Bake with Kamut Flour

These are the Kamut wheat berries I use.

Don’t have a grain mill yet? Here’s my Guide to Choosing a Mill & use this Kamut flour in the meantime.

Given that kamut is one of my go-to grains to mill into flour in my grain mill, I love talking about how to bake with kamut flour. Although there are lots of ancient grain flours to choose from, kamut happens to be one of my favorites due to it’s nutritional value, flavor, and all-purpose nature.

Making bread? Kamut will work.

Baking brownies? Grab kamut.

Breading chicken? Kamut will add a delicious buttery flavor.

Making crackers? Great, kamut makes them better.

Crafting a tender pastry? Believe it or not, kamut is great for that.

Are kamut and khorasan the same thing?

Yes, this grain has two names and I’ll explain why.

This ancient grain was originally called “khorasan,” named after the region where it’s thought to originate from.

Kamut? That name was given to the khorasan grain later. Kamut is actually a branded name given to khorasan. Grains sold under the name “kamut” are monitored by the Kamut brand, and have to follow strict guidelines to qualify for the trademark. The upside to purchasing grains labeled “kamut” is that they’re subjected to strict standards, meaning you know you’ll get high-quality grains.

The downside? You’re paying for the trademark. Kamut grains often cost more than khorasan given that the farmers pay for trademark rights.

Essentially, kamut is the “name brand” version of khorasan grain. Think of it like saying “Kleenex” (kamut) instead of simply “tissues” (khorasan).

Kamut vs spelt

Both ancient grains, spelt and kamut, have similar nutritional profiles. They’re both higher in protein than most modern wheat, and they’re both full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

The key difference in the grains is the flavor. I find spelt to be just a little earthier and maybe a little more bitter than kamut. Kamut’s flavor profile is sweet, buttery, and nutty.

Choose spelt for stronger, slightly wheat-ier flavor in breads and baked goods, or if you’re making more “rustic” style bread.

Use kamut if you’re looking for sweeter, more mild flavor.

Einkorn and kamut (khorasan)–what’s the difference?

Let’s compare the infamous einkorn to khorasan…

Both einkorn and khorasan are ancient grains with a sweet, buttery, mild flavor. They’re both pretty good at being all-purpose grains and can be used for a wide variety of baked goods, breads, and pastries.

There are debates about which grain is older and which originated first. I enjoy using both, and try not to get caught up in the historical assumptions too much. They’re both great, tasty, nutritious grains, m’kay?

One key difference in einkorn and kamut (khorasan) is the size of the wheat berry. Einkorn grains are smaller in size (compared to modern wheat), while khorasan wheat berries are actually larger than modern wheat berries. This impacts your baking, given that einkorn mills into a very fine, powdery flour (because it starts off smaller it’s easier for your grain mill to grind up super fine), whereas kamut mills into a slightly coarser flour, no matter how finely you try to mill it.

Benefits of kamut flour

So why bake with kamut flour?

• For the flavor
• For nutrition
• For food security
• For it’s all-purpose nature
• To preserve history

Kamut flour is hard to beat for a number of reasons, including the ones listed above. I love using khorasan knowing I’m milling the same grains that folks have turned into flour for thousands of years… without Big Ag getting involved and hybridizing the grains. Because they haven’t been hybridized, ancient grains are always going to pack more nutrition into every bite.

Bonus, the buttery flavor of kamut flour is unreal. 

How to store kamut wheat berries

With full knowledge that you might call me crazy, I’ll admit that I currently have 50 pounds of Khorasan wheat berries in my grain storage (aka buckets in my basement). I’m not a preper, but I like knowing I have a lot of the best flour on hand if things go south, or even just if prices rise. Plus, wheat berries can last for thousands of years (crazy, but true).

If you’re thinking of stocking up on Kamut berries, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Make sure you’re sourcing from an organic, regenerative farm if possible. These are amazing.
2. Read up on these Tips for Storing Wheat Berries.
3. And no matter what Never Freeze Your Wheat Berries. Here’s why.

How to use kamut flour in baking

Given its sweet, nutty, buttery flavor, kamut flour is great for baking. Kamut flour (even fresh milled) hydrates similarly to “regular” all-purpose flour, so minimal changes are needed. (More here on how to use fresh flour in any recipe.)

To use kamut flour in baked goods: simply swap kamut for all-purpose flour at a 1:1 ratio. Just to be safe, add slightly less flour than your recipe calls for, let the dough autolyze a little (soak the flour and liquid ingredients before adding the rest) then add the rest of your flour if needed after a 10-minute rest.

To use kamut flour in bread: use at a 1:1 ratio to bread flour, and add 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten per cup of flour used. Knead like usual, but keep a close eye as you knead and make sure you don’t over knead kamut dough, as the gluten is more fragile than bread dough made with modern wheat. For best results, try some of the enrichments I describe here, like a tangzhong: How to Use Fresh Flour in Any Recipe

To use kamut flour in pastries: similar to baked goods in general, but if you’re using fresh milled kamut flour, make sure you allow the flour to cool down (don’t be afraid to stick it in the freezer for a few minutes!) before adding butter in things like biscuits, puff pastries, croissant dough, pie crusts, or scones. If you struggle with getting the texture you want, try:  70% soft white flour, 20% kamut flour and 10% barley flour.

To use kamut flour in pasta: given that kamut is similar to durum (the “pasta” flour), it’s great for making pasta. Use in any homemade pasta recipe, 1:1 substitute for all-purpose or durum flour. Just add a little less flour at first, then add more later if needed.

Kamut (khorasan) baking recipes

Khorasan flour can be used in so many recipes.

• Pasta
• Brownies/cookies
• Bread/rolls
• Cinnamon rolls
• Biscuits/scones
• Pastries
• Pie crust/tarts
• Muffins
• Pancakes/waffles

In almost every recipe, kamut can simply replace all-purpose flour cup-for-cup. You might find you need just slightly less kamut flour, though, so add it slowly to your recipes. And you’ll want to understand a little bit about natural enhancers and autolysing your dough. Follow my on instagram for lots of tutorials and fresh flour encouragement, and grab my free tips right here.

If you’re serious about making the best, most nutritious food–easily and deliciously–for your family use code SOULYRESTED to save (you can even stack the code if there is a current sale going on!) and dive into Fresh Flour University.

Milling khorasan (kamut) into fresh milled flour

If you’re like me, you want to get the most nutrition as possible out of the ingredients you’re eating.

In order to eat the most nutritious flour possible, you should mill your own.

To mill kamut flour at home, all you’ll need are kamut whole wheat berries and a grain mill. It’s that simple!

Milling your own kamut flour allows you to preserve 100% of the nutrition found in the whole wheat kernel. Commercial flour manufacturers remove all the good stuff! (The bran + germ, where all the healthy fats and nutrients are!) Not to mention, flour was never designed to be a shelf-stable food. It naturally degrades over time, and milling your own flour allows you to use it right away, when it’s freshest.

Making bread with kamut

Khorasan/kamut flour makes amazing, flavorful bread if you know just a few, simple tips.

Since it is an ancient grain, the gluten that develops through kamut flour is fragile. You can and should still knead kamut bread dough, just take it a little easier than you usually would.

Secondly, consider adding vital wheat gluten to your bread recipes when you’re using kamut flour. It will give your ancient grain bread a little “oomph” that it might need to rise well. If you’re new to making kamut bread or fresh milled flour bread, use 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten per cup of flour.

Finally, you might find that bread made with kamut flour rises quickly. Keep a close eye on rise times to prevent over-proofing, and, therefore fallen bread.

The poke test for fresh flour bread

To know when your fresh flour dough is well proofed, use the Poke Test:

Lightly press your finger into your rising dough to test the gluten formation. 

Dough’s response                                       Rise time

Springs back slowly & partially                      DONE

Springs back instantly with no indent          INCOMPLETE

Holds indent permanently                              OVERPROOFED

Substituting kamut flour in place of all-purpose flour

Given kamut flour’s all-purpose nature, you can simply substitute cup-for-cup with all-purpose or bread flour.

