It's alive!

It's the 6th of November, and I've already done more blog posts than any other month since May.  By now, those of you familiar with NaBloPoMo have probably figured out that that's my goal for this month.  I figure that if I can manage to get some sort of post up every day for a month, then I'll get back on track with fairly regular posting after that.  I get too hung up sometimes on having a post just right.  I worry too much that my pictures aren't very good.  I'm just not a recipe writer (for the most part, anyway), so that slows me down when I can't easily link to an already published recipe.  But I'm trying to let all of that go and just find something to write about every day, no matter how simple or silly.

Today's is definitely on the silly side.  A few weeks ago, I pulled my sourdough starter, Ernie, out of the back of the fridge where he'd been languishing for...probably 8 or 9 months.  It took a couple days of feeding, but he did wake up, and I've been baking bread more often since then.  Most of the time I cheat a little, and spike the final dough with a bit of instant yeast in addition to the yeast present in the starter.  Apparently Ernie is pretty active, based on the picture above, and I can probably cut back a little on the instant yeast boost. =)

Wordless Wednesday - Ernie's (still) alive!

(Ernie's almost 2 1/2!)

(BBA Basic Sourdough)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

This has been the first pleasant day we've had in months.  Breezy and dry, with 70s this morning and 80s this afternoon.  There's only one problem--it's dry.  Way too dry.  We had almost no rain in July, none at all in August, and none so far this month.  It's crazy--I've read how much rain has been falling in Louisiana and the southeast US from tropical storm Lee, and all we've gotten from it has been wind.  There won't be any grilling around here for Labor Day, at least there better not be, with all the wildfires burning around the Austin area.  (Thankfully, none are near us at the moment, but we know people close to the affected areas.)

Still, parents with the day off from work and kids with the day off from school flocked to the park this morning to enjoy the lovely weather.  We were among them.  We're lucky to have some really great places to play, like the playscape at San Gabriel park.  The girls got to run around like maniacs for about an hour, and I got to sit in the shade and read.  Well, and take some pictures. =)  Then it was home for lunch and naps.  I love extra days off. 

I did some baking yesterday.  I'm starting to get back into the bread baking mood, now that we're actually seeing some days below 100º. (The Austin area has had 79 days of 100º+ so far, and there's still a chance we could have more.)  I even revived Ernie, my sourdough starter, and have baked sourdough bread two weekends in a row.  Last weekend, I baked Pain au Levain from one of my favorite books, Artisan Breads Every Day.  I really like that recipe, but I wanted to make something quicker this time.  I turned to one of my trusted resources, King Arthur Flour, to see what I could come up with.

I have to say, I really like the recent redesign that KAF did on their recipe section.  For one thing, it's much more iPad-friendly.  I was also happy to see that in addition to weights in ounces, many recipes now give the option for grams as well.  It's an easy conversion if I have to do it myself, but it's nice to save a step.  I do have to wonder, though, why it will tell me that a tablespoon of sugar is 14 grams, but not give me a weight for 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt.  Oh well, it's not like it's that hard for me to figure out for myself. =)  

There's a section of sourdough recipes, with all kinds of interesting stuff (including pizza and waffles and even chocolate cake).  I settled on the recipe for Rustic Sourdough Bread.  There is a handy blog post to go along with it, showing how the recipe can be adjusted to give different results depending on how much time you have on your hands.  I went for the quicker version, which still has nice flavor while only taking a few hours.  I fed Ernie Saturday night, so I had a nice active starter ready to go Sunday morning.  I did have to do some math, though.  I keep a firm starter, with a hydration of about 66%.  That means that for every 100 grams of flour, it has 66 grams of water.  The recipe has a link to KAF's fresh starter, and the instructions for it led me to believe that it's a 100% hydration starter, meaning that it has equal amounts of water and flour.  So I had to figure out how much total water and flour were in the original recipe (totaling the amounts from the starter and what is added later).  I decided to keep the amount of starter constant, so I had to figure out how much water and flour were in the same amount of my starter (the recipe calls for about 225 grams of starter) and adjust the additional water and flour accordingly.  This is where I love my notebook.  I didn't want to write it out here, so the photo below shows my calculations and notes for this recipe:

