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.

Cinnamon Apple Pull-Apart Bread

     I haven’t made many sweet breads, and I was in the mood for just that - something sweet.   Boy did I pick a good one.  I made Cinnamon Apple Pull-Apart Bread  from the King Arthur website.  What is there not to love, apples, cinnamon, dark brown sugar, butter, and bread.  I used a granny smith, a braeburn, and a fuji apple.  The recipe called for brown sugar, but did not specify light or dark, so I went with dark.  I had to thinly slice the apples, and then cook them in the syrup made from butter, the sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.  The apple mixture had to cool before topping the bread dough. The dough was rolled out to a large rectangle, and the apples were spread on top.  Next the dough was cut in strips and stacked.  The strips were then cut to squares and stacked into the pan.  I was glad I have 3 hands (okay one of the hands belonged to Wayne), so I could hold the prepared pan on edge to stack the apple dough squares.  The bread then had it’s second rise before going in the oven.  A hint before stacking the squares, be sure you place a dough side out for each end on the pan as you stack the squares. As you can see from the pictures, the result was a sweet, beautiful, apple-filled loaf.  One of the best things about this loaf, is you can eat it warm after a 15 minute rest out the oven.

     Wayne and I tried to figure out the best way to describe the bread.  Wayne first said apple pie biscuits, but then said, “No, it doesn’t have a biscuit texture.”  We decided on apple pie bread.  It truly is a delicious bread with apples galore.  I love the thinly sliced apples as opposed to diced apples that many recipes call for. You get a taste of apple in every bite.  It was great with a cup of coffee. 
     Apples always make me think of my favorite time of year - autumn.  I am anxiously awaiting our first cool spell in two days.  I can’t wait to go for our morning walk in 58 degree weather versus 76 degrees with 95% humidity at 5:30 in the morning.  Now, don’t think I’m crazy, but I love leaves on the ground, a cool nip in the air, and a cup of hot coffee on the patio while watching the birds at the feeder. I know we don’t get the fall color like places further north, but we do get some red and yellows.  I can’t imagine having to shovel snow to get out of the house, but I’m not a big fan of our infamous southern heat either;  I think that’s why I love fall so much.  Autumn is a welcome respite from the summer heat.  Autumn almost makes you forget southern June, July and August.

Cheese & Onion Swirl Rolls

 

     I wanted to bake something savory, and I came across this recipe for Cheese and Onion Swirls Rolls.  And savory they were!  There is a good amount of onion in the rolls, and I used freshly grated parmesan reggiano in place on the Vermont Cheese Powder.  I also generously sprinkled the top with the parm.  The aroma of the rolls wafted through the house, and Wayne and I once again were anxious for the timer to go off.  What a tasty treat.  We managed to save a few for Labor Day.

     I used to do my Labor Day barbecuing on the Sunday before Labor Day so I could kick back and enjoy my extra day off. Now that I've retired, I actually fire up the grill on Labor Day.  The number of people I am cooking for has changed drastically.  Instead of grilling ribs and sausage for a dozen or so people I found myself grilling for three.  Since it is just the three of us, I thought, "Why not get some big juicy steaks."  I did just that.  I went to the small meat market (Guillory's) up the road.  The cut two rib eyes and a t-bone for me as I waited.  On Monday, Lil and Wayne had the rib eyes, and I had the t-bone.  I kept it simple - we had the cheese onion rolls, a wonderful tossed salad, steak and cream puffs and eclairs with the recipe from King Arthur Flour.  I used the short cut suggestion for the pastry cream filling, but used chocolate instead of vanilla for the filling.  I filled the eclairs with the chocolate filling, but the cream puffs were filled with whipped cream.  The whipped cream was stabilized with a bit of unflavored gelatin in a bit of water.  (Three days later and the whipped cream is still great and has not weeped.) If you want specifics, just Google it.  Instead of vanilla, I used a tad of fiori di sicilia.  What a difference that makes.  I am hooked on fiori.  Even though it was a small gathering, it was still filled with love, joy, and great food.