DIY Pagan

Since specialty wheat flour is hard to find, here are some substitutes using all-purpose (AP) flour.

AP flour is a roughly even blend of what’s called hard and soft flours, which means high or low protein. So it’s generally good for anything and can substitute 1:1 without these additions, but these help the products come out better.

Don’t be afraid to use foreign brands if they say all-purpose on them, the ratio is pretty close to ours.

Bread Flour
(which is a hard flour with high protein, which helps gluten form, creating the rise and chew that yeast bread and pizza crusts are known for)

• 1-1.5 tsp vital wheat gluten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour minus the 1-1.5 tsp gluten you’re adding
• 1/2 tsp whole wheat flour, for binding (optional)

Pastry/Cake Flour
(a soft flour with low protein, creating a tender crumb)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 Tbsp
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch

Self-Rising Flour

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Whole Wheat Flour

This is a trickier one because whole wheat flour not only has higher gluten (like bread flour), but it also soaks up a lot more moisture, so replacing it with AP flour 1:1 will result in a soggier dough. Adding 1/4 cup oat flour, buckwheat flour, spelt flour, or similar whole grain can help.

You can also try using just bread flour, you may need to add extra to get the moisture level right.

I strongly connect to Kitchen Magic, otherwise known as Cottage, Home, or Hearth Magic. A lot of my posts tend to be about food magic, for example. So I wanted to spend a little time talking about what that means.

A Kitchen Witch blends the magical with the mundane by bringing the craft into ordinary domestic life. They bring hearth and home into harmony by utilizing their skills in enchantment, healing, protection, and cleansing, in normal daily activities. Even the basic tools of everyday life can be imbued with magic. Living with intent, and paying attention to details, are what make this witch such a powerhouse.

The key word to the mind of a Kitchen Witch is Intention. Whether solitary or in a group, Kitchen Witches layer their life in small spells, repeated daily as they do their normal activities. Basic domestic chores can become ritual. Cleaning a room becomes a consistent way to maintain protective wards and clear out negative energies. Washing clothes allows them to bless the garments their loved ones will wear. Their entire home is a sacred space.

Kitchen Witches tend to be practical above all, so they are capable of creating their own ceremony and sanctifying their own tools. The broom is not just a symbol, but something to be used for practical purpose. It doesn’t have to be a specially made item, or from all-natural materials. It’s up to that witch what works for them.

Herbalism is also a huge part of Kitchen Witchery as well. Like a Hedge Witch, they might use herbs medicinally and make lotions or tinctures, as well as being central to food magic.

In creating food magic, you must first determine your goals, and decide by what means you hope to achieve them. There are many options, from a baked good, tea or other drinks, a spice blend, or maybe an entire meal.

Please note that when you prepare something for another to eat, you are literally asking them to ingest your intentions. There is a moral responsibility in that, so whatever your path, I ask you to bear in mind whether the spell, not just the food, is being taken with informed consent or not.

When you know these things, start by considering the very base ingredients that are already required. A baked good requires some form of flour, for example, be it grain, plant, or nut based. Does the recipient have dietary restrictions that must also guide your recipe?

Then you can open up your herbal encyclopedias (I like Scott Cunningham and browsing the internet for this) and cookbooks and start your research. Ingredients don’t have to have the exact same meaning, they just need to be in harmony going in the same direction. If it’s going all over the place, there is no focus, and the energy will dissipate.

Another thing to consider is seasonal ingredients, for these reasons: One, seasonal produce just tastes better. Second, they naturally coincide with the seasonal Sabbats and their magic.

Quick note: Write everything down! Doesn’t need to be in a fancy journal. I use a plain spiral college ruled notebook for most of my recipes. Write ideas, feelings as you work, as well as results and notes for next time.

You can Charge ingredients as well, by chant and meditation, by the moon, or by crystals. Always check before using any gemstone, crystal, or metal, as some are not food/heat safe (like garnet or malachite), or if they might dissolve in water and leave shards (like Selenite).

These are some of the ways in which you begin to Layer your spell. Layering is a technique of building up smaller spells or energies so that the final Working is especially powerful and multifaceted.

Here’s an example:

1. You can make butter at home, it’s actually very easy. Butter has a nurturing, gentling quality, and it is one of the few animal fats we can get regularly that does not have to harm the animal. While making the butter, in choosing the dairy cream’s source and taking the time and energy, you empower this ingredient beyond what you could buy in the store.
2. Now you might make homemade bread. Maybe you use an old recipe that has sentimental value, or one a friend recommends, or have a sourdough or friendship bread Leaven you’ve been maintaining. Even if you use a bread machine, you are still imbuing that wheat, salt, yeast, and water with your goals. Bread is a beautiful symbol of abundance and growth. Both wheat and salt can represent bounty and financial wealth.
3. Your combine this bread and butter, and now the spell has two strong parts working in harmony as a personal blessing. Perhaps combine it with a tea you made, that takes that wish of growth and abundance, and amplifies it, or provides a tighter focus: are they wanting that financial side of growth, or was the bounty they were hoping for more one of fertility?
4. For the sake of the example, if they are hoping for a child, maybe you can consider the time of year for this purpose as well, like making the bread and butter and serving it to them for Beltane, a time of fertility and love.
5. Add this to other spells and an amulet for them to wear, and you can build it into a very potent Working.

Imagine, now, what you could do with an entire holiday meal. The cleansing of the space, literally as well as metaphysically. Decorating with meaningful symbols and color, and using essential oils for scent to inspire a mood. The food may have started over a month ago, when you planted the seeds to the oregano you’re using tonight. It all builds up and comes together. Everything has meaning, especially the celebrations of normal life. Layering is building up multiple meanings into a whole conversation.