How to use kamut/khorasan in any recipe

Use kamut flour in almost any recipe that calls for all-purpose or bread flour. Given that it’s an ancient grain, it might behave slightly differently (kamut hydrates a little slower than conventional flour does), but differences are slight and often not noticeable at all.

Ways to use kamut wheat berries

If you’re in possession of khorasan wheat berries, you might be wondering how else you can use them. Other than milling them into beautiful, golden flour, that is. Here are some of my favorite ways to use kamut berries (well, really any kind of wheat berries, to be honest):

1. Flaking them into “rolled oats” (learn how to flake any grain here)
2. Sprouting them as a nutritious snack, salad topper, or nutritious smoothie add-in
3. Cook them and use in place of rice

Some of My Favorite Ancient & Heritage Grains

The Best Grain Mills

The best grain mill for your family might be different than mine, so I created this Guide to Choosing a Grain Mill to walk you through 6 questions to ask to help you decide the best grain mill for your family.

More like How to Bake with Kamut (Khorasan):

• A complete guide to kamut/khorasan
• A Complete Guide to Choosing a Grain Mill
• Kamut chocolate chip cookies (recipe)
• Make flour at home from start to finish
• Sourdough with fresh milled flour: everything you need to know

The post How to bake with kamut (khorasan) & mistakes to avoid first appeared on Souly Rested.

Once I started using my grain mill on a daily basis, sourdough fell of my radar for a while. I was so captivated by wheat berries, mills, fresh flour, and fresh milled bread, that my sourdough starter became neglected.

A coincidence? Maybe. 

Once I got a handle on fresh milled flour with commercial yeast, I slowly added sourdough back into my life, with the nutritious addition of fresh milled flour.

But honestly? I gave up a few times. There’s just a steep learning curve with fresh milled flour + sourdough.

But we’ll master it together.

And it turns out that a huge help is to actually start a new sourdough starter, from scratch, with fresh milled flour. Sometimes starters used to commercial flour don’t like being switched over to fresh flour.

Why combine fresh flour and sourdough?

So, if it’s difficult, why bother? I’m glad you asked.

Sourdough is using natural yeast and natural fermentation to make bread. While this process is commonly seen as a more nutritious way to make bread, that’s only half true. You see, sourdough bread is long-fermented, which means that it’s easier for our bodies to digest in the end. It’s already started to “digest” through it’s long, natural fermentation process. That’s a good thing.

What’s not good is that long-fermenting bread made with traditional commercial flour (store bought flour is essentially just highly-processed starch, missing 2/3 of the natural wheat), is simply a missed opportunity. (Learn more about the effect of sourdough fermentation on fresh milled flour.)

Fresh milled flour + sourdough? A long-fermented powerhouse of nutrition, digestibility, and flavor. It’s truly the best bread you can eat. 

Sourdough with fresh milled flour: getting started

If you’re new to milling flour, let’s get started.

You’ll need a good grain mill. You have three options–a stone mill, an impact mill (steel blades), or a hand-crank mill. I personally choose an on-demand style stone mill, but to each his own. Not sure which mill you might want or need? I wrote an entire guide to choosing a grain mill that breaks down everything you need to know.

Next, you need some wheat berries. It can get confusing with tons of variety, but if you’re starting out with fresh flour, you’ll most likely want to stick to either hard white or hard red for making bread like sourdough.

Then you’ll need a sourdough starter (if you’re making sourdough bread, that is). Good news; you’re in the right place! We’ll cover the whole process of making a fresh milled sourdough starter from scratch, right here.

It’s that simple!

Wheat berries for sourdough starter

Wheat berries can be confusing.

But, when it comes down to it, most wheat berries (ground into flour) can be used to feed your sourdough starter. Just be sure to keep in consistent so your starter knows what to expect. However, my personal preference is to use fresh milled rye flour to feed my starter on the daily. This is for two reasons: 1) my starter is happier, bubblier, and more active when it’s fed rye, and 2) rye is the most affordable grain I purchase.

Great options for fresh flour to feed your sourdough starter include:

• Rye (my personal choice)
• Hard white
• Hard red
• Einkorn
• Khorasan (A.K.A. Kamut)
• Spelt (my second favorite)
• Durum
• Alternative (GF) grains

What fresh milled flour is best for sourdough

The flour you’ll use to feed your sourdough starter and the flour you’ll use to make sourdough bread may or may not be the same. For instance, I personally use rye flour to feed my starter every day, but I stick with grains like Turkey Red (a hard red wheat) or Dakota Snow (a hard white wheat) to make sourdough bread.

Make sure you don’t try to use any soft wheat berries or low-gluten grains to make sourdough bread.

AVOID using:

soft white wheat

soft red wheat

rye

ancient grains (if using, no more than 50%)

In general, stick with hard grains (hard white, hard red) for the best results with sourdough bread. Later one once you’ve mastered fresh milled sourdough bread, experiment with other grains. But I recommend keeping it as simple as possible when you’re starting out.

How to make a fresh milled sourdough starter

Without further ado, let’s make a fresh milled sourdough starter, from scratch. Making a fresh flour sourdough starter is a simple process of mixing flour and water together, but it does take some patience as you wait for it to become active.

I recommend using fresh milled rye flour, but other options are hard white/red wheat, spelt, einkorn or khorasan.

Day 1: In a clean jar, mix equal parts water and flour by weight together, stir well, and cover with something breathable (NOT airtight). Let sit. You can measure with volume or weight, just keep the flour and water in a roughly 1:1 ratio.

Day 2: Discard about half of your starter, then feed it. The easiest way to make sure you’re feeding the proper amounts at first is to weigh how much starter you have, then feed it the same weight in both flour and water, making sure it’s a thick, pancake batter-like consistency. If it’s thinner than that, add a little more flour. 

As an example, if you have 25 g of starter, feed it 25 g of flour and 25 g of water.

Day 3: Discard half of your starter (again), and feed it the same amount of flour and water that the starter weighs.

Days 4-6: Continue this feeding pattern, feeding every 12-24 hours. I like to feed my starter first thing each morning to stay in a routine. You should start to see bubbles and some activity in your starter by now.

Week 1-2: Your starter should be bubbling, doubling in size after it’s fed, and looking happy by the beginning of week two. But don’t try to make bread with your starter before it’s actually active and established. In the first few weeks, even if a starter looks active and happy, it most likely isn’t strong enough to make bread with yet. Be patient and try making discard recipes with your starter at first (like discard crackers or overnight griddle cakes) before diving into fresh flour sourdough bread.

Feeding sourdough starter with fresh milled flour

If you’re used to feeding your sourdough starter store bought flour and are transitioning it to fresh milled flour (or starting a brand-new fresh milled starter), you’ll notice differences. Because fresh milled flour is so different from commercial flour, your starter will react to it differently.

You’ll notice that your starter rises and becomes active more quickly. That’s because fresh flour is alive with nutrients that your starter loves. The downside? It also stays active for much shorter times. A fresh milled sourdough starter needs routine in order to thrive, and is much less flexible than a commercial flour starter. When I was feeding my starter commercial flour, skipping a feeding or two here and there? No big deal. With a fresh flour starter? Skipping a feeding or two leads to crusty tops, very sad starter, and a longer bounce-back time than with commercial flour.

A fresh milled starter needs to be fed very regularly and routinely to survive.

How and when to feed a fresh milled starter

Your best bet is to feed your fresh milled sourdough starter every morning, when possible. I’ve personally found that my fresh milled starter isn’t happy in the fridge, so I keep mine at room temperature. If you’re able to keep your starter in the fridge, feed it once a week.

My method for feeding my starter is very eyeball-ed and simple.

1. Discard starter if it’s starting to have too much “bulk” to it. I don’t like to feed massive amounts of starter, I see it as a waste of flour. Save the discard for recipes later.
2. Add filtered water to your starter until it’s watery and “murky” looking. How much water you add depends on how much starter you want the next day.
3. Mix the starter + water together.
4. Add flour until your starter becomes thick and well-mixed. I aim for pancake batter-like thickness.
5. Fresh milled starters soak up a little more water than conventional flour ones, so keep it just a tad less thick as you’re feeding it than you’d like it to be in the end.

