Sourdough Flax Seed Pumpernickel Bread

     When I told Wayne I was making a Flax Seed Pumpernickel bread he was expecting it to be a black bread.  He did not realize that without coffee and/or molasses it is brown.  I would have added instant coffee to color it, but I didn't have any in the house.  He has discovered the color does not affect the flavor.   Since I have worked my way through the Bread Bakers Apprentice, I have started on a new book Bread a Bakers Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.  It is a really good book with lots of great recipes and techniques (including decorative breads).  There are some differences in terminology. but the explanations are very clear. There are many recipes using a sourdough starter.  I am always looking for recipes to use "Baby" my starter.

       The flax seed bread was a two day bread.  Yesterday the sourdough rye was made and left to develop overnight and the flax seeds were left to soak.  I was surprised to see the flax seeds became gelatinous. All of the ingredients were put into Big Blue (my mixer) and set to mixing. I had to adjust the hydration.  The completed dough had that typical gooey rye look, but after a short first rise the dough was ready for shaping. I made an oblong loaf topped with toasted sunflower seeds and a round loaf with a spiral slash.  The recipe also said to wait 24 hours before slicing it.  (Yeah, like that was going to happen.)  The bread has about three and a half ounces of flax seed which gave the bread a really pleasant chewy texture. Breakfast in the morning - scrambled eggs with pepper cheese on flax seed pumpernickel toast.
     My first time having pumpernickel bread was when I was a kid, and my mother bought party pumpernickel for New Year's Eve.  It's funny how when you are young staying up until midnight to welcome the New Year was such a big deal.  (Now that I'm an old fart, it is all I can do to stay awake til midnight.)  I remember having ham and Swiss on tiny bread, junk food, and Shirley Temples. Life was so very uncomplicated.  My Uncle Carney would drive us (his daughter Linda, my brother, and me) to St. Bernard or Slidell a few days before New Year's Eve to buy fireworks.  I was a sparkler and blackcat kind of girl, but Richard loved the big stuff.  Repeaters, bottle rockets, Roman candles, etc.  He would put on a show for the whole neighborhood (which consisted of 7 houses).  When we were teenagers,Richard and his friends would have Roman candle wars.  They literally shot Roman candles at each other.  How no one was ever hurt is beyond me.

Pane Muffuletta

     Okay, I'm on a variation of  Pane Bianco kick.  Last week we went to visit Ms. Carol, our sister, and I told her I wanted to try to make a variation of a traditional New Orleans Muffuletta,and she was game.  I used the dough from the Pane Bianco, but from there I went my own way.  Once the dough was rolled out I put a layer of Genoa salami, provolone, ham, and mozzarella, then did a light sprinkling of Boscoli olive salad. (Don't criticize my ham; I live in the sticks and it was the best I could get, and don't even mention mortadella.)  I rolled it up, shaped slashed it, let it rise, and baked it.  The finished product was delicious.  It was a stuffed bread  muffuletta.  This would be a great bread for a party or watching the Saints play (Who Dat!).

     Since the recipe for the Pane Bianco makes two loaves, I once again did the second loaf as a dessert bread. I stuffed it with grated apple, sugar, chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, and apple pie spice, then glazed it with a boiled cider glaze.  For grins I topped it with some Halloween sprinkles and sliced almonds. It was very good.  If I do this again, I would cut back on the apple pie spice, and brush my dough with some melted butter.

     We wrapped up the breads and took them to Picayune with us.  Both of the variations taste better when warm, and unlike many breads, these warmed nicely in the microwave oven.  Just a few seconds and they were perfect.  We love visiting with Carol, but I also get my dog fix when I go there.  I get to play with Carol's little 65 pound lap dog wannabe whose name is named Jack.  I brought Jack a new squeaky toy.  He is so funny.  To see this big moose of a dog run around with a floppy green squeaky frog was hysterical.  Jack is also very verbal.  You can see him trying to speak English, but it just comes out as woofs, whines, and whimpers.  I love to watch him peek around corners.  He is such a sweet boy, but he is very protective of his "mama."  Carol told us about Jack's reaction to someone on a tv show knocking on a door. Jack thought it was someone knocking on the door of the house, and would not be satisfied until he patrolled the property to be sure no one was there. Too bad all dogs aren't like Jack.   As a matter of fact Jack has his own Facebook page - Jack's Place for Pets - The voice for those who have none.  There's info on pets looking for homes, lots pets, and pet related events.  Give his page a look.  Maybe your pet will be featured on the page.  This is a pic of my puppy nephew, Jack, opening his box of homemade "cookies" I made for him.  

