Monkeying around

[Finite Monkeys]

Wow, this place has changed! I remember when this was all fields. 


Dom suggested I start a thread here to talk about the chilli sauces and wines that myself and Mrs FM make. So this will be that very thread, eventually, as more monkey produce is produced (see what I did there?). 

Hopefully we'll be springing into action from the coming weekend with chilli jam and ketchup, and also more home brew wine being made. 

Another thing I'm into making is bread in my Panasonic bread machine. Here's the latest loaf made with white flour, mixed seeds and poppy seeds - 

 

And jolly tasty it is too

[Deesse23]

Bread without rye is...not a thing. Ask Dom.

[Finite Monkeys]

Bread without rye is...not a thing. Ask Dom.  

I'll add rye flour to the weekend grocery order and give it a try.

[Deesse23]

Bread without rye is...not a thing. Ask Dom.  

I'll add rye flour to the weekend grocery order and give it a try.

Make it at least 50/50
Your bread will be WAY less mushy, will last longer and taste better (more intense). Its a wee bit sour, but thats not a bug but a feature (of sour dough).

[Finite Monkeys]

@Deesse23

Will do. I like experimenting with different flour mixes. Never tried rye flour before for some reason.

[Deesse23]

@Deesse23

Will do. I like experimenting with different flour mixes. Never tried rye flour before for some reason.

100$ you will love it.

[Aliza]

@Deesse23

Will do. I like experimenting with different flour mixes. Never tried rye flour before for some reason.

I'm gonna back @Deesse23 up here. Rye is amazing! I also feed my starter a little rye flour and she seems to love it! (my starter is a she.) Try a little barley malt in your dough as well. Just mix it in with the rest of the flour and the bread comes out softer.

[Finite Monkeys]

<Snip quotes>
I'm gonna back @Deesse23 up here. Rye is amazing! I also feed my starter a little rye flour and she seems to love it! (my starter is a she.) Try a little barley malt in your dough as well. Just mix it in with the rest of the flour and the bread comes out softer.

Yeah, barley malt extract is one thing I've had good results with. Also milled flaxseed adds a certain something to the mix and is nutritionally good, apparently.

There again sometimes you just can't beat a standard, simple, loaf made from white flour and very little else.

[adey67]

Bread without rye is...not a thing. Ask Dom.  

I adore rye bread including pumpernickel, our local market does a wonderful German loaf which is 100% sourdough rye, very dense and almost completely black, its delicious toasted and along with sauerkraut is my favourite German food stuff, in fact my mother reckons (jokingly) that I must have been a German in a former life.

[SYZ]

Oi...   Real men don't eat fucking Marmite!



                        

[Deesse23]

Bread without rye is...not a thing. Ask Dom.  

I adore rye bread including pumpernickel, our local market does a wonderful German loaf which is 100% sourdough rye, very dense and almost completely black, its delicious toasted and along with sauerkraut is my favourite German food stuff, in fact my mother reckons (jokingly) that I must have been a German in a former life.

A Tommy who likes Sauerkraut.
*checks*
Yes, gents, hell is frozen...all over.

[adey67]

Oi...   Real men don't eat fucking Marmite!



                        

Ewwwww vegemite..... that's nasty. 

[SYZ]

Oi...   Real men don't eat fucking Marmite!

Ewwwww Vegemite..... that's nasty. 

Maybe so. But we also use it to grease wheel bearings and universal joints... very handy stuff.    

[adey67]

Oi...   Real men don't eat fucking Marmite!

Ewwwww Vegemite..... that's nasty. 

Maybe so.  But we also use it to grease wheel bearings and universal joints...  very handy stuff.    

I'm not surprised, it's the yeast extract equivalent of "ass to mouth" porn. Not that I know what that is of course

[Finite Monkeys]

Had some spare time after walking the dogs so thought I would get the next batch of wine started. With photos!

This is the brand of wine kits I use. The 7 days claim is hugely optimistic, 14 days is far more realistic. 
 

Inside we have a container of concentrated grape juice. 
 

And the other necessary bits and pieces. 
 

Grape concentrate topped up with water to approx 24 litres total. 
 

Yeast / nutrient added and stirred in well. 


Lid and airlock fitted and the whole thing put in the under stairs cupboard. 
 


With the equipment pre-sterilised it took eighteen minutes from the photo of the box to photo of the bucket in the cupboard. It should be fully fermented out and ready for clearing in about ten days.

[Dom]

Had some spare time after walking the dogs so thought I would get the next batch of wine started. With photos!

This is the brand of wine kits I use. The 7 days claim is hugely optimistic, 14 days is far more realistic. 
 

Inside we have a container of concentrated grape juice. 
 

And the other necessary bits and pieces. 
 

Grape concentrate topped up with water to approx 24 litres total. 
 

Yeast / nutrient added and stirred in well. 


Lid and airlock fitted and the whole thing put in the under stairs cupboard. 
 


With the equipment pre-sterilised it took eighteen minutes from the photo of the box to photo of the bucket in the cupboard. It should be fully fermented out and ready for clearing in about ten days.

What, you don't stomp on grapes? 

[Finite Monkeys]

I have a man who does that for me.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

I'm not surprised. Yeast extract is the equivalent of "ass to mouth" porn. Not that I know what that is of course

Fixed that for ya!

