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

Baba Ganoush

This recipe comes from my friend Sandy, who treated Mercedes and I to lunch at her beach home and served this fabulous dip.

You will need:
1 large or 2 small to medium eggplant
2 - 3 tablespoons tahini
3 - 4 cloves garlic
A tablespoon of lemon juice
2 - 3 tablespoons olive oil

Begin by roasting the eggplant and a head of garlic. Drizzle these with a little olive oil and sprinkle the eggplant with sea salt and pepper. Roasting should take about 45 minutes at 325 degrees.

You can use crushed raw garlic, but as long as you are roasting the eggplant you might as well have the delectable flavor of the roasted garlic.

When these two items are cooled enough to touch, scoop out the eggplant, leaving the skins and squeeze out 3 or 4 cloves of garlic. These come out almost like toothpaste from a tube.

Put the vegetables in a blender along with the tahini, lemon juice, and olive oil. You may want to add a little more salt or some fresh parsley. Blending will only take a few seconds; the dip will get creamy very quickly.

Put the extra roasted garlic in a covered glass jar in your refrigerator and use to make a fantastic salad dressing. See Roasted Garlic and Tahini dressing on this blog.

If you haven't any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.   Bob Hope

Zucchini Flatbread

2 cups grated zucchini

2 cups oat flour

1/4 cup plain yogurt (This can be almond or coconut yogurt if you are trying to go dairy free.)

3 or 4 cloves of roasted garlic

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

1. Sauté zucchini over low heat for 10 or 15 minutes.  Cool, then use a cheese cloth to squeeze out excess water. Use a hand blender to puree the zucchini.

2. Mix all of the ingredients together. The dough should be slightly sticky.

3. Coat 3 baking sheets lightly with olive oil and drop spoonfuls of dough onto them, flattening out the dough with a spatula as you go. Aim for a round disc shape about 1/8 inch thick.

4. Sprinkle the tops with ground sea salt.

5. Bake in a low oven - about 325 - for 15 minutes on each side. You can also cook these on a fry pan on a low heat, but the oven makes the job much easier.

Eat these alone as a snack or use them to dip into soft cheese, guacamole, or baba ganoush. They could also accompany a meal as a bread substitute. 

When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix

Cheesy Potato Snacks

"Snacks" might be a bit misleading. A couple of these will work for me for lunch or breakfast any day. They are easy to put together, pretty to look at, and most likely a crowd pleaser. They would make a nice hors d'oeurve if it's going to be a while before dinner is served.

Use leftover baked potatoes; cut each one in half and scoop out the middle. (Save this for a breakfast hash.) Leave about 1/4 inch of potato in each skin.

Place the skins on a cookie sheet. Add the following to each potato skin:
1 teaspoon butter
1 chopped fresh basil leaf
2 tablespoons soft herbed cheese or 1 ounce jack cheese

Sprinkle with paprika or turmeric and bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

While they are baking, chop some fresh tomato and avocado. Add these as soon as you remove the potatoes from the oven.

There is no such thing as an end unaffected by the means used  to obtain it.
Anne Perry 

Mango Salsa

This one's for Reggie; I hope he likes it.

1 Anaheim or Poblano pepper

3 cloves garlic

3 large tomatoes

2 large or one giant ripe mango

2 red chili peppers

¼ cup pineapple orange guava juice (any fruit juice could be substituted)

Juice of 1 large lime

Few sprigs of fresh cilantro

1. Remove seeds from the Anaheim pepper and dice.  Peel and mince the three cloves of garlic. Put the garlic and green pepper into a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil and sauté until they are both soft. 

2. Cut the tomatoes in half. Remove the seeds; if a few remain, that’s OK.

3. Dice the tomato into small pieces and set aside.

4. Peel and dice the mango and add to the tomato.

5. Chop the cilantro and add to the mango/tomato mixture.

6. Remove the chili/garlic mixture from the heat and let cool for 15 minutes.

7. Add the lime juice, mango/ tomato/cilantro mix and fruit juice to the pepper/garlic mix.

8. Mince the chili peppers as finely as you can and add them to the salsa.

Let the mixture sit a few minutes, or a few hours if you have time, for the chili peppers to be infused into the liquid. Serve as a garnish for fish or rice or use as a dip for tortilla chips.

Do something you love every single day.

Heather McCloskey Beck

Hearty Greens and Leek Soup

It would be hard to describe how good this soup tastes. Something about the combination of leeks and fresh greens is total deliciousness with every bite. I am always looking for ways to cook those all important greens, and this does the trick very well.

Large pan of chopped greens - spinach, beet greens, kale, bok choy, Swiss chard

These should cook down to approximately 1 1/2 - 2 cups of cooked greens.

Olive oil

2 leeks

3 cups almond coconut milk

1/3 cup butter

Curry powder

Salt

Small pieces of asparagus or broccoli to add while soup simmers

1. Remove large stems from greens and cut into 1/2 inch strips.

2. Saute greens in a large skillet with olive oil and salt.

3. Saute leeks in a separate pan with a little olive oil and butter.*

4. After leeks are soft and greens are cooked down, let both cool for about half an hour.

5. Put greens and leeks in a soup kettle with 2 cups of almond coconut milk and purée them with an immersion blender. 

6. Add 1 more cup of almond coconut milk, remaining butter, curry powder and vegetable pieces.

7. Simmer on low for 10 - 15 minutes. Add salt or more curry powder if needed.

8. Serve with avocado slices or rice crackers or both:)

*Leave out butter if you want a vegan or dairy free option.

You cannot find peace by avoiding life.
Virginia Woolf

Buckwheat and Chia Pancakes

There are myriad ways to make these delicious pancakes. Here are two possibilities. Gather your courage and start to experiment!

Method 1

1. Pour 1 cup buckwheat groats* and 2 rounded tablespoons chia seeds into a Pyrex bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Stir, cover and refrigerate overnight or until cooled.
2. Put the hydrated groats and seeds into a blender and add 4 eggs.
3. Blend and add vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of cardamom.
4. Fry these in coconut oil and top with any combination of butter, honey, whipped cream, and fresh or cooked fruit.

This batter keeps very well in the refrigerator, so you can use it for two or three days in a row without any loss of flavor or texture.

*If you cannot find buckwheat groats at your local health food store, you can order them online.

Method 2

1/3 cup chia seeds

1 cup boiling water

1 cup buckwheat flour*

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

1teaspoon cinnamon

1. Pour boiling water over chia seeds and let soak until cool.

Or you can put the seeds in water the night before and let them soak, covered, in the refrigerator.

2. Mix all ingredients together and fry in coconut oil and serve whatever toppings you like.

*Other non-wheat flour options are: coconut, soy, brown rice, fava, or chick pea to name just a few.

Why chia seeds? These unique and very nutritious seeds create a light and fluffy pancake with a good balance of protein, healthy fat and starch. If you have ever felt like you could barely move after eating pancakes, this is a way to get a pancake breakfast without that weighed down feeling.

Here's a link if you're curious.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/03/chia-seed-benefits-_n_3379831.html

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. 
Mahatma Gandhi