Print

fresh milled sourdough starter, step-by-step

Ingredients

• rye flour see notes
• water

Instructions

• Day 1: In a clean jar, mix equal parts water and flour by weight together, stir well, and cover with something breathable (NOT airtight). Let sit. You can measure with volume or weight, just keep the flour and water in a roughly 1:1 ratio.
• Day 2: Discard about half of your starter, then feed it. The easiest way to make sure you’re feeding the proper amounts at first is to weigh how much starter you have, then feed it the same weight in both flour and water, making sure it’s a thick, pancake batter-like consistency. If it’s thinner than that, add a little more flour.
• Day 3: Again, discard half of your starter, and feed it the same amount of flour and water that the starter weighs.
• Days 4-6: Continue this feeding pattern, feeding every 12-24 hours. I like to feed my starter first thing each morning to stay in a routine. You should start to see bubbles and some activity in your starter by now.
• Week 1-2: Your starter should be bubbling, doubling in size after it’s fed, and looking happy by the beginning of week two. But don’t try to make bread with your starter before it’s actually active and established. In the first few weeks, even if a starter looks active and happy, it most likely isn’t strong enough to make bread with yet. Be patient and try making discard recipes with your starter at first (like discard crackers or overnight griddle cakes) before diving into fresh flour sourdough bread.

Notes

I recommend using fresh milled rye flour, but other options are hard white/red wheat, spelt, einkorn or khorasan.

What you’ll need to make a fresh milled sourdough starter from scratch:

More like make a fresh milled sourdough starter (step-by-step):

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The post Make a fresh milled sourdough starter (step-by-step) first appeared on Souly Rested.

With blueberry muffins always being a hit around here, I was determined to make fresh milled flour blueberry muffins right off the bat. Granted, I didn’t open up my grain mill and make good muffins right away, but after a few attempts, once Bill said “keep this recipe!,” I knew I had created a keeper.

Why use fresh milled flour?

Instead of feeding your family “regular” homemade muffins for breakfast or as a snack, why not offer them superfood blueberry muffins, just by changing what flour you’re using? Using fresh milled flour turns normal muffins into a multi-vitamin, offering your body so many nutrients.

Regular all-purpose flour from the store? It’s so old and processed that it’s essentially just nutrient-less starch to your body. Fresh milled flour? A complex, nutrient-packed flour that folks swear doesn’t spike their blood sugar. Even though fresh milled flour blueberry muffins are still, well, muffins, they’re something you can feel amazing about feeding your family.

Learn about my top 5 benefits to milling fresh flour.

Can you make muffins with fresh flour?

Absolutely.

I’d argue that fresh flour makes the best muffins!

While this recipe is super straightforward, there are a few things to keep in mind. Fresh milled flour behaves differently than store bought flour does, given the fact that it’s a whole grain flour. It’s packed full of antioxidants, protein, and minerals, but the bran and germ that make it nutritious can also make muffins dense, gummy, or not rise.

This recipe uses soft white wheat to keep it simple and straight forward (if you own a grain mill, you most likely have soft white wheat berries in your pantry), but if I’m feeling fancy I’ll swap the soft white wheat for einkorn, Khorasan (kamut), or barley (or a mixture).

How to make fresh milled, gluten-free blueberry muffins

If you’re looking to make gluten-free muffins with fresh milled flour, try using oat groats, milled into fine flour (don’t mill rolled oats!). For better texture, add 2-3 teaspoons of a starch to the muffin batter. Some starches could include:

Arrowroot powder

Cornstarch (or a chickpea alternative)

Tapioca starch

Fluffy fresh milled muffins: tips & tricks

I’ve picked up some tips for making better muffins throughout the years. Some are fresh flour specific, and some can be applied to any recipe, made with any flour.

• Fill your muffin tins/liners enough. You want them to be about 2/3-3/4 full to achieve tall, bakery-style muffins. 
• Don’t skip the dairy. Using sour cream, Greek yogurt, or thick buttermilk will help your muffins stay soft, non-crumbly, and retain their moisture/softness for longer.
• Don’t lessen the sugar too much. Turns out, sugar not only makes muffins taste amazing, but also helps them retain moisture, be tender but not crumbly, rise higher, and brown nicely without burning. If you reduce the sugar too much, you’ll have dry, crumbly muffins that go stale very quickly.

• If you’re struggling with your muffins being gummy in the center, try letting your batter sit for 10-15 minutes before baking. You’ll find that this recipe doesn’t specifically call for letting the batter sit–because I simply don’t find it necessary and I’m usually eager for a fresh-from-the-oven muffin ASAP. But try adding this step if your muffins don’t come out as well as you’d like.
• Don’t overmix your batter. Just make sure there aren’t any huge lumps or pockets of flour at the bottom of your bowl, and you’re good to go. Mixing your batter too much will make muffins tough, as you’re actually developing gluten, which we want in bread dough but want to avoid in muffin batter.
• Don’t overbake your muffins. As soon as the centers are set, remove them from the oven and let them cool. If you want to use an instant read thermometer, cooked muffins temp at 190-200 in the center.

The best blueberry muffins are made with fresh milled flour

If you’re looking to upgrade your classic blueberry muffins, look no farther than making them with fresh milled flour.

Not only does whole grain flour simply taste better, it also offers a depth of flavor that isn’t easy to explain. If you’ve ever used whole wheat flour from the store, ditch that thought in your mind. Plastic-y, stale, playdough-y is what comes to my mind. Fresh milled flour is a whole different story. Rich, nutty, buttery, wheat-y tasting–yes–but in the best, warm way.

The soft sweetness of muffins pairs so well with the rich flavor of fresh milled flour. Trust me, once you try them you can’t go back. Especially cut in half, grilled in a hot cast iron skillet with butter? Forget about it.

How to prevent dense whole wheat muffins

When we think of words like “whole wheat,” “whole grain,” or “stone-ground,” we often think “dense, heavy, crumbly.” But that doesn’t have to be the case. With this recipe, and a few thoughts to help you adapt any muffin recipe you should ever want to make, you’re well on your way to whole wheat muffins that break all the serotypes. 

1. Use the right ingredients. Adding ingredients like Greek yogurt/sour cream, buttermilk, liquid oil, eggs, all combine into a magical creation: soft, moist whole wheat muffins that makes everyone ask for the recipe.
2. Use the right flour. Make sure to stick with soft grains, or ancient grains (with lower gluten potential) for the best muffins. Using hard grains (like hard white wheat) will result in more gluten forming in the muffin batter, leading to tough muffins. No thanks.
3. Bake at the right temperature. If your oven runs cold, consider upping the temperature by a few degrees. You really want a nice, pre-heated oven, hot and ready to go when your muffins go in. If the oven is still preheating, or the temperature is running low, your muffins won’t rise quite as high.
4. Add toppings. The texture of coarse sugar or a nice streusel not only adds a bakery-style touch, but also helps improve the texture of the muffin overall.

What wheat berries make the best muffins?

Almost any wheat berry can be used to make muffins. However, softer grains (soft white wheat), and ancient grains (einkorn, spelt, khorasan) will make better muffins than harder grains (hard white, hard red, durum).

Best wheat berries to make muffins:

Soft white wheat

Einkorn

Khorasan/Kamut

Spelt

Wheat berries to NOT use in muffins:

(These grains can be used, but for best results, mix 50/50 or even 25/75 with a grain listed above.)

Hard white/hard red

Durum

Rye

Print

The best fresh milled flour blueberry muffins

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups soft white flour
• ¾ cups coconut sugar*
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup greek yogurt or sour cream
• ½ cup liquid oil
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon either vanilla or lemon extract
• 1 ¾ cups blueberries either fresh or frozen
• Coarse sugar for sprinkling, optional

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350.
• In a large bowl, mix all the muffin ingredients together, except the blueberries. After the batter is mixed well, gently fold the blueberries in.
• Ladle batter into greased muffin tins, filling each well about ¾ full.
• Sprinkle the tops with sugar, if desired.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, until they’re golden, a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, or a thermometer reads roughly 200 degrees.

