Żurek - a Polish Rye Soup - and a loaf of Rye Bread

We were invited over to Phoebe and Nancy's for dinner, last night. Phoebe was making a soup they had eaten in Poland that they really liked - Żurek. a soup made with a fermented rye starter - Zakwas Żytni. (Do not ask me to even try to pronounce any of this.)

We were the guinea pigs. Anyone who knows me knows I'm first in line to try a new food, so we were there with the proverbial bells on! And since we were having a soup with rye, I asked if I could bring a loaf of rye bread.

I must admit I had never heard of fermented grain soups. Evidently, they are quite common in the west Slavic countries - where my culinary knowledge is pretty bleak.

In doing a little research after the fact, I found that hardly anyone in Poland makes their own Zakwas Żytni, anymore... it's available in just about any grocery store. But... since there are not a lot of Polish grocery stores in Beaverton, Oregon, Phoebe made her own.

And I must say I am quite glad she did! The soup was excellent! Slightly sweet and sour, it was rich and flavorful - lots of root vegetables, kielbasa, bacon, and the crowning touch - a medium-cooked egg on top.

Stunning and delicious!

Also doing a bit of research after the fact, I found that there are variations in different regions of the country - and from home to home. Kinda like pasta sauce in Italy or tacos in Mexico. The constants are the Zakwas Żytni, sausage, and the boiled egg.

The fermented rye needs at least five days to develop, so plan accordingly!

Żurek - a Polish Rye Soup

adapted from The Polish Housewife

For the Zakwas:

  • 5 tablespoons rye flour
  • 3 cups water
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3 bay leaves

For the Soup:

  • 4 slices bacon, diced
  • 1 pound Polish sausage
  • 2 large onions, coarsely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, sliced
  • 1 large parsnip, sliced
  • 1/2 celery root, peeled and diced
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cloves crushed garlic
  • 4 large potatoes, cut into chunks
  • 1/2 teaspoon marjoram
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoon horseradish
  • 2 tablespoons cream
  • hard-boiled eggs

To make the Zakwas:

Add the flour to a qt mason jar.

Add the water, garlic, and bay leaves.

Mix thoroughly, as it sits, it will separate with the flour sinking to the bottom

Cover the jar with a paper towel or kitchen towel and secure with a ring or rubber band.

Let sit for five days, giving it a stir daily to mix.

To make the soup:

Brown the bacon and sausage in a soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion, carrot, parsnip and celery root.

Add broth and bay leaf and garlic, simmer for 40 minutes.

Add the potatoes and marjoram, cook until the potatoes are tender.

Add 2 cups of the zakwas (strained or flour mixed in, your choice) - add all of it if you want a more sour soup.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Add horseradish and cream.

Return to a boil and remove from heat.

Serve by garnishing with hard-boiled egg half.

 

Recipes in our family are suggestions - or concepts, or a base idea to get the creative juices flowing and use up things that are already in the house. Rarely is something followed word-for word. Phoebe took the recipe and switched it around a bit to suit her needs. The above is a mere approximation.

Same hold true for the bread, below.

I saw a recipe for a Guinness Rye Bread and went to the site. The person making the bread more or less winged it - her oven doesn't work right, she left part of the dough out too long... more comedy routine than recipe. I went to the recipe site she was using. It had more structure, but I liked the first approach, better. Besides, the original site was using an Italian bread pan to make long rounded loaves - definitely not what I was looking for. I blended the two, added my own spin, and ended up with a hybrid. The recipe did not specify type of white flour, so I used bread flour. I had to play with the dough a lot in the making...

Guinness Rye Bread

adapted from Wild Yeast and One Perfect Bite (neither blog has been updated in years...)

Sponge Ingredients:

  • 195 g flour
  • 140 g coarsely-ground whole rye flour
  • 4.7 g (1.5 t.) instant yeast
  • 45 g water
  • 1 bottle Guinness Stout

Final Dough Ingredients:

  • 195 g flour
  • 11 g salt
  • All of the sponge

Make the starter:

1) Combine beer and water in a large bowl. Add yeast and stir until completely dissolved.

2) Add flours and mix until a thick batter forms. Cover and let rest at room temperature for about two hours. Refrigerate over night. (Since I used bread flour and my starter was rather thick.)

The Bread:

3) Add remaining flour and salt. Mix with machine for about 10 minutes. This is the tricky part - the recipe stated it as a sticky dough. Mine wasn't. I added a bit too much water and then had to add a bit more flour. After a good 10 minutes of mixing at medium speed, I had a dough that cleaned the sides of the bowl and was juuuuust attached to the bottom.

4) Place in a lightly oiled bowl and let rest for an hour.

5) Turn dough onto work surface shape into a ball and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

6) Reshape ball and place on flour-dusted parchment paper on peel or rimless cookie sheet. Let rise until double in size, about 1 to 2 hours.

