When Life Gives You Cranberries, Make Cranberry Walnut Bread

November 26, 2009 at 12:04 am (Holiday Baking, Recipes, Salad)
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Here’s a familiar story in my house:  As the holiday cooking season nears, cranberries go on sale. When I see what a great price they are, I decide to stock up on them. I always use a couple bags to make my mom’s cranberry orange relish, but what to do with the rest? I usually wind up freezing them to use later.

But I can never figure out what to make with them, and before I get around to using any of them, they go on sale again. So I buy more. And take them home. And put them in the freezer for later. I estimate that it will be about two more years before I need another freezer.

In the meantime, I resolved to actually use some of the extra cranberries this year. And what better way to start than good, old-fashioned cranberry walnut bread?

Cranberry Walnut Bread

Ingredients

  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • grated peel from one orange
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups orange juice
  • 1 12-ounce bag cranberries, chopped (see Note below)
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9×5-inch loaf pans.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. Add orange peel, shortening, eggs, and orange juice and mix well with a dough whisk. Stir in cranberries and walnuts.
  4. Divide dough evenly between loaf pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and internal temperature reaches 185-190 degrees.
  5. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and finish cooling on rack.

Note:  It is easiest to chop cranberries in the food processor. If you try to chop them with a knife, you’ll end up with as many cranberries on the floor as on your cutting board. Be careful not to over-process, however. Four or five pulses should be sufficient.

So, there you have it. My first attempt to use up the world’s largest store of cranberries outside of Cape Cod. Oh, and in case you’re interested, my mom’s cranberry relish is really simple:  for every bag of cranberries, use one whole orange (peel and all) and a scant cup of sugar. Chop the cranberries and orange in the food processor or food grinder. Add sugar to taste and stir until the sugar dissolves. This cranberry relish will keep in the fridge for a long time, so make lots of it.

Oh, and if all else fails, I found one more use for cranberries. Bailey loves them.

When life gives you cranberries, eat 'em.

3 Comments

Portuguese Sweet Bread

October 31, 2009 at 7:47 pm (Bread Baker's Apprentice, Bread Baking, Peter Reinhart, Recipes, Uncategorized)
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The following recipe is the November BOM (Bread of the Month) for the Facebook Artisan Bread Bakers Group — http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=166811805757&index=1

Portuguese Sweet Bread (based on Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice)

Makes 2 1-pound loaves

Ingredients

Sponge:

  • 1/2 cup unbleached bread flour
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup water, at room temperature

Dough:

  • 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup powdered milk
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 1 teaspoon orange extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups unbleached bread flour
  • About 6 tablespoons water, at room temperature

Directions

To make the sponge, stir together the flour, sugar, and yeast in a small bowl. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are hydrated and make a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the sponge gets foamy and seems on the verge of collapse.

To make the dough, combine the sugar, salt, powdered milk, butter, and shortening in a 4-quart mixing bowl (or the bowl of an electric mixer). Cream together with a sturdy spoon (or the paddle attachment) until smooth, then mix in the eggs and the extracts. Knead by hand (or switch to the dough hook attachment) and mix in the sponge and the flour. Add the water, as needed, to make a very soft dough. The finished dough should be very supple and soft, easy to knead, and not wet or sticky. It will take 10 to 12 minutes with the electric mixer and close to 15 minutes by hand to achieve this consistency. (Dough with high amounts of fat and sugar usually take longer to knead because the gluten requires more time to set up.) The finished dough should pass the windowpane test (see NOTE below) and register 77 to 88 degrees F. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into two equal pieces. Form each of the pieces into a boule (ball shape – stretch opposite sides, tuck them under, turn the dough 180 degrees, and repeat). Lightly oil two 9-inch pie pans and place 1 boule, seam side down, in each pan. Mist the dough with spray oil and loosely cover the pans with plastic wrap.

Proof at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough fills the pans fully, doubling in size and overlapping the edges slightly. (If you only want to bake one loaf, you may retard the second in the fridge for 1 day, although it will take 4 to 5 hours to proof after it comes out of the refrigerator.)

