The Humble Kitchen

I had every intention of posting my sourdough trials, but the reality is that it took up too much time and was a little depressing. However, I did get it going again and I am feeling pretty good about the results despite the last few loaves being almost devoid of flavor.

Today’s loaf turned out a little better on all fronts as I think the starter is really coming into it’s own. This loaf does not contain oil or eggs which is great for my mom and anyone else who is looking for a lower calorie gluten free loaf or can’t have eggs.

I had to mix this by hand as my trusty stand mixer is doing something weird. It is getting this gray, ugly streak all over anything slightly acidic. I can see the bottom of the bowl is worn-  I suspect it’s out of alignment, but I have not investigated how one gets their huge stand mixer re-aligned. It’s probably referred to as “buy a new one.”

1c white bean flour

3/4 c millet flour

1/4 c millet groats

1c tapioca starch

1 1/2 t salt (iodized please for bread, you don’t want to end up with thyroid problems)

2 1/2 t xanthan gum

1 T sugar

1c of starter

About 2c of water

I just mixed everything together by hand and let it rise for about 45 minutes in the bowl. (It was, after all, 4:30 in the morning so I had a little time to kill). Then I put it in the parchment lined 9×5 loaf pan, sprayed it with a bit of oil and let it rise some more, probably about 40 minutes.

Into a 375 degree oven it went. 10 minutes uncovered, 20 covered, 10 more uncovered seemed to work out well for my oven. Do what time feels right to you though. If you’ve ever undercooked your gluten free loaf, you learn quickly never to do that again. This one turned out well though. The crust is wonderful! ~Sarah

Well maybe this bun’s not for you.

The problem with this bun and pretty much every other bun I have ever made (and I’ve probably made at least 15 versions) is that it that the texture is unlike any gluten filled bun. They are just a stand-in so we can try to feel like we are eating a real burger or whatever we happen to be eating that requires a bun.

These happen to be Carol Fenster’s version from her book, 1000 Gluten Free Recipes. Carol Fenster managed to do something similar to those items we can purchase in the store- she made them dry, not gummy and with more flavor. The problem for me lies in something I’ve mentioned before, I do not prefer this dry, almost foam-like texture. I can eat them, but it needs to be moment they come out of the oven and then I still just feel like they are too dry. My Mom loves them though and Ms. Fenster is a saint for those people who long for the dryness usually lacking in gluten free bread. The other great thing about Ms. Fenster’s recipes is that they are generally easy and almost always turn out, like the buns above.

There’s a lot to be said for being able to produce something that looks great.

~Sarah

I didn’t realize that the death of my sourdough starter had such an effect on me. I have been crushed honestly. Unable to make ANY bread. Unable to take pictures for the blog despite having made tortilla soup, brownies, beef stew, cheesecake squares and all sorts of other dishes.

Although I had a few days off in a row, I simply could not muster the will to start again. But last night, somehow, I was able to do it. I enlisted the help of the three year old and just did it. Who knows if it will work since it is only day one, but at least I have started. I feel better already. Aren’t humans peculiar? I mean really, letting a food product get me down. Sheesh.

This wild seed starter is made from one cup freshly ground quinoa and 3/4c water. The idea comes from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The original text uses rye flour, but of course I can’t use nor do I own rye flour so I picked quinoa since  I had that enormous bag from Costco. Just mix the flour and water together with a plastic or wooden spoon and keep it lightly covered in a plastic or glass container.

As usual, the little one had a blast grinding it up in the coffee grinder (not used for coffee) and pouring the water in to the cup. Here it will sit for 24 hours.

Day 2

It doesn’t look any different than Day 1 so there’s no picture. Same idea though, mix 1c of rice flour and 1/2c of water into the starter from Day One. Let it sit out for another 24 hours. It might rise a little, or it may do nothing as mine did.

Day 3

Day 3 is a little different, you have to throw out or give away one-half of the starter. Then add one cup of flour and 1/2 c of water. Stir and let it sit for another 24 hours. (yes there is a lot of sitting and waiting). My Day 3 isn’t over yet, so I’ll take a picture later. Last time my Day 3 is where something started to happen! Here’s hoping…

Well days 4, 5 , 6 and seven never got posted because this starter is hassling me. I think I finally have it going, but I’m just not sure it smells quite right. I am going to try and refresh today to see if it will work. Otherwise I may need to start over.

My brother warned me that I would love these bagels when he took me to St-Viateur Bagel in Montreal. As usual, he was right. When I got home I started my search for a recipe, because you can’t get anything like a Montreal bagel around here. This is the first recipe I tried, and it turned out to be the best.

