As Time Goes By...

And not without remorse.

It's the holiday season, after all.

Is this it, getting older? Twenties only shortly underway and still I find myself with too little time to do the things I love - cook, blog, more than anything eat.

Pie, to carry the season with you

 Well, I find myself in quite a new place. Both my milieu newly discovered and sense of self lost but found and life is born anew like a rising sun across the snowy plains of a lazy January.

I, slave to its Honey-Whole wheat

Maybe more like the crusty bread of this tiny oven, spending my time to bake its wares.
Enough of the niceties: ever since Thanksgiving all I've wanted is to cook, serve, prepare, concoct. My battle with food rages on, appreciated but still unhealthy but at the end of this snowy day, I still stand.
College has been rough and I've begun to question just exactly what I'm waiting for - a college diploma in biochemistry or something more? I dream in the sensory and live too cerebrally but perhaps I'm just yet to stitch the two together.

Rural?

Damn Straight?

But this ain't Christmastime in the city

I sit here on my couch, enjoying the scent of a rather experimental batch of sweet and salty, toasted-nut chocolate chip cookies. Sprinkled with Rye, sweetened with Maple, spiked with Bitters. What will become of them beside a dessert assuming I don't burn the second batch for writing?

Ah, Safe and Sound

And Still...I love it, This Homemade Cioppino

I cannot say but I trust they will be more than their parts. Maybe like my time in college, however uncertain it comes to be spent. Life at Umass is a step in the diaganol. Ahead is a similar path, behind old friends dearly missed but beside me still. The food is good at least! Never before have I read the word salmon unenthusiastically - a man can eat fish however delicious and novel so many days per week!
Holy Mackerel, talk about First World Problems.


I digress. I've come to bake up a storm in this snowy abode I find myself in. It and the woods I've explored isolating and insulating it have been my greatest medication - more euphoric than the runs I take or the little pills I curse still.

Well to get on with things - I really have been neglecting this blog now for some months, but I hope to change that in 2013!
To bluntly display my past few months pictorally - that will just have to do!

Cheesecake - no, not for me - thanks to Southern Living

Chard-Stuffed Haddock - yes Love it

But ok, ok, some of my favorite newly-discovered restaurants, a la carte...

The very best tea and flavors left to brew... Chaiwalla in Salisbury CT
Sandwiches, Soups, hot drinks too... Juice n' Java, Dalton MA
Hometown feel for a steal (alliterations, oh me, alas...) Martin's of Great Barrington
Bistro fare a la American - the pseudo-upscale affair? Firefly, Lenox Ma
Baked, not half, and bread to share? Pleased to meet you: Our Daily Bread, Chatham NY
Pub styling, tavern fare, rustic feel, unexpected dinner fare? At Old Forge, Lanesboro Ma
Last, never least... and Mind you, there is evermore yet to discover I'm sure
Hitchinpost Cafe, an unexpected in the unassuming - greatness in the middle of nowhere: New Lebanon NY

Now I'll be on my way, explore new flavors, and yourself.

May you find glut-enous peace

Cliches...
& Nature... ...
Just Enjoi!

Bread and Bread Alone...

Will set you free...
Well, perhaps not and that's too cliche.
It can be truly the finest point of any great dining establishment, however. Perhaps that is a rather bold statement, but it is in my opinion the bread at a restaurant and especially at a cafe marks an attendance to the simple yet overlooked points of a meal. Yes, not every meal need be preceded by a basket of bread but every sandwich should be stuffed between only the finest such stuff. Bread is not only a thing seldom and difficultly mastered, it is also a very straight-forward way of playing to the simplest of human sustenance. Bread is the basis for all other culinary creation, in my opinion and should be honored as such.

So in a cafe where great bread and good prices come together, a town called Northampton Massachusetts emerges.

Woodstar Cafe in NoHo is a place of balance. Their sandwiches are masterful and fresh, with a crunch coming not just from perfectly baked bread but from fresh ingredients within. The Sandwich titled "Emily's Favorite" is an ode to the potential stored within tofu and a fine multigrain loaf. It's big and satisfying.

