Musings

So I found this recipe on Jeff and Zoe’s site for cinnamon French toast.  Can you imagine how decadent this is? Go here for instructions, I am not gonna write them down here again because like, I have tomorrow off and the laziness is already starting to affect me.

This bread is so simple to make, once again showcasing why the ‘Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a day’ is so fabulous.  From start to finish, you can have this bread resting, in and out of the oven and cooling in 2 hours.  And is it ever DIVINE!  Sinful, even.  The smell in the house is also fantastic.  Crumb texture, taste… what’s not to like?  Even clean up is fairly easy.  I have not yet tried to make French toast out of it though, it never lasts long enough.  Next time I bake it, I promise to get pics.  The problem is, this bread goes so fast, I don’t have a chance to get pics til it’s gone!

So my son – in – law and Mom could not make Thanksgiving day, but that has never mattered much in this house. Thanksgiving is the day we can all get together and sit down to break bread as a family. This year it will occur later on today.

Here am I, up early and raring to go. Home made applesauce is cooling on the stove, waiting to go through the mill to remove the skins (cooking with the skins on lends such a lovely color), I will soon start a punkin pie, and in a few hours it will be time to stuff and bake the turkey.

Some of the star dishes of the feast will be 60 minute rolls, which will be pulled, piping hot, from the oven just as we all sit down to eat. Jeff Hertzberg’s Cranberry Bread will also be served, a simply easy bread that adds a splash of delicious color to the table.

The feast itself is simple fare — a 20 lb turkey will soon be roasting in the oven, stuffed to the gills with bread stuffing made from stale left over sourdough/artisan bread baked by myself (I froze it starting in October to set aside especially for today).  Mashed potatoes, gravy and corn frozen from local fields will grace the turkey, with home made applesauce on the side –  a full table it will be!  Desert will be pumpkin pie, apple pie and rice pudding.  mmmm!

Feel free to join us — if there’s one thing that is said about my holiday meals, it’s that there is plenty of delicious food!

I confess to it. I admit to it!!! Yes, artisan/healthy bread in five minutes a day is good but…

It will win no contest against the sour dough bread I bake when I have the time.

Having been able to serve fresh bread every day if needed has been wonderful, especially on these cooler eves, (and oh how marvelous to serve soup with it!)  and for that, I have Jeff and Zoe to thank.  I simply could NOT bake sourdough bread during the work week.  I love to hear the bread ‘sing’ as it cools.  I just feel so…. ACCOMPLISHED to set that aromatic boulle of bread on the table.

But I do not kid myself into considering this the ‘superior’ bread.  It is merely the more convenient.  The true winner of my affections is a brown loaf of bread that I make using my very own starter that is soon going to reach its first birthday.

Viva la sourdough!

So I woke up this morning with the urge to bake, perhaps fueled by the fact that I have just returned to work and haven’t been able to for the past 5 days.  The first few weeks back to school are frantic at best, days easily stretching to 10-12 hours.  Needless to say, free time is limited and once play practice begins in two weeks, it is almost nonexistent.   At any rate, that was a long way to explain the fact that I had NO time to bake this week, not even HB in 5 Minutes a Day way.  I will adjust soon.

I first started up two batches of sourdough bread for lunches the next few days.  I then looked at the little bit of dough I had in the fridge from HB and realized I had better use it soon.

I’ve looked at various baguette recipes and have even purchased a baguette tin, but I have never actually sat down to make them.  Today that all changed.  I was successful in a fashion, but I shall need much practice.  I am still learning to work with the wetter dough that is present in this method. Following Jeff’s and Zoe’s instructions carefully, I pulled, folded and nudged my way into shaping baguettes and I was pleased with the results.  I didn’t weigh the dough — a very bad habit that I need to correct.  My baguettes ended up being a bit too small, I think, so they were thinner than I wanted.

