Mmmmmmuffaletta

Dreena's ED&BV One Wild Chick stew was good. It reminded me of a chicken and rice type soup, but the wild rice made it more...... wild. DH usually does not like chickpeas except in falafels, so he complained about my choice of soup. As usual I said, "I know it's far from your favorite but please at least try it." He did and then said it is alright. I used homemade chickpeas in this soup which cooked up softer than the canned ones, I think it is actually the firmness canned chickpeas he does not like. I really think that it is the way I first introduced chickpeas to him when I first decided I was going vegan many years ago, I made a dish that wasn't wonderful and decided that they were going to like it so I did not cook anything else until it was gone. Ummm... do not try this at home.

Stockings are coming along, mine and DD's are finished and hanging, the guys are a bit slower. I'll probably have to help them finish up, but then they are only attempting this to please me, doing things together is what I always ask for when it comes to gift choices. I'll show you the finished stockings in another post.

Next food item I have been wanting to try was Dreena's ED&BV Veggie Tempah Muffaletta. I have had this page post-it-note tagged since first seeing the recipe, but thought it would be time consuming with what seemed like a long list of ingredients. Since I was wintered in for a weekend I bought a can of artichoke hearts and went to the kitchen. I had some tempah in the freezer since the beginning of last summer and have not been inspired enough to use it until now. I humbly admit that this was my first time with tempeh, but woo-hoo - my family LOVED it in this recipe.

I made two loaves of red pepper sage bread for the round loaf of bread called for in the recipe. Several years ago I was looking at bakery web pages and noticed one had a bread with this flavoring. I took one of my own recipes and did what I thought was good ...... it is..

RED PEPPER SAGE BREAD

1 3/4 cup water

2 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup dried red bell pepper flakes

1 1/2 tsp dried ground sage

2 Tbsp raw sesame seeds

2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp instant yeast

1 C corn flour

1 C whole white wheat flour

1 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose bread flour

(opt) 1 - 2 Tbsp vital wheat gluten

Combine all in bread maker or kitchen appliance to make the dough and allow to rise. Punch down and shape loaves in a prepared baking surface, let rise again 20 minutes. Place in cold oven and turn oven on to 375 degrees. Bake 35 minutes, includes electric oven warming up time, may need more time if you have an oven that heats up slower than mine (approx 6 minutes).

I also like to add pumpkin seeds/ pepitas to this when I need a hearty bread to go with a soup supper.

The Great Potato Challenge

Inspired by my canned potato post Kate of Vegan Ventures asked for ideas on dishes with potatoes.
I could share a few dishes I enjoy that include potatoes and will, but I thought it would be fun to see what other vegan bloggers say about their favorite potato dishes.

The potato picture (click the pix to go to the site I found it) is from www.slate.com and may be copyrighted, so I must give them a proper citation and be thankful this potato recipe page can look interesting.

VEGAN POTATO BLOGGERS: If you would like to link this page on your potato blog entry it will appear at the bottom of this page. Other potato interested readers can click there to see your potato recipe.

When I first changed my diet I was in a position to attend group meals or to help plan them frequently. To allow myself some food choices in a buffet style meal I always recommended a potato bar that would include a big variety of toppings. Baking a bunch of potatoes in a crockpot (and leeping them warm there) was easy work. If we were serving pot luck style guests would be asked to bring their favorite potato topping. I liked to bring my favorite Chili Sin Carne and serve it with a few morsels of vegan chedda' (although I just usually brought a container of some of Bryanna's cheesy sauce and drizzled that on top because I was on a strict budget back then). A side salad was a must also. This type of buffet really allowed flexibility for everyone's food preferences, even low carbers would munch on salads.

On Sunday's we leave for church around 8:30 and get home around 12 - 12:30. I like to fill my four quart crock pot up with potatoes and cook them on high. At four hours they seem just perfect. Then when we get home we have potatoes ready to top and eat. I will usually have things like veg baked beans, smartlife hotdogs, chedda cheese, already cooked and needs reheated cauliflower and broccoli, etc in the frig to pull out for quick fixings. The leftovers get stored in the frig and we eat on them during the week in whatever way strikes our fancy.

VEGAN POTATO LINKS:

• The daughter of Fairly Odd Tofu Mom recently posted this awesome presentation: Olivia's Incredibly Famous (vegan) Brats and Potatoes

• Dori's Dry Potato Soup Mix. When my children were younger I used to make these up ahead of time (and in large quantity so we could just scoop out amount needed) so they could make an easy meal for the family.
• Sweet Potato Oven Fries. Sometimes I wonder why I don't make these more often.
  