7) Preheat oven lined with baking stones to 450°F. Place empty pan/container on rack below baking stones for water when ready to bake.

8) Slash loaves with a razor blade.

9) Slide loaves or pans into oven. Add water to bottom pan.

10) Reduce heat to 425° after 5 minutes. Bake for another 30 minutes or until bottom of loaves sound hollow when tapped. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I wasn't expecting to blog about this, so I didn't take any pictures of the whole loaf or the process. But I did get a couple of the part we brought home...

 

 

It came out pretty good and was a great accompaniment to a really great soup!

 

 

It had a nice, chewy crust and a really delicate crumb. I'll probably never be able to replicate it, but... I'm used to that.


Homemade Soup and a Loaf of Bread

We finally made it to the grocery store, yesterday. First time in almost 2 weeks. We've had a bit of weather that just wasn't conducive to being out and about.

It's definitely age-related... Back in my youth, I'd be on the roads in a snowstorm half-lit with bald tires heading to the store because we had the munchies or were almost out of beer. Now, common sense coupled with a profound fear of meeting a 2024 version of my youthful self in the middle of an intersection keeps me put.

Fortunately, a well-stocked freezer and pantry kept us well-fed.

The nice thing about not shopping for 2 weeks is we can now actually see into the freezer and cupboards! There's nothing languishing in a far corner, dying of freezer burn. No packaged goods with a Use By date of July 2019. It's all ready to be packed out, again!

Another fun thing about not shopping for a while is getting creative with the things you have - like last night's soup. We had every ingredient but one in the house - and the one ingredient we didn't have was being delivered by Imperfect Foods.

I rarely follow a recipe for soup - it's soup, after all - but once in a while I see something that sounds interesting. I really like the flavor combinations of Moroccan food and this one hit all the buttons.

The original recipe called for a can of chickpeas and no chicken, but... we have several pounds of dried chickpeas from Palouse, so I used them. Also, since the recipe said to use chicken broth, I added some chicken. Leave the chicken out and switch the broth to vegetable broth and you have a lovely Vegan soup...

Moroccan Lentil and Chickpea Soup

adapted from America's test Kitchen

  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 12 oz chicken breast or thigh, cubed
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 celery ribs, chopped
  • 5 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon Saffron
  • 3/4 cup minced fresh parsley
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
  • 1 cup brown lentils
  • 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup orzo
  • 4 ounces Swiss chard, stemmed and cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper

Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent and starting to brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and ginger, and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Stir in coriander, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add chicken and brown lightly. Stir in 1/2 cup cup parsley and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in broth, water, and chickpeas. Cook until chickpeas are almost cooked through. Add tomatoes and lentils; increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and gently simmer until lentils are just tender, about 20 minutes.

Stir in pasta and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in chard and continue to cook, partially covered, until pasta is tender, about 5 minutes longer. Off heat, stir in lemon juice and remaining 1/4 cup parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

I did make a vat of this - lunch for several days!!

And since we were having soup, I decided we needed some fresh-baked bread.

 

The recipe for the bread was actually a sun-dried tomato and olive bread. I didn't have any decent black olives in the house, so I just made it without the olives and tomatoes.

This is a really easy go-to recipe that is excellent plain, or made with any number of add-ins. Light crumb, chewy crust... Gotta love it!

And I really do like weighing ingredients - it is just so much easier.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Bread

adapted from the BBC

  • 500g/1lb 2oz strong white flour
  • 15g/½oz salt
  • 55ml/2fl oz olive oil
  • 20g/¾oz fresh yeast
  • 275ml/9fl oz water
  • 170g/6oz black Greek olives, pitted and chopped
  • 55g/2oz sun-dried tomatoes

Mix all ingredients, apart from the olives and tomatoes, in a large bowl. Take care not to put the yeast in direct contact with the salt when they are first added to the bowl.

Knead well with your hands and knuckles until the dough is elastic, smooth and shiny. Cover with a piece of cling film and leave to rise for one hour.

Divide the dough into two and add half of the olives and sun-dried tomatoes into each.

Mould both the doughs into rough round shapes and press firmly down. Sprinkle white flour lightly over the top and mark them with a cross.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper (silicone paper) and prove for one hour in a warm place.

Bake at 220°C/425°F/Gas 7 for 30 minutes until golden-brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

 

Two loaves of bread - one in the fairly empty freezer.

Bring it on, Mother Nature. We're set!


Pane Siciliano

I have been making Pane Siciliano for years - ever since I first got Carol Field's The Italian Baker - some 25 or so years ago. I even baked a couple of loaves in Sicily when we were there! It's a good loaf of bread.

I received the latest issue of Milk Street Magazine and, lo and behold, they had a recipe for Pane Siciliano that was just a tad different - it called for ground, toasted sesame seeds in the dough!

