Brewed Bread

As you have probably discovered by now, Trista is the main baker of the two of us. However, sometimes I (Serena) get inspired by her experiments and try some of my own. She had told me about baking bread in a dutch oven, and that she agreed with the recipe, that the loaf had turned out to have a good, moist crumb and a crust that gave the appearance and flavor of a professional artisan bread.

She shared the recipe with me, and I found another one that was similar; using a dutch oven, but this time adding beer. The claim was that the bread was more flavorful with beer and a bit of vinegar. I tried the recipe she gave me, and had similar results. It was a nice loaf, although a bit small. However, the idea of having more flavor was a siren call I had to answer. So, I tried the beer recipe. Well, it did have more flavor, but the loaf was still small. The newspaper then had a recipe for a large round loaf to be baked on a cookie sheet. I looked at that recipe, and then looked at the beer recipe, and decided to see what I could do to use beer in the other loaf's ingredients, and then bake it in a dutch oven. Yay!! It worked wonderfully well. I have repeated the recipe, refining the directions, and now I am satisfied that it will work every time.


The best part was sharing it with Trista today, and since she just about jumped out of her seat with pleasure at the freshly baked bread, it was time to share it with you. In the loaf pictured above I added 1 tablespoon potato flour for each cup of flour along with wheat germ and flax seed.

Dutch-Oven Beer Bread:

Yield: 1 large loaf

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon yeast
1 cup water -- room temperature
1 1/2 cups beer, light (or a whole 12 ounce bottle of beer)-- room temperature
2 tablespoons vinegar
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon salt
4 1/2 cups unbleached flour

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, yeast, and water until it is smooth with some lumps, like pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel and leave at room temperature for 2 hours. It will become bubbly.

Into the starter, stir the remaining ingredients with a few strokes to make a scraggly dough. Cover the bowl and set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes to let the flour absorb all the liquids.

If using a stand mixer, attach dough hook and mix for 10 minutes on medium speed. The dough will clean the sides but stick to the bottom. Using a spatula, scrape the dough hook, sides, and bottom of the bowl to collect all the dough into a ball. Leave in the bowl.

If kneading by hand, work the spatula firmly through the dough to collect as much of the flour as you can. Scrape the dough onto a clean, unfloured countertop. Set a kitchen timer for 15 minutes and knead. The dough will become very elastic and will still be sticky. Using the spatula collect the dough, including any scraps from the counter and your hands, into a ball. Flour your hands and place the dough back into the bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel. Let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.

Lay a piece of parchment paper - about 12"x18" - in the bottom of a skillet. You can either spray it with nonstick spray or cover it with about 1/4 cup cornmeal (that's what I do).

Dust the countertop with flour and tip the dough from the bowl onto the floured surface. Use a spatula to remove all bits of dough from the bowl. Flour your hands well and lift and tuck the edges of the dough underneath over and over until the dough has formed a smooth ball.

Place the dough ball with tucked edges down onto the cornmeal-covered parchment paper. Sprinkle lightly with flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and leave to rise until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.

About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8- quart heavy-bottomed dutch oven with lid on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough (if needed beyond what you did before) .

Using a razor blade or sharp knife, make a slit in the top of the loaf about 6" long and 1/2" deep. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid.

Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower gently into pot. Let any extra parchment hang out, and put on the lid.

Place in oven and reduce temperature to 425 degrees. Bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake an additional 20-30 minutes longer, to between 200-210 degrees on instant-read thermometer, or well-browned on top and golden brown all over.

Carefully remove from pot using edges of parchment. Place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

If desired, you may add 1/2 c pitted, chopped green olives, 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, and 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary to recipe when ready to knead. Delicious served with spaghetti.

If desired, you may add wheat germ, flax seed meal, potato flour, or similar add-ins (soy flour, oat flour, etc). Just place 1 tablespoon of each you wish to use in the bottom of each cup of flour before measuring, so the same amount is added overall. The potato flour helps to keep the bread moist. The wheat bran and flax seed meal add extra nutrition, as may your other add-ins.

Enjoy!

April Showers Bring May Showers

As you could see if you checked out the April NOAA precipitation and temperature information from a couple of our blogs past, our Pacific Northwest region was cooler and wetter than normal. If the past week – and upcoming week’s forecast – is any guide, May will not be far behind.

