Fermented Food & it's Health Benefits

[Dede]

Christ is risen!

I've been getting into making various fermented/cultured foods over the past couple months and noticed there weren't any threads regarding this specifically. I currently make kefir, yogurt, kombucha, and sourdough. When I have time I also make cultured vegetables. I began making these when I found out about the importance of gut health and all of the health conditions associated with a bad gut microbiome.

I'd like for this thread to serve as a way of sharing information, advice, recipes, and for discussing the importance of gut health and specific microbes.

For anyone looking to get started with cultured foods, I'd highly recommend Donna Schwenk's website: culturedfoodlife.com (She also has a YouTube channel.)

 

[starlight]

I've made homemade yeast starters (where you grow your own yeast) for sourdough a handful of times in the past and my biggest takeaway is to just use pineapple juice, don't waste your time or resources on orange juice or other sugar/juice mixtures. They will most likely spoil (from my experience).

 

[starlight]

I'd love to see some of your own recipes.

 

[Camellia]

Christ is risen!

I've been getting into making various fermented/cultured foods over the past couple months and noticed there weren't any threads regarding this specifically. I currently make kefir, yogurt, kombucha, and sourdough. When I have time I also make cultured vegetables. I began making these when I found out about the importance of gut health and all of the health conditions associated with a bad gut microbiome.

I'd like for this thread to serve as a way of sharing information, advice, recipes, and for discussing the importance of gut health and specific microbes.

For anyone looking to get started with cultured foods, I'd highly recommend Donna Schwenk's website: culturedfoodlife.com (She also has a YouTube channel.)

My naturopath was not a fan of fermented foods because, unless you have an intact gut (which is almost impossible in the modern world), they feed your bad bacteria and exacerbate dysbiosis. I've heard other functional doctors say the same thing.

 

[starlight]

My naturopath was not a fan of fermented foods because, unless you have an intact gut (which is almost impossible in the modern world), they feed your bad bacteria and exacerbate dysbiosis. I've heard other functional doctors say the same thing.

Fermented foods help keep your gut healthy, in illness and health.

 

[Camellia]

Fermented foods help keep your gut healthy, in illness and health.

Apparently, not always.

 

[Dede]

My naturopath was not a fan of fermented foods because, unless you have an intact gut (which is almost impossible in the modern world), they feed your bad bacteria and exacerbate dysbiosis. I've heard other functional doctors say the same thing.

I'd recommend checking out Dr. William Davis' work on healing SIBO. He recommends making a yogurt with L. Reuteri, L. Gasseri, and Bacillus Coagulans for a period of time. Its certainly not impossible!

 

[Dede]

I'd love to see some of your own recipes.

I don't have any personal recipes and am on the lookout for a good kimchi recipe. My homemade stuff doesn't turn out as good as the stuff I buy at the store

All I can say is that you can make kefir cheese with kefir, and my son loves it. It's the only way I can get him to consume kefir

You take kefir (after straining the grains out) and pour it into a coffee filter placed in a funnel over a jar. Once it reaches your desired texture, remove it. Use it in lieu of sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese, etc. You can use it to garnish but don't expose it to too much heat or the probiotics will be killed.

 

[starlight]

I don't have any personal recipes and am on the lookout for a good kimchi recipe. My homemade stuff doesn't turn out as good as the stuff I buy at the store

All I can say is that you can make kefir cheese with kefir, and my son loves it. It's the only way I can get him to consume kefir

You take kefir (after straining the grains out) and pour it into a coffee filter placed in a funnel over a jar. Once it reaches your desired texture, remove it. Use it in lieu of sour cream, yogurt, cream cheese, etc. You can use it to garnish but don't expose it to too much heat or the probiotics will be killed.

This recipe is from a dear old forum friend, @lunanovum, on how to make your own yogurt.

 

[Dede]

A friend of mine shared her sourdough sandwich bread recipe with me. I've never made it according to these instructions because I have a bread machine, but this consistently yields soft, tall loaves for both of us.

For a bread machine: cut the ingredients in half, do a kneading cycle of 20 min, shape and put back into pan, let rise until double (my bread machine takes 6 hours), and bake.

I have a homemade cycle on my bread machine so it's as simple as throwing the ingredients into the pan and putting it into the machine, shaping into a loaf and hitting start. I can't express how happy it makes me to have such an easy way of making a sourdough loaf! My son loves bread and it would cost a small fortune to buy good sourdough bread from the store.

Tip #1: Use kefir instead of water if you have it. It makes an even softer, more moist loaf.
Tip #2: If you desire to use some whole wheat flour, use no more than 100g of whole wheat for the two loaves, or 50g whole wheat for the bread machine loaf. If you use more, the loaf won't rise as much.

 

[Camellia]

A friend of mine shared her sourdough sandwich bread recipe with me. I've never made it according to these instructions because I have a bread machine, but this consistently yields soft, tall loaves for both of us.

For a bread machine: cut the ingredients in half, do a kneading cycle of 20 min, shape and put back into pan, let rise until double (my bread machine takes 6 hours), and bake.

I have a homemade cycle on my bread machine so it's as simple as throwing the ingredients into the pan and putting it into the machine, shaping into a loaf and hitting start. I can't express how happy it makes me to have such an easy way of making a sourdough loaf! My son loves bread and it would cost a small fortune to buy good sourdough bread from the store.

Tip #1: Use kefir instead of water if you have it. It makes an even softer, more moist loaf.
Tip #2: If you desire to use some whole wheat flour, use no more than 100g of whole wheat for the two loaves, or 50g whole wheat for the bread machine loaf. If you use more, the loaf won't rise as much.
View attachment 11148

This is very similar to the recipe I use for sourdough sandwich bread. It's by far the esiest recipe I have, but I wonder if it would be worth getting a bread machine. A loaf barely lasts a day at my house! What kind of bread machine do you have?