Returning Reinhart

So, tomorrow I will return Reinhart's Artisan Breads Everday.  I tried to renew it but it is on hold and library late fees are embarrassing.  I ended up making two different loaves from his book.  The first was his version of San Francisco Sourdough.  He offers an option (not "purist") where you add in instant yeast.  It was superb.  

Sourdough starter

Mixed dough

Kneaded dough

 The nice part about it (for a household of two, especially) is that you can divide the dough in half and cook part that day and the other part up to three days later.

half to rest in the fridge

half to rise at room temp

I would be lying if I said I did everything according to his recipe.  We were almost out of bread flour so I used 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat, 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour and 4 T vital wheat gluten.  I ended up kneading the dough with about 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour.  The other ingredients were just water, salt, instant yeast, and of course, 1/4 cup of mother starter mixed with 1 3/4 cups bread flour and just over 1/2 cup of water.  That initial starter ferments overnight (6-8 hours) before combining it with the other ingredients to form the final dough.  I hadn't ever used bread flour for the starter before.  I was thinking that's what made this bread so phenomenal...  

Then, I tried his Pain au Levain.  Oh my god.  Oh mon dieu!  And ay dios mio too.  The Pain au Levain also called for bread flour (which we restocked) and whole wheat (also restocked).  I don't have a single photograph to share because this bread was eaten with soups and as toast and made into sandwiches with unprecedented speed.  It was gone within days.  It was amazing.  Absolutely amazing.  I did the same drill of halving the dough and baking some on the first day and retarding the other half.  The other halves definitely have a more developed taste than their younger versions but the texture of the bread seems to suffer from the prolonged rising period.  While eating his first slice of Pain au Levain Andy announced, "This is bread.  Wow."  And decided we could enter it in some sort of bread baking contest, if there ever was such a thing.  (I am sure there is).  This cookbook is officially on my wish list.

Now for another 8PM bedtime.  I miss my appendix.

-S 

Oats + Sourdough making a comeback!

Lil and I have no shame in doing/buying/wearing the same things.  In fact, sometimes we go out of our way to do this... case in point: yesterday we went to Sephora to purchase the exact same makeup and the to Urban Outfitters and bought the same flannel dress.  In high school we had a tradition of buying a matching pair of flip flops every summer.  Whenever I discover a way that Lil does something differently than I might I make sure to state, "That's how we are different."  The instances where I use this phrase are few and far between but it's important to note them when they do come up just so that we remember that we are, in fact, different people.

It should come as no shock that we have baked the same loaf of bread on separate occasions.  Remember the Sourdough Oat Bread I made a while back?  The loaf of Oat Bread that Lil made most recently comes from the same cookbook (Good to the Grain) just without the sourdough kick.

In the repetition of baking those loves I noticed a pattern.  The oats were visible (little white flecks) but not detectable in terms of texture/taste.  They didn't bother me at all except aesthetically.  So, I thought why not try the recipe again and soak the oats before hand?  I put the cup of oats into about 1 1/2 cups water and let it be for about 5 hours.  Then, I proceeded with the recipe.  It was a delicate balance to find the right moisture level since I had the wet starter and the wet oats. In the end I got it.  Or so I thought...

But look.. No white oats visible in the bread.  Success!

They are only on the crust where I sprinkled them just before baking.  Beautiful.  Almost... see how the upper right side of the bread is sort of.  Um.  Droopy?  Yeah, droopy.  Welllllllll I don't know how to explain this except to say that my loaf pooped.

The side of the bread fell off and onto the stained oven stone below.  I have no idea why this happened. In the oven of all places?!  I would have thought if it would happen it would have fallen off during it's second rise.  My best guess is that the dough was still a bit too wet and fell off because it was too heavy.  

Regardless, this bread makes a great breakfast spread with peanut butter, jam, or avocado.  

Sourdough loves Oats (soaked).

Oh, and what became of the little dookie I found on the oven stone?  I ate it.
-Sar

PS Lil and I are staging a comeback from our beginning of February blues.  The new Amazonian illuminating clay serum and flannel dresses are just the beginning.  Watch out.

"If you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you knead"

February has been a rough month thus far for Sar and I - I know, it's only the 3rd, but a lot can happen in 3 days.  The gist of it is that my beloved kitty cat that I've had since I was 4 (which means he's 20 years old) has kitty lymphoma and is not going to make it much longer.  Reality bites, as they say, and I'm pretty sad about it.  Poor Sar also had a trauma yesterday: one of her 7-year-old students accidentally shot a small toy into her open eye, which resulted in a pretty painful injury from which she is recovering - hopefully quickly.  Needless to say, we're a little depressed given our current circumstances.

