Sourdough bread: an all-day affair

iddling with my sourdough starter since getting it to a ripe-ish state has been largely experimental, so far. I made a couple of loaves, but no recipe to date has really stood out as a keeper. I think a large part of the blame lies with me, as I have been improperly adapting recipes to whole wheat (or so I learned when reading a few recipes this weekend)... something you have to be a bit careful with or you'll get some pretty dense (er, heavy) loaves of bread.

Enter Pinterest, once again. And having good pinners to follow (in this case, dear friend and neighbor Laura)! I saw her pin a "slow rise sourdough" this past week and promptly tucked it away on my baking board without really looking it over. As I pulled my starter out of the fridge yesterday to warm and rest before feeding it again this week--that happens every Sunday whether I bake or not, I've been pretty good about that--I started to peruse some new sourdough recipes, and landed on the one I'd pinned just this week. I wasn't thrilled to see that the recipe was really-truly slow rise--15 hours (approximately) for the first rise, 4-5 hours for the second, but I happened to see that if your kitchen is warmer (ie, it's summer, which of course it is not), it could move along a little more quickly.

Given that my schedule isn't quite as flexible right now, getting things done on Sunday or having it timed just right for after-work baking, is kind of important. So I stuck the dough for its first rise in my convection oven with the light on, which can warm to a happy 80 degrees... and sure enough, it rose and bubbled beautifully in about 7 hours. Feeling optimistic, I hopped on to the next rise, which was also accomplished in about 1/2 the recipe time--2 hours... 45 minutes or so of a pre-warmed dutch oven and a hot oven, and voila! A lovely bedtime snack of warm bread and some of that heavenly blood orange jam I mentioned last weekend. Yum.

This bread is definitely a keeper. I'm already looking forward to making it again next weekend, though I may start earlier in the weekend, and finish on Sunday--theory is that the slower the rise, the deeper the sourdough flavor, and I'm all for that. If anything, this was more a crusty loaf of peasant-style bread, not truly SOURdough. But if getting it done quickly is on your list, this recipe adapts a-ok.

And one last note: best crust I've achieved on a loaf, ever. Crispy, crunchy, oh-so-good.

Whole wheat bread: Back to the earth 2012!

ne of the (many) kitcheny gifts husband brought to our marriage was a bread machine. He used it quite a bit in the bachelor days, I believe, but I haven't developed a knack for it, lo these six years of wedded bliss. I think I made a loaf or two and wasn't impressed with the results (this is all very foggy, being a number of years ago now). I blamed it on not finding the right recipe for the machine, or the right flour (I think it could have been that...) and I have always been loathe to go the bread mix route. That just seems like cheating. (No judgement if that's your thing, it's just not mine.)

This past fall, a local Facebook friend posted that she makes bread and even delivers, if needed. I tried a couple of her loaves and Seth fell in love. Raved about this bread. You'd think the bread has crack in it, the way he gobbled it up for his lunch sandwiches. But then (of course) I started thinking, how hard can this be (no offense, Sherrice)? I have a machine that purports to do all the work for me, right? So let's get this thing figured out.

And, as happenstance would have it, a blogger I follow every now and again posted just last week that her project for 2012 is "Back to the Land" (read her explanation for why she wants to get back to the land, it's a great project), and the first month would be bread baking. How very serendipitous! I commented to her that I would give bread making a whirl as well, did a little more investigation into recipes that might work, and arrived at the recipe below.

While the recipe as originally posted was tweaked so that it could be completely vegan, I did not choose to go that route. I was happy that this version used milk (not the dry powder as seems so common) and where she called for Earth Balance I used canola oil--though we often have Earth Balance around, just don't at the moment.

Whole Wheat Machine Bread
Yield: 1 2lb loaf
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 4 hours and 10 minutes

1 cup almond milk (or buttermilk, skim milk, any kind of milk)
2/3 cup water
2 tbsp Earth Balance (or butter, vegetable shortening, lard, etc.)
2 tbsp agave (or honey)
2 tsp salt
3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cereal or seeds (I used oats)
2 1/4 tsp (or 1 pkg) active dry yeast

Place all ingredients in the order they are listed into the baking pan of your bread machine.

Follow the directions on your machine for whole wheat bread.

Remove from machine when done and allow to cool on a baking rack for at least one hour.

Slice and enjoy!

Pretty lovely, if I do say so myself. Kinda kicking myself that I didn't get that going years ago! I envision some sandwich days ahead...

Warning: do not make this bread in the evening, when you'll be pulling a freshly baked loaf of bread out of the machine/oven just as you're going to bread. It will take all your willpower not to cut a few slices off and slather butter or whathaveyou all over it and go to sleep with sweet bread dreams...

 Frittata sandwich. Messy, but oh-so-good.

Ready to eat like it's spring: Panzanella

pring has sprung, it really has. The grass is green--I think it's the greenest it's EVER been, and when I mow, the bags fill up in, like, a minute. Like, really. (Say it in your best Valley Girl voice, you know you want to.)

And in keeping with spring-ish-ness everywhere, I am finally getting out of the soups/stews/pasta doldrums and back into salads and freshness and Asparagus. Asparagus with a capital A! It's local, it's cheap and it's yummy. I could eat it three meals a day.

