Irish Wholemeal Bread

Made up loaves from a bag of King Arthur "Irish Wholemeal Flour" -- haven't tasted yet, and didn't let them rise enough since my time was limited. Here are the finished loaves:



and the dough, resting



and the San Francisco Sourdough, busily growing -- although after some nine years, it's Central Ohio Sourdough at this point!



Here's the recipe:

Irish Wholemeal Bread

KA Irish Wholemeal Flour
Amish organic cornmeal
Organic whole wheat
Organic soy powder
Al Blyth honey
Hemp seed
San Francisco sourdough starter
Soy milk
Organic canola oil
Kosher salt

Mixed 11/16/08
Baked 11/18/08

Obama Victory Bread

Baked this on Election Day! Since we had to be at precincts at 5:30 a.m. to be election officials, put the loaves in the oven on a timer, and baked for a shorter time than usual since I knew they'd be sitting in the warm oven all day. The formed loaves rose overnight -- made with a combination of hard and soft winter wheat that I ground coarsely in the VitaMix. Should have let the loaves rise longer, but couldn't because of the election day requirements -- so they're not quite as high as they could have been. But the coarse flour gives a great texture.

Whole Grain Whole Wheat

Coarse ground winter wheat
King Arthur First Clear flour
Organic cornmeal
Organic high gluten flour
Ground flaxseed
Hemp seed
Al Blyth's honey
Columbus Pale Ale
Sour soy milk
Kosher salt
Organic canola oil
New England starter

Mixed 11/2/08
Baked 11/4/08

Wholly Rye

Some soy milk soured, so bread was the result; and since I'd just gotten some First Clear Flour from King Arthur, that suggested a rye. Here's the resulting three loaves:



And one loaf, isolated; it's brighter because it was taken with a flash.



and the recipe:

Wholly Rye

Org. Rye Flour
K.A. First Clear Flour
Soy Powder
Org. Cornmeal
Org. High Gluten Wheat Flour
Agave syrup
Kosher Salt
Hemp Seed
Ground Flax Seed
Black Sesame Seed
Whole Cumin Seed
Whole Coriander Seed
Whole Flax Seed
Sour Soy Milk
Columbus Pale Ale
Giza Sourdough Culture

Mixed 9/16/08
Baked 9/17/08

The high gluten flour was mainly used to feed the starter. Haven't tasted it yet; the aftermath of Hurricane Ike's winds on Sunday meant no power since then to Ann's studio, so we had to empty the refrigerator and freezer there, which has taken up a good part of the day!

Rye Again

UPDATE: the twenty-one year-old tofu was fine; see next entry for more details. Sorry the Cleveland Tofu Company's no longer in existence!

baked rye again, with more organic flour than usual; didn't have time to grind flour as I'd planned, so picked up some Amish organic rye flour at the Coop. Timing was off--had an errand after loaves were formed, and hoped they'd rise sufficiently for baking when I got back; they hadn't, but I had to bake anyway. So the loaves are pretty small. Haven't tasted them--they went straight to the freezer.


the barm, working away. Used the King Arthur "New England" starter that's been working for me for the past eleven years.


here's the dough.


Organic Rye
Amish org. rye flour
King Arthur First Clear Flour
King Arthur pumpernickel
King Arthur white rye
King Arthur rye blend
Org. corn meal
Org. whole wheat
Ground flax seed
Hemp seed
Caraway seed
Black sesame seed
Ground dill seed
New England starter
Kosher salt
Org. canola oil
Org. barley malt


the dough separated for four loaves


the baked loaves

Not bread, but ancient tofu

No bread this week (still working on the whole wheat from last time), but came across a container of Cleveland Tofu hidden in the freezer. According to the container, it was on sale in 1987 -- for $.29! Here's the container, recovered after 21 years--


and the tofu itself, thawing. We'll try it tonight and see how it's survived all that time; the Cleveland Tofu Company no longer exists (its founder, Bob Carr, remains very active in the natural healing world and is now back in Cleveland, at the East-West Center), and it now costs a whole lot more than 29 cents for a pound!
UPDATE: Had chunks of the ancient tofu, pan fried and then added to stir fry. Still good, after all this time!



So how did the tofu remain hidden in the freezer for two decades? Tucked in a back corner. And since we get fresh tofu a couple of times a week, and it's now readily available not only at the Coop, but at Asian stores, and even at the commercial Giant Eagle and Kroger Supermarkets nearby. No longer a speciality item difficult to obtain; and it's a long, long time since we had to make our own (although we still have the pressing box).

More bread next week--and I have grain to grind for the flour this time--

Just Whole Wheat

Another request from Ann: she wanted loaves of plain whole wheat, to take to a week-long workshop with Sheila Waters, a master calligrapher who lives in southern Pennsylvania. Wanted them plain since she wasn't real sure about how adventurous some of the other folks there might be. So here's the result: just plain whole wheat.



from above



and a closer view of the crumb, a bit blurry. Good taste, if a bit bland!

Whole Wheat

King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour
Organic Amish Whole Wheat Flour
Organic unbleached white flour
Organic cornmeal
Ground steel-cut oats
Potato starch
Ground flax seeds
Ground hemp seeds
Organic barley malt
Organic canola oil
San Francisco Sourdough starter
Columbus Brewing Ohio Honey Wheat Pale Ale
Kosher salt

Barm mixed 7/6/08
Loaves shaped 7/8/08
Baked 7/10/08

Baked five loaves. Then Ann's plans for the workshop changed (in part due to my getting sick), so she'll be going in October. Loaves are in the freezer; we'll see if they last until October!

And an odd side note: the blogger folks notified me Friday that this blog had been identified as a potential spammer, and it was being suspended while they checked it out. The freeze of the blog ended today (perhaps obviously). No idea how that happened, or what about posting recipes for bread and photos of bread managing to trigger the 'whoops! Spammer!' response. One of the dangers, I guess, of automatic content programs.

Sprouted hard wheat loaves

After Ann read about the process of a local bakery's sprouted wheat bread at our co-op, and brought home the flyer, I decided to give it a try. So here's what I came up with.



the finished loaves



the starter, bubbling away, several hours earlier

Sprouted Whole Wheat

1 cup org. hard wheat berries, sprouted
1 cup hard wheat berries
1 cup org. cornmeal
7 cups King Arthur trad. ww flour
1 cup hemp seeds
1 cup ground flax seeds
Blythe honey
Kosher salt
King Arthur “New England” starter
soy milk

Grind the wheat berries, both whole and sprouted, mix with remaining ingredients. After rising, bake in oven preheated to 400 degrees F, lowering to 375 degrees
after putting bread in over. After 20 minutes, rotate loaves. Continue baking until done, approximately 20-25 minutes more.

here are the berries, sprouted, before being ground in the VitaMix:



the stack of sprouting trays



and the sprouted wheat

The resulting dough was a bit slack; decided to leave it that way rather than add yet more flour to stiffen it. It rose in our cool kitchen for several hours before being baked. For some reason there's a vaguely lemony aftertaste to the bread. As usual, toasts well. Next time, will go for a slightly stiffer dough. Two of the loaves were backed in the Chicago Metallic loaf pans, one in a ceramic pan we picked up several years ago at Penland (it's the higher, domed loaf in the center in the photo above). Both give decent results.