Recipes: Back to the Basics

These recipes were selected to give homes a jumpstart on significant savings if they find time to make the following for household consumption. Recipes will be added to this blog over time, send me your favorite cost saver recipe!

Homemade Yogurt by Crystal Miller
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/homemade-yogurt.shtml

Yogurt takes a little bit of time to make. Not actual working time but time for it to sit and culture. Yogurt is a cultured product, much like cheese. It is a very easy and economical to make. Before you begin there are a few things to make sure you have on hand and a few things to know and understand about the process. Most of what you need you will be able to find in the grocery store. You need to begin with starter yogurt. Starter yogurt is yogurt that has been made with active live cultures; this is the friendly bacteria that will turn your milk into yogurt. You can buy a small container of yogurt at the grocery to use for this purpose. Make sure that the container says Made with live cultures or something of this nature. You want to buy plain yogurt, not flavored. Each time you make yogurt you will need some starter. You can use your own starter, but over time it looses its potency and your yogurt will not turn out. So I always begin with store bought yogurt. You can freeze your starter yogurt in ice cube trays so that it is convenient to have on hand.

As far as tools for making yogurt go, you will need a thermometer. A candy thermometer bought from the grocery store will work just fine. You will need a large pot to heat up your milk and then something to incubate your yogurt for about 12 hours. The temperature of the yogurt must stay between 90 and 110 degrees during this incubation time.

There are a variety of ways of maintaining this temperature. If you have a gas stove, putting your yogurt in the stove and leaving the pilot light on may be enough. Make sure you have a thermometer in the oven so you can keep an eye on the temperatures. If you have a stove that you can set at around 100 degrees, this works also.

Another method that works is to use a small styrofoam ice chest. While you are making the yogurt fill up the ice chest with hot tap water.

Right before you set the jars in the ice chest empty the water, place filled jars in the ice chest, and fill with 110 degree water up to the bottom edge of the lids. Put the cover on and place a blanket over this.

After about 4 hours check to make sure the water is still the right temperature (between 90-110 degrees). If the water is cooling down, dump half of it out and replace with 110 degree water and cover again.

Check every 1 1/2 hours or so to make sure the water is staying warm. If the temperature of your yogurt gets to high or to low then it will kill the culture. So it is important that during the incubation period that your temperature stays between 90 and 110 degrees.

Homemade Yogurt

8 cups milk, cow or goat (I raise Nubian goats and use my own goat milk most often, but have made lots of yogurt with ordinary milk from the store) -
1/3 cup powdered milk (this is optional but will make a thicker yogurt) -
1/4 cup pure maple syrup, optional for sweetened yogurt -
1/2 cup starter yogurt

Before you begin wash 2 quart-sized canning jars. If you want to use 4 pint-sized jars instead that would be fine too. Have the metal rings and lids ready to cover the jars when you are done. Pour your milk into a large cooking pot. Heat the milk up to 185 degrees.

Allow the milk to cool down to 110 degrees. The cooling can take a long time. If you want to speed the process up fill your sink with cold water and place the pot of hot milk in the water and stir and stir. The temperature drops fairly quickly this way, so make sure to have your thermometer handy to keep checking.

After you reach 110 degrees add the remaining ingredients and stir until everything is dissolved very well. Pour this mixture into your ready and waiting jars. Put the lids on and put them into what ever place you are planning to incubate and culture them.

Leave them there for 10 to 12 hours. Try not to disturb the jars to much. When the yogurt is firm it is time to remove them and put them in the refrigerator to get nice and cold. Usually 12 to 24 hours. If you make and incubate the yogurt during the day it can refrigerate overnight and be ready for breakfast the next day.

If you would like flavored yogurt, just add fresh cut up fruit or a little bit of flavored jam when you are serving your yogurt.