• Bazu says, " love potatoes in any form- cubed and roasted in the oven with olive oil, garlic and rosemary? Yes.
  
  Potato salad with onions, celery, vegannaise, and fresh dill? Yes.
  
  Mashed? Oh yes. Mmmmmm, potatoes, how do I love thee. There- that was my valentine's day poem. =)"
• Axtvegan says white food is still a it of a concern for her, but she recently made green beans and red potatoes and purple potatoes she would eat roasted anytime! "
• A picnic in France: New Potato Salad.
• BRYANNA'S POTATO AND MUSHROOM MISO SOUP
  I want to try this sometime, so am adding the whole recipe here to remind me. :b
  Combine in a pot:
  4 c. light broth (to make a quick "dashi" [Japanese broth], I use mushroom bouillon cubes [enough for only 3 cups broth] and a piece of kombu sea vegetable-- you can also use soaking water from shiitake mushrooms)
  4 oz. any fresh mushrooms, sliced
  8 oz. thin-skinned potato, scrubbed and thinly sliced
  1 medium onion, thinly sliced
  
  Simmer about 15 minutes, or til potato is tender. Remove and discard kombu, if using.
  
  Add:1/2 (12.3 oz.) box firm or extra-firm slken tofu, or 6 oz. medium firm regular tofu, in cubes
  
  After heating tofu, turn off heat. Mix some of the broth with:
  1/3 c. brown rice or barley miso
  
  Add back to soup with:
  2 green onions, thinly sliced
  
  Serve immediately. Servings: 4
  
  Nutrition Facts
  Nutrition (per serving): 136.4 calories; 15% calories from fat; 2.4g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 880.0mg sodium; 588.5mg potassium; 22.0g carbohydrates; 3.3g fiber; 4.0g sugar; 18.7g net carbs; 8.4g protein; 2.3 points.
  
• Bryanna's CAUSA (Peruvian Potato Salad). I made this dish to serve at a cultural dinner hosted by us when we invited friends over to share there experiences living in this area for more than a year with us. This was my first experience with blue potatoes, we thought they were so fun that we planted them in the garden the next year.
• Bryanna's Potato and Sweet Potato Gratin
• Bryanna's Bread Machine Sourdough Potato Bread
  

Also, about canned potatoes. Of course I would rather eat a fresh potato, but having them already cooked ready to dice, mash or otherwise prepare to add to another seasoned dish I like them for this use (soups, stir-fries, etc). I have noticed a difference in taste between the type of potato I used to can with, I will not can russet potatoes in the future. I will definitely grow more yukon gold though. I keep hearing reports from my other canning friends that this is what they prefer to use. Personal note: Keep a cold storage potato supply for fresh potatoes and can a few because I like the prep they offer.

I am still working on my tomato using the harvest post and should have some great things to share by the end of this week. Midwest Vegan, I will include pictures and a thorough description of texture, etc in this post.

ALSO HAPPY V-DAY FRIENDS! I hope to bake up something fun for Wednesday, something like a Dreena cake ... maybe something including chocolate and raspberries (oh yummers).

I am a thief (second attempt with pictures) .....

I'll try this again and hopes that blogger doesn't "thief" my pictures. In order to do this I deleted the last blog page which also deleted comments. If you left a comment there I did see it, but it is gone now.

Hi! Christmas has been and I am glad. It is worth the fuss.

I have a confession to make. This Christmas I received numerous gifts including the three cookbooks you see me pictured here with (I dig my Christmas moose overalls). No, I did not steal the cookbooks - they were gifts, but I did borrow the following ideas and have no intentions of returning them...

#1 Gaia's Chickpea Roll
I first thought it would be a bit fishy. It had a mild sea vegetableflavor and although I haven't cared for this before... it was very mild and I enjoyed this recipe.

Loved the crispy outside and filling innards. I served this with a wonderful vegetable filled tomatoey stew called Manhattan chowder from Bryanna's 20 minutes to dinner cookbook (p. 63).


#2 Martha Stewarts Graham Cracker houses
Melissa's awesome church (took 7 hours) and Matthew's colorful double wide trailer (took 1 hour 15 minutes). Sunspire "m&m's" make a pretty decoration that got picked off and eaten. The Christmas tree's surrounding the cathedral (deformed gumdrops painted with a permanent marker and held together with a cinnamon stick) could not be eaten.

