Have you figured out yet that I've had way too much time on my hands lately? I am a bread-baking fiend! I decided today would be experimentation day. Rarely do I deviate from a yeast bread recipe... you know, that whole chemistry/formula/precision thing tends to hold me back!
If you have a Borders bookstore in your neighborhood, and you've actually been to it, you've probably noticed that they have a bargain book section, usually right in the entryway of the store. The Borders in Bangor often has lots of cookbooks in its bargain section. I, of course, have a problem staying away from those books. They call out to me before I even get into the store. As a result, I have acquired several bread books from this section. A lot of them are published in the UK, which makes for some interesting reading, and some improvisation of ingredients!
One of my books is called "The Complete Book of Bread & Bread Machines," by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter. The recipe I chose to make today is "Granary Bread." For a 1-pound loaf, it calls for the following ingredients:
1 cup water
3 1/4 cups granary (whole-wheat) bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp rapid-rise yeast
What the heck is "granary flour?" There are several other kinds of flour in this book that they also refer to as "whole-wheat flour!" It's very confusing. I have a bag of "6 grain flour" in my fridge, which I thought would make a good substitute. It sounded feasible, anyway! The other thing I found strange about this recipe is that it only calls for 1/2 tsp of yeast. I know it says rapid-rise, but still... that doesn't seem like much. Plus, I only have active dry yeast. After much pondering and re-pondering, here's what I put into my machine:
1 cup water
3 1/4 cups 6-grain flour
1/4 cup 7-grain and seed mix
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp active dry yeast
I put everything into the pan, set the machine on "dough only," and watched it mix. After a few minutes, it looked pretty dry and coarse, so I added two more tablespoons of water. That seemed to help. I let it do its thing, which took an hour and a half. At the end of the cycle, the dough didn't seem like it had risen enough, so I let it go for about 45 more minutes. It's a cool, dry day here, and this is a 100% whole grain dough, so I figured I needed to have a little patience. When I thought it had risen enough, I punched it down, let it rest a few minutes, and shaped it into a loaf. I then put it in the oven with just the light on for its second rise. That took probably another hour, and I was finally happy with the way it looked. I got a bit artistic and made two diagonal slashes on the top of the loaf, which deflated it a bit. I hoped it would rise a bit more as it baked. I baked it at 350 for about half an hour. It did rise a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped...
It's a compact loaf, but it isn't as dense as I expected. It's a bit dry, however... almost crumbly. But believe it or not, it's pretty good. It has great flavor, and I love the texture and crunch the 7 grain and seed mix adds. I will definitely experiment with this recipe again sometime. I'll use more yeast. Maybe I'll use milk in place of some or all of the water. I might substitute some white bread flour for a little bit of the 6 grain flour. Maybe a shot of vital wheat gluten would help, too. I'll certainly be spending some time reading the "troubleshooting" sections of my bread books to figure out how to make it less dry! For now, I have a loaf of hearty, healthy bread that makes great toast.
Today was another one of those days when I was actually motivated to get up early and go to the Brewer Farmer's Market. I won't bore you with pictures of the day's haul, but I got three ears of corn (which turned into my supper), two bunches of very tall scallions, three small but beautiful eggplant (eggplants?), a pound of tiny red and white potatoes (ranging in size from marble to walnut), a canteloupe-sized watermelon reported to have orange flesh, a couple pounds of very cute little pears, a pint of wild blueberries, and a pint of wild blackberries. Grand total, $17 (the berries weren't exactly cheap, but they're well worth it.).
I was most excited about the blackberries. Fresh, wild blackberries aren't easy to come by. The woman selling them picked them in her backyard and promised that they hadn't been sprayed with anything -- no pesticides, no fertilizers... and let me tell you, they were perfect. I ate a couple of handfuls as is, and used the rest to -- what else -- bake something!
My friend Kacie makes a killer blueberry coffee cake. I got the recipe from her a few weeks ago, and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. It's from a Betty Crocker cookbook that was published in the early 80s. I can't credit it any better than that because that's all I know about it. The book gives a recipe for Streusel Coffee Cake, and then gives several variations, including blueberry coffee cake, peanut butter and jelly coffee cake, and whole wheat coffee cake. I ended up making a variation on a combination of variations of the cake.
