Rye Bread

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.

  - Frank Tibolt

The days are getting longer.

Small miracles.

My windows are pushed wide open, the curtains flapping in the breeze. The trees are budding with intention of providing shade in the looming summer months and fruit to sustain our hungry appetites.

Shedding layers, getting climbing gear organized, my bikes will soon be dialed.

I am making plans with J. and we are planning with friends. Our wheels will soon be in full motion, smiles from ear to ear, sun on our shoulders and a fresh breeze on our face.

As the weather improves, the sun becomes a daily occurrence, I find pleasure in the outdoors and spend less time in the kitchen. I still crave healthy food, maybe more in the sunny months, to fuel our adventures.

Wanting to make the most of the days outside while still having nourishing food from our kitchen takes planning and resourcefulness. The healthier we eat, the more energy we have for the outdoors and life in general.

I like to bound from place to place.  I like to have reserves of energy, I need to keep up with my other half and climb half as well as my friend Azusa. I want to be the best person I can while I walk this Earth. I want to be out front and always ready for the next lap. I need good food and I get really hungry after an active day.

This bread is over cooked. It should be a deep chestnut color.

What do I make? Bake? What will this finicky little appetite find satisfaction in?

Bread. Fresh baked bread.

No knead style of bread has little work involved and relies on relatively inactive time. Mix, set aside, bake. With a little forethought, J. and I will come home to fresh bread for quick sandwiches or soup.

No Knead Rye Bread

Source: My Bread, Jim Lahey
Yield: 1 10 inch round loaf

 

Ingredients:

 

2 1/4 cups (300g) bread flour
3/4 cup (100g) rye flour
1 1/3 cups (300g) cool water
1/2 teaspoon (2g) yeast
1¼ teaspoon (8g) salt
olive oil (for coating)
extra rye flour (for dusting)

Equipment: 

 

Two medium mixing bowls
4 to 5 quart pot with lid (Pyrex glass, Le Creuset cast iron, or ceramic)
Wooden Spoon or spatula (optional)
Plastic wrap
Two or three cotton dish towels (not terrycloth)

Process: 

 

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add water and incorporate by hand or with a wooden spoon or spatula for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Lightly coat the inside of a second medium bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest 12 to 18 hours, until doubled, at room temperature (approx. 65-72°F).

Remove the dough from the bowl and fold once or twice. Let the dough rest 15 minutes in the bowl or on the work surface. Next, shape the dough into ball. Generously coat a cotton towel with flour; place the dough seam side down on the towel and dust with flour. Cover the dough with a cotton towel and let rise 1-2 hours at room temperature, until more than doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 475°F. Place the pot in the oven at least 30 minutes prior to baking to preheat. Once the dough has more than doubled in volume, remove the pot from the oven and place the dough in the pot seam side up. Cover with the lid and bake 30 minutes Then remove the lid and bake 15-30 minutes uncovered, until the loaf is nicely browned but not burnt. Remove loaf with pot holders and cool on a wire rack.

Shared with: Bread Baking Day #38

Sweet Surrender - Bread

Breakfast in bed.

A shell of sugar and cinnamon hides a soft and delicate crumb of steaming sweet soft bread. J has perfected cinnamon toast and this morning was ethereal brilliance.

Slowing sipping fresh ground hot coffee splashed with steamed milk and a touch of sweet from a spoon full of chocolate, our time free time together is deeply cherished and enjoyed slowly.

J sings as the peculator works its magic in the quit hours of the morning, stirring the coffee, milk and chocolate, quietly saying more decadence.

You need more decadence.

Breakfast in bed, total decadence.

Life is too short, sweet thoughts and memories should fill the air.

This bread will single handedly get you one step closer to sweet surrender.

Toasted with a smear of marmalade or slathered with butter then sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar mixture then broiled making perfect pieces of cinnamon toast heaven.

Crumbs everywhere.

This bread should be ate in bed, right before you need to wash the sheets. It s about as messy as bread can get and as close as you can get to eating a cake but calling it bread as you can get away with.

Go all the way, eat it in bed, I dare you.

Not only will you have the urge to spoil yourself with breakfast in bed, the bread will make you eat numerous pieces of toast covered in sweet jellies or jams at obscure hours through out the day, you can pretend you are eating cake for breakfast on a Monday morning. Grand, just grand.

Not So Sally Lunn Bread

Adapted from SmittenKitchen; Maida Heatter’s Cakes


I urge you to make this bread with nothing but a large mixing bowl and wooden spoon. Give the mixer a break. Strong arms are sexy. There is no kneading - just stirring!

Makes 1 9×5x3-inch loaf of bread

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

In a large bowl, mix the 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, sugar, salt and dry yeast by hand.

