Hello!

It has been forever since I posted anything. Excuses are: First, I caught some nasty bug that knocked the wind out of me; second, I have now officially collected over 100 survey responses (!); third, if I didn't pay attention to some wedding planning Jake was going to revoke the offer; fourth, I managed to get a grant application out for a follow-up study to the dissertation survey; and fifth, I was in DC for a few days for a conference (that Amy tagged along for and turned into a great time). Here we are looking skeptical of the stimulus plan with the capitol building in the background but hidden behind my large head.

I did get some baking done these past few weeks -- I was on a whole wheat and bread kick (or continuing), and made two versions of whole wheat Irish soda bread in honor of March (here's the better of the two, from 101 Cookbooks), along with a doctored (sesame honey whole wheat) version of Beranbaum's Bread Bible flaxseed bread for my friend Nancie that was really *&^#@ing good. I also made some butter dinner rolls that turned out good despite having been dropped on the floor (in the sealed pyrex bowl--no three second rule needed) so that the dough deflated pretty dramatically. They turned out fine, but not in time for the dinner I was trying to pull them together for.

Here's the bread recipe, adapted from The BB:

13 oz (2 2/3 cups) All Purpose Flour
5 oz (1 cup) Whole Wheat Flour
2.5 oz (1/2 cup+1 tablespoon) dark rye flour
2 oz (.5 cup) ground flax seed
1.25 teaspoons instant yeast (about 1.5 teaspoons non-instant kind)
2 tablespoons honey
14.6 oz (1 3/4 cups) warm water
1/2 cup sesame seeds (a bit more would have been fine)
2 teaspoons salt
One 9X5 inch loaf pan.

Whisk together the flours, flaxseed and yeast, and then (making a "well" in the middle of the flour for the honey) use the dough hook to add the honey on low speed. Gradually add the warm water until it forms a dough, scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle the salt on top and ad the sesame seeds, and mix on medium speed for 7 minutes, until the dough is a bit sticky but firm. Scrape the dough into a slightly oiled container, cover and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured counter, flattening it to deflate it somewhat, and shape into a loaf. Place it in a slightly oiled loaf pan and let it rise, covered loosely, for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 375 at this point, with a baking sheet in it.

Slash the bread--make a long slit down the top of the dough bread with a razor blade or knife. Place the loaf on top of the hot baking sheet and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until it is golden brown. Turn it after about 25 minutes so it bakes evenly.

Let cool on a rack. While still warm, brush the loaf with melted butter.

Here's a video about shaping a loaf of bread by a guy who has a very involved bread baking blog, in case you're interested. And a couple of shots of completely unrelated loaf of white sandwich loaf I made a few weeks ago, slashed and then baked.





There were some other things mixed in as well -- Jake's 30th birthday (big carrot cake that was sort of funny looking but tasted fine ... I made a three tiered white cake, thinking one decade for each tier and realizing later that it looked like it needed a bride and groom on top. Wedding on the brain?).

But mostly it has been all surveys, all the time -- I'm happily over the hundred respondents mark, and there are only a few that seem to be unusable. The big problem is that I am out of stipend cash and now dipping into other expense reserves for printing and data entry and whatnot, so I cut the stipend from $10 to $5. People seem equally as happy. Some of these folks show up with no idea how they might eat lunch that day (after three or four hours spent at the office), or really struggle to buy diapers day to day. Every session someone tells me how grateful they are to be able to go get a sandwich (and of course someone else reeks of booze, but still). I wish I could keep giving $10.

Tomorrow is the Big Climb (!), so I refrained from going to my favorite class at the gym. I always end up with a sore ass, and I figure I should spare myself that tomorrow morning. I am already a bit weak in the knees from an overly ambitious run yesterday. I'll post my time, whatever it is, and come home to host brunch with the folks on my team. Many thanks to those of you who generously contributed to the Leukemia/Lymphoma society on my behalf! I appreciate the support.

Enjoy the weekend -- and wish us luck!

Lard bread.