Now, this post isn't going to be a sad one - I just wanted to give you some background into why this loaf needed (kneaded) to be particularly wonderful.  Sar and I probably couldn't take another disappointment.  Luckily, this was one of the most successful sandwich loaves I've baked - it's comforting to think how something as simple as a perfect loaf of bread can lift my spirits.  The 15 minutes of kneading was also a pretty great way to work out some feelings...and my triceps...just sayin'.

The recipe I used was my own adaptation of Allison and Son of White on Rice Couple's adaptation of Good to the Grain's Whole Wheat Oatmeal Sandwich Loaf.  I won't re-post the whole recipe, as Allison & Son do a great job of it on their blog, but I replaced the bread flour (of which we ran out a while ago) with a mixture of 1 cup light rye flour, 1 cup oatmeal flour, and 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten.  I didn't replace the full 2 1/2 cups since both of these flours are whole grain, and whole grains soak up more liquid than non-whole grain flours.  I did end up needing to add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup all-purpose flour as I kneaded in order to get the dough to the right texture.  It worked out beautifully.

I made this loaf starting at 8pm, so you can imagine that the lighting in our kitchen was less-than-ideal for photography, so here are a very few, badly lit pictures:

 

Although it rose perfectly in the pan in under an hour, I was still not convinced that this was a good sign.  I've had a ton of loaves rise perfectly to this point, and then just stop rising entirely when they get put in the oven...

...but WOW did this guy rise.  I was so happy.

My mom will be happy to know that this turn of events reminded me of a song she would always sing to me when I was little and being particularly annoying and asking for a zillion things that I couldn't have: "You can't always get what you want" made it seem like the Rolling Stones had made a song just to give my mother ammo against my begging and pleading for extra TV time or whatever it was that I was begging for at the moment.  But they were right - "If you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need".  I really needed a win, and this loaf was a definite winner.  Silly as that sounds.

The morning light was a bit better, so these pictures aren't quite as awful as the previous ones.  This bread toasts beautifully, makes a fabulous sandwich, and is all-around fantastic.  It was the perfect pick-me-up breakfast.

Here's to getting just what you need - big or small.

-Lil

Rustic Sourdough

Our sourdough did not have a very happy end to 2010 or beginning to 2011.  While everybody was off on their winter vacations our sourdough got very, very neglected.  A while back we had frozen the sourdough before we went on vacation and learned not to bake with the batch out of the freezer but to feed and discard at least once.  This time around we did not plan so wisely.  Left the sourdough to fend for itself in the fridge.  And wow.  The sourdough got upset.

I have been nursing it back to health for the past month and I am ready to let it go wild in this KAF Recipe.  I modified it a bit by adding 2 cups whole wheat flour in place of the all purpose.  I only ended up needing about 4 cups of flour total (since whole wheat sucks up more liquid).  I also added 4 teaspoons of vital wheat gluten for fun.  I baked a bit longer than 30 minutes - closer to 40 - because I only did one big boule on the stone:

And it grew up to be a beautiful,

delicious, round loaf.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to treat the sourdough starter with the love and respect it deserves.  We're off to a good start.

XO,
Sarah

PS It turns out my signature baking move is dusting with wheat germ.  Those are the specks you see on top.  Makes a great upper crust.

Bagels for Dinner

Bagels for dinner!  Really...what could be better?  Only one thing - homemade bagels for dinner, that's what.  Last evening we had a pretty standard Saturday:  we went out to sushi for dinner with good friends, met up with some more friends for drinks, a cab ride back uptown, delicious pizza at 2am, and a long night's sleep.  Something that goes along with a standard Saturday is a standard Sunday - being tired, lazy, and perpetually hungry.

We have not been able to stop eating today.  We both knew we wanted bagels, but we wanted to make them...so bagels for dinner it is.  We found a pretty straight-foward looking recipe in Bread Alone by Daniel Leader and Judith Blahnik.  Since we're not bagel aficionados, we followed their recipe to the T, minus the one ingredient we couldn't get our hands on (malted barley syrup).  If anyone knows a good place to find this stuff, let us know!

Making these bagels was a real learning experience.  Bread Alone is a great reference for learning the basics of baking.  It has a scientific formula for the temperature of dough and ingredients.  The ideal temp is 74-80 degrees.  Too cold and it won't rise fully.  Too warm and it will over ferment.  So, very important to mix your dough in this range.  The gist of it is that Dan and Judy give a formula for figuring the temperature the water should be based on the other ingredients and the room.  Fun fact: for every minute you knead dough the dough temperature goes up one degree.  The friction factor.  We really kneaded vigorously:

Once the dough was smooth and elastic, we kept kneading for the required 15 minutes more.  After that was all over and done with, and we both had biceps large enough to flip small SUVs, we balled the dough up and took its temp.