Pane Hispaniola

     I made Pane Bianco about year ago and loved the bread.  It was filled with basil and sun-dried tomatoes - such a flavorful bread.  But it seems I can never leave things alone.  I thought about the flavors that I love - I love Mexican food.  Roasted peppers, cilantro, cheese, and chorizo. So this variation was just had to be.  I used a cured Spanish chorizo, roasted poblano peppers, fresh cilantro, queso fresco, and a dusting of chili and garlic powders.  I love Mexican chorizo, but I was worried about it being a little too greasy with an overpowering flavor.  I think I made the right decision.  What a aromatic and wonderful combination.  This bead along with a nice tossed salad made a great dinner.

     I come by my love of these flavors honestly.  I love telling people that I am Hispanic.  I get that sure, whatever you say look.  I can understand these looks; I am pretty fair complected with medium brown hair and light brown eyes.  My hair color of choice has been light auburn, I am fair enough to pull it off and have it look natural.  You can see the Murphy and McConnell in me.  My mother's paternal side of her family was from Spain by way of Cuba.  My mother's maiden name was Santa Cruz. She and her six siblings all had black hair, dark brown eyes, and olive complexions.  My mother nor any of her siblings ever learned to speak Spanish.  My cousin, Lillian (named after our grandmother), learned to speak Spanish when she became a missionary as a young adult.  We taught together for many years, with Lil teaching Spanish.  The kids couldn't understand why I didn't speak Spanish since she did.  She would tell her students that she found me in a garbage can when I was an infant, and she took me to her aunt.  One student came to me telling me how wonderful Ms. Pil was.  I agreed she was wonderful, but asked "Why do you think she is so wonderful?"  The student was completely disheartened when I told her it was a story.  Lil always wanted to go to Spain, and she and I went for 2 weeks about 20 years ago.  We toured Spain and walked through the Santa Cruz quarters in Seville.  (Where we saw the Bourbon Street Bar.)  It was a wonderful trip with many cherished memories, but for Lil it was the trip of a lifetime.  Anyway, my mother and her siblings could never deny one another. They all looked so much alike; I used to say if you could have put them all in a bag, shake them up, and pull out one it would be like pulling them all out.  The picture below has eight children in it, the littlest one on the end was Anthony from next door who ran in.  I used to refer to it as the refugee picture.  It was during the depression, but they looked like they just got off the boat although they were all born in New Orleans.

The Santa Cruz clan from left to right - Malcolm (called Mattthew), Alguinaldo  (called Gonala), Antonio (called Tony), Soulita (called Soul), Dolores (my mother), Louiska, and Rosita (called Rosie)

Oat Apple Walnut Bread

    I know it has been quite a while since I have blogged (nearly a year), but I have am still baking at least once a week. My love of oat bread brought me back to my blog. I am also soooooo ready for this stupid hot weather to go away.  My friend, Eileen, says she smells autumn in the air. I hope she's right.  So with thoughts of cool weather and autumn dancing around in my head, I can't help thinking about apples.  Hmmm, oats and apples what pairs well with those two ingredients - nuts and cheese.  I searched the web and decided on a recipe at King Arthur Flour for Apple Oatmeal Bread.  The recipe called for walnuts but not cheese.  The recipe makes two loaves, so I made one with loaf with some smoked blue cheese, and the other basically according to directions.  I hate to waste anything, so I have been saving my crumbs from the bottom of the shredded wheat bag to use in bread.  I figured it would have to work in bread, and this was the bread to try it in.  I just added an extra quarter cup of milk.  The cereal crumbs just added a little more texture and fiber to the bread without impacting the flavor of the oats.  Even though the recipe has brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon in it, the bread is not a sweet bread.  The pans were oiled and sprinkled with oats before the dough was put in for the final rise.  I did not sprinkle the top with oats because Wayne does not particularly like them on the top. I love the oats embedded in the crust.  It adds a beautiful rustic look to the loaves.  I slashed the loaf with the blue cheese down the center, and the loaf with out with a few smaller slanted slashes so I could tell them apart once baked.  The regular loaf reached the 190 degrees a few minutes before the other loaf giving it a slightly darker crust.   Both loaves turned out great.