Although it is definitely soggy outside, the green beauty and lush native landscape of our area is on full display. The wild flags are in bloom now, and the native dogwoods have just finished. False Solomon’s Seal has spread throughout the woodland behind the house, along with wild ginger. Snowberry and wild roses are setting buds. Sword ferns have unfurled their new fronds, and the combinations of native trees, bushes, and flowers along the pathways look as if an artist combined them there. The tree frogs that abound have stopped their mating chorus, and the spring-fed pond below our house is full of their eggs.

Newts (like the one pictured above) have been sighted around the house too; and likely have their egg cases mixed in with frog eggs in the pond. And, our chamomile- pictured above-is blooming nicely and ready for harvest to make tea! Spring, even with its more than usually wild and wet weather, is definitely here!

Spring is in the garden, too. In the garden, we see bunches of microscopic grapes, and the raspberries are setting. Our boysenberries are just beginning to bloom, too.

For further seed planting, though, we will wait. We have heard tales of over-eager gardeners in our area planting and then replanting, as their first seeds rotted in the ground from all the rainfall. It’s not a problem for the plants we set out earlier –the damp and cool weather seems to suit them. So, the brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are just fine, as are the onions. The peas have not yet bloomed, but are growing nicely.

It’s okay, though, as our growing season is long enough to accommodate a later planting. We often don’t plant anything until mid-June, but still have a good and plentiful harvest. This year we thought we’d try to get several plantings in for several of the vegetables, but if the rain doesn’t permit, it doesn’t. Spring weather can be iffy in the northwest.

Progress of a Weaving Sort

Since our weather has made it difficult to garden, I (Serena) decided to work on a weaving project I have had in mind for some time now. I had some white silk thread given to me by a weaving friend, Hilda Minnickel, several years ago. Hilda wasn’t interested in using the silk herself, but picked it up at a garage sale for a dollar, thinking that I might like it. The silk is very fine, and has frequent slubs and uneven lengths in it which should give character to a simple weave structure. The color is a creamy white, with the sheen characteristic of silk. At the time Hilda gave it to me, I couldn’t think of how I could use it, although I knew I would some day. Since successfully completing a hand-woven upholstery project recently, I realized the silk would be perfect for some rather formal seating I have from my husband’s family. The loveseat has a carved wooden back and curved arms with an upholstered seat. The slipper chair is small with slender legs. It has an upholstered back, and its upholstered seat ends in a pleated ruffle. I would like to use this furniture together in a guest bedroom. These pieces should be worth the time and trouble to make the fabric and upholster since they are antiques, thus more looked at than used; so the work should last.

Although the silk is fine, the upholstery projects are small; so I think I can manage to weave enough. I am going to make a warp of dark red silk stripes in a creamy white background, with creamy white silk weft. A simple satin weave should show off the character and sheen of the threads.

The first task was to wind the eight skeins of fine white silk onto spools. The person who sold them at the garage sale had tried to wind off the silk into balls, but as the three small balls attest, it was tough going. The spools work much better. Even so, it took several hours to wind the silk, spread over several days. The red silk is already wound on a cone, so no preparation was necessary for that. Now it is time to make the warp.

Because of summer activities, the project will go slowly, but there’s no rush. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Quick Suburban Garden Report:

As you can see my (Trista's) strawberries have grown tremendously! There are many berries formed on the plants, all we need is a little sunshine to ripen them but it has been in short supply lately!

Both of my rhubarb plants have been growing very well with all of the rain as well. I hope to harvest a bit of rhubarb combined with rhubarb I get from the farmer's market this weekend in order to make some pies next week. I'll post about that later!

Last but not least, my mint that I have planted in a pot is going crazy! I have two varieties in this pot pictured above as well as some "volunteer mint" in another corner of the garden. I'll have to dream up a tasty recipe for this sometime as well!

Have a great week!

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Cranberry Bagels

Even though it's been a busy week I couldn't go without making bread! So, since I had some success with making whole wheat bagels in the past I decided to make them again and try some new techniques and change the recipe a bit. I had run out of raisins so I decided to use some dried cranberries instead.