It was a little warm, so we made sure to keep it covered in a not-so-hot part of the kitchen.  After it sat for an hour and a half and Sar and I watched the latest SNL episode, the dough looked full and beautiful.  We deflated it and cut it into 10 equal-ish sized balls.

Once the balls rested, they got shaped into the classic bagel ring, rested some more, and boiled.  We used 1 tablespoon of baking soda in place of the malt syrup, and we missed the sweetness that the syrup would have given the bagels.  The baking soda wasn't bad, though.

Poaching jump-starts the yeast's action and the bagels really puffed up while they were drying off:

They got an egg-wash:

And then got sprinkled with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, dried minced onion, coarse salt, wheat germ, or some combination thereof.

While the bagels baked, we whipped up some scallion cream cheese by stirring 1/3 cup of finely chopped scallions into 1 block of softened neufchatel cheese.

We took a lovely picture of the scallions mid-chop while the sun was still pouring into the kitchen.  It would be a shame not to share.

The final bagels were delicious with the cream cheese, as well as with cheesy eggs - we both had two.

We highly recommend Bread Alone for any baker - novice to experienced.

Recommendations:
Turning bagels around in the oven
Adding 1 tablespoon of whatever sweetener you choose to the dough (this recipe doesn't call for any); whether it's the malted barley syrup, molasses, honey, or simply brown sugar
Slightly less salt in the dough - the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon, but 2 or 3 teaspoons may be enough

This recipe at CD Kitchen looks great - we'll definitely let you know how it compares to Bread Alone's recipe, if we get a chance to make them, too.

Enjoy MLK Day off (or not)!
Lil & Sar

Anadama Bread...is it as fun to eat as it is to say?

Dear Readers,

First and foremost, HAPPY 2011!  I hope your holidays were fantastic.  Mine certainly were.

Now, onto the next order of business:  Please don't abandon Sar and I, although we understand if you feel as if we've abandoned you.  You see, work has picked up for both Sarita and I and we've been dining on our frozen loaves.  Those frozen loaves are now gone and it's time to get serious about bread baking...and blogging.  

I got home from work this evening and thought - I'm going to make Anadama bread.  This bread supposedly originated in Massachusetts and the name is derived from a farmers' exclamation to his wife: "Anna! Damn 'er!"  I'm telling you that story from memory and can't recall why the farmer was so upset with his wife, but I doubt it was because she was making him delicious loaves of slightly sweetened bread.

I've been seeing this type of bread pop up on TasteSpotting and other food blogs that I follow, and today is the day The Upper Yeast Side joins the fun.  I used the recipe posted by Margaret Polaneczky at The Blog That Ate Manhattan back in 2008 (recipe link here).  I picked this recipe to use since I have a thing for supporting fellow bloggers AND it calls for honey in place of molasses.  I absolutely adore molasses...probably more than most people....but Sar and I have about a half-gallon of honey to use and there's only so much honey you can add to tea, PB sandwiches, and pour over biscuits.  *Actually, I could probably finish that honey by myself by pouring it over biscuits...but that is no way to trim down after all of the Hannukah/Christmas/New Years/Birthday indulging I've recently been involved in.*

This bread was pretty fun to make - it has a stovetop element, which makes it feel like you're cooking...not just baking.   The cornmeal gets boiled along with water, honey, and butter.  This makes something pretty similar to grits, as I understand them...and the resulting porridge is DELISH.  I admit to eating a spoonful or two.

Once you've cooled the porridge to luke-warm, you mix in proofed yeast, salt, and the flour (whole wheat and all-purpose).  Knead, knead knead, and then rise the dough 'til doubled.  Once it's doubled, you knead a bit more, split it in half, and plop it into two bread pans.  Let it rise again until doubled once more and it's time to bake.

I rose my dough in front of my little space heater to ensure that it didn't take a year-and-a-half to double in our wintry apartment.  It looked so cute all tucked in during the second rise that I just had to snap a picture:

They rose beautifully before going into the oven:

...Not so much rising happened in the oven, but I assure you, the bread is delicious anyway.  I tasted the first slice with some butter and it was magical.

Anadama bobana bananafana fofama me mi momamma...anadama!

Speaking of bananas - we have 4 frozen in the freezer (imagine, frozen things in the freezer!!?).  Banana goodies up next?  Yep, I'd say that's a fair guess.