Very gently brush the loaves with egg wash. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf.

Bake the loaves for 50 to 60 minutes, or until they register 190 F in the center. After 30 minutes, check the loaves and rotate 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking. Because of the high amount of sugar, the dough will brown very quickly, but don’t be fooled into thinking it is done. It will get darker as the center gradually catches up with the outside, but it will not burn. The final color will be a rich mahogany brown.

Remove the bread from the pie pans and place on a rack to cool. The bread will soften as it cools, resulting in a very soft, squishy loaf. Allow the bread to cool for at least 90 minutes before slicing or serving.

5 Comments

Weekend Warrior, BBA Style

October 14, 2009 at 10:47 pm (BBA Challenge, Bread Baker's Apprentice, Bread Baking, Canning, Holiday Baking, Jam, Jelly, Marmalade, Peter Reinhart, Recipes, Techniques)
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A number of people have noted that, now that we are about halfway through the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, they have hit a wall. It’s not that they want to quit the Challenge; they just don’t want to bake for a while. Just the opposite happened to me this week. I got my baking and canning mojo on big time. I had a long weekend, and from Saturday to Monday, I managed to make and can apple cider jelly, apple butter and 4-citrus marmalade, and to bake pumpkin gingerbread, pain a l’ancienne, pain de compagne and straun.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This was not a typical weekend for me. In fact, I have never even come close to being this productive in the kitchen before. I don’t know what came over me: I just felt like baking and cooking.

On Saturday morning, I made pumpkin gingerbread, which was the October BOM (bread of the month) for the Facebook Artisan Bread Bakers group. And it was, indeed, the bomb. Check out the recipe if you want to try it for yourself.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Crumb

In the afternoon on Saturday, we went to a local farm market and came home with lots of goodies, including apple cider. I made apple cider jelly in the evening. I think it will be really good as a glaze for tarts or grilled chicken.

While the jelly was cooking, I also baked a half recipe of BBA pain a l’ancienne. This is a rustic bread, crusty, full of holes and definitely homemade looking. I especially enjoy what I consider to be real artisan breads (sourdoughs and those breads containing flour, water, salt, yeast, and little else), so I was looking forward to this recipe. It was a very slack dough, due to the high hydration.

Pain a l'Ancienne shaped

This made it somewhat challenging to work with. But the loaves came out looking really nice.

Pain a l'Ancienne

And the crumb was beautiful.

Pain a l'Ancienne Crumb

And the taste? That’s where the letdown came for me. I didn’t exactly dislike it. But I wasn’t crazy about it, either. It was sort of bland and lifeless. Ah, well. Maybe next time (which wouldn’t be a very long wait for me this weekend).

Sunday morning saw the continuation of the canning craze, as I made my first-ever batch of apple butter. Here are a few pictures: before cooking, after cooking, and after straining.

Apples for Apple Butter

Apple Butter Cooked

Apple Butter - Strained

I went kind of light on the cinnamon and nutmeg, and was really pleased with the results. Several people at work said they don’t normally like apple butter, but they liked this.

While the apples were cooking down, I started on my next BBA bread: pain de compagne. This was a fun bread to make, as it lends itself to all kinds of creative shaping. I opted to try my hand at an auvergnat (cap), couronne (crown), and epi (wheat sheaf). As you can see, I had somewhat mixed results. I liked the couronne and epi. But the auvergnat looked a bit like a stick figure head wearing a graduation cap.

Pain de Compagne shaped

Pain de Compagne proofed

Pain de Compagne

These were really flavorful loaves. My 5-year-old and I kept tearing the nubbins off the epi and eating them. And the auvergnat tasted much better than it looked.

On Sunday evening, I started the 4-citrus marmalade. I began with my citrus marmalade recipe, which I altered by reducing the lemon to 1 and adding 2 limes and about 3/4 of a grapefruit. The citrus marmalade has a great flavor — tangy and sweet — and I thought the addition of lime and grapefruit would enhance the flavor and add a lot to the visual appeal as well.