Notes

*If you don't have coconut sugar on hand, substitute traditional cane sugar.

What you’ll need to make blueberry muffins:

More like the best fresh milled flour blueberry muffins:

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Shop all my favorite grains and wheat berries here, and shop grain mills here.

Follow along on my fresh milled flour adventures on Instagram (@souly.rested) and Facebook.

The post The best fresh milled flour blueberry muffins first appeared on Souly Rested.

So I’m not surprised to see that “colostrum” has become a trendy buzzword across social media. If it’s good enough to sustain the vulnerable lives of days-old calves, it certainly has superfood benefits for our bodies as well.

My favorite way to enjoy the benefits of colostrum? In a Vanilla Colostrum Latte. It’s naturally sweet (no sugar), it’s creamy and vanilla-y, it’s made with the highest-quality coffee in the world (for added antioxidants!), and it’s offering my body tons of nutrients it desperately needs.

What is colostrum?

Bovine colostrum is the first milk that cows produce after they give birth to a calf. It’s packed full of protein, vitamins, essential minerals as it’s designed to nourish calves during their very first and very vulnerable days outside the womb.

Before you come for me, don’t worry. The colostrum I use and love make sure the calves get their fair share of colostrum before it’s packaged for humans to enjoy.

Why do people take colostrum?

A properly-sourced bovine colostrum is extremely nutritious. While it’s still a buzzword going around, colostrum is being studied for it’s benefits;

• Supporting immune health
• Containing compounds associated with gut support
• Supporting healthy digestion
• Used by athletes to help support recovery and muscle growth
• Strengthening hair, skin, and nails 

Adding colostrum powder to your morning latte is an easy way to make your coffee more nourishing while also incorporating a superfood ingredient that many people use for gut and immune support, digestion support, muscle recovery, improved hair, skin, and nails, and overall wellness.

Learn more about colostrum straight from the source–dairy farmers themselves with this Colostrum 101 guide.

How to know if your colostrum is real

There are lots of bad colostrum powders out there. Even *ehem* some of the huge, popular brands going around. Some things to look for in a high-quality colostrum (that’s not just a waste of money, but actually REAL, first-milk bovine colostrum); the color, the smell, the taste, the fact that it’s third-party tested, it’s labeled “whole” colostrum, NOT “skimmed.”

Let’s talk about colostrum, and how to know if your colostrum is real, or if you’re being ripped off.

The color

Real, high-quality colostrum powder should be noticeably yellow. Not pale yellow, not white. A golden, butter-y-yellow color is ideal. If your colostrum powder is just white, it’s most likely lacking all the amazing nutrients that we’re specifically looking for.

The smell

High-quality, nutritious colostrum should smell like, well, dairy. If it smells very off-putting, it most likely wasn’t handled correctly. If it smells like nothing, it’s most likely not a colostrum that’s worth your money.

The taste

Good bovine colostrum should taste creamy and milk-y. Not watery, weak, or sour.

Third party-tested colostrum

Check your labels. If your colostrum isn’t third-party tested, there’s a good chance you’re not getting what you think you are.

Whole colostrum, NOT skimmed

“Skimmed” colostrum powders have been stripped of most of their nutrients, leaving behind technically-colostrum-powder, but it’s void of almost all the nutrients that we’re looking to enjoy. On the other hand, “whole” colostrum powder is real, full-fat, not-skimmed, as-it-should-be colostrum.

The colostrum powder I use daily checks every single one of these boxes. It’s produced by generational dairy farmers I trust because they’ve been doing what they’re doing for, well, generations.

Colostrum recipes

While I’m partial to this vanilla colostrum latte recipe to enjoy my colostrum, get creative! There are tons of ways to incorporate colostrum into your daily life.

Add colostrum to a yogurt bowl/parfait

Make a colostrum smoothie by simply adding colostrum powder to your favorite smoothie

Make a hydrating colostrum electrolyte drink by adding unflavored colostrum powder to your usual electrolyte powder/drink.

Add colostrum powder to oatmeal or overnight oats

Make protein colostrum energy balls or granola bars for a nutritious snack

Vanilla colostrum latte recipe

Making a vanilla colostrum latte is as simple as making your espresso (I use a cheap, non-toxic mocha pot to make mine), frothing the colostrum and optional vanilla bean paste into your milk, and combining the espresso and colostrum/milk. Hot or iced, you have a delicious and super nutritious latte.

Brew a double shot of espresso.

Froth one serving of colostrum powder into about 20 oz of milk. Add vanilla bean paste, if using.

Gently heat the milk for a hot latte, or add ice for an iced latte.

Pour the espresso over the milk.

Enjoy your superfood vanilla colostrum latte.

What coffee makes the best colostrum latte?

Unless you’re using the right coffee, adding colostrum to your latte is like sticking a Band-Aid on a broken arm. It’s not going to be very effective.

Did you know that conventional coffee is rumored to be the most heavily treated (sprayed) crop in the world?

But it turns out that shade-grown, low-acid, carefully roasted, organic coffee (in other words, how coffee should be) is high in antioxidants and is actually nutritious? If you care about your health, an easy (and affordable) switch is to order high-quality coffee beans in bulk. Then you’re stocked up on nutritious coffee that costs pennies per serving.

I personally trust these guys to fill my daily cup of joe. Their coffee is grown generatively and in the shade (making it naturally low-acid and easy on the stomach), without any chemicals, and is roasted to perfection, never allowing mold to develop. And they’re third-party tested just to make sure.

Print

Vanilla colostrum latte

Servings 1 latte

Ingredients

• 1 double shot espresso
• 1 serving vanilla colostrum powder
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste optional
• 20 oz whole milk or milk of choice

Instructions

• Brew your double shot of espresso
• If making a hot latte, gently heat your milk.
• Using a handheld frother, whisk the colostrum powder and vanilla bean paste into the milk. Add ice for an iced latte.
• Pour the espresso over the vanilla milk. Enjoy your delicious vanilla colostrum latte!

More like vanilla colostrum latte recipe:

• Sugar free latte with adaptogens
• Homemade tea blend that tastes like coffee
• Dr pepper recipe: homemade soda
• All my favorite coffee supplies

The post Vanilla Colostrum Latte Recipe first appeared on Souly Rested.

Freezing wheat berries

Once upon a time, I purchased two bags of refined flour whenever I needed to replace my pantry stash.

And I thought that was bulk food storage.

These days, I have 19 large, 5-gallon buckets (and counting) in my basement. 

They’re full of wheat berries.

So when I get peppered with questions about storing wheat berries, I’m thrilled to answer them. These are the same questions I had when I started milling my own flour and storing wheat berries.

So, should I freeze wheat berries?

Let’s talk about it.

Storing wheat berries long-term

First, let’s cover the basics.

“Wheat berries” are grains that haven’t been milled yet, and are kept intact in their whole kernel form. Once wheat is milled, that exposes the oils inside the wheat to air, which begins the process of degrading the wheat (flour).

However, kept in their whole form, the bran on the outside of the wheat berries protects the oils inside, meaning wheat berries can last indefinitely. (Seriously, we’ve found grains of wheat in ancient tombs that are still viable!)

What you need to store wheat berries

If you’re looking to store wheat berries long-term, you’re going to need a few things:

1. First of all, you need wheat berries to store. Opt for high-quality wheat berries from sources you trust. If you’re curious, I find that roughly 35-40 pounds of wheat berries will fit in each 5-gallon bucket. If you purchase 50-lbs of wheat berries at a time, you’ll need to store the remaining 10-15 pounds of grains in another bucket or other containers.
2. 5-gallon buckets. You can find these just about anywhere, from Lowe’s to Tractor Supply, to Amazon. Just make sure they’re food-grade and opaque.
3. Good lids. Trust me here, the cheap-o lids you can purchase alongside the 5-gallon buckets just aren’t going to cut it. To protect your grains for long periods of time, opt for high-quality lids with air-tight seals.

Can I store wheat berries in glass containers?

