Friday, April 17, 2015

Eating Our Curds and Whey

I regularly make ricotta cheese since it is super easy and only takes milk (sometimes I add cream or half and half if I need to use some up) and some lemon juice to make. 

The process creates a great deal of whey(the yellowish liquid that separates from the ricotta solids) which I then freeze and use later in baked products. 

That whey is now thawing, due to our freezer malfunction, and I will use 2 cups of it today to make some whole grain bread.  I use whey as a substitute for the liquid called for in bread making and by doing so introduce some additional amino acids, protein, vitamins and minerals into the final product. 

Besides the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, oil and liquid I use when making bread I add about 2 Tbs per loaf of flax meal, 4 Tbs per loaf of wheat bran and 2 Tbs per loaf of oat bran to create a higher fiber loaf that both Mike and I enjoy. 

I usually make 2 loaves at a time since I am heating up the oven and want to make full use of that heat.  Sometimes I use part of the dough for rolls (sweet or regular) or, as I will today,  to make pizza, calzone or Stromboli for dinner that day. 

Today I will be making calzone with part of the dough to use up some of the ricotta (the curds of curds and whey) and "meat" mixture that was also in the freezer and is now defrosting. 

I will add some oregano, basil, fennel and cayenne to the" meat" mix to give it more of an Italian flavor.  

I will also be roasting some of the veggies that were also in the freezer to serve tonight with the calzone. 

I was going to have pasta and "meat" balls for dinner but I think I will move that to tomorrow instead.

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