit bread

This should really be called fruit and vege bread, it's amazing what you can sneak into a loaf of bread.
And it's really handy for when 'I'm hungry' strikes.
It's a lovely moist loaf, which keeps for several days.

Sourdough Fruit bread

Ingredients

2 cups whole spelt flour, sifted

1 cup dessicated coconut

1 cup water

3/4 cup sourdough starter

1 banana, mashed

1 carrot, grated

1/2 cup grated zuchinni 

1/2 cup raisins

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups white spelt flour

Directions

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a non metallic bowl, and leave for 2 - 24 hours to ferment.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix, then knead for a few minutes before transferring dough to either bread machine pan, or loaf tin.

Cover, and let rise for 2 - 5 hours.

3. Use the bake only setting in a bread machine, or heat your oven to 180 degrees and bake for 57 minutes,

Low sugar cheesecake

This is a no bake, low sugar cheesecake.
So low in sugar that it doesn't actually contain any processed sugar, just 2 Tablespoons of raw honey to sweeten it, and the natural sweetness of a fresh pear.

The base does take a bit more organisation than a typical crunch up biscuits and butter base, as it is made with sprouted buckwheat groats. But don't let this put you off as it is really simple, but just takes a bit of preparation.
And the great thing about buckwheat is it's gluten free, and contains B vitamins and an essential amino acid called tryptophan.

Tryptophan is really important for your body to create serotonin, which is the feel good chemical.

So basicly what I'm trying to say is this cheesecake will make you happy.

You can just soak the buckwheat groats for half an hour before using, or sprout them for a few days for maximum nutritional benefits.

Low Sugar Cheesecake

Ingredients

Base

1 cup of soaked or sprouted hulled buckwheat groats

1 cup shredded or dessicated coconut

1 Tablespoon chia seeds

2 Tablespoons coconut oil

10 dried apricots, cur into small pieces

juice of half orange

Middle Layer

250g quark or cream cheese

200g greek yogurt

1 pear, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 Tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup water

2 Tablespoons gelatin

Top with sliced kiwifruit or sliced strawberries if you prefer.

To make this cheesecake, soak the dried apricots in the orange juice for a few minutes then combine all base ingredients in a food processor.
Blend until well combined and press into the base of a 20x20cm dish.

Place in your fridge while you make the next layer.

Combine the water and gelatin in a cup. Sit the cup in a small bowl of boiling water and stir until the gelatin has dissolved.

Add all the middle layer ingredients to your food processor, and blend well.

Pour on to the top of the base layer and leave to set (will take about an hour).

When ready to serve, top with sliced kiwifruit and serve.

Mango frozen yogurt

This is a yummy, easy snack for sunny days.
I think we will be having a lot more of this recipe as the weather warms up.

I find it convenient to freeze milk and yogurt in ice cube trays if I don't think we will use it all before it's expiry date.
It's really handy for whipping up a quick, healthy dessert.

Mango Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients

1 cup mango, frozen into chunks

8 ice cubes frozen yogurt

8 ice cubes frozen milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

juice of 1/2 orange

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Serve immediately.

Yum!

Chips!

What kid doesn't love chips?
Mine love them.

And I don't mind them having them with their meal if they eat this version.
You can also add other vegetables into the mix such as sweet potato, kohl rabi, yams, parsnip, beetroot, and make a colourful bowl of chips.

I use a crinkle cutter to make mine. If you are a Whangarei local, I got mine from Arthurs Emporium for $1.50, although I have seen them cheap on www.amazon.com also.

Oven Chips

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 large potatoes (peeled if you like) cut into chips

1 Tablespoon of coconut oil

Kelp salt

Start heating your oven to 230 degrees.

Place cut potatoes into a pot, and cover with boiling water.

Boil for 2 - 3 minutes (I use my egg timer).

Drain immediately, and tip the potatoes into a large mixing bowl. 

Dot the hot potatoes with coconut oil and leave to melt.

Once melted season with kelp salt and shake the bowl to coat the chips with the coconut oil.

