1/2″ peeled ginger root (do not use powdered ginger)
6 green cardamom pods
1 tsp Peppercorns
14-16 cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
3/4 tsp nutmeg (1/2 tsp if using freshly grated)
2 Tbl black tea
3-4 Tbl sugar
4 cups water
2 cups milk (You could use soy milk)
1 tsp vanilla

Method:

Slightly crush cardamom pods and peppercorn with a mortar and pestle. (You could use a small bowl and the back of a metal spoon.) Cut ginger root into smaller than pea sized pieces.

Get water up to a boil and add ginger, cardamom, peppercorn, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Let simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let steep 5 minutes.

Without turning the heat back on add the tea and steep for 5 minutes. After five minutes strain out particulates using a colander lined with cheesecloth or a strainer and coffee filter. Strain it into a pitcher or even your coffee pot. I have a permanent mesh filter that came with my coffee pot and that works great for straining this. You want to try and make sure that you get all the little grains, otherwise your chai will have a dirt feel when you are drinking it.

Pour your spiced water back into your pot, add the milk and sugar, and get the mixture hot again. You really only need to get it hot enough for your drinking preference. When your mixture is to your desired temperature add the vanilla and serve.   If you are going to be refrigerating your chai you don’t need to reheat it with the milk.  However, make sure that the sugar is dissolved. 

This will keep well in your refrigerator for a while.

If you don’t like spicy drinks this should be okay. The amounts listed will give it a bit of heat but not enough to cause pain. It is a very pleasant warmth. Also, you could make it without the cardamom and ginger, but the flavor wouldn’t be as interesting.

I guarantee, once you drink homemade chai you will have a hard time going to back to Starbucks or liquid chai in a box. Gross.

Aside:
A huge pet peeve of mine is when people say chai tea.  Why?  Chai means tea.  It means tea in several languages.  So, when you say chai tea you are really saying tea tea.

A good sourdough starter is like gold.  I have tried in years past to make a sourdough starter but have failed miserably.  They always had that layer of hooch on the top and it smelled like rotting.  I tried to dump the hooch off but my starter was completely flat.  A few months ago I turned to my guru for advice: Peter Reinhart.  In his book Crust and Crumb he gives steps to make a starter using pineapple juice in the first few days of “trapping.”  This has worked for me and we have been enjoying the results ever since.  Merlin is a great little starter.  I keep my starter in the fridge and I feed it every two weeks when I am not using it.  Also, my starter is a 1×1 ratio of flour to water, by weight.  A more solid starter works but this wet one seems to produce superior results. 

I took the 3-2-1 method of sourdough and tweeked it a bit for my baguettes.  The dough is fairly wet but after its ferment in the fridge it will become more workable.  Also, if you sprinkly a little bit of flour on your work-space for the first shaping you will notice that it is much easier to manipulate.  You don’t want baguette dough to be stiff.  You want it to be fairly tacky so that it will stick together for both shapings.  

I have tried many methods for shaping baguettes.  The one that works everytime and produces consistent results is from Mark Sinclair. 

Baguette recipe: by weight

150 grams Starter
250 grams Water
420 grams Flour
8 grams Salt–I almost always use Kosher coarse grain

This will produce two 12″ baguettes. 

Baker’s Percent

100% Flour
59.5% Water
35.7% Starter
1.9% Salt

66% hyrdration

Mix until dough comes together.  Kneed for 3 min with KA on setting 2.  Place dough in lightly oiled container, roll around so that the whole dough ball is covered, and then refridgerate for 24-36 hours.  When you are ready to bake take dough out of fridge and let sit for 1 hour in order to take the chill off.  Shape according to Mark Sinclair method.  Preheat oven to 500F at the start of your shaping and have a pan or cast iron skillet on your oven flour. 

Right before baking score the top of your dough and pour 1/2 cup water into whatever pan is sitting on your oven flour.  Close the oven dough and wait 2 min.  Put your baguettes into the oven, mist the top of them with water, and bake for 2 min.  Mist the top again and bake for 2 min.  Mist the top for the third time and bake for 2 min.  Mist the top for the fourth time and bake for 20 min at 450F.   All of this misting allows your baguettes to rise without ripping the crust.  You want to keep your crust moist for the first half of baking so that it can expand and not split. 

Let your baguettes cool for at least an hour before cutting.  Sourdough breads have a longer shelf life than most breads.  Sourdough breads get better the longer you let them sit uncut.  These loaves still had a crisp crust and soft crumb on day two. 

Good luck with your sourdough.  Wild yeast breads require 50% skill and experience, 30% hope, and 20% magic.    