Naturally, I had to bake a loaf!

 

 

And I must say - the addition of the ground, toasted sesame seeds really knocked it out of the ballpark! It worked really well with the semolina, adding just the right amount of nuttiness without overpowering the loaf. Needless to say, we liked it!

It has a beautiful, soft crumb and the crust has just the right chew.

 

Pane Siciliano

adapted from Milk Street

  • 40 grams (4 tbsp) sesame seeds, divided
  • 1 1/4 cups plus 3 tbsp warm water,  divided
  • 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp honey, divided
  • 340 grams (2 cups) semolina flour
  • 137 grams (1 cup) bread flour
  • 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) instant yeast
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt

In a skillet over medium heat, toast 30 grams (3 tablespoons) of the sesame seeds, until fragrant and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a spice grinder and pulse to a fine powder.

In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, stir together 1¼ cups of the warm water, the oil and 1 tablespoon of the honey.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the ground sesame, both flours, the yeast and salt. Attach the bowl and dough hook to the mixer.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the water mixture. Increase to medium and knead until a smooth dough forms and clears the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball, place back in the bowl, cover, and let rise at room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1½ hours.

Meanwhile, line a rimmed baking sheet with kitchen parchment and dust it with semolina.

Turn the dough out onto a dry counter (not floured).

Form the dough into a thick log about 12 inches long. Using your hands, roll the log back and forth against the counter while applying light pressure, stretching the dough into an evenly thick rope about 30 inches long.

Starting at one end, tightly coil the rope, stopping at the rope’s midpoint. Coil the other end of the rope in the opposite direction from the first, forming an S shape.

Place the shaped dough on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise at room temperature until  almost doubled, 45 to 60 minutes.

Position racks in the middle and lower-middle of the oven. Place a metal baking pan on the lower rack and heat the oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 3 tablespoons warm water and the remaining 1 teaspoon honey. Have ready 3 cups hot to pour into the baking pan to create steam for baking the bread.

When the dough has almost doubled, brush it with the honey-water mixture and then sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame seeds.

Place the baking sheet on the upper rack of the oven, carefully pour the hot water into the baking pan and quickly close the oven door. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.

Cool the loaf on the baking sheet on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Transfer directly to the rack and cool completely.

 

The recipe states one can also make 6 rolls from the dough, pretty much following the above instructions but rolling into balls and then flattening them to about 1" thick, cover and rise until doubled, and bake 35 or so minutes. I shall do that next time.

I shall be making it again. And again... It's an extremely easy loaf to make.

 


Perfect Panettone

How this came out as perfect as can be will always be one of life's great mysteries...

For the last two years, I've actually made a pretty darned good panettone. The previous years - not so good.

Using the same recipe each time, I kinda figured out what I was doing wrong - usually not allowing it to proof properly or refusing to believe it really is a fairly wet, sticky dough and adding too much flour.

This year, I started off as always, but when I mixed the flour with the milk, it kinda lumped together. It was like a mixing bowl of orzo.

I considered tossing it and starting over, but decided to go for it. I added the eggs - too quickly, I'm sure - and I ended up with a lumpy wet mass. At this point, I should add that I had six eggs in the carton and added all six. Not a smart move.

Knowing it was too loose, I started adding more flour by the tablespoon. I knew I needed a sticky dough, so I set the timer for 10 minutes and walked away - letting the mixer run,.  came back to a pretty decent looking dough - lumps gone.

Time to start adding the butter.

Even though the butter had been out for several hours, it wasn't quite as soft as it should have been. "Room Temperature" is a subjective term - ours is probably colder than many. Anyway... I started adding the butter and it took forever for it to mix in. Where the recipe states "Total mixing time will be about 10 minutes – maybe a bit more." it definitely took more - it was easily 20 minutes of non-stop mixing.

30 minutes of pretty much non-stop mixing. It was silky and satiny.

I scraped it into a bowl, added a lid, and into the refrigerator it went. The following morning I followed the instructions for adding the fruit and rolling it into a ball and placing it in the buttered panettone paper mold. (I placed the paper mold into a 7" springform pan for added support.)

I then let it rise for a full three hours at 95°F on the proofing setting of our oven. I then pulled it out, heated the oven to 350°F, and into the oven it went. The result was perfection!

Panettone

Fruit

  • 300gr mixed dried fruits (currants, raisins, cranberries, candied lemon and orange peel, dried cherries, or any combination)
  • 6 tablespoons brandy

Dough

  • 1 1/2 tbsp rapid-rise yeast
  • 5 ounces 98°F milk
  • 50gr (1/4 cup) sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp Fiori Di Sicilia extract
  • 500gr (4 cups) bread flour
  • 5gr salt
  • 5 large eggs
  • 255gr unsalted butter, at room temperature

Place dried fruits in bowl, add liquor, cover and keep at room temp overnight.

