Life, Food, Human Things
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Interesting Links
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Astronomy Picture of the Day
"Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured,
along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer."
Just a fantastic thing. Always check the links, sometimes they sneak funny things in.
myNoise - White noise generator
I am picky about sound and this lets me tweak white/pink/brown noise to perfection
Loads of other useful bits for audio looping and ambience on his site as well.
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Recipes
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Crumpets
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[Source]
180g / 6.3oz Plain or All-purpose flour
235g / 235mls Lukewarm water / 40°C / 104°F
4g / 1tsp Instant or active dried yeast
4g / ½tsp Salt
4g / 1tsp Baking powder
6g / 1tsp Sugar
1tbls Olive oil & 30g / 1oz soft butter, for greasing the crumpet rings
(A generous greasing with an olive oil based butter substitute works well)
You will want 4-6 crumpet rings. Large egg or muffin rings can work too.
Activate your yeast by adding the sugar and yeast to the warm water in a bowl.
Whisk/mix it in well and sit for ~10 minutes.
Add flour and salt to the yeast water mix and sift the baking powder in as well
Whisk the mix for 2 minutes (1 minute for electric)
Half way through scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula or something bendy to get everything mixed
Cover the bowl and set it somewhere to rest for 45 minutes (More like 30 on a hot Australian day)
Get a pan on the stove up to 190°C/375°F. If you go too hot they'll burn before they cook through
Exact temperature and cooking time varies based on thickness/height of your rings and your pan
Butter/Oil up a ring and put it in the pan
Spoon in the crumpet mix until the ring is half full
I can fit 4 rings at once into my pan but you might fit 6 with a bigger pan
Cook time should be 5+ minutes and you'll start to see bubbles and holes forming
As things start to dry off you can use a knife to pop bubbles that don't want to pop naturally
Once the mix is dry around the edges slide the rings off and flip them over.
The exact time to flip and how to get them out of the rings varies so experiment a bit
Once both sides are golden take them off the pan and cool.
To serve toast in a toaster and then butter and honey or jam.
They also freeze well if you want
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Pancake in a mug
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1/4 cup or 60g self raising flour
1.5tsp or 5g of sugar
1/2tsp of baking powder
3 tbsp or 60g milk or water
1/2tsp of vanilla
All in the mug and mix well.
Weight measurements are so you can do it all in the mug on a digital scale
Microwave for 90-120 seconds
Butter, toppings, enjoy.
Can double everything and put it in a bowl if you feel like you need a cake
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No-Knead bread
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[Source]
550g / 19½oz Strong white bread flour
330g / 330mls Lukewarm water / 40°C / 104°F
6g / 1tsp Sugar
7g / 2tsp Instant or active dried yeast
8g / 1tsp Salt
a little oil
Activate your yeast by adding the sugar and yeast to the warm water in a bowl.
Wisk/mix it in well and sit for ~10 minutes.
Everything into the bowl and mix well
Once the dough is well combined lift it out of the bowl and grease the bowl with oil
I use olive because it's convenient
Roll the dough into a ball, drop it back in the bowl, cover and rest for 1 hour
After the hour turn out the dough, knead it back until it's deflated
Roll it into a nice ball, drop it back in the bowl and cover and rest for another 40 minutes
Grease your baking tray and turn the dough out onto it and cover with a light tea-towel or cloth
let it rest for another 45 minutes
When there are about 10 minutes left on the last rest preheat the oven to 190°C / 375°F
and out a dish/pan of water on the bottom shelf to help make things crispy
Just before putting the bread into the oven score the top of the bread with a sharp knife to help it rise
Bake for 25-40 minutes depending on how dark you like your bread.
Once it's done sit it out to cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes
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Sweet Potato with Rice (Goguma-bap?)
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[Source]
Ingredients (for 2-3 servings)
1 cup of short grain rice (I use brown because it's cheaper + tastier here)
1 pound (453 grams) of sweet potato
Water
For seasoning sauce:
½ cup of chopped Asian chives (can be replaced with green onions or leek)
1 clove of minced garlic
¼ cup soy sauce
1 ts honey or sugar
2 Tbs of vinegar
1 ts of Korean hot pepper flakes (gochugaru) - (Or regular chili flakes. Long as it's something a bit warm)
1 Tbs of toasted sesame seeds - (Anything toasted and nutty works. I used sesame oil and roasted pine nuts)
Peel and cube sweet potato & rinse
Rice and sweet potato into a cooker (Rice cooker, slow cooker, pressure cooker, pot, whatever works)
Cook until rice would normally be done
Mix all the seasoning sauce ingredients together and serve.
Pretty simple, tasty, and healthy. Not to mention nice and cheap.
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Brewing
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This is less of a recipe and more of a rough concept.
Basic brewing is very, very easy. Way easier than you expect. Primary school level cooking/chemistry type easy.
There is a good reason it's such an ancient art - It doesn't require any fancy tools, no matter what online forums say.
I have no clue how alcoholic it is, or what it's nutrient profile was, or any specific details.
Strength varies wildly between batches, so I just always assume its going to have more punch than I expect.
I started with mead, which I liked conceptually more than I liked it in practice.
I gave it the mulled wine treatment - Heated with spices and dried fruit. The result is called metheglin.
After that I've made a few different ciders aiming not for the best flavour, but the easiest process.
The goal is low energy, minimal required tools, quick, and cheap.
It turns out that organic, artificial preservative/colouring/flavouring free juice makes a good base.
It's also $3 (AUD) for a 2L bottle at the local supermarket which is hard to beat. Just chuck in some fresh apple for oomph.
I'm currently drinking a batch that was 70% apple and 30% pear and black currant, which turned out great.
As for yeast I keep changing my mind between just plain bakers yeast, or an actual cider yeast.
I usually ferment in a 5L jug, but I've found that you can do just as well in the bottle the juice comes in.
Once everything is accounted for it ends up being about $2 (AUD) per litre, which is insanely cheap.
It is also fairly quick. I know I would get a better result aging it, but I don't have the space for it.
The total time is usually 2-3 months, give or take. I just wait for it to be clear and taste okay - Not scientific.
The down side is taking the lazy approach gives you still rather than sparkling cider, but I don't mind.
If I want it bubbly I have an old soda stream I chuck it through - Though this adds a bunch to the price-per-litre.
If you enjoy the taste of ciders at all it's worth giving a shot, just read up a bit on the basic process and then wing it.
One critical rule to remember is keep everything as clean and sterile as is reasonable. Clean boiled water etc.