Tip onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Put tray into hot oven, turn them after 20 minutes and cook for a further 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve immediately.

Experiment with different seasonings, we like garlic granules and salt. Also lemon pepper is nice. 

Sourdough sweet potato brownie

I'm really pleased with this recipe, and so are my family.
I'm ecstatic to make a treat that's actually good for them, and it tastes great. Woo hoo!
It is low in grains, high in fruit and vege's, and no added sugar (apart from the sugar in the dark chocolate used in the icing).

Ingredients

300g sweet potato, peeled, diced and steamed.

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/3 cup dessicated coconut

1/3 cup spelt flour

1/3 cup sourdough starter

3 Tablespoons carob powder

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

1 banana, mashed

1/2 cup blackcurrants (mine are frozen)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing

50g 70% dark chocolate

3 Tablespoons cream

1. Mash the steamed sweet potato well, and let cool.

2. Add the next 8 ingredients, mix well and cover. Leave for 2 - 24 hours.

3. Heat your oven to 180 degrees.

    Line a 20x20cm cake tin with baking paper.

    Add the last 3 ingredients, and mix through the batter.

    Pour into your prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes.

4. Check that your brownie is cooked in the middle, and a sharp knife comes out clean.

    When cooked remove from pan, and let cool.

5. Melt the dark chocolate in a small bowl over hot water.

    When melted add the 3 Tablespoons of cream and mix well.
    Spoon the icing over the brownie and spread with a knife.

If you are local, I get my blackcurrants frozen from Putiputi ra in Whangarei.

Yogurt and Mint Coleslaw

This recipe is a favourite side dish in our household. My children often ask for more.
Luckily it makes large portions.
It's perfect at this time of year while cabbages are abundant.

Yogurt and Mint Coleslaw

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 ½ cups grated cabbage

2 carrots, peeled and roughly grated

½ yellow capsicum pepper, finely sliced

½ red capsicum pepper, finely sliced

2 Tablespoons finely diced onion

2 Tablespoons finely diced mint

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

½ cup yoghurt

Salt and pepper

Combine cabbage, carrots, capsicum peppers, and onion in a large bowl.

In a small bowl combine mint, vinegar, and yoghurt. Mix well, and then pour over coleslaw mix and gently stir.

Serve and enjoy.

Sourdough mini bagels

These are kid sized mini bagels.
I used to always regret making bagels when I was mid way through making them, the extra step of boiling them before baking always felt like like a hassle when you had a big batch to do.
So this recipe only makes a small batch of 4 small bagels, which means you fit them all in a pot at once.
Just perfect for a healthy, nutritious lunch or snack for mums and bubs, and kids.

Sourdough Mini Bagels

Ingredients

1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup whole spelt flour, sifted
3/4 cup white spelt flour
2 Tablespoons avocado or olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Knead until just combined. If mixture is to dry add 1 -2 Tablespoons water.
Cover bowl and leave for 5 hours or more.

Divide into 4 equal pieces and shape dough into a ball. Flatten slightly and poke a finger through the middle to form the bagel shape.
Let rise for a few hours.

When ready heat oven to 180 degrees, and boil about 5cm water at the bottom of a large pot.
When water is boiling, turn the heat down a little and boil your bagels for a minute each side.
Remove with a slotted spoon.
Sprinkle with toppings of your choice, the picture above has grated parmesan cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes.

Once baked and cooled slightly, split and fill.
Ours had cream cheese, salmon, lettuce, and cucumber.
Yum!

Variation

For a fruit and nut bagel, add a few tablespoons of slithered almonds, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 2 - 3 Tablespoons raisins (I soaked mine for about 15 minutes in water before using).

A tasty family snack

This is a handy little mixture, to help you create a quick and healthy snack, breakfast, or lunch.
Store it in the fridge in an airtight container, and it will keep for a few days....if it lasts that long, it doesn't around here.

