I Need a Gyro

I pulled a large leg of lamb out of the freezer for Easter dinner. Of course, there was quite a bit left over. Making gyros is probably an obvious, though tasty, way to use some of it up. The above photo is of a gyro made from my lamb leg. But this post isn’t really about gyros.

It’s about sour dough pita bread.

While it’s easy to find many recipes for all the components of a gyro, including home-baked pitas, sour dough pitas using a starter are surprisingly rare. I did find discussions on sites like “The Fresh Loaf” (a bread baker’s forum) that suggested ratios for converting recipes. However, I wasn’t in the mood to dust off my math skills. If a recipe where someone had already done all the hard work wasn’t readily available, I may as well tinker with one already in my possession, without making things too complicated.

The pita recipe I altered comes from the cookbook and 1990s PBS series, Baking with Julia. The sour dough starter I’ve been using lately is in Peter Reinhart’s book Artisan Bread Every Day. These particular recipes do happen to be available online, and here are the links. I’m not going to provide the detailed instructions for the mother starter or pitas here, since they are copyrighted material that happens to be easily available.

Pita recipe

http://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_2/2008/MAY/22374.html

Mother starter from Peter Reinhart

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11food-recipe3.html?_r=0

This is my sour dough pita formula:

2 ¼ c. Room-temp Water

½ tsp. Yeast (optional)

½ c. Mother Starter

2 c. Whole Wheat Flour

1 tbsp. Salt

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

2 ½ - 3 ½ c. AP Flour

I mostly followed the directions from BwJ. My mother starter is whole wheat and was incorporated into the sponge. I cut the yeast down to half its amount and used it because my starter was almost due to be refreshed. If you use the yeast, dissolve it in the water first, then stir in the starter. You will want to make sure the starter and water are thoroughly blended before adding the rest of the whole wheat flour. I let my sponge develop for about 2 hours since it had a nicely pungent starter added to it.

Though the pita recipe didn’t mention the use of a stand mixer, I did use mine for kneading after the first 2 ½ c. of AP flour was added. It’s actually a standard practice of mine to do most of the mixing by hand, because I’m not crazy about cleaning bread dough out of the paddle attachment. The kneading time should still be 8-10 minutes, and it’s during the kneading that I observe my dough and add more flour, ¼ c. at a time, if needed. Since pitas are flat bread you will want to be careful not to add too much flour, particularly if you want the pockets. It’s steam power that causes pitas to puff when baked. Dough with a higher moisture content will feel sticky, and some of it will cling to your finger when touched. BwJ says pita dough will be moderately firm and have a slight sheen. I put my finished dough in the refrigerator overnight and baked the pitas the next day.

BwJ gives instructions for both oven and griddle baking. I baked mine in the oven, but next time I might try the griddle. Even though my pitas were from the same dough, they didn’t all puff. Four to five, out of the sixteen, developed nice big pockets. With griddle baking, you have the opportunity to manipulate the air pockets. With or without pockets, the bread still made tasty gyros. The pocketless breads, folded over the contents, were just messier to eat.

A note on starters: For those who haven’t made a mother starter like the one by Peter Reinhart, it has a consistency like bread dough. When first completed or refreshed, it’s sticky. But after being in the refrigerator a few days, it firms up a good bit, especially if made with whole wheat flour. Mixing it into the liquid before adding the flour makes it easier to fully incorporate the starter into your bread dough. I’m not a bread making snob or old school purist, so there is no judgment here if you use a starter made from commercial yeast. Those types of starters often have a much higher moisture content and pourable consistency, similar to pancake batter. So you have 3 options for adjustment – cut more of the water, or increase some of the flour in the sponge; be prepared to add more flour at the end. Also, the addition of yeast is necessary with that kind of starter. Commercial yeast, especially instant, is highly active at first, but as your starter ages, the critters pretty much poop out. You’ll still get a lovely tangy flavor by using your starter, just not much leavening action.

The Project Queen

The Peach Report III

One advantage to living in Texas is the expectation of harvesting fruit earlier than some other parts of the country. I’ve been picking strawberries out of my little “patch” for almost a month now, and the peach trees have fruits on them that are about the size of a ping pong ball.

Ah, the peach trees. I dreamed of having them for many years, even when we lived in zone 4 NW Iowa (too cold). Then we moved to Texas, and I waited until we were in the midst of a drought to finally plant my fruity babies. They’ve managed to survive. They’re also more than twice their purchase size now. This is their second year of fruit production, and I have high hopes of enjoying tree-ripened peaches in July.

