Spiced, Dried Kale

 Spiced, Dried Kale

No matter how you regard kale, it is easy to grow. And if you or your friends grow it, you might run out of ways to use it. Drying it with a little olive oil and a few spices gives you a way to use great bunches of it in all kinds of places that it would not ordinarily fit. And because of the high nutrient value of kale, it makes a great food additive.

To dry the kale, coat a baking sheet with olive oil, and load it up with kale that has the center stalk removed. Sprinkle on a little salt, chili powder and/or curry powder, and set it in the oven at 200 degrees. It may take a couple of hours to dry. A heaping tray will dehydrate down to the place where it can fit into a pint jar. When it is crispy and crumbles easily, remove it, cool it, and store it in a glass jar.

Now you can use the dried kale just like an herb. 

Sprinkle it in eggs. 

Mix it into casserole dishes and add it to salad dressing. 

Or crush it very fine and use a bit in marinade. 

It also makes a terrific spice for coleslaw. 

Combine it with a soft cheese for a tasty hors d'oeuvre. 

Use your imagination. It has a pleasantly bitter flavor so it adds some umami to your favorite foods.

I used quite a bit of dried kale in this green goddess dressing and it improved the flavor immensely. Any dressing that tends to be a little bland, such as ranch or buttermilk will perk up with a tablespoon of spiced, dried kale.

I have been known to put just about everything into bread, and dried kale works here, too. Some pressed garlic and dried kale makes a mouthwatering bread.

Pumpkin Oat Bread

If you want to make bread, and you know you do, fall is a great time to do it. And this pumpkin oat variety is just as good as it sounds!

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast with 2 tablespoons sugar (any sweetener will work)

Let the yeast mix sit in a warm place and work for about 1/2 hour. When the yeast has grown to at least twice its original size, add the rest of the ingredients.

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats - grind in

coffee grinder

1/2 cup oats - not ground

1 cup cooked squash or pumplin

1/2 cup flax meal

3 tablespoons molasses

2 eggs (optional)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups water  

3 cups wheat flour

Stir and let sit covered in frig for 12 or more hours.

Knead on a floured pastry cloth, adding enough flour to make the dough smooth; form loaves; let rise until doubled, and then bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Everybody should be free to go slow.      Robert Frost




































 

Bread Diary Update

I have recently discovered an efficient way to make home made bread. This is a flexible rising and baking plan, and it offers options for the final product, as well.

After you have mixed your bread dough,* put it in a glass or enamel bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. The great thing about this method of bread making is that you do not have to complete the additional steps at any particular time. The bread dough can sit in the refrigerator for up to one week. I like to have some dough waiting in the refrigerator almost all of the time.

When you want to bake, simply take the amount of dough you want to use, and put the rest back.
For instance, if you want to make a single loaf, pull off about 1/2 of the dough and form into the shape you want.

Let it sit in a warm place until it doubles in size. Then bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. The rise from the refrigerated state will take about 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

Another advantage to having bread dough in the refrigerator is that it is an easy way to make naan, which is an East Indian fry bread. Pull off several small lumps of dough (plum size) and, with floured hands, form them into round, flat shapes - approximately 7 inches in diameter. Fry with a small amount of oil on a medium low temperature.  No rising time is needed for these; you can fry them as soon as you form them. I like to use these as sandwich bread.

You can also use the naan to make a sort of multi-national breakfast taco. Fill the naan with scrambled egg and bacon and any condiments you like, such as: sour cream, chopped fresh basil, salsa, or chutney.

Basic recipe:

1/2 cup warm (80 - 90 F) water with a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of yeast
Put the yeast mixture in a glass container and let it sit in a warm place until it begins to bubble and foam. It should rise up about an inch or two.

