add beer & stir .....

making & baking my own bread/s is something i've done for a very long time. of course, it's much easier to run out to a local bakery, of which we have many, and buy it. why sweat? for the most part, i enjoy "sweating" over making it myself. not even so much for the final result — i actually like the process itself a whole lot. making things yourself gives satisfaction that you just don't get from buying it.

all of this this requires patience and energy however (not to mention lots of time). the yiddish word, koyach [כוח], describes it best — breadmaking takes koyach. the negative or opposite idea to this famous yiddish word is the phrase 'hob nisht keyn koyach' [איך האב נישט קיין כוח] and, trust me, plenty of days hob nisht KEYN koyach! this weekend included one of those days (okay, two or three of them actually) where i had zero energy/strength to spend hours fiddling with dough.

those days are when i rely on insane recipes for bread such as the one which i am posting here. i found the following several years back and have made it countless times on those occasions when time was short and i wanted something for toast or a sandwich.

why crazy? well first of all, it requires only 2 ingredients! second of all, there is NO kneading involved and third, it can be thrown together and mixed in under 5 minutes if you're organized. PLUS no dough stuck to your hands! (ok, i like that part but i digress....)

the "secret" ingredient was given away already in the title of this post: beer. i am not really a drinker of alcohol, at all, and was at first a bit hesitant about making this bread. beer is the least of my favourite items to drink ..... regardless, the nature of beer itself is what helps to leaven this quick bread and give it lots of flavour, without an alcohol taste i might add.


after almost an hour of baking, you get a nice loaf of bread with a decent crust and very soft crumb. the only drawback is, if it is indeed one for you, that it's more of a tender interior and not a chewy one. obviously, this is a result of the fact that the dough is not kneaded. i must say, it makes EXCELLENT toast — a nice crisp exterior crust and a soft interior! without being toasted, it makes for nice sandwich bread or eating with a soup.

of course, this will never be like the lengthy 48 to 72 hour breads i often make which give incredibly good bakery-type breads. when you're hungry, who cares? cardboard would taste as good! (not really).


pour & stir beer bread

ingredients:

2 2/3 c self raising [rising] flour*
12 oz or 1 1/2 c beer (any type as long as it's a good one!)

* or make your own

method:

preheat oven to 375 F for at least 30 minutes. grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan or 8 inch round pan.

place flour in a bowl.

make well in center of flour. add beer.

stir gently with a spatula or wooden spoon until it is completely mixed. don't be rough, just blend everything together. it should only take less than a minute to do this.

transfer the dough into the pan and bake for 55 minutes.

remove from pan and let cool on rack.

toast or use for sandwiches.

you can also use a smaller loaf pan which will give a more height to your bread than a 9 x 5 inch one.

enjoy!

lemons & heavy cream

here is another recipe from baker, beth hensperger, for a light and very easy-to-make scone. these ones are made with heavy cream (35% mf), butter and lemon rind, resulting in a mildly citrus-flavoured scone — one which is great for breakfasts & tea or coffee-time snacks.

originally, i made these scones with the 1/4 c of butter called for in the recipe. one day, i made the mistake of adding a 1/2 c instead and thought i had ruined everything. to my delight, they came out wonderful with this amount. i also added about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp of "sour salt" which is basically a citric acid in powder form. while they were good with the lemon zest alone, i liked them much better with this sour edge and more lemon-y flavour. one must be careful with sour salt, however, as adding too much will ruin everything. a little bit goes a long way. (why not lemon juice? because i didn't want to incorporate any more liquid than necessary).

here is another scone recipe i like a lot, too. just as easy and equally good, if not better :)

lemon cream scones

if you like scones, you'll most probably like these. lemon-y and not too sweet, these are great with jam or preserves. the baked sugar on top leaves a nice crunchy coating and helps them brown a bit more during the baking process.

makes 8 to 16, depending on size you want

ingredients:

2 c (290 gr) all purpose flour
3 tbsp (36 gr) sugar
1 tbsp (11 g) baking powder
zest of 2 lemons, finely grated
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 - 1/4 tsp sour salt or lemon oil, optional

4 tbsp (62 g) unsalted butter*, cold & cut into several pieces

2 eggs
1/2 c (150 ml) heavy cream (35% milk fat)

