We all know bees make the best honey, however if you don’t have a beehive in your yard, there is another way to make honey, on the stove.
To make your own honey you will need white sugar, alum, water, fireweed blossoms, red clover blossoms and white clover blossoms. You may want to set aside a section of your yard to grow these plants in so you know they have not been sprayed with fertilizer or weed killer.
Once you have gathered the ingredients, put three cups of water, ten cups of white sugar and one teaspoon of alum into a large pan. Stainless steel is best. Bring this mixture to a boil. Keep it boiling for ten minutes.
While the mixture is boiling, remove the blossoms from the stems making sure not to leave any green parts on the flowers. The green stems and leaves will impart a grassy flavor to the honey.
Once the blossoms are removed, rinse them under cold running water. Shake the water off.
Remove the pan from the heat, and add the flower blossoms. Stir well, cover and steep for three hours.
Once the mixture is finished steeping, strain it through cheesecloth so all the plant material is removed. Reheat the liquid honey until it begins to boil, pour into sterilized canning jars and seal.
The jars can be sealed by processing them in a cold water bath for fifteen minutes. Be sure to check the seals once the jars have cooled.
Filed under Homemade Baking Essentials by on Jan 11th, 2010. 2 Comments. 
It is possible to make your own yeast cakes at home. These yeast cakes can be used in place of store bought yeast. Making your own yeast not only saves money, but will insure you always have enough yeast on hand to keep your family in fresh baked bread.
To make a yeast cake, start with a loaf of freshly risen bread dough. Homemade bread dough is best but you can use frozen bread dough you have allowed to rise if necessary. Remove a piece of the bread dough that is equal to the size of your fist.
Put the dough into a dish. Add enough warm, not hot, water to produce a thin batter. Once you have a thin batter made, add enough flour to turn the batter into a very stiff dough. If you prefer, you can add in a mixture of flour, cornmeal or artisian flours such as rice or potato flour.
The approximate amount of dry ingredients will be close to fifty percent of the wet ingredients.
When the dough is stiff, use a rolling pin to make a flat dough that is approximately three-quarters of an inch thick. Immediately cut the dough into squares that are two and a half inches on all sides.
Place the squares in a dark place where they can dry. Once dry, the squares can be cut in half or you can cut them as you use them. Each two and a half inch square will make two loaves of bread. Simply use the bread squares in place of regular yeast in your recipe.
Filed under Homemade Baking Essentials by on Dec 26th, 2009. Comment.
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