1 ½ cups warm water

5 Tablespoons sugar

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1 (8 g) package dry yeast (not instant)

1 Tablespoon beaten egg

1 Tablespoon Malt syrup  (I buy this at Whole Foods)

4 ½ cups ap or bread flour, maybe more

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup poppy seeds

¼ cup sesame seeds

6 quarts water

⅓ cup honey

In the warmed bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the warm water, sugar, canola oil, yeast, egg and malt until the yeast dissolves. Stir in salt and one cup of the flour. Once incorporated turn on mixer, with dough hook attachment, and slowly add in three cups of flour. Dough should be soft but not too sticky. You may need to add another half cup or so of flour. Knead in mixer for at least five minutes until dough is elastic. On floured board knead by hand for a few minutes, roll into a smooth ball and place mixer bowl over the dough to rest for ten minutes.

Divide dough into twelve bagels. I cut 3 oz. pieces with a bench scraper, roll them into balls and set aside until all dough is divided. Then I flatten the dough slightly with my palm and push my thumb through to create a bagel shape. Or roll each piece into a 10″ rope, wrap around your hand and press the ends together.

Set bagels on baking sheets lined with a Silpat or parchment, cover with a tea towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot and stir in the honey. Preheat the oven to 425º. When the honey-water has come up to the boil, drop in bagels, two or three at a time, and boil for about 90 seconds, turning only once. Drain your bagels on clean, dry tea towels. Put sesame seeds on a plate, dip both sides of each bagel in the seeds. Bagels should be generously covered in seeds on both sides. Once the sesame seeds are used up do the same with the poppy seeds. Lay out the bagels on the lined baking sheets. Place your bagels in preheated oven and bake until golden in appearance, about 20 minutes, turning once.

Montreal bagels differ from standard bagels in several ways, they are smaller, sweeter, and not as chewy. The malt gives them a wonderful flavor. I like them best with a bit of cream cheese, smoked salmon, cucumber and black pepper. My daughter likes hers with tzatziki. We also like this roasted vegetable cream cheese.

-Jennifer

I must say that this was one of the weirdest loaves of bread I have ever made.

I used organic quinoa grain I bought at Costco. Quinoa is a pretty cool grain. It is one of the oldest grains and a complete protein all on its own. It also has the full line up of essential fatty acids, not to mention fiber and iron. You can make quinoa salad or make it like rice and have it as a side dish. If you haven’t had a chance to try it, you should give it a go. It does have a different flavor, but you’ll probably like it.

Anyway back to this weird bread… it all started with my starter. I replenished it two days ago after it had been in the refrigerator for a little over a week. Everything seemed fine with it, I mean it rose up, looked spongy etc., but once in the bread it appeared to have no rising power whatsoever. I made the dough and about an hour and a half later nothing happened, literally, nothing happened. I fear it has died.

Instead of dumping it out, I decided to re-mix it with 2t of regular yeast and a little extra water. Twenty minutes later, what I had was a loaf of bread exploding out of the pan. Of course it had some additional oven spring, so what I ended up with was a loaf of bread that stands quite tall. (I had a huge avocado sitting on the counter so I stood it up next to it).

The crust on this bread really is lovely.

Even though it was a weird loaf at the beginning it turned out to be quite wonderful. It has a very soft texture (even toasted) and a delicate flavor that oddly enough, is not overly quinoa as I thought might happen.

The kids ate about three pieces each for lunch and I had at least that many. I will definitely make this again. This is crowned 5th generation sourdough because it has yeast and egg.

Zee recipe:

1/2c of dry quinoa grain

3c of flour (I used 1c of quinoa flour, 1c of sorghum and 1c of potato starch)

1c of starter (damn you!)

1t of salt

2T whole cane sugar (you can use regular sugar it’s just what I had at the front of the shelf)

3t xanthan gum

2t yeast

2c of water

1/4c of egg white (about one large I think)

Mix all the ingredients together and let it proof in a 9×5 loaf pan prepped with spray oil and dusted with cornmeal. Drizzle a fair amount of olive oil over the top of the bread. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Let the bread rise until almost to the top of the pan and then bake, covered with foil for 10 minutes. Remove foil and let it bake another 35 minutes or so. Immediately remove from pan and cool on a rack.

~Sarah

P.S. Happy New Year!

Since I’ve been traveling a bit for the holidays I had to put the wild starter in the refrigerator. This means that it’ll be a day or two before I get it going again. So because I needed a loaf of bread for this week’s lunches, I had to use regular yeast. I also decided to enrich it a bit to see what effect, if any, it had on the taste and texture of the bread. My enricher of choice was whey. It’s cheap and works well in my pizza dough. I have noticed over the years that many books use non-instant powdered milk, but the stuff is so damn expensive, I had to use something else.