Sorry Martha this one was fun and we're keeping it.

#3 Dreena's Carob Chip Muffins (vlv p 34)
These are made from 100% barley flour. I was absolutely amazed!!! When I first read the recipe I really thought that "moist texture" meant gummy aka unpleasant. I made them as the recipe stated, which the family really liked. But then, I must play .... I made a few changes. I omitted the sugar and syrup and all but one tablespoon of the oil, I added 3/4 tsp KAL stevia extract powder, 1/2 cup unsweet applesauce, and 1/3 cup mini bittersweet vegan chips with 1/3 cup craisins in place of the omissions. WOW! They made an awesome muffin! The "moist texture" only refers to the fact that they are not dry and falling apart ... not the gummy, squishy or otherwise "tender" I have come to find most alternative bakers describe as "moist". This one was a real treat. In place of the chips and craisins I am going to try them with about 1 cup of my favorite raw cranberry relish (in place of applesauce and the extra for flavor) next time.

Okay I confessed and now that this is out of the way
I will go on to share with you some of my gifts...

I have desired to try some wine for several years now and have wanted to visit a "homegrown" style winery for along time. I finally got the chance to and Dave bought me two bottles... although I had several to choose from I picked out the Crimson Cranberry and Red Raspberry flavors. The sales gal told me to try the red raspberry in hot cocoa - I will. Would love some other suggestion for how to use these, other than dry wines for cooking I have never been much of a drinker. I do know that these wines are very sweet.

I'm going to save these to open on Saturday night when my sis comes home from New York again. She along with my aunt and uncle, a couple of cousins, mom and niece will be having an oriental style buffet at my house. I look forward to sharing the food we make for this soon. I also got a nice gift certificate to amazon.com ... I'll be checking other blogs to find out what cookbooks others are enjoying this year before I decide.

Also in the picture I got a tin of Zhena's GYPSY LOVE tea, Mr Artsey key chain, two vegan dark chocolate candy bars, a stone nativity candle holder, a CD called HUGS for the holiday that plays nice instrumental music, and a sterling silver cross necklace. The tea is tasty and the music is relaxing.

CRAFTY REPORT . . .
This is Matthew... remember him? :)

He has been into the renaissance time period and desired a walking stick for his costume. Dave cut one out of oak, I wood burned Matt's name and his favorite bible verse on it, stained it and decorated it for a gift for Mathew. He thinks it is pretty neat.

Now he will go back to the fare in style, although he still hopes to get those ridiculously priced boots ... not this gift time.

And a recipe to share from my breakfast table to yours (restitution of a sort... for my food crimes above ;o) ...

BIG MAPLE NUT AND CINNAMON RAISIN ROLLS
I like to use my oatmeal bread dough for this recipe. It gives a more tender roll and combines a little soy flour and flax meal to offer more nutrition. My bread dough recipe follows:

Dori's Oatmeal Bread (makes 2 loaves)

I triple this recipe when I make it in my BOSCH Universal kitchen appliance.

2 cups hot tap water
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup maple syrup OR 1/3 cup unrefined sugar
3/4 cup quick oatmeal
3/4 cup freshly milled whole white wheat flour
2 Tbsp SAF instant yeast

Step 1: Mix all in mixer bowl until blended, cover and rest for 15 minutes to proof yeast.

Step 2: Add remaining ingredients while mixing on speed 2 (I have a Bosch compact that has 4 speeds which I use when I make a small batch like this. It is similar to a kitchen aid, but I have never used a kitchen aid).
2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp ground dried ginger
3 Tbsp flax meal
1 1 /2 C great river milling bread flour (partially refined to remove some bran, but germ is intact)
1 1/2 cup more freshly milled white whole wheat flour

Cover and allow to knead 8 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Divide dough in half. Shape into loaf. Roll into extra oatmeal to coat loaf all over. Place into oiled 8 x 4" bread pan. Rise 20 minutes while covered with an oiled plastic wrap to avoid drying out. When doubled in size place in oven and spray oven sides and bottom with water from a water bottle to create a steam. Bake @ 350 (I have a convection oven, so you may need to bake in a non-convection oven for 30 minutes) for 25 minutes. Remove from pan and place loaves on a wire rack to cool.

