Daring Bakers October 2010: Operation Donut. or Doughnut.

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Ah, the Donut. Or Doughnut. That bane of the health conscious, foe of waistlines and hips, and destroyer of willpower...

Would it be an understatement that even though I try to shun that poor, sweet thing called "donut", I was giddy with anticipation? When I saw the reveal for this month's challenge, even though I'm hugely fond of Alton Brown and Nancy Silverton, I over-zealously thought of all the bookmarks for donuts (or doughnuts) that I've added to my arsenal this year. Added, and haven't made, mind you. As our challenge was not to use any specific recipe, but to "just make doughnuts!", I immediately, given my preoccupation with all things sourdough, I knew I'd have to try a sourdough version - and figured, while I was at it, maybe I'd veganize it to boot. But more on that later. First, I'd like to divulge the success of my first attempt at making (and eating) baked doughnuts.

The lightest, fluffiest dough - easy to roll on a floured towel.

Doughnuts indeed have worldwide appeal. They are found in various forms all over the planet, from savory Indian versions, to red bean or sesame filled versions made of rice in South Korea. Personally, I do hear the siren call of the doughnut, particularly while visiting my Parents, and am able to visit the rural Amish bakeries on Saturday mornings. Tiny shops pop up to life once a week around the idyllic, Wisconsin countryside: "pole shed" buildings most of the time, that once entered rob you of any thought of self-control. There are all types of doughnuts under these roofs, raised and glazed and filled and drizzled, and waiting on baker's trays just calling your name. (These shops always have other baked goods, berry and fruit pies coming from steaming wood fired ovens, bags full of homemade dried eggs noodles in various thicknesses and often, home preserves of various sorts.) It's easy to get carried away, and spend the rest of the morning, tearing off bite sized pieces of full fledged adult sized doughnuts, so as not to really know how much you are consuming.

When I finally settled on making doughnuts of my own, I figured, I would of course make a baked version, and then finally settled on this one from the Chabad.org website. It is a gem of a recipe, and has warm, delicious doughnuts on your table (and gracing your waistline) in about 2 hours. I opted for the creamy, buttery glaze since I was so virtuous in the baking and not frying of these lovelies, and that, friends, was the proper choice.

For the recipe as listed, my yield was 8 full size doughnuts and about 30 donut holes. I used two sizes of biscuit cutters to form my doughnuts (a 3 7/16 inch cutter for the doughnut and a 1 1/2 inch cutter for the holes). I did re-roll my scraps, and made additional holes. After all, when you have bite sized bits, it's so much easier to guiltlessly eat them. They are so small! You hardly know that they are being ingested!

The dough is so soft and easy to work with, the gentlest amount of rolling on a heavily floured towel prevents any sticking. And, it's true, a homemade and baked doughnut has got to be better for you than any Dunkin', Horton, or Amish made substitute.

Baked Doughnuts (The Jewish Woman, Chabad.org)

• 2 packages dry yeast (about 35 grams of fresh, or 2 scant Tablespoons
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1-1/2 cups milk, scalded and cooled
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening (I used Spectrum Organic)
  
• 4-1/2 cups flour

In a large mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, sugar, salt, spice, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Blend 1/2 minute at medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in remaining flour until smooth, scraping sides of bowl. Cover. Let rise in warm place until double (50 to 60 minutes).

Turn dough onto well-floured cloth-covered board; roll around lightly to coat with flour. Dough will be soft to handle.

With floured, stockinette-covered rolling pin, gently roll dough about ½ inch thick. Cut with floured 2-1/2 inch doughnut cutter. Lift doughnuts carefully with spatula and place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Brush doughnuts with melted butter. Cover; let rise until double (about 20 minutes).

Heat oven to 420° F. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Immediately brush with melted margarine or butter and shake in Cinnamon Sugar or spread with Creamy Glaze (recipes below). Makes 1-1/2 to 2 dozen doughnuts.

Toppings (best if made while doughnuts are baking):

Cinnamon Sugar

• 1/2 cup sugar and
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  

Creamy Glaze:
Melt 1/3 cup butter. Blend in 2 cups powdered sugar and 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Stir in 4 to 6 Tablespoons water, one at a time, until melted glaze is of proper consistency.

Note (from Chabad.org): It's true; the dough does not have to be kneaded. This gives an extremely light and loose dough. I did not use a cloth or stockinette; a floured surface and floured rolling pin were sufficient. With the dough so light, a feather touch rolls it out. Nonetheless, the doughnuts rolled out from the "scraps" of dough did come out thicker and nicer. I did not brush them with butter either before or after baking, with no apparent harm (since I was using glaze instead of cinnamon sugar).

I also did not brush with butter, since I used the creamy glaze. These were best right out of the oven, but were still good a few hours later. I think it'd be best to serve these when you have a houseful of people to please for breakfast some winter morning. They were not quite as good after they cooled, but it didn't stop me from continuing to eat them...