Deb's Homemade Yogurt (oven style)

Alternative method of yogurt making
Makes 1/2 gallon

1/2 gallon milk (I use fat free)
2 cups instant dry milk powder
1 cup sugar or your choice of sweetener
1 Tablespoon good vanilla (I use Mexican)
1 6-8 oz. container yogurt with active cultures (first batch after that save some of your own)

Thermometer, heavy pot, electric stove with light or gas stove with non-auto pilot light. Can also use a heating pad/towel/and box to cover)

Place milk in pot and add dry milk powder. Stir well.
Heat milk to 180 degrees, stirring now and then so bottom doesn't burn.
Fill sink with ice cold water and place pot insde sink, Add sugar and stir well.
Cool down to 110-115 degrees. Add vanilla.
Add yogurt and stir well.
Fill containers of your choice and seal. ( I use jelly canning jars) Place on cookie sheet or heat proof tray.Heat oven to 110-115 and turn off. Turn on oven light.Place yogurt in oven on upper rack and check oven periodically to make sure it stays between 110-115.
Yogurt will be "done" in 4-6 hours but you can let it incubate for up to 12 depending on how tart you like it and how much beneficial bacteria you wish it to have.Serve plain or with any kind of fruit.
Suggestions: Top with sliced bananas, peach or cherry pie filling, or stir in plain vanilla.

Mitch's Pizza Dough
http://www.fabulousfoods.com/index.phpoption=com_resource&controller=article&category_id=46&article=17753

This dough is easiest to make in a food processor or bread maker. You can, however, make it by hand (there's just a lot of mixing and kneading that way). Feel free to add ingredients to the dough to make it more interesting. I've often added minced garlic or rosemary or basil. It's your pizza, be creative.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions: Three choices in mixing your dough:
In A Food Processor
In A Bread Machine
By Hand

By HandMixing Dough in a Food Processor:
Some Food Processors come with a dough blade. If you have it use it. If you don't, just use the standard cutting blade. My dough blade broke from over use (some would call it pizza abuse, but that's another story) and the regular blade works fine. Pour in warm water. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. Mix on low for about 20 seconds. Add the yeast and mix on low for another 5 seconds. Add 1 cup of flour, mix on low for 10 seconds. Add the olive oil and mix until blended (about 15 or 20 seconds more). Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix on high for about a minute or two. The dough should turn into a ball and roll around the processor. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's the boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours.

You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough. This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.

To Mix Dough in a Bread Machine:
Throw all the ingredients in, set to dough only setting, push start and walk away. That's it! No work, no hassle. If you don't work for something is it really worth having? In this case, you bet! Once the machine "beeps" and your dough is ready, it's time to go on to the next step - Rolling Out The Dough procedures below.

This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.

To Mix Dough by Hand:Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. Mix on low until well blended. Add the yeast and mix. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours. Proceed with the remainder instructions.

1. Make the dough.Bread flour is what I use, it produces a dough that's a little thicker, lighter and fluffier. If you prefer a thinner and crisper crust, use regular flour. 2. Make the sauce (not always necessary).Some pizzas have sauces some don't. Not only does a sauce add flavor, it helps keep the cheese on the pizza.

2. Cut the cheese (Not the way you're thinking, Beavis!).Cheese is probably the single most important ingredient. Don't be cheap when it comes to buying cheese. Buy fresh, whole cheeses. You and your taste buds will be glad you did. It's OK to grate the cheese in advance (I use the food processor for this) and keep refrigerated or frozen for later use.

3. Prepare the toppings.I like to have all the toppings cut and ready prior to assembly. This makes the assembly fast, which is important.

4. Roll out the dough.Roll out the dough on a clean dry surface. Use lots of flour so it won't stick. One mistake most people make when working with dough is not using enough muscle. Dough fights back. You push it, it pushes back. Don't be afraid of the dough. It won't bite you and you can't really damage it, either. When working with dough, use plenty of flour, but don't let it get too dry. It should be fun to work with, not too sticky and not too crumbly.