Egg Sandwich Mix

Ingredients

2 hard boiled eggs (boil with 1 teaspoon baking soda to make peeling easier)

1 or 2 carrots, grated

1 tomato, finely diced

1 cup grated chedder cheese

2 Tablespoons parsley, finely diced

2 Tablespoons natural, unsweetened yogurt

1 teaspoon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Optional Extras

2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion, or spring onion

2 Tablespoons finely chopped celery

1/2 capsicum pepper, finely diced

Mash the hard boiled eggs with the back of a fork, and add to a mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well.

To serve either add to buttered sourdough toast (as above), or use in a sandwich, or add to your favourite cracker, or add to bread with a little extra grated cheese and place under the grill for a tasty toastie (below).

Spinach and Feta Fritters

We have been loving these fritters for breakfast.
We love them so much that we have had mashed potatoes 3 nights in a row, just so we can use leftovers to whip them up quickly the next morning.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups finely diced spinach
100g cubed feta
pepper
coconut oil for frying
Greek yogurt and parsley to season

1. Combine the mashed potatoes, eggs, feta, and pepper. Mix well.

2. Heat 1 or 2 Tablespoons of  coconut oil in the fry pan. When hot add 1 Tablespoon of the mixture to the frypan. Let the first side cook well before flipping.
If you want to keep the fritters in a round shape, then place the mixture into an egg ring on the hot frypan. Let cook for about 10 seconds before removing the ring for the next fritter.

3. Serve immediately with a spoon of yoghurt and parsley as garnish if desired.

Have you heard of a brown rice starter?

I love brown rice, with it's nutty flavour and firm texture.
Brown rice feels more filling than white rice, and it's glycemic index is lower than white rice which means it doesn't impact our blood sugar levels quite as much as white rice.
But it does take ages to cook and it also contains a substance called phytic acid.

Phytic acid is an  anti-nutrient that blocks absorption of many important minerals such as phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
To get the most nutrients from our food, it makes sense to reduce our phytic acid levels before consuming it.

To break down phytic acid an enzyme called phytase is needed.
Unfortunately brown rice is very low in phytase so requires a starter to reduce phytic acid levels.
Luckily a brown rice starter is very easy to make, and will reduce phytic acid levels by 96%.
It just takes a bit of preparation ahead of time, and as a bonus it shortens the cooking time.


How to make a brown rice starter

1. Combine 2 Tablespoons of brown rice with 2 Tablespoons of dechlorinated water.
Let soak for 24 hours.
Strain the rice, saving the liquid the rice was soaked in, discard the rice.

2. Add 1/4 cup brown rice, 1/3 cup dechlorinated water , and the reserved water from the previous soak. Soak for 24 hours.
Strain the rice, reserving the liquid the rice was soaked in.

3. Combine 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 cup dechlorinated water, and the reserved water from the previous soak. Leave for 24 hours.
Strain and reserve the liquid. This is your brown rice starter.
You can store this liquid in a jar in your fridge.

When you are planning to prepare some brown rice, add at least 10% of your starter to water, and soak your rice in it for 24hours.
Strain your rice once it has been soaked, rinse and then cook as usual.
This should decrease phytic acid content by 96% in your rice, and your rice will be quicker to cook.
Remember to save some of your soak water every so often to keep your starter going.

Baby rice isn't nice

There must have been some very impressive marketing back in the 1960's to convince mums to start feeding their babies packaged baby food, and I'm amazed that baby rice is still popular today.
Surely something that can sit on a shelf for months, and requires very little cooking can't be good for anyone.

I can see that baby rice would be very unlikely to cause an allergic reaction, as it is really just a blob of nothing. No nutrition, no flavour, no texture.  It's not surprising babies generally take some convincing to eat the stuff, you can't really blame them.

But their are more nutritious options for low allergenic first foods.
What about apple, pear, cauliflower, squash, sweet potato, carrot...the list could go on and on with fresh, seasonal, natural food that have fuelled generations of humans.
These naturally occurring whole foods are full of flavour, and texture that these little oral sensory seeking creatures are desperate for.
Let them have this opportunity for learning.
Let them play, feel it with their fingers, practice their fine motor skills, smell it, taste it, because before you know it this phase will have passed and be replaced by a much more cautious phase.

