008 Grind Your Own Flour With Erin Alderson

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On the eighth episode of the Root Simple Podcast we speak with Erin Alderson about milling your own flours at home. Erin is the author of The Homemade Flour Cookbook and blogs at naturallyella.com.

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In our conversation Erin mentions that she uses WonderMill Grain Mill.

We also discussed where to get unique grains.  Erin mentions a few sources in her book:

Bob’s Red Mill
Arrowhead Mills
Nuts Online
Jovial Foods (source for Einkorn)
Lundberg Family Farms

I’ll add that if you’re in the Los Angeles area you can buy flour and grain at Grist & Toll in Pasadena.

After my conversation with Erin I briefly mention my purchase of a flour mill, the KoMo Classic Mill.

If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here

006 The Secrets of Kimchi With Hae Jung Cho

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Our guest on the sixth episode of the Root Simple podcast is professional cook and Los Angeles County Master Food Preserver Hae Jung Cho. During the show Hae Jung walks you through the ingredients you’ll need for a basic kimchi as well as how to make it. You’ll find the recipes below.

Hae Jung showing off her special kimchi gloves.

Hae Jung showing off her special kimchi gloves.

Here are the two recipes she walks through on the podcast:

Poggi Kimchi (Whole Napa Cabbage Kimchi)

Diced Radish Kimchi (Kkakdugi)

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During the podcast, Hae Jung mentions a book that contains just about all you’d ever want to know about how to make the many different varieties of kimchi: Good Morning Kimchi

Kimchi Classes
Hae Jung will also be teaching two classes in Los Angeles in August. The first will be on Saturday, August 2, from 10 am to approximately 1 pm. Here’s the info:

Details of Kimchi Class:
The 3-hour class will be a hands-on experience where you will make two kinds of fermented kimchi – napa cabbage (poggi kimchi) and radish (kkakdugi) – and one quick pickle.  We will then share a light meal of rice, kimchi, soup and other side dishes.  You will leave the class with three containers of kimchi and pickles that you have made, printed recipes and the know-how to replicate the kimchi at home.  Class size is limited to eight people. Cost:  $75.

Koreatown Market Tour
In addition, Hae Jung is organizing a guided tour of supermarkets and specialty food shops in Koreatown on the following Saturday, August 9.  This tour is geared toward people who want to shop for and eat Korean food at home, especially helpful for those who want to shop for kimchi ingredients. Cost: $25.

To sign up for the classes email Hae Jung at: [email protected].

If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein. Additional music by Rho. A downloadable version of this podcast is here. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store. Note that it takes a few hours for the new episode to show up in iTunes.

Sauerkraut demo at the Hollywood Farmers Market

Photo: Library of Congress

Photo: Library of Congress

Fellow Master Food Preserver Shelley Marks and I will be doing a sauerkraut demo this Sunday February 2nd at the Hollywood Farmers Market. We’ll make the kraut at 10 am and 12 pm. Between the kraut demos we’ll be sitting in the Master Food Preserver and Master Gardener table to answer questions for the duration of the market. Please drop by and say hello! It’s freeeeeeeeee!

Recipe for the World’s Best Whole Wheat Pancake

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The last survivor, captured with a camera phone before being devoured, because we wanted to eat the pancakes more than we wanted to document them.

This morning I cooked up the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten. They were 100% whole wheat but they were so light and fluffy they tasted like they were made with white flour. And the way they were made is the beginning of a grain revolution. Here’s the secret:

  1. Use heirloom grains.
  2. Mill your own flour.
  3. Ferment for a long time with a sourdough starter.

The heirloom grain I used is Sonora wheat, probably the oldest wheat in the Americas. It’s a soft, winter wheat traditionally used for tortillas.

Recipe (based on Nancy Silverton’s pancakes)
210 grams starter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons safflower or corn oil
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

The night before making these pancakes I take a tablespoon of mature starter and add it to 100 grams of freshly milled Sonora wheat flour and 110 grams of water. This mixture will be the 200 grams of starter you’ll use in the recipe.

The next day mix all the ingredients together, fry them up in a pan and get ready to have your pancake paradigm shifted.

New frontiers in baking
Freshly milled heirloom wheat mixed into a very wet dough and fermented for a long period with a sourdough starter is also the way that Dave Miller, a Chico California based baker, makes his bread. He takes 100% whole wheat dough, every bit as wet and gloppy as pancake batter, deftly shapes it into loaves and bakes the best bread on the west coast. The Los Angeles Bread Bakers, a group I co-founded, is hosting a sold out class with Miller later this month and I hope to share on this blog what I learn. There is increasing evidence that this method of baking results in a much healthier product.