The verdict? Well, we've managed to polish off the first loaf already.  Samples yesterday, toast for breakfast today, sandwiches for lunch.  The other loaf got sliced and went in the freezer for B's lunches this week (and maybe some for me, too).  The flavor is nice--a bit of tang, but not too sour.  It was a hit with B, which is good, since she can be picky about bread.  I'll definitely be making this recipe again--I love how easy it is, as long as I remember to feed my starter first.

If you'd like to try this bread for yourself, you can find the recipe here at KAF.  If you don't have a starter of your own, there are a number of great tutorials on the web, including this one from my friend Phyl.  I made mine using the steps in Artisan Breads Every Day, and posted about it here.  For more yummy and beautiful breads, be sure to check out the collection each week at Yeastspotting. 

Fruitcake, Italian style?

I'm slowly but surely working my way through the BBA Challenge.  It's taken me longer than I expected, but I'm still enjoying baking through all the recipes in The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  I have jumped around a little bit lately.  One of the recipes I initially skipped over was Panettone--I got to that point in the "P" section back in July.  I wasn't in the mood for a holiday bread then, so I decided to save it for closer to Christmas.  This past weekend was the perfect time, since it was the weekend of our annual potluck with the Italian genealogy group.  It was a crazy weekend due to work stuff, but I'm glad I had time to make this recipe--it gave me a chance to get geeky about bread dough.

The panettone recipe starts with a wild yeast preferment--it's the first dough in the book to use a sourdough starter (which can catch you by surprise since it's not in the sourdough section).  Rather than make the sourdough starter from BBA, I used the one that I developed using the method in Reinhart's most recent book, Artisan Breads Every Day.  It's a firm starter with about 67% hydration.  Since the BBA one is 100% hydration, I got to do some math!  I know, I'm crazy like that--math is fun. =)  

First, I converted everything to grams, since I find that much easier to work with.  For the sponge, you need 200g of 100% hydration starter, 225g milk, and 125g all-purpose flour.  So the starter is contributing 100g each of water and flour.  There isn't any other water in the sponge, so I needed 100g of water from my starter.  With my starter being 67% (meaning 2 parts water for 3 parts flour) I would have to use 250g to get 100g of water.  The total flour for the sponge is supposed to be 225g--100g from the starter, and the additional 125g.  My 250g of starter has 150g of flour, so I only needed to add 75g of additional flour.  The 225g of milk did not change.  Did I totally lose you yet?  It wasn't really that scary, was it?

I went with dried fruit rather than candied.  I ended up using 170g of golden raisins, 85g of dried cranberries, and 85g of dried apricots (snipped into small bits with my kitchen shears).  I used light rum for the alcohol.  For other flavoring, I used maybe half a teaspoon of Fiori di Sicilia (the 1 tablespoon called for in the recipe seems outrageous--that is very strong stuff) along with about half a teaspoon of vanilla and a few drops each of lemon and orange oil.  I didn't have my fruit in time to do an overnight soak, so I used heat to speed up the process.  I put the fruit in a medium saucepan with about 1/4 cup of water.  I brought it to a boil and them simmered it until most of the water was absorbed.  Then I removed it from the heat and added the rum and flavorings.  I let it macerate for a couple hours, until most of the liquid was absorbed. 

Other than that, I mostly stuck to the recipe.  I left out the almonds.  I did use SAF Gold yeast, and had no problem with my dough rising.  I let the dough rise until it was about one and a half times its original volume, then stuck it in the fridge for the night.  For the first hour it was in the fridge it was still rising quite a bit, so I deflated the dough a couple times.  When I pulled it out the next morning, the dough had mostly filled my 4-quart container.  I shaped the dough while it was cold.  I had decided to make lots of mini panettones--I formed 25 at 70g each.  2 dozen went into cute little wrappers (that you can find at Sur la Table) and one went into a greased 4 oz ramekin.  The dough took about 90 minutes to proof, then I baked the minis for about 30 minutes (at which point they were 190ºF and golden brown on top).  