Jake is in Brooklyn this weekend, and I hope he leaves some clothes behind so he can fit baked goods in his carry-on bag. Fat chance. But it reminds me I never posted the lard bread recipe.

I had to hunt for it, and found out I'm not the only one pining for Caputos in Carroll Gardens. Multiple people posted on baking websites looking for the Caputo's lard bread recipe, or one from a place on the Lower East Side that apparently no longer exists. Caputos also has an amazing olive bread with whole calamata olives that makes me miss my friend Amy. I'm going to try making olive bread as a reward for getting through the next dissertation milestone, which will be completing the pre-test of the survey (maybe as soon as next week).

Anyway, at first I could only find a recipe from the Italian Trade Commission (seriously) that was for a traditional Easter bread with six whole eggs baked onto the top. Overkill. The recipe I finally found is from the Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, who also wrote the Cake Bible--which is massive and in its like 764th re-printing. I have the Cake Bible, and was initially bummed that Beranbaum's recipe seemed to be my only shot at lard bread. I bought the Cake book years ago in a flurry of enthusiasm about something or other, but was in over my head and found it impossible to make any of the recipes in my mini-kitchen that was equipped with two bowls and a ladel.

I figured I'd have to buy the bread book and then need to find some tool or special mail-order only ingredient to pull it off. So I picked the book up at Borders with every intention of returning it immediately after jotting down the recipe (yeah, I know -- but both money and shelf space are scarce and I didn't even open it all the way). Turns out I was only half right. I did end up unsuccessfully searching for malt powder, whatever that is, and bought a silicone baking mat. But I'd been eyeing the mat for a while and it was only $12. If I bought all the stuff Beranbaum mentions, I'd be out thousands. Otherwise, I'm really happy with the Bread Bible. She is seriously in love with bread and a bit over the top (here's a line from the intro to her "Heart of Wheat" recipe: "The thought of making this bread inspires me to sing 'America the Beautiful' while picturing vast prairies of golden waves of wheat. But eating it inspires absolute reverence and silence!"), and she really, really wants you to love bread too. There tends to be a lot of stuff involved for even simple recipes, but if you sift through the prose you can find a scenario that matches your tools and time and interest.

I did return the book to Borders, however. Amazon had it for 15 bucks cheaper (subsidizing the mat) and Jake gets free shipping, so I returned and re-bought.

In the end, the lard bread was a hit. Not Caputo's caliber, but Jake's Grandma Irma et el. gave the thumbs up and I'll play with the recipe it a bit. It needed more meat and a bit more pepper, I think, and maybe some cheese. I may try it with a bit more lard. This is not an everyday meal kind of a thing.

A warning: The recipe (and several others in the book) calls for a tray placed on the bottom of the stove as it pre-heats that you throw ice in to produce steam for a better crust. Here's a picture of a really funny-looking gadget that injects steam into your oven for you (not mentioned in the Bread Bible).

My steam was lame. Whatever. I tried, but my electric oven sucks. The crust was fine, though, and next time I'll give it an egg wash or brush it with butter. Ice throwing notwithstanding, this is easy. It is not hard, so don't be put off. Her recipe called for shaping the dough into a ring. I kept it a loaf because that's how I'm used to it.

Ok, sorry for all the narrative -- Beranbaum is getting to me.

Here's what I did, adapted from the Bread Bible and using a standing mixer:


Bread Bible Lard Bread

• Bread flour: 2 cups+2 tablespoons/12oz/340 grams (Or 2.25 + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour)
• Sugar: 1 tablespoon/.3 oz/9.3 grams (she called for malt powder, sugar or honey)
• Instant yeast: ¾ tablespoon
• Coarse pepper: ½ teaspoon
• Salt : 1 teasp
• Lard : 2 tablespoons
• Water: 1 cup / 8.3 oz./ 236 grams
• Meat: ¾ cup meat in ¼ to ½ inch pieces (mix of prosciutto and spicy soppresata)

Whisk flour, sugar, yeast, and pepper. Then whisk in salt.