Champignon: German Brie with Mushrooms

Yesterday I sprained my knee trying to break up a potential fight.  Long story.  So, that leaves me with a few days at home.  I got really bored since I finished watching season 2 of Torchwood and got caught up with LOST, and I decided that I would start making dinner at 2pm.  Yup.  Bored.  I have never stayed home from work before without being sick so this injured concept is hard to grasp. 

Tonight we are having something with noodles.  I could make noodles while leaning on my worktable and making noodles is very relaxing.  The hum of the KitchenAid doing all the hard work and the soft feel of the leathery noodle sheets makes my mouth water.  It also helps that I have some good Pecorino Romano. 

Anyways.  Here is my noodle recipe.  I have tried many others, like Ratio’s recipe, and this is the one that works every time for me. 

1.5 cups Semolina flour
.5 cups All purpose flour
3 large eggs
2 Tbl water
1 Tbl olive oil (optional) 

In my noodles today I added two cloves of crushed garlic.  I only add things to my noodles when I am using a simple sauce.  If I am making a marinara I don’t bother flavoring my noodles. 

I use a KitchenAid for this whole process because it makes my life better.  I am glad that Italian grandmothers made their noodles by hand, but I live in an era of electricity and convenience.  If you want to make it by hand just scoop your flour into a bowl, create a well in the middle, crack your eggs into the well, and add water when necessary.  Mix by hand or use a spoon.  Your dough shouldn’t be sticky but you don’t want it dry either.  After a few times of making noodles you will get a feel for what the consistency should be.  Once all of your ingredients have been mixed kneed by hand for a few minutes until the dough becomes smooth.  In a KA throw all of your ingredients in together, put on the paddle attachment, and mix until your dough looks like a bowl of pea sized balls.  Squish your dough together with your hands and kneed for a few minutes until dough becomes smooth.  No matter what method you choose you should let your dough rest for 10-20 minutes in a covered bowl or in a ziploc bag.  Resting allows gluten to form and the flour to hydrate. 

Once you have let your noodle dough rest you can begin to shape it.  This really depends on what you want to do with your dough.  You could use this dough to make spaghetti noodles or you could even take the time to make hand-made cavatelli.  This part is really up to you. 

Home-made noodles cook much faster than dried box noodles.  My rule of thumb is 2 minutes in boiling water.  This hasn’t failed me yet.  To cook the above recipe get 2-3 quarts of water to a boil and mix in 1/3 cup kosher salt.  This seems like a lot of salt, and it is, but this is the one part that you can’t escape.  The grandmas have you here.  If you are using your noodle water in a recipe you might want to skip the salt.  If you are using marinara sauce or some very flavorful sauce on your noodles add the salt. 

In my pictures you will see that I have my noodles on a drying rack.  This isn’t a necessary step.  Most times I start making noodles and getting water to a boil at the same time.  Once you have your dough ready it only takes a couple of minutes to go from dough to noodle.  One trick that I have learned is to let your noodle sheets dry out for a few minutes before cutting them.  If you let the sheets dry out for 10 minutes in the open air they won’t stick together and make noodle clumps.  I put my noodles on the drying rack today because I made noodles at 2pm for a 6pm dinner.  Again, I was bored.

I’m not going to say what dish I used my noodles in, because I want to save that for a different post.  For now, just sit in suspense.

I’m back!  In my About Me section you will read that I am a teacher.  Well, we were winding down the semester and I have been wicked busy so I haven’t been able to post.  But, I’m back. 

Last night I searched the internet in an effort to find a seitan bacon recipe.  I don’t really miss meat, it’s been seven years, but there are times that I feel nostaligic for things like pepperoni and bacon.  The great thing with those products is that you are tasting the spices rather than the actual meat.  So, it is fairly easy to mimic them.  I found a seitan bacon recipe on the Vegan Cooking Club blog.  I decided to try it out and, well, it worked.

In order to make this recipe ”look” like bacon you will need to make two separate seitan doughs. 

Red Dough:

1 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
1/4 cup Soy Flour
2 Tbl Nut. Yeast
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp black pepper

2/3 cup warm water
3 Tbl soy sauce
3 Tbl maple syrup
1 Tbl tomato paste
1 tsp Liquid Smoke

White Dough:

1/2 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
2 Tbl Soy Flour
1 Tbl Nut. Yeast
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

1/2 cup warm water
3 tsp canola oil

Break the red dough into 4 pieces and the white dough into 3-4 pieces. Flatten each piece and layer alternating colors. This is your time to be creative. Once you have a big block of dough lay it on an oiled cutting board. Place another cutting board/saran wrap on top. Press your dough for at least 30 minutes.

After your dough has been pressed bake at 300F for 45 minutes. Your seitan will be a bit undercooked but this is what you want. It makes it easier to slice and it will pan-fry better.