*i use 1/2 c (8 tbsp or 125 g) often for a more buttery flavour and lighter texture; it works both ways.

you can add 1/3 cup (5 1/2 tbsp) dried cranberries or currants, if you like those.

method:

preheat oven to 400°F (205°C).

line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly butter it, if not using parchment.

in a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt together.

cut in the butter until you get something that looks like coarse crumbs.

in a measuring cup, measure out the cream and then break the eggs into it.

whisk the eggs and cream.

add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until a dough is formed. don't be rough with it and over beat it.

it will not all come together at once and there will be some dry left on the bottom. that is how it should be.

bring the mixture together with your hand until you get a cohesive ball but do not knead it. you just want things to stick together.

place the ball of dough on your baking pan and pat it out with your hands until it is about 1 inch thick and the shape of a rough square.

cut the dough with a knife in half lengthwise and then again width wise, in the shape of an addition sign.

cut each quarter into two triangles. you will have 8 scones.

move the dough with your hands gently and space them apart on the same baking sheet.

you can cut the triangles again in half to equal 16 smaller scones which are great for little snacks for tea or coffee.

paint the triangles well with cream and then, fairly heavily, sprinkle the scones with sugar. you can use regular (caster/granulated) or heavier demarrera (crystalized) sugar.

bake the scones for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

remove them and let them cool on a baking rack.

serve with thick cream and jams or preserves. they can be frozen for later, too.

enjoy!

quick & easy ... and unusual, too!

many people are only accustomed to seeing bulgur or borgol, de-branned parboiled and (sun) dried grains of wheat, used in dishes like tabbouleh and other such salads or as part of savoury-type preparations. bulgur wheat, in reality, has many uses — it can be kneaded to produce a dough which is later stuffed and fried, cooked like rice into pilafs, used in stuffings and sometimes as part of breads and in baking. a multitude of ways to use it have been therefore developed over the centuries that people have been using it.

one should note that bulgur is not the same thing as cracked wheat; the latter is not cooked at all whereas bulgur wheat is, as one of its steps of processing. bulgur also comes in different varieties and ranges in colour from dark brown to pale gold. the one i use is actually a straw colour and much lighter than the usual darker type sold commercially. interestingly, it also has not only been people of mid-eastern extraction using this grain — history reports it being used in both rome and china (central asia).

this following recipe is for a simple and quick "bread" that uses this healthy grain and leaves you with a baked good that goes well on its own as a snack or served with a soup or a salad. while one might think this to be on the heavy side due to its ingredients, it is far from it. in reality, it is moist, quite light and mildly sweet — perfect for slathering with a good salted butter. i even bet no one would ever be able to tell you what the "secret" ingredient is! give it a try and you'll see.

look here for more wheat information and recipes.


bulgur & pecan wholewheat loaf

somewhat in between a cake and a bread, this is a nice deviation from the norm in the world of quick breads. apart from the waiting time for the bulgur to soak, this one can be thrown together in a matter of minutes — all it requires is some stirring and baking. after baking and cooling, its crust is slightly crunchy and chewy due to the bulgur wheat and its inner crumb, light and tender.

(recipe source: williams sonoma)

ingredients:

1/2 c (3 oz / 90 g) medium grain bulgur wheat
3/4 c (6 fl oz / 180 ml) boiling water

1 1/2 c (7.5 oz / 235 g) wholewheat flour
1/2 c (2.5 oz / 75 g) all purpose flour (or soy flour, pastry flour, etc)
1 tbsp (11 g) baking powder
1 tsp (7 g) salt
1/4 c (2 oz / 60 g) packed brown sugar
1/2 c (2 oz / 60 g) chopped pecans or walnuts (toasted)

1 1/2 c (12 fl oz / 375 ml) milk or soymilk
1/3 c (3 oz / 80 g) melted shortening or margarine/butter
2 eggs

method:

preheat the oven to 350 F and lightly grease a 9 inch (23 cm) loaf pan (small loaf pan won't work here).

in a medium bowl, place the bulgur wheat and boiling water together and cover completely. let this rest for 30 minutes so it will full absorb the water and cool down.

place the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together and set aside. chop the pecans or walnuts and dry roast them over medium heat for a few minutes constantly stirring until they look done.

in another bowl, beat the milk and eggs together. melt the shortening or margarine.

