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This blog is being maintained as an archive. New posts are located at: BreadWithJam.com.

Canning Tomatoes

Just finished making some sauce out of a bushel of tomatoes. Boy, what a mess. The full pot on the stove ultimately reduced to a half pot. From beginning to end, the whole process took about 6 hours. Two hours for separating the seeds and skins, and another four hours to boil it down to the right consistency.

I'll be making another web site when I get time to keep track of my canning adventures. Stay tuned!

More Potato Rolls!

Potato Rolls

Pumpernickel Just in Time

for the holidays!

And a Sourdough Bread Sandwich!

You're supposed to wait for the bread to completely cool before eating. Yeah, sure. That works...

This was a damn good sandwich. So was the next one...

Sourdough Loaves

A couple of weeks ago I signed up for a Sourdough Bread class taught by Richard Miscovich with Craftsy. His technique is very similar to other bakers that I follow. I needed a refresher, the course was on sale, and in my view, it's about the same price as a decent book. By the way, if you sign up for a Craftsy course, the content doesn't expire. So, you can watch it over again as often as you please. The instructors also respond to your questions. It's a pretty good program.

Two Loaves of Sourdough Bread

So, I've been nurturing this sourdough starter for a few weeks, and yesterday I determined that it was about ready. Today I baked two loaves and I'm pleased with the result. The loaf at the top of the picture was baked at 450 for about 30 minutes, the first 20 minutes under a preheated inverted dutch oven on a baking stone. The dutch oven helps maintain a moist environment. The bottom loaf was baked open at 450 for 20 minutes, temperature reduced to 350 for another 10.

Both loaves went through their final rise in bannetons.

One important lesson I've learned is the value of the twenty minute autolyse before the salt is added.

There are YouTube videos on how this process works also, not to mention a slew of bread books.

Large Cranberry Orange Muffins

This morning, I baked these muffins for my wife to take to work. This is my third attempt in as many weeks. I'm finally quite happy with them. Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup Ocean Spray Craisins
• 1 tbsp flax seed (or egg replacer)
•  3/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp orange zest

Directions:

1. Combine the dry ingredients
2. Stir in Craisins
3. Grind the flax seed to a powder and whip with about the same amount of water until it looks like whipped egg.
4. Whisk the flax seed "egg" (or egg replacer) together with oil, zest, and fresh orange juice.
5. Stir wet ingredients into dry until just moistened. Add water as necessary to make batter just barely able to fall off a large spoon.
6. Spoon into greased muffin cups (3 1/2 inches at the top)
7. Sprinkle tops with cane sugar
8. Makes 6 large muffins
9. Bake in preheated moderately hot (375 degrees F) oven for 30 min or till tooth pick comes out clean and tops are golden brown
10. Cool for 10 minutes before gently removing to platter
11. Serve warm or cool

Tips: If you're using a smaller muffin tin, bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Don't try to remove muffins from tin right out of the oven; they're not firm enough.

Also, I baked a second batch that included chocolate chips. They were also good, but I prefer them without. You could also add chopped walnuts. I haven't tried that.

Loaves For Nurses

I baked these loaves this morning for the nursing staff here at Heritage Village. Using a kilogram of flour at 68% hydration, fermented over night, and divided more or less equally, I loaded them into Art's over at 500° F, and immediately reduced to 450° for about 20-25 minutes. They were at 205° on exit, so I think next time, my final oven temperature will be 475° so that the inside temperature will be closer to the 200° target internal temperature by the time the outside gets to be the right color.

Sunday Burger Rolls

Once again, I've changed up the formulation for these rolls. Here's the rundown:

Burger Rolls

• 1000 grams flour
• 500 grams of Almond Milk
• 100 grams of water
• 100 grams of olive oil
• Teaspoon of Instant Yeast (also known as bread machine yeast)
• 22 grams of sea salt

Combine dry ingredients first. And wet ingredients separately. For faster rise times, heat wet ingredients in the microwave for a minute or so until warm (not hot!)

Using a hand mixer with dough hooks, knead well - about 5 minutes.