Add the water and lard for about 1 minute at #2 speed, until flour is moistened.

Mix at #4 speed for 7 minutes.

Add meat on #2 for 1 minute or so until evenly incorporated

It will be very elastic dough that is somewhat sticky but won’t cling to fingers. Dust lightly with flour and cover for 20 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, turn the dough out and roll it into a log about 12 inches long. Put the loaf on parchment paper or the silicon baking mat and let it rise for 1 hour, covered with lightly oiled plastic wrap or a big bowl.

Preheat the oven to 450 for one hour, with the rack and a baking sheet at lowest level and a pan or skillet below on the bottom of the oven. When the bread is ready to bake, put it (still on parchment paper or a mat) on the hot baking sheet.

Put 1/2 cup ice cubes in the skillet or pan to make steam. Quickly close the door to trap the steam and cook 20 minutes at 450. Then turn the oven down to 400 for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Beranbaum says to turn the loaf halfway through the baking, pulling it off the parchment or liner and directly on the baking sheet. I'm not sure why this step exists, but I did it. When it's done, the bread should be golden brown. Turn off the oven and prop the door open slightly for for 5 minutes before taking the bread out and putting it on a cooling rack.

There you go. I hope someone tries it.

A pug's tail, Faleschinis and focaccia!

Jake's family is in town -- parents, aunt, and cousin with his son, in addition to the two cousins and grandma that already live here--and we all met up at our place and had some snacks before heading out to dinner. I had to work today, so figured it was a good opportunity to try making a quick basic focaccia. I found a recipe on the King Arthur website that seemed pretty idiot-proof, skipped some odd-sounding ingredients ("pizza dough spice?" "powdered Vermont cheese?") and stuck to olive oil, kosher salt, and a mix of herbs. My camera doesn't do it justice (although I have finally figured out how to turn off the flash, which helps), but there it is.

It was a hit, at least with Grandma Irma. The veggie box delivery people came by as we were slicing it up and also gave it a thumbs up, so I gave them the recipe.

I wish I could claim that it was complicated, but it wasn't. About 10 minutes to mix, an hour to rise, and 40 minutes to cook. It's pretty light and probably nowhere near authentic (it was a pretty sticky dough and I couldn't press proper dents in the top the way you're supposed to). So I think next time I'll try a double-rise recipe and take a bit more time with it. But it was salty and crispy and soft in all the right places, and definitely did the job. I think this is a good start to my week of holiday baking, which will involve many eggs and many sticks of butter. And one crock pot full of veggies I still need to deal with. The holidays are bad for vegetables.

On an unrelated note, a friend commented that Rocky's tail in the picture a couple of posts ago was straight, as opposed to its natural curled position. Her concern was that a straight tail is a sign of an unhappy pug (since curly tails are the sign of pug in its natural, happy state). What a good eye.

Oddly enough, Rock's tail goes straight only when he is asleep or really pissed off -- i.e., chasing a truck or plane, or trying to attack a pit bull or some nice pedestrian.

I don't want to concern anyone -- so here is Rocky looking undeniably happy.

This was post- play a while back, basking in the afterglow of a really intense lap around the sofa. I recently sent this to Elizabeth and her mom, who will be taking care of Rocky over the Christmas holiday. I am going to send them a picture a day until we drop him off next Wednesday, and I figured this smiley one was a good one to start off with.

Bread is good. Camera sucks.

Much lighter and airier than when it was all whole wheat and rye flour. No idea if that's the extra white flour or the extra yeast, but it works.

1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white bread flour
.5 cups oat flour
1.5 tsp salt
1 packet yeast (7 grams)
1.25 cups water

I could have used less water. Mix and let sit for 4 - 5 hours, then put it in an oiled bread pan (with oiled hands) and cover for an hour more. I brushed the top with olive oil, but could have used more or maybe even a little egg wash. Cook in a pre-heated 350 oven for about 45 to 50 minutes.

The one thing that is not so hot is that this bread tends to release a lot of moisture, so doesn't keep long. I am going to try not to make any bread for a while.