Mix sugar with barely warm milk. Add yeast and set aside.

Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add yeast mixture and mix to combine.

Add the eggs. Mix on medium speed until the dough begins to smooth out.

Cut the softened butter into 1 tbsp chunks and add the butter a few pieces at a time, mixing it in fully before adding more. Total mixing time will be about 10 minutes – maybe a bit more. It should be glossy and satiny. It will be sticky.

Butter a large bowl and scrape dough into it. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following morning, strain the soaking fruit.

Place dough on a lightly floured counter and spread out into a rectangular shape.

Place half of the fruit onto half of the spread-out dough. Fold the dough over the fruit and fold over, again. Pat out, again, add the remaining fruit, fold several times and then form into a ball.

Butter a 7″ panettone mold or paper.

Add the dough ball, lightly cover, and allow to rise for about 3 hours – or until the dough is rising above the rim.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 300° F and bake for an additional 45 to 55 minutes.

Cool completely before slicing.

 

The baking gods were definitely watching over me on this one.


Dutch Crunch Rolls

A friend posted an article on Dutch Crunch bread, today, and it got me thinking..

Sourdough rolls were king when I was a kid growing up in San Francisco. Nothing could beat a salami sandwich on a crusty crunchy Larrabaru roll. We had a deli at the corner - Edgewater Delicatessen - and for 50¢ we could buy a salami sandwich. On our more poor days, we could buy 25¢ worth of salami and a 10¢ roll - and make our own sandwich for 35¢. More times than not, we paid for them - at least in part - by collecting bottles. It was definitely a world of high finance.

Larrabaru disappeared in the mid-70s, as did their uniquely crusty bread.

At that point I was living all over the USofA and sourdough was something I got on those rare occasions I was back in San Francisco for a visit. I finally moved back home in 1989 and rented a flat on 9th & Judah in the inner Sunset. A few blocks away was Andronico's Market - an upscale grocery store that was a tad too expensive for everyday shopping but a great source for the unique. (Andronico's was bought by Safeway in 2017 and it just ain't the same...)

One of their unique offerings was a hand-carved Turkey Sandwich with Lingonberry Sauce on a Dutch Crunch Roll. They cost about $3.95 - pricey for the times - but definitely in the Top Ten list of favorite sandwiches I have eaten. What I didn't know at the time was that Dutch Crunch rolls were really the rave in the Bay Area. A few really good bakeries were supplying everyone.

I would buy the sandwiches for dinner, to take to a Giant's game out at Candlestick... I definitely had one at least every two weeks.

And then we moved east and Amoroso Rolls and Philly Cheesesteaks took over. Dutch Crunch rolls were but a memory.

And then we moved to Oregon. There was a bakery not too far from us that advertised Dutch Crunch rolls, but, in the time of Covid, generally didn't have any. I found a couple of recipes online for them, but never made them.

Until today.

Dutch Crunch Rolls

adapted from Baking Sense

Bread Dough

  • 1/2 cups (120ml) slightly warm water
  • 1 cup (240ml) slightly warm whole milk
  • 15g (1tbsp) butter melted
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 packet dry yeast (7g)
  • 1/2 cup (70g) whole wheat flour
  • 3 cups (420g) all purpose flour

Topping

  • 1 cup (178g) rice flour
  • 1 packet (7g) dry yeast
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 3/4 cup (180ml) warm water

Instructions for 8 rolls

Mix water, milk, butter, sugar, salt and yeast. Add the whole wheat flour and 2 cups of the all purpose flour and mix until it forms a thick batter. Switch to the dough hook and add the
remaining flour. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl and cling to the dough hook.

Knead on medium speed for 5 minute until the dough is smooth and elasic.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover the bowl and set aside to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured
surface and divide into 8 equal portions.

Roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball and set on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile. mix the topping.

Topping

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the oil to the warm water then add it to the dry ingredients.

Whisk until combined. Set the topping aside for 20 minutes until bubbly.

Brush the topping generously onto the rolls. Let the rolls rise another 20 minutes.

Bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

As you probably have noticed, i didn't get the same crackle that a traditional Dutch Crunch roll had. I think the topping was too thick. Another recipe I found stated the topping should be the consistency of glue. The posted recipe was closer to paste.

Yet, another, stated the topping should be spread on immediately after forming the rolls and allowed to rise with it on.

'Tis the season to be baking bread, so I can see myself experimenting a bit more with this. But... as-is, the taste is great - and that's the important part!

 


Panettone and Holiday Weight Gain

Ah... 'Tis the Season, indeed.

227.4, this morning. Christmas - the gift that keeps on giving! And giving...

It's really been a yo-yo two weeks. It started with Christmas Cookie Baking at my sister's house, going out to dinner, still not at the gym, too damned cold outside to do anything... And then getting candy in the mail from friends! 2 pounds of Fralinger's Salt Water Taffy from Atlantic City. A tin of Almond Roca.