And in the salad realm, I could probably eat panzanella for two of those three meals. It's a salad that has a few core basics (um, bread?!) and the variations are endless. Here are a few iterations that appeal to me:

Ina Garten's Grilled Panzanella: A pretty traditional take on the original with basil, tomatoes and cucumbers.

Strawberry Panzanella: This would probably be either a dessert or breakfast option, but looks really yummy!

Salmon Panzanella: This would be popular around here, for sure. A twist on the original (peppers, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, capers) with cooked, cubed salmon.

Cous Cous a la Panzanella: Replace the bread with couscous, not a bad idea.

Spring Panzanella: Now you're talking my language... peas, asparagus and spinach. Sounds amazing.

Mushroom Panzanella: A nice twist, the mushrooms. Maybe once I get out morel hunting...

So with all those ideas overflowing in my brain, here's where I ended up recently... this salad has a lot to do with what's currently in the fridge!

Spring Panzanella
(Feeds 2, generously...)
2 cups tomatoes, cut into large chunks
2 cups day old (somewhat dry and hard) crusty bread (Italian or French loaf), cut into chunks the same size as the tomatoes
2 cups asparagus, roasted and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 cups greens, washed and dried
1 cup baby potatoes, roasted and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I had mini-babies, so I left them whole)
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1/4 cup good olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup parmesan cheese shreds
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl and let sit for a half-hour, at least. (I usually have a hard time leaving it alone, and generally eat it immediately! What a rebel.)

One critical thing is to have the bread be old/dry, and not fresh. Fresh bread will suck up all of the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and get mushy. If you don't have day-old bread, put your cut up cubes in a 300-degree oven for 5-10 minutes until the edges get dried out

Other things I like to add, if they're around (and no, for clarification, not all together):
*Cucumber (would have added it to the above salad if I'd had any in the house)
*Hard boiled eggs and raw mushrooms and blue cheese (kind of like a Cobb salad)
*Peppers: roasted or otherwise
*Artichoke hearts
*Pinenuts
*Hazelnuts
*Basil, arugula or spinach
*Fruit, such as nectarines or pears (a local restaurant had a summer version with melons and peaches and tomatoes and it was heavenly... they are no longer serving lunch. Guess I'll have to make that one myself...)

As I was looking through this blog to see if I'd posted on panzanella previously, I couldn't help but be drawn in by two previous blog posts that mention the salad: one on basil, and one on summer salads. It's official: I'm ready for summer.

Best banana bread. EVER.

have made banana bread for years, and generally the same recipe too... a very serviceable set of ingredients as laid out by Fanny Farmer. And then I started to experiment a bit, with almond flour. I really enjoyed that first loaf, which split the almonds and wheat flour about 50/50.

But the bold statement laid out in the headline above was made possible by the desire to go even further down the path toward gluten free... I swear you will have no idea this bread is gluten free. It doesn't have the heaviness and chewiness that I often associate with gluten-free baked goods. It's moist and yummy and full of banana goodness, without being overwhelmed by the nuts.

Best banana bread
4 ripe bananas
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of ground almonds (run blanched almonds in the food processor until they are truly mealy)
1 cup Namaste muffin mix (pretty widely available in the baking section at grocery stores these days)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven until 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add the eggs and vanilla. Mix up the dry ingredients and add all at once to the wet. Stir until well mixed. Pour into a bread loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a knife or wooden skewer inserted in the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then invert loaf out of pan and cool completely on a baking rack.

I wasn't prepared for how much I enjoyed this bread! It's really moist (I already said that, didn't I?), which is what I like in banana breads--some of which taste more like banana cake--I have when out and about at Starbucks, on the ferry to Mayne Island, etc. But the nutritional value of those breads tend to leave a lot to be desired. While the fat content is pretty  high due to the nuts, it's important for me to remember that it's the good fat, right?

Off to have another slice with my coffee...

Experimenting with almond flour: Banana bread

We came home to some super-ripe bananas in the fruit bowl... forgot to freeze those before we took off on vacation! My first thought with ripe bananas is banana bread, of course. I have a tried and true basic banana bread recipe in Fanny Farmer that I've used forever, but lately I've been wanting to experiment with almond flour as an ingredient, and that's something I don't think dear Fanny knew anything about. A blog about gluten-free cooking that I look in on occasionally, Elena's Pantry, advocates almond flour, and even though I don't need to avoid gluten (that I know of...), it just sounds good to me. Nutty and yummy and all that.

Of course, when I looked at the fat content of almond flour, I did a little quick breath intake and thought, "Oh my, well, at least it's the GOOD fat." Since I've been eating pretty much non-stop on the BAD fat lately, might as well do a bit of battle with the good... So I took Elena's recipe and fiddled with it--added back a bit of the Fanny--and it turned out wonderfully. Next time I might just make it with just the almond flour and skip the whole wheat entirely... we'll see.

Sher's experimental banana bread

2 cups blanched almond flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup canola oil

3 eggs, whisked

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 bananas, mashed

In a large bowl, mix together whole wheat flour, almond flour, salt and baking soda. In a smaller bowl, combine mashed bananas, brown sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry. Place batter in two greased/sprayed loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the bread comes out dry. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

I especially like the texture of the bread, and the feel as you're chewing; it's just less wheaty. It's hard to know how to describe it, exactly... you'll just have to try baking with almond flour. I think this ingredient is going to find its way into more of my recipes in the future...