To make the rolls, I section the dough into portions.
For maple nut I combine 1/3 cup unrefined sugar with 1/8 tsp maple syrup and 1/4 cup coarsely chopped English walnuts. Roll the bread dough into a rectangle onto a Crisco greased counter with a little crisco'd hands. Spread the sugar mix, roll up and cut into 6 pieces. Lay these into a greased 9" round cake pan. Allow to rise 2o minutes, bake for 20 minutes (I use a convection oven lined with stones on the top and bottom rack). Remove from pan onto a cheap paper plate and cool on a rack.

To frost: Combine 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 - 2 drops maple favoring and a little water to make a nice frosting drizzle (not to much, it is better to add more water after creating a to dry "drizzle", but you can always add more sugar if needed to get the consistency right.

For cinnamon: 1/3 cup unrefined sugar with 1/2 tsp high quality cinnamon

Last picture is of Melissa's ornament cookie. We created the red sugar by adding drops of red food coloring to regular sugar granules and stirring it until we got the desired color.

Baking Extravaganza #2

I finished the baking order today, delivered it, and deposited the money into the bank. You have witnessed an order consisting of 390 cookies, 130 muffins, and 130 fruity italian sweet breads panetones NOT pantalonnes ... this is the reason I was baking so much... although we have a few leftovers I actually haven't started baking for our family favorite foods yet. The food is for a survival pack students at a nearby college get to receive for finals week if their parents opt to pay for it.

This blog entry will be about the cookies. I use stackable cooling racks. I have 24 of these. I filled this order in my home, but if I was taking orders for Christmas baked goods like I have in years past I would have used my commercial oven at the bakehouse... right now I didn't have enough to make it worth it besides my convertion oven in our home kitchen does an okay job if I turn pans around halfway through baking times.

Here is a picture of VWAV ginger cookies. These are wonderfully spicy and I agree with Isa's comment in the book, they really are better the next day! I made the first batch of cookies much smaller than the recipe yeild and also noticed that they were considerable smaller than the other cookies in the order (I ended up with 96 cookies when the recipe yield said 62), so I started again. Darn, now I have 96 wonderful spicy and very pretty 2 1/2" diameter cookies. What's girl to to? Oops! Now I have 95, mmmm that was good. I will be taking a container of these cookies into the school to share on Friday (tommorrow) as a thanks for the staff for making my time there a good one.

I also made the pumpkin oatmeal using cranberries instead of raisin, which were Melissa's favorites. I only had 6 leftover pumpkin cookies which the family usually taste tests while they are still warm from the oven. This particular day there was such variety that there were a couple of cookies of each leftover the next day. The pumpkin ones get better also. I had a picture of these, but somehow I accidentally deleted it. They are a pretty golden orange color with very noticable red craisins showing through.

I thought DH would love the maple cookies best. Pictured left are the ones from Vive Le Vegan. They are a large cakey style cookie that I didn't think ended up very sweet, he liked them better frosted. I didn't add nuts into the dough, just one large one on the top. I noticed VWAV has a maple cookie recipe also, maybe I would like to try that one soon to compare. Maybe next week. The peanut better cookies a few pages away from this recipe had the same kind of cakey style results, so I chocolate drizzled them and he said, "Mmm, like a reeces candy!"

I purchased plastic 1/2 sheet cake boxes from a local grocery store to put the cookies in. I had seven different kinds for the students to choose from, the picture shows two of the boxes. Each student would get to pick a choice of three cookies each, I provided 4 x 14 inch baggies for them to carry the cookies away in. Notice the label on the box, I used a mini clip of the cookbooks from which I took the recipes from. I had to give them a list of ingredients, but not the recipe... they can get that for themself now if they buy the book. No middle man sales percentage needed authors, just keep the great recipes coming :)

Next up is the Italian panetones NOT pantalonnes (fruited sweet bread). I used one of Bryanna's recipe for a valentine danish roll to adapt for the dough (mt adaption recipe and instructions below). I added 2/3 cup dried fruit (chopped apricots, raisins, and craisins) that had been soaked in a little (about 1/4 C) boiling water after the dough was finished kneading. Baked at 350 degrees for 15 minutes minutes, or until browned to a desireable color.

