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

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.

Whole Wheat Rye

Baked another whole wheat/rye combination over the weekend, in preparation for the visit of our USNavy daughter, her USNavy (ret) husband, and their nine-month old daughter -- our granddaughter (aka the most adorable baby in the world; see www.summerprentice.blogspot.com for irrefutable proof of that unbiased statement). Here are the various steps:


6:30 p.m.,5/10/08: "New England" starter working and growing. I put New England into quote marks; I obtained the starter from King Arthur Flours in February, 1997, so I figure after it's been being used regularly in Central Ohio for eleven years, it's probably more a Central Ohio starter than a New England one.


7:23 p.m., 5/10/08: the barm formed; total of about five cups of flour in the barm


3:12 P.M., 5:11/08: the dough mixed--added a lot more whole wheat flour than I'd planned, in part because--without thinking--I added the entire bowl of starter, so there was a lot more liquid than there should have been.


7:56 a.m., 5/12/08: the dough, risen after overnight in the refrigerator. I'll insert the recipe here:

Whole Wheat Rye

Stutzman Farms Whole Wheat
King Arthur Whole Wheat
King Arthur First Clear Flour
King Arthur White Rye Flour
King Arthur Organic Pumpernickel
Stutzman Farms Corn Meal
Soy milk
Ground Flax Seed
Barley Malt
Kosher Salt
Organic Canola Oil
New England Starter



8:21 a/m/ 5/12: the loaves formed, ready for the second rise; I used the basic overnight rise method that Peter Reinhart used in his wonderful whole grains bread book; the ingredients minus starter mixed, then refrigerated overnight, while the starter is fed and expanded. Then on the next day (or the day after, for that matter), after the refrigerated barm is brought to room temperature (usually about three hours), the dough is mixed with the starter, then allowed to rise, loaves formed, risen, and then baked.


1:47 p.m., 5/12/08: risen and ready (if not over ready) for the oven). I had to run some errands and midday was the only time that could happen; when I got home, Ann was cleaning the oven. So the second rise was longer than it really should have been; indeed, you can see that the second loaf from the left (the one in the ceramic pan that we got at Penland several years ago) has begun to fall a bit. The two loaves on the right are rising in Chicago Metallic Pans, while the one on the right is in a long banneton, so it'll go on the ceramic baking sheet directly on a little corn meal base.


3;00 p.m., 5/12/08: the loaves baked--oven preheated to 450 degrees F, then lowered to 350 degrees F when loaves placed in oven. Baked for a total of 50 minutes, until internal temperature reached 200 degree F. Routinely use a ceramic baking pad.

Observations: the dough was slacker than I usually make, and the freestanding loaf flattened out a bit. Ann actually sees that as a plus; better for slicing at the table, she says. Not sure I agree, but there we are. Haven't tasted it yet, so will have to update once we've actually cut into one of the loaves! It'll be the freestanding one; the three baked in pans are already in the freezer.

Whole Wheat Olive Pesto

no time to bake, what with some involvement at the Clintonville Community Market whose Board I've been elected to, and staffing a polling place for elections to the Clintonville Area Commission. So here's a recipe from the past:

Whole Wheat Olive Pesto

3 cups King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat flour
1 cup Barley Flour
1 cup Millet Flour
1 cup Teff Flour
1 cup Org. corn meal
1 cup Chopped burgundy olives
1 cup Grasmere pesto
1/2 cup Ground flax seed
1/2 cup Whole hemp seed
2 TBS Org. canola oil
1 TBS Succanat
3 tsp Kosher salt
1 cup "New England" sourdough starter
1-2 cups milk

mix dry ingredients. Add oil, starter, milk. Knead until smooth. Let rise until doubled in bulk, which will be several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Punch down, shape into loaves, let rise again. Preheat over to 450 degrees. When loaves are ready, place in oven, and reduce temperature to 350. Bake twenty minutes, then rotate loaves, and continue baking until done (about 20-30 minutes) and internal temperature is at 200 degrees. Remove from oven, cover with cloth towels, and let cool.