4 Citruses

After boiling the citrus, I added the sugar, covered the pan and let it sit overnight. By Monday morning, there was a lot more liquid.

4 Citrus Marmalade in the Morning

I cooked it down for several hours, then canned it.

4 Citrus Marmalade Boiled

I will have to write up this recipe, as it was all I had hoped it would be. I can’t wait to give it away for Christmas.

For those of you keeping score, I had one more bread to go. The end of my baking adventure was straun. I used Peter Reinhart’s multigrain bread extraordinaire recipe in BBA, but I doubled it since one loaf just wan’t enough the last time.

After I had baked my first batch of straun for the BBA Challenge, I realized I had King Arthur 12-grain flour in the freezer, which seemed like a natural addition for this bread. So this time, I replaced about 1/3 of the bread flour in the recipe with the multigrain flour.

And I added more (and different) rice. I had to go to the store to buy rice, so I picked up three bags — brown, red and forbidden (black). I cooked them all together using Nicole’s foolproof method. It is, of course, impossible to cook a few ounces of rice, and I didn’t even try. Instead, I used 1/3 cup (dry) of each rice to make a nice-sized batch. After I measured out the rice for my straun, I wrapped the remaining rice mixture in 2-ounce packages (about 8 in all) and froze them for later use.

And I will use them. I love this bread. In fact, it may be my favorite BBA Challenge bread so far. It has incredible depth of flavor. With polenta, bran, oats, rice, etc., how could it not? And it’s great plain, as toast or for sandwiches. I think the next time I make straun, I will try baking it in my pain de mie pan for a true sandwich loaf.

Thus ended my crazy canning and baking weekend. Even though I had a lot of fun making so many things, I was kind of glad when Tuesday came and I had to go back to work: after all, I needed to catch up on my rest.

3 Comments

Pumpkin Gingerbread

October 14, 2009 at 9:33 pm (Bread Baking, Holiday Baking, Recipes, Techniques)
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Here is an easy, festive pumpkin bread recipe, made special by the addition of lots of ginger. For a real treat, use freshly grated ginger instead of powdered.
 
Pumpkin Gingerbread Crumb
 
INGREDIENTS:

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons ground ginger or 2 tablespoons fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice and cinnamon.
3. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans.
4. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour.

Still Life with Pumpkin Gingerbread

1 Comment

Straun Upon the Waters — Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire

October 4, 2009 at 7:25 pm (BBA Challenge, Bread Baker's Apprentice, Bread Baking, Peter Reinhart, Techniques)
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Here we are, rapidly approaching the halfway mark in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, and I’m still enjoying the ride. Even though I have been baking bread for more years than I care to admit, I continue to learn as I work my way through the recipes in Peter Reinhart’s excellent book, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

I was really excited about this week’s bread, Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire, as it is one of Peter’s signature breads, a version of which has appeared in several of his books. I’m not exactly sure why he renamed it — it was always called Straun before — but it’s basically the same bread, which I have wanted to make since reading Bread Upon the Waters. As the new name implies, this bread is chock full of grains, some of which aren’t generally used in bread baking. Having experimented with my own multigrain bread, Five Grain Seeded Sourdough, I was anxious to try Peter’s recipe.

As with many multigrain breads, including mine, this recipe begins with a soaker. The night before I made the bread, I put the cornmeal, wheat germ and oatmeal in a small bowl, added a little bit of water and covered the bowl with plastic wrap. The recipe called for wheat bran, but all I had on hand was wheat germ. I did an online search to try to determine how different the two really were. I learned that germ is the center of the wheat kernel, whereas bran is the outer husk. Beyond that, the information was confusing and conflicting. Some sites said that the two could be interchanged, while others stated that the difference between them was like that of an egg yolk to the eggshell. Armed with this lack of agreement, I went ahead and used the wheat germ for the recipe.

