a swedish style rye bread

I have been having the urge to bake more and more bread.  There is only so much bread one household can eat.  I have been told to give it away.  

Saying that, fishes seem to be the other big thing that is wished for in our household.  Smoke salmon.  Baked halibut that is similar to fried.  Fried catfish.  Fish has been asked for for breakfast.  

After having a rye that was not flavorful enough out, I decided to see if I could find a simpler rye then I had found before.  Yes, it was very good but I like not having to have extra special ingredients in the house.

I found Swedish recipes for kymenlaakso.  They had other Swedish names attached but nothing translated well.  It is basically an artisan bread made with 100% rye flour, salt, and a starter.  And time.  Lots of time because there is not a lot of gluten in rye. 

The resulting bread was not soft per see but it is moist.  Sliced thin it is chewy and flavorful.  With smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, and thinly sliced red onion, life is pretty good.

swedish style rye bread

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup rye

the rest of a 24 ounce bag of dark rye (I used Bob's Red Mill)

1 cup water

1 to 2 teaspoons of salt (this is to your taste.  experiment)

The night before, refresh the starter by mixing in 3/4 cup water and 1 cup rye.  Cover and let sit overnight or until bubbly.  Save a bit for next time (I use whatever I have in whatever bread I am making).

Mix in 1 cup water.  Mix in 2 cups rye.  Cover and let become bubbly.  With the rye having less gluten and no sugar, this may take a bit.

After the sponge gets bubbly, mix in the salt.  Mix in enough rye to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth.  I found it took most of the rest of the bag of rye and it was a bit sticky still.  I did not wish to make the dough any stiffer.  

Cover and let rise until double.  This may take overnight depending on how stiff your dough is.  You can put it in a ziploc and let is rise in the refrigerator.  It will make the bread more sour.

Butter a large loaf pan.  Shape the bread to fit in the pan.  It will be sticky soft.  Cover and let rise until puffy.  This will take time.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 1/2 hours.

Yum.

sourdough waffles

The boyos really like sourdough pancakes.  They are really easy for me so I have no problems making pancakes for them.  Or setting it up so they can add eggs and make them themselves when I am off at work.  But once in a while I do like a nice waffle.  I had been thinking that it would not be that hard to take my sourdough pancake recipe and switch it to waffles.  I have noticed that waffle recipes seem to increase the amount of fat in them.  I have always thought that is to try to limit sticking to the waffle iron.

I was on instagram last week and @local_milk had posted a picture of her sourdough waffles, giving an outline of what she did and saying she used Rhulman's ratios for pancakes as a base.  Like I thought, the basis was to increase fat and there I would have it.  I was actually thinking the flavors from my cornetti would also be good in a waffle, the orange and vanilla.  I was out of orange so vanilla it was.

May I say these were some of the lightest waffles I have had?  And I let them bake a bit so there was a crispness to them.  You do not have to do that but that is what I like.  Next time, I hope to have an orange in the house to give try.  That with "black sugar" (sugared berries, talk to Koda Bear about that name), so good it would be (we have a lot of Yoda around here).

sourdough waffles

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup flour

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

At least a day ahead of when you wish to make the waffles, freshen the starter by mixing the starter, 3/4 cup water, and 1 cup flour in a medium bowl.  Cover and let sit at least 8 hours until bubbly.  Remove about 2 tablespoons of starter for your next sourdough experience.

In the starter, mix in the buttermilk, melted butter, sugar, vanilla, salt, and two cups flour.  Cover, let sit over night until you are ready to bake.

In the morning, heat up your waffle iron and oil they way that works the best for you.  While the iron is heating, mix the two eggs and the baking soda into the batter.  Let sit a minute.  It will grow on you.  Pour about a cup of batter per waffle into the iron.  Bake until it is what you like.  Like I said, I like crispy which is longer then most people like.

Serve with "black sugar" (sugared cut strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries).

Enjoy.

Update on my Grandmother.  The last I heard she was actually doing better but I have not received the latest update yet.  My Mother was supposed to go down and see here yesterday.  I do not know if no news is good or bad but prayers are still appreciated very much.

everyday bread

I have been thinking for some time that I need to write down my current every day bread recipe.  When I was getting texted about the the time I was getting ready to go to bed about what the next steps were, that made the decision for me.  My everyday bread is based on the Tassajara Bread Book (by Edward Espe Brown) pastry recipe but it is every changing for what I put in it.  When Koda Bear is eating jam sandwiches on a regular basis, I put an egg in it.  If I have heavy whipping cream that might be turning soon, that is fluid in the recipe.

I started laughing at myself because I was thinking this recipe is very fluid.  Right after the last sentence.  It truly is but this is current stopping place.

everyday bread

Note:  I will put my some of the possibilities in the ingredient list.  Depending on what  you put in the dough will change the amount of flour you need.  My french bread style. 

