25% Whole Wheat No Knead Bread

Yet another attempt to perfect the no-knead bread.  For this bread, I used 1/4 whole wheat pie and pastry flour and 3/4 bread flour.  It was about four cups.  The flour weighed 680 grams, and I added 544 grams of water (80% of 680 = 544).  The dough sat overnight and in the morning, I shaped it and allowed it to rise again.

Preheat the oven to 550º with the corningware pot and lid in the oven heating, too.

Plop the risen loaf into the pot, slash the top a few times with a super-sharp knife, put the lid on and bake for 30 minutes.  Lower the temp to 425º, remove the lid, and bake for 15 minutes more.

Here it is!

It's square because the pan is square.

I have been frustrated with the crumb, but this looks ok.

A fine loaf!

I cut the loaf into quarters and freeze three quarters.

It's fine when it comes out of the freezer.

We find the best slicing knife is the electric knife.

Winter Apple Pie

The pharmacy had bags of Braeburn apples for sale.  We had some fresh, but winter demands pie.
I used the America's Test Kitchen recipes for the crust and for the pie, but used half of the apples they call for (since that's what I had).  Also used much more cinnamon.

Smells wonderful.

Can't wait for it to cool!!!

Well, rats. . . 

Crust was great.

Apples were not very interesting.

Too much cinnamon.

At least we know the crust recipe works.

And if all goes well, we should have a lot of pie apples this year.

Just a few months to wait. . . 

America's Test Kitchen was Right - Braised Red Potato

Well, they were right again.  America's Test Kitchen recommended cooking the braised red potato recipe in a non-stick fry pan.  Their recommendation is the T-Fal pan.  I resisted.  First I tried it in cast-iron.  Then I tried it in a stainless Revereware pan.  Both times I left the best brown bits on the bottom of the pan.

So I finally gave in and bought the professional T-Fal 10 inch (they recommend 12 inch) pan.

The 10 inch is a bit crowded, but it works.

Begin with 1 1/2 pounds of red potatoes.  

Wash them and halve them and put them cut-side down in the pan.

(The ones that are not cut-side down are actually the middle third of largish potatoes.)

Add three cloves of garlic and 2  cups of water.

 Then three tablespoons of butter and a bit of salt.

Cover and cook until the potatoes are done.

Remove the garlic to a small bowl.

Then uncover to continue cooking to evaporate the water.

Mash the garlic in a small bowl.  

Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and a bit of chives (or onion tops) and black pepper.

Put on top of the potatoes before serving.

Gotta admit it.  They are right.  The non-stick pan makes for a better potato.

You can find the original post with the Farberware pan here:http://muddleaged.blogspot.com/2014/09/braised-red-potato-americas-test.html

Still working on No Knead Bread

After the last bread, I decided to go back to the original, non-whole-wheat recipe.

This recipe is made with 660 grams of bread flour and 464 grams (70%) water.
The dough sits in a cold room overnight and then is shaped and rises - took three hours to rise.

The loaf is shaped and allowed to rise on parchment paper.

The Corningware pan and lid is preheated in the 450º oven.  

When the oven is hot, paper and loaf go into the pan and the pan is covered.

After 30 minutes, remove the lid.

Bread is ready in about 15 minutes more.

It will have an internal temperature of 220º.

It would have been better if I remembered the salt!!!

 The  picture above illustrates why you do not cut hot bread!

Note the gumminess in the bottom inch.

It still tasted great.

(Just needed salted butter!)

†††††††††

Then it was time to tackle whole wheat.

This bread is made with stone ground whole wheat, whole wheat pastry flour, and bread flour.

There is yeast, and I did remember the salt!

 This recipe sounds more complicated than it is.
Mix 1 cup bread flour, 1 cup water, 1/4 teaspoon yeast.  Allow it to rise overnight in a cool place.
The next morning, I mixed flours.