On Sunday I decided that I would make a beet bread.  Don’t ask why this craving hit me but I wanted bread that looked like and tasted like a beet.  My result was a modification of The Knead for Bread’s recipe.  Also, I have converted the recipe into metric measurements and baker’s percents.  Enjoy. 

Poolish:

1/4 tsp yeast
1 cup Bread Flour
1 cup water

Allow poolish to sit out overnight.  The small amount of yeast will create a great flavor for tomorrow’s recipe.

Beet Puree:

about 1/2 pound beets
1/2 cup water

Roast beets for 1-1.5 hours at 350F.  Roast beets in a small baking dish and cover with aluminum foil.  Beets should be tender to fork touch.  Cut roasted beets into cubes, I left the skins on mine, and blend with the remaining water in your pan. 

Final dough:

All of poolish
1 cup beet puree
2 3/4 Bread Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat flour
1/2 cup water
3/4 tsp yeast
1 3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients and allow for 15 min autolyse.  Knead for 4 minutes or until dough passes windowpane test.  Let double in a lightly oiled bowl.  Once doubled take out and shape.  I shaped mine into boules but you could use this in a loaf pan.  I would have liked to place this in my banneton but I was afraid it would leave residual pink that would stain future doughs.  Let your dough proof until doubled.  Score the top and bake.

Bake at 400F for 30-35 min. 

My dough had enormous oven-spring that I wasn’t prepared for.  Next time I will allow it to proof for a little longer.  I got anxious to put my boules in the oven.   

Metric measurements and baker’s percents

Poolish:

209g water
209g Bread Flour (I used King Arthur)
0.7g DIY

Final Dough:

All of poolish
234g Beet puree
475g Bread Flour
80g Whole Wheat flour
100g water
3.5g DIY
10g salt

100% Flour
40% Water
0.5% Yeast
1.3% Salt
31% Beet Puree

It seems that this dough would be underhydrated but you need to remember that there is water retained in the beets.  This percentage does not take into account the 1/2 cup that was added to the beets while they were roasting.  1/2 cup is around 50 grams and would raise the percentage to 46%.  This dough worked for me but  you may need to adjust the hydration level according to the flour that you are using and how “juicy” your beets are.

Beet bread sandwich: fried egg, smoked gouda, raw spinach

This was my kitchen sink recipe.  I accidentally made too much baguette dough so I decided to throw some of it in my banneton with a few added extras.  I had sun-dried tomatoes around and I had recently ground up some parmesan.  So, I thought, why not mix it into my extra dough.  Before putting it into the oven I spritzed it with water and gave it a sprinkling of cracked pepper.  Out of all the breads I have made this one actually made my mouth water when it was baking.  The smell was incredible.  Here is how I made it. 

Follow my poolish recipe for the dough.  I made 900 grams of dough for this recipe.

After the second rise lightly flatten out the dough into a square that is roughly 12″x12″.  On one half of it sprinkle 1/4 cup ground parmesan cheese and then, on top of that, gently press in 1 cup of chopped sun-dried tomtatoes.  Leave 1/2 inch of dough around the edges so that you can seal it back up again.  Fold the empty side over the top of the tomatoes and press down on the edges to seal.  Flatten the dough slightly and business fold it into thirds (like you are mailing a business letter).  Let your dough rest for 5 min and business fold again.  I folded mine three times. 

At this point you should have a few layers of tomato and you will want to shape your dough into a boule.  You don’t need a banneton for this because all of the folding and shaping has made your dough fairly tough and it will stand on its own.  However, let your boule rise for an hour, until doubled, before baking. 

Pre-heat the oven to 500F while your dough is rising.

Right before baking spritz your boule with water and top with pepper.  You need the pepper.  Trust me. 

Spray the walls of your oven with water and bake for 2 minutes.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Turn the heat down to 425

Bake again for 30 min at 425. 

Check the temp of your bread after 30 min.  If the internal temperature isn’t over 195 it isn’t done.  The optimal temp is between 195 and 205. 

Yield=two large loaves.

8 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp allspice (I used ground allspice berries)
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup warm water (100 degrees)
3/4 cup egg yolks (between 10-12 eggs)
2 Tbl canola oil
1/2 cup honey
15 oz. pumpkin puree (if using canned pumpkin 15 oz. is a full can)
1 Tbl salt
1/4 tsp Ascorbic Acid (this will help your bread stay mold free–it is optional but it works)

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and wisk together
Combine all wet ingredients in a bowl and wisk together

Mix dry and wet ingredients and let sit for 15 minutes. This allows for autolyse (the flour to hydrate).