in the dry mixture, add the blended milk and eggs and then the shortening. mix well but do not beat. you just want to blend them together.

add the pecans and bulgur and stir to blend well.

pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

the top will look cracked but that is fine.

let cool for several minutes and then place the bread on a cooling rack and let cool. can be served slightly warm.

cut into 1/4 inch slices with a serrated knife.

the bread will stay moist several days. wrap it in tin foil.

enjoy!

more english morning breads

this post is the second of three, all related to english morning breads — the first, being on the subject of crumpets. (you'll just have to wait and see what the last will be!)

in north america, two extremely popular "a.m." small bread choices (besides the bagel), are either the english muffin or, full-of-holes, crumpet. both are readily available in supermarkets and conveniently come in packages of 6 to 8. many people mix up the two, however. well, at least linguistically for the most part.

while closely related to each other, they are not the same. the crumpet, soft and spongy, and characterized by its network of holes and channels due to the viscosity of its batter, is made in metal rings to maintain its shape. it is always eaten as a whole. the english muffin is more like a small tight-grained bread, made from a stiffer dough which is either hand shaped into "muffins" or cut into shape after being rolled out. usually coated with fine cornmeal or rice flour, it is either pulled apart with two forks or sliced open with a knife and then toasted.

the following recipe for english muffins is one amongst many. this particularly easy one uses a standard mix-knead-rise-shape method, whereas others involve making a poolish (starter) and longer waiting periods. the recipe also incorporates wholewheat /meal/ flour in a small quantity and bread /"strong"/ flour. standard recipes for english muffins use milk but it can be replaced with soy milk, making these non-dairy and suitable for those maintaining a vegan diet.

english muffins

whether eaten toasted or not, these little "muffins" are equally good with a sweet topping like jam or preserves as they are topped with a poached egg. making a double batch will save you time later from having to repeat the process. they can be frozen quite successfully and taken out one-by-one for those times when you don't want toast or the standard bagel. you can also take satisfaction in knowing you made these yourself and they contain no unnatural ingredients.

makes 8 (or more)

ingredients:

398 g bread flour (14 oz)
58 g wholewheat flour (2 oz)
2 tsp instant type yeast (or regular: see recipe*)

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

142 ml warm water (5 oz)
170 ml milk or soymilk (7 oz)

2 tbsp fine cornmeal or rice flour (gritty type)

method:

mix the two flours with the salt and sugar in a large bowl. do not add the yeast yet.

measure out the water and milk and warm it in the microwave or on stove top. it should be fairly warm but not hot. if you can keep your finger in there until the count of 10 without it burning, it's ready.

place the dry ingredients without the yeast in the bowl in the microwave and heat it for 30 seconds. this well warm up the flour.

add the yeast and stir everything well. *if using regular active dry yeast, add it with a little sugar in the warm water-milk until it proves, approx. 10 minutes.

add the liquid and stir until it becomes shaggy.

mix it with your hands until you get a ball of dough.

knead this dough for a good 10 minutes.

place the kneaded dough in a greased bowl and cover. set aside in a warm place like an oven with the pilot light on for at least an hour. it needs to double.

once doubled, knock it back (i.e. press down on it) but do not reknead it.


take the dough out of the bowl as is and roll out to a 1/2 - 3/4" thickness on a surface that has been dusted first with either fine cornmeal or british style rice flour (gritty like the finest sand, not floury) and cut it into 8 rounds (~3 inches in diameter). you can bake the scraps as extra little treats or to give to the kids.

the alternate, and quite traditional way of making these is to separate the dough into 8 balls and form little "muffins", meaning little flattened cakes (see below).

place these on a baking sheet and cover. let rise again for 1/2 hour. they will inflate on their own.

about 25 minutes into waiting, heat up a griddle type pan or cast iron pan over medium heat.

carefully place 4 of the muffins around the circumference of the heated pan and not in the center as it is too hot.

cook the muffins on each side for about 6 to 7 minutes. they should be a yellowish golden brown.

the common practice is to check the "waists" of the muffins by pressing on either side to gauge if they are fully cooked.

split the muffins with a fork (traditional) or cut with a serrated knife. notice that the interior texture is like more of a bread than that of the crumpet which is full of holes.

voilà — your own homemade english muffins.

enjoy plain or toasted with butter and jams
or even savoury toppings!