While I've gained back a few pounds, I saw my Primary Care Dr on Monday for a 6-month follow-up, and I was actually down almost 25 pounds from my appointment in June. Not too shabby!

So... as any red-blooded foodaholic would do, I made a Panettone, today! It's a 2-day process. I started yesterday!

Panettone eluded me for years. It was one bread that was almost there - but not quite. Last year I finally nailed it. This year was even better!

I'm not entirely sure where I was going wrong, but time, perseverance, and pure luck have finally played out. Not to mention having a 95°F proofing setting in the oven!

Feathery light, soft, and delicate. Perfection in a 7" paper baking mold.

And just a few calories. The entire recipe is 5405 kcal - five thousand, four hundred, and five calories! 

I sliced 2 pieces for me and Victor - 1/8th each - 676 kcal. That's not leaving me much for dinner, tonight. But every feathery bite was worth it.

It is just so much better than the packaged panettone I have bought for years. And, while it does take a bit of time, the actual recipe is quite easy and straightforward.

Panettone

Fruit

  • 300gr mixed dried fruits (currants, raisins, cranberries, candied lemon and orange peel, dried cherries, or any combination)
  • 6 tablespoons brandy

Dough

  • 1 1/2 tbsp rapid-rise yeast
  • 5 ounces 98°F milk
  • 50gr (1/4 cup) sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp Fiori Di Sicilia extract
  • 500gr (4 cups) bread flour
  • 5gr salt
  • 5 large eggs
  • 255gr unsalted butter, at room temperature

Place dried fruits in bowl, add liquor, cover and keep at room temp overnight.

Mix sugar with barely warm milk. Add flavorings and yeast and set aside.

Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add yeast mixture and mix to combine.

Add the eggs a couple at a time. Mix on medium speed until the dough begins to smooth out.

Cut the softened butter into 1 tbsp chunks and add the butter a piece at a time, mixing it in fully before adding more. Total mixing time will be about 10 minutes – maybe a bit more. It should be glossy and satiny. The dough will be sticky.

Butter a large bowl and scrape dough into it. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following morning, strain the soaking fruit.

Place dough on a lightly floured counter and spread out into a rectangular shape.

Place half of the fruit onto half of the spread-out dough. Fold the dough over the fruit and fold over, again. Pat out, again, add the remaining fruit, fold several times and then form into a ball.

Butter a 7″ panettone mold or paper.

Add the dough ball, lightly cover, and allow to rise for about 3 hours – or until the dough is rising well above the rim.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 300° F and bake for an additional 45 to 55 minutes.

Cool completely before slicing.

It's worth it!


Cheddar Beer Bread Rolls

I really do think my most favorite thing to do is bake bread.

Cooking is fun, desserts are awesome, but bread?!? There's just something about it that truly is satisfying. And they run the gamut from basic 4-ingredient flour, water, salt, and yeast loaves to really complex recipes with tons of ingredients and steps. They're all fun. Well... mostly... The perfect loaf of sourdough still eludes me and at this stage of the game, I've pretty much settled for a pretty good loaf. But that's not stopping me from trying again, one of these days.

In the meantime, there are a lot of other loaves to be made.

We decided on Ravioli for dinner the other night and Ravioli at our house requires bread. Our local Safeway - .6 mile from our front door - has pretty lousy bread from their in-store bakery, so I wasn't going to bother with them. On a side note, I'm really hoping that if Kroger is allowed to buy Albertsons/Safeway, the anti-trust rules will make them sell that store and a real grocer will move into the space. 

But I digress...

I had seen a recipe at NY Times a while back for a yeasted beer bread with cheese, so I thought I'd give it a try. Even though my Pre-Diabetes Program doesn't start until next week, rolls are good portion control for me - and it was a recipe I had never tried before. There are no bad foods in this program. It's more about moderation and making better choices.

I had all the ingredients, so off I went. Well... until I got to the bread flour. I needed 815 grams and I only had 400. I did have several other flours, so I blended some all-purpose with an organic white whole wheat my brother gave me to make up the difference. The rest, as they say, is history!

 

They were incredibly light for having so much cheese in them. Great texture. And the three flours and the cheese really gave them a fantastic flavor.

My biggest mistake was using beer from the refrigerator. (I used a Fortside Brewing Orange Whip Hazy IPA from across the river in Vancouver, WA.) Silly me. The bread took a really long time to rise... Our oven does have a proofing feature which helped, immensely, but it still took twice as long as it should have.

The end result was worth it!