Kneed for 5-8 minutes by hand or 3 minutes with a stand mixer. Your dough should pass the windowpane test.

Place dough into a covered oiled bowl and let double, about an hour.

Scale and cut dough into two pieces. Put one piece back into your covered bowl. You will now be braiding your challah. This is the best part, because challah dough is incredibly easy to work with, all those egg yolks. Braiding dough is the same as braiding hair. The diagram on this page explains two different ways to braid and it gives instruction on how to do a 6-strand loaf.  Challah is very forgiving when it comes to handling so don’t fret about getting it right the first time.

Proof for 1 hour, aka let sit out, or refridgerate overnight in a plastic bag. Before placing challah in the oven glaze with an egg wash. Egg wash=1 egg plus 1 Tbl water mixed together.

Bake at 350F for 50 minutes. Let cool for 1 hour before cutting.

I sprinkled mine with poppy seeds

Sadly, I cannot claim credit for the recipe for seitan (pronounced “say-tan”) pepperoni.  I got the recipe from Fat Free Kitchen.  I do want to give credit where it is due and I don’t want people to think that I am stealing this recipe.  I would be sad if someone stole one of my recipes.  I did tweak the original recipe in minor ways, but nothing so drastic that I could claim it as my own. 

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons smoked paprika or regular paprika
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoons mustard seeds (I used brown seeds and I ground it with my mortar/pestle)
1 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (also ground with mortar/pestle)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ginger

Wet ingredients:

2 tablespoons peanut butter
2/3 cup water
4 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/4 teaspoon agave nectar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate mixing bowl.  Make sure to mix the wet ingredients well so that they can be easily incorporated into gluten.  An easy way to make sure peanut butter mixes with water is to heat both up in the microwave for a minute.  This softens the peanut butter enough to mix with the water.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry, stirring well; I use a Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment. Remove from the bowl and knead for a few extra minutes.  You want to make sure that all your ingredients are evenly distributed.  Tip:  once you mix water or any liquid with your gluten you will not be able to add anything else to the mixture.  This is why it is important to have all of your wet ingredients mixed together prior to adding them to your gluten mixture. 

Roll the mixture into a log shape and cut in half so that you have two shorter pieces.  Normally I will cut this recipe into four equal pieces so they are more like snack sticks.  Once you have created your logs tightly roll them in aluminum foil, shiny side in.  Make sure to use lots of foil because your seitan logs will try to expand in the oven and they will, I have done it, explode out of the foil.  Seal the ends by twisting and pushing in to compact the seitan even more.  You want to make a tight seal.  Place logs lengthwise on oven racks and bake for 1 hour, turning over after 30 minutes.  Undercooked seitan will be gummy and rubbery in the middle so take it out after an hour, cut it in half and take a taste-test piece or just touch it with your finger. 

Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool. You do do not need to unwrap them from their aluminum foil prisons to store them in your fridge.  If you want to thinly slice them you will need to do this before placing them in the refridgerator.  Refridgerating them makes it impossible to thinly slice.  I have only had success using my food processor when attempting to make a thin slice.  Anything manual just crumbles the seitan.  My friend thinks a mandolin will work but I have been too thrifty to purchase yet another cutting tool.

The crust for this pizza came from Whole Grain Breads by Peter Reinhart.  It is one of the best whole wheat pizza crusts I have ever used.  Normally whole wheat pizza dough is too sticky, but this recipe produced a crust that was easy to work with.  It had great gluten structure without having to add vital wheat gluten.  I was even able to throw the pizza.  Oh, how I love to throw pizza into the air and catch it again.

Toppings on pizza: 

Half can of tomato paste (I didn’t add spices to the sauce because most of the flavor of the pizza will come from the cheese and the pepperoni)
Spinach
Chopped tomato
Mushroom
Provolone
Mozzarella
Shredded Parmesan
Seitan pepperoni

I pre-baked my crust for two minutes at 550F and then baked for another nine minutes with all of the toppings.

Anyways. Following my resolution I made Reinhart’s Broom Bread on the 2nd. Looking at the formula for this it seemed that it would be dense and painful to chew; however, it was the lightest whole grain bread I have ever had. The secret? A soaker. Soaking whole grains in water overnight allows hard grains to soften and hydrate. Also, it utilizes a biga. The recipes in Whole Grain Baking are all basically the same with minor variations. The reason for this is because it is not a recipe book. It is a book to explain whole grain baking and many secrets for success. So, what’s the point of this blog? I love Peter Reinhart and so should you if you are serious about becoming a better baker. He explains baking in a way that makes it accessible. Because of Crust and Crumb I am able to create my own recipes using only a scale, a pen, and paper. Check him out and enjoy the results.