The new techniques I tried were giving the bagels a longer initial rising time, a longer second rising or "floor time" and also adding some vital wheat gluten to the dough.

My son Adam had such fun "sifting" the flour while I made the dough and of course eating the dough after it was kneaded. That is his preferred way to eat bread!


I'm not sure if it was due to my changes or not, but the bagels turned out really well and it was amazing to eat one hot out of the oven! That's a good way to start off your morning!!

Here's the recipe with my notes:

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Cranberry Bagels:

2 cups warm water (110 degrees) - I usually use the hottest tap water I can get
2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast or 1 tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup sugar mixed with 2 to 3 tablespoons cinnamon (save some of this mixture for sprinkling on top)
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 21/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional)
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

cornmeal for dusting baking sheets
1 egg + 1 tablespoon water for glaze

1. Mix together sugar, yeast and water in your mixer bowl. Let it rest for 5 minutes or until it's foamy.

2. Mix in salt and cinnamon sugar mixture.

3. Add in the 3 cups of whole wheat flour and mix for about 5 minutes or so on medium speed. Then, add in the unbleached all purpose flour a 1/2 cup at a time until you achieve a stiff dough ball.

4. Switch to the dough hook attachment and knead for 5 minutes or knead for 5-10 minutes on a lightly floured board by hand.

5. Put the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover. Allow it to rise in a warm place until double in bulk. I allowed my dough to rise for 2 hours.


6. Take dough out of bowl after rising time and punch down the dough. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a log and pinch it together to form a bagel shape. Put the bagels on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise or have "floor time" for 2 hours. I decided to lengthen this step to see if it would rise the bagels more or create more flavor.

7. After the bagels have risen put them into the refrigerator overnight to rest.

8. The following morning boil 2 quarts water and 1 tablespoon of honey or sugar in a large pot (about a 5 quart soup pot). Boil 3-4 bagels at a time for 15-20 seconds per side. Then, let them drain on a cooling rack that has been greased with cooking spray and has a kitchen towel underneath it.

9. Mix the egg and water. Brush the mixture on each bagel and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

10. Preheat the oven to 400F.

11. Put the bagels on back onto the baking sheets and bake them for a total of 30 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom after 15 minutes of baking time.

12. Remove from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack. Don't forget to slice one and try it with butter straight from the oven! They are great toasted after that but the first one is the BEST!
Enjoy!

Happy baking, gardening & living!

A delicious whole grain bread

Yesterday I was determined to both use up the rest of some buttermilk I had in the fridge and make some bread. So, I found a recipe for buttermilk whole wheat bread. I changed it slightly and I'm happy that it is a delicious, soft bread with very good flavor. It didn't rise as much as I would have hoped but next time I'll try using a longer rising time before forming it into loaves.

Here is my version of the recipe. I found the adapted version of this from the blog "The Fresh Loaf"

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Bread:

from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

makes 1 9"x5" or 2 8.5"x4.5" loaves

Ingredients

2 packages dry yeast or 2 teaspoons instant yeast

3/4 cup warm water (105-115F)

1-1/4 cups buttermilk, room temperature (or 1-1/4 cups water and 4 tablespoons buttermilk powder)

1-1/2 cups bread flour, approximately (or I use unbleached all purpose flour)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

2 tablespoons brown sugar or molasses

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 - Mix together the warm water, the buttermilk, the whole wheat flour, the brown sugar or molasses, and the baking powder. Let this mixture set for about 60 minutes. This is called the autolyse method. The autolyse method causes the flour to soak up the liquids and the enzymes start to work which then breaks down the protein in the flour. This produces a very nice, fluffy bread.

2 - Mix in the instant yeast.

3 - Stir in the salt.

4 - Stir in the softened butter.

5 - Stir in bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time. I used about 1 cup in the dough.

6 - Knead by hand or by dough hook on a stand mixer for about 5 minutes or until dough is no longer sticky.

7 - Put the dough into a clean and greased mixing bowl. Put the kneaded dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 3-4 hours. I let it rise for about 2 hours, but the extra time might yield loftier loaves.

8 - Punch down the the dough slightly, shape into loaf or loaves, place in pan(s). Cover the pans loosely with with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until the dough has risen 1" to 2" above the level of the pan, about 50-60 minutes.