- Lil

PS - today Sar and I laid our herbs to rest in the 2nd floor compactor of our building.  It wasn't easy, but the herbs were dead - had been dead for a while - and our lettuce leaves were recently eaten by mice (*#!%in' mice...).  The basil lived a long life of climbing tall and producing few to no leaves...apparently it was starved for sunlight.  South-facing windows were not enough for that guy.   

The oregano once was so strong and healthy that it looked as if it might grow over our entire apartment and choke me in the night.  It promptly died of unknown causes.  I never really liked oregano, though, so I don't think I'll miss it too much.  I'm innocent - I swear.

Sourdough Olive Bread II

The first time we made Sourdough Olive bread it wasn't so....

flat.  On record, no knead loaves should look a little bit wetter.  This was a crisis/disaster/emergency loaf that ended up delicious.  This rave review coming from the girl who thinks olives taste like slugs.  So you know it was really a good one.  

This was the second attempt.  I hardly wrote anything down but this is basically what happened:

We used...

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 cup bread flour

2 cups sourdough starter

1 cup water

1 cup olives

3/4 cup olive water (because it was just salty/olive-y water)

maybe another whole cup of all purpose when we kneaded...

cornmeal for the dutch oven

We...

1.  Put the flours, liquid and starter together.  

2. Waited 20 minutes.

3. Folded in sat and olives.

4. Left it covered for 12+ hours.  Went out to Indian, Ben and Jerry's for dessert.

5. The next morning we took it out.  Discovered it's a little too wet and folded in some flour:

6. Placed it on a baking stone to rise for another two-three hours.   

7. Came home from a date at Harney SoHo and find this:

Wannabe pizza??!  Not on our watch!  We popped that bubble in the front-center and transfered it carefully to the dutch oven where it had to become a boule.  We turned the oven on it's lowest setting to get a pre-spring oven spring going and then turned it up to 450 for about 45 minutes until the center temperature was 200degrees.  

I have no photograph of the final loaf because it's too delicious to photograph.  Also, it's raining and the light in the apartment right now would do this boule no justice.  Excuses excuses.

Olive you,

Sarah

Oats + Sourdough (Oh my!)

Nothing like a controversial national holiday to get me back into the bread blog.  While  I was not posting I made several sourdoughs that I just did NOT write about..Oops.

For this sourdough I decided to get a little inventive.  I read a recipe in Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce (Thanks Emeric!) and decided - why not add some sourdough to it?!  Good to the Grain had been sitting on our shelf since Emeric lent it to me in July (laaame).  Plus I have sourdough to feed.

Sourdough-Oat Sandwich Loaf Inspiration from Good to the Grain
(Printable Recipe)
Yields 1 loaf
Prep time about 10 hours
Cook time 40 minutes

1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons warm water
1 pinch of sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour
1 cup starter
1/4 cup water
3 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons molasses

1. Proof the yeast in warm water with sugar.
2. As the yeast proofs for about 10 minutes, measure out your dry ingredients EXCEPT the salt and stir them together.  Melt the butter while you are at it.
3. Add the yeast, butter, and sourdough starter and water to all the dry ingredients excluding the salt.  Stir until you can't stir anymore and then let it rest for 20 minutes.  This is called autolyse.
To learn more about autolyse click here or search "sourdough" on the top right and read up!

4. Now, add the salt and molasses.
5. Knead for about 10 minutes.
6. Allow the dough to rise for about 45 minutes in a clean, buttered bowl.
7. Shape the dough into a log and place it into a loaf pan to rise.

8. Let it rise for up to 6 hours, or until it has doubled in bulk.  I went babysitting in the meantime.  I would have loved to be available to punch the dough down but it's sourdough and it loves to retard, so I just let it happen.
9. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and brush the top crust with a little water/molasses mixture and sprinkle with bran or oats before throwing it in the oven.
10. Bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes.  As always, allow to cool before slicing.

Entirely unrelated, but I made these impromptu banana-bran muffins the other day.  There are four bananas in 12 muffins.  Mathematically speaking, a third of a banana per muffin.  I'd post a recipe but I didn't keep track or measure anything I did.  Classic.

These bananas were practically making themselves into banana-based treats.

Happy belated Columbus Day and 10-10-10!
Sarah

PS This bread was okay.  Like any good relationship, oats and sourdough have some things to work on together.  I'll definitely revisit this medley.  The to bake (and to do) list(s) are long and the time is always short.  

Whole Wheat Pain au Levain

This bread was divine.

I basically took the original Pain au Levain recipe and made it whole wheat-y.

