April 20, 2008
that big batch bread that i make
this is a recipe i copied out of a book that holly got from the library months ago. i've been making it with great success. in fact brother scott in georgia got a loaf for christmas and their complaint was that they had to share it with so many people at christmas dinner instead of having it all to themselves!
be forewarned if you're going to attempt this: it'll take you 3 days and will require a Very Large Bowl, as in the Mega Bowl by Tupperware (42cup/10L capacity). I've put the timing in there for a Saturday firing of the oven.
a note on flour: we prefer to use is high-gluten unbleached flour. it's hard to find unbleached, unenriched flour in massive quantities, so we are looking into buying a mill and grinding our own. stay tuned for that.
Step One. (Thursday evening)
Ingredients: 3 cups spring water (room or tap temp, doesn't matter), 1/4 teaspoon yeast, 3 cups flour.
Use a 3-4 quart bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on the surface of the water and stir to dissolve. Add the flour and stir until a smooth batter forms. This is called a poolish.
Cover and let stand 8-24 hours, whatever is most convenient.
Step Two. (Friday morning, or right after work)
Ingredients: Poolish (above), 6 cups lukewarm water, 2 cups whole wheat or spelt or rye (or whatever) flour, 4 cups all purpose flour. Herbs if desired (I like to make "Simon and Garfunkel bread" with parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme from my garden. I use about a tablespoon of each one).
Add the water to the poolish in the same 3-4 quart bowl. Whisk it together well. Now transfer that to your Very Large Bowl and add the "special" flour and herbs if you're keen to. Or just use 2 cups of your all purpose flour, that'll work too. This is where I switch over to a big flat wooden spatula (aka risotta spoon I think). Add the 4 cups of all purpose flour (2 cups at a time) and stir (always in the same direction) until smooth. This stage is called the sponge.
Cover and let stand 4 to 12 hours, whatever is most convenient.
Step Three. (Friday evening)
Ingredients: Sponge (above), 3 Tablespoons of sea salt, 7-10 cups of all-purpose flour.
Sprinkle the salt onto the sponge and stir it in. Add the flour (2 cups at a time), stirring and folding the dough over to absorb the flour until it's too difficult to stir and fold. Flour a work surface well (with another 2 cups of flour) and turn the dough out. Knead for 5-8 minutes, incorporating the flour from the work surface and adding a little extra to the surface if needed. The mass should be soft, smooth, and almost sticky. This is your dough.
Return the dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 3.5 hours or overnight, whatever is most convenient. If you live in a warm place and wait overnight your dough will be more than doubled and may actually take over your kitchen. ;)
Step Four. (Saturday morning)
Ingredients: Patience, time, appetite. Flour, tea towels, baskets or bowls.
Flour your tea towels and line your baskets. However many loaves you want, that's how many baskets you'll need. You don't actually bake the bread in them, they are only used for "proofing" (rising) the dough.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and divide into 4 (or 6, or 8) equal pieces. I find that I have a hard time fitting two loaves of a 4-batch in my oven at one time (on a 14x18" pizza stone), but once that brick oven is done outside we should have no problem! Tuck the sides of each piece of dough under all around to make a large round boule. Pinch together underneath and transfer to the basket seem side up. Repeat with your remaining pieces of dough.
Cover with another tea towel and let rise at least 1.5 hours.
Start to preheat your oven to 500º F 45 minutes before you bake, with the stone already in place.
Step Five. (Saturday afternoon)
Place a sprayer bottle filled with water near the oven. Dust a peel (or the back of a cookie sheet or cutting board) with flour. Flip the first boule onto the peel and lift off the basket and the cloth. Use a sharp knife to slash 3 parallel deep cuts across the top of the loaf, then place in on the far back corer of the hot baking stone, jerking the peel out from under it. Use the sprayer to spritz water into the oven (spraying directly at the oven walls I have found to work best, do not spray the loaf itself, the goal is to create lots of steam). Repeat with the next loaf if you have room. Spritz another 3-4 times in the first few minutes of baking to attain a crackly crust.
Bake until domed and darkly golden, 25-30 minutes. To test for doneness, take the loaf out of the oven, tap on the bottom (it should sound hollow) and pinch the bottom edges to see that they are firm. Transfer to a rack to cool and repeat with the remaining loaves.
Alternative: Focaccia
Step Four.
Lightly grease two 12x18 baking sheets and sprinkle on semolina or bread crumbs if available. Using one quarter of the dough, divide it in half (so 1/8 each baking sheet). Flatten each piece on a lightly floured surface, stretching it using the backs of your hands (rings off!). Transfer to the waiting cookie sheet and gently press and stretch it out to the size of the sheet. If it's springing back too much let it rest for several minutes and come back to it.
