Pineapple Cake Flopped

[rawbutterfly]

I was so excited to try the pineapple cake in the book, but for some reason it turned disgusting and sour (spoiled?) by the time it was done dehydrating (20 hrs). I use the Excalibur. Does anyone know what went wrong? I wanted to cry.

[Carmella]

rawbutterfly,

I'm sorry the cake didn't turn out so well. I've had something similar happen to me when I made Alissa's raisin cookies. The whole thing fermented on me.

The thing about buckwheat is that it has a tendancy to spoil fast, esp if using in a sweet recipe (fermentation process is quickened by sugar).

Now, whenever a recipe calls for sprouted buckwheat, what I do is soak it overnite, rinsing every half hour or so at the beginning to try to get rid of as much 'goo' as possible. Then, the next morning, I give the buckwheat a few more good rinses and it's ready to use. (I don't bother letting it develop a little tail.) I've read somewhere that buckwheat can be used after 4 hours (I think!) of soaking. I've tried it once when I was a little tight in terms of time and it worked good.

Another thing I do to help reduce the risks of fermentation is form whatever it is I'm making, be it sweet or savory, into small cookies or patties instead of cakes or loaves. This really helps to shorten the dehydration time, hence the risk of it turning bad on you.

And don't be disheartened!

For me, learning to 'uncook' has been a trial and error thing (I'm sure most people can relate!) Thanks to this board though, it has allowed me to take shortcuts, learning from others' experiences too. This is what makes this forum so incredibly helpful and inspiring.

[Crisyn]

So sorry to hear about your sour cake! I hate it when I wait so long for something to finish dehydrating, and it turns out bad!
I had some problems with crackers when I first got my dehydrator, but I have found that I have no more problems with fermenting foods since I started putting the dehydrator at 145 for the first 1-2 hours, and then putting it down to 105 or 115 for the remaining time. I think I read the explanation in Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine? Something about how the food releases its moisture which lowers the temperature in the dehydrator, and therefore needs to be at a higher temperature to decrease cooking time and inhibit bacterial growth.
Maybe if you tried this method, you could cut down on the 20 hours, and the cake would cook faster and not have time to ferment?

[Carmella]

Great point Crisyn!

I had forgotten to mention dehydrating temps. I start dehydrating my food around 115 and then lower it to 105 or 110.

[Petals]

ya~ I had the same thing happen to me with banana bread last November, all fermented! but rawkinloc's mentioned about uping the dehydrator temp if using a Excalibur the first couple of hours for things dense and thick, and it works ( also reading the instructions that came with it finally as well!)