Cheddar Beer Bread Rolls

adapted from the NY Times

  • 6 cups/815 grams bread flour, plus more for work surface
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
  • 4 tablespoons/55 grams unsalted butter (2 tablespoons softened, 2 tablespoons melted), plus more for the bowl and pan
  • 1/4 cup/60 milliliters honey
  • 2 cups/480 milliliters beer, such as pale ale
  • 1 3/4 cup/200 grams shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, preferably white

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine bread flour, yeast, salt, 2 tablespoons softened butter, honey and beer. Mix on low speed for 4 minutes. The dough should come together around the dough hook. Increase speed to medium and continue to mix for 2 minutes more, occasionally stopping to scrape the dough from the hook. Add 1 cup/115 grams of the Cheddar cheese and mix until incorporated, 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until nearly double in size, about 1 hour.

Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch pan. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 even pieces. Gently round each piece of dough into a ball, and place into the prepared pan. (The rolls may not touch now, but they will fill in the gaps when they rise and bake.)

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for 35 to 45 minutes, until they look visibly puffy. Toward the end of rise time, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the rolls with 2 tablespoons melted butter, and top each roll with 1 tablespoon of the remaining white Cheddar, being careful to keep the cheese away from the edges of the pan.

Bake the rolls until golden brown, and the cheese on top is melted and browned 22 to 28 minutes. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.


Panettone

I have finally made a panettone that looks and tastes like a panettone!

Panettone has eluded me for years. It is the ultimate sweet dough - light, feathery, and full of flavor. Most of my attempts were more like bricks than feathers, but after several attempts with several different recipes, I finally took the best of several and made my own.

One of the biggest changes was lowering the amount of fruit. Most recipes call for 2 or more cups of fruit for 3-4 cups of flour. It weighed the dough down too much. The other is doing an overnight rise in the refrigerator. Pull the dough out of the 'fridge and let it set on the counter for a couple of hours before adding the fruit and forming the loaf. And definitely make sure it rises above the rim of the form before baking.

Panettone

Fruit

  • 300gr mixed dried fruits (currants, raisins, cranberries, candied lemon and orange peel, dried cherries, or any combination)
  • 6 tablespoons brandy

Dough

  • 1 1/2 tbsp rapid-rise yeast
  • 5 ounces 98°F milk
  • 50gr (1/4 cup) sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp Fiori Di Sicilia extract
  • 500gr (4 cups) bread flour
  • 5gr salt
  • 5 large eggs
  • 255gr unsalted butter, at room temperature

Place dried fruits in bowl, add liquor, cover and keep at room temp overnight.

Mix sugar with barely warm milk. Add yeast and set aside.

Mix flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add yeast mixture and mix to combine.

Add the eggs. Mix on medium speed until the dough begins to smooth out.

Cut the softened butter into 1 tbsp chunks and add the butter a few pieces at a time, mixing it in fully before adding more. Total mixing time will be about 10 minutes - maybe a bit more. It should be glossy and satiny. It will be sticky.

Butter a large bowl and scrape dough into it. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The following morning, strain the soaking fruit.

Place dough on a lightly floured counter and spread out into a rectangular shape.

Place half of the fruit onto half of the spread-out dough. Fold the dough over the fruit and fold over, again. Pat out, again, add the remaining fruit, fold several times and then form into a ball.

Butter a 7" panettone mold or paper.

Add the dough ball, lightly cover, and allow to rise for about 3 hours - or until the dough is rising above the rim.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to 300° F and bake for an additional 45 to 55 minutes.

Cool completely before slicing.

The Fiore Di Sicilia is a great flavor addition. If you can't locate it locally, you can buy it from Fante's in Philadelphia. I think it's worth it. Your millage may vary.


Homemade Bagels

Bagels

For all of the baking I have done in my life, one thing I had never made - until today - is bagels.

Bagels... those chewy-tough dough concoctions that, when properly toasted and slathered in cream cheese and assorted toppings, are the nectar of the gods.

Victor had seen a recipe for bagels the other day and decided we should make them. I looked at the recipe, thought of a recipe my friend, Katja, recently made, and went with hers. Not a huge difference in recipes, but... I knew Katja's were successful!

They were actually a lot easier to make than I thought they would be. I need to be more careful in sealing my dough balls before creating the bagel shape, but... I am not displeased in how they look.

The recipe states they are actually better the day after making, so we'll have them for Sunday Breakfast, tomorrow!

New York Style Bagels

adapted from Gemma's Bigger Bolder Baking

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 cups (500g) bread flour
  • 2 teaspoons (6g) instant dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/3 cups (300ml) warm water
  • 3/4 cup (105g) additional bread flour for kneading in
  • 1 egg mixed with a drop of water for wash
  • 1 cup honey, barley malt, or cane syrup added to boiling water, optional (while not necessary, adding the sweetener gives a chewier texture)

Toppings:

  • caraway seeds
  • minced garlic
  • poppy seeds
  • dried onions
  • sesame seeds.
  • coarse salt

Making the Bagel Dough

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl on medium/low speed.