As respected pediatrician and author Alan Greene states 'Babies’ long-term food preferences and metabolisms are influenced by early food exposures. At this critical window of development, ripe with opportunity, we are giving babies a concentrated, unhealthy carb. Metabolically, it’s not that different from giving babies a spoonful of sugar'. 


I really enjoy it, as while my mess maker model 3 plays with his food, I get to sit down for a record length of time for a mum of a 6 month old and eat myself.
Although I must admit the clean up afterwards is a bit of a drag.

So what is so unhealthy about baby rice. It's rice isn't it?
Baby rice is created from white rice which is manufactured into a  highly processed starch in the form of a simple carbohydrate.
Once consumed it will convert to a sugar and cause a large spike in blood sugar levels.
Baby rice has a Glycemic Index of 95. The Glycemic index (GI) is a measurement that shows how much a food will impact our blood sugar level. Glucose has a GI of 100, apple GI is 38, banana is 52, pear is 38, carrot is 47, sweet potato 44. Very few foods have a glycemic index as high as baby rice, although Lucozade has a GI of 95 also.

This is a concern as diets with high GI foods are linked with many health problems such as diabetes, some cancers, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
It's also very bland, it does nothing to stimulate their taste buds, or prepare them for the food we want them to enjoy.
Baby food doesn't have to be bland.

But what about iron?

So many mums say they give their babies baby rice for the iron content.

Baby rice does contain plenty of artificially added, difficult to absorb, iron, Breast milk on the other hand contains small amounts of easily absorbable iron.

Breast milks iron is bound to specialized proteins that ensure only the baby can use the available iron.

The iron in baby rice doesn't have these specialized proteins and the excessive iron feeds harmful bacteria in the babies intestinal tract.

A study in 1995 found that babies who had not received iron fortified food in their first 7 months of life had significantly higher hemoglobin levels, than babies who received iron fortified solid food before 7 months of age.

If you are concerned about your babies iron levels then feed them foods naturally high in iron such as breast milk, sweet potato, squash, meat & poultry, and spinach.

In conclusion stick to whole foods as close to their natural state as possible.
Let your baby have fun and explore food and flavours, and skip the baby rice.
You won't regret it.


References

Alan Greene. Whiteout FAQ. 

http://www.drgreene.com/whiteout-faq/

Kelly Bonyata. Is Iron-Supplementation Necessary?
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/

Pisacane A, et al. Iron status in breast-fed infants. J Pediatr 1995 Sep;127(3):429-31.

Sears W. What are the best sources or iron. http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-eating/family-nutrition/iron/what-are-the-best-food-sources-of-iron.

Sourdough battered fish

Do your kids like fish?
This recipe gives the fish and chip shop a run for it's money, and my kids love it.
Even better, it's fast and simple, and much healthier than a take away, and tastes great.

Sourdough Battered Fish

Ingredients
1 fillet of fish per person and rubbed with a small amount of white flour (this helps the batter to stick).

For the Batter  (will make enough for 6 fillets of fish)
1/2 cup white spelt flour
1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup something fizzy (either beer, kombucha, kefir, soda water)
1 Tablespoon lemon pepper (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
coconut oil for frying

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl big enough to dip fish into. Leave until ready to cook the fish.
When ready to cook the fish, add everything else except the coconut oil, and mix well.
Heat some coconut oil in a fry pan (about 3 Tablespoons) and ensure it's hot before beginning to cook. You can drop just a spot of batter in to check. It should sizzle, bubble, and brown quite quickly.
If it isn't hot enough the batter will stick to the pan.
When hot enough, dip the fish into the batter and place into the hot oil. Let cook until browned on the first side then flip over and brown the second side.
Serve immediately and enjoy.

Kid Friendly Vege Curry

This is a mild, vegetable  filled curry suitable for children.

I cook it in a slow cooker, but you could also cook in a saucepan.

It contains many health promoting ingredients such as tumeric (for anti inflammatory effects), garlic and onion (for fighting infections), coconut cream with it's lauric acic provides anti viral and anti bacterial properties, and plenty of  healthy vegetables.
We use home made stock in it for it's gut healing benefits.