Smoked Tofu at its very finest. Pass it for meat? One could but why bother?

The sandwich my dining companion enjoyed during my recent visit, The Berkshire, was a delight. With perfectly balanced pesto, roasted tomatoes, and chicken - yes chicken is growing on me, I'm sad to say - it was a fine approach to a seemingly simple sandwich. The rustic sourdough loaf was chewy and, well, sour as it should be.

Later in the day, stepping in for a brief snack before leaving, the cupcakes: one chocolate with buttercream raspberry frosting and all vegan - the other crumbly but deeply flavored lavender and pistachio with a light cream cheese frosting, were purely delighting.

Cupcakes: Little bundles of joy! Yes, even a blessing...

The tea selection was long and very well priced. Yellow tea. Yellow tea? I hardly ever see the newly-popularizing tea here.

I'm going back. I may just gain weight but I don't mind.

Really.

Classics...

Call it Occam's Razor, call it chemistry, or maybe just call it good bread. Old, simple; always good.

The newest member of my bread-baking family has driven the creation of a new kind bread in my kitchen. It's something more rustic than the simplest of American Sourdoughs yet more complex and coordinated than the plainest of back-of-the-flour-sac recipes. It's called a Miche made with something called a Levian.

Levain: sea monster, right?

No, not Nessy.

A Levain is a naturally leavening pre-ferment not unlike a sourdough. While a leviathan may well be soothed by its sweet product, it is not nearly so delicious or attainable.

Now I love to bake with sourdough. The distinct sourness of the acids, the nurturing of the bubbly culture, and the tremendous rise it produces within the loaf in question - what's not to like?

Well exploring an older style of baking and using only salt, water, and whole wheat flour a great piece of baking history can be brought into the present.

 

The Risen Loaf: Pre-bake

Thanks to Local Breads, a great cookbook from one of my favorite bakeries in scenic Rhinebeck, New York I've found a whole new world of old  loaves to explore. I truly implore you to read this tremendous book; it's a bit daunting in some places but really gives a good feel of where bread baking has been and is a definite next-step for the experienced baker.

With a week or so of feeding and nurture, several hours of proofing, fermentation, a few kneads, and a spell in a hotter-than-usual oven, the product of one recipe for Rustic Miche produced wonderful results.

 The sadly fallen loaf, delicious nonetheless. Look at that gluten!

Buy the book, Bake some bread, Enjoy!

Chestnuts Roasting...

In my toaster oven...

It's been that time of year: the time to cook, bake, eat, sleep, stress, laugh, and generally stare out the window to watch cold air blow upon the carefully hung Christmas lights, now is terrible but beautiful disarray. I love Christmas time and the holidays and I can't say I feel any rush to go back to school.

I've been baking and cooking like mad but just too busy or conversely relaxed to bother blogging any of it. Sorry!

But here are some of my less recent creations. Yesterday I did whip up a cornmeal brioche from The Bread Bible - slightly too dense but wonderful toasting bread, as I had intended it to be - and perhaps the best whole wheat sandwich loaf I've ever made. Not to pat my own back - I'm much too busy holding that two-fisted sammy.

I also experimented with making Seitan and a good stand in for mac and cheese from Healthy Happy Vegan Life that actually really hit the spot, tossed with some Green Beans, Chard, and Zucchini.

Cookies and Sourdough galore, below are the few actual pictures I did take - sorry! I'll pick up better blogging later into the new year. Only so much time for so many resolutions at once.

Apple-Pear Gingerbread Upside-down Cake

A great end to a wonderful Hanukkah dinner with friends

I even made un petit gâteau for home use...Pumpkin Sherry Quick Bread

Great for, well any time... The Brandy I subbed does bake off but really brings out the spices. Thank you again Bread Bible!

Batch two and just as good as the original!

There was, by the way, Chestnut stuffing on the Christmas table, but here's my contribution to that meal. I did bake up some Challah from a wonderful recipe I'll have to share once I get it down. Here, however was my personal pride and joy:

Pumpkin-Chocolate Yule

The Snowflakes and green sugar were just right considering I forgot the marzipan Fungi...