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup flour

1 cup milk (this could be water or non-dairy milk or buttermilk or heavy whipping cream)

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar (white or brown)

1/4 cup butter (or another oil, I use olive a lot)

2 teaspoons salt (this can vary but bread tastes very bad without salt unless you were raised that way!)

5 cups flour.

The night before (or morning), mix the starter, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup water in a large bowl.  Cover.  When it is bubbly in the morning, take a couple tablespoons out for next time.

To the starter, add the milk, egg, sugar, and butter.  Mix well but do not worry about butter lumps currently.  Mix in two cups of flour.  Cover and let get bubbly and the dough raises.  This may take an hour or two in a warm house. 

When bubbly, mix in the salt.  The butter should be soft enough to start to break up.  Mix in two cups of flour.  The batter should be becoming a soft dough.  You want a dough that is stiff enough to knead but still very soft.  Add a bit more flour possibly.  Turn out onto a clean floured counter or in a bread trough and knead until smooth.  Place in a large bowl and cover.  Let rise until double.

Punch down.  At this point you can shape or let the dough rise again.  The second rise actually makes the bread keep longer.  I normally do and it takes another couple hours (covered).

Butter a loaf pan or two, dependent on the size of the loaves you wish.  Shape the dough to fit in the pans.  Cover and let rise until puffy.

Once puffy, put the loaves into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake for 1 hour.  I do not preheat which is part of why the length of time for the baking.

Enjoy!

good bread with stuff on top

When I start talking about pizza, my Beloved tells me I do not like pizza but good bread with stuff on top.  When I talk with Mr. Bert, who lived in a heavily Italian immigrant area in New York City, he tells me it is pizza.  Good crust, smoothed with olive oil, vegetables, a little cheese maybe.  High heat.  It is what Mr. Bert considers pizza. 

I told him I was going to recreate a pizza I had out recently:  spinach, pine nut, and feta.  He drooled.  I would have to say the pizza I have out has olives on it instead of pine nuts but I do not really care for olives.  Olive oil, yes.  Olives, no. 

This was incredibly tasty.  I ate half the pizza which is really too much.  But if you only make pizza once every couple of weeks, you can a couple extra pieces.  I also admit that I have never really liked cold or reheated pizza.  I am very strange.  But then, I do not eat pizza with red sauce in most cases and I did not eat pizza with any regularity until I started making it myself.  Everyone else in my life really likes pizza with red sauce.

spinach, feta, and pine nut pizza

1/2 recipe pizza dough

1 pound spinach, well washed and chopped coarsely

1 teaspoon ground pepper

4 cloves garlic or roasted garlic, minced

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 to 1/2 cup pine nuts

1/2 to 1 cup feta

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a skillet, heat two tablespoons olive oil over medium.  As it wilts, add in the garlic.  Once it has wilted and much of the water has cooked off of it, add the black pepper.  Take off the heat.

Roll out the pizza dough into a round that fits your pizza pan.  Or rectangle for a baking sheet.  Cover the pizza pan with parchment paper, put shaped pizza dough on it.  Smooth with two tablespoons olive oil.  Spread the spinach mixture over it.  Sprinkle with feta, to your taste.  Sprinkle with pine nuts, to your taste.

Put in the preheated oven for 17 minutes.

It will be golden and smell wonderful when it is ready.  The feta does not bubble.

Be careful not to burn your mouth when eating.  It is delicious.

homecoming chocolate cupcakes

I asked Koda Bear as he was driving to Houston house if he would like vanilla or chocolate cupcakes when he got here.  He said chocolate.  My favorite chocolate cake recipe required beaten egg whites.  There was just one problem with that.  My right shoulder was sore and I do not own a mixer, hand or electric.  I decided to take my favorite Italian vanilla cake and modify it.  It is a one bowl cake so it morphed to nice easy chocolate cupcakes.  Well, easy for me.  I always make cakes and cupcakes and fairy cakes from scratch now.

This turned out well.  Nice texture.  Not too sweet but nice chocolate flavor.  You could add frosting but I was not feeling up to it and the boyos do not need it.

chocolate cupcakes

1 cup plus two tablespoons butter

1 cup  sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cocoa

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Grease 18 cupcake molds.  Or use papers.

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Mix in the eggs and vanilla.  Mix in 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup cocoa.  Mix in about half the milk.  Mix in 3/4 cup flour.  Mix in the rest of the milk.  Mix in the last 3/4 cup flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Mix well.

Fill the cupcake molds about half to two thirds full.  I overfilled.  Bake for about twenty minutes or until a knife poked in comes out clean.  Take out of the tin and let cool. 

Frost if you wish.