Slowly add the warm water. Stir in just enough water for your dough to form a ball and clean the bottom of the bowl.

Knead the dough on medium/low speed for roughly 10 minutes. While it is kneading slowly incorporate the extra 3/4 cup of flour until your dough is smooth and elastic, forming a firm but stiff dough.

Lightly oil a large bowl turn the dough to coat. Cover the bowl tightly. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

Once doubled, punch the dough down and carefully divide the dough into 8 pieces (roughly 115g/4 oz each).

Shaping the Bagels

Shape each piece into a smooth, round ball. Take a dough ball, and press it gently against the countertop moving your hand and the ball in a circular motion pulling the dough into itself while reducing the pressure on top of the dough slightly until a perfect dough ball forms. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Gently press your finger into the center of each dough ball to form a ring. Stretch the ring to about 1/2 the diameter of the bagel (around 1 1/2 inches) and place on a lined cookie sheet. Repeat the same step with the remaining dough.

Once more, repeat the process of shaping the bagels as they might have sprung back into shape.

After shaping the dough rounds and placing them on the cookie sheet, cover with cling wrap and a towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Cooking the Bagels

Preheat your oven to 425ºF (210ºC) and bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Carefully place the bagels one by one into the water. Boil as many as you are comfortable with boiling. Let them boil there for 2 minutes, and then flip them over to boil for another 2 minutes.

Boiling BagelsRemove bagels and place them back on your lined cookie sheet. Egg wash one by one and top with your favorite toppings..

Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Storing Bagels

For best results, leave them in an airtight container overnight at room temperature.

Homemade Bagels

They look and smell fantastic! A bit more practice and I'll have this one down!

 


Wheat Bread

A Basic Loaf of Bread

It is great to be back in the kitchen!

Christmas week we had a new gas stove installed. That meant we had to have a gas line installed. Since we needed to install a gas line, we decided to continue the line out to the deck and install a valve for a natural gas grill. Never  - ever - having to deal with a propane tank, again, was well worth the cost! If the gods are willing, the new - fully assembled - gas grill will be delivered early New Year's Eve...

The new stove is awesome. They've come a long way since we last bought our kitchen appliances 20 years ago in Pennsylvania. I was making beef stew for dinner, so I thought some fresh bread was in order. Besides... we were running low on sandwich bread...

The new oven has a setting for proofing dough!

That's kinda cool - especially in winter.

I know I'll be baking plenty of bread this winter - especially since my brother gave us a 5 gallon bucket of organic hard winter wheat flour! It's an outrageously flavorful flour!

Hard Winter Wheat Flour

The new house is slowly coming together. Much of it is already looking like we've lived here for years... Most of the pictures are on the walls... Book shelves still need a bit of organizing, and the kitchen is still a work in progress.

It is not easy figuring out where things are going to go when our storage space really has been cut in half. But, we're getting creative...

It's actually a lot of fun!

Today's bread is a take on a white loaf I make now and again. I just played with the flour mixture, a bit...

Wheat Bread

One of the nice things about this bread is it doesn't have a long first rise, so it can be on the table in a couple of hours! It also makes great buns or pull-apart rolls!

Basic Wheat Loaves

  • 2 pkg yeast (4 1/4 tsp)
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 4 cups bread flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup neutral oil
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 egg

Stir together 2 cups whole wheat flour and 2 packages dry yeast.

Heat over low heat, 1 cup milk, 1 cup water, the oil, honey, and salt until warm – about 125°F.

Cool slightly and stir into flour/yeast mixture and mix until smooth – about three minutes.

Beat in 1 egg.

Slowly add remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough.

Let rest about 10 minutes.

Knead until smooth and satiny – about 10 minutes.

Cover and let rest about 20 minutes.

Divide dough in two and form loaves. Place into greased loaf pans and brush tops with oil.

Let rise until doubled – 60 to 75 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 35 to 45 minutes.

Immediately remove from pans and brush tops with melted butter. Cool on racks.

If you make rolls, bake for about 18-20 minutes.

Very simple, very tasty.

 


Zupfe Loaf with Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano

It's a gorgeous day in the neighborhood... Sunshine and blue skies - and about 45°F. A perfect day to make a pot of soup and a loaf of bread.

We received our first Imperfect Foods delivery, yesterday, so a Carrot Soup was a definite. I started off with a Jacques Pépin recipe for a Cream of Carrot Soup, but ended up winging it. It's soup. It's pretty difficult to screw up. Immersion blender and regular blender are still with Bekins, but we brought the food processor and KitchenAid mixer with us - shipped in the trunk of the car. Every now and again there's a streak of brilliance...