9 - Preheat oven to 425F 20 minutes before baking.

10 - Bake the loaf or loaves in the oven until they are golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

11 - Remove loaves from the oven and place on wire racks to cool.

Enjoy your bread & see you later this week for more gardening news!

Promises of Homegrown Tea & Weather Woes

My Mom and I are hoping to grow and harvest a bit of our own tea this year. On a windy, rainy day like today we love to drink a nice cup of hot tea!

Pictured above is a tea plant. I (Trista) have 2 such plants in my yard from which I hope to harvest new, budding leaves to later process for tea. My Mom and I are also growing lemon balm, bee balm and chamomile which are also great plants for tea!

We'd like to share a site with you which talks about recipes for tea from plants we are growing.

http://www.theepicentre.com/

Here is some information my Mom gleaned from the site which we plan to use this year as we harvest our tea:

Harvesting and Using Chamomile:

"I grow German chamomile for tea, the Bodegold variety. It will get over 2 feet high. I use my fingers as a "rake" and harvest the whole flower heads. You can use chamomile fresh or dry it. I don't crumble my dried chamomile to store it. I keep all my dried herbs as whole as possible. Crushing/crumbling releases the volatile oils and there goes the flavor and medicinal value. I crush as I use the herb. Chamomile combines very well with lemon balm (fresh or dried) for an excellent tea."

Harvesting and Using Lemon Balm:

"Lemon Balm is a citrus y and fresh scented herb. It is very prolific and easily grown
Fresh or dried leaves are used in teas, infusions, and oils. Fresh leaves can be stored in plastic bags in the fridge for a few days or they can be frozen. Dried leaves should be stored in an airtight container. To dry leaves, avoid exposure to light or heat, spread out on newspaper or hang in bunches in a dark airy place. The leaves lose some of their flavor when dried. Dried leaves can be used as an ingredient in pot-potpourris."

Harvesting and Using Bee Balm:

"It is best to use the flowers for tea, the leaves have a hotter, oregano-like flavor. Enliven the taste and look of salads by adding a sprinkling of bergamot (bee balm) flowers. Use fresh or dried leaves in tomato dishes, and as a substitute for sage in stuffing for poultry and meats, especially pork and veal. The fresh leaves can be added to jellies, punch, lemonade or wine to add extra taste."

Wet and Cold Weather- Changing Our Garden Plans:

As we mentioned in earlier posts our April here in the state of Oregon was very wet and cold and thus resulted in some seeds that did not come up. We found out through NOAA that this April was unusually wet and cold.

See the complete article here:

http://tinyurl.com/2g6lr7y

This week has been very rainy with the occasional sun break and we've also had some very strong winds! I think that last May was considerably drier and sunnier.

Rural Garden, Suburban Garden

Rural Garden Report:

Our dill isn't coming up, even though we planted it about three weeks ago. There are a lot of little plants there, but I think they are weeds. The cold and wet period between the time we planted it and now is a reminder that Pacific Northwest weather has its own challenges. Although we don't have freezing past the middle of April, the rain, rain, rain hampers seedling growth. It's warming up and drying out, so we will try again. It shows us that no matter what a seed packet says ("plant 1 week after last frost"), we have to pay attention to local conditions. We will buy another packet of dill seeds and try again.

I (Serena) have been hardening off the tomato and pepper seedlings that have fully developed true leaves. I put them out on the deck in an area that gets a couple of hours of sun a day, and then the rest of the day it is partial sun. I think I can more them to a sunnier spot now that they have had time outdoors with some direct sun. The soil in the garden is not yet warm enough for us to plant them, however, by my reckoning. I don't have a thermometer yet.

Since some of our seedlings didn't develop, I decided to plant a few more. There were two pepper types that didn't germinate well, so I thought with longer and warmer days, they might do better now. Well, we did get some more, but I have learned that Ancho peppers do have to have a lot of warmth. I ended up putting the little pots into a plastic bag in my sunny south kitchen window. They liked that, and most of them germinated. I did even better with the Tolli's Italian Red Pepper. Meanwhile, the seedlings that we planted a while back in the garden like the cabbage pictured above are doing very well!