Yes, but don’t plan to store wheat berries long-term in glass. This is because glass allows light in, which breaks down your grains faster. If you’re looking to avoid plastic all together, you can grab stainless steel storage bins, but they’re definitely an investment. 5-gallon buckets it is for me and my grains.

My wheat berry storage system is simple: I store all of my bulk grains in my basement, in 5-gallon buckets with sealed lids. I also store a glass jar of each type of grain upstairs in my pantry, in smaller quantities that get used first and more quickly.

Does freezing wheat berries kill bugs?

Technically, yes. Freezing wheat berries does kill most bugs, larvae, or eggs that might be in your wheat berries. However, there are some considerations…

First, you’ll need to make sure your wheat berries are kept below 0 degrees F for at least 3-7 days. Anything less and you very well might be left with cold, damp wheat berries and also still have bugs. Keep in mind that freezing in thicker layers (think 50-lb bag of wheat berries) will meal you’ll need even more time to make sure the middle of the bag of wheat reaches below 0 for at least 3 days.

Second, ask yourself why your wheat berries have bugs in the first place. Most wheat berries bought from reputable sources won’t have any issues with bugs. Purchasing cheaper wheat berries to save a few bucks might not be such a great idea if they come with pesky bugs.

(Technically, almost all grains have bugs of some kind. Usually microscopic and a normal part of life, these can grow into outbreaks if farmers don’t maintain the correct environment. I know it’s kind of gross, but it’s true. The goal is to control the bug/larvae population and keep them at the microscopic, non-issue level.)

Thirdly, IF there are bugs or eggs in your grains, freezing will kill them, but it won’t remove them. You’ll still have remnants of bugs, eggs, and anything else they leave behind in the wheat you’re feeding your family.

Freezing wheat berries to make bread

Let’s be real, making bread with fresh flour is already a learning curve. 

If you freeze your wheat berries before storing them, there’s a good chance you’re messing with the moisture levels of the grain, which can make bread baking with fresh milled flour even tougher. This study looked at how rapid change in moisture levels impacts wheat, and, as a result, the bread made with that wheat. 

Technically, given that gluten forms after flour is introduced to water, freezing your wheat berries shouldn’t impact the gluten structure of your bread too much.

However, introducing moisture (freezing and thawing) your wheat berries can change the balance of moisture in your grains, which can change how those grains mill, what your resulting flour is like, and how your dough hydrates. All of these things will impact how your bread turns out. Best case sicario, you might have inconsistent results. Worst case, your grains will be so impacted that your bread actually doesn’t rise as much.

Not to mention, grains that are frozen/thawed have a chance of harboring mold, mildew, or (funny enough), pests.

Given that I’ve stored grains for over a decade without a single pest issue, I personally just don’t find the risks of freezing wheat berries worth it.

Do farmers freeze wheat berries?

Consider the fact that farmers often store wheat berries in silos and unheated warehouses before packaging and shipping out grains. This means that, technically, grains could have already been frozen before you received them.

The main distinction here is that most (reputable) farmers test and track the moisture levels of grains before they sell them. In order to preserve well, grains should have a moisture level of 13.5% or less. If a farmer probes (tests) grains that are higher moisture than that, they’ll dry the grains until they reach the proper moisture levels.

At home, freezing/thawing wheat berries doesn’t have the same level of control and steps of testing that farmers utilize.

You could easily be eating moldy grains, gum up your grain mill, or change how your bread turns out. All just from freezing your wheat berries.

If you’re curious, this article summarized that freezing temperatures in grain silos didn’t even kill bugs.

Heat, don’t freeze wheat berries

If you’re truly concerned about bugs in your wheat, consider actually heating them instead of freezing them. 

You’ll still need to be very careful doing this, as you’re still messing with the moisture levels of your grains. Try heating your grains at a steady 140 degrees F for at least 15 minutes, then allowing them to cool before putting away.

Learn more about the effect of heating grains to kill bugs here.

Why I don’t freeze my wheat berries

Obviously, everyone needs to do what they’re comfortable with. But at the end of the day, the risks of freezing wheat berries aren’t worth the reward for me personally. Here’s why.

• I don’t have the freezer space. When I’m purchasing grains, it’s always in 50-lb quantities, and often several 50-lb bags at a time. I simply don’t have the freezer space to hold all of those grains at once.
• I’m concerned about mold growth in damp wheat berries. I don’t trust myself to make sure the grains are fully warmed to room temperature and dried before storing them away.
• I order grains from sources I trust, and I leave the moisture levels of my wheat berries to the experts.
• I don’t want to gum up or damage my pricy mill with possibly too-moist grains. That’s an expensive mistake.
• I’ve never had an issue not freezing them. Not to mention, since my grains are stored in individual buckets with airtight lids, even if I did have some form of “outbreak” it wouldn’t spread far. I’d simply have one bucket of impacted grains to deal with, and I’d move on.

More about wheat berries & fresh milled flour:

• How to store wheat berries 101
• Which wheat berries to use (a simple guide)
• Wheat berries for sourdough bread
• Wheat berries: everything you need to know

The post Should I freeze wheat berries? first appeared on Souly Rested.

Fresh milled flour is a nutrient powerhouse and adds a unique, delicious flavor to everything you bake. But until I figured out some important tips & tricks, well, my family didn’t like my bread.

It was bricks if I used 100% fresh flour, so I want back to 1/2 store-bought and 1/2 fresh and that helped. See more tips for baking with fresh flour here.

Sandwich bread with fresh milled flour

Turns out, I had to master a few more things–like using a tangzhong which you’ll find in this recipe (don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it), and all the other insights I poured into creating the most in-depth resource you’ll find anywhere on milling & baking with fresh flour. See Fresh Flour University for more details on that.

I’m almost ready to send more than 100 of my favorite fresh flour recipes that I’ve created over the years into my publisher… watch for my new book Fall 2026, a sort of in-depth handbook for all things Fresh Flour and a cookbook in one.

And this bread recipe that I’m sharing today will most definitely be included in those pages!

p.s. if you’d like a chance to be a Test Kitchen for the book, I’d love to have you join us over in my Fresh Flour Kitchen facebook group.

Sandwich Bread made fresh milled flour changed everything

This recipe was a turning point for me. A true game changer. Our family enjoyed other “sandwich breads” I’d made before, once I got out of my bricks-for-bread stage that is, but not truly as sandwich bread.

All my breads before this were wonderful butter-slathered accompaniments to our dinners.

But this recipe I’m sharing today, and a Pullman pan, were the final catalysts that meant I no longer have to turn my cart down the bread aisle at the grocery store. This bread slices so easily, into perfect, thin sandwich bread pieces and offers a perfect crumb for sandwiches.

Because it’s made with a tangzhong (see below for more on that), it stays fresh for so many days! When it’s a little past it’s prime, it toasts beautifully and makes the BEST fresh toast.

Then I will slice whatever is left and store the slices in the freezer to use for toasted sandwiches later, or I’ll use the older bread for croutons or bread crumbs.

Why use fresh milled flour to make bread?

Any homemade bread is better than 36-ingredient “bread” from the store.

But if you want to level up your bread making game, fresh milled flour is the way to go. Flour purchased from the store actually only contains 1/3 parts of the wheat berry. And the starchy endosperm that is “flour” as we know it is sifted, heated, and treated until it has essentially no nutrients left.

But if you use a grain mill to mill your own flour? Boom. You get to enjoy all 3 parts of the wheat berry (including the most nutritious parts, the bran and germ!). This means that your body is receiving 40/44 essential nutrients it needs, all “just” from your flour.

Learn about why I mill my own flour here.

Which wheat berries should I make bread with?

The best wheat berries to make bread with are generally hard white and hard red. These grains have the highest gluten potential, which results in great bread. Keep in mind that within the category of hard white wheat and hard red wheat, there are different kinds.

There are modern breeds of hard white and red (most common), and there are heritage breeds of these types of grains, as well. Heritage grains are great for making sure you’re getting unhybridized, nutrient-dense grains. My favorite breeds of heritage hard red wheat are Rouge De Bordeaux and Turkey Red.

