MELLOW BAKERS: BEER BREAD WITH ROASTED BARLEY

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Taking the Mellow Bakers Challenge in the mellowest possible way, I made the last bread of June in the first week of July… 😉 This was a slightly more complicated recipe, as it required roasted barley – not just the grain, mind you – but “malted barley“, not very easy to find, unless you have access to a beer brewery. Following the footsteps of other bakers, I decided to make my own, and it was a fun (and successful) project! I highly recommend that you read Susan’s article about malt and its uses in bread, she did a great job explaining it all.

For Hamelman’s Beer Bread, you need a poolish (made the day before), roasted barley, beer, flour and commercial yeast. The malted barley gives the bread a beautiful reddish tone, and the beer a flavor that is surprisingly delicate for such a hearty-looking bread. To allow me to bake it early in the morning, I retarded the dough overnight after the final proofing.

Comments: Making malted barley seems intimidating at first, but once again I asked the help of an expert, and brought Dan Lepard to the rescue. His book, The Handmade Loaf, has clear instructions on how to do it. Here is a quick summary of it…

THe process starts by soaking the grains in water, for 2 to 3 days, keeping them in a cool place..

Then, the grains are rinsed, spread over a damp paper, covered, and kept for 4 days in a cool place, until the sprouted portion is twice the size of the grain. Aren’t they cute? 😉
(click to enlarge)

Finally, the sprouted barley is thoroughly dried (for 12 hours or so), and either roasted for a few minutes and ground (to make this bread), or dried at 50 C for several hours and ground into a powder (to make malt powder, and use in any bread that benefits from it).

Follow this link, so you can read about all my fellow bakers who stuck to the plan and had this bread made last month… 😉

4Jul2010

A GOLDEN SANDWICH BREAD

Posted in Breads by sallybr

The past couple years of sourdough baking turned me into a wild yeast purist, to the point that using commercial yeast feels like cheating. So, it’s time for a confession: I cheated last weekend and used commercial yeast to bake my bread. However, instead of penance, I got a beautiful, golden loaf to enjoy the rest of the week! 😉

SEMOLINA SANDWICH LOAF
(from Daniel Leader, Local Breads)

300 grams water (1 + 1/2 cups) at 70 to 78 F
5 grams instant yeast (1 tsp)
500 grams fine semolina (durum) flour (3 + 1/4 cup)
15 grams granulated sugar (1 Tbs)
50 grams extra-virgin olive oil (1/4 cup)
10 grams sea salt (1 + 1/2 tsp)

Pour the water into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast, flour, sugar, olive oil and salt and stir just until a rough dough forms.

Use the dough hook and mix the dough on medium speed (4 on a KitchenAid type mixer) until it is very smooth and elastic, about 9 minutes. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container, cover and leave to rise at room temperature until it doubles (1.5 to 2 hours).

Optional: go for a run during this time and come back to find out that 1 hour and 10 minutes later your dough is about to walk out the door to greet you).

Grease a loaf pan (8 1/2 x 4 1/2) with oil. Lightly dust the counter with semolina flour, place the dough on it, and shape it as a loaf. Insert it into the pan, with the seam side down. Dust the top lightly with semolina flour, and cover the pan. Let the loaf rise at room temperature (70 to 75 degrees) until it crowns just above the rim of the pan, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. (my loaf got there in only 45 minutes – must be the phase of the moon 😉

Bake in a 375 F oven until the loaf pulls away from the sides of the pan, and the crust is golden brown – 35 to 45 minutes.

Carefully remove the bread from the pan, and cool it over a rack for at least one hour before slicing it. Marvel at the beautiful, golden crumb, and…..

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I highly recommend this recipe if you are new to bread making. The dough handles very well, and has impressive oven spring, baking into a gorgeous loaf that rises way above the pan. The semolina flour allows the bread to last slightly longer than most homemade breads would – just store it at room temperature, inside a paper bag. Slightly toasted slices are delicious as part of a sandwich or just spread with jam or butter.

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting… make sure you stop by on Friday to see her weekly collection of breads.