I also started some flower seedlings: bloodflower, spider flower, columbines, and blanket flower, and snapdragons. They are all coming up, even the native columbine seeds I got from Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Since they are native to this area and came to Jefferson from Lewis and Clark, I am excited about this, as I hope to reintroduce them to our woodlands.

We want to move the young chickens outdoors this weekend, and also would like to fence the area next to the garden and orchard so that the older chickens can work on that spot. Those chickens spend a lot of time over by the garden where they used to dig worms, and are looking at it rather wistfully. I think they miss both the worms and the greens. It will be good to get them into a larger area that isn't so picked over.

We got the rest of our new trees fenced, so they are protected from deer now. The deer managed to get at one more tree before we finished the project, but fortunately the tree still has plenty of leaves.

Trista and Adam came today, and it is beautiful! The sky is blue, and the temperature is in the 70s. Trista brought along some organic potatoes she had bought at the supermarket, but since they are sprouting we have decided to plant them. We should have plenty of potatoes now!

Adam discovered rhubarb today! He brought the first stalk to his mother, and when she ate it, he decided he ought to get another for her. After picking that, he brought it to her, but not without tasting it first. He is pretty adventurous, and likes most everything, so we are not surprised.

Suburban Garden Report:


In my (Trista's) backyard the plants in our new raised beds made out of concrete cinder blocks are doing very well for the most part. Most of the plants I have planted in these are ones that I had elsewhere but they weren't getting enough sun where they were. In the bed where I have 2 rhubarb plants and some strawberry plants one of the rhubarb plants is really starting to thrive while the other is rather lackluster. It is probably still shocked from the move earlier this spring.


On the other side of the planter my everbearing strawberry plants are thriving! This is their third year and they have many strawberries forming on them as well as many more blooms. Before they were in large pots but I think having more soil and sunlight has done wonders for them.


In another area my six blueberry plants are slowly getting healthier. One of the plants is considerably larger than the rest and actually has a few berries starting to form on it. The other plants are just getting up to speed so they won't produce any berries this year.

The third planter just contains our one "sharecropper" pumpkin plant and some soil covered in black plastic awaiting the peanuts and sweet potatoes that I plant to plant there later on in the summer when the soil has warmed up considerably.

I have also tried to plant some flower seeds in outdoor pots. I have had varied success with this due to the cold and wet weather that was mentioned above, as well as the squirrels who dig up the ground for their hidden nuts or places to put them! After almost giving up I noticed last weekend that many of my nasturtiums have finally come up. Some pots have many seedlings while others have none or one! I will fill in with other seeds or small starts later on. I also planted my front yard planter with blanketflower and marigold seeds so hopefully those will come up soon with the warmer weather.

See you again next week!

A little slice of heaven!

After my earlier debacle with the sourdough bagels I was in the mood for some good bread! So, I decided to create a new twist on an old favorite. Last weekend we all went to a Scottish restaurant for breakfast where we tried some Scottish Oatmeal. It was so creamy and delicious! For a long time I have not been a fan of cooked oatmeal for breakfast, but this kind of oatmeal has changed my mind. We bought some Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal at the store last weekend to make up some cereal for ourselves. It is a very finely ground oatmeal that is very healthy and tasty as well! So, I decided to try using it in an old family recipe for oat bread.

This recipe makes two loaves. I usually keep one loaf plain and for the other one I create a cinnamon swirl in the middle. This time I put brown sugar and nutmeg in the swirl since that's what Scottish oatmeal is usually made with according to the Scottish place we visited. It was fantastic! It's even softer than the original bread and delicious! Enjoy!

Scottish Oatmeal Bread: Yields: 2 loaves

2 cups Scottish oatmeal
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons brown sugar
5 + cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons yeast
1 egg yolk
4 tablespoons rolled oats (to top the bread for decoration)

For swirl filling:

4 tablespoons melted butter
6+ tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. Warm the milk, water and butter either in a saucepan on the stove until the butter is melted or in the microwave for about 4 minutes. Place the oats and 4 tablespoons brown sugar in the mixer bowl and pour the liquid over. Let stand until just warm or lukewarm, about 30 minutes.