    Bread with apple, walnuts, and blue cheese just screamed bacon.  I also happened to have a beautiful ripe creole tomato.  The "b" word, bacon, is rarely spoken in my house.  I did have some thick sliced peppered bacon in the freezer.  When I told Wayne we were going to have BLT's for lunch his face lit up.  You would have thought it was his birthday.   I don't normally toast really fresh bread, but a BLT needs toasted bread.  The sandwiches were fantastic.  The oven "fried" bacon was super crispy, the tomato was super juicy, and the bread had the perfect amount of blue cheese to add that hint of flavor I was looking for.  The loaf without the blue cheese will make a great pain perdu. If you have read my blog in the past you know I love French toast.  It always brings back memories of my childhood.

     Apples always make me think of bobbing for apples when I was a kid.  What a fun and goofy thing to do.  Getting a face full of water, trying to bite into that red apple that kept getting away.  Of course, you don't would never quit until you would get an apple.  As an adult I always think of helping my friend Rhonda when she made caramel apples.  I was her "apple" bodied assistant.  I make a great gofer/assistant.  Just tell what to do, point me in the right direction, and I'm on the chore.  I would melt and stir caramel and chocolate, cut ribbon, bag cooled and decorated apples, and whatever else she needed me to do.  You have to know Rhonda to appreciate her caramel apples.  There is nothing ordinary about them.  She starts with huge, unblemished apples.  Dips them in a silky caramel, and rolls them in pecans or almonds, once they have dried she dips them in either milk or white chocolate before adding the finishing the touches of drizzled colored white chocolate or seasonal sprinkles. Sometimes it was difficult to get them in the bag because the finished product was so big.   What was my pay for being a good assistant?  Rhonda apples - better than gold and much tastier. 

Sourdough Sunflower Seed Rye

      When I pulled these loaves out the oven Wayne said, "The look like giant bagels."  He was right, but that's where the similarity ended.  I love any bread that uses my sourdough starter and has sunflower seeds.  Even though the bread began with a pumpernickel soaker, the bread does not have a real strong rye flavor.  This was a two day bread which gives it time to develop the flavor.  The bread has a good crust and moist interior.  The sunflower seeds were toasted before being added to the dough.  The toasting really does help intensify the sunflower seed flavor in the bread.  Because I can't locally find unsalted sunflower seeds, I cut way back on the salt in the recipe. This bread also has that beautiful brow rye color.  There is no caramel color or instant coffee added for additional color with this particular loaf.  This is the third rye bread that I've made, and none of them had the same flavor.  When I make this bread again I think I'll toss in some rye chops to help intensify that rye flavor. 
     I am not a real big egg fan.  If you toss in a little cheese or some veggies I can deal with them.  In our home Wayne really looks forward to "egg day" on Tuesday and Thursday.  To me, the best part of egg day is the English muffin or the toast.  The sunflower seed rye makes a really good toast.   It really helps cover up, I mean add to the flavor of the egg.  The toast was nice and crunchy and was loaded with all of those wonderful sunflower seeds.  "Egg day" is the result of having served on federal grand jury for over a year.  I had to report on Thursdays, and I did not have to get to downtown New Orleans until 9:00.  I loved grand jury duty.  I could sleep an extra half an hour, wash and dry 2 loads of clothes, and fix breakfast before I had to leave.  Hell, I had to normally be at work by 7:30.  Okay, I know it doesn't take long to scramble eggs and make toast, but cereal is so much quicker.  Once I retired egg day expanded to 2 days a week.  Wayne felt good fortune had smiled upon him.
     Grand jury duty was normally a six month commitment, one day a week.  Because my group was dealing with some on-going investigations, we were held over for an additional six months.  I don't think my principal, Pat, was thrilled over the first 6 months, much less the second, or third six months.  By the time the third six month period rolled around, it was more occasional than every Thursday.  If you ever are called upon for grand jury, go and enjoy it.  I had no idea how stupid some criminals were (leaving one's wallet at the bank you robbed); I had no idea how often banks were robbed; I had no idea that if you ask the same question 100 times you still get the same answer; I have never seen so many people called in as witness and ended up implicating themselves;  I had no idea how easy it is to launder stained money from a bank robbery (not telling, but I never would have thought of it - I guess I don't have much of a criminal mentality).  I could go on, but you get the idea.  Whoever would have thought doing one's civic duty could be so entertaining. 

