quietness

This weekend for Houston was all about weather.  Hurricane Patricia actually was forecasted to effect us and it did.  The first effect was that the people around me seemed to behave as if Armageddon was coming.  No, we were not going to be hit by a hurricane.  Yes, we were going to get rain and wind from the last dying bits of it.  We could have possibly been a lot of rain.  It was not Armageddon but that was the behavior I saw when I had a few errands to run.  

Do not go to the grocery store!

Instead, I tried an old recipe that I have had success with many times but never at the barometric pressures I was experiencing except during an actual tropical storm or hurricane.  Then, I usually do not have power to bake.  There is always a way to make tea.

I made kouign amann.  Yes, the bake took twice as long as normal which was extremely frustrating but in the end, there were lovely laminations and flavor.  I have decided that I am no longer going to try the individual ones but just stick with the family style.  I have a feeling the last proof should be longer so I can get more layer definition but no one around here will mind if I keep doing that especially if there is creme patissiere around to dip it in.

I have been asked for more yeasted cakes.  I like this idea.  With tea.  And I love the idea of being a hermit when the world outside my door seems to be going mad.  Yes, it was a lot of rain.  No one died this storm.  Not Armageddon.

country loaf

It is supposed to be stormy and dark outside right now.  It is not.  When I planned dinner, I planned for that weather.  Oh well.  Dinner was a country loaf and smoke salmon chowder.  Very simple.  After I have been trying to find fancy baked good recipes, I made simple bread.

Life is very good.

What can I tell you about a country loaf?  Simple ingredients.  Long slow rise.  Good proof.  I like a crust that does not cut my mouth so it will never have the crusty French loaf look.  It is what I like.  It is what the boyos like.  If I want that crisp, I toast.  Boyos like warm bread.

Bread goes fabulously with soup by the way.

country loaf

sourdough starter

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup water

1 cup water

2 teaspoons salt

3  to 4 cups all purpose flour

In a large bowl, mix the starter, 3/4 cup water, and whole wheat flour together.  Cover and let sit overnight.  You want bubbly.

Take a bit out for next time.

Mix in the water, salt, and one cup of flour.  Mix in two more cups of flour until you have a thick wet dough.  Depending on how dry  your flour is, you may wish to knead in a half a cup of flour now or put that half a cup of flour on a counter.  Turn out the dough and knead for ten minutes.  Do not add any more then a cup of flour.  If it feels too sticky, wet your hands to knead.

Put in a clean bowl, cover, and let rise until double.  Or, put in a ziploc and let rise 12 to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

When risen, sprinkle the counter lightly and shape into a long oval shape.  Put on a parchment covered baking sheet.  Let rise until almost double.

Turn oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Put in the bread.  Bake 40 to 60 minutes, dependent on the shape of the loaf.  The bread should be golden and sound hollow when the bottom is thunked.

It is lovely with soup.  And as toast with butter and homemade jam.

There are some fancy thoughts and tweaking of recipes being thought about for this weekend.  I am still not feeling very creative but I am still doing simple.  Obviously.

a simpler english muffin (or how did you get that muffin to look right?)

Oh what to say?  Yesterday was about friends and watching the Great British Baking Show.  I could not believe it was only Tuesday with the angst that is going on at work.  More layoffs will happen but those who have been garunteed jobs for the next little bit do not know what they are doing.  A lot of chaos.  A lot of angst.  People show their true colors and sometimes they are not very pretty.

I have been finding my baking has been much simpler during this process.  I have mentioned before I love English muffins and I have posted a lovely recipe.  But the recipe is fiddly.  Especially when you have to wash all the rings or some of the dough slides out the bottom during the bake.  I follow a lot of bakers on instagram and one was posting English muffins inspired by Tartine bakery.  

I decided to give it a try.  Lovely.  Less washing.  Slower proof.  Just a yumminess, especially with melted butter and homemade strawberry jam.  The Tartine English muffin is their baquette dough made into an English muffin.  I used their porportions but I do not use their very fussy technique and I baked instead of cooking on a griddle.  I am simple.

I eat these at work and when I told someone they were homemade I got ask how I got the big holy crumb.  She could not tell they were not store bought except I made squares.  Remember simple.

simpler english muffin

Note:  This is based on the Tartine bakery baguette dough and then all my own twists.

sourdough starter

1 cup flour

3/4 cup water

1 cup (250 ml) water

2 teaspoons salt

3 - 4 cups flour

Mix the starter, 1 cup flour, and 3/4 cup water in a bowl.  Cover and let become bubbly.  8 to 12 hours.

Take about two tablespoons out for next time.