Other grains that can be used to make bread are Einkorn, Khorasan (Kamut), Spelt, Rye, and Durum. All of these grains benefit from adding some vital wheat gluten (or other enhancements) to your bread dough to improve elasticity and gluten. Never use soft wheat berries for bread. It won’t develop gluten, which will result in very dense bread.

I use a mixture of hard red, durum, and spelt grains to make this loaf.

What’s the best bread pan for fresh flour loaves?

A Pullman bread pan is pretty odd looking if you ask me.

I’d seen folks using them occasionally, on social media now and then, but thought they looked too “intense” and wondered by on earth someone would want such a large bread pan (and lid!) to have to store in their cabinets.

Then one day I decided to buy one. I decided if there was a chance it might help me bake my own like-the-store sandwich bread I needed to try.

Best fresh-flour related purchase I’ve made since investing in my grain mill. 

What IS a pullman bread pan?

A pullman bread pan is a large, rectangular loaf pan with straight sides and a lid that slides on top.

This style of bread pan was used to make bread on the first pullman train cars–the first trains that gave passengers cars to sleep in while they traveled across the country. The passengers, of course, needed food on their journey, and the kitchens on the pullman train cars were tiny. By baking the bread for the passengers in square-topped loaves.

The lid keeps the bread from doming and, instead creates perfectly square slices, which allowed the early Pullman train cars to store 3 loaves of bread in the space that used to only store 2. 

But the part I really love about this bread is the texture. It’s soft and pillowy, kinda like Wonder Bread honestly, minus the gumminess and zero taste.  (Oh, and minus all those ingredients you can’t pronounce, including L’cysteine, a common dough conditioner in bread that’s made from (are you sitting down for this one?) human hair and duck feathers. Seriously. (Find out more here.)

What’s a tangzhong?

Tangzhong is bread making technique of cooking together a portion of the flour & liquid before adding it to the dough. It works by allowing the dough to absorb more liquid than usual, making your bread pillowy-soft.

To add a Tangzhong to any dough, simply whisk together flour and water in a 1:5 ratio, cook it until it thickens into a paste, then add the paste to your dough.

You’ll find bread made with Tangzhong added will be:

• Softer & fluffier
• Shelf-stable for longer
• Better at retaining moisture

The Tangzhong method is especially great for fresh milled flour if you’re struggling with dense, dry, crumbly, or under-proofed loaves.

I’ve been touting the joy of tangzhong in fresh flour bread on instagram for a while and so many of you reach out telling me it’s a game changer for you, like it was for me.

How to make a tangzhong

To prepare your tangzhong, you’ll need:

• 6 TB milk
• 2 TB (16 g) hard red flour

Go ahead and mill about 300 g of hard red wheat berries first. This will be enough hard red flour for the whole recipe. These are my personal, all-time favorite, heirloom grain for this bread: Rouge De Bordeaux Hard Red Berries (use code SOULYRESTED to always save 15%)

Make your tangzong, whisking flour and milk, and heating while constantly whisking. After just a minute or two of constant whisking, your flour and milk combination will turn into a paste. Immediately remove from heat and let cool.

While your tangzhong cools, start mixing your bread.

The Best Sandwich Bread with Fresh Milled Flour

While your tangzhong cools (see above), start your dough by mixing these ingredients:

• 2 cups hard red flour (260 grams)
• 1 cup durum flour (120 grams)
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 ½ TB vital wheat gluten

Then add the cooled tangzhong and these ingredients:

• 1/2 cup spelt flour (60 grams) 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons butter (read below)

Instructions:

1. Add hard red and durum flour, water, yeast, honey, and vital wheat gluten to your mixing bowl. Mix until combined and let sit, covered, for 20 minutes.
2. Add cooled tangzong, spelt flour, and salt to your bowl. Mix on medium. Add butter slowly, in small pieces, one at a time, as mixer is mixing.
3. Turn mixer to high and let it knead your dough for at least 10 minutes, or until you get a nice window pane. 
4. While mixer is kneading your dough, prepare a bowl that will be at least twice the size of your dough by lightly coating the inside in butter or oil. 
5. Turn dough out onto the counter and knead it briefly, mainly just to form it into a nice ball. (This is assuming your mixer has done all the hard work. If you don’t have a nice window pane your dough hasn’t built up enough gluten yet, and in that case you’ll want to keep working with it and kneading it more at this stage.)  
6. Roll your ball of dough in the oil in your prepared bowl, so it’s coated on all sides. Cover and sit in a warm, draft-free location to rise for about 30 minutes.
7. Prepare your Pullman pan by coating the inside of the pan, as well as the lid, with a healthy fat, paying close attention to the corners.
8. After your dough has almost doubled in size, or after about half an hour, it’s time to prepare it for its second rise.
9. Place the dough in your prepared pan, seam side down, and let dough rise until it’s about 1 inch from the top of the pan, anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 ½ hours. 
10. Preheat oven to 350F.
11. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature of  200F.
12. Immediately remove from pan and let cool. Store for up to 3 days fresh or store, sliced and ready to use, for months in the freezer.

Note: I add vital wheat gluten to this bread because spelt has a weaker, more water-soluble gluten than modern hard wheats, but I like this combination. If you’d like to use a great heirloom wheat, like Turkey Red, you can try skipping the vital wheat gluten, since Turkey Red has high levels of protein and strong gluten potential.

Also, if you want the nutrients of fresh milled but don’t have a grain mill yet, this fresh milled flour, sold by the farmer who grow it, is top-notch.

Print

Best sandwich bread with fresh milled flour (pullman pan)

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

For the Tangzhong

• 6 TB milk
• 2 TB hard red flour

For the dough

• 2 cups hard red flour 260 grams
• 1 cup durum flour 145 grams
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 ½ TB vital wheat gluten

To add with the Tangzhong

• 1/2 cup spelt flour 60 grams
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons butter read below

Instructions

• Make your tangzong, whisking flour and milk, and heating while constantly whisking. After just a minute or two of constant whisking, your flour and milk combination will turn into a paste. Immediately remove from heat and let cool. While your tangzhong cools, start mixing your bread.
• Add hard red and durum flour, water, yeast, honey, and vital wheat gluten to your mixing bowl. Mix until combined and let sit, covered, for 20 minutes.
• Add cooled tangzong, spelt flour, and salt to your bowl. Mix on medium. Add butter slowly, in small pieces, one at a time, as mixer is mixing.
• Turn mixer to high and let it knead your dough for at least 10 minutes, or until you get a nice window pane.
• While mixer is kneading your dough, prepare a bowl that will be at least twice the size of your dough by lightly coating the inside in butter or oil.
• Turn dough out onto the counter and knead it briefly, mainly just to form it into a nice ball. (This is assuming your mixer has done all the hard work. If you don’t have a nice window pane your dough hasn’t built up enough gluten yet, and in that case you’ll want to keep working with it and kneading it more at this stage.)
• Roll your ball of dough in the oil in your prepared bowl, so it’s coated on all sides. Cover and sit in a warm, draft-free location to rise for about 30 minutes.
• Prepare your Pullman pan by coating the inside of the pan, as well as the lid, with a healthy fat, paying close attention to the corners.
• After your dough has almost doubled in size, or after about half an hour, it’s time to prepare it for its second rise.
• Place the dough in your prepared pan, seam side down, and let dough rise until it’s about 1 inch from the top of the pan, anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 ½ hours.
• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Bake for 50-60 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature of  200F.
• Immediately remove from pan and let cool. Store for up to 3 days fresh or store, sliced and ready to use, for months in the freezer.

Notes

I add vital wheat gluten to this bread because spelt has a weaker, more water-soluble gluten than modern hard wheats, but I like this combination. If you’d like to use a great heirloom wheat, like Turkey Red, you can try skipping the vital wheat gluten, since Turkey Red has high levels of protein and strong gluten potential.

What I Use to Make this Fresh Flour Sandwich Bread

The grain mills I recommend

Go here for my Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Grain Mill, where I walk you though 6 questions to ask to decide which grain mill is best for you & your family.

