When I say "kitchen alchemy," I don't mean the ancient form, where people tried to turn things into gold. I mean the process of alchemy, where one thing is turned into something else. Here is definition two of 'alchemy' from Dictionary.com:

Any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.

Today, we are going to look into what I call "The Magic of Kitchen Alchemy." While there are no actual magical powers involved, there is chemistry, processes, and the seemingly transformation of one thing to another, of greater value. Another title I could have given to this post would have been "Kitchen Chemistry," but I think "Kitchen Alchemy" sounds more fun.

How to Turn Flour and Water into a Risen Loaf of Bread

1. Mix a cup of flour (white, wheat, spelt, or rye) with a cup of filtered water. Let it sit in a warm place, covered, for two days.

2. Then, mix in a half cup of flour and a half cup of water. Let it sit for two more days.

3. Keep repeating the above for several to ten days, and you'll have a sour or beer smelling mixture called sourdough starter.

4. Once you have this starter, take a cup of it, and mix in a cup and a 1/4 cup of water, and then mix in flour, until it turns into dough. Knead the dough for ten minutes.

5. Place the kneaded dough on a baking sheet, in the shape of a ball, and let it rise for 7-24 hours, undisturbed. The sourdough starter will leaven the bread. You do not need to add any yeast. You'll know it's risen, when it is about double in size.

6. Bake the risen lump of dough at 350F for 45-50 minutes.

For more on baking breads in a Christian's survival and simplicity kitchen , click here.

How to Turn Milk into Yogurt

You only need two ingredients - one half cup of store bought plain or vanilla yogurt, and one gallon of whole milk (do not use ultra-pasteurized, but regular pasteurized is okay)

1. In a large crock pot, pour in one gallon of milk. Turn the crock pot on the low setting, put the lid on, and then set a timer to go off in 2.5 hours.

2. Then, turn the crock pot off, leave the lid on, and just let the milk sit in there, undisturbed, for 3 hours.

3. Use a whisk and mix in 1/2 cup yogurt, and then put the lid back on the crock pot. Leave the crock pot off, and place a thick bath towel over the top and sides of it. Leave it alone for 7-14 hours. (I usually leave it overnight, and in the morning I wake up to a crock pot of yogurt.)

4. Several hours later, you should have a crock pot full of yogurt. Homemade yogurt is often thinner than store bought. This is fine with me, because I usually drink my yogurt in smoothies. If you want a thicker, more spoonable yogurt, then strain it through a flour sack cloth or double layer of cheese cloth for a few hours.

For more information about making and using homemade yogurt, click here.

Yogurt Cream Cheese

1. Take your homemade yogurt, and put in into a double layer of cheese cloth, or flour sack cloth, and hang it up with a bowl under it, or have it sitting on a strainer, which is seated on a bowl or container. Put the contraption into the fridge, covered, and leave it alone for 24 hours.

2. 24 hours later, you have yogurt cream cheese sitting in the cloth, and the yellow liquid that dripped out is liquid whey, which can be used for lacto-fermented veggies, added to soaking water for legumes, and more. It's also great to drink for upset tummies.

Buttermilk

There are a few types of buttermilk. There is the liquid that is left over after making butter, and then there's the cultured buttermilk that you can buy in cartons at the grocery store. The buttermilk I'm going to be referring to, is the cultured buttermilk.

Homemade buttermilk is GREAT to soak grains in, and is fabulous to use in all sorts of baked goodies. While homemade yogurt tends to be thinner than store bought, homemade buttermilk tends to be thicker than store bought. To make buttermilk...

1. Put two tablespoons of store bought cultured buttermilk into a one quart mason jar.

2. Pour in some milk, near the top, put on the mason lid, and shake the jar.

3. Put the jar in a cabinet, and forget about it for about 12-17 hours. Then, you'll have delicious, cultured buttermilk. Store the buttermilk in the fridge.

Butter

If you have an old butter churn, you may enjoy using that for this process. Else, you should look to other kitchen tools. I like to make butter in my mixer. If you don't have an electric mixer, you can also do the following by hand - mixing and shaking in a jar.

1. Pour a carton of heavy cream into your mixer bowl (or make by hand). It's okay if the cream is ultra-pasteurized, but regular pasteurized is better.

2. Turn the mixer slowly up to a high speed, and let it whip the cream. After a few to several minutes, the cream will turn into whipped cream. Let it keep going. After several more minutes, it'll start looking and smelling like butter.