I made three small baguettes, two were garlic studded (page 155) using garlic cloves bought at the grocery store in the spice aisle.  One was studded with chopped cherry tomatoes from my garden instead of garlic.  I rolled them a little too thin, I think, and they rose some but not much while baking.  The aroma from the garlic roasting as they baked was fantastic!!!  I  popped them out of the tin with a little bit of sticking but not too much.

Now in the book, Zoe says that the roasting allows the garlic to ‘mellow so that it will spread’ over the bread but it really didn’t.  I think I shall try fresh next time, and I bet I get a much more pleasing effect.  The garlic bread was ok but a bit heavy on the taste when biting into the halved cloves.  The tomato baguette though, was absolutely divine and was consumed in no time.  The flavor of the roasted  tomato halves permeated the baguette.  Zoe did warn though that the tomatoes, if not pressed in deeply enough, might pop out.  I thought I had them in fairly well, but as I took the bread out of the oven, the tomato baguette top was lined up with tomato halves sticking straight up and barely hanging on to the crust of the bread.  It looked funny, like an army of tomatoes readying for battle,  but the taste made up for it!

In summary, I will make the tomato baguette again soon just to work out some of the issues I had with the bread.  I might even bake one today.  I will also make the garlic baguette again but try it with fresh garlic before I say heck with it.   This time I will take pictures and post the results.

By the way — the baguettes were shaped, proofed, baked and eaten long before the sourdough went into the oven.  Ahh how nice to be able to bake bread this quickly!

Until I bake again –

Ciao!

As summer ends, it is always met with a mixture of sadness and anticipation. Sad because well… I really do enjoy having the summer off to do what I want. Anticipation because well … I really do like my job and going back to school also means starting a new play season as well.

Still, I find myself looking back and evaluating what I accomplished and what I wish I would have done.

This summer was rather difficult because 1. it was terribly hot almost all the time and 2. I have been weaning off prednisone. My poor family has had to deal with a moody woman who snaps and feels contrite in seconds. They are saints, all of them. I hear myself sometimes and don’t like me, and I am not on the receiving end of it!

Today marks the first day I have been prednisone free in almost two years. It is going to be a difficult few days in which to end the summer, but I am ready to face it. Although the demon rests still inside, an aspect of my arthritis is now put at rest and my body will feel better for it.

So yes, the summer is ending. At the same time, so is my dependence on a drug that can wreak havoc with my body.

Let’s see what this school year will bring, shall we.

I have had the pleasure of maintaining my own sourdough starter since December of 2009. My interest began when we went to Alaska a few years earlier but I just never really decided to follow through until last September. That sparked a renewed interest in baking that has persisted through today.

This summer has been a flurry of baking, so much in fact, that my sourdough starter has been barely refrigerated. Instead, it sits on my counter and is fed daily and twice daily and our family hasn’t bought any bread at all. By the way, it has also discouraged eating out for lunch. My spouse states he’d much rather eat my grilled sourdough sandwiches than eat at any restaurant. Perhaps he is being kind.. perhaps a penny pincher (he does pinch me from time to time but I digress) or perhaps honest. I tend to hope for honest!

Anyway, the biggest drawback to anything sourdough is just plain time. You can’t rush sourdough. One day the first rise takes an hour and a half. The next time it takes 4 hours. It is a lesson in patience for excellence. Sometimes waiting for a rise that extends to 4 hours is just too difficult to bear! I decided to try to find a way to decrease rising times.

I read one woman’s experience with sourdough. She uses 2 cups of her starter and then adds 2 Tablespoons of yeast. She wanted the sourdough flavor, she explained, but not the long wait. Sounded exactly what I had been hoping for. Yesterday I tried it.

What emerged was a beautiful loaf of whole wheat bread. It rose phenomenally well and within good time constraints. First rise was finished in 90 minutes. Second rise was good. Oven spring was ehhh.  What was surprising was the lack of sourdough flavor. This morning when I opened the bag I keep the bread in, I sniffed, expecting the pungent odor of sourdough that I love so much. There was nothing. Nada.

