overnight rolls

Life has been busy since January.  I have been traveling most weeks.  It is either to my Dad's or with family.

My Dad has felt that he has declined since he got COVID.  I would agree.  He seems to be more fragile.  I do not think we will have him in our lives as long as we may hope.  I am trying to just spend more time with him.  It does mean I get to go for more walks in the woods.  I also feel like I have learned to travel more easily.  I am down to one carry on bag when I fly.  Even when I travel by car.  I just do not need to take everything anymore.  Simple is good.

I still take a crochet or embroidery project.  My hands need to be busy.  Mending is never ending so that is where most of my sewing attention is currently.  I am contemplating making my next spring suit.  A neoprene swimsuit basically.  The one I have has completely stretched out and I cannot find anything that I like in a shop.  My biggest problem there is that I have found five pieces of fabric I like.  Making a decision on fabric is sometimes the hardest thing.  I really only need one.  The idea of sewing with neoprene is not even as daunting as just making the decision of which fabric.

My Beloved and myself went to New Orleans for my birthday week.  Lots of walking, food, drink, and good people.  We stayed in a bed and beverage that had a roof deck with Adirondack chairs on it.  It was the straw for me to get the chairs I wanted for the front porch.  I am continuing the New Orleans tradition of having my morning tea on the front porch.  It make life better.  It is where I am writing now.  I can sit and have Blue or Bear sharing the space and it is not quite as overwhelming as being inside.  I also can watch the roses I planted grown.

One of the things I have found hard with all the traveling I am doing is having home baked fresh bread.  When we were in Homer, I came across a cookbook called The Nordic Baker.  The author has a recipe for overnight bread rolls which I have been using.  I can have fresh bread for breakfast even if it is not in the form of a loaf. 

I do find I have to share with the Bear.  I have to be very specific if I need to save some for say a camping trip.  I went by myself and this was the bread I took.  It travels well.  I have also taken the author's idea of an easy overnight roll and made a more enriched dough for the bun.  It worked well.  What I am saying, is that I have used this recipe as a framework and gone other directions with it.

overnight rolls

Note:  I modified this recipe from The Nordic Baker to use sourdough and more to my taste.  I have also kneaded in butter and used milk instead of water, added more sugar.  The only thing I have not tried with this so far is to add an egg but it would make something more similar to a brioche if you did.

2 tablespoons sourdough starter 

1 1/4 cup water (the recipe called for cold but I use room temperature water)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup rye flour

2 1/4 cup spelt or wheat flour (I have used both)

I mix everything in a bowl and then put it in a covered Pyrex to sit on the counter overnight, 8 to 12 hours. My winter kitchen works very well for leaving the dough on the counter.  My summer kitchen will need me to put this dough in the refrigerator for this time.  Make sure the dough is covered well.

This should be a wet sticky dough so kneading will probably not happen.  Just stir very well.  If not extra.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cover a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface.  Divide into 10 equal portions.  Do not work too much about shaping.  I push the corners under to make the rounder when I move them to the silpat covered baking sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.  Let cool for a few minutes and then serve warm.

I like them with butter and jam.  Or cream cheese and smoked salmon.  On my camping trip, I cut them in half and fried them in not butter to have for breakfast.  It is really a great way to have fresh bread.

baquette feuilletee

I have a friend who sends me Tic Toc videos with food in them.  Since I have been trying to eat more plant based, I have not been eating kouign ammon or croissants.  When the lovely lady sent me this recipe, I went umm.

It is a baquette dough that has been laminated with cold butter.  I had leftover calzone dough that I thought I could try with this.  I found a vegan butter that worked here.  When it comes out of the oven, it is brushed with a simple syrup.  I did the basic one but you could easily add cinnamon or orange. 

This did not last a day.  I shared but ate most of it and it was better then most croissants or kouign ammon that I have eaten.  I found it to be really easy to make but I also find laminations easy.  I used one book fold and one envelope fold.  Just like I do for croissants.

baquette feuillette

Note:  I used the french site Barley Sugar and Gingerbread as a go by.