The verdict?  These were a big hit with the Italian crowd.  I was a bit worried that they weren't sweet enough (I don't eat much panettone, so I had no frame of reference).  A couple people assured me that they were just right.  I sent some home with the people who enjoyed them the most, and had a few left over.  They made a great breakfast for a couple of days.  (It's got fruit, so it's perfect for breakfast, right?)  I can definitely see myself making these again during the holidays.  I even have a dedicated panettone spatula now--boy, that Fiori di Sicilia is strong stuff.  I think the spatula will smell like it forever. =)

If you'd like to try this recipe for yourself, do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy of The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  It has many wonderful recipes.  Check out the BBA blogroll to see how others did with this recipe (though most made it quite a while back).  For other yummy yeasted creations, check out Yeastspotting (including this great post on holiday breads).  

That blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream

There's no question about it--my husband is much better at gift-giving than I am.  He clearly puts a lot of thought into it and comes up with lots of great things, many of which I wouldn't think of for myself.  He's directly responsible for my love of cooking magazines, for instance.  About 10 years ago, I had the flu.  The real deal--I was extremely miserable for most of a week.  To make me feel better, Jamie brought me an issue of Fine Cooking to read while I was stuck in bed feeling horrible.  I had cookbooks, and watched cooking shows on PBS, but I'd never actually read a cooking magazine.  All it took was that one issue, and I was hooked. =)  

He's continued to feed my baking and cooking obsession hobby.  He's responsible for quite a few of the cookbooks I've acquired in the past several years, especially since I started blogging.  For our anniversary a couple weeks ago, he got me another gift that I'll be able to use a lot.  He checked some lists of traditional anniversary gifts.  This was number eight for us (though we were together five years before we got married, as well).  There are a few variations, but one of the options for #8 is pottery.  So he went to a wonderful local gift shop and got me a couple of lovely pieces.  One is the gorgeous serving tray pictured in the photos in this post.  (I'm sure the other will make an appearance soon.)  I pretty much immediately wanted to bake something just so I could take photos. =)  I've been having a hard time writing bread posts lately, partly because I think after a while it's hard to come up with interesting pictures.  This was the perfect thing to get me going again.  (And yes, he did consider that I could use the dishes for blog photos.)

To start with, I chose a bread that I've been wanting to make again for a while.  The recipe is from one of my favorite bread books, Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day.  The official name is Soft Rye Sandwich Bread.  I just refer to it as sourdough rye, since it does use a sourdough starter for the preferment.  The final dough is spiked with a bit of commercial yeast as well, which means the bread doesn't take forever for the final rise. =)  The great thing about a lot of the recipes in this book is that the doughs require minimal kneading, since they get a long, slow fermentation in the fridge which allows time for the gluten to develop on its own.  The dough can be held for several days, too, so you can bake when you have time.  

The rye flour is just in the perferment, so the rye flavor is fairly mild.  A bit of molasses in the dough adds some flavor and color.  You have the option to add some cocoa powder as well, to darken the color, but I skip it.  Caraway and orange oil are other optional flavorings, but I go for the plain version.  The dough can be baked in loaf pans, or as freeform loaves, which I prefer.  This time, I made the dough into two bâtards.  I dusted the tops with a bit of flour, which makes them easier to score and makes for a nice contrast after baking. 

The verdict?  I love this bread.  I've made it several times now, and it's always delicious.  I can happily eat it just with some butter, but it also makes terrific sandwiches--especially with ham. I think everyone else likes it, too, but this one was mainly for me. =) I love the slight tang from the sourdough and the fact that since I made the bread, I can leave out the caraway, which I don't like. Mmm.

If you'd like to try this bread for yourself, I highly recommend getting the book (or checking it out from your library, if you can).  I've made at least a dozen recipes from it so far, and have enjoyed them all.  