The Recipe came from inspiration off of Joy the Baker. The sponge cake itself was a rich pumpkin, the filling a Neufchatel-unsweetened chocolate mixture, sweetened with a bit of Agave Nectar. The frosting is a rich Chocolate-Pumpkin butter-cream of simple softened butter, heaping tablespoons (2) of cocoa powder, a splash of soy milk, powdered sugar, and a few tablespoons of pumpkin butter.

Never has a dessert been so rich. It was enjoyed if not to blame for a worse case of Tryptophan-Coma than is commonly witnessed.

Enjoi! I promise I'll bring some more soon!

Mishaps...

They happen. Wednesday my faithful old Kitchen Aid Mixer finally jumped ship when it tumbled from my counter into my waiting hands' ceramic dishes. Needless to say my bread dough was done for, a mixer was in the cards, and I need to look for some replacement vintage Corningware...

Ah well - It was just one of those days.

Thanksgiving day was much more enjoyable!

Anyways, to break in the fruits of this Black Friday - a Kitchen Aid Pro 520 which completely blows me away - I whipped some Spicy Pumpkin bread based on the recipe from The Bread Bible. My goodness, I very much enjoy that book. The whole-grain wild rice-molasses bread I was making and (with much help) remade sans-mixer too came from its glorious pages.

Also a wonderful bread...Sweet, Chewy...

Anyhow, the Pumpkin-Cream Cherry bread came out wonderfully. I added orange zest and a bit of oatmeal as well as a splash of almond extract to make up for the lack of Sherry in my inventory.

It was spice, moist (Thanks to the addition of some plain yogurt to offset the volume of oil called for) and rose very well.

There's no substitute for careful mixing in chemically leavened quick-breads, I always say. I really do, it's a bad habit.

Anyways here it is - if you're ever in the market for a nice spiced quick bread, hit this recipe up. There's never enough Pumpkin in the pie alone this time of year.

One loaf...

Two Bundts...

And a whole-lot of sweet-scented holiday baking...

Enjoy the start to the holiday season! I'm already hitting the Christmas music pretty hard...

Graduation...Mmmm...

So I made a quick Baked Brie for myh better half on the day of her graduation party. There was more than enough delicious food but I wanted to make her something special. She loves her brie.

It was simple to whip up a batch of whole wheat crust and pour a bit of homemade Cranberry Chutney atop the wheel. So says I: "I should bake bread to go with this!"

Using my favorite baking cookbook, the Bread Bible, I made the Bread with Three Chocolates. I thought it would complement the sweetness of the cheese and cranberry chutney well, and it did.

Love that Chocolate Flecking...

Now I'd like to make a nice french toast out of the stuff, but that will just have to wait. It's a mildly sweet bread - very traditional bread in texture, but with a mild chocolate flavor and a wonderfully dark color.

Bread and Earth Balance FTW!

Sourdough^2...

I revisited my sourdough this afternoon and I must say it was a new level of baking in my book. I mentioned the starter I had prepared for pancakes over the weekend and it was well soured by this afternoon. Building on my last attempt at Sourdough - good but not perfect - and a desire to make great buns for some veggie burgers (the craving came from a recent post on Happy Healthy Life). Adding a quarter cup of wheat bran that I had soaked and a quarter cup of Buckwheat and Graham flours each and as always, a heaping tablespoon of gluten per cup of flour, this loaf (and its several satellite buns) were soft, chewy, airy, and flavorful.

Perfectly proportioned and substantial enough to house plenty o' vegetable goodness

Again, I'm reminded why I love the Bread Bible so much - Marist College, expect plenty of bread while I'm with you!

That's a Sandwich Bun...

The key, I believe, to my loaves' success was the microbial playgrounds that were a very sour starter and perhaps overly-active yeast mixture, in association with the wet towels I kept hot atop both the loaf and buns.

I Wish I had taken this from the side - it rose higher than I could have hoped!

Chhhallahhh...

I can't roll letters but I can roll dough. Interestingly Challah is braided here so no rolling of loaves required (notice how I so cleverly worked in that comment on my notoriously poor pronunciation of words?).

Look at my poor braiding skills...