I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine.

Kid Friendly Vege Curry

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely grated
1 cm piece of ginger, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 Tablespoon mild curry powder
200g sweet potato, peeled and cubed
200g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and cubed
400g can of coconut cream
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup stock
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
150g (half a head) cauliflower, broken into florets
salt and pepper to season

Directions

If cooking in slow cooker, turn to high and add the first 11 ingredients.
Let cook for about 2 hours (until sweet potato and pumpkin are soft).
Either blend the mixture with a stick blender or mash with a potato masher.
Add the potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower, and cook either on high for another 2 hours or low for 4 - 5 hours.
Season with salt and pepper before serving.

If cooking in a saucepan, melt butter and gently fry onions for a few minutes.
Add garlic, ginger, tumeric, curry powder, sweet potato, pumpkin or butternut squash, coconut cream, stock, and tomato paste.
Gently simmer until sweet potato and pumpkin are soft (about 15 - 20 minutes).
Either blend the mixture with a stick blender or mash with a potato masher.
Add the potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower, and simmer for another 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked.
Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Sugar free Sorbet

Persimmons or otherwise known as Sharon fruit are at the end of their season here in New Zealand, but there are still a few around and I even spotted some discounted at our local supermarket.

Grab some while you can and pop them in your freezer, they make a terrific base for this delicious sorbet.

I'm hoping to save some till summer, but I seriously doubt they will last that long.


Persimmon and Orange Sorbet

Ingredients

2 Persimmon
1 Orange

1. Peel the persimmons with a vegetable peeler, roughly chop and freeze. 
Alternatively you can freeze the persimmons whole, then peel and chop while frozen but your hands will freeze too, and you will need a sharp vegetable peeler.

2. Juice your orange and freeze the juice into an ice cube tray (it will only fill 2 - 3 cubes).

3. Combine the frozen ingredients in a food processor and blend until very smooth (this may take a few minutes).
Either serve immediately or place sorbet back in freezer for an hour or two. It does tend to freeze solid if frozen for longer.

Variations

For a Mango and Persimmon Sorbet, peel and roughly dice 1 mango then freeze the flesh.
Add the frozen mango with the frozen persimmon, and omit the orange juice. Blend in food processor.

For a Pineapple and Persimmon Sorbet, peel and roughly chop about 100g of fresh pineapple, then freeze. Add the frozen pineapple to the frozen persimmon. Blend in food processor.

For a passion fruit and persimmon sorbet, add 1 passion fruit to the frozen persimmon. No need to freeze the passion fruit. Blend in food processor.

Tali thought my notes on raising an adventurous eater were great.......and devoured it

Whatever flips your pancake

Have you been religiously feeding your sourdough starter, but haven't quite found the time to make your bread?
And now you have sourdough starter coming out of your ears!
Don't throw it away, instead make pancakes.

SOURDOUGH PANCAKES

                        

                                               makes 4 pancakes (approx 12 - 15cm diameter)

Ingredients

1 cup sourdough starter

1 egg, beaten

coconut oil for frying

toppings of your choice, I've used Greek yogurt, papaya, and banana in this one.

1. Whisk the sourdough starter and egg together.

2. Heat about 1/2 Tablespoon of the coconut oil in a fry pan. When hot pour in 1/4 - 1/3 cup batter into the pan.
Let cook until the batter is no longer runny and the pancake is golden on the first side. 

Flip, and cook the other side.

3. Remove from fry pan, and cook the rest of the batter, adding a bit more coconut oil as needed.

4. Add your toppings and enjoy.


If you prefer Pikelets or American style Pancakes

makes 8 pancakes (approx 10cm diameter)

1.Add : 3 Tablespoons white spelt flour
             1 teaspoon baking soda
to the batter ingredients in the recipe above. Mix well.

2. Heat about 1/2 Tablespoon of coconut oil in a fry pan. When pan is hot, add a large serving spoon of batter to the fry pan. Cook until golden on the first side, before flipping and cooking the other side.