In a saucepan, heat the buttermilk and butter together until the mixture is warm (105 to 110 degrees); don’t worry if this butter isn’t completely melted.

Gradually pour the warm ingredients into the dry mixture and stir vigorously by hand with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes.

Add the egg, yolk and another 1/2 cup flour and beat again for 3 by hand.

Add the last of the flour and beat or stir until smooth.

Scrape down bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap. Let rise for one hour or until doubled.

Meanwhile, butter and flour a 9×5x3-inch loaf pan.

Once the dough has doubled, scrape it into the prepared pan. Cover with buttered plastic wrap and let rise for a total of 30 minutes. After 15 minutes, however, remove the plastic and preheat your oven to 375°F.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out to a rack to cool.
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Shared with:

YeastSpotting

Bread Baking Day #38

Bread - Part II

I decided that it would be better to share the second step of baking the no knead bread before Thanksgiving. You could even make this the day after the big feast - to make little sammies or a vehicle to plow through all the leftovers.











Follow through with this little recipe and I almost guarantee that you can make your own loaf of crusty bread.

I made some little rolls to have cheese steaks al la Juan. Dee - lish!















Have a blessed holiday


Enjoy your day - weekend

Travel safe


Love your company - friends & family


Love the food & the people who prepare it


Cheers!

For people snowed in

Okay......

Thanksgiving.....

I am a little out of the loop this year. I love to spend Thanksgiving in Bellingham, part of the day with family and part of the day with friends, or sometimes the friends would just come to our family's dinner.

My perfect world.... sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts and pie.... after a cold and muddy mountain bike ride with J and friends.

Um, yeah, not this year. I hate to admit this but as far as activities go, we may be in the arm pit of Washington. How is that for giving thanks... We are grateful that this opportunity has been made possible and are even more grateful that we get to pick someplace new when this one expires (voice your opinion now! the list is being made!).

This will be the first Thanksgiving that J and I will be apart, he is going to Nashville to be with his family and I am staying here with our kids (the animals - geez!) and my brother and his lady friend are making the trek across the pass to visit.

So I am cooking. I think we are going to eat steaks. Eat a ton of my favorite seasonal veggies. Drink wine. Play games. Hopefully enjoy a dusting snow.

Check out the newest addition to my kitchen. We are already really goo friends. Christmas came early - or a Thanksgiving gift!

And will be eating home made bread! I figure since it is home made I can eat as much white bread as I want. Crusty white bread, warm and soft on the inside.

Now I dare you, try it. If I can get one thing across to you in my ramblings, it is that everyone can make a loaf of bread in minimal effort.

Here is my hand scribbled recipe.

Look - I don't see any rocket science scribbles!

This is a bread that takes less than 5 minutes to whip up and the counter doesn't even get dirty. No joke.

Lets try!

Just grab the ingredients that are most likely on hand.

Flour
Water
Yeast
Salt

 

Dump them in a large bowl - no order, just dump.

Mix until really sticky and combined.That is it. No kidding! Just mix...

Then you just cover it, leave it o the counter for 2 to 4 hours.

Ok so this recipe is not fool proof. Here is my blunder. Leave it in the big mixing bowl. It rises and rises a lot.

Crisis adverted!

You could bake it at this point or put it in the fridge for up to a week.

Mine is in the fridge.


In order to have a flavorful loaf, mix it today and tuck it away into the fridge and bake on Thanksgiving day.

Now you have the step by step guide, the recipe follows.

Get to it!

All you friends and family snowed in in Bellingham, now is your chance, if you are now out skiing!

It will work - I promise! And I promise to show you the next steps of baking the bread right around the big day, but the recipe gets into it, so you really don't need me!

 

 

I found the first recipe on King Arthur's blog (see step by step photos on their blog)  I still go to this recipe each time. It is just that easy!

 

Read their blog about all kinds of bread, at Bakers' Banter.

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

• 24 ounces lukewarm water
• 2 pounds King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

Directions

*The flour/liquid ratio is important in this recipe. If you measure flour by sprinkling it into your measuring cup, then gently sweeping off the excess, use 7 1/2 cups. If you measure flour by dipping your cup into the canister, then sweeping off the excess, use 6 1/2 cups. Most accurate of all, and guaranteed to give you the best results, if you measure flour by weight, use 32 ounces.

1) Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, or a large (6-quart), food-safe plastic bucket. For first-timers, "lukewarm" means about 105°F, but don't stress over getting the temperatures exact here. Comfortably warm is fine; "OUCH, that's hot!" is not. Yeast is a living thing; treat it nicely.

