The Chopping Block...Redux

ARTISAN BREADS

Holy yeast breads, Batman! During my Baking Boot Camp experience, one of our teacher-chefs, Carolyn, told us that she was going to be teaching a class called Artisan Breads in mid-March. A few weeks after the Boot Camp was over, I signed up for the class. The class description said we were going to bake 7 bread recipes: whole grain dinner rolls, challah, English muffins, whole wheat pita, sourdough ciabatta, marble rye, and rosemary breadsticks. Mostly, I was interested in the ciabatta bread. But seriously? Seven yeast breads in 6 hours? That's just crazy talk. Especially since we were working sans mixers. That's right--everything we were doing was by hand, including whipping egg whites to medium peaks (bowl + whisk + arm muscles = medium peaks in a little under 3 minutes) and mixing all of our doughs.

Sure, it helps that a lot of the prep was done for us, like the grains already being soaked, the sourdough starter ready to go, a few bowls of flour had already been measured, etc. But still, we got way behind throughout the day and ended up having to cut the rosemary breadsticks from the rotation. I was pretty bummed about that, but we did get the recipe, so maybe I'll try making them on my own.


The whole grain rolls were small--slider-bun sized and very dense--but delicious.


The challah was a relatively easy dough to work with and fun to braid.




The ciabatta dough was crazy wet and a pain to manipulate.





English muffins I've done before and did a better job on my own (the griddle was way too hot and burned everyone's first batch of muffins).



The marble rye was a disaster from the beginning. The dough was way too dry, even though Carolyn insisted that it would get wetter and easier to work with, it never did. She conceded in the end that I needed to add a little water to the dough while I was putting the layers together.



It was fun to learn how to cook pita, though I never did get any of mine to puff up, so they turned out like flatbread, instead. (S'okay, I actually prefer flatbread to pita.)



The only complaint I had about the entire day was my partner. If you sign up for a $150 class that's entitled "Artisan Breads," don't you think you'd be interested in, I don't know, baking bread? My partner, Trisha, wasn't. In fact, she made it clear in my first 5 minutes chatting with her that 1) she was not a baker and disliked baking because it was too precise, 2) that she was single (something she just kept bringing up randomly throughout the day) and 3) that eating carbs was bad because it made you fat (mind you, Trisha is about 100 pounds heavier than I am). Please people, if baking isn't your thing, don't take a higher level bakery class and whine the entire time. It's incredibly grating to the rest of the people there.


CHUCK PANEL
After I was done at The Chopping Block, Rick picked me up and after a quick bite at Jason's Deli, we headed to C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo). One of our favorite television shows, Chuck, was headlining a panel of some of the actors and the producer. It was first experience at a comic-book style convention. I used to think I was a geek. I'm nowhere NEAR geeky enough. My geek credentials have been revoked after attending that con.



Before the panel started, Warner Brothers' representative got up and presented a really cool recap/preview clip of the show. It got a lot of laughs and got me all choked up and wanting to start watching all over again from the beginning.

Mo Ryan, a TV critic for AOL who is based in Chicago, moderated the panel. On the panel? Chris Fedak, the co-producer, Josh Gomez (Morgan), Ryan McPartlin (Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb), Vik Sahay (Lester) and Scott Krinsky (Jeff). They answered Mo's questions and then took questions from the audience. Both Mo and the audience brought up the possibility of returning to more storylines revolving around the Buy More. Fedak (rightly, though unfortunately) pointed out that "Chuck" is one of the fastest moving TV shows currently on air. They usually are trying to fit in three storylines--BuyMore, spy life and family (Devon, Ellie and Clara)--into 43 minutes every episode.

What I loved most about the panel was how funny everyone was! Ryan was riffing off of Josh and taking heat for being the first one to talk. Vik was continuing his "Jeffster is not one character!" rant and lamenting his rare exodus from the Buy More. We got to hear about how Awesome originally was slated to be a Russian mole 3 episodes into the show, but Fedak and Schwartz loved Ryan's delivery in the Pilot episode so much, they decided to keep him. We were told a few minor spoilers, like they had just gotten done shooting the bachelor party (like, literally that morning at 1:30 AM) episode and everyone was in it. It was hilarious and while it would have been nice to have Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski there, I was just thrilled with the actors that did come.