Here’s today’s recipe:

1 1/2 c of potato starch                                     1 egg

1 c of millet                                                          about 2 cups of warm water

1 c buckwheat

1/2  c millet groats

1/3 c whey

1 /2 salt

3 t. xanthan gum

2 T dark brown sugar

1 1/2 T yeast

In keeping with my simple bread ideal, I combined the dry ingredients and then added the beaten egg and water to the mix. I mixed it up by hand for a few minutes and let it rest for about 10 minutes while I prepped the pan with parchment and spray oil. I formed the loaf in the prepared pan and let it rise (it’s amazing how much faster standard yeast rises than wild yeast btw). Here’s it rising:

I’ll return when I can slice it and eat it. At least it looks promising…

Okay, so I have returned.  A few observations:

1) It appears as though the whey made the bread have a very tiny crumb

2) It doesn’t seem to taste any better, so why add it?

3) The bread feels drier, like it’s going to go stale faster.

Now I don’t know if any of these observations are due to they whey. It just seems that way.  But since I am trying to have a simple bread, I am going to leave it out next time.  I also think that I prefer the slight stickiness of non-enriched bread, because it feels softer and doesn’t go stale as fast.

It also may very well be that I have grown to actually like the different grains required in gluten-free baking and appreciate their flavor as opposed to being angry at them for not tasting like wheat. Then again, I don’t even remember what wheat tasted like or it tasting like much at all.

GF baking is yet another situation where we should be grateful for the abundant food we can eat, instead of complaining about what we cannot eat. This, like so many other things in life, is easier said than done.

~Sarah

Recently I acquired a lovely book called Loaf, Crust and Crumb by Silvija Davidson. It’s a sort of encyclopedia of bread. There are recipes, but not for the bread itself, rather how to use the bread once you’ve got it. I love this idea, particularly the uses for stale bread. We tend to forget that necessity brought about so many delicious recipes we still enjoy today. Who doesn’t love French toast (pain perdu to the French), a way of saving yesterday’s lost bread? Stuffing, croutons, all these are in the book, along with some unexpected recipes like Brown Bread Ice Cream.

I have the great fortune of living near enough to the Acme Bread Company that I can enjoy these exceptional loaves on a regular basis. My favorite being pain au levain. I could happily eat the entire loaf in one day, but when I manage to show some restraint and I have a bit leftover, there are so many possibilities. One of my favorites is a Moroccan inspired stuffed fish. I particularly like Jamie Oliver’s recipe, though I tend to use butterflied whole trout, and I don’t bother to tie it. Delicious with or without the bacon & crème fraîche.

The most recent way I’ve used up my bread was for breakfast, after having noticed a recipe for Migas in a beautiful book by Sam & Sam Clark called Moro. I decided to see what I had in the fridge. I sauteed onion and garlic in bacon drippings, added in the bread cubes, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, a fresno chile and some spinach for color. Topped it off with a fried egg. Breakfast served.

-Jennifer

This is amaranth bread. It is the third-generation sourdough (the one with the egg white added). I am quite happy with how it turned out. It looks like “normal” bread and has a reasonably soft texture due to all the tapioca flour.

For those of you who don’t know what amaranth is it is a super-tiny seed that comes from an ancient, beautiful magenta-pink colored flower that is actually a weed (I think). It is high in protein and can grow damn near anywhere, hence it’s weed-like qualities. It is a little like hemp in that it contains essential amino acids that human bodies need. It is a valuable crop indeed!

This bread uses the entire seed, not the flour most people may have seen. While I use amaranth flour in lots of other things, I chose to use the seed here. Here’s what I came up with to put in this simple bread:

1/2c of whole amaranth

1c millet flour

2 1/2c tapioca flour

1t each of guar and xanthan gums

1 1/2t salt

1 C of starter

1 egg white, lightly beaten and

about 2 cups of water

I throw all this is a bowl and mix it up for a few minutes. I let it rise, covered, in the bowl on the counter for about 30 minutes and then plop it in the 9×5 loaf pan that has been spray oiled and dusted with cornmeal. Then it sits to rise until it is almost at the top of the pan. After that, it’s off the oven set at 375 degrees. It bakes, for 10 minutes uncovered and then about 30 or so covered with foil. Then it must cool completely on a rack before I can eat it.

I don’t know if I have just grown accustomed to gf bread or if this really is good bread. As much as I tried to get my mother to buy Wonder when I was younger, I never ate any of the super-soft loaf breads. Then as I grew older, I always ate the whole grain ones that were firmer from bakeries like Alvarado St.. It may just be that I don’t long for soft, squishy bread because I don’t have a memory to which I could compare the texture. Who knows.

What I do know is that gf bread keeps me from being sick and I think this bread tastes lovely. Why would I expect anything less from such a beautiful flower.

~Sarah