2. Stir in 3 cups of flour, salt and yeast. Mix together thoroughly. Change to dough hook, or gradually stir in by hand; adding enough additional flour to make a soft dough that holds its shape. Knead until smooth and elastic- about 10 minutes by hand or 6-7 minutes with a dough hook, or til the dough is not sticky and pulls cleanly from the bowl sides.

3. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a clean greased bowl, turning to grease all sides. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place free from draft until doubled, about one hour. I like to place the bowl in a sink filled with warm water.


4. Grease 2 small loaf pans. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and cut into two equal pieces. Form 2 rectangles of dough. On one rectangle brush the 4 tablespoons of melted butter onto the dough. Then, sprinkle it with brown sugar and the one teaspoon nutmeg. Roll up and place into a prepared pan. Form the other loaf and place into the pan. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled- about 20 to 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 425 F.

6. Uncover loaves, brush with the egg yolk mixed with water and sprinkle each loaf with oatmeal. Bake until golden brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 25-30 minutes. Unmold the loaves and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy a yummy slice of bread!

Sourdough Cheddar and Chive Bagels- More Trials & Tribulations...

After harvesting some fresh chives from my Mom Serena's deck box as pictured above I was inspired to make some sourdough bagels featuring this herb. I had never baked anything with chives in it and I was curious to find out how it would taste in a bagel. Since I'm experimenting with my sourdough starter and have successfully made bagels before, I decided to create a hybrid recipe out of a basic sourdough bagel recipe and give it a try. Wanting to also try a plain sourdough bagel I left part of the dough plain. This is an overnight + 2 day process (overnight to rise the sourdough sponge; 1 day to rise the dough, form the bagels and refrigerate them; and 1 morning to boil and bake the bagels.

Here is the recipe & the results:

Sourdough Cheddar Chive Bagels:

Makes: 7-12 bagels ( my first attempt yielded 7 bagels)

1/2 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3+ cups additional flour
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

cornmeal for dusting baking sheet

1 egg beaten + 2 tablespoons water
+ 1/2 cup or more of shredded sharp cheddar cheese for topping the bagels

1. Mix sourdough starter, warm water, and flour in a bowl. Cover and let sit overnight (I let it sit in a sink full of warm water); the mixture should look bubbly in the morning.

2. To this mixture add the sugar, salt and #+ cups additional flour. Mix well.

3. Knead dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes or knead using a dough hook on a stand mixer for 10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double. I let the dough rise for about 6 hours before forming the bagels.

4. Punch down the dough and divide into 7-8 balls. Make sure to have a floured surface to form the bagels on. Roll each ball into a log and form a circle to form the bagel. Place the bagels on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Put a towel over the formed bagels on the sheet and refrigerate them overnight.

5. The next morning bring 2 quarts of water to a boil on the stove. Have near the stove a cooling rack that has been greased with a kitchen towel underneath it. Drop 2-3 bagels into the boiling water at a time. Boil for 15 seconds on each side. Then, remove them with a slotted spoon to drain on the cooling rack.

6. Mix the beaten egg with water. Brush this mixture on the bagels. Then, sprinkle the bagels with the remaining shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

7. Bake the bagels at 350F for 35 minutes. Bagels are finished with they are golden brown and shiny.

My results:

I altered this recipe a bit after baking the bagels this morning because although they are delicious I think that some things could be improved by trying the recipe again. They have a good flavor, and crust but they are a bit too dense. I did end up baking them a bit longer than 35 minutes after I saw how dense they were, but I think that other factors in the recipe contributed to their denseness. Below I'll outline why I think the changes (which have been applied to the recipe above) will help next time I make these bagels.

The initial sponge:

The original recipe called for only 2 tablespoons of sourdough starter mixed with warm water and flour to create a sponge for the dough to be mixed the following day after resting the sponge overnight. I think that that amount needs to be increased to at least a 1/2 cup because my dough did not rise very much.

Mixing in additional flour:

Next, I didn't mix in much more than 2 cups of additional flour to the sponge along with the sugar and salt. I think that additional flour might have helped the texture of the bagels to be a little bit lighter- still dense but not too dense!

Thus, I think that starting out with more sourdough starter in the sponge and adding more flour to the dough would greatly improve these bagels. It was a fun experiment and the chives were a great addition to the bagels. They still stayed quite fresh & flavorful in the finished product.