GARDENING



It's that time of year again! Time for me to actually start trimming back everything that died late last fall. The seedum is always the first thing to peek up through the soil.

We're thinking of hiring people to come in and mulch everything this year. It's just way too much work for two people to do and would take probably at least two weekends of 8 hour per day work. Ugh. If we do hire people, we're going to ask them to pull out the boxwoods and arbor vitae against the garage so we have more vegetable growing space. I think I'm finally ready to dedicate a portion of our yard to asparagus (which is a perennial, so it comes up in the same spot every year).

Occasionally, I Cook..with Lentils!

Ordinarily speaking, cooking is my husband's realm, not mine. I'm what I like to call a "modified vegan." I'm a lactose-intolerant vegetarian who doesn't like the taste of egg yolks. Yummy cheeses like Asiago, Parmesan and Cheddar are all a go, but anything with a milk or cream base is out. I bake with eggs, but prefer not to eat them by themselves. Finding food I can eat that is healthy is a bit of a chore and I find little joy in chopping and simmering and braising (not that you do that a lot in modified vegan cooking). I picked up some vegan cookbooks recently and that's led to me cooking a little more than usual.

In modified vegan cooking, you get a lot of protein from legumes, seeds and nuts. Since I'm also not a huge fan of nuts (I like them in chocolate, does that count?), I pretty much stick to the seeds (think, whole grains) and legumes. Speaking of legumes, lentils are just about my favorite legume around because they're so stinkin' versatile! They are PACKED with protein and they cook faster than any other beans out there. Best of all, my meat-eating husband likes them. A few people have been asking for lentil recipes lately, so here are a few of my favorites:

LENTIL LOAF
(modified from a recipe from Allrecipes.com)

1 1/8 cups green or red lentils
2 1/4 cups water
6 slices whole wheat bread, torn into small pieces
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable broth (can sub water)
2 tbsp. ketchup
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 packet dry vegetable soup mix (onion works fine, too)
1/3 cup bread crumbs

1. Combine lentils and water in small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 40 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x5 laof pan.

3. In a large bowl mix together 2 cups cooked lentils (you'll have a little more than that), bread, eggs, broth, ketchup, basil, garlic powder, black pepper, parsley, olive oil and dry soup mix. Spread into prepared pan.

4. Bake for 40 minutes. Sprinkle top with dry bread crumbs and continue baking another 10 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

We usually serve this with some rosemary roasted potatoes and green beans.


CHIPOTLE LENTIL BURGERS
(from Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, modified slightly)

1 tsp. (or thereabouts) olive oil (and a little more for frying)
1 small red onion, cut into medium dice
1/2 pound zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/2 inch thick (think, half moons)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro, chopped (stems and leaves)
1 1/4 cups cooked lentils
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, divided (that means you're not using them all at once!)
1/4 cup chipotles in adobe sauce, seeds removed
2 tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp. smoked paprika

1. Preheat the oil in a large non-stick pan over medium high heat. Saute the onion for about 3 minutes. Add the zucchini, garlic, cilantro and a pinch of salt and saute for 7-10 minutes, until the zucchini is soft.

2. Transfer zucchini mixture to a food processor. Add all the other ingredients EXCEPT 1 cup bread crumbs. Pulse until mostly smooth, but there should still be a little texture. (Make sure you're removing the cap from the top of the food processor every now and then to let the steam escape.) Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.

3. Preheat a pan and a teaspoon or two of olive oil (you're frying the burgers, so make sure it's one that you can flip burgers in) over medium heat. Add the remaining 1 cup of bread crumbs to the burger mixture and use a fork to thoroughly combine.

4. Divide the burger mixture into 6 equal pieces. Form the portions into patties and cook for about 12 minutes, flipping the burgers often until they are nicely browned on both sides.

Serve them on toasted bread or burger buns. Be warned--they are a little spicy and kids probably will not appreciate them.


LENTIL SLOPPY JOES
(from Vital Juice Recipes)

2 cups lentils, rinsed
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 15 oz. cans tomato sauce
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tbsp. tamari (I'm sure soy sauce would be fine)
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1 tbsp. mustard
1 tbsp. paprika
couple of pinches of black pepper

1. Bring 8 cups of water and lentils to boil in a large pot. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender.

2. Remove from heat and drain off excess water. Return pot to low heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer about 10 minutes. Add pepper to taste.

