Gluten-free crusty boule from Healthy Bread in 5

I often like to try new recipes when I'm having people over for dinner because it gives me the opportunity to try something that I wouldn't ordinarily make.  It's risky, though, because you never know how it will turn out.  For soup night last week, I decided to make bread (gluten-free, of course).  When I make bread for myself, I usually use the bread machine because I don't really care how the bread looks, and I've found a recipe that I like.  But I really wanted to try one of the recipes from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day this time.  The book includes a handful of gluten-free recipes, including this gluten-free crusty boule.  I won't list the recipe because I followed their recipe exactly (for once!), so check out the gluten-free boule post on Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for the recipe and wonderful step-by-step pictures.  I made half of the recipe the day before, then on the night of the dinner, I divided my dough into two pieces (1 lb each) and baked them on a lightly oiled cookie sheet.

I took a chance, and it worked pretty well.  Even though we also had bread from Zingerman's, most of my bread was gone.  It had a very hard crust (it would pass Chef Novelli's test, if you happened to watch Chef Academy), but was somewhat chewy inside, like most gluten-free bread that I've tried.  Although I wouldn't put it into the same category as the whole wheat bread that I used to make, the flavor was very good.  I also made cornbread just in case it was a complete failure (and not realizing that someone else would bring bread), but I think I liked the boule better.  I can't wait to try the olive oil dough from this book, and I'll let you know how it compares.

What's your favorite gluten-free bread recipe??

Summer squash and jalapeno spoonbread recipe

I've intended to make more spoonbread for months now, but of course I had to wait for the month when I've consumed so much corn that I'll soon sprout ears.  You can stop pretending to laugh now. Zucchini finds its way into sweet breads millions of times a day, so why not use it in savory spoonbread?  My goal this month has been to eat as much yellow squash and zucchini as I can so that I get sick of it and won't be sad when it's gone.  I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. 

This was excellent.  It reminded me a lot of the Mexican cornbread that Mom used to make.  It has a nice amount of heat, but the corn flavor was by far the dominant component.  I can't really taste the squash, but I think it gives it a denser texture.  I love that this is really easy but provides the same great taste as cornbread.


Summer squash and jalapeno spoonbread (adapted from Choosy Beggars)
(Printable version)

1 1/4 cups milk
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp honey
1 small red onion, grated or finely chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
2 small yellow squash or zucchini, grated and squeezed dry

Combine milk, butter, honey, onion, jalapenos, and garlic in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  When milk begins to foam, remove from heat and set aside.  While the milk mixture is cooling a bit, beat the egg in a large bowl and, in a separate bowl, combine the cornmeal, baking powder, oregano, cumin, and salt and pepper.

Add a tablespoon or two of the milk mixture to the egg and whisk together.  Then slowly add the rest of the milk mixture, whisking as you pour.  Then add the cornmeal mixture, continuing to whisk until everything is completely mixed together.  Stir in the cheese and squash.  Pour this into a lightly oiled baking pan (I used an 11x7" pan, but a 8x8" would work fine) and bake at 375 for about 45 min (until it's nicely browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).  Serves 6.

Karina's gluten-free bread recipe

As you may have noticed, I love making bread. After I discovered that I may have a gluten sensitivity, I lived without bread for over a month because I didn't want to invest in the crew of gluten-free flours and baking aids until I knew that gluten was indeed my problem. Well, there were a couple of weeks when I had to cram it down my throat in order to have an accurate test for celiac disease, but I definitely didn't enjoy it when I knew that it was the thing making me miserable. I finally dug into my savings last week and acquired all of the necessary supplies for gluten-free bread. But where to start?? The first place I turned was Karina's Kitchen. Karina has a beautiful blog that I've been reading for an extremely long time (far before I ever suspected that I may have a problem with gluten). She has a number of dietary restrictions (gluten, soy, dairy, almond, eggs) yet still manages to create fabulous recipes. Karina came through for me with this amazing bread recipe.