[Finite Monkeys]

Mrs FM made twenty jars of chilli jam/jelly on Sunday. I had planned to take some photos of the work in progress but as the weather was so pleasant I took the opportunity to do some work in the garden - getting it tidied up in preparation for the house sale. So all I have is this photo of some of the final product -
 

She used a different recipe this time as she has had problems in the past getting the correct consistency - hence the creation of her sticky dipping chilli sauce This is the recipe that worked properly this weekend - Nigella's Chilli Jam. Not sure what variety of chillies Mrs FM used as I forgot to ask and she's currently on a work Zoom call, but it's seriously hot


My plan to make a new batch of chilli ketchup has had to be put on hold temporarily as I have a shit load of "paperwork" (actually email attachments) to go through regarding our house sale and the house purchase. The sale stuff is the worst as I have to reply to questions relating to covenants in schedules one and three of a document written in the finest legalese. 

My brain hurts. I think I'll have to apply some medicinal home brew wine this evening.

[Finite Monkeys]

The Gloop Monster in the cupboard had stopped glooping so I checked its specific gravity with my trusty hydrometer and got a reading of 0.996. That's great, meaning a dry wine of about 12.5% ABV.

The "correct" procedure now is to syphon the wine off the lees, then stir enthusiastically for a minute - leave for three minutes and repeat twice more (this gets rid of excess carbon dioxide and helps the wine clear properly), add the stabilizer and stir in well. 

I take the lazy/efficient approach of letting gravity do the job for me -



Bye bye CO₂ (caution: untied lace alert!) -



The lees (dead yeast cells) at the bottom of the brewing bucket -



Now wait three hours, then add Finings 1 and stir, wait another hour then add Finings 2 and stir. Leave it in peace for four days when it should have cleared and be ready for bottling.


Rye Bread Update -

Got wholegrain rye flour last weekend and did an experimental chuck it in the machine and hope loaf. Partially successful as the loaf was edible and tasty, but it hadn't risen properly so it was denser than it should be and also looked quite strange.

RTFM ... Turns out I needed a "rye flour kneading paddle" which didn't come with this model bread machine. I had one with the previous higher spec machine but where that ended up only the bread goblins know. Amazon to the rescue and using the "speciality bread" option, aka setting 12, got a nice white/rye loaf even though I was missing the natural yoghurt called for in the recipe. Ah well, next loaf maybe.


Yoghurt-free white/rye loaf -


Makes great bacon sandwiches.

[Dom]

The Gloop Monster in the cupboard had stopped glooping so I checked its specific gravity with my trusty hydrometer and got a reading of 0.996. That's great, meaning a dry wine of about 12.5% ABV.

The "correct" procedure now is to syphon the wine off the lees, then stir enthusiastically for a minute - leave for three minutes and repeat twice more (this gets rid of excess carbon dioxide and helps the wine clear properly), add the stabilizer and stir in well. 

I take the lazy/efficient approach of letting gravity do the job for me -



Bye bye CO₂ (caution: untied lace alert!) -



The lees (dead yeast cells) at the bottom of the brewing bucket -



Now wait three hours, then add Finings 1 and stir, wait another hour then add Finings 2 and stir. Leave it in peace for four days when it should have cleared and be ready for bottling.


Rye Bread Update -

Got wholegrain rye flour last weekend and did an experimental chuck it in the machine and hope loaf. Partially successful as the loaf was edible and tasty, but it hadn't risen properly so it was denser than it should be and also looked quite strange.

RTFM ... Turns out I needed a "rye flour kneading paddle" which didn't come with this model bread machine. I had one with the previous higher spec machine but where that ended up only the bread goblins know. Amazon to the rescue and using the "speciality bread" option, aka setting 12, got a nice white/rye loaf even though I was missing the natural yoghurt called for in the recipe. Ah well, next loaf maybe.


Yoghurt-free white/rye loaf -


Makes great bacon sandwiches.

Density is not always a fault in rye bread. Some are super dense and heavy. There are countless variations on the theme.

[Finite Monkeys]

@Dom That first loaf was definitely a faulty one. But, yeah, I know what you mean - I occasionally deliberately bake a super dense wholemeal loaf for a change (we call them "brick" loaves). Should be fun making experimental rye loaves in future, though the next will be with the natural yoghurt included.

[Deesse23]

The bread you showed looked pretty good to me. Thats what a good germyn rye/wheat 50/50 bread looks like. Yes, they are more dense too.
What about the flavour? Can you expand a bit more on "tasty"?  

If anything, i think your bread needs more cowbell rye.

[adey67]

The bread you showed looked pretty good to me. Thats what a good germyn rye/wheat 50/50 bread looks like. Yes, they are more dense too.
What about the flavour? Can you expand a bit more on "tasty"?  

If anything, i think your bread needs more cowbell rye.

Maybe but we don't want it goose stepping upstairs and annexing their bedroom.   

[Finite Monkeys]

@Deesse23
That loaf was 275g white to 125g rye flour so definitely needs more cowbell. Going to increase the percentage of rye flour soon but probably going to try the same mix first now I have the yoghurt to do it "properly".

As to expanding on "tasty" - I was a cigarette smoker for 30 years so I only have one or two functioning taste buds. I might ask the wife for her opinion


@SYZ Attempted to order Vegemite in this week's groceries but they were out of stock. Always wanted to try it.