Dribble 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over each one, and spread it with your hands. Dimple all over with your fingertips or knuckles, then sprinkle on a teaspoon or so of sea salt and rosemary or other herbs, or sun dried tomatoes, or caramelized onions, or...
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise about 45 minutes while you preheat your oven to 500º F with the stone already in place.
Step Five.
Bake each one 12-15 minutes, until very browned in patches. Transfer to racks to cool or put it right in front of your guests and watch it disappear before it's even cool!
Alternative: Pizza
Step Four.
Flour a stack of tea towels. Divide the dough into small balls about the size of a small orange. One at a time, flatten each piece on a lightly floured surface, stretching it using the backs of your hands (rings off!) to about an inch thick. Transfer to the waiting tea towels, sprinkling top and bottom with cornmeal or semolina, and folding them over to hold each one in layers. Once you have them all prepped, they can rise there for an hour or so, then invite your guests in to assemble their personal pizza (from the toppings they all bring). The proofed dough rounds can now be stretched to the size and thickness you desire. Place them each on their own cutting board or peel (using generous amounts of cornmeal) so that you can slide them one by one into the oven when they are ready. Sprinkle cornmeal or semolina liberally on the peel to make sliding it off into the oven easier.
Step Five.
Preheat the oven to 500º F for about 45 minutes with the stone in place. Or fire your brick oven an hour or so until the walls and dome turn white. Floor of the oven should be at least 700F.
Bake each one 12-15 minutes, until your cheese is melting and the crust around the edge is browned and crispy. In a brick oven it will take about 4.2 minutes.
Use caution with the pizza and focaccia - remember it just came out of a 500 (or more!) degree oven!
your host for this episode : carrie; 07:59 PM | Comments (1)
April 07, 2008
Acorn Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
I adapted this one from a recipe I found on recipezaar.com.
Diane just asked me to make it when she comes over next week. I need to make sure I have all the ingredients in house and while I had the recipe up I thought I'd also put it on here.
5 servings - 1 1/2 hours 20 min prep
1 large sweet potato, about 400g
1 large butternut squash
4 shallots or 3 onions
olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
850 ml vegetable stock or chicken stock (~1 1/2 pints)
125 ml milk or single cream
salt and pepper
nutmeg
1. Cut potato, squash, and shallots in half length-wise, brush cut sides with oil. Place in a shallow roasting tin, cut sides down. Add garlic cloves. Roast in preheated oven at 350f for 40 minutes or until tender and light brown.
2. When cooked and cooled, scoop the flesh from the sweet potato and squash and put in a saucepan with insides of the shallots (squeeze the edges to pop the insides out the end). Remove the garlic peel and add the soft insides to the rest of the vegetables.
3. Add stock and a pinch of salt. Bring just to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are very tender.
4. Allow soup to cool then blend or puree until smooth. Return soup to saucepan and stir in milk or cream. Season to taste with nutmeg then simmer for 5-10 minutes until completely heated through. Eat with a spoonful of cream - swirled for effect - and a shake of nutmeg.
your host for this episode : carrie; 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2008
Carrottes a la Melinda
a.k.a. Melinda's Carrots, a.k.a. Carrie's Carrots, borrowed from her friend Melinda :)
Melinda first shared this recipe with me when we were all living in Cairo and she joined us for Thanksgiving. This was the way her mum used to prepare carrots in Belgium. I've served it to loads of friends and family and always with rave reviews.
3 pounds of carrots, sliced like pennies
1 stick of butter - melted slowly over low heat
1 medium onion, diced fine and sauteed in the above butter
3-4 hefty sprigs of fresh thyme
Add the carrots and the thyme to the sauteed onion. Cover and simmer until soft, al dente. Add two tablespoons white sugar and a generous pinch of salt and continue simmering a few more minutes.
Remove the vegetables and reduce the butter sauce, adding a bit of cornstarch if desired. Serve as a gravy alongside the carrots.
your host for this episode : carrie; 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2008
Cinnamon Apple Coffee Cake
Adapted from the Bread Bible.
The recipe says it freezes well but it didn't have a chance to! 8 adults and 2 kids polished off nearly the whole thing during our family's ad hoc Progressive Dinner on Resurrection Day, save a generous piece I ate for breakfast the next day.