Let rise until double in size (at least)

Scale portions to 143.5 grams each (more or less - if my math is correct, that should make 12 rolls for a 3x4 matrix on the sheet pan).

Form into balls and let rest for about ten minutes.

Form with fingers into disks about 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter with a depressed center. Three of these should fit across a half sheet pan and just barely touch.

Bake at 390° F for 20 minutes or until golden brown (inside temperature should be at least 190. 200 is better. Remove and brush with Earth Balance. Cool on a rack. Slice and store in zip lock bag for up to two days. Freeze for longer periods.

Comment One: These are unquestionably the best rolls I've made to date. The same formulation could be used for dinner rolls, and/or hoagie, and/or hot dog rolls. Sesame or poppy seeds could be added prior to baking.

Comment Two: These are the best rolls I've had from anywhere!

Burger Rolls

Burger Rolls

Quite by accident, I baked some bread last weekend that came out with a much softer crust. This happened because I used a lower temperature, not much lower, maybe 20° F degrees or so. I had been using initial temperatures of around 450° and lowering to 400°. During this bake, I started around 400 and reduced to 380. The crust was soft, almost like what you'd find on a grocery shelf.

It then occurred to me that this may have been my problem all along in my efforts to make soft rolls. So, Sunday, I put these 125 gram burger rolls (buns?) into the oven at 380 for 15 minutes. And they came out just wonderfully soft! My 1000 grams of flour produced about 15 rolls altogether (70% hydration and 10% olive oil).

Ripening Tomatoes

I should be able to use the same method to make dinner rolls, sub rolls, or 'brat rolls. I sliced these, wrapped individually, and dropped them into the freezer, each one awaits a thick juicy slice of tomato, ripe from the garden!

Two Loaves for Sister Sunny!

My dear sister will be returning from her world travels anytime soon! Last I heard she was in London after finishing a safari in Tanzania and a short stop to Cape Town, South Africa. Welcome back, Sunny! These are just for you! Made with KAF, Sir Galahad. Many thanks to the local Hy-Vee bakery manager, Jayme for the flour!

Boule 100% Whole Wheat Flour 70% Hydration

This boule came out of the oven this morning around 7 AM. 100% Organic WW flour from Costco, 70% hydration, 16 hour fermentation (100% hydration pre-ferment). 500 degrees reduced to 375 - about 40 minutes convection.

Corn Bread

This recipe tastes great when served hot tableside with jam or Earth Balance, or try some Vermont Maple Syrup!

Ingredients

Dry

2 cups coarsely ground corn meal

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

Wet

2 2/3 cup almond milk

4 (equivalent) egg-replacer (approx 4 tablespoons - refrigerate 20 min after mixing)

4 ozs vegetable oil

2 cups frozen corn

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place a 12-inch cast iron skillet inside to heat while making the batter.

Whisk together the dry ingredients.

Whisk together the wet ingredients with egg replacer.

Add wet to dry and stir till combined. Don't overdo it. (like pancake batter).

Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

Coat the bottom and sides of the hot skillet with the spray oil. Add batter. Return uncovered skillet to oven. Reduce temperature to 400 degrees. Bake until firm, 200 degrees in center and golden brown.

About 30 minutes. Your results may vary. Allow to cool in skillet 15 minutes and serve.

---

If using a 9" skillet, reduce recipe by half.

Bread Baking with Art

Three Loaves, One Pan

The dough that produced these three loaves used one kilogram of flour (about 7 cups). It was scaled into three equal portions and baked with an initial temperature of 425 reduced after the initial oven spring to 375. About 30 minutes, maybe a little more. Internal temp was 200 degrees F.

Next week I'll replicate this idea of having three loaves on one half sheet pan times four... that's two ovens, two pans for each oven.
I'll need 4000 grams of flour.

Incidentally, the flour mix is 50% all purpose bleached white flour, and 50% microgrind wheat.

These three loaves are in the freezer. Looking forward to the 12 loaf bake on Wednesday morning!

The Best Pizza...