No-Knead Oat Bread and Other Good Stuff

     I really did not intend to go into bake mode this week, but one thing just seemed to lead to another.  My plan for the week was to make No-Knead Oat Bread, that was it.  (I was anxious to bake bread in my new small cast iron Dutch oven.)  But on Saturday Wayne and I went out scouting for a place to take some good sunrise pictures.  There was a veggie stand on the side of the road, and I just had to have some of those creole tomatoes, and oh look fresh peaches.  I’ve never made a fresh fruit pie, but I’ve always wanted to, and I do love peaches.  On Saturday afternoon I thought, “You know, I haven’t made biscotti in quite a while. I think I’ll make some, now.”  Hence day one of bake crazy, Pistachio Cherry Biscotti recipe on King Arthur.  Wait, I don’t have enough cherries - eh, I’ll just throw in some cranberries.  Ugh, not enough pistachios - ah ha almonds.  Still not enough - okay pecans.  So I made Pistachio Almond Pecan Cherry Cranberry Biscotti.  Day two, again a King Arthur recipe for Summer Time Peach Pie, sorta a rustic peach pie instead of a two-crust pie.  Day three, No-Knead Oat Bread, what a great fragrant loaf of bread, but I’ll get to that.  Those mean people at King Arthur just had to highlight a recipe of Cinnamon Raisin Apple Challah. Day four, yummy ‘licious challah.  Running low on bagels hence day five of bake crazy.  I’ll skip the details on the biscotti and bagels.

     I am absolutely convinced the best breads for beginning bread bakers are focaccia and no-knead breads.  The focaccia doesn’t require a lot of technique and, it makes a great presentation.  It can be topped with just about anything you like, or left plain for dipping and sandwiches.  No-knead breads are great because they are easy.  The most difficult part is dealing with a somewhat wet dough, but there are so many great no-knead recipes that show it’s so easy even a kid can do it.  Long before I became a fan of oatmeal, and long before I began baking my own bread, I was a fan of oatmeal bread.  I think oats add a certain tenderness to bread.  This recipe was a really straightforward no-knead bread - not much yeast, a long fermentation, and the ability to cook it in a covered vessel in the oven.  My brother had given me a gift certificate for my birthday, and I finally used it to buy a pre-seasoned medium sized Lodge Dutch oven.  I shaped my bread into a boule, placed it in the pot, used a very sharp knife to slash it, sprinkled it with some oats, and into the oven it went.  Of course, the first way we ate some was an hour after it cooled to sample it.  Wonderful!  We then had it with corned beef and hot pepper cheese sandwiches.  Really good, hearty bread.

     The Summertime Peach Pie was a great first fruit pie.  It is a rustic pie, so I did not have to make a double crust.  It also did not require the peaches to be cooked ahead of time.  The only change I made to the recipe is I substituted a ½ tsp of Fiori di Sicillia for the vanilla extract.  (I have love of fiori.)  The hardest part of making the pie was the same as the hardest part of baking bread, the waiting to eat it.  For bread it is usually and hour wait; this pie required an overnight wait.  My brother said he would have had it for breakfast.  I thought we should at least wait til brunch time.  Anyway, as usual, I digress.  The crust was an oversized circle that was folded in quarters and placed into the pie pan.  After unfolding the crust, the filling went in, the extra crust was folded over, the crust was brushed with cream, and sprinkled with coarse sugar before baking.  The aroma was maddening.  You could smell the wonderful peachy goodness throughout the house.  The pie was everything I hoped it would be.  The crust was flaky, and the filling was so many soft peaches and just the right amount of sweetness.  My next pie will be a classic apple pie.  When I make it, I’ll let you know it turns out.