2 tablespoons sourdough starter (remember to refresh yours)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup water

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons olive oil  (you can use up to a 1/4 cup)

1 teaspoon salt

4 ounces butter (the vegan butter I like best for this is Mykonos - it is cashew based.  Also, this is about 20% the weight of the dough)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon melted butter.

In a large bowl, mix the sourdough starter, 1 1/2 cups flour, and 1 cup water.  Cover and let become bubbly.

When the batter is bubbly, mix in the rest of the flour, the olive oil, and the salt.  When it is as mixed as well as possible.  Knead until smooth.  Let rise in a warm place until it rises until double.  You can slow this down by putting it in the refrigerator and it will have more flour.

Once the dough has risen, beat the 4 ounces of butter until soft and then roll it out into a square.  Put in the refrigerator, flat.

Roll the dough out into a square that is about twice to three time as big as the butter square.  Place the cold butter in the middle.  Pull the points of the square to the center of the butter and seal.  Fold the two parallel outside edge to the middle, letting them meet. Fold the dough again in half, along the line where the dough meets.  Refrigerate for a half hour.  Roll out into a large square.  Fold by thirds.  Refrigerate for a half hour.

Put parchment paper or a silcone baking mat on a cookies sheet.  Roll the dough out into a rectangle.  Cut the long edges so they are even and the butter shows.  Cut three strips lengthwise.  Twist the strips and place them on the baking sheet.  I rolled the edge pieces into roses because I did not wish to waste them.  Let rise 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  The recipe I used as a guide said almost 450 degrees Fahrenheit but that just felt like too much for me so I went with  my gut.

Bake for 20 minutes.

While the pastries are baking, bring the sugar, water, and vanilla together to a boil.  Turn down and simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes. 

Melt the butter.

When the pastries come out of the oven, brush with the warm syrup and then brush with the melted butter.

Soooo good!  I need to make them again but I also do not need to eat them in one sitting either!

Chocolate cranberry bread

I know I have tried to make chocolate breads in the past.  They usually are more of a sweet bread.  I will say my arthritis has not been kind to me for awhile.  There is a lot of inflammation and many days I wake up with stiff swollen hands.  I watched a documentary, The Game Changers, about the pros of a plant based diet.  One of the things was how much inflammation lowered.  So, could I make a chocolate cherry bread with no dairy?  I then had someone else's sourdough chocolate cherry bread.  I had to try.

I would say this is my current go to sweet.  I have found a frozen dessert I like too but this is my favorite.  I actually eat it for lunch a lot of times, fried in avocado or olive oil with salt and pepper.  It makes me happy.

I did have small boys help with the making so there were times it was not perfect but so good!  I had white streaks in the dough.  Flat loaves because shaping with Blue's hands is an adventure!  Everyone tastes lovely though!

sourdough chocolate cherry bread

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sourdough starter (I normally use a heaping 1 cup measure)

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup sifted cocoa powder

1 tablespoon cold brew, espresso, or extra strong coffee

1 1/8 tablespoon salt

3 cups flour (I sometimes use 1 cup whole wheat and the rest unbleached)

4 to 8 ounces dried sweet cherries

4 to 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use allergen free chips)

In a large bowl, mix the starter, water, salt, coffee, and cocoa.  Remember to refresh the rest of your starter.  Mix well.

Add two cups flour.  Mix well.  At this point I start working the dough with a dough scraper because I am trying to even out the color.  Add enough of the rest of the flour to make a soft stiff dough.  Start to knead until the gluten develops well.  It may take a bit more flour.

Cover and let rise until double.

When double, take the dough out of the bowl and flatten an a flat surface.  Fold in the cherries and chocolate.  Once the cherries and chocolate are well incorporated, shape into a ball.  

I then put parchment paper in my cast iron porridge pot and let it rise there until double.  Last night, I refrigerated the dough in a plastic bag and put it in the porridge pot this morning.  I am working a market and it will be ready to bake when I get home.