More fresh milled flour info:

• Which wheat berries to use (a simple guide)
• The best lemon bars made with fresh flour
• Wheat berries: everything you need to know
• Kamut chocolate chip cookies recipe
• Grab all my tips & more recipes here

PIN this recipe here so you always have it when you need it.

The post The Best Sandwich Bread with fresh milled flour first appeared on Souly Rested.

How to Ferment Food

I’ve been fermenting our garden surplus for years, but this is also a great way to preserve any bits of leftover raw veggies you have that you bought at the store or farmers market and are lingering in the the recesses of your fridge.

I just put my final jar of fermented cherry tomatoes away for the winter, so I thought I’d sit down and walk through the steps with you. While I’m showing you my tomatoes, know that you will follow this same process for any vegetable.

Fermenting fruit

You can also ferment fruit (in fact, I LOVE fermented fruit), but you follow a different method. Go here for:

Fermenting blueberries

Fermenting peaches

Fermented pears

But the recipe below focuses on fermenting vegetables.

Can I make fermented food at home?

Everyone can make fermented food at home. It’s much easier than you think, as long as you know the right details. Fermentation preserves food by changing the sugars that naturally occur in the veggie into organic acids. And you do that by using the right amount of the right salt (both details are very important… read on for more).

Also feel free to add spices and herbs if your fermenting recipe calls for that.

How does fermentation work?

Salt keeps all the bad microbes from being able to grow on your vegetables and spoil them. Even better, salt promotes the growth of the good bacteria that produce lactic acid. Lactic acid is the secret sauce of fermented food. It’s the magical conversion of sugars to acids.

And lactic acid helps with cancer prevention (ref.), decrease in cholesterol absorption(ref.), and reduction of food allergies (ref.).

And we know that butyric acid–the main energy source for the good bacteria in our gut–is produced while food ferments. ( source )

But that’s not all! Fermentation makes the nutrients that are present in vegetables available, a process called “bioavailability.”

A stark difference from canned vegetables, fermented vegetables retain all their nutrients and vitamins. In fact, their nutritional value increases! ( source )

You see, during fermentation, microorganisms are creating amazing nutrients, like vitamin C, B group vitamins (including the famous B12), and vitamin K.

Does fermenting add nutrients to your food?

Best-selling author, Kristen Shocke explains everything you want to know about fermenting on episode 185 of my show: the Simple Doesn’t Mean Easy podcast.

How to ferment vegetables

How to make a ferment brine

The brine concentration you should use for vegetables depends on the type of vegetable.

Today, I used 4% brine. My tomatoes weighted 41 oz, so that meant I added 1.7 oz of salt. (I measured that out. It was 3 TB.)

 

Can you use tap water for fermenting food?

• Filter it… Use a water filter, such as a charcoal filter or a filtering pitcher, to remove chlorine. 
• Boil it… Bring the water to a rolling boil for at least 20 minutes to allow the chlorine to evaporate. But make sure you let it cool completely before using it for your ferment. 
• Let it sit… Pour the tap water into a bowl and leave it out on the counter overnight to allow the chlorine to naturally evaporate from the water. 

How to make fermentation lids

All you need, in a fermentation lid, is to have a way to keep the bugs out but let the air in. I personally love this fermenting kit that works so nicely with any mason jar. The lid allows the brine to bubble out and the good bacteria in the air to get into my ferments, but it also keeps the bugs out.

Print

How to Ferment Vegetables

Instructions

• Clean your vegetables.
• Weigh your vegetables, then multiply that number by the percentage of brine you want to make (1.5-5%)
• Place veggies in jar.
• Add salt.
• Fill your jar with filtered water and shake gently to agitate the salt to start dissolving.
• Place weight on vegetables, to keep them under the brine. (I use this.)
• Place fermentation lid on jar. (I use this.)
• Let sit for at least 3 days, at room temperature.
• Taste daily. When it tastes the way you want, remove weight (or spring) and fermentation lid, add a high-gauge stainless steel lid that won't corrode from the brine, and place in fridge.

What you need to ferment food

More about Fermenting Food

How to ferment peppers

How to ferment cauliflower

How to make kombucha with a SCOBY

Adding nutrients to your food by fermenting (listen)

The post How to ferment food first appeared on Souly Rested.

This Ginger Pear Tea is quite possibly my favorite homemade tea blend I make. And I make a lot of homemade tea blends.

Ginger Pear Tea Ingredients

3 TB dried pears (I freeze dry organic pears)

3 TB black tea blend 

1 tsp anise 

1 tsp dried ginger root

1 tsp cinnamon chips

1 tsp zinnia petals (optional, see notes below)

Instructions for making Ginger Pear Tea

1. Blend 5 ingredients together by hand in a bowl. 
2. Scoop 1 heaping TB of tea blend into a tea strainer (like this one). Place strainer in a mug and fill mug with hot water. 
3. Let steep for 3-5 minutes. Add sweetener if desired, and enjoy.

Bulk Batch of Ginger Pear Tea

Once you’ve made a small batch and enjoyed a few cups of this tea, you’ll want to mix this larger batch. It almost fills a quart jar. I store all my homemade tea blends in mason jars in a dark cabinet with these lids. The heavy duty seal helps the teas stay fresh and they taste delicious for years.

1 cup dried pears (I freeze dry organic pears)

1 cup black tea blend

5 TB anise 

5 TB ginger

5 TB cinnamon chips

5 TB zinnia petals (optional)

Notes about making Ginger Pear Tea

• I add zinnia for appearance and medicinal benefit. The almost flavorless petals doesn’t change the taste at all. I grow my zinnia, and 15 other plants, in my medicinal drink garden.
• In place of anise (I grow my anise), you can use licorice root–cut and sifted is fine–but I like licorice root chips better. Could also use fennel.

Print

Ginger Pear Tea Blend

Ingredients

• 3 TB dried pears I freeze dry organic pears
• 3 TB black tea blend
• 1 tsp anise
• 1 tsp dried ginger root
• 1 tsp cinnamon chips
• 1 tsp zinnia petals optional, see notes below

Instructions

• Blend 5 ingredients together by hand in a bowl.
• Scoop 1 heaping TB of tea blend into a tea strainer (like this one). Place strainer in a mug and fill mug with hot water.
• Let steep for 3-5 minutes. Add sweetener if desired, and enjoy.

More tea blends you’ll love:

• Make a tea that tastes like coffee!
• Make a black tea blend that tastes like Lipton!
• Make a Masala Chai blend
• Everything you need to know How to Make Tea Blends

The post Easy Ginger Pear Tea first appeared on Souly Rested.

And I love using a deeply delicious all-natural sugar in these bars to  give the lemon flavor a perfect tartness.

Lemon Bars With Fresh Flour

INGREDIENTS

2 ½ cups (350 g) einkorn flour, divided

1 cup butter, cubed

2 ½ cups sugar, divided (I use this sugar; see notes)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

6 eggs

1 cup lemon juice

Confectioner’s sugar (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 and line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper.
2. Add butter, ½ cup of the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to mixing bowl and combine. Remove 6 TB of flour and set aside. Add the rest of the flour to your mixing bowl and mix again.
3. Press the dough into your prepared pan. No need for it to be “pretty” (the dough will be thick and hard to spread out), but try to get it spread out evenly.
4. Bake until the edges are brown, about 20 minutes.
5. While the crust is baking, mix your filling ingredients: Mix the remaining 2 cups of sugar and 6 TB of flour. Whisk in eggs and lemon juice.
6. After removing crust from the oven, pour the lemon filling over the crust and place your pan back in the oven for another 20 minutes, or until the center is set.
7. Let cool to room temperature before serving (I know, it’s hard. I like most desserts nice and warm, but this one has to sit and cool). I like to dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Notes about baking Lemon Bars with fresh einkorn flour

• Because I use coconut sugar for all the sugar in this recipe, it doesn’t turn out as “pretty” as if I used lighter-colored cane sugar. If I did, you would notice a color difference in the crust and the filling and the filling would be a much brighter yellow color. But I love the flavor of the earthier coconut sugar in this recipe. (By the way, coconut sugar is made from nectar from the coconut tree blooms… it’s delicious and tastes nothing like coconut.) It really gives the lemon a perfect tartness.
• Don’t be tempted to scrimp on the sugar in this recipe. The sugar works in tandem with the eggs to make the filling set well. If you scrimp on your sugar, your filling will be watery. (But using coconut sugar reduces the sweetness and makes your bars slightly more tart tasting.)
• Feel free to use store-bought lemon juice for this recipe, but if you can get your hands on fresh lemons, the flavor is amazing… you’ll definitely be glad you did. My lemon tree was in full production mode this month, so these lemon bars were made with just-picked fresh-squeezed lemon juice on the coldest day in January in New England. Needless to say, they were extra delicious.