Just like it is for all gardeners and farmers, some aspects of the process are out of my control. Such as temperatures. Like the rest of the country, we had unusually cold temps this winter for a longer period of time. Peach trees do need a sustained cold period, and one downside to planting them here is a cold period that’s often too short. My trees usually don’t go dormant until the end of December or sometime in January. Then they bloom by Mid-March. This year we had a couple of storms with temps cold enough to coat everything in ice. The ice and cold wind certainly gave me cause for concern, and did have some effect; especially on the taller yellow peach tree. The top tips bloomed and leafed out last. On both trees, the majority of the fruit is going to be on the center and lower branches. (Easier to pick, so I won’t complain.) The upside of the cold? So far, the fruit has lovely, blemish free skin. (Last year it had little dark spots.)

There are a few things I learned that will hopefully increase my odds. (And maybe yours too.) First, make sure your trees are secured from any food hounds in your household. We own 5 dogs. (Don’t know how that happened. Two of them are mine.) They make a great squirrel posse, but Belle, the oldest of the 3 Labrador Retrievers, is a voracious bottomless pit. The peach trees were half-heartedly fenced last year, so she ate every peach she could reach well before any of them were ripe. Just goes to show you can’t under-estimate a bionic nose. Now, the fence is assembled correctly. Keep the suckers off the bottom of the trees. I fell behind. When I finally got around to checking on my trees this winter, the white peach had a sucker that practically needed a chainsaw to remove it. Don’t bother thinning the baby fruits. I did that last year, than found that a lot of the remainder got knocked off the trees during storms, etc. Make weed, disease and water control easier on yourself. Put down landscape fabric and mulch. Be generous with the mulch. Since my trees are fenced in their own enclosure, the landscape fabric and mulch cover the entire area.

We still aren’t out of the drought, so I’m mulling my options for efficient watering. Drip irrigation will be coming to my yard after other projects are finished. In the meantime, I will probably resort to an unused soaker hose lurking in one of the deck boxes. I did consider placing a couple of five gallon buckets with holes drilled in the bottom next to the trees. But I don’t want to create a mosquito farm. I’m sure my neighbors don’t want that either.

So far, I’ve only been crazy enough to check on the fruit once a day. The rest of time it’s just a quick check throughout the day to make sure Belle is respecting the boundaries. I’ve resisted counting the fruit because I want to be pleasantly surprised when it’s time to harvest.

The Project Queen

A Special Easter Message

On the Christian calendar, Easter is as important a holiday as Christmas. Often it is the favorite because it takes place during the spring season, seen as a time of birth (or rebirth) and hope for eons.  Sadly, Easter is just as commercialized as Christmas, with the added element of baby animals for sale. These animals supposedly represent the holiday, but in actuality have nothing to do with it.

I’m sure you noticed the photo of the beautiful white bunny at the beginning of this post. His name is Mr. Harry Buns, and he’s an adopted rabbit, one with a sad back story. He’s lucky he lived long enough to find a loving forever home. Besides being stinkin’ cute, that’s the biggest reason he’s my “Poster Bunny”. I want to implore people not to buy bunnies, chicks, duckling or goslings for Easter. The following links all provide really good reasons why these animals make the worst impulse purchases, especially for children.

The first article is strictly about rabbits. If, after reading it, you still think you’re getting a rabbit, I strongly suggest you open the provided links to the House Rabbit Society chapters. Do both yourself and the new bunny a huge favor and be prepared before Hopper comes home. The House Rabbit Society strongly encourages adoption, but they may mention this in their FAQs. But just in case they don’t, make sure any baby bunny you bring home is more than 10 weeks old. It takes time for rabbits to fully develop their immune systems. Bunnies younger than that will probably die within a matter of days, especially pet store bunnies crowded in a small pen, which probably come from several different litters.

https://shine.yahoo.com/pets/5-reasons-not-to-buy-an-easter-bunny.html;_ylt=A0LEVx.N8EpT8UkAoQJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzb21taXFkBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNgRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDA1MV8x

http://voices.yahoo.com/3-powerful-reasons-why-shouldnt-buy-live-bunnies-235089.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/reasons-why-shouldnt-buy-pet-rabbit-easter-1270537.html?cat=53

Now, about the fowl. We’ll start with the chicks. While cute and fuzzy, those itty bitty babies need extra special care and accommodations - meaning a big box, heat lamp and the right kind of food dispensers – not to mention the food. To ensure the survival of chicks these things are not optional. Without the heat lamp in particular, chicks die in a day or two. Ducklings and goslings are much hardier, but they still need all the appropriate supplies from day one, including their grown-up house. In fact, you should have the grown up house for all these birds before you bring them home. They all reach maturity in 2 months or less, and they are only cute and fuzzy for a week or two. After that, they molt the baby fuzz to start growing their adult feathers. When that happens, they become down-right ugly. I can guarantee most children won’t find them charming.