Whole Wheat Pain au Levain
(Printable Recipe)
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup wheat germ
4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
2-2 1/2 cups sourdough starter
1 cup bread flour (for kneading)
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt

1. Combine the white whole wheat, whole wheat, bran, germ and vital wheat gluten.
2. Measure out the starter and warm water in a separate bowl.
3. Slowly mix the watered down starter in with the flour.
4. When the mixture becomes to difficult to stir, use the bread flour to dust a clean surface and dump the dough (carefully) onto the floured countertop.
5. Knead in the salt and use up to 1 cup of bread flour.
6. Shape the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl.
7. Allow the dough to rise for 12+ hours.
8. Shape the dough into a boule and place into a dutch oven.  Cover and let it rise there for 2 hours.
9. Slash the dough.  Preheat the oven.
10. Bake at 375F for 45-50 minutes.  First 20 minutes with steam and uncovered and the remaining time without steam and covered.  Internal dough temp should read 200F.

Au revoir
- Sarah

PS This bread (with peanut butter and honey) was great fuel for bike riding.  CLICK HERE to sponsor our cycling team, The Spacely Sprockets, in Bike MS NYC.  All proceeds benefit the National MS Society.

Beets < 3 Bread (it's official)

This past Friday I went to the Union Square Green Market to work on an assignment for my curriculum class.  Naturally, all work and no shopping make Sarah and Julia hungry girls.  I bought lettuce, cucumbers, agretti, beets and a red onion.  Julia bought sugar snap peas.  Not that impressive compared to my list until she also bought a tomato that weighed in to cost 2$ but she only had 1$.  And so that was all that she paid.  One red, huge, fresh tomato at 50% off.

This is the new (to me) vegetable I bought:

Agretti is an Italian vegetable that sort of tastes like salty grass.  In a good way.  I tossed some into my salad and chopped some into my omelet.  It is tasty, but a lot of work.  Similar to kale, it is not fun to eat the stems.  But different than kale it doesn't have big leaves to take off.  The part you eat of this vegetable are those skinny little leaves growing off the tough stem.  Taking those leaves off was unlike any food prep  I have done before.  Still not sure how I feel about the ratio of work to deliciousness with this one.

But look at how cute it is cuddling up with the beets:

The bread is going to get jealous.

Which brings me, conveniently, to the beets.  Martha Rose Shulman published a bunch of delicious looking beet recipes in the NYTimes a couple of weeks ago so they have really been on my mind.  

Lil made a couple of delicious beet boules back in February.  So here we go again.  Letting this "winter vegetable shine in summer!"

Sourdough Beet Bread
(Printable Recipe)

Prep time 1 hour to roast, cool, and puree the beets and about another 3 before it goes in the oven
Bake time about 1 hour
Yields 1 boule

1 cup sourdough starter

1 cup roasted beets, pureed

1/2 cup 8 grain cereal

1/3 cup warm water

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons vital wheat gluten

1 3/4 teaspoon salt

First, roast your beets and let them cool before attempting to puree.

Then, soak the 8 grain cereal in the water for 10 minutes.  While it soaks, measure out your starter.

Combine the beet puree with the starter and soaked cereal.  Stir.  The starter should bubble and burp with delight.

Add the whole wheat flour, yeast, and vital wheat gluten.  The dough will still be wet.  Before stirring in any of the bread flour or salt let the starter work for about 20 minutes.  

Now add the salt and as much bread flour as you can stir in.

Once it becomes too difficult to stir, carefully dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in as much of the remaining bread flour as you need to in order to be able to work the dough but still feel that it is slightly tacky.  

Flour a clean bowl for the dough to rise in for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.

Shape the dough, flour a dutch oven, and place carefully.  Let it rise for another hour or until it is doubled again.

Now, please note, the following cooking method was employed because it is over 90°F in NYC and our apartment does NOT have an air conditioner:

Turn on the oven to 400°F and place the dough, in it's floured dutch oven, inside as it preheats.

After it bakes uncovered for 20 minutes, open the oven door and cover it. 

Bake like this for 20 minutes.  Then turn off the oven.  Do not open the oven door for 20 minutes.

Take the dutch oven out of the oven.  Remove cover and take internal temperature to see that it is 200°F.  

Let it cool before cutting.

For information on roasting beets or other fun beet facts please see Lil's previous post (linked earlier).  One of the things I liked more about those loaves than this one was that the beet was more coarsely chopped leaving bright red flecks throughout the loaf.  This loaf got a really beautiful crust though, nice and chewy, probably because of my brilliant and intentional baking method.

Beet and Bread = BFFL

Aww, makes my heart skip a beet.

- Sar