SWEET DOUGH RECIPE:
1 c. rich soymilk (such as Vitasoy)
1/4 c. Earth Balance
1/4 c. light granulated unbleached or white beet sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 packet (2 and 1/2 tsp. dry active baking yeast (NOT instant)
1/4 c. warm water
3 c. unbleached flour (NOT pastry flour)
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1 tsp. grated organic lemon zest
In a small saucepan (or in a bowl in the microwave), scald the soymilk (heat to just before boiling). Remove from heat. Add the Earth Balance, sugar and salt. Stir until butter melts and let cool to just warm.
Here is the bread dough rising on baking sheet sprinkled with semolina flour. I can bake three pans at once in my home convection oven, si i size the bread recipe to ensure that I get only as much as I can bake up at one time. At the bakehouse in the commercial convection oven this is rarely a problem I have four large racks that can each hold as much as my one household oven holds.

When the soymilk is just warm dissolve the yeast in the warm water. When it is soft, add it to the milk mixture in a medium bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer with a dough hook, along with the almond extract and lemon zest. Stir in 1 and 1/2 c. of the flour and beat well. Gradually add 1 more cup flour to make a soft dough. Turn out on a board and knead 5 minutes, adding some of the 1/2 c. flour, as necessary. The dough should be soft and velvety smooth, knead in the fruit (make sure it does not have excess water).

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE THE DOUGH IN A FOOD PROCESSOR, add 2 and 1/2 c. flour to the bowl, then, with the motor running, pour in the liquid ingredients. Process until it comes to a ball on the blade, adding a little more flour if necessary—but don’t make too dry, and process 30 seconds.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Or, if you want to prepare it the night before to bake in the morning, brush with oil, cover with plastic warp, or place inside of a large new plastic bag and seal. Leaving room to rise, and refrigerate overnight.

Have your oven preheated to 350 degrees F when ready to bake. I cut this recipe into 8 small round loaves. It could be shaped or braided in various ways. The cooking time would be considerably longer with larger amounts of dough. Bake the mini loaves about 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Larger loaves 25 - 35 minutes. Cool on a rack and do not bag until completly warm.

Here they are in a box, bagged and labeled.

Midwest Vegan asked me in the last post how long baking this order took me. Lets just say that there are psychological perks of what I do. I once calulated how much I made per hour for selling goods at a farmers market. At that time I was making about $300 weekly... I made less than minimum wage for the time I put in. It did afford me the freedom of being at home when I needed to be and allowed me to provide my children a real world homeschool education. This business started as a homeschool project and was one of the best "curriculums" I ever invested in. Yes, we showed a profit on the books but we did not make hourly wages. Now that my children are of an age they make money in other ways (despite the fact that I miss them very much and desire for them to come home and bake with their mama again), I am preparing to go back into work away from home and maintain our "hobby" business for summer work for the next few years. Two kids in college and a retirement plan needing a little more cash investments are good reasons to make my hours more prosperous.

Sometime next week I will begin making a few things for out personal family and friend / neighbor gifts. I have a large order of cinnamon and maple nut rolls to bake next week also, I use an oatmeal dough with these and I'll share my recipe next week. This weekend I am taking a break away from my oven, going to a movie with DH Friday night, doing the shopping thing on Saturday. I will be complete my student teaching experience on Wednesday. I am looking at three job opportunities right now. I am unsure as to which I most interested in, for now I am going to enjoy the weekend and think more about work another day.

The last picture here is of one night's baking, prior to the cookies going into the freezer to store until delivery day.

Pretzels

HA!
HA!
HA!
Happy Thanksgiving.

Just had to share this cutest
and most accidental picture with you.

This is Herky the last of the foster kittens remaining in our home. Her brothers and sister left for their furever homes this morning. When I snapped this picture I had no idea that this yawn was about to happen, perfect timing.

I am really looking forward to the Thanksgiving break next week - I have three days off. I am planning to make some of Bryanna's stuffed seitan roasts, I have tried a new one each year for the past three years now. The roast is awesome and I think that I like last years sun dried tomato stuffing the best. I just read that she is planning on coming out with a wheat meat cookbook. Even though I have made most of the recipes that will probably be in that book (as a long-time Bryanna fan), I am excited and will get one anyways.

Here is the recipe that I used for the
BIG PRETZELS
Ingredients:
Vegetable oil spray
1 pkg. quick rise instant yeast (comes in 3's to be cut apart)
1 1/2 C hot tap water
4 cups unbleached organic all purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar (we used unrefined)
3/4 tsp sea salt

1 egg beaten (vegan solution: 1 tsp. corn starch stirred into 2 Tbsp water) to brush on top to keep the coarse salt/ cinnamon sugar / garlic & poppy seed, etc topping attached). This gets brushed onto a the pretzel before it bakes.

