Ever since I got that USB microscope, I’ve been trying to find a way to work it in here. The built-in LED illumination puts a greenish-blue color cast which is the opposite of the warm colors you usually want with food pictures, but PhotoShop lets me get rid of most of that. The latest effort is rye grain which comes out looking somewhat metallic and maybe a little shinier than it really is.

  I got a grain mill attachment for the KitchenAid and found that I’m using it more than I thought I might. You can adjust it from “very fine” (which is what is grinding in the picture) to “coarse” which is going to come out very chewy. The local food co-op has an interesting variety of grains and winter wheat berries make a fantastic loaf. Because whole wheat breaks down really quickly, flour labeled whole wheat really isn’t and you can taste the difference. Today, I’m using the mill to make a rye starter for sourdough rye bread and you can do the same even if you don’t have a grain mill, Just mix 8 ounces of rye flour with 7 ounces of water and a good sourdough starter.

  Although the starter I’m using is labeled “Lalvain LA-4” (available from King Arthur Flour), it is no longer the stuff that you pay $10 to get enough for 12 loaves. That’s because I’ve kept it going – and not the way you might think, with a jar of goop in the fridge that needs constant tending and likely gets cross-contaminated anyway. I’ve been drying starter for over a year now and it’s a hassle-free way to keep a wide variety of wild yeasts around. It takes a day or two to “wake” it up, but that’s better than that ugly jar that will probably get moldy when you inevitably neglect it. I put a half teaspoon of the starter in with the rye dough and will give it until Sunday to do what sourdough does all by itself.

  When I make the rye bread I can pinch off a small piece about the size of a shooter marble and use that to start the next batch – or just keep using the dried LA-4 until it’s time to refresh that. The starter looks like a Ben & Jerry experiment gone all wrong right now, but as the yeast develops it will relax. The bread I’m making also uses a standard fast-acting yeast for leavening and the SAF Instant I use has no problem with the lower pH after more wheat and bread flour are added to the mix. Sourdough rye bread is soul food in this house (and the recipe is simple – just add 8 ounces whole wheat and 16 ounces bread flour to the rye sourdough, 1 teaspoon spoon instant yeast, 1 tablespoon salt, and two cups of water. Knead well and treat it like regular bread with proofing and loaving, then bake in a moist oven at 460 for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 425 and bake for another 25 minutes. Let it cool completely).

 My brain got infected with “Remoulade” this week and, dang me, the Emeril recipe sounded good. Onions, green onions, horseradish, two kind of mustard, celery, garlic, ketchup, and cayenne pepper (I used smoked paprika). I didn’t measure anything because I doubt Emeril did either. Process it with lemon juice and vegetable oil and you’ve got a sauce that’s fun to pronounce. Now, what the hell am I going to do with it?

  Aha! I still haven’t fixed those cured ribs, you know, the ones Rytek Kutas used to charge a fortune for in Vegas? I could spread Remoulade on ‘em and bake them a while to warm ‘em up, then fire up the broiler to put a singe on the sauce. A mustard-based sauce just seemed to make sense for ribs that are more like ham than what you’d get over at Tony Roma’s. It worked out pretty well, except next time I use spare ribs instead of baby backs I’ll give them a little more time in the smoker to render more of the fat. These were very tasty and the Remoulade gave them a unique appearance.

 

and here's some rye bread as seen through the USB microscope...