After your yeast has worked a bit, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

1 3/4 cup warm water
5 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup flax meal
2 eggs (optional)

This recipe will not work well as a gluten free option, but you can certainly vary the flours you use. Oat flour, amaranth, spelt, einkorn, whole wheat, fava bean flour, garbonzo bean flour, almomd meal, and many others can be used in place of a portion of the wheat flour. No wheat flour = no gluten= no rising. But a dough with 1/2 wheat and 1/2 alternatives seems to work pretty well.

For more ingredients that can be added to bread, see some older posts or be an adventurer and just add something you like!

Be kind whenever possible; it is always possible. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Amanda's Savory Herb Bread

I recently received this lovely bunch of herbs from a beautiful kindergarten student of mine! She is now a grown woman, but no less delightful than when she was five! Since this cool spring weather makes me want to turn on the oven, the parsley, dill and rosemary from this bunch will find their way into bread. Thanks, Amanda!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon yeast in ¼ cup warm water with a tablespoon sugar in a glass bowl

2 cups water

5 -6 cups flour

1 ¼ cup ground cashew meal (almond meal would be a good substitute, if needed)

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ cup flax meal

1/3 cup olive oil

2 eggs

Chopped fresh herbs

Directions:

Assemble your yeast mix and set in a warm oven for about 15 minutes.

1. Warm means you should be able to touch any part of the oven without burning yourself. If the oven is too hot, bye-bye yeast spores:)

2. When the yeast has bubbled, add everything else you want to use except the flour and the herbs.

3. Begin adding the flour, 2 cups at a time. When you have mixed in 4 or 5 cups start adding a little more slowly. When you have dough that you can turn out onto a pastry cloth or floured surface, you are ready to knead. It’s OK if it’s a little sticky, you can add more flour while you knead. After you have kneaded for a few minutes, sprinkle the herbs on the surface and knead them into the bread. Keep kneading until the herbs are evenly distributed throughout the dough.

4. When you have kneaded enough to have a smooth, round ball of dough, rub a small amount of olive oil or melted butter on the surface of the dough, and place it in a sizable glass bowl and cover with a light cloth. Place in a warm oven. It will take from 1 – 2 hours for the dough to double in size. 

5. When it is double in size, turn it out on the floured surface and knead it until it is nearly back to the original size.  You can make the loaves into any size or shape you like. You could make four long baguette shapes and put 2 each on cookie sheets. You can make two round loaves and bake them on pizza stones. Or you can use loaf pans.  The bread is going to double in size, so keep that in mind.

6. Cover the shapes with a light cloth and return to the warm oven for the final rising. This will take from 1 – 2 hours.

7. When the dough has doubled, gently remove the pans from the warm oven and set them on the counter while you preheat the oven to 350.

8. Bake the loaves 1 at a time on the middle rack for 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes are up, tap the loaves with a knife to see if you hear a hollow sound. That sound is good indicator the bread is baked through. A thud would mean a couple more minutes. 

9. When the bread is done, wait as long as you can stand it, then cut and spread with a generous amount of butter. About 20 minutes is a good rule of thumb for when it is ready to cut. Before that, it is a little too soft.

Be careful of how you talk to yourself because you may be listening.

Lisa M Hayes

Garlic and Dried Kale Bread

It seems that everyone is trying to think of ways to eat kale because it’s a dark green, vitamin and mineral rich food that is both inexpensive to buy and easy to grow. Kale chips* are easy to make and they are also available commercially.  For this tasty bread, use about an ounce of chips (a cereal bowl full), and gently crush them so that the pieces are small flakes.

Shown: Toasted with mint garlic cream cheese

Ingredients:
1 rounded tablespoon yeast in ¼ cup warm water with a tablespoon sugar in a glass bowl

2 cups water 6 cups flour – I use the white whole wheat by Red Mill. This is sometimes called whole wheat pastry flour.

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ cup flax meal

1/3 olive oil

4 – 6 cloves garlic mashed in a garlic press; discard the parts that won’t go through the press

¼ cup honey

2 eggs

1 ounce crushed kale chips - add these last so they won’t get too pulverized in the mixing.

