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When I opened the door to the dehydrator, I was blasted by a cloud of sourdough snow. The starter had "drawn up," pulled up the tape causing the starter to crumble. Something told me to check back sooner, but instead I returned three hours later.
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I smiled and walked away, proud that I was so darned clever. In 30 minutes, it was evident the dehydrator was drying quickly. I oh so wisely chose to use my dehydrator set on low, taping the plastic to the trays. On a sheet of plastic (I used gallon sized freezer bags) or sil-pat, spread the starter just as thin as you can. Let's begin.įirst, feed the starter and when its happy, stir it down. It's quite an easy process, along with a few memorable lessons, to dehydrate starter. He loves to camp and now he can have his sourdough pancakes on the trail. I discovered we can dehydrate starter, crumble and store in an airtight jar until needed. M tells me I can freeze starter, thaw it in the fridge overnight, and feed the next day.
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He'd rather eat the paste than tend to it. He has other things far more important than playing with paste. Asking Magic Man is probably not the best idea either. Maintaining the starter can be challenging. Even then, using the starter is not always practical. But it's so worth the effort and extra calories. Suddenly, our bill for flour and butter has increased along with the need to bicycle away in the evenings. It's a much better service to feed my family, friends, and myself. It seems quite wasteful to toss out a portion of the dough, just to feed it. Good timing - there are a lot of tomatoes in the garden waiting to ripen.ĭiscovering sourdough, all aspects, is very much an adventure. Less than a teaspoon! I could not get this to grind any smaller it was mostly some of the "unripe" parts of the tomatoes that were hard when I packed the jars.Īll in all, I'm happy with the results and happier with the extra pantry space. You may be wondering how much tomato "trash" was left. It dissolves easily in warm water - great for soups! The powder is a beautiful red color and has a fresh tomato smell. A scant tablespoon of powder is equivalent to 1 cup tomato sauce. Results: Nine pints of tomatoes yielded 1/2 pint of tomato powder. Store tomato powder in a canning jar with an oxygen pack. Sift the powder into a bowl and reprocess the bigger chunks again. Use a coffee grinder, a blender, or food processor to make a powder. When brittle, remove and allow to cool for a few minutes. The next morning, peel the tomatoes from the trays, flip the tomato pieces over, and allow dry for another 4-5 hours. Set the temperature to 125 and let the tomatoes dry overnight. Cut the larger pieces in half so the trays fit properly in the dehydrator. You want to keep the good tomato flavor in tact. Gently spread the fruit on the tray, but don't press down. I drained the biggest portion of the liquid from the tomatoes, mostly water, then gently spread two pints of tomatoes on a dehydrator tray. The text version will have to do for now. So rather than taking a chance on losing my good organic tomatoes, I dried them.Īs is typical, I forget to keep a camera on hand during the process. Home canners are upset that their canned goods no longer have a 3-5 year shelf life as they had been accustomed. Ball, Kerr, Mason packaging states that home canned items should be used within a year and claim that has always been the recommendation. The debate is not about the sealing material, but about how much of that material is on the lid, especially during the last couple of years. There are a lot of conversations lately about how long home canned items should sit on the shelf and a lot more disagreement about the quality of the canning lids or flats, as Mom called them. Nine pints of tomatoes sat in my pantry that were a couple of years old. If it's not nailed down or consumed, more than likely food will find itself on a drying tray. The love affair with my dehydrator is more intense these days.