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FLOUR POWER is expanding to include CAST North Fork in Southold

Dec 12, 2022 | Blog, Flour Power, Past Events, Uncategorized

We are so excited to announce that FLOUR POWER is expanding to include CAST North Fork in Southold

Become A Member of This Amazing Baking Community
Flour Power is a Slow Food East End initiative and a way members of the community can provide home-baked loaves of bread to local food pantries. Our goal is to nourish and bring joy to people through a personal touch with hearty home-baked love. These loaves are incredibly appreciated by the recipients, so much so that the need for new bakers keeps growing and growing. The baking cycles take place every 2 weeks and each cycle provides loaves baked by the community. 
 
Since our launch in 2021, we have been providing to the North Fork Spanish Apostolate in Riverhead. We are so excited to be growing and adding CAST North Fork as a second food pantry for our bread program. 
 
How It All Started
Our chair, Pennie Schwartz, wanted to include more of the community in our work: the result was our Feed the Forks initiative, Flour Power – It’s the yeast we can do (yes we like our puns here at SFEE)
 
 
“Nothing smells and tastes like love quite like a home-baked bread,” says Pennie, “and it’s a great way to actively involve our members to create the smell, feel, and taste of bread, which nourishes the body and soul.”
 
How Does Flour Power Work?
Anyone can register to bake. Simply sign up and Slow Food East End will send you the recipe designed for 4 loaves; each baker keeps one loaf and donates three. Baking dates and all of the necessary details are listed on the Slow Food East End website and you will receive reminders for each baking cycle via email. There will be a designated drop-off point at the CAST building in Southold (when you register you will receive detailed instructions for the drop-off procedure). 
 
We hope you’ll sign up and participate in as many baking cycles as you can. We understand how busy everyone is and all we ask is to bake when you can, so please don’t let that stop you from signing up. 
 
Sign up here… we need you!
We are coming together to bake delicious and nutritious loaves for those who are in need. We invite you to join us and bake bread with us.
 
This program can only continue with the helping hands of our community. Why not give it a try? Also, if you have friends or contacts that might be interested please forward this information to them. Imagine a network of people showing care and connection through food. That is truly Slow Food!!
I'd like to bake for CAST North Fork

Flour Power Recipe by David Chaffin

Nov 21, 2022 | Uncategorized

David Chaffin’s Recipe for Whole Wheat Loaf Bread 

Makes four loaves

About the measurements: the first is in grams; the second is in the U.S. system. I find the metric system and a scale makes for consistent results.  

In a small bowl mix:

  • 2 packets (15.5 g/4.5 tsp) of active dry yeast (Red Star)
  • 3 g /1 tsp sugar
  • 105 g /.5 cup warm to hot water (ideal around 105℉). If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast; too cold and the yeast will not activate

Set aside at room temperature.

In a large bowl mix these dry ingredients with a spatula to incorporate them evenly.

  • 800 g / 6 cups organic all-purpose flour (can substitute non-organic or bread flour)
  • 800 g / 6 cups organic whole wheat flour
  • 40 g / 2.3 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 35 g / 2.5 Tbsp flax seed
  • 35 g /2.5 Tbsp chia seed
  • 60 g /.75 cup wheat germ or wheat bran

Mix loosely into dry ingredients:

  • 50 g / .25 cup veg oil. (I use canola oil or avocado oil.)
  • 50 g / 2.5 Tbsp molasses
  • 50 g / 2.5 Tbsp honey

Add activated dry yeast/sugar/water mixture which, by this time, should be fairly foamy. 

 

Finally, add to all the above ingredients:

  • 900 g / 3.75 cups cool water, shoot for around 60° F. (You may need slightly more or less water depending on your flour choices, humidity, etc.)

Use a spatula until the dough is loosely incorporated and no dry ingredients are left in the bottom of the bowl. Let rest for 10 minutes. (I usually clean my tools and put away my ingredients: when I’ve finished, it’s time to proceed.

Place dough in a stand mixer using a dough hook at low speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl. Be careful not to over-mix; the finished dough should be between 75-79 °F. (I find it takes about four minutes.)

Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and cover to proof/rise for at least an hour until it has risen by a third.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured flat surface and evenly divide into four pieces. Here are your loaves!

To create the loaf square off one piece of dough and fold two sides in; tightly roll into a cylinder. Be careful to not use too much flour or create air gaps.