My conclusion is this — yes it is possible to make a bread with sourdough starter in it to rise well and much faster by adding commercial yeast. What you get is a lovely loaf of whole wheat bread.  It was not by any stretch of imagination, sourdough.

This morning I decided to mix up a batch of regular sourdough bread. I placed it in the oven after heating the oven to the lowest setting then turning it off again. The bread rose beautifully and after 2 hours, was ready to be punched down. Second rise only took 45 minutes, and the oven spring was fantastic!  I think it was saying “naaa naaa!  Look what I can do when I want to!”

Bread can be as annoying as teenagers.  ’nuff said!

Here’s a picture of this morning’s loaf of free form sourdough.  By the way, this is dragon claw bread — that’s what my spouse calls the scoring marks. 

Basic SourDough Bread

1. 1 c. sourdough starter
2. 2/3 c. milk
3. 2 TBSP butter
4. 2 TBSP sugar
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 1 c. Wheat Flour
7. 2 – 3 c. all purpose or bread flour (more or less to get a good kneadable dough)

In the microwave, add the butter to the milk and soften until butter melts into the milk but before the milk gets hot.  Add to the starter and stir to mix well.  Let sit for 1o minutes.

Add the whole wheat flour, sugar and salt, and mix well.  Add enough or more as needed of the ap or bread flour until dough forms a ball in the bowl and isn’t too sticky to handle.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead for 10 minutes (adding up to one more cup of flour as needed to keep from sticking) or until it passes the window pane test.

Place in greased bowl, cover and let proof until doubled in bulk  (please note — rarely does this take less than two hours and sometimes it takes up to four.  Place in a warm and draft free place to speed up the process).

Punch down dough and shape in a boulle or log.  Place in well floured bowl, seam side up, for second rise, about 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Turn out of bowl onto floured peel.  Score as desired but DO SCORE!  Slide onto baking stone.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Allow to cool for one hour before consuming.

In my personal repertoire, I have three baking books that I have pored over this summer. Each one is very different from the other. Let me list them here:

‘The Bread Maker’s Apprentice’ by Peter Reinhart

‘my bread’ by Jim Lahey

‘Healthy Bread in Five Minutes A Day’ by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

Each book outlines techniques very different than the others, but at the same time, with commonalities. From each I have learned different techniques. Peter Reinhart’s book is fabulous, and produces excellent tasting bread. My favorite from his book is his sticky buns recipe. He uses a non-cooked glaze for the bottom of the pan that is just divine. It is one of his quicker doughs. What I love about the book is the way he illustrates each step, even down to the folding of the dough. I have used his techniques in any baking I do. For example, his ‘window pane’ method to check when dough is kneaded enough has been very helpful to me.

Truth is, I love to knead dough. Other truths tell me that having a diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis means that in the future, this may not be a possibility for me. I mean, it is fine now, but it may not always be.

Because of this reality check, I have found myself researching other methods, rather than jump to the expensive Kitchen Aid models that take over the kneading for you (if anyone has one they want to get rid of and are interested, let me know). Jim Lahey’s book, ‘my bread’, was one such method. It is fabulous for those who can plan ahead. It involves many hours for proofing but there’s no kneading at all. I have made a few of his breads and met with mixed results. It is difficult working with such wet dough (one time it stuck so badly to the banniton that I despaired ever getting it out.  I eventually did but it was a very odd looking loaf of bread!), but again, it is all in the technique and practice practice practice!! Still… the length of time expended in producing a loaf of bread was frustrating.

Which brings me to this HBin5 group I have just joined. I was intrigued at the thought of being able to mix bread and in 2 hours, be ready to bake with no kneading whatsoever!

My first loaf of bread I swore was a disaster. A gloppy sloppy sticky mass was formed that was impossible to shape. It was a child’s dream to play with, but I wasn’t feeling so charitable. I managed to get it into some semblance of shape and popped … er… slid…er.. pried it into the oven.

