The Wholefood Kitchen

The Wholefood Kitchen Cooking in the Spirit of Kotahitanga A place to gain insights from practitioners, and share experiences.

An opportunity to connect with a growing community of people who approach food within an integral context. Above all, it is for people who would like food to support them to fulfill their potential. This site is run by Kevin Helas and other practitioners of wholefood cooking. Kevin is greatly indebted to the Concord Institute, which has provided the bulk of training of cooking within this context, and a developing understanding of the art of ‘cooking with awareness.’

28/09/2026

The last step! After resting I. The fridge overnight the loaves are ready to transfer into baking dishes (in this case, upside down casserole dishes), and baked in the oven at 250 fan bake with lid on, then an additional 5 or 10 minutes with lid off to brown up. Once removed from oven I leave them to rest for an hour. Freshly baked sourdough is delicious but fiendishly difficult to slice until the bread ‘sets’ a little.

28/09/2026

This video begins after leaving the dough in container for an additional 3hrs, then shaping dough into 2 loaves and placing in proofing baskets overnight, with ingenious ‘hair net’ basket liner technique picked up by the crafty folk at The Crafty Baker It’s true, they are crafty. And bakers.

27/09/2026

The proving and folding stage: stretching and folding the dough four times every 30 minutes, proving in between in a covered container set in a warm space. It might seem laborious but there’s plenty of time to do other things in between, and it can (does) become a very satisfying process to connect with, and wonderful to witness the alchemical magic taking place as the dough transforms into something recognisable as ‘dough.’

27/09/2026

Once the dough is mixed we enter the proving phase, placing the dough in an an oiled sealed container to work its magic. At this point I ‘feed’ Gary (my starter) to keep him happy and activated for next weeks action.

26/09/2026

Fellow smallholders at the Titirangi Village Market today, beautiful home cooked Onigiri! Kinpira! Ganmodoki! Curry Bread!

26/09/2026

The first stage of sourdough creation, mixing ingredients and forming the dough, while reflecting on the delightful, formative experience of making our own sourdough bread.

26/09/2026

Kicking off my step by step tutorial for Foolproof Sourdough (two loaf batch) with thanks to the The Muriwai Deli and Good From Scratch showing the various equipment I have assembled to make my bread, and the ingredients I use.

It’s time… to pass on the recipe handed down to me by the Muriwai Deli brothers, via Good From Scratch. I’ve been workin...
24/09/2026

It’s time… to pass on the recipe handed down to me by the Muriwai Deli brothers, via Good From Scratch. I’ve been working off a recipe (and a starter) that dates from the workshop I attended a few years back: the start of a beautiful thing. I have been initiated into the world of sourdough making. With great power comes great responsibility, mainly keeping my starter christened ‘Gary’ (IYKYK) alive and well fed. But the good news is that unlike many other experiences I’ve heard of, stewardship of the starter is low on the maintenance scale. More ‘cat’ than ‘dog’ in terms of effort and time commitment. And the even better news? The recipe itself is totally foolproof. I cannot make a bad loaf, unless I go to far off-piste with flour mix experiments. But even then, my doorstops have had a decent rise and crumb. The measure of a decent sourdough. I’ll be releasing a step by step series of instruction videos over the next days. Stay tuned!

21/09/2026

It all started… when a friend from school asked if I could do anything with a load of parsley and mint growing on her property. My first thought, Tabbouleh! An opportunity to make this wonderful Middle Eastern dish as a contribution for the recent Spring Festival and Open Day at Titirangi Waldorf School, and a springboard to tackle a few accompanying dishes including flatbreads, Tahini Yoghurt dressing and freshly made Dukkah. As a dish which stems from a region of such turmoil and conflict, it also represents what is possible when we come together in unity and community, and connect with one another through the making and sharing of food.

18/09/2026

A simple satisfying lunch sandwich can be whipped up in a flash, when there’s an array of pre-prepared ingredients in the fridge. In this case egg mayonnaise, pickled red onion, plum chutney, double smoked salmon, fresh tomato and avocado come together beautifully in a sourdough special.

16/09/2026

Eggsellent news!

Address

Auckland
0604

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Wholefood Kitchen posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category