For more wonderful yeasted treats, be sure to check out Yeastspotting!

Italian bread

I mentioned in my last post that Brianna was sick last week and into the weekend.  I could tell when she was finally really feeling better--she actually ate all of her dinner on Sunday night.  But that's wasn't very surprising, since everyone else cleaned their plates as well.  Spaghetti and meatballs has that effect around here.  And Gillian is very proud of herself for the fact that she can pronounce it correctly (she's been working very hard at it).  =)  Italian dishes are always a hit around here.  And what better to go with a plate covered in tomato sauce than Italian bread?

Okay, to be honest, we didn't eat Italian bread with our spaghetti this week.  We would have, but I had just made some sourdough rye (yet another upcoming bread post), so we ate that.  But we did have Italian bread with our chicken parmigiana a few weeks ago when my Dad was here.  And it was fantastic.  It was next up for the BBA Challenge, perfectly timed.  I've made this recipe several times before, and it's always a hit.  I was kind of surprised when I looked through my archives and realized that while I took pictures, I never actually posted about this bread.  It's definitely time to remedy that.

Since I've made this one before, and because I've been having so much fun playing with my sourdough starters, I decided to combine the two.  Italian bread is yet another of the breads that employ some sort of preferment to add flavor.  In this case, being Italian, it uses biga, which is a firm preferment consisting of flour, water and a small amount of yeast.  Conveniently, the percentage of hydration for the biga is pretty much the same as my bread flour starter.  So I substituted some of the starter for part of the flour and water, and omitted the small amount of commercial yeast.  I ended up using 3 ounces of my 67% hydration starter, 9 ounces of flour, and 6 ounces of water, giving me a total of 18 ounces and keeping the hydration at about 67%.  I let the mixture sit at room temperature until it almost doubled in size.  I don't actually remember how long that took, but I was going by the activity of the starter, not by the clock.  Once it was doubled, I followed the instructions for the biga, lightly degassing the dough and then putting it in the fridge overnight.

The next day I made the dough.  Having learned my lesson with the French bread, I started by cutting the biga into pieces (I usually just use my kitchen shears) and putting it in the bowl of my stand mixer with the water (6 ounces) and oil.  I stirred these ingredients together with the paddle attachment to start softening the biga.  Then I added the rest of the ingredients, switched to the dough hook, and mixed the dough until it formed a ball.  I kneaded it for a couple minutes in the mixer, then finished it by hand on an oiled surface.  I stuck the dough in my 4 quart bucket and let it rise at room temp for about an hour and a half (dough tends to rise fast in my kitchen).  

As far as shaping goes, I decided I wanted to be able to use the leftover bread for toast and sandwiches, so I went for one really big loaf.  I shaped the full amount of dough into a batard shape.  I put it on a sheet of parchment paper on my peel, sprayed it with Pam (high heat version) and covered it with plastic to rise.  For hearth baking, I use my baking stone (preheated to 500F as directed) and put the bottom of my broiler pan on the floor of my gas oven.  When I put the loaf in the oven (parchment and all), I added hot water to the steam pan as directed and sprayed water in the oven as well.  I baked the bread for about 30 minutes total, rotating it and removing the parchment paper after 15 minutes.  I don't remember the exact time, but I went by temperature, taking the loaf out when it was over 200F.

The verdict?  It was really hard to wait for the bread to cool before we tried it.  The five of us went through about half the loaf at dinner the night I made it, so I think it's safe to say everyone liked it.  =)  Brianna quickly requested that I save some of the remaining bread for her lunches.  The sourdough starter worked nicely in the biga--it didn't add sour flavor in this case, but just made the bread more flavorful in general.  I'm sure I'll make this Italian bread many times more.

If you'd like to try this recipe, I highly recommend getting your own copy of The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  Be sure to check out the BBA Challenge blogroll to see how everyone else is doing (we're all at different points in the book).  And head over to Yeastspotting to see this and many other wonderful yeasted creations.  Next up in the challenge--kaiser rolls!