I followed the recipe from my Bread Bible cookbook (which continues to grow on me still) and it came out wonderfully. Despite my poor braiding skills, this one (whereas Challah attempt numero uno was a literal rock because my yeast was uncooperative) is light, very egg-y, and terrifically aromatic. I, as always, substituted light whole wheat flour for the all-purpose variety and even threw in a bit of vanilla extract and wheat bran for a change. I wish it were sweeter - I have a fond memory of the perfect Challah from years past at a family friend's Hanukkah party that I'm yet to replicate. Nonetheless, I think this would make a great soup soaking-French Toasting-Jam spreading bread as it is.

Love that Loaf Pan

San Francisco in My Kitchen...

Well, their famous sourdough at least. Well, it wasn't nearly as good as the real stuff from three-thousand miles away. It was soft, slightly sour, and hearty. Tossing in a bit of leftover bran from my blueberry bran muffins and some flax it had the texture of a good sandwich bread with the soul of a toasting or soup-sopping loaf.

It began when I was asked to make sourdough pancakes; well ,you need a starter to make anything sourdough-like, so first I began with that.

Look at that microbial action!

Now, with about a cup of starter left, I haven't made pancakes, but it lives in the fridge for up to two weeks ideally, so theres still time! But even if I never get to make those perfect silver dollars, my bread was a success and that makes me happy.

Brown, soft, and sour!

Whole-Wheat Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Beginning with my favorite cookbook - The Bread Bible - I whipped up my starter Thursday, feeding and whisking it up. I used all whole wheat in place of unbleached all purpose with a tablespoon or so of gluten tossed in for good measure.

Rising - warm inside cold outside. Baking at its best

Fast forward to today, after making some breakfast burritos I proceeded to bake my glorious bread.

Subbing White Whole Wheat and a tablespoon of gluten per cup of flour for the all purpose called for and adding a bit of that bran (about 3 tablespoons) and flax meal (1/4 cup or so) to the dough, the loaf came together in no time. It rose substantially in the first rising period and even more after I'd already formed the loaves in the pans. Best of all, they simply fell out of my loaf pans!

Give sourdough a try sometime, you won't be disappointed. Who needs white bread when you can make a fermented masterpiece? It made arguably the best Peanut Butter-banana I've tasted.

Bread for a snowy day...

It was Martin Luther king Jr. Day and I was going to make bread.

I baked Seven Grain Honey Bread from The Bread Bible (the greatest bread cookbook I've yet read).

Look at that wonderful Loaf!

And that local Honey

Hmmm...

As usual, It's 100% whole-grain with 4 tbsp of Wheat Gluten added in for better structure (maybe more next time...). In short, it's sweet, complex, high protein, high fiber bread that made a wonderful PB&B sandwich (Peanut butter, banannas, and a flew blueberries sprinkled on top: Bliss.

Bon Appetite!

Wintery Baking...

Loaves of the Yule

Yes, I've been neglecting the blog but it's that time of year! A friend of mine has been staying with me and my last week before break was busy. Last weekend I did get a chance to do some good baking however. Out of the Bread Bible came Molasses Bran Sunflower Bread. A hearty loaf that baked up nicely, perhaps a bit too dense due to a lack of gluten but good nonetheless.

More recently however (On Christmas Eve it was) I baked the books recipe for Apple Walnut Loaf:

Look at those loaves. if you look closely at the top image (loaf 1 of 2) you can see all the apple goodness dotting the interior.

You could sell that in a store...

I baked my bread up with whole wheat flower in place of white. I'm sure it would have risen further yet and been lighter had I used unbleached white flower but I'm a stickler. Just be sure to use about a tablespoon of wheat gluten (Bob's Red Mill!!!) for every cup of whole Wheat flower subbed in for white flower.

The loaves baked up thick and moist. Especially give the apple-walnut loaf a go if ever you find yourself drooling over the Bread Bible. It was wonderful for toasting bread Christmas morning and I look forward to using it for French Toast tomorrow before shoveling out this New England Blizzard quickly bearing down upon us.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas (or rather a have a happy new year as it is coming up next!)

Baking Up a Slow Weekend...

