Sourdough Bread Rolls / Burger Buns

Ingredients:

50 g unsalted organic grass fed butter/organic grass fed lard at room temperature
100 g raw organic milk
100 g active white sourdough starter
1 organic free range egg
1 tsp unrefined sea salt
1 tbsp raw honey (or other healthy sweetener)
300 g white organic flour (all purpose or strong, unbleached)
organic rice flour for shaping the rolls/buns (optional)
more unsalted butter/lard for greasing and brushing (around 2 tbsp)

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until you have a soft pliable dough.
Cover the bowl with a cling film and leave at room temperature to ferment for minimum of 8 hours or overnight.
In the morning or after fermenting the dough place it into the fridge for 2 hours so it is more manageable later.

After 2 hours melt a few tsp of butter/lard in a small saucepan, grease the glass or stainless steel baking dish of any shape with melted butter/lard.
Take the dough out of the fridge and turn it into a floured (I use rice flour but any will do) working surface and using a knife, a bench scraper or your hands divide the dough into 8-10 parts, make rolls/buns and place them into the greased baking dish 2 cm apart from each other and from the walls of the dish.
Using pastry brush apply the rest of the melted butter/lard on each roll/bun covering them all over.
Cover the baking dish with the rolls/buns with a cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 3-5 hours or until they double in size and the sides of the rolls/buns are touching each other and the tray.

When ready preheat oven to 220°C, bake the rolls/buns for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool them down.

They keep well in airtight container for up to a week, may be even longer I never get to test that as we usually finish ours off within few days.

They are excellent as dinner rolls with main dish and gravy or with plain butter or herby butter especially when still still warm. They are also excellent as burger buns, they are very soft and do not crumble when you squeeze them together with the burger meat in between and are not chewy at all.

Please enjoy and leave your favorite way to eat them in the comments below.

Sourdough Rye Brick Bread (Kirpichik)

This bread resembles the one we used to have in Soviet Union times and was called Kirpichik (Brick). The bread using this recipe comes out tasting exactly like the one we used to buy in the shop.
This bread is made in 2 stages. First you need to make production sourdough and then the bread itself.
As always I would recommend reading through the whole recipe before starting to implement it.

STAGE 1

Ingredients:

For production sourdough:

50g active rye sourdough starter
75g rye flour
75g filtered water

Instructions: 

In a medium bowl mix together all the ingredients using spatula. It will be a thick paste. Cover the bowl with a cling film and leave to ferment at room temperature for minimum of 8 hours or overnight.

STAGE 2

Ingredients:

all production sourdough (approx 200 g)
350 g filtered water
350 g white strong flour
150 g rye flour
1 tbsp raw honey or sugar (optional)
1 ½ tsp unrefined sea salt

Equipment:

medium bowl for mixing the dough
spatula
stand mixer (optional)
cling film
bread tin

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together and knead with a spatula or in a stand mixer with a bread hook for 8 minutes, the dough will be quite liquid. Transfer the dough into a medium bowl, cover with cling film and leave to ferment at room temp for a minimum of 8 hours or overnight.

After the initial ferment, transfer the dough into the bread tin (line it with unbleached parchment paper if using nonstick one), the dough should occupy slightly more than a half of the tin, cover with cling film and leave at room temperature to proof for around 5-8 hours. It will rise approx 1.5 times and will be bubbly.

Heat the oven to 220°C Fan/ 240°C and bake the loaf for 30-45 minutes depending on your oven. Bake out of the tin for the last 10 min. Take the loaf out and cool it on the rack covered with the kitchen towel. Make sure it is completely cold before cutting it.

This bread keeps well in a plastic bag for a week which keeps the bread very soft and chewy. I noticed that after a week it starts getting white mould, this is because the water content of this bread is quite high in relation to flour so try consuming it within one week, or you can cut it up and freeze some. You can also keep it in a cloth or paper bag and it will stay without mold longer but will be quite hard.To defrost, simply place in a warm oven for a few minutes if in a hurry or place into a plastic bag in the kitchen counter overnight.

Please enjoy!

PS: This recipe is adapted from Dark Silestian Rye Chleba in the book by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman called Local Breads.

Sourdough Biscotti

Ingredients:

50g white sourdough starter
40g unsalted butter, softened
80-100 g sugar
40g raw honey
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of unrefined sea salt
250g + all purpose flour
80g crispy nuts of your choice roughly chopped (can use crispy seeds too)
50g shaved coconut
100g dried fruit roughly chopped (I use mixture) 

All ingredients are organic except the sea salt.

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 180°C /160°C Fan together with the baking stone (if using); line baking sheet with parchment paper if not using the baking stone.

In a medium bowl combine starter, eggs, butter, sugar, honey, vanilla extract and mix up with a spatula or if using a stand mixer use the whisk attachment. Then gradually add salt, flour, coconut, nuts and dried fruit and mix using the spatula or bread hook (if using the mixer) and mix till the dough forms, add more flour if needed, the dough should be heavy, greasy and not very sticky. Do not over-knead. Form a ball and place in a small bowl (it is not going to expand) cover with cling film and leave at room temperature overnight or for minimum of 8 hours.

When ready remove the dough from the bowl and form into a long flat log around 5cm thick, divide into 2 logs if desired.
Place on the lined baking sheet or straight into the hot baking stone and bake depending on your oven from 25 minutes for up to an hour, it should be slightly brown.

When ready take it out of the oven and cool it down for around 30 minutes or until cool enough to handle. When cool gently cut the loaves on the angle into 1cm slices (a serrated bread knife works best). 
Return the pieces into the oven and bake the biscotti for another 10-15 minutes on each side, less if you like it softer. Store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy!