4 cups peeled, cored, coarsely chopped tart cooking apples (I used Northern Spy, sliced and frozen in quart bags last fall)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon (mine came from Egypt)
3 cups flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (mine came from Mexico)
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice (i used tropicana grovestand)
1. Preheat oven to 375F, grease and flour a 10 tube pan or bundt pan.
2. In a small bowl combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, and then the apples. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
4. In ye' olde kitchen aide, beat the eggs, oil, and vanilla until thick and creamy, about 2 minutes on high with the whisk attachment.
5. Add the dry ingredients with the orange juice and beat just until moistened, but thoroughly blended. Do not overmix but htere should be no lumps or dry spots.
6. Spoon a third of the batter into the pan. Cover evenly with half the apples and another third of the batter. Use a spatula to smooth the batter over the apples to cover completely. Repeat with the remaining apples and batter, ending with a smooth layer of batter.
7. Bake 60 minutes at 375F, then cover with foil and bake another 15 minutes, until it tests dry in the center. I used a rose-mold bundt pan, and that was a mistake. The tops of the petals (the bottom of the pan) got dried out and burned and i had to shave them off, so it looked a bit squeehaw. But it didn't affect the taste.
8. Cool on a wire rack for an hour or so then remove from the pan to a serving plate and cool completely before serving.
your host for this episode : carrie; 04:44 PM | Comments (1)
March 16, 2008
Cranberry Almond Oat Scones
I've been told I could run some pretty stiff competition to the Wealthy Street Bakery with these gems. It's a combination of a few different recipes so I think this really is a Fuller House original. Bon appetit!
Ingredients for 18-21 scones.
3 C. flour
2 C. old-fashioned or quick oats
1 C. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 C. butter, cut into small pieces
1 roll almond paste (see recipe below), chilled
1 (12-oz.) pkg. whole cranberries, washed and drained (or dried, chopped, and soaked in orange juice)
8 ozs. plain yogurt
2 eggs
1 t. almond extract
2 T. melted butter
almonds or big sugar for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease (or parchment line) 2 cookie sheets.
Combine flour, oats, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and butter. Mix with your pastry cutter/mixer until the butter is very small and ingredients are well mixed.
Using the large hole side of a box grater, grate the almond paste directly into the flour and toss. Take care to toss a few times throughout the grating of the almond paste, as the it will clump back together if you wait till the end!
In a food processor, coarsely chop the cranberries and add to the flour mixture. Toss again.
Stir in yogurt, eggs and almond extract until well mixed and the thick batter comes together in a ball.
Pat out to about ¾” thick. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Cut into wedges using pastry knife and transfer to cookie sheets.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until the tops are light brown.
Makes 18-21 scones.
Almond Paste
1 cup ground almonds
½ cup confectioners sugar
2 T unsalted butter, softened
1 extra large egg white, slightly whisked
½ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract (pure of course)
Pulse almonds in food processor briefly. Add sugar, then butter, then egg white and extract. Store tightly sealed in refrigerator or freezer until ready to use. Let come to room temperature again before using.
your host for this episode : carrie; 09:38 AM | Comments (0)
Savory Cheesecake with Sauteed Onions and Pear
Yes, really. Cheesecake with Onions. Love it.
Here's how it came to pass. Last fall, or summer was it?, at a Potluck Friday extravaganza, Meg brought this scrumptious cheesecake appetizer. She had some extra cream cheese hanging around and she got creative. My mouth has watered ever since whenever I think about it. And, as I have been threatening for years to make a cheesecake (never had the patience before now), I finally broke down and did it. Dan requested my first cheesecake to be savory - not such a dessert guy doncha know?
So, as I've never actually made a cheesecake before, I had no idea what the texture should be so I didn't dare to just start throwing things together "until it looked right" like I usually do. So I googled "savory cheesecake" and chose the entry by Alton Brown. Our friend the Good Doctor Faber is a big fan of Alton Brown and has shared some of the episodes with us. I trust the Fabers, so I trust Alton Brown. But I don't like his idea of putting smoked trout in anything. Not a fan of the fish. So I poked around and figured out how to make the onion-pear mixture and voila. The result was stupendous. Here's the recipe (modified from Alton's b/c my spring-form is larger than he called for).
Turns out the patience is needed more for the onions than for the cheesecake. But now I know.
Start with the onions. They take a long time.
Thinly slice 4 medium onions (and 4 shallots, if you have some laying around). On low heat melt 4Tbsp of butter and toss in the onions. I like to use a cast iron skillet and a wooden paddle. You can walk away from them and let them cook down if you leave it on low, and they will caramelize nicely if you just stir them every few minutes, between beatings on the Kitchen Aid. It'll seriously take about an hour.
