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Step One: Training the Starter

January 19, 2011 By In eat me, three points kitchen

I’m declaring 2011 my year of making bread. Sure, I’ve kneaded a yeasty loaf in my day, but now I’m getting serious. There will be flour, and I will weigh it accurately if it kills me.

To kick things off, I thought I’d start by cracking the cover on my copy of Tartine Bread–a book of certifiable food porn if ever there was one. Page follows page of photography that’s tastable (visually, at least) while the text relays the backstory on Chad Robertson’s quest to make great bread. Now that he has found success, the book is essentially his guidance on how to make some for yourself at home.

So I tore myself away from drooling over the images to actually start training my starter up (as outlined in the book’s initial pages) a little over a week ago. So far, so good! Now, I wait. To help pass the time, here’s a beautiful video about the bakery and the process.

The Things We Ate (Christmas Edition)

flourxmas
January 1, 2011 By In eat me, three points kitchen

I was drafting a list of recipes that we tried out over the last week of entertaining to email to the moms, and I thought we might get a conversation going here about the tasty things we ate this holiday. If nothing else, having an index assembled will save some Googling when the next batch of house guests rolls into town and it’s time to plan another menu.

Here are some things we enjoyed in Baltimore:

Chestnut and Celery Soup
A perfect way to use up the the extra 2.5 cups of roasted and peeled chestnuts you might have left over after making these cookies if you had a really good batch of nuts like I did.

Butternut Squash Soup
I never have Calvados on hand, but I have never gone wrong substituting a bit of bourbon or cognac.

Red Pepper Bean Dip
Be sure to drain out all packing liquid well or it can get a little soupy.

Walnut Pesto on Toasts
I triple the sun-dried tomatoes.

Marinated Salmon with Pepper Crust
We served it on a bed of sautéed swiss chard. B handled the meat-cooking honors with panache.

Roasted Mushrooms
Best for a casual affair where no one will get uncomfortable if you lean over with your dinner roll and drag it around in the buttery, caper-loaded sauce.

The Best Waffles
I added a pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla extract to the batter. Then, when all was said and done, I accidentally stashed my mom’s waffle iron out of sight when she wasn’t looking and she headed home without it. Sorry!

Rye Bread
Best, most professional looking and tasting bread I have managed to make at home to date. The bar is set on this one.

Nutty Granola
Makes for a great breakfast or between-meal snack with some yogurt and/or whatever fruit is around.

Popovers
These are already insanely impressive, but they are even tastier served with a bit of butter mixed with a drip of maple syrup.

…and too many cookies to count! Mom brought Lebkuchen this year and it was a holiday highlight for sure.

Based on the generosity of my family, it looks like I’ll be spending 2011 covered in flour. I can’t wait to get started.

Pop Over Any Day

pop
December 12, 2010 By In eat me, three points kitchen

I was inspired once again by Little Blue Hen, though I was also nervous enough about the baking that I followed the advice and instruction provided by King Arthur Flour. And just wow. If you can commit to popping out of bed an hour before visiting house guests, the rewards are myriad.

Popover

Kale Soup for the Sick (with a Side of Mostly Whole Wheat Bread)

soup
November 12, 2010 By In eat me, three points kitchen

I’m the kind of person who likes to crawl into their man-cave when sick. The down side of this is that when the fridge is empty, the only path to sustenance is to drag one’s self from said cave to either the kitchen or the grocery store. I decided that combing my hair would be more work than chopping veggies, so I opted for culinary duty. Plus, all those market veggies had come to the party last Saturday and had yet to get a worthy invitation for a good dance dish.

Now, I’m not normally a broth-based soup person. I like it blended or stewed, but not with bits of things floating in admittedly tasty almost-water. However, two weeks into a hacking cough, hot water with honey was getting pretty boring (even if the menthol cough drops had deadened most of my taste buds) and I wanted something with enough liquid that I could dip in for a ladle or two of hot liquid in between meals. As I had fresh navy beans, kale, and even a parmesan cheese rind on hand (I really think that part is essential to a broth worth sipping–do not skip!), I made a small vat of this soup, making it a vegetarian version by skipping the sausage and substituting vegetable stock for all liquid (though at less volume than indicated in the recipe–probably about 7 cups total). It was super tasty and perhaps the most effective medicine I’ve tried so far. Plus, half went into the freezer and I’m now prepared for the next time I am either too sick or, more likely, just too tired to cook.

I was also out of bread, so this morning I fired up Sir Mix-a-Lot again. B has asked me to work on a 100% whole wheat loaf for him, and since my parents had brought me a bag of whole wheat flour from a local Ohio source, I decided to give this King Arthur version a try. As this flour was a pretty course grind, I erred on the side of caution and did half-and-half with some white unbleached bread flour, and kicked in some vital wheat gluten for good measure. Since I wanted this to be the simplest (read: neatest) making of bread ever, I vowed to only do a mixer knead–not a pinch of flour on the counter. In the end, the dough was beautiful and the rise amazing. I think this household is primed to go 100% on the next venture!

Keep safe and stay healthy out there, everyone! I’m sure trying to leverage a holiday bird one-handed is no fun at all and you certainly don’t want to get caught by family members coughing on the turkey.