Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Rosemary-Thyme Bread

This weekend Court and I tried our first modification of the "Perfect Loaf" recipe that was posted here on September 9th. One of the nice things about the recipe is that you can make a lot of changes or additions to make specialty breads. We chose to add some fresh herbs from the garden. After mixing the ingredients we added 2 tablespoons of minced rosemary and about a teaspoon of minced thyme (prior to the first rise). We have heard that bigger more dense ingredients (e.g. nuts or olives) should be added right before the second rise to prevent them from settling to the bottom of the loaf. Adding the minced herbs before the first rise worked well, however. After the first rise we could see the small flecks of rosemary and thyme throughout the sponge. Already the smell of the fresh herbs was permeating the bread.

The second rise, third rise and baking went off normally and we were rewarded with a wonderful savory, herb bread. It is great on its own and it makes excellent toast. This morning I added a little grated asiago cheese at the end of the toasting... very good.

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Korean spicy paste

Ever since I was introduced to it in college, I've loved dishes that use Korean spicy paste (sometimes also called gochujang). It's very spicy, but is also made with rice and a bit of sugar, so it's sticky and a little sweet as well. I usually just put it in stir fries, but we recently tried this healthy and easy recipe from Gourmet magazine. Here's the link to epicurious.com and here's our version of the receipe as well (the original isn't very spicy)

Spicy soba noodles with mushrooms and cabbage

Sauce:
1/2 cup warm water
2 Tsp soy sauce
3 or more Tbs of Korean spicy paste
1 Tbs honey
Noodles:
3 Tbs sesame seeds
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbs finely chopped or grated ginger
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1/2 lb stemmed and sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 smaller (1 lb) napa cabbage, thinly sliced
6 scallions, thinly sliced
8 oz soba noodles
1 cup shelled frozen edamame

Stir together all of the sauce ingredients and set aside. Toast the sesame seeds in a skillet until they start to turn golden (burnt come fairly rapidly after this, so watch them), and then move a bowl. Set some water to boil for the noodles, and add some salt. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, and then saute the ginger and garlic until they release fragrance, around 30 seconds to a minute. Add the mushrooms and saute until the mushroom start to become tender. Reduce the heat and the add the scallions and cabbage, and cook down 6-8 minutes.

While the cabbage is cooking down, add the soba noodles and edamame to the boiling water. Cook this ~6 minutes or according to the instructions on the package. Drain when done, and add to a large bowl. Add the sesame seeds and veggies and stir.

Baking the perfect loaf

I'm sure I'm the last person to blog about this amazing bread reciepe, but here is goes if you're not familiar with it. This is a modified version of a receipe printed in the New York Times earlier this year, and disscussed at length by Jeffrey Steingarten in Vogue. The trick is that it's a very wet dough that undergoes the first rise for 18-24 hours, and is then baked in a very hot oven in a oven-proof casserole to bake consistently all around. There is no kneading. Which sounds crazy, but it produces a perfect country loaf with a hard exterior and spongy holey bread inside.
Here is is:
3 cups bread flour (can substitue some all-purpose)
3 tsp kosher salt (less if using fine salt)
1 package of dry active yeast or 1 tsp of instant yeast
1 1/2 cup of room temperature water
coarse wheat bran or semolina
You'll also need an ovenproof casserole and a clean tea towel

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. If you're using instant yeast, add it as well. If you're using dry active yeast, proof the yeast (you're "proving" that it works) in 1/2 cup of tepid water (yeast grow at 30 degrees C, and you're at 37 degrees C, so warm but not as hot as you are!), and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Combine the yeast water/ and the other cup of water (do 1 1/2 cups total) with the flour with your fingers or a wooden spoon, just so all of the flour is rehydrated. Cover the bowl well with cling wrap and leave leave in a warm place for 18-24 hours.

The second rise and baking take around 3 hours, so plan accordingly. Thoroughly flour a surface to work on (I meant it about the wet dough), and roll the dought out on it. Dust the dough with flour, and then attempt to spread into a 10 x 10 inch square. Fold this into thirds (over itself) and let sit 15 minutes. Fold in thirds again in the other direction (vertically if the first was folded horizontally) to make a cube. Tuck the folds under the sides so it looks like a smooth ball on top. Heavily flour the middle of your tea towel and sprinkle some of the bran or semolina. Move the dough onto the floured towel and cover with the rest of the towel or some cling wrap. Leave for 2 hours. In the second hour heat your oven as high as it will go (500-550 degrees F) and put the empty casserole inside. After the two hour rise, carefully take the dough away from the towel and put the ball into the casserole. Bake for 30 minutes with the cover on, then another 20-30 (20 is usually enough in our not very hot oven) to finish. Let this sit for 45 minutes or until cool before cutting into it. You won't want to do this, but if you cut right in the steam will escape and you'll end up with a lot of dry bread.

I haven't tried adding much to the bread yet, but some obvious possible additions are pepper, rosemary, nuts, dried fruit, or whatever herbs you have growing in the garden.