Place shaped dough into a lightly oiled 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, top with a small amount of veg oil, and cover with a proofing cloth or loose plastic wrap for final proofing/rise.

Once the dough has reached the top of the pan (start checking after an hour), preheat the oven to 420 °F with the rack in the center for a half hour. I like to give the dough a slight mist of water and bake it at 420°F for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 °F, cover loaves loosely with foil or parchment paper, and bake for 30-45 minutes longer. Bread should have an internal temp of at least 190°F once fully baked.

Remove bread from pans and place on a cooling rack until fully cooled. You can, of course, eat it warm; it’s delicious.

November 6: SFEE Annual Meeting & Open House

Oct 24, 2022 | Uncategorized

Our annual meeting & open house is coming up and everyone is invited! Each year we at Slow Food East End hold an open meeting to welcome new faces and introduce new board members to our community.

If you have been wanting to get involved and learn more about what our chapter does, this is the perfect opportunity to gather with the SFEE community and share what we’ve been up to this past year and our plans for the future.

In addition, it is also when we host our annual board member elections – come meet our nominees and cast your vote! Our ALL VOLUNTEER board members – new and returning – come with a passion for supporting local food on the East End and we can’t wait for you to meet them!

This event is also an open house and we will be showcasing the ways in which we are nourishing our community through our various SFEE programs. It’ll be a great opportunity to learn/share more about our ongoing Feed the Forks initiatives, including:

  • Flour Power – Our home-based community baking program. This is an amazing way to lend your hands and love to the community by baking loaves and providing them for others in need. 
  • School Gardens – for the past 10 years, SFEE has supported one of the most successful Slow Food school garden programs in the U.S. reconnecting children and their families with real food, and inspiring their local communities to eat well.
  • Snail of Approval – an SoA is awarded to businesses that incorporate the Slow Food ideals of Good, Clean & Fair food. This award brings recognition to amazing food businesses that are excelling in sourcing, environmental impact, cultural connection, community involvement, staff support, and/or business values.
  • Resilience Grants – SFEE efforts to support the long-term success of the food growers and makers on the East End of Long Island during extremely challenging times.

This event is FREE to attend, bring your family and friends. RSVP below to help with planning purposes

Sunday, November 6th, from 1:00-4:00 PM at the beautiful Brick Cove Marina – 1760 Sage Blvd, Southhold, NY 11971.

RSVP HERE!

Sour Power – A Fermentation Celebration

Sep 20, 2022 | Uncategorized

October 22, 2022, will be the inaugural launch of Sour Power! 

Fall harvest season is upon us, the days are getting shorter, the nights are a bit cooler and while East End farmers have been busy planting and reaping fertile fields, Slow Food East End has been planning a fall festival.  

Sour Power will bring our community together to celebrate fermentation, a truly slow food process that connects soil, seeds farmers, and foodies. Fermentation traditions are ancient, rooted in the culinary traditions of many cultures.  Sour Power will be a multi-faceted initiative that will educate our community about the history of fermentation, and the farming of cabbage.  

Slow Food board member, Chef and James Beard award-winning author, Peter Berley, has long been on the forefront of chefs extolling the health benefits of fermentation.   Sour Power will be an opportunity to learn more about the traditions and techniques of fermentation.  

Our Sour Power celebration this year will be a collaboration with Jamesport Farmstead. A no-till organic farm on the North Fork that was recently awarded Slow Food East End Snail of Approval award for its farming practices. The Farmstead has planted rows of cabbage for Slow Food that will be harvested mid-October for our event.  

For about  200 years cabbage has been commercially grown on Long Island. 

The mighty cabbage is a versatile vegetable that has long been fermented into Sauerkraut. Save the date of October 22 to join SFEE, Chef Peter Berley and the Jamesport Farmstead farmers for a lively and educational hands-on experience of shredding and making Sauerkraut with traditional tools.   

Follow our blog as we share photos and stories documenting the season’s planting.  We hope to see you on October 22nd at the Jamesport Farmstead Main Road farm stand for a festive fall celebration toasting our farming community, and sharing culinary traditions and recipes for local produce that are known to enrich our diets.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CLICK THROUGH THE PAGES TO SEE THE PROGRESS OF OUR CABBAGES!

We start all our vegetable seeds with soil blocks. The cabbage seed is placed right in the dibble and then we cover them lightly in peat and water them.