Serve on whole wheat buns (or open-faced sprouted wheat bread, which is what I did).


TOMATO CURRY LENTIL STEW
(from Allrecipes.com)

1/2 c. dry lentils
1 cup vegetable broth
5 oz. stewed tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped with leaves
1/4 tsp curry powder (I usually throw in a little more)
2 cloves garlic, minced (you could use more, but it gives me heartburn)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine lentils and broth and bring to a boil.

2. Lower heat to simmer. Add tomatoes, onion and celery. Cover and let simmer 45 minutes. Check every 15 minutes to stir and add water if necessary. Add spices in the last 15 minutes. Taste and re-spice if necessary before serving.

I eat this with basmati rice (brown basmati if you like it--it's better for you).

Woman Does Not Live By Bread Alone...But She Probably Could

A friend of mine recently told me that she wasn't quite sure how to shape a basic loaf of bread. It's the start of another month, which means that I need to bake a couple of loaves of Oatmeal Bread for my massage therapist, Marcus*, so I figured I would blog about it.

*Marcus treats my various shin and foot ailments in order to keep me running. He also likes being part of an underground economy, so instead of paying him, I give him two loaves of bread a month.

I use the following Oatmeal Toasting and Sandwich Bread recipe from King Arthur Flour.

3 cups KAF Bread Flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 tblsp butter
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tblsp honey OR brown sugar (I use honey)
2 tsp instant yeast or 1 packet dry active yeast (I always use instant, but if you're using the dry active, then dissolve it warm milk before adding to the remaining ingredients)
1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk (around 100 degrees)

Mixing the dough
In a bowl of your electric mixer (or in a large mixing bowl, if you are looking to build up your arm muscles), combine all of the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough. "Shaggy" means rough and uneven. See?

Sometimes, the dough is just a little dry--those oats soak up a lot of moisture! If you find that the ingredients are just not coming together, then you can add a small amount of water. Here's how I do it: Place your hand under the faucet and wet it. Then sprinkle the water from your wet hand onto the dough.



I know this is only adding a tiny amount, but you usually only need a very small amount of water to bring a dough together and adding too much means you have to add more flour and then your ratio of ingredients is off... Trust me, this way may mean you have to wet your hand two or three times, but it's better in the long run.

Knead the dough with the mixer for 5 minutes. or until it's smooth. (If you're kneading by hand, it usually takes about twice as long.



Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let it rise for an hour. It will get puffy, but may not double in size.


See? Not exactly double, but plenty puffy!




Shaping the Loaves

Lightly grease or oil your countertop. Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on the countertop. If you're making a double batch, then divide it in half and keep the one half covered while you're working with the other. Pat or roll the dough into approximately a rectangle about 9x15". I like to place the bread pan at the top of the counter to make sure I don't pat it out too wide. (Yes, you do have to tuck the ends under, but it also lengthens when you roll it up.)



Then, making sure you start with a tight roll at the beginning, roll the dough up into a log shape.


Pinch the seam closed with your fingers (my preferred way) or roll the seam under your palm until it's closed.



Then, take the ends of the bread log and tuck them under towards the seam side--so you have a nice, uniform top to your bread and all the seams and tucking are on the bottom. Pinch the tucks closed into the log. So it looks like this:



Place the dough in your lightly greased 9"x5" pan, cover it and place it in a warmish area to rise again.



Once it's risen to about 1"-2" over the lip of the pan, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. It's time to bake it!





The recipe says to bake it for about 35-40 minutes, but I almost always find that it needs a few more minutes in the oven--and my oven runs warm. I think it's usually about 43 minutes for me. If the loaves are browning too quickly (always does in my oven) tent the loaf with aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes of baking.



Ah...there's nothing quite like the smell of baking bread. Once it's done, remove the loaves from the oven, take them out of the pans immediately and set the loaves on a wire rack to cool.



If you're a small household like us, or just don't eat a lot of bread, this is a great recipe because it freezes fantastically. Just slice the loaf up, wrap slices in heavy duty foil (I do four at a time) and pop it in a freezer bag. I've eaten bread that's been in the freezer for 3 months and didn't taste much different. Plus, it's SO much better than keeping it in the fridge for a long period of time where the loaf just goes stale.

Woo! All this bread baking has got me excited for the artisan bread baking class I'm taking at The Chopping Block in a couple of weeks!