Topping choices to sprinkle on top of pretzel:
Course salt
Poppy seed
dried minced onion or garlic
sesame seed
course sugar and cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2. Lightly spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil (Additionally, we sprinkled our oven sheets with coarse cornmeal which will stop the breads from sticking even better).
3. Dissolve the yeast in hot tap water (between 90 - 105 degrees F). *
4. Add flour, sugar, and salt; mix until dough is formed. Add a small amount of flour if dough is to sticky; add a small amount of water if dough is to crumbly or dry. Dump mixture onto a bread board or a kitchen counter and begin kneading, set timer and knead for 8 - 10 minutes. (see not below about flour)
5. Divide dough into 12 equal sections.
6. Roll each piece into a rope; roll and twist the rope pieces into desired shapes, such as pretzels, alphabet letters, etc.
7. Place pretzels on prepared baking sheet.
8. Brush with beaten egg (or vegan solution mentioned above). Sprinkle with topping desired.
9. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown. When the pretzels go into the oven spray the bottom of the oven with a water mister to create a steam, although this step is not required I personally think that it is beneficial.

*If the water is to hot it will kill the yeast, to cold and it will not rise correctly. You can use a thermometer to test the water temperature.

NOTE: DO NOT add to much flour, the dough will seem wet at first, but as it is kneaded it will begin to firm up. If making these by hand, during the kneading process flour your hands instead of the counter because you DO NOT want to keep adding the extra four in, you just want it to keep from being overly sticky to your hands. The extra flour will make them seem dry and tough soon after baking which is a problem with the baker, not the recipe. I had five groups make these and each pretzel came out a little bit different, the group who did not take my word about the flour was the least happy with the pretzels.

We completed making and eating these pretzels during a one hour six minute class.
This recipe came out of a (c) 2006 high school Foods class enrichment lab book. An actual mall pretzel has quite a bit more oil added or butter / margarine which will make a small difference with the texture. The picture above is actually some pretzels that I shaped using a pumpkin dough leftover form a braided bread that I prepared for a church meal last night. It is sprinkled with poppy seed.

Sourdough starter and bread

I started a new batch of sourdough for bread making last week. I had one last year, but I let it die :(

... fortunately this is not to hard to start. A little live culture soy yogurt, some flour, warm water and a wide mouth quart canning jar. Bryanna at vegan feast wrote this note on her 8-14-06 post. "If you are unfamiliar with sourdough, write to me at bryannasveganfeast@yahoo.com and I'll send you my vegan sourdough file. I have two sourdough starters, which are very reliable." I can agree with this statement. I made the yogurt starter version and it is easy and very active. It is the same recipe I used to make my starter last year. When this starter is active it can make a well risen loaf of bread without yeast.

Although I have a small kitchenaid like mixer, a bread machine, and the ability too make bread by hand, I prefer my BOSCH Universal. See the picture of it beside. I have two of these machines at the bakehouse and one in my home (along with two microburst grain mills for freah milled whole grain flour). For the past four summers I have made a variety of 75-100 loaves of organic whole grain (freshly miled from the wheat berry) loaves of bread a week. I took this summer off, but my BOSCH Universals are going strong. This was one of the first major kitchen appliance investments that I made (after a stove and frig), it is a time saver and absolutely wonderful. I can make 6 loaves of basic whole grain yeasted bread in 1 1/2 hours including clean... one time a week bread for the week and my cost... less than 50 cents a loaf. For my family of four, one loaf a day (sometimes more) is common.

I used the first (usually thrown out) of the starter removed from the jar to make bread even though the instructions say throw away. In the bread I do use yeast because my starter was so young and did not have enough "life" to raise the loaf, but it did give it that yummy sourdough taste. In this picture you see my loaf AND my jar of starter. I am now refreshing it daily. This bread uses up 1 1/2 cup of starter, leaving just enough to add 1 more cup of water and 1 cup of flour. This starter is made with spelt, but I have refreshed starter using white all purpose wheat four, fresh milled whole grain white hard wheat as well as red hard wheat, have tried it with a little rye added. I personally like my bread to have more of a tang, so I try to add a tablespoon of rye now and again when I refresh my starter.

