Kefir is a cultured, enzyme-rich food filled with friendly micro-organisms that help balance your "inner ecosystem." It contains many more probiotics than yogurt and supplies complete protein, essential minerals, and valuable B vitamins. Kefir's active yeast and bacteria provide more nutritive value than yogurt by helping digest the foods that you eat and by keeping the colon environment clean and healthy. Because the curd size of kefir is smaller than yogurt, it is also easier to digest. This past week, I have started making our own kefir. You can read more about the process here. The flavor is a bit tangy by itself, but it can be used in many ways.
Noah and I have been enjoying kefir fruit smoothies for breakfast. He loves them! Kefir can be used in recipes as a replacement for buttermilk or plain yogurt. That brings us back to this week's bread...
Interestingly, because of the active yeast cultures in the kefir, it only took one packet of yeast to make three loaves of bread. It looks and tastes good so far (I always get the first slice warm out of the oven while Noah naps...yum!). We will see just how long it lasts. I am pretty sure Curtis does not know that it has kefir in it (until he reads this), though he was a bit suspicious after he sampled it when I asked if this batch was acceptable.
-Jen
Have you tried cultivating a sourdough starter? They produce fantastic bread, and I think I am love with the utter simplicity of it. Just combine flour, water and salt with some of nature's littlest beasties, and you get something amazingly varied and delicious.
ReplyDeleteOutside the sourdough realm, we're big fans of a that uses Bob's Red Mill seven grain cereal for its multi-grain component. It saves the work of combining all of the different grains together and really is quite tasty.
Do you post the recipe for this bread? I've recently begun making my own kefir and would love to gather some tried and true recipes that use it.
ReplyDeleteLaura