Directions:

Assemble your yeast mix and set in a warm oven for about 15 minutes.

1. Warm means you should be able to touch any part of the oven without burning yourself. If the oven is too hot, bye-bye yeast spores!

2. Add the other ingredients that you want to use – except the flour.

3. When the yeast has bubbled, begin adding the flour - 2 cups at a time. When you have mixed in 4 or 5 cups, start adding the flour a little more slowly. When you have dough that you can turn out onto a pastry cloth or floured surface, you are ready to knead. It’s OK if it’s a little sticky, you can add more flour while you knead.

4. When you have kneaded enough to have a smooth, round ball of dough, rub a small amount of olive oil or melted butter on the surface of the dough, and place it in a sizable glass bowl and cover with a light cloth. Place in a warm oven. It will take from 1 – 2 hours for the dough to double in size.

5. When it is double in size, turn it out on the floured surface and knead it until it is nearly back to the original size. Since we used this bread for sandwiches, we made buns. Divide the dough into 16 – 20 roughly equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, and then set it on a greased cookie sheet and press it so that it flattens a bit. If your cookie sheets are on the small side, you may need to use three pans. The buns should have a little space between them. They will double in size.

6. (If you do not want to make the whole batch at once, you can put half of the dough in the freezer at this point, and bake it later. You will want to shape it into either a loaf or buns before you freeze it.)

7. Cover the shapes with a light cloth and return to the warm oven for the final rising. This will take from 1 – 2 hours.

8. When the dough has doubled, gently remove the pans from the warm oven and set them on the counter while you preheat the oven to 350.

9. Bake the loaves 1 at a time on the middle rack for 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes are up, tap the loaves with a knife to see if you hear a hollow sound. That sound is good indicator the bread is baked through. A dull thud would mean a couple more minutes.

10. When the bread is done, wait as long as you can stand it, then cut and spread with a generous amount of butter. About 20 minutes is a good rule of thumb for when it is ready to cut. Before that, it is a little too soft.

11. We made vegetarian sandwiches with this bread; the filling consisted of baked sweet potato slices, avocado and all the regular sandwich trimmings: lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayo. They were a tasty treat; perfect for your meatless Mondays! But if you like hamburgers, these would make them extra good.

* To make kale chips: strip the kale from the large center stalk, tear into hand size pieces, and place on parchment paper covered cookie sheets. Drizzle just a tiny bit of olive oil over the kale (an olive oil spritzer works well if you have one), sprinkle with salt, pepper, chili powder or any other spice you would like to try. Bake in a 300 degree oven until the leaves are crisp. This usually takes about 20 - 30 minutes. If you cannot use them or eat them all right away, you can put them in an air tight container in the freezer. Otherwise they will get soggy and stale quickly.

If compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.

Siddhartha Gautama

Sublime Garlic Bread

This recipe belongs in the bread section, but it makes such a tantalizing appetizer that it's going to get an extra entry.

Basic ingredients:

1 tablespoon yeast in ¼ cup warm water with a tablespoon sugar in a glass container or bowl.

2 cups water

6 - 7 cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

Extras:

½ cup flax meal

1/3 cup melted butter

4 cloves garlic mashed in a garlic press; discard the parts that won’t go through the press

¼ cup sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon dry dill weed

Directions:

1. Assemble your yeast mix and set in a warm oven for about 15 minutes.

     2. Warm means you should be able to touch any part of the oven without burning yourself. If the oven is too hot, bye-bye yeast spores:)

     3.  All of the extra ingredients are optional, but the thing that makes this bread sublime is the garlic. So if you don’t have or don’t want the other stuff, no worries. 

3    4. When the yeast has bubbled for at least 15 minutes it should have nearly filled the container. Pour the yeast mix into a glass mixing bowl and add everything else you want to use – except the flour.

