so tired

All the quilting is done for this quilt.  Just binding.  I have to admit that I am just trying to get through this week at work.  I hit a wall this afternoon and the tireds hit.  I am hoping it is just the front that is coming through.  I took a walk after work and the wind tried to blow me away.  Actually, that was a bit of fun!

Starting next week, due to the price of oil a barrel, I will be only working four days a week.  I am hoping it will allow me to recharge.  And do a bit more quilting.  There is a Maker's Market that I might try to sell a few things at.  We will see.

chocolate walnut soudough loaf

I have obviously been playing with tea cakes lately.  I have been looking through my array of cookbooks and found a recipe for a yeasted chocolate loaf.  This sounded lovely to me, especially since it was not going to be very sweet.  I am liking flavor, flavor that has depth more then sweet lately.

Of course, I switched up a few things.  I used sourdough.  I used onyx cocoa powder.  I added a bit of whole wheat and rye flour.  I added some mini chocolate chips.  The only true sweetness comes from the chocolate chips.  This bread as toast has been going on my walks with me.  

A slice of toast, a cup of tea, a walk after work.  Life is very good. 

chocolate walnut sourdough loaf

Note:  I adapted Tessa Kiros' recipe from her book Apples for Jam.  The recipe is quite good with no changes but I can never leave anything alone when it comes to cooking.

sourdough starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/4 cup milk

3 cups white flour (I used a heritage French)

1/2 cup rye flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons room temperature butter

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

The night before, in a large bowl, mix the starter, water, whole wheat flour.  Cover and let get bubbly in  warm place.  Take a bit of the starter out for the next tim.

To the starter, mix in the sugar, milk, cocoa, salt, rye flour, and 2 cups of the white flour with a wooden spoon.  This should be coming together into a soft dough.  When it is too hard to stir, take a dough scraper and push it all together.  

I have been using a technique called rolling and tucking, which is very close to my own kneading method.  (I am having fun with my Christmas present to myself.)  Bring the dough to the middle of the bowl, in a roll shape.  Turn the seam to the top and "tuck" or knead to the end.  Turn ninety degrees, roll the seam to the top, and "tuck" again.  Dust with the reserved flour if the dough is too sticky.  I get four to five "tucks".  I have been doing this a long time.  When the dough is smooth, place in a cleaned bowl, cover and let rise for 45 minutes.

While the dough was rising, I toasted my walnuts.  350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 10 minutes.  Watch them closely because they go from golden to burn very quickly.

At this point, I did a stretch and fold, which is pat the dough into a large rectangle on a clean counter.  Fold one of the smaller ends to the middle.  Put the other over to the center.  Fold the last ends to the middle and shape into a ball.  Put back in the bowl and let sit for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, pat the dough into a rectangle again on a clean counter.  Smear it with the butter.  Use the roll and tuck method to incorporate the butter.  It will take 8 to 12 roll and tucks.  I like this better the smearing the counter with butter and kneading it it.  If you need to, dust the surface with more flour.

Stretch the dough out into a rectangle again.  Cover with the walnuts and mini chocolate chips.  Do two roll and tucks to incorporate the nuts and chocolates.  Put back into a cleaned bowl, cover, and let sit for about 45 minutes.

Butter a loaf pan.  I have also been adding a liner of parchment paper to the long side and buttering it.  It makes for easier removal.  Turn out the dough and shape into a loaf.  Place seam side down into a loaf pan.  Cover and let rise until puffy and doubled.  About an hour.

When proofed, bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour.  Using onyx cocoa powder will make it hard to tell if it is burning, so use your nose.

Not the best picture and you cannot see me on a walk with it, but so good.  Not very sweet.  Very dark.  When made into toast, salted butter smeared on top adds to the flavor.

fresh ricotta

Someday, I will learn how to make hard cheeses but until that day, I will play with things like ricotta.  Cream cheese is on my list too.  Especially after finding out how easy Indian saag is to make, why not?  Yes, it is easier and takes less time to go to the grocery and buy the cheese you need.  Unless of course, the type of cheese you need has been completely pulled from the shelves due to a listeria outbreak.  I have had this happen.  Having the skills to make my own, wahoo!

I tried making fresh ricotta.  Easy and yummy.  You do have to use it quickly becasue it is very fresh and will go bad if left too long.  But I can do this now and it is easy.  Milk and cultured buttermilk.  To get a creamy ricotta, a bit of cream would need to be mixed in but that is the only thing.  More tea cakes, here we come!

fresh ricotta

2 quarts milk (a half gallon)

2 cups buttermilk

Take a clean piece fo muslin or four sheets of cheesecloth and line a colander.

Put the milk and butter milk in a large pan over high heat.  Stir to keep the bottom from burning.

When the milks reach 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, the solids will curdle out and there will be a watery whey underneath.

Spoon the solids into the muslin lined colander.  Let the solid drain.  When most of the whey has drained out, twist the muslin together, and let drain for at least another 15 minutes.

Discard the whey and put the ricotta in air proof containers in the refrigerator.  Use within a week. 

So good. 

a fall but I will retry

Tea cakes.  Quick bread.  These have been asked for recently because they are slightly sweet and fill a snacking need.

And I wanted something with chocolate but quick, not leavened.  I tried a Nestle recipe because of the marble squares that are such a hit. 

But the tea cake fell!  Badly.  The flavor was good and every bite was eaten but the center just sunk to the bottom of the pan.  It might have been the whole wheat flour and the cream of tartar and baking soda I used instead of all purpose flour and baking powder.  The first, I was trying to be a bit healthier, the second because I can always taste baking powder in a baked good.  Yuck!

This cake is a good representation of work right now.  Some good people.  But it is just not working.  I walked home from work after a late meeting and that helped.  Sitting at my sewing machine working on quilt blocks for a Maker's Market helped.  I hope to have the top pieced and basted this weekend.  I do not even know the date of the Market yet but working on it is better then the insanity of work!

I need to experiment more with chocolate quick breads or tea cakes.  However you wish to call them.

playing with technique

When I was helping my Mom finish her Christmas shopping, I bought myself a new cookbook.  I know, surprise!  It is called Bien Cuit:  the Art of Bread.  I will not say that the breads in this book are earth shattering but I will say that the attention to technique is fabulous.  I love Zachary Golpers attention to detail and explanations of technique.  I have not put this book away since I opened it about two weeks ago.  Yes, it took that long.

He weighs his ingredients, which I am really liking because it gives me the consistency of starters I like.  He does what he calls rolling and pulling which is exactly how I knead.  Do not know where I learned that especially since one of the people he trained with was a MOF.  He does folds the dough about three times for each type he makes.  And his dough is not like the Tartine bakeries cookbooks where the hydration is so high that it is a pain to work with.  It is a nice soft dough.

The only thing I have changed is that I only use levain or sourdough.  I have not active dry yeast in the house.  Every recipe has worked so far and turned out well.  I have a feeling even my every day sandwich bread will turn out better the next time I make it using his techniques.

The pane dolce in these pictures is just lovely.  I am making it again tonight.  Once I leave the computer I have dough to put in the refrigerator.  I will bake it tomorrow night.  I am going to have to twist his directions and shape when it comes out because  I do not have room in my refrigerator for shaped dough to rise.  I need a refrigerator just for baking.

I made a chocolate loaf and a walnut currant loaf using his techniques.  So good!  More bread to be made!  My overflow bread friends are waiting.