...is the one coming right out of your own oven! This one just came out of an oven in Fairlee, Vermont! Isn't it time for you to make one too? Way to go, Sunny!

Looking good!

Ready for the peel!

Here is the freshest pizza directly from Sunny's oven!
Looks fantastic! 

Megaloaf

Over the weekend, put baked a very large Ciabatta loaf. Here is the result.

Sourdough Waffles with Apple Glaze

This morning's breakfast was a repeat from last week with the addition of an apple glaze made from cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and Merritt Estate Niagara Wine (in place of apple juice). Topped with maple syrup and fresh banana. Over the top! 

Sourdough Waffles

This morning we made waffles from a 100% hydration sourdough starter that fermented at room temperature last night. The batter made 8 delicious waffles that were about 4 inches square.

Here is the recipe:

• Sourdough: 3 cups (600 grams)
• Sugar: 2 tablespoons
• Salt: 1 1/2 teaspoons
• Baking soda: 1 teaspoon
• Almond milk: 4 tablespoons
• Flax eggs: 2 tablespoons of seed ground fine, mixed with water and refrigerated
• EEVO: 2 tablespoons (other vegetable oil is fine)

Combine all ingredients in a sufficiently large bowl until well blended. Don't worry about over mixing like you would with traditional methods. The mix should be homogenous.

Spray your waffle iron with a non-stick spray. Bake according to directions provided by manufacturer.

Serve with maple syrup or the topping of your choice.

Leftovers (if you have any!) can be wrapped and frozen. Great in the toaster for the mornings when you're in a hurry!

Sourdough Boules

Today's baking involved using two slightly different techniques. The boule on the left was baked using the Lahey method of placing it in a cast iron dutch oven, a half hour at 475 with another few minutes with the lid off to achieve just the right color. The loaf on the right had a second rise in a floured banneton and then baked directly on a stone. I used an inverted cast iron dutch oven as a cover and baked at the same time and temperature, 475 for a half hour. No additional time was necessary for browning. The internal temp was 200+ at the finish.

Here is my dough mix:

• 500 grams of sourdough starter
• 750+ grams of flour (unbleached King Arthur)
• 400 grams of warm water
• 23 grams of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Instant Yeast

My initial mix was a little to wet. I added about a handful more of flour until it didn't stick to my hands and then kneaded by hand on a wooden chopping block for about another 8 minutes. Putting it into a covered glass bowl, in a little more than an hour, it had doubled in size.

Next, I scaled the dough into the two loaves you see here. (that should be about 870 grams each).

The bread was delicious and it will be great to have through the coming week. The next time, I plan to age my sourdough a little more, and/or use more of it. Though, I'm quite happy with today's result.

Tomorrow - sourdough waffles!

Stay tuned! 

Plan Ahead With Large Bowls

In preparation for today's bread baking, I doubled my sourdough starter last night before heading up to bed. The picture at the right illustrates what I found this morning before coffee! It was covered with plastic wrap and didn't make a mess, but it was close!

So, remember to use a bowl big enough to contain whatever may happen during the night!

Sourdough Pancakes

Those of you that have been keeping up know that I've been cultivating a sourdough starter now for the better part of two weeks. This morning, I made my first recipe, sourdough pancakes. And they were fantastic.

I'd have to say that I've been a little nervous about this. I've been making scratch pancakes for years, and usually they come out pretty darn good. So, this radical departure from my successful method had me a little worried.

First of all, the starter is a mass of flour and water that bubbles quite vigorously. You keep this stuff in the frig until you're ready to use it. Then take it out and through the magic of time and patience, along with another bunch of water and flour, eventually you end up with the foundation of a batter. You then add the other standard pancake ingredients like eggs (in my case, I used "flax eggs" - more on that later), sugar, salt, oil, milk (I used almond milk) and baking soda - pretty much in standard amounts. Mix all this stuff together to get your batter. Cook in a 400 degree cast iron frying pan.