So the fact that I haven't baked much from The Bread Bible has been bothering me. Being Hanukkah and the holidays generally, I decided to try Challah.

Well, I promptly botched the recipe from the book, and a smaller batch (simpler batch...) from King Arthur Flower never rose properly (but looked and tested pretty good).

What I did bake that came out well was a loaf of delicious

Low-Fat High-Texture Pumpkin Bread

Thanks to my new William Sonoma 1lb Gold non-stick Loaf Pan I found the enthusiasm to bake a perfect loaf.

1.5 cups whole wheat flower (light whole wheat is good)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

.75 tsp salt

2 tbsp baking soda

2 tbsp flax meal

1/2 cup applesauce

1 cup shredded (grated carrots), drained

1.5 cups canned (or homemade) pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

1/3 cup water

A sprinkling of walnuts, shopped, and to your liking...

Combine the dry ingredients then add in all of the wet ones. Mix well, but not too well - never over-mix quick breads!

Lightly grease your loaf pan (or hardly at all with your gold non-stick William Sonoma loaf pan :D) and add batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until an inserted knife is just dry. Careful not to over bake, however. Letting the pan stand to cool will complete any baking (or over bake it...)

Makes 1 large loaf.

It was moist, sweet, pumpkin-y, and perfect. The key is in the pumpkin/carrot/applesauce additions.

possibly my best quick bread yet! For despite common belief, substitution (and the omition of fat) does not harm these quick breads if done well.

The First Time I’ve Approved Of A Bread, Wholly…

I love Pumpkin Bread. I also Love Lemon Poppy-Seed baked things. Seldom would I recommend someone eat a bread like these as a healthy snack. I did, however find a recipe on one of my favorite cooking blogs - Half baked - for Carrot Muffins. A conglomeration, in the sense that everything fits, of fruits, nuts, and veggies made my mouth water; swapping in whole-wheat flower and yogurt made my stomach growl with desire. So I took out to design the perfectly healthy muffin for my mother when she asked me to bake her something as I offered to do some cooking (for myself… and anyone else) one weekend. Throwing the recipe together into my favorite loaf pan and several large muffin cups, I had found my favorite - and most publicly accepted - baked good to date. If you like Carrots, applesauce, yogurt, almonds, blueberries and warm breakfast breads, I suggest you take a look at this recipe!

2 1/4 Whole Wheat Flower
3/4 cup Agave Nectar + 1/4 cup Sugar (I use organic evaporated Cane Sugar - just a preference)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. Nutmeg (and whatever other sweet spices you may like)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups grated carrot, squeezed mostly dry (About 4 medium carrots)
1/2 cup Apple Sauce
1 Sliced Apple (A firm variety - granny smith… Partially peeled)
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (or I Pureed Old-Fashioned rolled oats)
1/3 cup walnuts roughly chopped (Any Nut works though - I put almonds in the food processor… A loud adventure)
3 large eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil + 1 cup Fat-Free(or low-fat) plain yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla (And, as an afterthought - I didn’t actually try… - add 2 tsp almond extract - if you’re into the flavor only of course)

And… 1 cup Fresh blueberries (because they’re in season - hooray!) mashed slightly with a fork (just to help it blend in together)

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Combine: Agave nectar, sugar, apple sauce, yogurt, extract(s), and set aside. In a larger bowl combine flower, baking soda, nutmeg…, cinnamon, and salt - whisk until combined. Add the eggs, oil, blueberries, apple, carrots, nuts (anything else/that I forgot?) to the flower mixture, mixing lightly, and then the wet mixture you first mixed. **Remember, only mix so that the flower is all combined and the mixture as homogeneous as such a chunky, awkward batter can be. over mixing will leave baked goods like this flat - you want it light!

Now, pour the batter into a greased loaf pan (maybe 2 inches deep for a long, skinny pan) and any excess into muffin cups (if that’s what you’re into).

Bake for about 10 minutes and check them - the muffins will finish first, around 12 minutes, the loaf pan closer to 15 minutes - careful not to overcook. slight moisture is ok, pull it out - let it cool and it should finish.

That’s ll there is to it. Enjoi :D