This time I used
12.5 ounces stoneground whole wheat flour
7.5 ounces whole wheat pie and pastry flour
5 ounces bread flour
(This brings the total bread flour to about 10 ounces.)
Add 21 ounces water and 2 teaspoons yeast.
(This brings the total water to 29 ounces and flour is 30 ounces.)  That makes ±90% hydration - much more than the white bread.  Although quite a bit of flour is used in the final shaping.
I also threw in a tablespoon of malt.  That's supposed to make it a bit chewier and make it get stale more slowly.

I did knead this dough with the Cuisinart Mixer.

Then let it rise to double.

Then shape, and let rise again.

Bake the same as white bread (above).

This makes a loaf weighing almost two pounds.

Gift Idea - Parson's Daughter

It is a challenge to come up with gifts during the holiday season.  We were quite proud of ourselves when we came up with the idea of an assortment of vintage candy.  We were about to order some candy on line - then receive it - then try to package attractively even though talent is limited. . . .

Tah, Dah!  We know where to find some vintage candy and special candy and a person with talent to package it attractively!

Sharon Jeffer owns and operates "The Parson's Daughter".  When I mentioned my idea, she suggested I bring a container and she would fill it.  "Make it look abundant," is her motto.  I found two autumn-themed serving bowls (one never has enough bowls!) and made a selection of fun candies and chocolate.

When we made the selections, Sharon kept a running tab so that I could stay within my budget.  While she was packing, she saw we were still under budget, so she found a couple of items I had missed that added oomph to the package, so she included them, too.  She still stayed well within my budget.

Among other things, there are pop-rocks, flying saucers, wax bottles, chocolate coated sunflower seeds, giant jawbreakers, bubblegum, Beechman's Gum, Mexican hats, chocolate babies, beach rocks, rock sugar crystal, peach-schnapps cordials, jelly belly surprises (you cannot tell by color - it may be popcorn flavor or it may be mud flavor, for example), and a box of sea salt chocolate caramels.  

Sharon did not charge for the packaging and presentation.  What a deal!!!

I think these will be well received! 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Partly Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread

The world conspires to guilt white-bread eaters, so I've been trying to figure out a good proportion of white to whole wheat for No-Knead Bread.

I tried this one with 

356 grams high-gluten flour,

120 grams white whole-wheat flour.

A tiny bit of yeast (maybe 1/4 teaspoon) 

1.5 teaspoons salt.

336 grams of water.

This gets mixed together and covered (with a glass plate, in this case),

 and placed in a cool place over night,

and then into a warm room.

 When doubled, the oven was preheated to 425º with the corningware pot and lid preheating, too.

When heated, the bread was dumped into the hot pot and covered with the hot lid.

This strategy traps the moisture.

A "real" baker has a steam-injected oven.

Some folk put a pan of water in the oven to add moisture. Others spritz the oven and dough.  (I have heard of shattered oven windows, though, from the water hitting the hot glass, and I'm not ready to replace the oven!)  The heated, covered pot is so much easier.  You can use corningware, cast iron, a dutch oven.  It just needs to be heavy and have a good lid. (Make sure the knob on the lid can tolerate the heat.)

After a half-hour, the lid was removed for the last 15 minutes.

Total cooking time was 45 minutes.  

Bread was 200º when done.

Crust is crisp.  Crumb is chewy, but the holes are still smaller than I hoped.

It was tasty.

Next experiment will be with just white flour to see if I get the texture I am looking for.  (Or I may try an even wetter dough - this was 1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 bread flour, and then 70% by weight of water.  Maybe the whole wheat needs more water???)

If you have any suggestions, please send them. . .

New Toy - All-Clad 3 Quart Saucepan

The latest toy arrived today.  America's Test Kitchen uses a lot of All-Clad, and when I saw this pan with the "helper handle" that seemed like an excellent idea.  We measured various pans already here, and this size, 3-quart, seemed to be the one with the most potential uses.

It's quite heavy, even when empty, since it is constructed of two layers of steel around an aluminum core.  The handle is a bit awkward, but the helper handle is wonderful.

The first test was soup - tortellini im brodo.  This is made with homemade chicken stock, carrots, sliced ginger, and Bertolli dry tortellini.  Excellent!

(To the right in the above picture are homemade Altoids™.)

(You can find the directions at my webpage.)