Form it into a flat ball about six to eight inches wide. Using both hands, one on top of the other, press from the center outwards on it to start stretching it out, turning the dough a bit on each push. You can also pick up the dough and squeeze the edges of it while turning it like a steering wheel. This allows the weight of the dough to stretch it.

Once the dough is about 1/2" thick all the way around, use a rolling pin to flatten it out to about 1/4" thick. I usually run the pin over once or twice, flip the dough over and give it a quarter turn and roll it again to make it even.

Take a fork and put puncture holes all over the dough. This keeps it from bubbling up while cooking and it also helps to hold the sauce on as well.

Transfer dough to pizza peal sprinkled corn meal or place it on a lightly greased cookie sheet.

Top with sauce, cheese and/or toppings and bake in a 400° F. oven until the crust is light brown.
Bake on either baking stones or on the cookie sheet or a pizza pan.

6. Assemble and bake.Place the dough on a cookie sheet or on your pizza peel. If using a peel, first sprinkle it with a little corn meal. The cornmeal acts like tiny "ball bearings" that helps the pizza to slide off into the oven. Put the sauce on leaving a quarter to half inch border around the edge. This gives your pizza that pizzeria look. Cover with cheese. Also leaving a quarter to half inch border. Place toppings on top.

Put pizza in a 450° F. degree oven for about 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. If you are using a pizza stone or bricks, always sprinkle corn meal on stone just before the pizza goes in. This helps the pizza not to stick here too. Remove and let cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes. If you don't let it cool a bit before cutting the molten hot cheese will flow like lava off your pizza and on to your counter.

7. Slice it up and share with family and friends.Slice it up any way you like and be sure to have enough people around to tell you how great it is. Every pizza is pretty much made the same way. Any technique unique to a particular pizza will be described within the recipe. Enjoy!
This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let it come to room temperature before using.

Moms Basic Bread Crystal Miller
Makes 3 loaves

3 cups warm water
2T yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
3 t. salt
9 cups flour

Let rise once for 1 hour. Punch down and shape into 3 loaves. Place in 3 greased loaf pans and let rise about 30 to 40 minutes. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes.

For now here are the basic instructions as to what to do. I will give the ‘by hand’ instructions first and then follow with any changes that need to be made if you are using a mixer. First in a large bowl put your 3 cups of warm water. Without having to get the thermometer out to make sure your water is just the right temperature I will tell you how I gauge it. I get the water so that is a warmer than baby’s bath water. You want it to be a tad more than comfortably warm on your wrist. If your kitchen is cool then you can warm up you measuring cup first and even your bowl by running them under warm water to get them warm enough so when you put your water in there it does not cool the temp down.
O.K. now you have your warm water in your bowl.
Sprinkle your yeast and sugar in the bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes. It should get foamy and bubbly. If it does not then your yeast is not working. You can try again or get some new yeast. Old yeast sitting in a cupboard will eventually not work (that is open packages of yeast, sealed ones should be fine).
After it has bubbled it is now time to add your oil and salt and begin to add your flour. At first you can mix with a large wooden spoon but soon as you add flour it will get much too thick for that.

As soon as it can not be mixed with a spoon, dump it all out on a clean counter that has been dusted with flour.

Keep adding flour and mixing and then kneading the dough.

Kneading is the process that develops the gluten in the bread. . You knead your dough by pushing the heels of your palms into the dough and then grabbing your dough and folding or pulling it forward and pushing with your hand again. You can rotate the position of your dough and continue the process. You will need to do this for about 12 to 15 minutes. If you do not your bread will not rise and be light and delicious.

After your bread has been kneaded it is time to let it rise. Put a dishtowel over it and let sit for about 1 hour.

After your hour is up you punch the down and knead it some more to get all the air bubbles out.

Now it is time to cut the dough into 3 pieces and shape them into loaves. I don’t do anything really fancy for this. I simply roll and shape and make it look like a loaf. Kind of like playing with play dough.