The initial pancakes didn't come out very round; the batter was very gloppy and glutenous. But even the first one came out just great. They have more texture, and less cakey than traditional pancakes. Almost, dare I use the word, spongey? Almost the consistency of a fresh sponge cake.

The "flax eggs" I used were made from Bob's Red Mills Golden Flax Seeds. They were milled in a coffee grinder (mini food processor) to a near powder and mixed with water, then refrigerated. This is the first time I've used this method and it not only worked well as a substitute for eggs (and very healthy) but also added a nice flavor, kind of nutty.

I've some of the pancakes in the freezer that should warm up nicely some morning in the future.

Now for some sourdough bread! More later...

Real sourdough

Coming along fine! This is the real stuff!

Poolish Sourdough!

Technically, this isn't a sourdough... yet. The hydration is 100% (equal parts of water and flour by weight), and now on it's second day of fermentation. I'll be using half of it sometime tomorrow to make a couple loaves of bread.

I also ran across a pretty good web site for understanding the "chemistry" of sourdough. Check this out:

Sourdoughhome.com

Loaf Pan Bread

Today's bread was baked in loaf pans. I used a PAM spray to keep the loaves from sticking. Baked at 350 for about 40 minutes in a convection oven. Should make good sandwiches.

Art's Dutch Oven Bread

Just received a note from Dad that his bread came out alright. Looks good to me! Go, Art!

Crumb and Crust

So, here it is. By the way, I used unbleached all purpose flour in these loaves. It is a softer, less chewy loaf than results from using bread flour. And just to reiterate, I used no oil in the pot (or recipe, for that matter) at all.

Pot Loaf

I discussed a few bread baking tips with my sister, Sunny, today and decided I'd actually test some of these great tips to see if they work! It has been quite some time since I'd tried the Jim Lahey method of baking bread in a cast iron Dutch oven. Somehow, I've never been too attracted to the idea; maybe it is just too simple. So, using the Lahey-Bittman method of a quick rise (using a few drops of red wine vinegar in the dough), I began the dough this morning and just finished baking my first loaf. It looks great! I have another in the oven. I'll be cutting into this shortly, but have no fear that it didn't come out just as Jim said it would.

As Jim explained in the video, I used very little yeast, water at 120 F, with an initial rise of 3 hours. I used 1000 grams of flour with 750 grams of water and divided the dough into two loaves. (75% hydration...) My pot is fairly large. I used a 475 degree convection oven for the entire baking process. For the uncovered portion, the time was about 10 minutes, maybe less, probably accelerated by the convection oven. The inside temp was 200 at the end of the baking.

Two Mistakes to a Perfect Roll!

So often we're afraid to experiment in the kitchen to learn what might work best. I guess it is a good thing Edison didn't feel that way...

Last week I made some potato rolls based on a recipe I found on the Food Network website. They weren't too bad - I mean, you could eat them. But they were too small, too sweet, and frankly, they gave me indigestion. (Other than that, they were fine...!).

Today, I tried again with another batch. Rather than using Idaho potatoes, I used Yukon Gold. I also used a potato ricer to mush up the potatoes (from OXO - and it works great). The only change I had intended to make was to scale them 50% larger. Rather than using 2 oz dough balls, I decided to use 3 oz.

The ingredients called for were:

• Flour
• Some kind of milk (cow, soy, rice, or almond)
• Some kind of fat (butter, vegetable oil, or Earth Balance)
• Cooked and riced potatoes
• Eggs or Egg replacer as a binder
• Salt
• Sugar

So I whipped up a batch of dough and as I was scaling it into 3 oz balls, I suddenly remembered I left out the sugar. Oops. Too late now. So, into the oven they went.

When I took them out, I remembered that I also forgot the egg/replacer. Phooey.

But they came out great!

So! Yes, I could have added a little sugar, but really, they were fine without it. I can't imagine what the egg would have done to make them any better.

In two identical pans, I baked 9 in one, and 16 in another. The 16 rolls went in first, and the 9 - with additional time to proof - came out even larger and much lighter. But, they're both good.

Lesson learned: Venture forth! Try it out! See what happens!