Blackberry Coffee Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 cups blackberries
Heat oven to 350. Beat flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter, milk, and egg in a large mixer bowl on low speed 30 seconds. Then beat on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally, 2 minutes. Spread half the batter into a greased pan, either 13x9x2 or9x9x2. Sprinkle with 1 cup blackberries. Top with remaining batter. Sprinkle with remaining bluberries. Bake oblong cake about 35 minutes, square about 40 minutes. Drizzle warm coffee cake with mixture of 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp. grated lemon peel, and 1 to 2 tbsp. lemon juice.
I baked mine in an 8x12x2 pan for about 40 minutes, and it came out great, if not completely photogenic...
It's light, fluffy, and moist. The cake is sweet, the berries are tart, and the glaze is sweet-tart. The whole-wheat flour makes for a wonderfully (but not overwhelming!) earthy, nutty flavor. The lemon in the glaze is a nice contrast to the berries. Instead of putting the lemon zest in the glaze, I grated it over the cake after I glazed it. you can see a couple specks of it if you use your imagination.
If you want to try Kacie's blueberry version of this cake, just use blueberries instead of blackberries, and use all AP flour instead of half whole-wheat. I can't decide which one I like best!
Look how much much my dough rose during its 20 hours in the fridge!
Here's what it turned into:
Jammin’ Breakfast Buns
Pinch off 9 ounces of Oat-Bran Refrigerator Dough and shape into six balls. Arrange the balls in an 8-inch round baking pan. Cover the buns and let them rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes. Make a depression in the center of each bun, and fill it with 1-½ teaspoons of fruit preserves. Bake at 350 for 12 to 14 minutes. This recipe makes 6 buns.
What a strange dough. It's a lot more like play-doh than elastic-y, gluten-y bread dough. It's actually a bit easier to work with than traditional dough. I used the whole 1-3/4 lb. batch of dough and made a total of 18 buns, in two cake pans. They’re smaller than the recipe calls for, but this is kind of a potluck party – there will be several things for people to nibble on, so smaller buns make more sense. Here they are before baking...
And after...
I know, there's not much difference between before and after...
Do you like my flowery design? The yellow filling is ginger preserve, and the dark red is damson plum jam, both thanks to our friends the Trappist Monks of Spencer, MA. I like the contrast in the colors.
The one thing to be careful of if you try this recipe is making the indentations in the risen buns. I was a bit overenthusiastic and deflated the first couple I did. Fortunately, they came out OK anyway! They smelled so good baking. I can't wait to try them!
Friday is my friend/co-worker Derrick’s last day at the station. You may remember him as the one who helped me invent the Limeburner a couple of months ago. He is going on to what he hopes will be bigger and better things, in Indianapolis. I’m not sure how anyone can live that far away from the ocean… and neither is he. But opportunity is knocking there. I wish him lots of luck and happiness.
As is our tradition when someone leaves the “Morning Crew,” we are having a little party for Derrick on Friday. This means those of us who remember will bring in some kind of fun food, and there will be a card and probably a little parting gift. I, of course, will jump on any opportunity to bake something, so I spent a little Quality Time with some of my cookbooks this afternoon. As is so often the case, I found something in my favorite bread book, “Smart Bread Machine Recipes” by Sandra L. Woodruff. For the sake of creating as many blog entries as possible, I am stretching this project out over two days. It will make sense as you read along. =)
Oat-Bran Refrigerator Dough
1 pound 1 ½ pound
bread flour2 cups3 cups
oat bran1 cup1 ½ cups
yeast2 tsp1 tbsp
sea salt¾ tsp1 1/8 tsp
sugar1 tbsp1 ½ tbsp
lecithin granules or vegetable oil4 tsp2 tbsp
skim milk or water 1 cup + 1 tbsp1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp
Put everything in the machine’s bread pan, and turn the bread machine on its RISE setting. Remove the dough after 25 minutes. Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 6 hours and up to 2 days. You may also freeze the dough and thaw it when you’re ready to use it. When ready to use, proceed with any of the following variations; use a food scale to weigh the required amount of dough. The smaller machine makes 1 ¼ pounds of dough; the larger machine makes about 1 ¾ pounds.
Surprised to see me make bread dough that’s mostly white flour? Come on… it’s a party!