European Dark Bread
This is really my favorite bread, almost... next to sourdough kalamata olive bread or roasted garlic bread and even then a good raisin walnut is a delight. :) This bread can be made into a round loaf, but because my family likes square sandwiches I made it in a large loaf pan. This bread is made so that it has a very hard thick crust, like a good dark european loaf but yet a soft tender inside. A good sharp bread knife is required to saw through this. Sometimes I "paint" the top with a little cornstarch/water mix and add a mix of seeds (poppy, sesame, flax) for decoration.

RECIPE:
Add 1 ½ cups sourdough starter or start a poolish 24 hours before making the bread.
POOLISH: Put in a glass jar 1 ½ cups warm water and a pinch of yeast plus 1 cup unbleached bread flour. Mix well and let stand at room temperature covered for 24 hours. Place in a heavy duty mixer bowl equipped with dough hooks along with the following:

all of the poolish/ starter
2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp flax seed
1 Tbsp sesame seed
3 Tbsp pumpkin seed (or sunflower seed)
2 Tbsp carob powder (or cocoa powder)
1/3 C cracked multi-grain cereal
(like that you would buy from Paul’s grains at the farmer’s market)
2 Tbsp millet
4 cups whole grain flour
(I use Montana Gold hard white wheat flour... Many coops and better grocery stores
now carry this brand and variation of whole wheat flour)
1 Tbsp yeast

* unbleached organic bread flour approximately 1 ½ - 2 cups, to be used in the final mixing step

Mix on low speed and then begin adding the unbleached bread flour 1 cup at a time until you have a soft, workable dough and the dough is cleaning the sides of the mixer bowl. Knead for 8 minutes on medium speed. Remove dough to an oiled bowl and let sit covered with oiled plastic wrap for 1 hour. Punch down dough and divide and shape dough into loaf size portions. Grease two standard loaf pans, add dough. Let loaves sit on top of oven while it is preheating (425 degrees), allow to rise until loaf size has doubled. Bake bread in a hot oven for about 35-40 minutes. You want a loaf that is nearly over baked, but not burned. This gives the loaf a thick hard crust with a chewy inside like a traditional European loaf should have.

GIFT IDEA
I GAVE A LOAF OF THIS BREAD DECORATIVELY WRAPPED IN A BASKET AS A WEDDING GIFT FOR A NEIGHBOR SATURDAY. The gift tag was a recipe that included a picture of the bread along with an invitation for the bride to stop by and pick up some of my starter for use if she ever wanted to make this bread.

MY FAV BREAD PANS
I like the NORPRO waffle weave non stick bread pan. They are made in 8", 10", and 12" size. I I use these pans for the bread I make at the Bakehouse. All it takes is a little canola spray in each of these pans and the loaf will come right out. My pans have been used hundreds of times and they are still in great condition. Also, I do not wash my bread pans after each use unless I making something sticky.

You all guessed it...

Blogger won't let me post a picture right now, so I'll make today's entry brief while I bring my photo's in the more time consuming way.

YESTERDAY'S NAME THAT FOOD WINNER IS...

LESLIE at EAT PEACE PLEASE posted her guesses within minutes of my post. She guessed all but one, but later came back with a page number for the #3 mystery: P 96 Molasses Baked Beans. KAJI'S MOM was the first to guess #3 as molasses baked beans.

Thanks to others who participated:
Veronica at Primary Consumer
Johanna 3 in Puerto Rico
Cherie at Utopian Kitchen (non beta, but post as anonymous)

KITTEN UPDATE:




Another shout out to my new blog to receive an interesting view of the foster kittens and other abandoned cats I have staying with me. The cream puff is still alive, still bottle fed, and seems to be the "runt" of the bunch. I think cream puff is a she . . . not positive because they are so little. She is also non competitive and still won't compete for food, but she does take the bottle. The other three are doing fine.
FELINE PAL FAMILY

CRAFT:
Matthew will be home this afternoon and we will be starting on his renaissance faire costume.

LUNCHBOX:



Melissa took a carob bread machine sandwich (recipe from Weenie at Live It Up Vegan) with almond butter and bananas on it, salad with tomatoes, candied peanuts, and cantaloupe pieces.

Have a great weekend all. I'll be away crafting. Maybe I'll have a picture of Matt's costume when I come back. Please know non beta blogs if you do not accept anonymous posts I cannot post, but I am still reading.