Then put your dough in a greased loaf pan (I spray with non-stick cooking spray) and do this for the next 2 loaves. Then it needs to rise once again.

This time you let it rise for 30 to 40 minutes. When the bread is almost done rising you can pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the loaves for 30 to 35 minutes.

Now if you have a mixer the process is a little easier. If you have a Kitchen Aid type mixer then you can proceed as stated above only using the dough hook for the mixer and letting the mixer do the kneading for you. You will need to let the machine knead the dough for about 7 to 10 minutes. I like to just leave the dough in the mixer and when the rise time is over then simply turn it back on to punch the dough down and continue on as above.If you have a high powered mixer like a Bosch then the process gets easier. Simply put all ingredients in the bowl (start with about 7 cups of flour an add flour as needed until the dough cleans off the sides of the mixer). Knead on the setting 1 or 2 for 5 to 7 minutes and that is it. You can take the dough out and proceed to form loaves and let them rise and then bake. The reason is that the Bosch incorporates a lot of air into the mixing process and the additional rise time is not needed.

Small Batch Jams

Ingredients:
Diced or crushed fruit and flavor
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. butter or margarine

Prepare the fruit and place in an 8 cup glass measure with a spout (or a 2½ to 3 quart casserole dish). Let stand until juices form - about thirty minutes. Microwave on High for 10-14 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes.Spoon out 1 tbsp. of jam, refrigerate for 15 minutes and test consistency. If you like thicker jam, re-heat to boiling then microwave for 2 more minutes. Makes 2 cups.

Storage:These jams will keep for several months in the fridge; freeze for longer storage. Use any small, clean jam jars with tight-fitting lids.
Canning:For pantry storage, use 2 one-cup canning jars. Scald jar lids and bands for 5 minutes, and keep lids in scalding water until ready to use. Steralize the jars by boiling for 15 minutes; fill immediately with hot jam, leaving ¼ inch of head space.Pour jam into hot jars, skim off foam and add more jam, if needed, to maintain ¼ inch headspace.Wipe rims clean with damp cloth. Place lids on jars and screw down tightly. Let cool. Press lids to test seal - if they stay down the jars are sealed. (If you feel that a jar hasn't sealed properly, stay on the safe side and store in the fridge or freezer.)Label jars, decorate lids as desired, and store.

Fruit and Flavor Combinations:

Apricot:Remove pits from 1lb of apricots and chop to make 2 cups. Add 1 tbsps lemon juice.

Apricot-Pineapple:Remove pits from 3/4lb apricots and chop to make 1-1/2 cups. Combine with 1/2 cup crushed pineapple and 1 tbsp. lemon juice.

Berry: Crush 3 cups or raspberry of blackberries or a combination of both, to make 2 cups, and add 1 tbsp lemon juice.

Strawberry:Crush 3-1/2cups of strawberries to make 2 cups. Add 1-1/2tbsps lemon juice.

Peach or Nectarine: Remove pits from fruit, peel and chop to make 2 cups. Add 1 tbsp. lemon juice.

Chicken Stock

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/chicken-stock-recipe/index.html
Ingredients 4 pounds chicken carcasses, including necks and backs 1 large onion, quartered 4 carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2 4 ribs celery, cut in 1/2 1 leek, white part only, cut in 1/2 lengthwise 10 sprigs fresh thyme 10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems 2 bay leaves 8 to 10 peppercorns 2 whole cloves garlic, peeled 2 gallons cold water

Directions
Place chicken, vegetables, and herbs and spices in 12-quart stockpot. Set opened steamer basket directly on ingredients in pot and pour over water. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Skim the scum from the stock with a spoon or fine mesh strainer every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour of cooking and twice each hour for the next 2 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours.

Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large stockpot or heatproof container discarding the solids. Cool immediately in large cooler of ice or a sink full of ice water to below 40 degrees. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and store in container with lid in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. Prior to use, bring to boil for 2 minutes. Use as a base for soups and sauces.