The next morning, I prepared my rice. Here, again, I had a slight departure from the recipe. I didn’t have any brown rice and didn’t feel like running out for it. So I called a friend of mine who was coming over and asked him to bring me some brown rice. As it turns out, he didn’t have any either. Instead, he brought me red rice. Never having eaten, let alone cooked with red rice, I went back to the ‘net, this time finding that red rice is cooked in the same manner as brown rice.

Now, that created a problem for me, as I have never had any luck cooking brown rice. It either comes out crunchy or as 1 big pasty lump. I did a search for how to correctly cook brown rice and found that our own Nicole, of Pinch My Salt fame, had a blog entry with directions for perfectly cooked brown rice. I knew I needed look no further. If Nicole said it worked, that was good enough for me. I followed her directions, and 40 minutes later, had perfectly cooked red rice.

Red Rice Boiling

Red, Red Rice

After the rice cooled, I mixed the dough. I began by putting the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl. Then I added the soaker and rice.

Mixing Straun

I began mixing the dough, which was quite sticky. It did not clear the bowl at all, and I knew it would need more flour. I added a few small scoops of flour. As they mixed in, I liked the look of the red rice in the dough but felt like it could use more. I had another ounce or so of rice left (about what I had put in to begin with), and I went ahead and added it all. Then I continued to add more flour until the bread had the right feel — tacky but not sticky. After about 10 minutes of mixing in the Kitchen Aid, I took the dough out of the bowl and kneaded it for a few minutes on the counter.

Straun Dough

I put the dough in a bowl to ferment, and about 75 minutes later, it had doubled and was ready for shaping.

Straun Doubled

I patted the dough out into an oval.

Patting out Straun

Then rolled it into a loaf and panned it.

Rolled Straun    Panned Straun

I then misted the dough with water and sprinkled it with poppy seeds.

Sprinkling on Poppy Seeds

I let the loaf proof for about 90 minutes, then baked it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, until it registered 185 degrees on my instant read thermometer. I took the loaf out of the pan to cool on a rack.

It smelled amazing — warm, yeasty, and a bit like molasses. In fact, I would say the smell reminded me quite a lot of Anadama Bread, the first BBA Challenge bread. Even though the Straun loaf had honey and brown sugar in it, I hadn’t really anticipated that it might have a sweet taste to it. Smelling it, I couldn’t imagine what the flavor would be like.

 Straun

One interminable hour later, I sliced the loaf. The crumb was beautiful – soft and light. And the taste really did remind me of Anadama bread. A bit milder, but really delicious. This would make an excellent sandwich bread and would also be great for morning toast and tea.

Straun Crumb

This is certainly a bread to make again. The only changes I might make next time would be to omit the poppy seeds on the top of the loaf — there’s nothing wrong with them, they just don’t seem to add anything to the bread. And I would make a double batch next time. This bread is just too good to only have one loaf at a time.

11 Comments

Losing My Marbles for Marbled Rye

September 29, 2009 at 8:34 pm (BBA Challenge, Bread Baker's Apprentice, Bread Baking, Peter Reinhart, Rye bread, Techniques)
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For the first time since the beginning of the BBA Challenge, I am not ahead on my bread baking. I attribute this to two things:  first, my recent jam and jelly obsession, which has occupied most of the last few weeks; and second, the fact that I was a little unsure about making marbled rye. It’s not that I don’t like it, because I do. It’s just that I was only slightly less nervous about marbling the rye than I had been about braiding challah.

But the Challenge is all about breaking our bread barriers, so I finally decided to try my hand at marbled rye. Besides, I needed something to go under my citrus marmalade.

The first thing that concerned me was making sure the two doughs would work together. That is, that they would rise, ferment, proof and bake on roughly the same schedule. In order to ensure this, I made the doughs one after the other. I began by doing my mise en place for both recipes, so I could move right from one to the next.  

I started with the light rye. While it was kneading in the Kitchen Aid, I began mixing the dark rye. It was ready to go into the mixer as soon as the light rye came out, so the doughs were only about 5 minutes apart by the time they began bulk fermenting.

The recipes are exactly the same, except that the dark rye has caramel coloring in it. The recipe calls for liquid caramel coloring, but what I had was powdered (from King Arthur). I used 5 teaspoons of coloring, and it seemed to work out just right. I also added about a teaspoon and a half of rye sour (also from KAF) to each dough.

At the end of the bulk ferment, I divided each dough into 4 pieces of equal size (yes, I am OCD enough to weigh them). Starting with the light rye and alternating, I rolled 2 pieces of each dough into an oval roughly 8 by 5 inches, stacking them as I went.

Rolling Marbled Rye

I rolled each stack into a batard and put them into loaf pans. Shaping the loaves was easier than I thought. It was really just a matter of rolling the dough and sealing it as I went along; kind of like rolling up a really thick dough into a loaf.

Marbled Rye Batards

The loaf on the left is upside down to show how it looked when I sealed it.

Marbled Rye Panned

After 90 minutes of proofing in the pans, the bread went into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. I took it out of the pans and let it cool for an hour or so before slicing it.

Marbled Rye

Oh, yeah. And eating it with citrus marmalade.

Marbled Rye and Marmalade

10 Comments

Citrus Marmalade

September 27, 2009 at 9:52 pm (Marmalade, Recipes, Techniques)
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A friend of mine asked if I could make some orange marmalade for him. I recalled a recipe from Ina Garten that I had been wanting to try, and this seemed like a good excuse. I looked up Ina’s recipe on the Food Network and read it and the comments section. The general consensus seemed to be that it was a great recipe but called for too much sugar. Now, I’m not afraid of sugar (as my triglycerides can attest). But I wanted to make sure it was edible and not overly sweet. So I cut back the sugar just a bit. And, as my experience in jam-making has taught me, I added a bit of butter to keep the marmalade from foaming up when it is boiled.

The ingredients, with my alterations, are as follows:

  • 4 large navel oranges (or 6 to 8 blood oranges)
  • 2 lemons
  • 8 cups water
  • 6 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon butter

I wanted to make blood orange marmalade, because I thought the color would be stunning. Unfortunately, the grocery didn’t have blood oranges. So I used navel oranges. I washed the lemons and oranges, cut the ends off them, and cut them in half crosswise. Starting with the lemons, I cut the fruit into half-moons with the thinnest blade on my mandoline slicer. I began with the lemons, so I could pick out the seeds as I went. I put the slicer over the top of my pot, so the slices went right into the pan. That way, I avoided the mess of juice all over the counter, and I didn’t lose any juice.

Oranges and Lemons

Once the oranges and lemons were all sliced into the pot, I added the water.

Adding Water to Marmalade

I brought the water and citrus to the boil over medium-high heat, stirring often.

Cooking Oranges and Lemons

Once the mixture reached a full rolling boil,

Marmalade - First Boil

I added the sugar and stirred until the sugar all dissolved.

Sugar is Good for You

 

Marmalade with Sugar - After Frist Boil

Then I covered the mixture and let it sit on the counter overnight. By morning, the fruit had given up a lot of juice; there was a good inch or two of liquid floating on the top of the pot.

Marmalade in the Morning

I added the butter to the pot,

Little Pat of Butter

and brought the mixture to a boil. I lowered the heat to a simmer, and simmered the marmalade for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Simmering Marmalade

Then I turned the heat up to medium, and brought the mixture to a boil.

Boiling Down

I boiled the marmalade until it reached 220 degrees on a candy thermometer. Meanwhile, I got my canning jars and lids ready, and put the pot on for the water bath.

Boiling to 220 dF

I canned the marmalade in 8 ounce jars and processed it in a water bath for 10 minutes.

Marmalade Water Bath

Then I set the jars on a kitchen towel to cool. I heard the pinging sound of the lids sealing, and within a few hours, the marmalade was set.

Citrus Marmalade

While the marmalade was simmering, I started making marbled rye bread. So by the time the marmalade was cool, I had fresh bread to sample it with.

Marbled Rye and Marmalade

Both the bread and the marmalade are delicious! I can see why Ina used 8 cups of sugar in her recipe; mine is a bit tart. But to me that’s how marmalade is supposed to taste. Some might want it sweeter. But it’s perfect as far as I’m concerned.

3 Comments

Baking and Cooking Glossary

September 26, 2009 at 10:34 pm (Bread Baking, Canning, Jam, Jelly, Recipes, Techniques)

One of the things I like about blogging is sharing some of the things I’ve learned about cooking and baking, including terms that can sometimes be confusing. I decided to start this glossary to collect some of these words and terms. I’ll add things here as I mention them in my blog and include links to this glossary from the blog entries, and vice versa.

There are a lot of food glossaries out there, and I have no intention of trying to make this one a complete compendium of cooking or baking terms. Rather, I want to use it to collect terms that come up in my blog posts. That said, if there are cooking terms that confuse you, drop me a line. I’ll try to add a definition.

baker’s percentages (or baker’s math) — in professional and artisan bread baking, recipes are conceived in ratios whereby the total flour in the recipe, by weight, is always 100%, and the rest of the ingredients are presented in relation to the flour weight. So, for example, if you are using 1000 grams of flour, and the yeast is given as 3%, then the recipe would require 30 grams of yeast.

full rolling boil – often use in jam and jelly making, the term “full rolling boil” means a boil that doesn’t subside when you stir the mixture.

mise en place — mise en place (pronounced MEES ahn plahs), literally “put in place” but more commonly translated “everything in place”, is a French cooking term, which simply refers to assembling all of your ingredients and equipment before you begin cooking. You read through your recipe, get out all your ingredients, measure, wash, chop, toast, bring to room temperature, etc., and get all of your pots, pans, bowls, utensils, and other equipment ready.

100% hydration — this term, used with sourdough starters, refers to the amount of water in a starter in relation to the amount of flour, both measured by weight. In baker’s percentages (see entry above), the flour is always 100%, and all other ingredients are measured in reference to the flour. So 100% hydration means that the weight of the water in the starter is equal to the weight of the flour. So, for example, if you feed your starter 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water, the starter would be 100% hydration.

proofing box – a proofing box (sometimes also called a “proof box”) is sealed space where a baker can control the temperature and humidity in order to proof dough under controlled conditions. Generally, the temperature of a proofing box is kept around 100 degrees F, and the humidity at about 85%. (See how I simulate a proofing box in my microwave oven.)

soaker– in making a soaker, course-ground grains (e.g., cracked wheat, course-ground cornmeal, oats, etc.) are soaked in a small amount of water or milk overnight. This serves to soften and activate the enzymes in the grains, which improves the flavor of bread dramatically.

tacky vs. sticky (dough) – in bread baking, the recipe will often say that the dough should be either tacky or sticky. The easiest way to test this is to press your hand onto the dough and then lift it up. If the dough pulls up with your hand and then releases (so your hand comes away clean), the dough is tacky. If you end up with dough stuck to your hand, it’s sticky.

4 Comments

Sauvignon Wine, So Little Time

September 19, 2009 at 11:41 pm (Canning, Cooking with wine, Jam, Jelly, Recipes, Techniques)
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After my first successful forray into jelly/jam making, I was itching to try another batch or two. I picked up a copy of Linda Amendt’s book, which has tons of great jam and jelly recipes, and decided to try some “drunken” spreads: Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Jelly and Blackberry Cabernet Sauvignon Jam (recipe to follow). 

After reading the author’s admonitions about not doubling or otherwise changing the amounts in the recipes, I figured I’d make a half batch of the cab jelly. That way I could make the jam and jelly with one 750-ml bottle of Cabernet with just a little wine left over. But what to do with the rest…?

An open bottle is an empty bottle

An open bottle is an empty bottle

 I had planned on preparing both recipes on the same day, but I ended up making the cab jelly a day or so before I got around to the blackberry cab jam. The jam recipe called for the following ingredients:

  • 3 3/4 cups (about 1 1/2 lbs) crushed blackberries — I used frozen
  • 1 pkg powdered fruit pectin
  • 6 1/3 cups (yikes!) sugar
  • 1 cup Cabernet Sauvignon wine
  • 1/2 tsp. unsalted butter (optional)

I crushed the thawed blackberries one layer at a time in a flat container.