Karina's gluten-free bread (adapted from Karina's Kitchen)

(Printable version)

1 cup sorghum flour

1 cup potato starch

1/2 cup millet flour

2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp instant yeast

1 1/4 cup room temp water

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (or other vinegar or lemon juice)

2 eggs, beaten

Combine flours, starch, gum, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Add water, oil, honey, vinegar, and eggs to a 1 1/2 lb bread machine. Pour the flour mixture on top, and add the yeast to the top of the flour. Cook on the quick cycle (or gluten-free cycle if your machine has one). Check the dough on the last kneading cycle, and push down any flour on the sides of the pan with a plastic or wooden spatula if necessary. Also, the dough should be like muffin dough (not in a ball like wheat bread dough), so add more flour or water if it is wetter or drier than this. Remove from the machine after it's done baking - don't let it go through the cooling cycle or it will get soggy. Let cool and slice. I store my bread in the freezer (in a ziploc freezer bag) and toast it when I want a piece. It keeps extremely well this way.

If you would rather make this bread by hand, Karina has great instructions. I may try this next time just for fun.

I have to admit that I was nervous all day. I've heard so many horror stories about gluten-free bread. Many people say that it's never as good as wheat bread, but you learn to get used to it because that's your only option. Well, Karina broke these "rules" because this is fabulous! It's not like your typical wheat bread, but it has a great flavor that reminds me of a mix of cornbread and biscuits. It didn't rise as much as it could have, but got about as high as my 100% whole wheat breads once did. It has a great texture, with an almost buttery feel in my mouth. Basically I loved everything about this bread.

I'm extremely happy about how this turned out. I knew Karina would lead me in the right direction, but I had no idea that she could work miracles! I'll probably play around with this recipe and try others just for kicks, but it's great to know that I have a solid bread recipe that works wonderfully. Right now I'm not missing gluten at all!!

Whole wheat roti (Indian flatbread)

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. **

I love eating at Indian restaurants, and one of my favorite parts of the meal is the bread. Naan seems to be the most popular, but I'm a big fan of roti, which is unleavened. As a result, it is more dense than naan, and is like some sort of cross between a tortilla and pita bread. Although I used pure wheat flour in this recipe, some versions of roti use part millet flour. I bet this would be great, given my newly-discovered love for millet. Unfortunately I didn't happen to have any millet flour lying around. Maybe next time...

This is another recipe from "Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads" and, like the Power Bread that I recently made, it uses the delayed fermentation method to create great flavor. If you were intimidated by the Power Bread recipe (and I'll admit that I fit into this category for a few months), then this may be your starting point. It's much easier and takes a lot less time. Again, I measured my ingredients by weight, but I'll also list the approximate volumes.

Whole wheat roti (adapted from "Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads")

227 g (or 8 oz or 1 3/4 cups) whole white wheat flour

4.5 g (or .16 oz or 1/2 tsp) salt

156 g (or 5.5 oz or 11 Tbsp) water

28.25 g (or 1 oz or 2 Tbsp) butter, melted

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir until it forms a ball of dough and everything is well mixed (about a minute). Cover and let sit at room temp for 12-24 hours (or put it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but let it sit at room temp for about 2 hours before using it).

Dust your work surface with extra flour, and knead the dough on this surface for about a minute. Add more flour if your dough is sticky (you want it to be barely tacky). Make a ball out of the dough and let it rest for 5 min. While it's resting, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly dust it with extra flour.

Knead the dough for another minute, adjust water or flour if needed (so that it's tacky, not sticky), and see if it passes the windowpane test (you should be able to stretch a small piece of it into a thin membrane without it breaking). If it fails the test, keep kneading until it passes. Then divide the dough into 4 pieces, form each into a ball, and place them on your baking sheet. Loosely cover them with plastic wrap or a towel, and let them sit for at least 20 min.

Roll the balls out on your work surface until they're about 1/4" thick. Let them sit for about 5 min, then stretch each one until it's about 1/8" thick (about 10" in diameter). Heat a skillet over medium-high and lightly spray it with oil. Cook each piece of dough (one at a time) until it's brown on both sides (about 2 min per side). Makes 4 large pieces.

When I make Indian food at home, I usually serve it with rice because I never think to make bread. I have a feeling that this is going to change. I ate this with my saag tofu, and it was fabulous (and did a good job at cutting the heat from the peppers). I love that you can really taste the wheat flavor because there's not a whole lot to this bread. At the last minute, I was able to practice some self restraint and kept myself from eating all four pieces. I'm still not sure how I managed that one. The best part of all: it was incredibly easy to make.

Peter Reinhart's Power Bread

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. **

I love homemade bread, and haven't bought a loaf since I started making my own last August. There's nothing that compares to the smell of baking bread and the taste of quality ingredients. Plus, making my own bread means that I control what goes in it (which means it's always 100% whole wheat and often includes nuts/seeds/dried fruits depending on my mood). Usually I'm short on time and end up using my bread machine, which has resulted in a number of good loaves, but there's nothing like making bread by hand. As long as I can relax and take my time, kneading bread puts me in an almost meditative state, which is surprising given that I really have limited experience with the process.

Making 100% whole wheat bread isn't quite as simple as making white bread. Enter Peter Reinhart. This man has written quite a bit on bread baking, and has come up with a fabulous method for delaying fermentation and allowing great flavors to develop. I thoroughly enjoyed his Oat Bran Broom Bread, but I've had my eye on his Power Bread for a long time. It has a great mix of seeds, and also uses a raisin puree for a hint of sweetness. The only problem is that I rarely remember to get the process started in time because it takes 2-3 days. All of his breads require two days because two parts of the dough (the soaker and biga) have to sit overnight, but the Power Bread has a pre-soaker, which must be made at least 8 hours before you can make the soaker. Yes, I know this sounds complicated, but it's totally worth it. Trust me.

This is the first time that I've measured all of my ingredients by weight. I know, I know, that's the better way to do it when baking, but for some reason I was resistant. But, Michael Ruhlman (in his latest book, "Ratio") has recently convinced me that this is the way to go. How did he do it? He emphasized that weighing your ingredients results in fewer dirty measuring cups/spoons because you can add everything directly to your bowl on your scale, zeroing it in between ingredients. I've included the volume measurements, too, but I have to admit that I've been converted, and I suggest you give it a shot.

Power bread (adapted from Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads")

Pre-soaker

71 g (or 2.5 oz or 6.5 Tbsp) raisins

14 g (or 0.5 oz or 1.5 Tbsp) flaxseeds

170 g (or 6 oz or 3/4 cup) water

Mix all pre-soaker ingredients together in a small bowl, cover, and let sit at room temp for 8-24 hours.

Soaker

All of pre-soaker

170 g (or 6 oz or 1 1/3 cups) whole white wheat flour

14 g (or 0.5 oz or 2 Tbsp) apple fiber (or oat bran)

4 g (or 0.14 oz or 1/2 tsp) salt

Puree the pre-soaker in a blender, and mix with the remaining soaker ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir for about a minute, until everything is thoroughly combined and it forms a ball. Cover the bowl and leave at room temp for 12-24 hours (or, refrigerate it for up to 3 days, but let sit at room temp for 2 hours before mixing the final dough). Go ahead and make the biga now.

Biga

170 g (or 6 oz or 1 1/3 cups) whole white wheat flour

1 g (or 0.03 oz or 1/4 tsp) instant yeast

142 g (or 5 oz or 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp) milk (or buttermilk or yogurt) at room temp

Mix all of the biga ingredients together in a large bowl. Wet your hands, and knead for 2 min. Then let it rest for 5 min and knead again for 1 min. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 8 hours to 3 days. Two hours before you're ready to mix the final dough, let the biga sit at room temp for 2 hours.

Final dough

All of soaker (at room temp)

All of biga (at room temp)

56.5 g (or 2 oz or 6 Tbsp) sunflower seeds

56.5 g (or 2 oz or 7 Tbsp) whole white wheat flour

28.5 g (or 1 oz or 3 Tbsp) sesame seeds

4 g (or 0.14 oz or 1/2 tsp) salt

7 g (or 0.25 oz or 2.25 tsp) instant yeast

21 g (or 0.75 oz or 1.5 Tbsp) honey (or agave nectar)

Cut the soaker and the biga into 12 pieces each. Grind the sunflower seeds into flour in a blender, food processor, or spice grinder (gently pulse or it will turn into sunflower seed butter, not flour). Mix ground seeds with remaining ingredients, including the soaker and biga pieces. Knead the mixture with wet hands for 2 min, or until everything is thoroughly mixed. Dough should be slightly sticky; if it's very tacky, add more flour; if it's very dry and not sticky, add more water.

Dust your counter (or whatever you're using) with flour, and roll the dough around in it. Knead it for 3 min with wet hands, and adjust flour and water if needed (I ended up adding at least 1/2 cup more whole white wheat flour because mine was extremely tacky). Let the dough rest for 5 min, and then knead for another minute. At this point your dough should pass the windowpane test (basically, you should be able to stretch a small piece of it into a very thin membrane without it breaking). If not, knead more until it can pass the test (I kneaded for about 5 more min). Then form your dough into a ball, place it into a lightly oiled bowl, roll it around in the oil, and let it sit covered at room temp for 45-60 min (until it's about 1.5 times its original size).

Lightly flour your counter again, and form your dough into a 9" square. Then fold one side over and roll your dough lengthwise to smooth the seam and form a loaf-shaped object. Put the dough into a lightly oiled loaf pan, cover, and let it sit at room temp for 45-60 min (until it's 1.5 times its original size).

Preheat the oven and a steam pan (an empty metal pan on the bottom oven rack) to 425. Put bread in the oven, pour 1 cup hot water into steam pan, and reduce oven temp to 350. Bake for 20 min. Then remove steam pan, rotate bread 180 degrees, and bake for another 30 min (or until loaf is brown, has an internal temp of at least 195, and has a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. Remove the bread from the pan and let cool completely before slicing.

This is the best bread I've ever made. Hands down. The dough has a lot of great texture from the seeds, and a great hint of sweetness from the raisins. It's not so sweet that it would be a problem using it for a sandwich, though (which is apparently never a problem for Paula Deen, who puts her hamburgers between two doughnuts). I am in love with this bread, and it was totally worth the time.

I stored this bread in the freezer, as I always do. I slice it and put it in a freezer bag, then I toast it when I'm ready to eat it (or let it thaw for a couple of hours if I pack it for lunch). This method works fabulously, and it tastes fresh for weeks. I highly doubt that this bread will last for weeks, though.

Jalapeno cornbread mini muffins

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. **

Who doesn't love cornbread? And to get real cornbread (cornbread that isn't sickeningly sweet) in Michigan, I have to whip some up myself. I love regular cornbread, but I always had a particular fondness for Mom's Mexican cornbread. It's perfect with a pot of chili... or with black-eyed peas and greens on New Year's Day. So I was especially excited to find a recipe for jalapeno cornbread in May's cookbook of the month.

Jalapeno cornbread mini muffins (adapted from "The Complete Cooking Light Cookbook")

3 Tbsp whole white wheat flour

3 Tbsp yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

3 Tbsp milk

1/2 Tbsp canola oil

1/4 cup corn (frozen and thawed is fine)

2 Tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp minced jalapeno

Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together milk and oil in a separate bowl, and then add this to dry ingredients. Fold in corn, cilantro and jalapeno. Oil 9 mini muffin cups (or 3 regular size ones) and evenly pour batter into them. Bake at 350 for about 25 min, or until they're brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 9 mini muffins (or 3 regular muffins).

I have one complaint: these were not hot enough. They would be great if you avoid spiciness, but I could have used 2-3 times more jalapeno. Otherwise they tasted great. They had a really great texture, even without the egg (I left this out because I quartered the recipe and didn't feel that a quarter of an egg would make much of a difference). If you're making a bigger batch, go ahead and add an egg in with the milk and oil for good measure. They didn't quite compare to Mom's cornbread, but it's a good starting point, and adding more pepper would make the competition a lot closer.

Chile and cilantro stuffed tilapia

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. However, gluten-free bread crumbs could be easily substituted.**

If I haven't already convinced you to visit my blogging mentor Julia's site, Grow. Cook. Eat., hopefully this will twist your arm. Last weekend I was thinking about cooking the rest of the tilapia that was hanging out in my freezer, but I couldn't decide on a recipe. I've tried a few, but none have turned out as good as a simple saute. I wanted to do something new and different, though, and was incredibly excited when I woke up the next morning to find that Julia had just posted a tilapia recipe.

Chile and cilantro stuffed tilapia (adapted from Grow. Cook. Eat.)

1 tsp chopped jalapeno

1 green onion, chopped

1 tsp parsley, minced

1 tsp cilantro, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I toasted and crumbled a piece of homemade bread, but Julia used panko crumbs, which sounds even better)

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

3 small tilapia filets

salt and pepper to taste

1 lime

Combine jalapeno, onion, parsley, cilantro, and garlic in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, mix bread crumbs and oil together. Season fish with salt and pepper and place it on a baking sheet. Squeeze lime over the filets, spread jalapeno mixture over them, and then sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for about 12 min, or until flaky. Serves 2-3.

This was fabulous. The flavors were great, but didn't overwhelm the fish (I love a good pure fish taste). I'm glad I didn't cook my tilapia last week... but a little freaked out that Julia can read my mind :).

Bulgur, oats, flax, and bran bread for bread machine

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

For months I've relied on the same bread recipe, only changing subtle things (like using different nuts and seeds). It's incredibly good, so I figured there was no reason to veer from it, but Kalyn managed to change my mind when she posted a recipe for whole wheat bread with lots of yummy additions, including bulgur (one of my favorites!).

Bulgur, oats, flax, and bran bread (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)

1/2 cup bulgur

2/3 cup boiling water

2 1/4 cup whole white wheat flour

3/4 cup rolled oats

2 Tbsp wheat bran

2 Tbsp flax meal

2 Tbsp wheat gluten

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp raw sugar

1 cup lukewarm water

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp honey (or agave nectar)

2 tsp instant yeast

Soak bulgur in boiling water for an hour. Combine flour, oats, bran, flax, gluten, salt, and sugar in large bowl. Stir in bulgur. Add ingredients to bread machine in order suggested by manufacturer's directions (I added liquid ingredients, then dry ingredients, then yeast). Use whole wheat setting if you have one. Keep an eye on it during kneading, and add more water or flour if it's not typical dough consistency. Makes 1 1/2 lb loaf.

This was incredibly good. It didn't taste remarkably different than my usual bread, but had a great texture from the bulgur and oats. It didn't rise quite as much as my usual recipe, but it isn't a big deal and isn't heavy and dense at all. I didn't use dough enhancer, and I'm curious if this would have made a difference. If I can find a cheap version, I may try it out to see. I'm happy with how my loaves turn out, though, so it's definitely not necessary.

I missed the nuts/seeds that I usually add, and I'll add some next time. But, as is, I couldn't stop eating it. In fact, I didn't let it cool very long before I sliced into it because it smelled so good. The only downside is that this takes a little bit more time because you have to wait for the bulgur to soak. It's not a huge deal if you're at home, but it would be tough for me make this after getting home from the lab (unless I ate the whole thing and didn't have to wait for it to cool to store it!). This bread will definitely be making another appearance in my machine.

Irish soda bread

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

I couldn't let St. Patrick's Day go by without some Irish food. And given my newly-discovered love for bread baking, it seemed obvious that I should include some soda bread. Many of the American recipes call for all kinds of additions (mostly raisins and some sort of sugar), but true soda bread only has 4 ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. I flirted with the idea of making one of the "fancy" ones, but decided that I should start with an authentic, unadulterated version. If you're looking for one that's a bit sweeter, Kalyn has a tasty-sounding recipe.

Irish soda bread (adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen)

1 1/4 cup whole white wheat flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup + 1 Tbsp buttermilk (I added 1 Tbsp vinegar to 1 cup milk)

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add buttermilk and stir just until a dough forms. Oil a small baking sheet, flour hands, and form dough into a circle on the baking sheet (obviously I didn't do so well in geometry). Bake at 425 until it's golden brown (about 30 min). Serve while warm.

This was very good. I'm glad I started with the plain version because I can really taste the bread. It has a hint of sweetness (from the whole wheat flour), and is very dense and pairs perfectly with a nice stew. I ate mine with a lamb and root veggie stew and discovered that I don't like lamb. Eh, it's nice to know, and the veggies were still delicious. I suppose that's what I get for not wearing green for most of the day. Stop yelling at me... it's not my fault! I had to wear my Brain Awareness Week shirt to talk to 5th graders about the importance of the nervous system, and unfortunately the shirts are blue (but very cool, nonetheless).

So, before the day is done, stick some of this in the oven. It's so easy that you don't have any excuse. And feel free to play with the flours if you don't have these on hand. But, I highly recommend the whole wheat flours because they give it that delicious sweetness that you can never mimic with refined sugar.

Banana bread

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

What do you do when you have bananas that are getting too ripe? Yep, that's right. It's banana bread time.

Banana bread (adapted from "Sweet and Sugarfree" by Karen Barkie)

3/4 cup mashed banana (I used 2 small bananas and came up slightly short, so added some unsweetened applesauce)

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (canola oil will work too)

2 eggs

1/2 cup water

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Beat banana, oil, eggs, and water together until creamy. Add everything except the nuts and beat well. Stir in nuts. Oil and flour a loaf pan, and pour batter in. Bake at 325 for 45 min, or until inserted knife comes out clean. Ideally, remove from pan and let cool on rack (mine was stuck to the pan). Refrigerate or freeze leftovers (which is always necessary for desserts baked without sugar).

This was delicious. Subtly sweet, as I've come to expect (and love!) from this book. And oh so nutty! I had to freeze most of it so that I wouldn't eat the whole loaf in one sitting. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), it's not that hard to thaw...

Bread revisited

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

When I started making bread I intended to try out a bunch of different recipes, but I fell in love with the first one I tried and I haven't been able to try anything else. I vary it slightly, but mostly stick to the same recipe. It's somewhat hard to make a 100% whole wheat bread that rises correctly in a bread machine, so you might as well stick with what works, right?

I should note that this works fabulously in my Zojirushi S15, but doesn't rise nearly as well in Dad's cheap machine (I can't remember what brand he has). If someone is giving away a Zojirushi (which is a very lucky situation that I fell into), take them up on it without hesitation. I think there are cheaper machines that do a good job with whole wheat breads, but I don't have enough experience to give out advice. No matter what machine you use, it will taste great... but if you want a light and fluffy bread, you'll have to acquire a good machine.

100% Whole Wheat Bread (adapted from King Arthur Flour) - for 1 1/2 pound machine

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp honey (or agave nectar)

3 cups whole white wheat flour

1 Tbsp wheat gluten

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Add all ingredients except walnuts (in this order, or according to your machine's manual) to the pan. Cook on raisin cycle (or the cycle that beeps for adding nuts and fruits). When it beeps, add the walnuts. During the last few minutes of kneading, check on it to see if you need to add more water or flour (the dough should be tacky, but not so sticky that it won't let go of the sides of the pan during kneading). The flour:water ratio will change depending on the humidity that day, so it's a good idea to get in the habit of checking every time you make bread.

I've also used other nuts (pecans or almonds), seeds (sesame or flax), or dried fruits (raisins) in place of the walnuts, and it's always good. My favorite is the walnuts, though. Either way, be prepared to be extremely happy because there's nothing better than the smell of baking bread.

I have every intention of making another loaf by hand, but it's hard to find a day when I'll be home long enough to let it rise. Until then, I'm still enjoying this kind...

Update: I suppose I should tell you how to store this bread. After it's completely cool, I slice it and put the whole thing in the freezer (unless I want to eat some immediately). I've found that it's just as good out of the freezer as it is right after it's cooked (and much better than if it sits out... even if only for a night). Then if I want some immediately, I throw a frozen slice in the toaster. If I want to pack some for lunch, I take it out of the freezer in the morning and it's thawed and ready to eat in about an hour. I've kept some frozen for as long as a month (while I was doing a lot of traveling), and it was still great.

Biscuit? Pancake?

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet.**

Katie sent me a biscuit recipe, and I've been dying to try it. Originally I was going to substitute whole wheat pastry flour for the white flour, but otherwise follow the recipe exactly. But I have a real problem following recipes and decided that I should try to improvise with the stuff I already had in the kitchen. Here's what I ended up doing:

Buttermilk Bisquit/Pancake (adapted from "BakeWise" by Shirley Corriher)

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 3/4 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp salt mixed together (instead of self-rising Southern flour)

1 Tbsp raw sugar

1/8 tsp (3/4 g) salt

1 Tbsp shortening

3 Tbsp half-and-half (instead of cream)

1/3 cup milk mixed with 1 tsp lemon juice (instead of buttermilk)

1/4 cup extra whole wheat pastry flour

I mixed the flour mixture, sugar, and salt. Then I mixed the shortening in with my fingers until the lumps were gone. I stirred in the half-and-half, and then added a little bit of the "buttermilk" until it resembled cottage cheese (I only ended up using about half of it). At this point you were supposed to spoon the mix into a plate of extra flour, coat it, and form biscuits. I spooned some into the flour and ended up with a huge mess. So, I added the extra flour to the mix, poured it into a pie pan, and baked it at 425 until it was cooked through and the edges were browned (I think it took about 15 min??).

I originally thought that all of my substitutions screwed things up, but now Katie tells me that she had the same problem. It tastes delicious, though! I'll have to mess around with this to figure out how to make things that actually look like biscuits. My mouth and stomach will be happy to take care of many experiments until I get it right :).

Spoonbread

Grandmother was nice enough to give me a container of her vegetable soup while I was in Atlanta. There a very few things I love as much as Grandmother's vegetable soup. She traditionally serves it with cornbread, so I decided that I would have to do the same. But, while I was looking for the perfect cornbread recipe I came across a few for spoonbread. Apparently you can't really call yourself a southerner if you haven't had spoonbread, so I had to try some.

Spoonbread (adapted from About.com)

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp stone-ground cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup boiling water

1 1/2 Tbsp melted butter

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp baking powder

Mix cornmeal and salt in mixing bowl. Add boiling water gradually, stirring well. Beat egg in separate bowl until it's light and fluffy. Beat milk into egg. Add egg mixture and baking powder to cornmeal and beat with mixer until well blended. Pour into small buttered baking dish (I used loaf-sized glass dish, but ideally it would be smaller) and bake at 375 for about 40 min, or until set and brown on top. Serves 2-3 (depending on your self control).

Stop reading this now and go make yourself some spoonbread. This stuff is delicious! It's lighter than cornbread (sort of a cross between cornbread and corn souffle), but still has the great corn flavor. And I can't imagine making anything easier. I still love cornbread, but this is a very nice alternative. I'm making an effort to cut down most recipes so that I can make more dishes every week, but I'm wishing that I had made the full recipe of this. There are very few things that I love more than Grandmother's soup, but there is virtually nothing that I love more than her soup and spoonbread.

Cooking up a storm

Last week I was incredibly busy and definitely didn't have time to cook.  Luckily I made do with leftovers until the weekend.  I finally had time yesterday, so I made up for the lack of kitchen time during the week.  I started off with my first loaf of homemade bread (sans bread machine).  I was reading Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads", and he seems to be the expert in the field.  About 95% of the recipes in his book use 100% whole grains (the other 5% are transitional breads for people who can't make the switch right away), and he's done the experiments to figure out how to work with the grains correctly.  I've perfected the sandwich bread in the machine, but it's somewhat hard to make other whole grain breads because there's not enough time for gluten to form.  He has some interesting ideas, so I decided that I'd try it out when I got the time.  I chose the Oat Bran Broom Bread (some of the book, and coincidentally this recipe, is on Google books).  It involves preparing two "starters" the night before, and it takes a while to make, but it's not a whole lot of work.  His descriptions were good enough for everything to work quite well.  And on top of that I got to try out my new pastry mat, which definitely made things easier and reduced clean-up time!  It's really good bread, although I'm not sure that it's miles ahead of the machine bread.  I can see myself making some of his other breads, but on busier weeks I'm sure I'll use the machine.

While the bread was resting, I put on a pot of pea soup from a packet that Mom and I picked up at the farmers' market in Traverse City.  I added potatoes, carrots, and a smoked turkey leg (thanks to Mom's suggestion!) to the mix of peas and spices that was included.  Simply put, it's amazing.  The turkey gave it a wonderful flavor, and I'm happy that it made a ton because I don't think I'll get tired of it.  It was a perfect lunch today with a salad and some of my bread :)

Last night I was exhausted, but wanted to cook some spaghetti squash and kale (yep, I got some more at the market this week).  I decided to add some butter, parmesan, and pine nuts to the cooked squash.  It was good, but it could have used more parmesan (my hand got tired of grating).  Perhaps I'll grate more before I have the leftovers.  I found a good kale recipe from my new veggie cookbook - you boil the kale and add sauteed onions, garlic, and red pepper, and then pour some balsamic vinegar on top.  It's good, although it's hard to mess up with those ingredients.  So far my favorite kale recipe is still the one with the potatoes (with the bean and pasta one a close second).

Tonight I decided to make a bulgur pilaf to go along with kale leftovers and a piece of sauteed tilapia.  I used a recipe from the Cooking Light cookbook that adds onions, shredded carrots, currants (I didn't have any, so I used raisins), and toasted pine nuts to the bulgur.  I'm not sure I've ever had bulgur before, and I was nervous about the raisins (I almost left them out), but it's delicious.  The raisins go perfectly with everything else, and the pine nuts give it a good crunch.  The bulgur has a really good flavor, too, so I'm sure I'll keep a regular supply of it.

This should keep me going for a while!

My first flop...

Ok, so it wasn't exactly a flop, but it wasn't what I expected.  It had been a week since I used my sourdough starter, so it was time to use more (or throw away some of it).  I decided to try making a sourdough loaf in the machine.  I enjoy sourdough occasionally and I hated to throw away some of my starter, so I decided to see what kind of loaf it would produce.  I added some sunflower seeds and raisins to a basic whole-wheat sourdough recipe.  For comparison, here's my first loaf of bread:

And here's the sourdough one:

No, I didn't cut the top off.  Needless to say, it's quite dense, but actually tastes pretty good.  I still don't think it's something I'm going to want often, which means I'll either stop keeping up with my starter or throw some away most weeks (probably the former).  It was a good experiment, but not exactly what I expected.

Fortunately I had other successes this weekend.  It's been raining (or pouring, rather) since Friday afternoon, so I've spent most of the weekend cooking, reading, and watching movies.  Yesterday I made a good stir fry with lots of leftover things I had (brown rice, chicken, peppers, and mushrooms), and today I baked some tomatoes that I had stuffed with ground beef, brown rice, and a bunch of spices.  I enjoyed both, especially along with veggies (which consisted of more sauteed squash, steamed spinach, and steamed carrots).  

Cooking with Mom

Even though Mom and I did quite a lot while she was here this weekend, we also managed to make a few things.  We went to Traverse City on Friday and spent the night, which meant that I missed my usual farmer's market trip on Saturday morning.  So, we decided to visit the one in Traverse City to make up for it.  It was HUGE, and even though I didn't intend to buy anything, we went home with some veggies (squash and zucchini, spinach, and corn) and some white-fleshed peaches.  We also tasted some jalapeno cilantro hummus, which prompted us to make some when we returned home.  We used this recipe but with much less oil (and a little bit of water).  It's very good (in fact, I was just enjoying some with my veggies), and has quite a kick due to the jalapenos and the enormous garlic cloves we used.  I bet it would be even better with dried chickpeas (unfortunately we didn't have enough time for them to soak).  It's a nice change from traditional hummus.

We also made some sourdough pretzels... mostly because I needed to use some of the sourdough starter that Jess gave me.  I let the bread machine make the dough, and I ended up adding a lot more water than the recipe called for because it was looking very dry.  Apparently I went a little bit overboard and we ended up with very sticky dough.  We had quite an adventure trying to roll it out and form pretzel shapes.  We were unable to achieve the traditional pretzel shape, but they still taste very good.  I added sesame seeds on top (instead of salt) for a new and different twist.

I also made Mom a loaf of herb bread by adding thyme and rosemary to the first recipe I used (and keeping the sunflower seeds).  It smelled good, and I can't wait to find out how it tastes...

I'm never buying bread again

Today the bread adventures began.  I was nervous because my machine doesn't have a whole wheat cycle, so I've been trying to read up on what wheat flour needs.  With the addition of a little bit of gluten and allowing it to rise longer, I wound up with the most delicious bread I've ever tasted.  And with only a few simple ingredients (whole white wheat flour, sunflower seeds, gluten, yeast, salt, olive oil, honey, and water)!  If 100% whole wheat bread can turn out this light and fluffy (and yummy!), I'm not really sure why people still make white bread.  It probably helps that I'm using quality flour that Jess brought me.  I've been nervous about how it would turn out for a few days now, but it turns out that I got it right.  And the sunflower seeds give it a great crunch.  Now I can start experimenting with new flours/nuts/fruits :)

I also cooked the patty pans tonight - I stuffed them with onions, tomatoes, a little bit of bread crumbs, and mozzarella (adapted from My Culinary Sanctuary).  They're tasty, but it was my fourth serving of squash today, so I probably didn't enjoy it as much as I could have.  With the addition of lots of tomatoes, I ended up with way too much stuffing, so I baked that separately and I'm looking forward to a tasty snack tomorrow.  I also sliced and roasted the japanese eggplant and sauteed the beans.  I couldn't stop eating both of those while the patty pans cooked.

I didn't think I would post this much when I started this blog, but with so many fresh veggies to use this week I've done a lot.  It will probably calm down for the next few days as I try to eat up all of the leftovers.  I'm excited to try a few new things this weekend (protein bars, baked falafel, and maybe even pita bread!).