I made the larger recipe, using lecithin granules and whole milk (because it’s what I have!). I assumed that when the recipe said to “remove the dough after 25 minutes,” it meant to put it in the fridge as soon as it was done being mixed and kneaded. My machine happens to take 30 minutes for those processes. I let it go. I can’t imagine 5 extra minutes will render the dough useless!
Here’s the dough in its bowl, ready to live in the fridge for about 20 hours…
Tomorrow, find out what I have chosen to make with this dough!
PS: My pitas do, in fact, make pretty good pizza crust!
I don't know what gets into me that makes me want to bake something on the hottest, most humid days of the year, but that's just what I did again yesterday. For a couple of years, I have been on a half-hearted search for a recipe for Greek-style pita bread. Not those dry, cardboardy pockets I buy at the grocery store -- I mean the nice soft, fluffy flatbreads that get wrapped around, not stuffed with, fillings. Most of the recipes that I found all described the beads as pockets. Bleccchhh.
What inspired my most recent quest for such a recipe were the eggplant sandwichesI had at the National Folk Festival over the weekend. They were made with just the kind of bread I want. Monday morning, a light bulb popped on over my head and I Googled "Greek pita bread recipe." It was a fruitful, or rather doughful, search. Here's the recipe I found at "Susie's Place,"part of faliraki-info.com:
Greek Pita Bread
This recipe for Greek pita bread can be used for 'souvlaki' and 'gyros' sandwiches, or if baked for longer makes an excellent pita pocket.
Ingredients:
1 envelope dry granular yeast
1 tbs. sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp. salt
4 cups white all purpose flour
1 tbs. olive oil
Combine the yeast and sugar in a small bowl, add 1/2 cup of the warm water and let it stand for 10 minutes to proof and ferment it. Dissolve the salt in the remaining warm water. Put the flour in a large mixing bowl, making a well in the middle and put the dissolved yeast and salt water into it.
With your hands, blend it into a dough. You may need a bit more or less water depending on your flour. Knead the dough in the bowl with your fists for 10-15 minutes or until it is smooth. Pour the oil over the dough and knead it again until the oil is absorbed. Cover the dough in the bowl with a towel and set it in a draft free area to rise to double it's bulk (1-2 hours), then punch it down and knead it again for a few minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Cut pieces of dough, egg size or larger, depending on the size of the pita desired, shape them into balls with your hands and roll them out over a lightly floured board or pastry cloth to 1/4 inch thickness. Set 2 or 3 pites on a lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake them on the lower rack 2 to 3 minutes each side. Bake longer for pita pockets.
Susie's Note: Pites should be white and soft. Wrap the baked pitas in a clean towel until they are cool, then store them in plastic bags to prevent them from drying out. When you are ready to use them, heat a bit of oil in a shallow skillet and fry them a minute or so on each side, or until golden brown. Use them immediately, because they get hard when they dry out.
I, of course, tempted fate a bit -- mostly intentionally. I used 1 1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour to replace some of the white flour, and made the dough in my bread machine. Unintentionally, in auto-pilot bread-baker mode, I used bread flour instead of AP flour.
After letting the machine mix and raise the dough, I had a very soft, sticky mass of dough on my kneading mat. I kneaded in a bit more flour and cut the dough into eight pieces. After a combination of rolling out and hand stretching the balls of dough, I ended up with something that looked a lot like I thought it should look:
I put them in the oven and found that I needed about five minutes per side instead of Susie's two to three, and here's what came out:
They're close. Very close. The bread flour didn't seem to hurt anything, nor did the whole-wheat flour. The bread is soft, doughy, and pliable -- just about right for slathering with hummus and filling with olives, feta, cucumbers, and romaine -- or eggplant and salsa! They are just a bit too thick, though. They will need to be heated before using so they don't break when I fold them. That's more than likely why they took a bit longer to cook than was called for. Next time I will make more of an effort to roll them out a little thinner, and I think I will have it right. Plus, I think I'll go up to 2 or even 2 1/2 cups of WW flour. Oh -- I got eight pitas out of the recipe. They're pretty generously sized. Maybe I'll aim for ten next time.
I also think they'll make fabulous instant pizza crusts! That's tonight's experiment.