ONE YEAR AGO: Tomato Confit with Arugula and Zucchini

2Jul2010

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

As far as baking is concerned, muffins are one of the easiest delicacies to make. At least, that’s what I’m told… I still get nervous when following the only golden rule of muffins – minimize mixing, because I once wound up with some powdery flour dispersed in the crumb. It was a disturbing experience. But, in the name of bringing sweetness to our lab meeting, I sucked it up and baked a batch.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
(from Pam Anderson’s The Perfect Recipe)

3 cups flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
10 Tbs butter, at room temperature
1 cup minus 1 Tbs sugar
2 large eggs
1 + 1/2 cup yogurt
1 tsp lemon zest
1 + 1/2 cups fresh blueberries + 1 Tbs flour

Heat oven to 375 F. Coat a 12-cup muffin tin (each muffin about 1/2 cup) with oil, or line it with paper cups.

In one bowl, mix all dried ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine.

Beat the butter with the sugar and the lemon zest in an electric mixer in medium-high speed until light and fluffy – about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in half of the dry ingredients, then one third of the yogurt. Beat half of the dried ingredients, alternating with the yogurt, until every thing is incorporated. Do not overmix. Add the tablespoon of flour to the blueberries, and fold them in the muffin batter. Divide the batter among the muffin cups, bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.

Set on a wire rack to cool, un-mold, and serve.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: For reasons that escape me, I didn’t care for blueberries until a few years ago. At home, the official pancake maker always had a few blueberry-free flapjacks ready for me. Suddenly, after a blueberry pie or other blueberry treat (I don’t exactly recall), I fell madly in love with them, and now indulge in every opportunity. A small bowl of blueberries topped with Greek-yogurt and a swirl of agave nectar is just dreamy, and perfect late in the evening while watching Law and Order (why, oh why did they can that show?).

Back to blueberries: these muffins are delicious indeed. I still need to perfect the mixing, to make them “light-as-a-feather,” but I’m getting there. The next batch might be it!

ONE YEAR AGO: A PIE FOR YOUR 4th OF JULY

30Jun2010

ROGER EBERT

Posted in Articles, General by sallybr

Creative Commons license photo, credit: Laertes

An amazing man. This article brought tears to my eyes.

He keeps a wonderful blog. Check it out by clicking here.

29Jun2010

DOWN HOME DIG-IN CHILI

Posted in Beef, Pork, Weekend Dinners by sallybr

Get ready for a big spicy spoonful of chili! In the winter, give me chili with cornbread and cabernet; in the summer I’ll have chili with tortillas and tequila (or cold beer). What a flavorful, succulent meal it is! You’ll find chili everywhere, north, south, east and west; in cookbooks, food magazines and websites (like this one), with many of those authors claiming to divulge “the authentic” recipe. Particularly in the Southern US, chili recipes provoke discussions almost as heated as the peppers they contain. But, I’m ready to jump into the fire, by sharing with you my husband’s favorite recipe. It’s not the hottest or the spiciest chili you’ll find, but it’s meaty, delicious and the best he’s ever encountered. He made it for me for the first time when we started dating and we’ve cooked it together many, many times since then.

DOWN HOME DIG-IN CHILI
(from Bon Appetit, 1988)

1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 lbs stewing beef, chopped
2 lbs pork shoulder (Boston butt), chopped
4 cans (14 1/2 ounce) stewed tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
salt and pepper to taste
1 bottle pale ale (12 ounce)
7 Tbs chili powder
4 jalapeno chilies, seeded
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
Hot pepper sauce (Tabasco type), to taste

Heat the oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add finely chopped onions, bell peppers, celery, and garlic and saute until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Remove vegetables using slotted spoon and set aside.

Increase heat to high. Add beef and pork; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until browned, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Return vegetables to pot. Add tomatoes, ale, chili powder chilies, cayenne and cumin. Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer 2 hours, adding reserved tomato liquid if chili appears dry. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Uncover and simmer until thickened and meat is tender, 2 more hours.

Season chili with hot pepper sauce. Serve with green onions, cheddar cheese, avocado and sour cream.

Makes at least 8 servings.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: This favorite version of ours might very well be “middle-of-the-road” in the debate about what should (or should not) be in a pot of chili. It doesn’t include beans, pleasing many, but it uses tomatoes, upsetting other purists.

We usually make it with beef and pork, and we recently tried a mixture of lamb and pork. We prefer this version, exactly as published 22 years ago (!!!) in Bon Appetit, by far. Some markets sell ground beef for chili, but it’s better to buy a large cut of beef chuck, some pork shoulder and cut them by hand into 3/4 inch cubes. The final texture is well worth the extra work.

Chili is ideal for entertaining, as it gets better when it sits in the fridge for a day. Sometimes we make a full batch, enjoy “chili for two,” and save leftovers in the freezer for an encore another time.