Eat

Kefir Two Ways

Contraband Ferments ·

Kefir is hands down one of the best ferments for supporting the gut! While fermented dairy kefir is about 98% + lactose free some people still have a hard time digesting dairy. You’ll need to obtain Kefir Grains in order to make your kefir. We suggest ordering grains online from Cultures for Health or GEM Cultures .

With that in mind here is how we do Kefir both with dairy and without dairy! Make sure to read our notes at the end about keeping your grain cultures happy and healthy!

MILK KEFIR (DAIRY)

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon kefir grains

  • 8–16 ounces of milk (Goat or Cow: Organic, Non-Homogenized, and Raw are best.)

Instructions

  1. Add 1 tablespoon kefir grains to 8–16 ounces of raw milk in a jar with a lid. 

  2. Let it sit on the counter at room temperature for 24–72 hours depending on how sour you like it. You can taste it to check.

  3. Shake a couple times a day to keep fresh nutrients available to the grains.

  4. Strain the milk so you can keep the kefir grains to make a new batch.

  5. Put the strained kefir in a jar with a tight lid and keep it out of the fridge for a few hours. This will increase fizziness.

NOTE: The grains multiply. You can share them with friends or keep growing more. They work better if you keep them outside of the fridge. If you need to take time off from kefir, you can place them in some fresh milk and then put them in the fridge indefinitely. Once you are ready to use them again, rinse them off and begin the process from the beginning.

COCONUT KEFIR (NON-DAIRY)

Ingredients

  • 1 Tablespoon kefir grains

  • 8–16 ounces of full fat canned coconut milk or you can get young Thai coconuts and use the water and scrape the pulp and blend to make your own coconut milk

Instructions

  1. Use the same recipe for original milk kefir; just replace the dairy with coconut milk. 

NOTE: Make sure to put the grains in dairy milk every 2–3 batches to keep them happy and healthy.



Gluten Free Sourdough

Contraband Ferments ·

FERMENTED SOURDOUGH BREAD

Ingredients

  • 3 cups whole buckwheat groats OR 3 cup mixed grain (we like equal parts buckwheat/millet/rice)

  • 1 tsp sea salt

  • 1 tbs chia seeds 

  • 2 tbs psyllium husk

  • coconut oil, ghee, or butter

  • sesame seeds, flax seed, pumpkin seeds, etc (optional for in the batter or sprinkled on top of the bread)

Instructions

  1. Rinse all grains, cover with water, and soak overnight in a large bowl. Cover with a towel. Soak for 8 hours or overnight.

  2. Combine grains with ¾ –1 cup of fresh water and sea salt and blend in food processor or  blender. Blend into a batter...it should be a loose toothpaste consistency. 

  3. Pour the batter into a bowl, cover with a clean dish cloth, and leave out at room temperature for approximately 24 -48 hours to ferment.

  Note: I like to mix the batter once around the 24 hour mark to mix in any hooch that 

might be on top of the batter. You’ll notice it because it will be darker than the batter…

almost a purplish color. Just mix it back in and let it rise again.

4. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a loaf pan and then sprinkle a mix of seeds in the bottom of the pan. This helps the bread to not stick. 


5. Before you pour the batter into the  pan, add chia seeds and a couple tbs of any other seeds you want. I like my bread more seedy so I like to add flax meal, pumpkin & sunflower seeds, etc. Once the seeds are mixed in then pour the batter in the loaf pan and  place in the oven. 

6. Baking usually takes 45-60 minutes and how I like to tell it’s done is that its golden brown on top, usually the top of the bread is cracked, and if you stick a toothpick in it then it will come out clean.

7. Remove from oven and allow bread to cool for at least 1 hour before removing from pan. Once completely cool, slice bread and enjoy, either plain or toasted.