ENJOY

Easy Peasy Sourdough Loaf

This is a very easy loaf of bread to make, although there are a few short steps involved.

It produces a really flavoursome, moist, and easy to slice loaf of bread.
Sourdough breads do have a slightly tart taste and will be heavier than store bought bread.

I use spelt flour although you could use wheat if you prefer.
Spelt flour doesn't like to be overworked, so just mix and knead until dough is even and stop at that (3 minutes at the most).

I cook my bread in my bread machine on the bake only setting, just because it saves me heating up my oven for 1 loaf of bread, but you could cook it in your oven if you prefer.

Whole grains contain a type of protein called lectins, which can irritate the gut wall and cause an immune response in sensitive individuals. This can cause skin rashes, joint pain, and chronic disorders such as leaky gut syndrome.
Sifting whole flour will remove some of the bran which contains the lectins, and fermenting will aid in breaking down lectins too.

Ingredients
250g (2 cups) whole spelt flour
1 cup water
1 cup sourdough starter
300g (2 1/2 cups) white spelt flour
1 egg, beaten

1. Sift the 250g of whole spelt flour into a non-metallic bowl.
Add the cup of water and the cup of sourdough starter.
Mix until combined, then cover with a tea towel and leave to ferment for 6 - 24 hours.

2. Then add the remaining 300g of white flour and the beaten egg.
Mix until combined, and knead for a few minutes.
Transfer your dough to either a loaf tin, or a bread machines pan. If your bread machine pan has a removable mixing blade then remove it so you don't have a big hole in your loaf of bread. It you can't remove it then turn the blade to face sideways across your loaf, so it makes the least damage as possible.
Cover your tin with cling film. If you are using a normal loaf tin it will be best to cover with oiled cling film so your dough doesn't stick to it if it rises up high enough to touch it.
Leave in a warm spot to rise for 3 or more hours.

3. Once risen for 3 or more hours, either bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes, or gently place your bread machine pan into your bread machine and use your bake only setting for 45 minutes.

Let's get started

To get your very own sourdough starter you have a few options.

A nice, healthy, bubbly sourdough starter

1. Find someone with one and ask for some. Check out fermenting pages in your local area if you don't know anyone personally with one.
They tend to be generous people who like to share the love.

2. Buy one. You can order a starter very easily online. Just follow the instructions and you will have your own sourdough starter.

3. Capture your own wild yeast.
This process takes  a week.
Combine 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup water in a non metallic bowl. Cover with a tea towel to keep insects out, then leave in a warm spot for 24 hours.
Every day add a few tablespoons of flour and a few tablespoons of water, mix well and replace the tea towel.
After a few days your starter will begin to form bubbles, after 7 days it will be ready for bread making.

4. Use Kombucha for a sourdough starter.
Kombucha is a fermented drink, full of natural yeasts and bacteria, perfect for inoculating a sourdough starter.
If you already brew your own kombucha, save the yeasty dregs from the bottom of your brew and use them.
If not, you can purchase bottled kombucha in health food shops, just ensure it's raw.
Combine 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup kombucha, stir well and cover with a tea towel to keep insects out. Leave somewhere warm for 24 hours.
After 24 hours the starter should be forming bubbles.
If not, don't give up. Feed it another 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup kombucha, mix well, cover and recheck in another 8 - 10 hours.
As soon as the starter is bubbling and frothy with a slight sour smell, you can start baking.

What flour to use

Rye is the most common sourdough starter.
It produces a dense loaf, that my children aren't so keen on.
We use spelt flour which is an ancient variety of wheat. It has a lower gluten and phytic acid content than regular wheat, and produces a delicious loaf of bread, although it will be heavier than a loaf made from wheat.
My starters are more active when using white flour, although some people do prefer whole flour.

Feeding your starter

I feed my starter once a day. The more you feed it, the more active it will be.

If you don't plan to use it in the next week then store it in the fridge, where it will keep for months. Just take it out, re feed it, and it will kick back into action.

I feed my starter 3-4 Tablespoons white spelt flour and 3 - 4 Tablespoons water daily and mix well.
I tend to bake every 2nd day, so you may need to adjust this depending on how often you intend to bake.