Herby Butter

This butter is very versatile and you can use any combination of herbs you like, or just experiment with different ones every time. You can also use twice as much the amount of herbs and the butter will be much greener and more flavoursome.
This recipe is perfect for taking to a party or other occasion as it is relevantly cheap, easy and quick to make and can be used with many things like bread, potatoes and even as a dip.

Ingredients:

1 block of organic grass-fed preferably raw unsalted butter (usually 250 g)
you can use salted butter too, then you would not need salt
1 handful of fresh organic parsley stalks with leaves
1 handful of fresh organic basil leaves
1 small clove of organic garlic
unrefined sea salt (to taste)
3-4 drops of organic freshly squeezed lemon juice

Equipment:

food processor or hand blender (optional)
wrap paper from the butter or 250 g glass jar with lid or butter dish with lid

Instructions:

I recommend to leave your butter on the kitchen counter overnight or for at least 2-3 hours so it is soft and pliable. However if you forgot to do that or have no time to wait then just cut up the block of butter into smaller cubes and place in the warm oven for a while but be careful not to melt it to the liquid consistency, it needs to be just soft like this.

Alternatively you can use the cold butter, but it will take more effort and a bit longer to fluff.

Put the butter into the medium bowl and using a wooden spoon or spatula fluff the butter.

Now using your favourite knife and preferably wooden chopping board chop up parsley very fine

place it in your food processor or the cup for the hand blender, if using. If you are not using anything to blend your herbs then just try chopping them as fine as you can and place it straight into the fluffed butter.
Chop the garlic and basil, add them to the parsley and squeeze a few drops of lemon juice. Now blend it if using the blending equipment.

Now add the blended herbs into the fluffed butter and mix everything together, season with sea salt according to your taste.

Taste it for salt and adjust if needed.
Now it is up to you what container you want to use for your herby butter, you can wrap it back into its original wrap or place it into the butter dish with lid or just a random jar with a lid, like I did

Enjoy and please remember to share your favourite combinations in the comments below!!!

This post is linked to Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesday blog carnival, and to Fight Back Friday blog carnival at Food Renegate.

Home Made Sausages Without Skin or any Special Equipment. Super Healthy! Super Easy!

My family loves sausages. My son prefers them with fried brussel sprouts or asparagus or with some rice. I am not always able to source the decent ones without wheat and other unnecessary ingredients so I came up with the simple recipe of my own.
This recipe is based on the traditional Russian meat patties (kotleti) and has absolutely no wheat!  I do add some liver into my sausages so it is an excellent way to include liver into your family's diet if some of the members don't favour it in any other form like my son.
As you probably know, organic pastured liver is an excellent source of vitamins A, B and C, folic acid, iron and many more vital nutrients, more information on that is here.
I also add some lard, it makes the sausages fluffier, and is also an excellent source of vitamin D, more information on that here.
I eventually stopped buying sausages and started making my own. I prepare a batch and freeze it. When I need to use sausages I just thaw some on the kitchen counter or covered in the fridge overnight or if I am in a hurry in the oven-proof shallow dish in the oven.
I also use this same recipe for making meatballs and burger meat, I just freeze the meat in around 100 g balls on the plastic lid covered with cling film and then transfer to a zippy bag and keep in the freezer.
This recipe is calling for experimenting, so if you and your family have some favourite spices that you think will go well, then please do add them and share the results in the comments.

Ingredients:

250 g organic grass-fed beef/wild venison mince
250 g organic pastured pork mince
1-2 organic pastured chicken liver/s
(I use the ones that come inside the chicken carcasses I buy for the bone broth, the liver inside usually comes with a chicken heart, so I throw that in too)
1-2 tbsp organic pastured lard
2 stalks of organic parsley with leaves (and/or any other spices you like) - optional
1 small organic onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small organic potato (optional)
unrefined sea salt
freshly ground organic black pepper

Equipment:

food processor (optional)
cling film

Instructions:

If you are using the food processor, pulse together onion, garlic, peeled potato, parsley and liver almost to the liquid consistency. If  you are not using the food processor cut each ingredient mentioned in the above sentence very fine, as fine as you can.
Combine all the ingredients in a fairly large bowl, season with salt and pepper and add any other seasoning you like. Now you need to 'beat' the meat 'dough': pick it up with one hand and drop it back into the bowl and so on for 3-5 minutes. This will bind the meat quite well, this is what my mum always used to do.

Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to season for 2 - 6 hours. I leave mine overnight in a cool place. If you are seasoning your meat for 2 hours only then you can do that at room temperature, if longer first 2 hours at room temperature and the rest of the time at cooler temperature (like pantry) or in the fridge.

When ready to make the sausages take a spare cutting board or rectangular plastic lead from one of the food containers or something similar and cover it with cling film leaving as much extra cling film on the sides as necessary to cover the sausages later. Scoop half of the meat and place it on top of the cling film. Using wet spatula or bench scraper shape the meat into about 2 cm thick rectangle, helping yourself with the cling film edges as well as the fork, see what works best for you.

 Using wet spatula or bench scraper again divide the meat rectangle into separate sausages, leaving space between them, like this

try to do it more evenly than I did it :)

Cover the sausages with the cling film, folding the sides and covering it completely. Place the tray with sausages into the freezer. Repeat the process till all the meat is made into sausages. I usually leave mine in the freezer overnight or for 24 hours. The sausages need to harden so you can uncover them and transfer them into a plastic zip bag and store them in the freezer until you need them.

When I am ready to cook the sausages I thaw them on the counter at room temperature or if I am short for time in an oven proof dish in the oven. I then fry them and serve.

Hope you like the recipe and will share your experience in the comments below!

This post is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays, Kelly The Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesdays and Food Renegad's Fight Back Friday blogs' carnivals.