Here are the same soil blocks once we cover them in peat and lightly water. We then place them outside to germinate because our high temperature tunnels are getting too hot this time of year and will cause them to dry out or not germinate at all.

Here are some red cabbage (Tete Noire Cabbage) seedlings just starting to make an appearance, this is about 7-10 days after planting.

Here is the green cabbage (Cour Di Bue) seedlings just started to show their cotyledon leaves after germinating for 7-10 days.

Cour Di Bue, green cabbage about 2.5 weeks after planting, you can see their true leaves!

Tete Noire, red cabbage about 2.5 weeks.

Here’s the Coir de Bue cabbage about 3 weeks after being seeded in soil blocks, just a couple weeks away from being transplanted.

We push aside the straw just enough to get the cabbage start into soil, the goal is to always keep out soil covered and protected.

The beds that the cabbage are planted in were originally garlic. Here’s a picture of the crew clearing of the straw in April. Once the garlic was harvested in July, we weeded the beds to get them ready for more veggies which includes the 2 beds of cabbage.

We run a tape measure down the center of the beds so we can quickly place out each cabbage seedling 1.5 feet from each other and then we do the same on the other side of the bed, staggering them so the plants have plenty of room to fill out.

Here’s the crew planting each seedling, one person leads by placing the plants every 1.5 fee while the rest follow and plant them in the ground.

These seedlings get planted at about 4-5 weeks old.

Here’s the Cour de bue about 2 weeks after it was planted!

All our brassicas (kale, collards, cabbage, broccoli, etc) get covered with row cover or mesh to protect them from flea beetles! We also do this for our arugula.

Here’s the cabbage, nice and protected about 2 weeks after planting.

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Earth Day on the East End

May 5, 2022 | In The News, Uncategorized

On a sunny Saturday afternoon the Slow Food East End community celebrated Earth Day. Educators, farmers, wine makers, and chefs gathered to feed and educate us about our local food systems and ecosystems. Enjoy these photos from the event – use of the left and right arrows to view them all! Thanks to our board members Jessica Easton and Maria McBride for the photos.

A Moveable Feast 2020 – Silent Auction

Jan 13, 2019 | Uncategorized

“A Moveable Feast”
Silent Auction

GROWING HEALTHY KIDS, ONE GARDEN AT A TIME

It began back in 2011, when Slow Food East End joined with the Joshua Levine Memorial Foundation to host a fundraiser to honor the legacy of young farmer Josh Levine. Since then we have hosted an annual Spring event to raise money to help support Edible School Gardens. These gardens have brought joy and learning opportunities to thousands of children across the East End. But school gardens don’t just grow vegetables. School gardens grow healthy kids, one garden at a time! Now garden-grown vegetables are beginning to be served in school cafeterias, wellness and healthy eating are being taught in our schools, and chefs are coming into the classroom to teach cooking – all because of the support of the wonderful food community here on the East End and supporters like you.

Now is your opportunity to help us sustain and grow more than 25 local school gardens across the East End. We are seeking donors for the Silent Auction at our annual spring fundraiser, A Moveable Feast.

How Will You Help? Make a donation to our Silent Auction.

We’re looking for items or experiences such as restaurant gift certificates, wine club memberships, B&B or hotel lodging, CSA or other types of memberships, tours, unique experiences, private dinners, gift baskets, and cooking classes. All proceeds will go to support school gardens.

Your support of A Moveable Feast will help fund

  • Stipends for 3 Master Farmers who provide technical expertise, advice and inspiration to school gardens.
  • Cash mini-grants to individual school gardens for such items as raised beds, garden tools, rain barrels, seeds, bird feeders, pollinator plants, wheel barrows, or deer fencing.
  • Slow Food’s Chefs to School program that brings local chefs into the classroom to demonstrate how nutritious meals, cooked with fresh ingredients, can be tasty and fun!
  • Learning experiences about healthy eating, hard work, working together and helping others (some of the vegetables grown are donated to local food pantries).
  • Awareness of the importance of wellness, health and good nutrition.
  • Partnership with Head Start in areas where food insecurity is faced by many children and their families.
  • Efforts to incorporate fresh garden-grown produce into cafeteria school lunches.

For more information contact: silentauction@slowfoodeastend.org

DONATE TO SILENT AUCTION