I think that my next baking project besides pie will involve regular yeast because although I have enjoyed my foray into sourdough baking it is fairly unpredictable. A little respite and time with some regular yeast recipes will restore my confidence so that once again I will tackle another sourdough recipe!

Happy Baking!

Potatoes and . . .

A week of interesting happenings ended with us finally being able to prepare the garden for potatoes and get them planted. The beginning of the week was really last Friday evening, after we posted our first blog post. We had planted three new fruit trees first thing that morning - a Green Gage plum, and two apples - Macintosh and Granny Smith. When putting the chickens in the chicken house, we decided to take a walk to see the rest of the orchard, and it was a good thing we did. A deer had decided to lunch on the Granny! We quickly surrounded each new tree with some fencing, so at least they are okay, but we don't have the fencing completely secure yet. More on that later.


We had a colder than average week, but at least it didn't freeze. We like to check NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency) for weather information, and discovered that they had other information for gardeners. One we really appreciated was their recommendations for fertilizer to protect our environment all the way from here to coral reefs. Chicken poop is at the top of their list! Humus is right behind! That seemed so funny, yet so nice, to know how our little chicken/egg/poop producers can help to save the planet.

In order to diversify, we planted four kinds of potatoes. If we're planning to eat all this good stuff, after all, who wants to eat the same old thing all the time? Monocultures are for industrial farmers, and we want to stay away from that as far as we can get. We hand-dug the bed because the soil is still pretty damp. Trista's son Adam even had fun getting in on the act with his little trowel! There was a nice breeze, so while we had lunch the soil had a chance to dry out a little, and we could get on with planting. We checked the recommendations from our local university, which suggested planting them 4 to 6 inches deep and about 1 foot apart in the row, with three feet between rows. Okay, we're all set.

All Blue potatoes went in first. We chose them because they aren't just pretty, they are supposed to have a higher vitamin and mineral content. We might as well be healthy along with all this diversity, right? Next we planted All Red. I think we might have a patriotic theme going here. The remaining potatoes we planted are the familiar Yukon Golds and last in was German Butterball.

We are harvesting rhubarb and chives right now. Permanent plantings are sure nice this time of year. The rhubarb will go into a pie, and the chives are going to have a starring role in some of Trista's lovely bread. Recipes will be coming soon!

Sweet and Sour- Trista's Misadventures with Sourdough Bread

A few days ago I decided to make a sourdough starter. I had used one a few years ago that produced delightful , artisan bread, but it was not sour. So, I decided to try again with a different starter and bread recipe. The bread pictured above is the result of my labors and was baked yesterday. However lovely it was not sour as I had hoped it would be.

I found the recipe for a milk and yogurt based the sourdough starter in "The Best of Sunset" recipe book that my mom Serena gave to me a few weeks ago. Before I had tried a simple water and flour starter. I had high hopes that this sourdough starter recipe would make- as promised- a real sourdough bread.


Possible Reasons My Starter Was Not Sour:

There may be some reasons as to which this did not occur but I cannot be sure as to exactly why. The recipe stated that the starter needed to remain at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit for 2-5 days after the initial 24 hour period in which the starter began. At first, I put the starter on top of the hot water heater because the article suggested that this was an area that was warm enough. However, when I went to check on the jars they were not very warm. So, I decided to put the jars in my slow cooker on the high setting for the remainder of the 24 hour period. In retrospect I probably should have kept it on the low setting- perhaps it got too warm. For the next 2-3 days after I added the flour to the starter I kept the slow cooker on the low setting. Maybe I should have put water in the cooker as well because the bottom of the starter mixture actually "baked". Finally, I might have waited another day or two to let the flavor develop further. I will never know for sure, but I can ponder the possible problems with the starter.

The Sweeter Side Of The Slice:

Although there were issues with the sourness of the final product, the starter did work quite well as a bread "sponge". As pictured above it bubbled quite nicely in the bowl for around 8 hours before I started making the dough for the second and third rises. Because of this bubbling and because I tasted some of the dough and it was sour I had high expectations that the bread was going to be real sourdough bread!

I have replenished my starter by adding equal amounts of flour and milk in case I want to make any more breads that call for a sourdough starter. Although they may not be sour- their texture will be quite nice.

