Our big beautiful bowl of Maine: Homemade granola and homemade yogurt – with as many Maine ingredients as possible. Photo by Susan Paris

When my wife retired, she threw herself into “from scratch” food preparation — Indian curries from separately ground spices; homemade paneer; sourdough breads of all kinds; granola. I was less than enthusiastic when she reported one morning that she was going to try her hand at yogurt. I remembered homemade yogurt from the long ago group household days of my early 20s — thin, watery, sour. I was definitely not a fan.

However, my wife’s homemade yogurt was a revelation. Just thick enough, creamy, rich and tart. It took some tinkering with times and temperatures, and how to take the weather into account, but she now makes the best yogurt I have ever eaten, consistently.

My “recipe” is for a standard yogurt breakfast: yogurt, a drizzle of honey, a handful of blueberries, a sprinkle of granola on top.

It is the details that make it my “beautiful bowl of Maine.” Homemade yogurt from Smiling Hill Farm’s milk, a few miles down the road. Maine honey, from Audubon’s Gilsland Farm bees when we can get it; another Maine honey when that’s not available. Local blueberries — fresh in season; Wyman’s frozen if local fresh aren’t available. (We used to buy fresh year-round, but after too many flavorless, sour/bitter tasting berries from as far away as Peru, we discovered that a third of a cup of frozen berries microwaved for 30 seconds are nearly as good as fresh; and much better than imported.) Our homemade granola is made from Maine Grains oats and Maine maple syrup.

The yogurt recipe was sourced from the the New York Times, but has been modified/annotated based on our kitchen and our results. It is a bit fiddly. It takes about 45 minutes of patience and intermittent attention — and then 9-10 hours to set. The granola is easy! The recipe has been in my wife’s repertoire for decades, and the origin is lost; who knows what relation it bears to the original at this point? You can adjust the levels of sweetness and salt to your taste; and of course the sky is the limit for add-ins. We like using melted cocoanut oil — not local! — but it provides a lovely crispness. While this granola bakes, your house smell like heaven.

Finally, the piece de resistance? I eat this delicious, largely local breakfast from a bowl made by our friends at Ash Cove Pottery, in Harpswell.

Nourishment for the body, for Maine businesses….and for the soul.

Susan Paris, left, and her wife Lisa Munderback. Photo courtesy of Susan Paris

MEET THE COOKS: Susan Paris and Lisa Munderback

I have baked my entire life. Baking connects me to my grandmother, who never arrived anywhere without a baked treat; and to my mother, who happily passed on her rolling pin to me as soon as I took over the holiday sugar cookie baking! I learned to make pie crust during a summer job at a little restaurant in
Ogunquit, and I am known in the family for my pies (I’d like my gravestone to say “She made a good pie”); as well as buttermilk scones, from my mother’s Fanny Farmer cookbook. My wife, Lisa Munderback, cooks hearty, family style dishes: lasagne, chicken and biscuits, beef burgundy. We also love Indian and Israeli food, and love to make a feast of kofta, burnt eggplant and homemade pita. We also love to make things that feature eggs from our backyard chickens, such as shakshuka, huevos rancheros, deviled eggs and quiche. To top it off, we make wicked good ice cream! We live in South Portland.

The couple’s homemade granola and yogurt are ready for breakfast. Photo by Susan Paris

GRANOLA

This amount of sweetener makes a granola that straddles the sweet/ savory line. Increase the sweetener if you like a sweeter granola. Also, the darker you bake the granola, the more savory it will be.

2/3 cup maple syrup (you can also use honey, but we prefer maple syrup)

1/3 cup coconut oil, warmed to liquid

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

6 cups rolled Maine Grains oats, or other organic oats

2 cups chopped nuts: pecans, walnuts, almonds or mixture

1/2 – 1 cup coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the maple syrup, melted coconut oil, vanilla and salt in a measuring cup.

Measure the oats, nuts and coconut into a large bowl.

Make a well in the oat mixture. Pour the combined liquid ingredients into the well and mix well.

Spread the unbaked granola on cookie sheets (HOW MANY? 2?) and bake for 45 minutes. Swap the cookie sheets and turn to ensure the granola bakes evenly. Bake another 15 minutes or so. The granola should be golden brown, not dark. Remove it from oven and cool. You can mix in dried fruit now or add it when you eat the granola.

Store in airtight container.
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YOGURT

You’ll need an instant-read thermometer to make this.

4 cups whole milk (Smiling Hill Farms is great!)

1/4 cup whole milk yogurt, either from a previous homemade batch or store bought.

Pour the milk into uncovered pot and bring to 205 degrees F with the burner at medium high. Stir occasionally.

Turn the burner down to low and move the pan mostly off the heat. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Cool the milk to 180 degrees F, stirring occasionally. Move the pan back on low heat as necessary. After 20 minutes at 180 degrees F, take the pan off heat and let the milk cool to 125 degrees F. (This takes about 15 minutes, depending on the temperature in your kitchen.)

Unless the kitchen is at least 70 degrees and there is a range hood light to provide some warmth, a turned-off oven is an excellent place to let the yogurt ferment. Turn on the oven light. Put the 1/4 cup yogurt in a 2-cup glass measure and temper with some of the cooling milk. Whisk thoroughly. Add back to the milk in the pot and mix.

Pour into a 1-quart container and cover (a wide-mouth mason jar works well). Wrap the jar in towel and keep under the hood light or put in the oven with the light on. Leave for 9-10 hours. Refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy.

WHAT ARE YOU COOKING?

If you’d like to contribute to Home Plates, send a recipe and a story telling us how you came to cook it, who you cook it for and why it’s found a place in your life to pgrodinsky@pressherald.com. Also, please tell us a little bit about your life as a home cook, include a photo of the dish, and yourself, possibly together, and let us know the source of the recipe.