     The cinnamon raisin apple challah was a real treat.  It is not your typical challah in that it is not braided.  It is made in a spiral to signify the circle of life.  My Kitchenaid tilt head stand mixer “Little Red” started stalling last week when I made bread.  So with a minimum of encouragement from Wayne, I bought a Kitchenaid 600 stand mixer, “Big Blue.”  I wanted to give my new mixer a work out, so I made a double batch of this bread, knowing one of my neighbors would be more than willing to take a loaf off my hands (really good neighbors and wonderful people).  The bread is filled with lots of apple and raisins.  The rope is rolled in cinnamon sugar before being formed into the spiral, and placed in the cake pan to rise.  Right before baking, the loaves were brushed with an egg wash and generously sprinkled with more cinnamon sugar.  When I say the loaves were gorgeous, I am not exaggerating.   They almost looked like cake.  Instead of having it just as a snack or for breakfast, I thought we should have it for lunch.  Today I sliced some for sandwiches.  I made a honey creole mustard that went on the bread, I then put some thinly sliced Asiago, slices of grilled chicken, and some sauteed red onion.  The sandwiches were then wrapped in foil and toasted in the oven.  The sweetness of the bread was a great contrast to the sharp cheese, grilled chicken, and creole mustard.  Sometimes you just have to think beyond your instincts and try something different.
     I’ve made bagels before, so you’ve seen bagel photos, and let’s face it biscotti are not that photo worthy.  Now I have to start thinking about next week.  I think I want to use my sourdough starter.  I’ll have to see what bread is in my future.

Pain de Campagne

 

    Last week I baked Pain de Campagne from Peter Reinhart’s book The Bread Bakers Apprentice Mastering Extraordinary.   I’ve made almost every bread in this book now.  I have still have a few to go.  The Pan Champagne starts with a pre-fermented dough, and was pretty straight-forward to make.   While kneading the dough my beloved Kitchen aid Artisan Mixer was stopping completely on low speeds.  This can’t be good.  Wayne looked up how to fix it on the internet, but was afraid he would make it worse.  He convinced me to order a new KA 600.  It arrives tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to seeing how well it does.  I thought about a Bosch, but the KA is made in the United States.  My mother is smiling down on me (she was a huge advocate of buying USA made products).  Anyway more about mother’s crusade in a minute, back to bread.  The book says this is a great bread for shaping.  I divided my bread into two parts.  One part I made a boule that I snipped with scissors and made little spikes.  The other I attempted to make into an epi.  Instead of resembling a sheath of wheat, it look more like a cactus with bad DNA.  I will keep trying until I get it right.  It was not a super aromatic bread, but of course any bread baking smells great.  The bread itself had a great crust, chew, and flavor.  The pre-ferment does add flavor.

     Back to my mother’s crusade.  I think about the year we had a tee shirt made for her for Christmas with the American flag on it and writing that said, “Buy American, Put America Back to Work.”  And yes, the tee shirt was made in the USA.  I know I’ve mentioned her shirt before, but I keep hearing on the news about people needing jobs, and I think about how many things we don’t make here anymore.  It’s nearly impossible to buy clothing made in the USA. It wasn’t until 2009 that Congress mandated that military uniforms be made here.  This year I am determined to buy only products made in the USA for Christmas.  Toys for small kids can be found on the web in abundance if you look.  For older kids, it requires a little more effort, but there are some cool toys out there.  (Wood Lincoln Logs are not even manufactured here.)  You can do a search for products made in the USA and find all sorts of products including clothing.  Some things may cost a little more, but you are keeping an American working.  I know my mother would be pleased.