To my surprise, a quite passable loaf of bread emerged. Lean and similar in characteristics to the no knead bread, (somewhat moist and meaty with larger holes) it was an instant hit with spaghetti.

Again, I am struggling with the presentation. The next batch I put together I shall incorporate another 1/2 c. of flour. I think that will help in its manageability. I know the hydration is needed for the gluten formation, etc, so I must tread carefully.

Until I get satisfactory results though, I am not posting pictures. That’s my vanity talking.

So I made two loaves of bread in the last two days. One was a cranberry bread made with the lean dough recipe and the other was cinnamon swirl bread, made with the enriched brioche dough. Both tasted marvelous but didn’t look that pretty.

Part of it is learning to work with such wet dough. I think my first batch of lean dough had too much water in it and it made the dough very difficult to work with. It was just a gooey mess! However, it rose well and tasted great. The shaping was just impossible. I made a quick loaf to go with lasagna on Wednesday and it looked vaguely like a flying saucer. Tasted wonderful though!

Today I made the cinnamon swirl bread. I was pleasantly surprised to get the dough out of the fridge and find that it was holding together pretty well. I had read it tended to be wetter than the lean dough and was like… ohhhh no. But it was much easier to work with!

When I placed it in the pan, the top slid to the side. What it ended up looking like was a lopsided and top heavy loaf of bread, but did it ever taste good!

Two recipes to keep — must make again and concentrate on the ‘pretty’ factor.

It has been a very busy summer and as we approach the end of it, I look back in a slight panic because I’ve only accomplished a tiny bit of what I had set out to do.  For all you haters out there who don’t want to hear me griping about my summer vacation being almost over, I encourage you, if you want summers off like me, to go to school to become a teacher or nurse, get into debt outta your ears and then spend the better portion of your year with teenagers.  Perhaps then you will understand why we ‘faculty’ appreciate having a summer off to recuperate.  More <3, less h8.  mmkay?

One thing I have accomplished is the honing of my baking skills.  I have always made good bread but I never really understood the process.  This summer I have successfully maintained and baked many sourdough loaves of bread like the one below:

In so doing, I have gained insight into the scientific process and in turn, have become quite adept .  Still, there’s so much more I want to bake but I have lacked the time!  I think that is the biggest drawback to good bread — time.

On that note, I have decided to try another method of bread baking.  Developed by a bread baker hobbyist such as myself, Jeff Hertzberg, it is dubbed ‘Five minutes a Day’ bread.  I tried it for the first time today and was very pleased with initial results.   More to come as I discover if this method will translate into good fresh bread after the school year begins again in only a few short weeks.  Between juggling a work schedule and play practice, my time thins out greatly.  If this bread is as good as it promises, then we can continue to enjoy fresh bread every other day or so.

Until later –

Ciao!

The sun glints down through the underbrush of my back yard, for a moment outlining the weeds in beauty.  Even the poison ivy gleams in its rays, it’s true nature for the moment concealed.  In places the brush is flattened, paths where I think deer have tread and.. I hope… bear have not.

At one time I had this part of our yard mowed.  One year I felt particularly adventurous and energetic and, armed with clippers, loppers and a lot more muscle than I currently harbor, I vanquished the weeds that grew  with wild abandon.  That year the yard was much more silent, still, the effect so sterile that the landscape was completely changed.  Beautiful yes, in the ways that carefully tended yards are.  But gone was the spontaneity, the very essence of what made it so enticing.  It was the last year I ever mowed there.  By the following summer, the weeds had begun to encroach once again.  The undergrowth spread, the trees nursed baby trees once again and the birds returned.

This morning I sit at my computer writing, looking out the window into the back yard.  It is a wild place, underbrush so thick it is almost  impossible to walk through.    Birds call to each other and flit from branch to branch and squirrels quarrel as they chase each other through the upper boughs.  From order to chaos things have returned — and it is the way I prefer it.