Carrot Soup

  • Carrots
  • Leeks
  • Potato
  • Garlic
  • Bell Pepper
  • Chicken Broth
  • Aleppo Pepper
  • Thyme
  • Crushed Red Pepper
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Roasted Carrots
  • Sour Cream

Sauté the leeks in a bit of olive oil. Add the garlic and peppers and wilt. Add the carrots and potato, and then the broth. bring to a boil and add the herbs and spices. Cover and simmer until carrots and potato are completely falling apart. Puree.

Meanwhile, roast a few carrots until desired doneness. Add to pureed soup.

Top with sour cream, if desired.

Carrot Soup

The bread recipe comes from The Great British Bake Off. Their version had a six-way braid. I did six strands but did a traditional 3-strand braid by doubling the strands. Mama didn't raise no fool!

Their bread also called for Gruyère, but we had the other cheeses in the house so I used them. Variations on a theme...

Zupfe Loaf with Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano

Ingredients

  • 500ml/18fl oz whole milk
  • 1 heaped tsp fast action dried yeast
  • 500g/1lb 2oz strong white bread flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp caster sugar
  • 50g/1¾oz butter, softened
  • 55g/2oz Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses, grated
  • 1 free-range egg, beaten

Method

Warm 150ml/5fl oz of the milk in a small pan to blood temperature then mix in the yeast and set it aside until the mixture becomes frothy.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture, the butter, cheese blend, and the remaining milk and knead the mixture for about 10 minutes, adding a little more flour if needed.

Place the dough in a large, clean bowl, cover with a dry tea towel and set aside in a warm place until it has doubled in size – about one and a half hours.

Remove the dough from the bowl, divide it into six equal portions and roll each into a long strand. Pinch the strands together at the top, plait together loosely and place on a greased baking tray.

Brush the loaf with the beaten egg and place in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3 and bake the loaf for 45-50 minutes or until the loaf is golden-brown and the bottom sounds hollow when its tapped.

Bread

The bread is rich and a bit Challah-like - but with tons of flavor from the cheese.

We're getting settled in, but I really miss not having my kitchen set up! I want to stop camping and get down to business!!

8 more days... and then a 3-day reprieve and the carpet is being installed.

Oy...


Pizza

Pizza

It's no secret that I made hand-spun pizzas in my youth. I worked at Pirro's for six years, one month, twelve days, and an hour. I started off in high school as a delivery boy, became the dishwasher, prep cook, cook, and, finally, manager of the place. When I went into the Navy and was going to Culinary A school, Barry flew me up to San Francisco from San Diego on weekends to work. PSA SFO to SAN - $24.50. Every hour on the half-hour. When I was stationed at Hunters Point and later Alameda, I worked for him whenever I was off. When I got back from Viet Nam, I was working, immediately. I was gainfully employed the day I was separated from Uncle Sam's Yacht Club.

I made a lot of pizzas. Pirro's back in the day, was one of the best pizzerias in San Francisco.

Fast-forward almost 50 years, and I can still make a damned good pizza!

Pizza

Tonight's pizza came about because Victor had seen a photo of a pizza with an egg on it. There are few culinary things in life that cannot be enhanced with an egg... we decided to give it a try.

The pizza dough is my most favorite 2-day dough. It really is just like the dough we made back at Pirro's, lo, these many years ago. It's perfect for spinning, tossing, and it just bakes up perfectly every time.

Pizza Dough

Pizza Dough

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (100º to 105º)
  • 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 4 cups “00” flour or unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
  • 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • olive oil for bowl

Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of mixer fitted with dough hook. Let proof about 5 minutes.

Mix together flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Mix on low speed about 4 minutes or until dough forms a coarse ball. Stop mixer and cover bowl with a towel. Let dough rest about 5 minutes, then remove towel and continue mixing another 2 minutes or so.

Lightly oil a large bowl. Form dough into a ball, transfer to bowl and turn to lightly coat with oil. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes, then refrigerate overnight.

Punch down dough, re-roll, and return to bowl. Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.

Divide dough into 2 pieces; shape pieces into balls and place on a lightly floured work surface. Loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hours.

Pizza needs to be baked in a really hot oven, so I preheat to 500°F for at least an hour before putting the pie in the oven.

The sauce was a fresh tomato sauce made in the blender with tomatoes, a bit of onion, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.

It was topped with fresh mozzarella, slices of salami, and fresh tomatoes - sprinkled with black pepper and pecorino romano. About halfway through the cooking, I added the egg.

Pizza

I do have to admit that the egg was not earth-shattering or life-changing. It was really good, but, in the grand scheme of things, probably unnecessary. That first bite with the egg was excellent, but the rest of the slice was pretty damned good, on its own.

Would I do it, again?!? Probably. But it won't become a signature dish, if you know what I mean...

The two of us cleaned that plate. What else can I say?!?

The pizza dough recipe makes two crusts...

I think I may make a stromboli or some such creature, tomorrow or the next day.

The dough only gets better as it sits...