Put in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.  Bake one hour.  I have done it with a lid and without a lid.  I have not noticed a large difference.

Soooo good.

By the way, I am trying to post with my phone so I really hope this works well.  Let me know if it does not!

sourdough fry bread

I am reading a Rebecca Roanhorse book again and she always makes me think of fry bread.  She talks about meals with fry bread as the base in every book.  I do not have access to elk stew but I can make fry bread.

I had started to refresh some sourdough for rolls and decided to use that as the base for the fry bread I planned to make with taco meat.  It was actually turned out to be nachos because that was what everyone was craving.  Since I was not doing the grocery run and had no idea what type of chips were being purchased I thought fry bread was still a great idea.

Because I was planning to make cranberry walnut rolls and cinnamon rolls with that refreshed starter, it had both milk and water in it.  I took about a cup of the starter, used half of the called for salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda I have in my recipe, and then enough flour to make a nice soft but kneadable dough.  I let that sit for a bit.

That made four and I had four people who were eating them.  Blue just takes nibbles still.  He is a great making food helper but not a great food eater yet.  Not like Koda Bear.  I fried them in oil that was about 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  It just took a couple minutes on each side to be golden.  My fry bread has never puffed up this much before.

The fry bread was really good.  Most everyone ate with honey.  The Tall Short Person said it help to fill her beignet cravings.  I can see that.  I am going to update my fry bread recipe with this adaption.

So writing this, I really want to eat fry bead and beans.  But I am off to my Dad's tomorrow.  He will not get go for that.  Koda Bear is going with me.  Maybe a hike or two and time on our mountain will happen.   

low hydration bread

I spend way too much time on Instagram looking at other peoples baked goods.  I like to bake.  I like to be inspired.  There are a lot of hydration breads on Instagram.  What does that mean?  That the amount of water usually sits in proportion to flour at 70% or higher.  For example, if you use 100 grams of flour there is 70 grams of water used for the bread.

One of the high hydration gurus actually posted that the bread he makes most normally for his family or as a gift is a low hydration bread. Low hydration has water at about 65% compared to the flour.  65 grams of water to 100 grams of flour.  That made me go hmmm.  Because the crumb is soft but it holds butter.  Also, because most of these breads are flour, water, and salt, it is a very good traveling bread.  He calls it pioneer bread, which it really is.

I decided to see what I thought of a low hydration bread.  I put a scoop of my starter in a bowl.  Which should have been measured but was not.  I then started with 325 grams of water in the bowl with the starter.  I added 250 grams of flour.  The flour was a mix of white and whole wheat. about two for one.  I let that get all nice and bubbly.  It took about twelve hours.

I scooped out a bit of starter to freshen my jar and added about 200 grams of flour and 10 grams of salt to the waiting dough.  Why did I keep out a bit of the flour?  So I could knead with no more flour then I had.  Also, the moisture in flour is ever changing.  I did not wish too stiff a dough.  I knead the bread dough until all the flour was kneaded in.

I covered and let rise until double.  My kitchen was very cold so this was over night.  I deflated it and let it rise again until double.  Just lots of patience and waiting.  This how I used to make bread all the time.  Pioneer bread.  Or crazy lady bread.  Grandma bread.  Once the second rise occurred, I shaped it into a small loaf.  I let rise and baked it at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes.  I shortened the time because the loaf was small.  I also do not pre-heat.  It means that my crust does not hurt to bite into but I also do not get the thin crust that is so brittle that it goes everywhere.

This is a bread I like.  I have made it in the past without all the proportions and scale.  I can do it by feel but it helps when I talk to chefs who are baking bread to speak their language.  And I said, it is a good traveling bread.  Without the sugar, it has less chance of molding due to the variation in temperatures as one travels.  It makes good toast or goes well with cheese or as a simple sandwich.  I do like it toasted with butter and strawberry jam.  I am quite simple at times.

This just shows how simple good bread can be and how few ingredients.