Hot, they were light and amazing like a properly fried doughnut, sans any guilt - especially when eating a number of the donut holes:

Later in the month, I decided that I HAD to try a vegan and sourdough version. I based my effort on this doughnut from Apricosa. Most impressive, was that my dough actually rose, albeit very slowly. I let the dough stand for 18 hours or longer before rolling out into doughnuts, and let the doughnuts rise about 8 hours before trying to bake them. I used soy milk, and flax instead of eggs, and 1/4 c. sourdough starter for the leavening agent. I was so hoping I'd bite into a hot doughnut and be so smitten and overjoyed that I'd go into business for myself hawking vegan sourdough baked donuts. Not so much. They were edible, but not "donutty" enough for me. Pleasantly sour and very breadlike, I dipped them in soy milk and then a vanilla sugar topping before my taste test. Just all right, nothing to write home about. But, as is the case of easily devoured, bite-sized donut holes, my visiting Mom and I ate our share (and then decided to break out the non-vegan creamy glaze that was leftover from the last batch) and try some more. Even my Husband ate several before declaring that the last batch was way better. I know. I tried.

And so a very satisfying and fun Daring Baker month has once again come to a close. As the wind roars and October has decided to behave more like himself, I'm thinking of making more doughnuts (of the baked variety), and even trying to get a sourdough version to work to my specifications for a doughnut: sweet, soft, and a bit bad for me - like most good things in the dessert world.

Thank you to Lori for a very good choice in Daring Baker challenges! This month, I learned a bit more about baking and dough, happened to find a creamy glaze worth daydreaming about, and am still feeling rather virtuous in my pursuits of healthy dessertdom. All, undeniably priceless.

Vegan Monday: Spicy Biriyani

Not only do I love spicy food, but I love the word "spicy". In cooking, it so often denotes when something is hot or sharp in flavor, but I get excited when I see true spicy spices like cinnamon working hard and in tandem with more traditional definitions, turning something that would otherwise be a bit bland into something "awake" and exciting.

That is what I thought about when I was making this biriyani last Thursday. I had seen the recipe at Saveur quite a long while ago, and bookmarked it. The original recipe calls for chicken, but seeing as I had a block of tofu that needed using, I decided to marinate and bake it using the same flavors called for in the chicken. I then upped the amount of peppers in the rice, using a combination of jalapeno, red, orange and green peppers. Though you would be hard pressed to see them in the final picture, they are there I assure you.

I pressed the tofu to remove any additional water (I like our local Simple Soyman brand best) for about an hour before marinating and then baking. Since I had the time, I actually let the tofu sit for several hours in the marinade before baking it, but you probably wouldn't have to. I also was happy to discover that I could practically "juice" a jalapeno by grating it on the microplane - and it also allowed for less cleanup.

I baked the tofu and made the rice separately, and then tossed them together to serve. Even my Husband liked this (and had 2 servings!), a huge boost to my ego after he came from a shopping trip in which he purchased jam. (I have an entire shelf dedicated to homemade jams and jellies in my basement...) To store the leftovers, everything was combined. It was even better cold a couple of days later.

I don't really measure things when making baked tofu... I just add as much as I feel like, and make sure not to use too much oil so that the tofu develops that little bit of crispness around the edges as it bakes. That said, the spice mix below is approximate!

Spicy Baked Tofu

• 1 package (16 oz or so) firm tofu (not silken)
• 1 T. olive oil
  
• 3/4 of a jalapeno, grated
  
• 1/2 t. ground coriander
• 1 T. grated ginger root
• 1-2 t. cassia cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste

Cut the block of tofu in half horizontally (the Simple Soyman blocks are almost square sometimes...) and press between two towel lined plates for at least a half hour to remove any excess moisture. Meanwhile, mix remaining ingredients in a glass baking dish (9x9 works well).

After pressing, cut the two halves in half horizontally again, so you have 4 slabs about 3/4 inch thick. Dredge in marinade, and coat all sides well. Let sit for awhile, or bake right away as you prefer.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake the tofu for 30-40 minutes, flipping over every 10, until the marinade has absorbed and the tofu looks semi-dry and "baked".

I ate a half of a square while working on the rest of the recipe:

A lot of the same flavors appear again in the rice, and the same thing applies. You can add or subtract as you like. The original recipe also called for soaking the rice. I have read that some types of basmati need soaking, and others don't. I typically don't soak the Tilda brand that I use, but did this time, just to follow instruction. You can or not - if you choose to, just soak for 20 minutes, then drain and rinse and proceed with the recipe.