2) Mix and stir everything together to make a very sticky, rough dough. If you have a stand mixer, beat at medium speed with the beater blade for 30 to 60 seconds. If you don't have a mixer, just stir-stir-stir with a big spoon or dough whisk till everything is combined.

3) Next, you're going to let the dough rise. If you've made the dough in a plastic bucket, you're all set — just let it stay there, covering the bucket with a lid or plastic wrap; a shower cap actually works well here. If you've made the dough in a bowl that's not at least 6-quart capacity, transfer it to a large bowl; it's going to rise a lot. There's no need to grease the bowl, though you can if you like; it makes it a bit easier to get the dough out when it's time to bake bread.

4) Cover the bowl or bucket, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Then refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or for up to about 7 days. (If you're pressed for time, skip the room-temperature rise, and stick it right into the fridge). The longer you keep it in the fridge, the tangier it'll get; if you chill it for 7 days, it will taste like sourdough. Over the course of the first day or so, it'll rise, then fall. That's OK; that's what it's supposed to do.

5) When you're ready to make bread, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour; this will make it easier to grab a hunk. Grease your hands, and pull off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the dough — a 14-ounce to 19-ounce piece, if you have a scale. It'll be about the size of a softball, or a large grapefruit.

6) Plop the sticky dough onto a floured work surface, and round it into a ball, or a longer log. Don't fuss around trying to make it perfect; just do the best you can.

7) Place the dough on a piece of parchment (if you're going to use a baking stone); or onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Sift a light coating of flour over the top; this will help keep the dough moist as it rests before baking.

8) Let the dough rise for about 45 to 60 minutes. It won't appear to rise upwards that much; rather, it'll seem to settle and expand. Preheat your oven (and baking stone, if you're using one) to 450°F while the dough rests. Place a shallow pan on the lowest oven rack, and have 1 cup of hot water ready to go.

9) When you're ready to bake, take a sharp knife and slash the bread 2 or 3 times, making a cut about 1/2" deep. The bread may deflate a bit; that's OK, it'll pick right up in the hot oven.

10) Place the bread in the oven, and carefully pour the 1 cup hot water into the shallow pan on the rack beneath. It'll bubble and steam; close the oven door quickly.

11) Bake the bread for 25 to 35 minutes, until it's a deep, golden brown.

12) Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. Store leftover bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

13) Yield: 3 or 4 loaves, depending on size.

no need to knead

I have done it.

My house smels exactly as my Grandma's did.

J and I came home from watching the Super Bowl and there was a very particular aroma to the house. He thinks it smells musty, it took me awhile to put my finger to it but I know exactly what it smells like, my Dad's mother, my grandma. Her house smelt of bread rising, that yeasty, fermenting smell, almost too pungent to stand. Now my house smells of the same aroma, it is odd but I just want to take it in, I don't want to go to bed, I don't want this memory to escape me.

The memory of her may com and go from day to day but the lasting impression that she has had on my life will forever be part of me. Like the fact that I can take the time to enjoy baking bread. I remember when she got one of those automatic bread machines, it was probably like when the first vacuum was introduced to the house wife. The women no longer had to drag those heavy wool carpets outside and beat them with a stick, they just ran this machine over the fibers and removed the dirt. The bread machine took the kneading, the raising and the guess work out of bread making but still produced the perfect loaf every time. Grandma always had fresh baked bread. 
We had better get used to it because as soon as I made a "no knead bread" **yes, it is true** I don't think that buying a $4 - $6 loaf is worth it. I am talking about four of the most basic of ingredients that are mixed together and sit in the fridge over night. whal - la! Bread! Baguette to be exact. I didn't even lay a finger, nor once ounce of kneading effort on this loaf. Thank God! Over at Bakers Banter, the brainchild of King Authors Flour, they have a whole slew of no knead recipes, and even more recipes for the astute bread maker, which I aspire to be.Yes I made a perfect baguette for the first time and will never turn back, we all can make bread. Really, if I can do this you can too! With some high quality flour, warm water, salt, and yeast.... some time (little effort) I folded together a bread that will rival any bread that I can find in Bellingham (mind you we live in a small town with one artisan bakery). No chemicals, no additives, four ingredients, some time and some love.

There is always some more room in my life for some carbohydrates. Really!?! Why deprive ourselves of fresh homemade bread. My Grandma was on to something, she was so damn happy for a reason. So here is to making my own bread at the fraction of the cost of what it costs to buy, far less "stuff" in the ingredients and for doing what makes us happy. I will eat fresh baked bread by goll!
SSSSSSoon I will mow down of fresh bread after a long bike ride! Today I lost the ugly brace that has wrapped my leg for seven weeks. I will break bread to that!