Whole Wheat -- and a terrific Indian restaurant, Banana Leaf

Baked some rather plain whole wheat loaves over the weekend; no photos, and they're meant as basic sandwich loaves:

Whole Wheat

King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat
Daily Grind Corn Meal
Soy Powder
Ground flax seed
Organic unbleached white flour
Blyth honey
Kosher salt
Giza sourdough

Mixed 4/3/08
Baked 4/4/08

Far more exciting was the discovery of a southern India vegetarian restaurant on Bethel Road, Banana Leaf. More about them at http://www.bananaleafofcolumbus.com/

Because of a Calligraphy workshop, we had visitors from out of town--Ann's first teacher and calligraphy mentor, Lisa Rogers, now of Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, and Sandy Wagner of Indianapolis. So I searched for vegetarian restaurants on the web, and had a couple of options. They went for Indian, so we went to Banana Leaf. And thought we'd died and gone to culinary heaven. Buffet, with a fixed menu. And wonderful, wonderful food. Served dish by dish by the proprietor, who explained in detail what the food was, what the ingredients were, and how it was prepared. We've found a new standard place! So between the world-class Dragon Fly NeoV, the comfort food Whole World, and the downhome Benevolence, we can now add spicy and terrific southern Indian food at Banana Leaf. Yahoo!

More Rye-Whole Wheat

Made this up starting Friday, so aged the barm 48 hours before mixing the dough and baking--

Rye/Whole Wheat

Org. Rye flour
Org. whole wheat flour
Org. whole wheat bread flour
Daily Grind cornmeal
Oat flour
Soy powder
Ground flax seeds
Ground sunflower seeds
Hemp seeds
Org. gluten
Soy milk
Blyth Honey
kosher salt
San Francisco starter

12/1/07

and made another squash soup--this time from Eric Turner's Millenium cookbook--squash with star anise, topped with sesame seed/star anise cream. So wonderfully delicious that there was none to put away--

oh, and a first! Cleveland playwright Faye Sholitan tells me that she used details from this blog in the draft of a play that was given a staged reading just before Thanksgiving at the Cleveland Public Theatre--and that 'agave nectar' got a laugh! Should I ask for royalties?

Multi Grain Struan

Finally got to try baking from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads;
tried the multi-grain struan, Reinhart's signature bread.


Whole Wheat Struan

Whole grains:
Barley
Millet
Quinoa
Oat flakes
Wheat flakes
Hemp seed
King Arthur Whole Wheat
Ground flax seed
Saranac Pale Ale
Soy Milk
Skim Milk
Kosher Salt
Sorghum
Organic canola oil
King Arthur “New England” Starter

the mixed dough


the dough formed, after first rising


a loaf formed and sliced, before second rising


second loaf formed


the 'turban loaf' baked and cooling


the crumb


loaves are terrific--and Peter's method simple to follow. Thanks!

Baked Potato Bread from The Fresh Loaf

Currently in Japan, visiting the Most Adorable Grandchild in the Universe (for details, see http://summerprentice.blogspot.com), and so having to improvise ingredients and processes.

Baked this earlier this week; the basic concept is from The Fresh Loaf (thefreshloaf.com), by Floyd Mann, the guru there; my adjustments were because I'm in Japan at the moment, and don't have access to some ingredients (no chives, for example); and no bacon because we're vegan. My variation first, followed by Floyd's original

1/2 cup mashed potatoes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped green onions (green stems only)

mix ingredients and knead, adding all-purpose or whole wheat flour alternatively to get to a soft loaf. I used a Kitchen Aid mixer for the kneading, doing a bit of hand kneading at the end. Let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes here in an un-airconditioned kitchen in Japan with temperatures in the upper 90sF outside); shape into loaves (I placed the shaped loaves into loaf pans greased generously with olive oil, since I knew we'd need sandwich bread for picnics, etc. Otherwise would have shaped into round loaves or -- if at home -- would have used a basket), let rise until doubled (another 45 minutes); while rising, preheat over to 425 degrees F. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes, lower temperature to 375 degrees F, bake until done (in this US military issue oven, which is not entirely accurate, about 45 minutes). Cool.



I add cornmeal to most recipes; adds a nice crunch to the finished bread, and doesn't change the taste that I can tell, although a less jaded palate than mine might well notice.



and the original recipe (and see http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/bakedpotatobread for the method, directions, and some mouthwatering photographs):

1/2 cup mashed potatoes
3 to 4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour (ambiguity in original)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cooked bacon
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives