Many of you know that we bought a grain csa share from the Pioneer Valley Grain CSA folks out in western 
Massachusetts, and have been milling, sprouting, soaking and eating whole grains ever since.
Because the pickup was in Amherst, a few of us organized a car pool for other Boston area shareholders. On the day that we dropped off Aaron Foster’s share, he thanked us with some sourdough starter.
At first, this was terrifying. And we kind of planned on killing it. But some friendly advice got us on our way to feeding it (more on this later), and using it to actually make bread that actually rises and is actually delicious.
First, starting a sourdough starter is not easy. We tried once to no avail. It’s basically a question of leaving flour and water out to capture bacteria and wild yeast in the air and to ferment. But if you don’t have a happy colony of cooperative wild yeasts in your kitchen, no dice. So the gift was a great start. Next, we learned that feeding it is just about as simple as giving it flour and water a couple times per day. The rest of the time, it sits on the counter in a covered jar, growing, hissing, bubbling and smelly boozy.
The recipe we’ve used a couple of times now to make bread is something like three quarters of a cup of this starter, a couple cups of flour, a cup of water, honey, and salt. Mix. Knead. Let rise. Let rise. Let rise. Bake. It’s dense, and delicious.
What’s really fun though (aside from thwarting yeast manufacturers and pretending to eat like characters from the Bible) is starting a new sourdough starter from virtually nothing. Once you’ve used what you’ve grown to make bread, the jar is empty. But the stuff left on the sides is alive enough to allow you to start feeding it again successfully. Et voila! Another starter.
Now who wants some?
Last spring, we took a couple vanfuls of cityfolks out to Hardwick to meet the cows and Ridge Shinn, the farmer & the brains behind Hardwick Beef. We’re pleased to have Ridge coming to Jamaica Plain on February 18th to speak about what he does. Details to come.
We didn’t stay very long at the Farm Share Fair on Monday, because, well, we have a farm share and the space was in high, high demand. Literally hundreds of people poured into the library to meet with farmers and learn about their CSA options for the 2010 season. Props to Dave Madan, 
They shared with us their plan to blanch the greens, then squeeze them into balls, freeze the balls on cookie sheets, then store the balls of greens in bags. We do this kind of flash freezing with all kinds of things (berries, ice cubes of pesto), but it had not crossed our minds to store greens this way. Brilliant.