In ye' olde Kitchen Aid, blend:
2 pounds cream cheese (4 bricks)
4 T corn starch
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 oz sour cream (I used low-fat b/c that's what was in the house)
Then add 2 eggs, one at a time and beat the snot out 'em.
That's your savory cheese cake. Transfer the mixture to a greased 10-inch spring form pan.
(or for a 9" use 3 bricks of cream cheese, 3T corn starch, 1 tsp salt, and 4oz sour cream, still 2 eggs. Alton made a crust out of 1 1/2 cups crushed bagel chips, 3 oz butter, and one egg white baked at 350F for 8 minutes, but I left the crust right off and it was just fine.)
It's probably time to tend to the onions. Dice up a whole pear, or throw in a handful of dried pear slices if you don't have access to fresh pears, and add that to the mix. Measure a 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1T white wine vinegar, and add that to your onions. It will all cook down nicely and become a jelly with your onions.
I spooned about half the mixture onto the cheesecake and used a knife to cut-in the onions so they were all through it. The other half I used as a garnish on the plate when I served it.
Bake one hour at 250F. Then turn the oven off, don't open the door, and leave it in for another hour. Remove it from the oven and cool on a rack for 4 hours. Then either serve it or refrigerate it.
To serve it, I used half at a time - so it thrilled people at two parties! Place four 1/8th's on a platter, points in, with crackers alternating between the slices. Put a little pile of the onion/pear in the middle and voila. Yummeronous. The black pepper-poppy seed crackers went the quickest, but any little water cracker will do. Just don't try it with corn chips. That didn't go so well!
your host for this episode : carrie; 09:05 AM | Comments (1)
French Bread - Pain Ordinaire
I've been meaning to put this one up for a while. Sorry Andrea!
If you like bread, this is an important recipe to master because it lends itself to a great variety of shapes and can be the basis for hardrolls, flatbreads, and filled breads. The depth and character of pain ordinaire is based upon the purity of its ingredients and a long rising time, which develops the dough's flavor. Be warned, however, to start this at least four hours ahead of the time you want to eat it!
Ingredients to make three long baguettes or round boules
2 cups warm water (105-115 F)
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup wheat germ
about 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1. In a large bowl using a wire whisk, pour in the warm water and sprinkle the yeast and then the sugar over the surface. Whisk gently just until combined. Let stand at room temperature until dissolved and foamy (about ten minutes).
2. Add the wheat germ, 1 and 1/2 cups of the flour, and the salt. Beat hard until smooth, about three minutes. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a shaggy dough that clears the sides of the bowl is formed. You will have to switch to a wooden spoon at some point in this process, usually around the 4 1/2 cup mark. I find it easiest to measure out the flour before hand, so as not to lose track of where I am! And you might only use 5 cups of flour, depending on the weather.
3. Once all of the dough starts to stick and hold together, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead with clean, dry, floured hands until soft, silky, and resilient, about 5-8 minutes. Dust with flour as needed, one tablespoon at a time to prevent it from sticking to the counter or your hands.
4. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Turn it once in order to coat it entirely with the grease, and cover with plastic wrap. The bowl should be big enough that the dough comes roughly a third to a half the way up the sides. Let it rise in a cool area until tripled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. If you have time, punch down the dough and allow it to rise again for another hour. The dough may also rise in the refrigerator overnight.
5. Gently deflate the dough. Turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Grease or parchment-line a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal if available. Divide your dough into three portions of roughly equal size. Knead in more flour now if it seems too sticky.
For boules, shape it into tight round balls. For baguettes, flatten each portion out into a large rectangle and roll up tightly with your thumbs to form the long sausage shape, then roll back and forth with your palms to adjust the length. Pinch the seams together with your thumb and forefinger and then place the loaves four inches apart on the baking sheet(s), seam side down.
6. Cover the loaves loosely with plastic wrap and a light towel and let rise until puffy and doubled, about 30-40 minutes. Preheat a baking stone at 450F for at least 20 minutes. If desired, beat one egg with 2 teaspoons of water for a glaze. Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally no more than 1/4 inch deep and brush the entire surface with the glaze. Spray a mist of water into the oven (or toss a few ice cubes onto the floor of a gas oven) to crisp the crust. Turn the thermostat to 400F and bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, or until crusty and the loaves sound hollow when tapped with your finger.
7. Because it's made with no oil or preservatives, Baguette does not keep well, so enjoy it immediately, or use within 12-24 hours. And don't get discouraged if the first batch (or six) is a flop!!!!
your host for this episode : carrie; 08:59 AM | Comments (0)