    5. Begin adding the flour, 2 cups at a time. When you have mixed in 4 or 5 cups start adding a little more slowly. When you have dough that you can turn out onto a pastry cloth or floured surface, you are ready to knead. It’s OK if it’s a little sticky, you can add more flour while you knead. 

    6. When you have kneaded enough to have a smooth, round ball of dough, rub a small amount of olive oil or melted butter on the surface of the dough, and place it in a sizable glass bowl and cover with a light cloth. Place in a warm oven.(See above) It will take from 1 – 2 hours for the dough to double in size. 

    7. When it is double in size, turn it out on the floured surface and knead it until it is nearly back to the original size.  You can make the loaves into any size or shape you like. You could make four long baguette shapes and put 2 each on cookie sheets. You can make two round loaves and bake them on pizza stones. Or you can use loaf pans.  The bread is going to double in size, so keep that in mind. Cover the shapes with a light cloth and return to the warm oven for the final rising.* This will take from 1 – 2 hours.

    8. When the dough has doubled, gently remove the pans from the warm oven and set them on the counter while you preheat the oven to 350.

.    9. Bake the loaves 1 at a time on the middle rack for 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes are up, tap the top of the loaves lightly with a knife to see if you hear a hollow sound. That sound is a good indicator the bread is baked through. A thud would mean a couple more minutes. 

     10. When the bread is done, wait as long as you can stand it, then cut and spread with a generous amount of butter. About 20 minutes is a good rule of thumb for when it is ready to cut. Before that, it is a little too soft. 
    
     * At this stage, (before the second rise, but after you have shaped the loaves) you can take all or some of the loaves and freeze them to bake at a later time. When you are ready to bake, remove them from the freezer and let them thaw and rise, then bake. Allow at least three hours for this.

   The longer the shelf life of what you are eating, the shorter yours will be.
   Alexander Junger

Focaccia and Bread Sticks

This homemade bread does not take very long and is a nice addition to a home cooked meal or could add some panache to a take-out dinner.

Ingredients:

3 oz grated Toscana or Parmesan cheese (divide into two equal parts)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup garbanzo bean flour*

1 cup wheat flour

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

2 teaspoons rosemary leaves

1 Tablespoon yeast plus 1 tablespoon sugar plus 1/3 cup water

1 cup water 

*You can also use amaranth, spelt, brown rice, coconut or other non-wheat flour.  The addition of one of these gives the bread a slightly chewier texture because these flours do not rise as easily as the wheat flour; hence a less fluffy bread.

1. Heat the 1/3 cup water and the tablespoon sugar to a comfortably warm temperature and add the yeast. Set this in a warm place to work for a few minutes – 10 or so.

2. Put 1 ½ oz of the cheese, the salt, egg, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 cup water into a bowl. Add the yeast mixture when it is ready.

3. Add the wheat and bean flour. Mix thoroughly.

4. Put the dough on a pastry cloth or counter with a sprinkling of flour and knead for a few minutes.

5. Make the dough into a ball, coat with a little oil; cover with a light cloth and put in a warm place to rise for about 45 minutes or until double the original size. It might take more or less time depending on conditions.

6. Knead the dough again, and divide it into 2 equal parts.

7. Flatten one-half of the dough into a greased skillet, covering the entire bottom of the skillet.

8. Divide the remaining dough into 6 roughly equal pieces. Roll them into cylinder shapes about 8 inches in length and ½ to ¾ inches in diameter. Lay these on a nonstick baking sheet or stone.

9. Cover bread sticks and focaccia with a light cloth and let these rise for about 30 minutes. They should be almost double in volume. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

10. Before baking, poke the top of the focaccia with your finger in about 10 places to make wells for the olive oil. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes; then remove and brush sticks and focaccia with olive oil and sprinkle with remaining 1 ½ oz of cheese, Italian seasoning and rosemary.

11. Bake for another 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.

Serve with pasta. The leftover focaccia can be sliced horizontally to make a delicious sandwich bread.

All the elements for your happiness are already here.
Thich Nhat Hanh