Mashing Berries

Then I put the berries, juice and all, into a pot with the pectin, which I had mixed with 1/4 cup sugar, and the butter. The butter is optional, but I like to use it, as it helps keep the jam from foaming as it cooks.

Blackberries

I brought this mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Then I gradually stirred in the remaining sugar, brought the mixture back to a rolling boil, and stirred and boiled it for 1 minute. I then took it off the heat, stirred in the wine, and let it rest for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, while I got the jars and lids ready.

Cooked Jam

I filled the jars to within 1/4 inch of the top, wiped the rims and threads, placed the lids on the jars, and screwed on the bands. The recipe said it would make 7 or 8 eight-ounce jars; I ended up with 7 eight-ounce and 4 four-ounce jars. I put the jars in the water bath, brought it to a gentle, steady boil, and processed the jars for 10 minutes.

Processing Jam

I took the jars out of the water bath, put them on a dish towel on the counter, and waited for the thocking sound of the lids sealing. All of the lids sealed, and I kept checking the jam throughout the rest of the evening to see if the jam was setting up. It stayed liquidy until bedtime, but by morning it was set and beautiful.

Blackberry Cabernet Jam

I had a little bit of jam left over when I filled the jars, which I put in a custard cup in the fridge. I ate it on toast for breakfast. And a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Then more toast. And another sandwich. It is absolutely delicious. The berries are so fresh and bold tasting, and the wine gives it an added bit of richness.

When I was ladeling the jam into the jars and realized how much I was going to end up with, I started wondering what I would do with all of it. Now I’m wondering how soon I will have to make more.

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BBA Challenge Light Wheat Bread

September 12, 2009 at 11:52 am (BBA Challenge, Bread Baker's Apprentice, Bread Baking, Peter Reinhart)
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I decided that before I start baking the next Bread Baker’s Apprentice recipe for the BBA Challenge, I would catch up on my BBA Challenge blog. My most recent BBA bread was Light Wheat Bread, a delicious sandwich loaf which was also great for toast.

This is a light wheat bread by virtue of the fact that the whole wheat flour makes up only about 38% of the total flour in the recipe. Mine was also made even lighter (at least in appearance) by using white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat is simply whole wheat flour made from white hard wheat, as opposed to red hard or winter wheat. It has the same taste and nutrition as other whole wheat flours; it’s just lighter in color.

I began by assembling my ingredients.

Mise en Place

Mise en Place

 You’ll note that I used shortening rather than butter. I also sprayed the prep bowl for the honey so the honey would pour out without sticking.

I mixed the dry ingredients in my KA mixer bowl, then added the honey, shortening and water. After mixing with the paddle for a minute, I switched to the dough hook and kneaded the dough for about 6 minutes.

Mixing Light Wheat

I allowed the dough to ferment in an oiled bowl for 2 hours, then formed my loaf and proofed the dough in the pan for 90 minutes.

Proofing Light Wheat

When the dough just started to crest the top of the pan, I preheated my oven to 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. This is an important step that a lot of people cut short. It may surprise you to know that your oven is most likely not up to temperature when the beeper goes off to tell you it is done preheating. If you don’t believe me, get an oven thermometer (which you should have anyway). Check the actual temperature when the oven beeps; I can almost guarantee that it will not be up to the correct temperature yet. As a rule, I give my oven about half an hour to preheat — longer if I am heating my baking stone.

I put the loaf in the oven, baked it for 30 minutes, then rotated the pan and baked an additional 15 minutes.

Light Wheat Out of Oven

I cooled the loaf on a rack for a few hours, then cut into it to see the crumb.

Light Wheat Crumb

As you can see, the crumb is tight and soft, just what you want in a sandwich bread. And the taste is wonderful.

If you are accustomed to making white bread, try substituting just a little wheat or rye for some of the flour the next time you bake. You’ll be amazed at how much flavor just a little bit of whole grain flour can add.

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