Cream Cheeze and Sourdough

There's nothing better than being able to eat decadent food without the repercussions, and it's good for you.  Here I've baked 3 different loaves of real sourdough.  A good deal of what you buy at the store is made of flour, a citric acid for the sour, yeast for the rise.  True sourdough is a longer process.  You need to have a Mother Starter (I've got 2 and they're almost three years old...one for wheat and one for white) which is used in place of yeast.  All of the breads made prior to the invention of commercial yeast 100 years ago and which most bakers use today,  were made with bread with a Starter.  The quick explanation of a starter is it's a combination of flour and water that ferments over time, needs to be fed regularly, and pulls yeast into it from the air.  The yeast eat the sugar in the flour causing it to bubble and become sponge like and this is what's used to make the bread.  The bread becomes sour because of the fermented yeast starter, and the dough which usually has an 8-12 hour rise period at which time the sourness is intensified.

If anyone wants more information about making sourdough bread I'd be more than happy to share it with you.  One of the things that I have learned while researching sourdough over the years, is that white sourdough that is made the slow fermentation way using a starter is OK for people with sugar issues to eat as the sugars in the white flour are gone by the time you are done baking so your body won't treat it in the same manner as other simple carbohydrates.  These pictures have 2 different versions of 100% whole wheat, no oil sourdough and one loaf of 100% white flour, no oil sourdough.

I read a lot of recipes for making cream cheese and after much experimentation have perfected this one.

5 oz. by weight raw cashews  (approx. 1 cup dry measure)

Cover cashews with water to soak

(A little side note here:  I am a firm believer that everyone should have a good kitchen scale.  When a recipe gives you measurement by weight it is much more accurate than cup measurement or by volume.  5 oz. by weight is roughly 1 measuring cup of cashews even though 8 oz by volume is actually a cup.  See the difference?  This way, no matter how you measure using a measuring cup, you'll never get the same amount twice...that's why I like using measurement by weight)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon sea salt (fine grind)

7 oz. volume Non GMO silken tofu, water squeezed out (it will be about 5 oz. by weight after you squeeze out the water.  Roughly half a block as it usually comes in 14 oz blocks.)

Soak the Cashews for at least an hour but preferably overnight.  Using a blender, magic bullet or Vitamix, blend all ingredients except the water until they become creamy.  If you think the consistency is too thick, add water a little at a time.  You're going to drain out the water anyway, so add the amount you think will aid you in getting it out of the blender, but not too much that will make it impossible to put in a cheese cloth.

The picture with the tomatoes is the Cream Cheeze right after I finished making it.  The picture below is after I took the cream cheeze above and put it in a cheese cloth, pulled it together in a satchel that I closed with a rubber-band and then I hung it over a bowl in the refrigerator overnight (I used a chopstick to support the cheeze over the bowl with two high bowls holding it up.  Next time I'll add a picture of this process)