3. Stop the mixer, pour out the liquid, and then continue beating the cream into butter. If it is hot in your house, then you may need to pour some ice cold water over the buttery cream, to keep it from melting while you are making it.

4. Stop every few minutes to pour off the liquid, until it stops producing so much liquid, and looks, tastes, and smells like butter.

The liquid you poured off can be stored in the fridge and drank as buttermilk (the non store bought non cultured kind).

Whipped Cream and Simple Chocolate Mousse

1. Follow the directions above, for making butter. Stop beating/whipping, when the cream has taken the consistency of whipped cream. Put in some type of sweetener - your choice, and mix for a short time. There - you have homemade whipped cream.

2. Chocolate Mousse - make whipped cream, but when you throw in some sweetener, also throw in some cocoa powder. Enjoy.

Kombucha

This is an amazing one, because you can take black tea with white sugar in it, and by introducing a healthy culture of good bacteria and yeast, it will transform into a lightly carbonated, tangy, sour, delicious drink that is super healthy for you. For instructions on how to obtain or grow your own culture, and how to make this amazing fizzy drink, click here.

Sauerkraut

Lacto-fermented veggies are very healthy, and an alternative way to storing veggies, other than canning. More details on this will be in a future article in this Christian Survival and Simplicity Series. You can brine or lacto-ferment many types of veggies - pickles, carrots, onions, watermelon rinds, cabbage, and LOTS more. I love to lacto-ferment cabbage, which makes a real sauerkraut...

1. Core and shred a medium, white cabbage.

2. Mix the shredded cabbage with 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds, 1 tablespoon of sea salt, and 4 tablespoons of liquid whey. Remember, you get this whey from straining yogurt.

3. Use a pounder or meat hammer, and pound the mixture for about 10 minutes. This will release the juices from the cabbage, which is key.

4. Put the pounded cabbage mixture into a one quart mason jar, and pour its liquid on top. Push down the cabbage mixture, so that it is under the liquid. If you don't quite have enough liquid in there, then put in a few tablespoons of filtered water, and a pinch of sea salt.

5. Put the lid on the jar, and store it away in a cabinet for three days.

6. After three days it's ready to be eaten, or it can be stored away longer, if you'd like.

Kefir

There are all sorts of fabulous food transformations that can take place in the kitchen. You may want to try making Kefir, which is similar to yogurt, and is to be drank. To make kefir, simply introduce certain cultures to regular milk. You can look online for people who are selling kefir cultures. You can also buy kefir at many grocery stores, in the dairy section. Put a few tablespoons of that kefir into a quart mason jar, then pour in milk. Close and shake the jar, leave it in a dark cupboard overnight, and the next morning, you'll have more kefir.

Bone Broths

Bone broths are another important mention. Whenever you eat meat that has bones, save the bones, and make a stock out of them. Simply put the bones into a large crock pot, then add water, to a few inches away from the top. If you have some fat or a bit of meat left, put that in there too, along with all sorts of veggies - carrots, celery, onions, etc. Let the whole mixture slow cook on the low setting all day, and then strain out the solids, and keep the delicious and super healthy liquid. This broth is great for gravies, sauces, and homemade soups.

If you have some meat and veggies, and wish to make a soup with this broth, then pour out the broth you made, clean the crock pot, then put the broth back into the crock pot. Add to it any meat and veggies you want, and let it slow cook on "low" all day. An hour or so before supper time, add sea salt, pepper, and any other seasonings you want, and add rice, if you'd like that in the soup, as well.

Healthy Souring and Soaking of Grains and Legumes

If you plan to make bread, but you are not going to use sourdough, then try soaking your grains overnight in some water with a few tablespoons of whey first. This makes the grains healthier, and gives a unique, good flavor to the grains. Just mix in enough liquid so the flour/grains turn into a thick paste or somewhat heavy, slightly dry dough.

Legumes are super healthy. Not only are they good to sprout, but also they are good to eat in soups, casseroles, as a meat replacement in some dishes to save money, etc. Black beans and pintos are my favorite, because they go great in so many dishes, or are delicious by themselves, or with the addition of a bit of sea salt. Dried legumes should be soaked overnight before they are cooked. They should be soaked in water, with a generous splash of apple cider vinegar, or homemade whey.

More

The fun with "Kitchen Alchemy" is almost limitless. There are so many interesting, healthy things that can be transformed in our kitchens. Utilize the internet and books, and find more delicious kitchen chemistry delicacies to try, and enjoy.