Do you know anything about the personalities of these animals as adults? (I do, from experience.) Unless, you make a point of buying sexed chicks (you pay more for hens), you could end up with roosters. Like the “Highlander” movie immortals, there can be only one. Roosters in the same coop will fight to the death. Do your kids need to witness that? Your neighbors will also find them highly annoying, because they crow throughout the day. Get any romantic notions you have about backyard hens out of your head. Sure, fresh eggs are great. But egg production is a function of youth. Hens produce eggs for only a couple of years, but they outlive that function for a few more years. If you want continuous egg production, what do you plan to do with the non-producing hens? In commercial agriculture hens which no longer lay become stewing chickens in the grocery store. Once upon a time, when keeping livestock meant feeding families, thrifty farm wives invented dishes like chicken and dumplings and coq au vin. As for ducks and geese, they are highly territorial, especially geese. Geese in pairs will take over an entire backyard. (Even a single goose will take possession of a large territory.) They are big birds well aware of their size who have no difficulty attacking adults, let alone children. Ducks are a bit mellower, but they bite almost as hard as geese do. Lastly, birds are dirty and poop copious amounts. If anyone in your household has respiratory issues, they will have to be excused from cleaning the fowl accommodations. (Another fact I know from experience. On a visit to a feed store with a large poultry inventory, all the bird dander triggered my asthma in less than 5 minutes.)

Lastly, what are you really teaching your children when you give them a live gift not very likely to survive for long? You will either be causing them unnecessary sadness, or raising individuals who have no regard for our Savior’s creation. Jesus cares about everything on this planet that he placed in our care. He fully expects us to be good, responsible stewards. I firmly believe he sheds tears when we squander and abuse the precious treasures all around us.

I do want to wish all who read this a blessed holiday, and may you have a very special celebration with your loved ones. Buns wants to thank you for caring for God’s creatures with consideration and kindness.

An Embarrassment of Wooly Riches

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? As much as I hate to admit it, yes, it is.

In the photo above you see a fuzzy darling lounging at ease. Though he almost seams lethargic at times, he’s actually very productive. In case you haven’t seen previous posts featuring this critter, his name is Angus, and he’s a black English Angora Rabbit. EAs, as they’re often known, supposedly produce 4-6 ounces of wool a year. It doesn’t seem like a lot, does it. (I say “supposedly” because I haven’t weighed the hair I harvested during the last 3 molts.) Here’s the funny thing about Angora wool. What it lacks in weight it makes up for in volume. Alas, the large container in my royal treasury (aka the stash) is full of Angora wool.

With a bit of finagling I could probably squeeze another container into my storage closet. And, as much as I would like to get started spinning what I already have, there are other projects around here that take precedence right now. (A little over a year ago, we had to tear up our back yard to replace the line that provides electricity to our house. We’re now trying to make the yard look pretty again, before the weather gets too hot.) Regardless of other responsibilities I have right now, there’s one I can’t put off because it affects the health of my rabbit. Angus is beginning his quarterly molt again, so it’s time to shear him. After giving it a bit of thought, I concluded that it might be best to share some of my wooly wealth. I’m giving away the next harvest.

The wool from 1 Angora shearing may not sound like very much. Let me assure you the recipient will be pleasantly surprised. I place the usable hair I cut off the bunny into a plastic shoe box while I’m shearing him. When finished, the box is full. Spun on its own as a lace weight, there may be enough wool to make a hat or two. However, Angora is usually blended with something else, often at a 90 to 10 percent ratio. (10% Angora). When blended with other fibers the wool definitely goes much further.

Those interested in receiving an Angora wool shearing should contact me by email. The link can be found when you click “View my complete profile." In the event there is more than one individual who would like to have some bunny wool, I will determine the recipient by having a drawing. If there is a drawing, I will announce when it will occur and may make a video of the event. Angus may even help me pull a name from the basket. Right now, I can’t say when a drawing will be. I’m starting shearing today and usually finish in 2-3 days. After that, it will just depend on the level of interest. It’s my hope to award the wool to someone by the end of May.

In the meantime, while you’re here, feel free to look around, leave comments and ask questions about anything that interests you. I’ve only had my bunnies a little over a year, so I don’t consider myself an expert. If you ask a bunny related question I can’t answer, I’ll be more than happy to direct you to someone with more experience.

The Project Queen