Jane Mulberry

Jesse Glessner wrote:

Hello Jane:  I ran across this TWO Ingredient recipe recently and tried it and it worked great! It isn't exactly 'bread' in the sense of a 'loaf of bread' - it is Biscuits!

Thanks, Jesse! Yes, I had thought about trying something similar. I will give it a try.

Tereza Okava wrote:
Jane, I have a 25L one, it's several years old and out of production (and filthy as all heck) but I love it. It fits a boule (on a pan with a stainless steel bowl over it), or a bundt pan, a large round cake pan, or a rectangular baking pan for a smallish cake (I bought a baking pan that was just the right size to fit on the tracks that hold the racks up).

Ah, that's great, thank you so much, Tereza! There are very similar ones being made still, and selling for a price that's in our budget. Knowing the size is helpful. I also want to find one with the ferment and dehydrate settings, that will allow a temp of 30C, which I don't think these ones do. But knowing the  size and wattage that work for you is very useful!

Josh, Thanks for your suggestion. The Ninja Foodie looks a wonderful device! It is probably bigger than we can accommodate. Also I wanted one with a ferment setting for proofing bread and yoghurt making, and I don't think that does.

Tereza Okava wrote: a few years ago I got myself an air fryer oven, which (wouldn't you know) turns out to make really good sourdough. I revived my starter recently to get back into the groove. Maybe consider encouraging people to try other baking options? In the meantime, most of the bread we have been making was steamed (Chinese buns) or cooked in a plan (turkish flatbread, etc), and occasionally even in the rice cooker.

Tereza, would you share what type of air fryer you're using? My biggest block to baking bread again is that where we currently live in the UK has a tiny kitchen with an unreliable oven.  

That, a husband on the autistic spectrum who hates the mess baking can create, plus only having about 1 square foot of spare counter space makes baking bread a huge challenge.

Annie, I don't know the answer to your question, but I suspect the cost would be in the $thousands for a device capable of producing high wattage and it would require a huge amount of heat input.

The little PowerPot I bought is claimed to produce 5W at peak performance, but will be probably nearer 2W in real life use.  Thomas said he was looking at a 100W TEG with a $700 price tag.

So it's probably possible to do what you want but may not be affordable or practical. I'd love to know if it can be done!

We have only a bath in our UK house. In previous houses a long soak in the bath was a delight but here, we have a chilly bathroom, a very small hot water system and no insulation surrounding the bath. A bath in winter is an ordeal and done as fast as possible!  Also, our water here is heavily treated with chlorammonation, not what I want to be marinating in!

The Bulgarian house now has a shower and a generous hot water system, but is also chilly when the weather is cold. That should improve once we live there and the woodstove in the adjoining room is in use. But for now, showering in cooler weather isn't much fun. We do have a chair in the shower to sit on, as we both have  balance issues. While we didn't have a shower there, and even now we do, a sponge bath can be far more pleasant. It's lovely in summer to come in after working in the garden and sponge down then sit soaking my feet in a washbowl.

We'll also set up an outdoor shower there, it's on my list for this year. Though a sponge wash in a bowl is great for not wasting any water at all and I can collect some of the water from the indoor shower for the very dry garden, an outdoor shower will let us make better use of the water.

That's HUGE, Amy, so important! I need to do the same at our Bulgarian house.

That's a beautiful way to look at it, Chris.

And yes, I know those heated discussions with God! Thankfully, He is infinitely patient with His children. Definitely neither your fault or a punishment that this happened.

Chris, I'm sorry you went through a miscarriage, and hope you're successful in achieving baby #7.

It feels to me like it might be important to let yourself grieve the pregnancy loss. Just speaking from my own experiences here, after each miscarriage I jumped straight back into trying to get pregnant again, doing everything "right" as if somehow I could control the outcome. Unfortunately, some things we can't control. I ended up with bigger health issues due to that bottled up grief.

Herbs and diet can definitely make a big difference to one's health. But there's also an element of genetic lottery and things in people's upbringing they were powerless to change at the time that affect health, and it's so important not to blame anyone for their health issues. That includes you, as well. Menopause will happen to you at some stage no matter what you do to try and stop it, and hopefully you'll get that longed for baby first.

I wondered if the rag had been stuffed in too tight. As Joseph said, making wine into vinegar requires air!

Wow, what an interesting inheritance! I wonder if perhaps the type of wine your aunt used is an issue, some wines have a lot of sulphites etc used as preservatives which might affect the fermentation. Also, during winter, a low temperature could slow down the fermentation meaning the vinegar seems less "vinegary".

I'm pretty sure if the vinegar was not okay to consume you would notice -- it would smell or taste off. The serious nasties that don't necessarily affect the taste or smell like botulism shouldn't be able to grow in vinegar or in an open bottle. They need a low acid, low oxygen environment. If you are concerned, boiling the vinegar for ten minutes before consuming it should be enough to make it safe for most people apart from young babies or anyone with very low immunity.

I'm not a fermentation expert, however!