Mix in 1 cup water and 2 teaspoons salt.  Mix in 3 cups flour.  At this point I usually mix in 1/2 cup more flour and then knead with the rest but  I used some whole wheat flour recently that was very dry (already modifying!) and did not need to do that.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead until smooth.  Put in a gallon ziploc and store in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.  Pull out the dough and shape into a rectangle.  I make a rectangle about 16 inches by 6 inches because I cut it into eight squares.  I separate them and let them warm and rise until about double or the spring back just a tatch at a touch.

Put them in a 425 degree Fahrenheit oven for 15 minutes.  Notice, I did not preheat.  The top should just start to brown.  Turn over.  Bake another ten minutes.

Serve with butter and homemade jam.

Now, Paul of the The Great British Baking Show would like the outside browner but no one in my family really likes toast except me.  I leave them paler because they do not cut their mouths on them that way.  Boyos!

I toast.  I take them to work.  I get envious comments.  Life is good and simple.

how do I start making a sweater?

I have been coughing so hard that the muscles over the left sides of my ribs hurt.  It is an old injury that I aggravated while I was taking care of a very sick Koda Bear in Sitka.  I thought I was doing better but I have no stamina.  And the slightest cough hurts.  It is hard to feel creative but it is easy to sit and spin.

I am working with some lovely Corredale fiber that I have cleaned and carded.  It is not as soft as I might like but it has the most gorgeous chocolate color.  And I learn more every time I spin and card.  I put on a strange audiobook that was getting good reviews but I returned to the library almost immediately.  Much too odd for me.  Especially with a head that is not working at full potential.

After I got the first bobbin full, I started on a sweater that I have been thinking about since I saw it in the Interweave Crochet last winter.  It reminds me of  J Crew sweater I wore out about twenty years ago.  It does get me a new one but I am having such a problem concentrating on the pattern that it may take until next fall to finish it!  

Yes, my head is not in the game either.  The yarn currently varies a lot in width which is why that bit looks like it is not straight.  It is the same number of stitches but I hope blocking will really help.

I will get better.  It is just slow.  My creativity is basicall at the point of spinning mounds of fiber.  Not very interesting at all.

boyo request

The boyos got into doughnut holes this summer.  I think they tried every doughnut place within a five mile radius.  As large as Houston is, that is really not that many places.  

It started out as a trek to find out if Koda Bear liked jelly filled doughnuts because of the books that were being read.  That is our lives.  The decision was made the jelly filled doughnuts were not really Koda Bear's thing but doughnut holes?  Those were!  

Many of the doughnut places near us are a bit hip.  They try much too hard.  And they usually do not have doughnut holes.  How can you have a doughnut shop without raised doughnut holes all day long?  The boyos could not figure this out.  The request was for me to try making doughnut holes home.

I got out my starter and gave it a try.  Not a bad try.  As with most doughnuts, right out of the frying fat, these were the best.  They got tough as the week went on, because even with cutting the recipe in half and giving doughnut holes away, this recipe makes a lot!  Still quite tasty though.  I am going to need to look for a recipe that cuts down even further in the future.

I probably will try other recipes in the future, especially one that is closer to a brioche dough but this is a good place to start.  A good standard to have in the repertoire.

raised doughnut holes

Note:  modified from From Cupboard to Cupboard found on pinterest

starter

3/4 cup water

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter

5 cups all-purpose flour

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

           

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons hot water or as needed

The night before, mix the starter with the water and 1 cup flour in a large bowl.  Cover and let sit until bubbly.  Remove  a couple tablespoons and put in the refrigerator for next time.

To the large bowl of starter, add milk, sugar, eggs, and butter.  Add two cups flour.  Mix well.  Cover for two hours until bubbly.  

Mix in the salt and two more cups of flour.  It should be a stiff dough.  Turn out onto a clean surfaces that is dusted with flour and knead until smooth.  Add up to another cup of flour if knead.  Because of my time constraints, I put this in a plastic bag and into the refrigerator for about twenty four hours.  Otherwise, put the dough in a clean bowl, cover, and let rise until double.

Turn the dough out on a floured surface when risen.  Pat into a large rectangle that is about 3/4 of an inch thick.  I cut squares just to make my life easy.  Pull the squares apart.  Cover and let rise about an hour until puffy.

When the squares have proofed, put the oil in a large pot (chicken fryer).  Heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

While the oil is heating, mix the butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar together in a small deep bowl.  Something you could dip holes into.  Add enough hot water to make a thin glaze.

When the oil is to heat, start adding holes.  Fry on each side until golden.  I will tell you know this is frustrating because the doughnut holes, even when squares, have a tendency to want to roll to one side.  

When both sides are golden, remove the hole.  Drain a bit on a towel or paper towel.  Drop into the glaze and much sure they are well covered.

We just stacked them on a plate.  The verdict was the smaller ones (one bite size) were nicer then the larger holes.

The only negative I have about these, really just make to many.  But yummy!  I will be looking for another recipe that is easier to make smaller.  Maybe I will find something that the boyos like even better even though these were a hit!