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Lemon Bars with Fresh Flour

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups 250 g einkorn flour, divided
• 1 cup butter cubed
• 2 ½ cups sugar divided
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup lemon juice about 4 lemons
• Confectioner’s sugar for dusting optional

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 and line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper.
• Add butter, ½ cup of the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to mixing bowl and combine. Remove 6 TB of flour and set aside. Add the rest of the flour to your mixing bowl and mix again.
• Press the dough into your prepared pan. No need for it to be “pretty” (the dough will be thick and hard to spread out), but try to get it spread out evenly.
• Bake until the edges are brown, about 20 minutes.
• While the crust is baking, mix your filling ingredients: Mix the remaining 2 cups of sugar and 6 TB of flour. Whisk in eggs and lemon juice.
• After removing crust from the oven, pour the lemon filling over the crust and place your pan back in the oven for another 20 minutes, or until the center is set.
• Let cool to room temperature before serving (I know, it’s hard. I like most desserts nice and warm, but this one has to sit and cool). I like to dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

Notes

• Because I use coconut sugar for all the sugar in this recipe, it doesn’t turn out as “pretty” as if I used lighter-colored cane sugar. If I did, you would notice a color difference in the crust and the filling and the filling would be a much brighter yellow color. But I love the flavor of the earthier coconut sugar in this recipe. It really gives the lemon a perfect tartness.
• Don’t be tempted to scrimp on the sugar in this recipe. The sugar works in tandem with the eggs to make the filling set well. If you scrimp on your sugar, your filling will be watery. (But using coconut sugar reduces the sweetness and makes your bars slightly more tart tasting.)
• Feel free to use store-bought lemon juice for this recipe, but if you can get your hands on fresh lemons, the flavor is amazing… you’ll definitely be glad you did.

Ingredients I use to make Lemon Bars

More fresh flour recipes and resources you’ll love

Fluffy dinner rolls made with fresh flour

Copycat Crumbl Strawberry Pretzel cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies made with fresh kamut flour

Grab lots of tips for baking with fresh milled flour & more recipes here

The post The Best Lemon Bars Made with Fresh Flour first appeared on Souly Rested.

We’ve owned this freeze dryer for 5 months. I’ve freeze dried everything from leftover meats to bone broth to pumpkin. We’ve eaten a lot of our efforts and still put away 302 quarts of food. Yes, I actually counted.

• What has it cost us to freeze dry 302 quarts of food?
• How much electricity have we used to freeze dry 302 quarts of food?
• Have we made back the cost of our freeze dryer after 5 months of using it?

Read on for the answers to these questions and more…

How long until a freeze dryer pays off?

I’m not going to make you read my whole cost benefit analysis to fish for the answer. I’ll just straight up tell you… I was SHOCKED. I truly thought it would take years to recoup the costs of buying and running a freeze dryer, but I figured the convenience would be worth the wait. Boy was I wrong.

We made back the full cost of our freeze dryer in 3.38 months. Less than 4 months! What!??? I couldn’t believe it. So I triple checked my math. And it’s true.

A few caveats:

1. I’m of course estimating. I am not an engineer or a math freak. I did not keep documentation of every piece of food I purchased, or the cost of every seed I planted or any fertilizer I spread on my garden. I didn’t monitor the electric usage with every batch or account for any food that I “messed up” with my learning curve as a new freeze dryer owner.
2. I am not adding in the cost of my vacuum sealer for jars, but it was cheap and it’s recharageable.
3. I’m not adding in the cost of 10 new trays I purchased so I could have 2 batches in prep and ready to go in the freeze dryer if I wanted to, but these are standard cookie trays and I can use them in the kitchen too, not just my freeze dryer (one thing I really love about my Large freeze dryer unit.)
4. I’m not adding in cost for food storage. I use mason jars and the canning lids that come with them (they reseal again and again). I did use some mylar bags that came with my freeze dryer, but I haven’t purchased any of those. I’m sure those would skew my savings a lot, but I don’t plan on using many mylar bags. I like the ease of mason jars much better.

Even so, the numbers are amazing. Even if my estimations are skewed and off by a large percentage, even if you personally won’t freeze dry so much food in your first few months or even if you personally won’t find organic, high-quality produce on clearance (honestly, I get most of mine through Azure Standard. Find out more about that option–and how to save $$ if you want to try it–here.)… I think my simple cost analysis and my humble attempt at estimating how long it takes for a freeze dryer to pay for itself proves that everyone should find they’ve recouped their costs in well under one year.

Then everything–all the deliciously preserved snacks, meals, meats, and bone broth–costs you only a few dollars per load.

It’s like you’re saving hundreds of dollars every time you run your freeze dryer.

Not to mention what you’re saving in wasted food, if you’re big on freeze drying left overs like I am.

My freeze dryer paid for itself in 4 months

I know the idea of owning a freeze dryer is daunting. I’ve been there. But for me? My freeze dryer has quickly become one of my favorite tools I own to help me keep my pantry filled with the best food possible.

I’m literally BEGGING you to stop buying expensive snacks. Not only because they’re expensive but guys they’re loaded with ingredients that are wreaking havoc on your body.

Buy a freeze dryer instead.

Here’s my cost analysis on the 9 quarts of deliciously addictive banana chips I preserved last week…

Cost analysis of how a freeze dryer will pay for itself in less than a year

Here’s the story of how I saved almost $180 on our favorite healthy snack.

Last week I spent $3.65 on many large bunches of ripe bananas that I found on the clearance cart in my local produce section (most of them organic). 

I made 9 quarts of freeze dried snacks. 

If I bought this many freeze dried banana slices? It would cost $176.43. I spent $0 on packaging and storage (I reuse mason jars and lids and have a simple vacuum sealer I bought years ago–find it here). And we can liberally enjoy a truly healthy snack anytime, cracking open a new jar whenever we want, all winter long.

Of course we also have jars of freeze dried peaches, pears, apples, blueberry cubes, and plenty of (totally NOT nutritious) skittles and sweet tarts.

I’ve only done the math on the bananas, but I’m pretty sure, based on that, my 302 quarts of food I freeze dried over the past five months (yes, I seriously just went and counted them) have saved me well over $5,000 comparing my cost to purchasing these foods freeze dried. Of course this isn’t taking into account the fact that when I own my own freeze dryer I can totally preserve food the way I want to, the way our family loves it (like our freeze dried tomato sauce), with the exact seasoning and measurements we love… this is food we simply couldn’t buy anywhere else, no matter what the price tag.

Yes, a freeze dryer is worth the investment

With my $3.65 worth of bananas, I saved $19.20 per quart compared to if I bought them at Vitacost. (If I was going to buy them, these are the ones I’d buy.)

I spent about $86 in electric running my freeze dryer over the past 5 months and roughly $12 in oil changes.

Adding in my very rough estimate of food costs I might have spent about $220.48 total expenses for my 302 quarts of food.

Comparing my preserved food, roughly, as best I could, to purchasing similar food, my beautiful jars of snacks, meals, and bone broth are  valued at $5,920.21. 

Take a second and let that sink in.

Almost $6,000 worth of food that will last for well over 2 decades in perfect condition, ready for our family whenever we want or need it. 

Yes, oh yes indeed, I’ve have been won over. I’m convinced that a freeze dryer will pay for itself in well under a year’s time and it is very much worth the investment.

The post How long until a freeze dryer pays off? first appeared on Souly Rested.