Follow me to learn how to make a loaf of yummy sourdough bread.

The best thing since sliced bread

Our daily bread, the staff of life, bread has been around for 10,000 years so it's got to be OK for us, doesn't it?

Unfortunately the bread we have today is vastly different from the bread eaten 100 and even 50 years ago.
People used to consume a wider variety of grains, but we have narrowed our consumption so much that now 50% of our food comes from corn, rice, or wheat.
The wheat currently used is a much higher in a certain protein called glia-alpha 9 than 100 years ago, and scientists in the Netherlands think this maybe responsible for the dramatic rise in people developing celiac disease.
 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20664999?dopt=Abstract

Our wheat is grown with an ever increasing cocktail of chemical pesticides and fungicides, and the majority of our bread is made by a process called the Chorleywood bread process.
This process was created in the UK in 1961, it shortened the amount of time to make a loaf of bread to just 3 1/2 hours from the start, to sliced, and packaged.
It requires the use of high speed mixers and chemical oxidents to produce plenty of cheap, soft, spongy and uniform packets of bread, and saved people lots of time.

It bypasses the old methods of bread making which slow and time consuming.
However our traditional methods of bread making have some distinct advantages.
All grains contain a substance called phytic acid.
Phytic acid binds with phosphorus and can block the absorption of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc.
A diet high in unfermented whole grains could lead to severe mineral deficiencies and also puts a huge strain on the digestive system.

An old traditional way of bread is sourdough bread.
Sourdough bread is prepared using a sourdough starter.
This starter acts as a natural yeast for the bread and ferments the dough, breaking down phytic acid and gluten, and increasing the nutritional content of the bread.
New research in Italy has shown that some people with celiac's disease can tolerate sourdough bread.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20975578

More and more people are discovering the benefits of sourdough bread, with it's distinct delicious taste, which is so much more satiable than the packets of cheap bread, or expensive air, stocked at your supermarket.

Follow me to learn more about how to make your own sourdough starter and bread.

What is a Weston Price diet?

Dr Weston Price was a dentist in the 1930's who travelled the world to study the diets of traditional and non-industrialized people.

He found that these people had superb health, and were free of chronic disease and dental decay.

When he compared these groups to nearby villages or tribes who were living on so called 'civilised diet' which involved refined grains, canned foods, pasteurized milk, and sugar, he found that these people had developed degenerative and infectious illnesses.

What does the the diet involve?

In a nutshell avoiding all processed foods.

No processed meats (including luncheon, salami, bacon)
No margarine, foods cooked in vegetable oils, or low fat products
No highly processed vegetable oils
No pasteurized, homogenized commercial milk
No bleached or fortified flour
No genetically modified foods
No commercial cereals
No refined sugar, including high fructose corn syrup
No fizzy drinks, fruit juices, rice or oat milk, MSG, artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives.

So what can we eat?

All nutrient dense, unprocessed foods which includes

Pasture raised meat, beef, lamb, game, chicken, turkey
Seafood from deep sea waters, fresh shellfish
Fresh eggs from free range hens
Fresh butter and cream, especially raw diary, yogurt, and cheese
Extra virgin olive oil, and coconut oil
Sourdough breads
Fresh fruit and vegetables, raw, cooked, and fermented
Meat stocks
Lacto-fermented drinks

The aim of this blog is to focus on the food we can eat.
To share recipes that we use and our children enjoy, and that I feel isn't too time consuming to prepare with a busy family life.

Welcome to That's yummy mummy

Welcome to my new blog.

I hope you will enjoy it.

That's yummy mummy is the place to visit if you are looking for healthy, nutritious, and delicious recipes for the whole family, as well as healthy living tips for busy mums and dads.

We strive to eat a low sugar, high fruit and vegetable diet which also contains healthy fats. Probably similar to the diet our great grandparents ate.
Our recipes are  particularly suited to families trying to heal food intolerance's and allergies, stop tooth decay, and ease conditions such as eczema. These are the reasons that started us on this journey several years ago.