The DIY Pantry (32 page)
Authors: Kresha Faber
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening with a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Use in any recipe that calls for store-bought baking mix, like Bisquick.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 months, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Making your own baking powder may feel like you’re going a bit far on the whole “make all my own pantry basics from scratch” spectrum, but if you’re needing to avoid corn or wanting to avoid aluminum in your diet, making your own is the way to go. Most commercial baking powders contain cornstarch to keep everything from clumping (which may be genetically modified corn in a few cases) and about half of the store-bought brands use sodium aluminum sulfate, which is a mildly acidic leavening agent. Cream of tartar, on the other hand, is a mildly acidic powder left over from the fermentation of grapes during winemaking and contains no heavy metals.
HANDS-ON:
5 minutes
INACTIVE:
none
INACTIVE:
5 minutes
DIFFICULTY LEVEL:
∗
YIELD:
Serves 16; Makes 1 cup
COST PER SERVING:
$
CALORIES:
19
FAT:
0 g
PROTEIN:
0 g
SODIUM:
946 mg
FIBER:
0 g
CARBOHYDRATES:
5 g
SUGAR:
0 g
1
⁄
4
cup baking soda
1
⁄
2
cup cream of tartar
1
⁄
4
cup arrowroot powder
Mix thoroughly, and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Vinegar is easy and fun to make—especially if you are a wine connoisseur and have various bottles of wine around. Vinegar is essentially alcohol that has overfermented and turned into acetic acid, so it’s a great way to use up leftover wine that no longer tastes that great. This recipe uses white wine, but if you are a red wine lover, feel free to substitute your favorite bottle to create a red wine vinegar. You’ll find that homemade vinegar has a much different taste than store-bought—it’s fuller and richer, and doesn’t have as much harsh bite to it.
HANDS-ON:
15 minutes
INACTIVE:
12 weeks
INACTIVE:
12 weeks
DIFFICULTY LEVEL:
∗∗
YIELD:
Serves 32; Makes 1 gallon
COST PER SERVING:
$
CALORIES:
72
FAT:
0 g
PROTEIN:
0 g
SODIUM:
4 mg
FIBER:
0 g
CARBOHYDRATES:
2 g
SUGAR:
1 g
1 vinegar starter, or “Mother of Vinegar”
12 cups white wine, divided
5 cups water
- Place your vinegar starter into a large (at least 1 gallon) glass or ceramic jar with a spigot at the bottom. Add 6 cups of wine and 3 cups of water.
- Cover the top of your crock with a cheesecloth and attach it firmly with a rubber band. This keeps out insects, but lets in the oxygen that makes the process happen.
- Add 1–2 cups of white wine once a week or so, plus
1
⁄
2
–1 cup water until you’ve added all 12 cups wine. - Wait a total at least 12 weeks; then do a taste test. If it smells like vinegar and tastes like vinegar, it’s ready! If not, let it sit another week or two. When it’s ready, pour into old vinegar jars or flip-top bottles. (A funnel helps tremendously with this.)
A “mother” is a combination of cellulose and acetic acid bacteria. It uses oxygen from the air to turn alcohol into acetic acid, and usually looks like a cloudy mass that sits at the bottom of the crock. You can get a vinegar mother from a beer and wine–making supply store or online.
For some of the world, noodles are traditionally made with merely flour and water. In other parts, traditional pasta is made with flour and eggs. But for modern cooks who like things richly flavorful yet easy to put together, pasta is made with flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt. This gives the greatest elasticity to the dough and makes the pasta light and rich as it cooks. Make sure you give yourself time to knead the dough and let it rest properly. These steps are essential for achieving a soft, elastic dough.