I am including the sourdough starter recipe as well as the bread recipe as I adapted them from the book. You might want to try your luck at this starter and see what results.

Milk and Yogurt Sourdough Starter- Adapted from "The Best of Sunset"

Ingredients:

1 cup skim milk (non fat milk gives the most sour flavor)
2 tablespoons low fat yogurt
1 cup all purpose flour (add later)

Heat the milk to 90 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat and mix in the yogurt. Pour milk into the warm container ( I used a large canning jar with a metal lid), cover tightly, and let stand in a warm place where the temperature is between 80F and 100F. If the temperature is above 110F the bacteria may be killed and the starter will not get bubbly.

After 18-24 hours, the starter should look like yogurt and a curd will form. If any clear liquid appears, stir it back in. If the liquid is a pink color you will need to throw the starter out and begin again.

Once the curd has formed, slowly stir in 1 cup of all purpose flour into the starter until it is smoothly blended. Cover tightly and let stand in a warm place until the mixture is very bubbly and has a good sour smell; it should take 2-5 days.

Each time you use your starter replenish your supply by adding equal parts of warm skim milk and all purpose flour to replace the amount of starter you used. For example if you use 1 cup of starter add 1 cup of warm milk (90 to 100F) and 1 cup of all purpose flour. Cover and let stand several hours after mixing or until the next day. Then, refrigerate it until you use it again.

Make sure to warm your starter overnight or for 4-6 hours before starting your bread baking process.

Sourdough French Bread- Adapted from "The Best of Sunset"

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (about 110F)
1 cup sourdough starter
Around 8 cups all purpose flour- I use unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons each salt and sugar
6 tablespoons cornmeal
1 teaspoon cornstarch and 1/2 cup water, stirred together

Sponge:

In a large bowl, combine the warm water, starter and 4 cups of the flour; stir until the mixture is smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at about 85F until very thick and bubbly- 6 to 8 hours or until the next day. I kept my sponge warm by putting the bowl in the sink and adding the hottest tap water I could to the sink. I periodically changed the water to make sure it remained warm.

Make the Dough:

When your sponge is ready mix in the salt, sugar, ,and about 3 more cups of flour or enough to form a very stiff dough. Then, mix the dough either with a stand mixer equipped with a dough hook or by hand. If you are using a dough hook mix in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of flour until the dough pulls cleanly from the sides of the bowl. If you are mixing the dough by hand spread part of a cup of flour onto a board or the clean counter. Scrape the dough out onto the board or counter and knead it until it is smooth and elastic- about 10 to 12 minutes.

First Rising:

Place dough into a greased bowl and turn over to grease the top. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until doubled- 1 1 /2 to 2 hours. I like to either put the bowl back into the sink with warm water or use the "warm" setting on my oven for this rising.

Form the Loaves:

After this first rising- punch down the dough and knead it a bit on a lightly floured board. Divide the dough into 2 pieces. I formed my loaves into rounds which I prefer but you can also make a long log loaf if you wish. Sprinkle 2 baking sheets each with 3 tablespoons of cornmeal. Place the formed loaves onto the baking sheets.

Second Rising:

Cover loaves with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I let these rise in the oven on the "warm" setting- or you can heat your oven to around 200F, turn it off- and then use the ambient heat to let the loaves rise. When the loaves are done rising- take the plastic wrap off.

Bread Preparation & Baking:

Adjust the oven racks so that there is one at the lowest position & two evenly spaced above it. Place a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack Just before you bake the bread pour hot water- (about 1/4 inch up) into the baking sheet to create steam while the bread is baking.

In the meantime- in a 2 to 4 cup saucepan, bring the cornstarch and water mixture to a boil while stirring and let cool. Cut slashes on the top of your bread with a very sharp knife before baking. Then, brush the loaves with the cornstarch mixture.

Bake at 400F for 10 minutes. Then, brush each loaf again with the cornstarch mixture. After this, rotate the bread loaves from bottom rack to top rack so that they will bake evenly. Bake for 20- 25 minutes more until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap them.

Enjoy your amazing bread!!

Coming soon....recipes for using fresh chives and rhubarb from the garden this spring!