Vegan Spicy Biriyani (adapted from Saveur)

• 1 c. basmati rice
• 2-3 T. coconut oil
• 2-3 chiles de arbol, crumbled by hand
• 1 medium onion (I used a white one), chopped medium
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• ginger root, about 2 inches, grated
• 2 t. cassia (Saigon) cinnamon
  
• 1 jalapeno, sliced and/or chopped finely
• 1/2 red pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 orange pepper, finely diced
• 1/4 green pepper, finely diced
• a lot of cilantro
• salt and pepper

(If you would like to put it in the oven to bake, you can time it to go in around the same time as the tofu is coming out: preheat the oven, or reduce the heat, to 350. You could also do the whole dish on the stovetop, the cooking times would be about the same. I used the oven for this instance.)

In a large, lidded saute pan, heat the coconut oil. Add the onion, sliced garlic and spices, and saute until the onions soften, about 6 minutes. Towards the end of the saute time, add the peppers, and let sweat for a minute or two.

Add the rice, along with 1 1/4 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of salt (you can add more later if you like). Bring up to a boil, and (if cooking on the stovetop), reduce heat to low and cook covered for 15 minutes before checking to see if the rice has absorbed most of the liquid and that it is tender. I like to let it sit off the heat for about 10 minutes with a kitchen towel between the lid and the pan to let it continue to steam. If you are baking it, after it boils, pop the lidded pan in the oven, and let it bake for 15-20 minutes, checking on progress of the rice around the 15 minute mark.

Using either method, let it stand several minutes before eating, and toss with the tofu and lots of chopped cilantro. In our case, you will also need to serve with a bit of Mae Ploy Sweet Chile Sauce.

With all the focus on local eating, I should be ashamed that I insist on foreign basmati rice. A few years ago, when I discovered that cooking rice wasn't a science that I needed to attend school to get to know, I visited an ethnic grocer looking for the famed Tilda brand of basmati rice. At that time, I couldn't find it, and went with Swad, a similarly delicious import. As with most specialty foods that at one time seemed scarce in my neck of the proverbial woods, Tilda is now relatively easy to find, and worth every extra cent it costs. All of the flavor of the faraway place can be found in that rice, and when I eat it, I think of the many many people worldwide who have a staple diet of rice. I also think of all the foods in that part of the world that I've never experienced, or that in general, I just know so little about. It has an overwhelming amount to offer me! Maybe that will be my next adventure: the foodstuffs of India and surrounding regions. I like not knowing what comes next from my kitchen... I'll likely wait a bit to embark on a new full-out obsession, since the sourdough is overtaking me and my reading habits lately.

(Lastly, an extra special thank you to Mary-Catherine for telling me that you like my Vegan Mondays. It really inspired me to get my act together and think consciously about making one interesting vegan thing a week to write about. I'm not eating a meat-heavy diet, but it's nice to have that extra little nudge of encouragement! :) )

Essence of Autumn: Pumpkin

It's Fall, finally. Although today was in the 60's, our misguided October of 2010 has determined to let the leaves linger mostly on the trees while we soak up the rapidly shortening days in relative comfort. Traditionally, our October is a cold and often mean month, saturated with rain and requiring me to lament over the lack of a coat I can never seem to buy. (Oh, I have a huge parka, comfort rated by L.L. Bean to like 50 below zero, but I have no "stylish, walking around in usually sweltering stores" coat.)

I often feel so fortunate that we have 4 seasons; I couldn't even tell you my favorite if you asked. The brink of each brings it's own unique set of loves and enjoyment - I doubt I'd be so excited to garden and mow the lawn if I never saw the barren and bleak snow covered yard for what, at the time, seems like an eternity.

Our circle of seasons reminds me of life on a more specialized scale. Lately, and more specifically, my experiments with fermentation seem to echo life and our seasons - first with spurts of growth and then the maintaining, next a slowness created by increasing chill and, finally, inevitable death if not cared for properly (and sometimes even if cared for properly). Seasonal living really is extraordinary, and worth appreciating as often as I think of it. And, while I don't crave it in the Spring and Summer, some things are just inherently Autumn and the Autumnal onset brings with it my cravings for pumpkin and the endless tweaking of the classic pie.

Pumpkin pie is probably one of my top loves. It is home. It requires a modicum of beforehand thought since it takes a long time to bake, and an even longer time to cool down before that first slice can be wedged out and properly plated with appropriate amounts of ether whipped heavy cream or ice cream. I hardly know a person who doesn't love it, and if you hate making a pie crust, filling a supermarket readymade cheat will also provide nearly as much gustatorial enjoyment as the olfactorial treat you get when the whole house smells of spiced pumpkin. (Never mind if I'm introducing new words to the English Language here, I just get excited about pumpkin!)

My first pies of this season were not actually pies, but rather miniature tarts that I stole from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. Any time I read over a recipe and see that coconut milk has been substituted for something, I get pretty excited. I also took a nod from my Mother, and decreased the amount of said milk, since it produces a richer, more custardy version - and Heidi's addition of an extra egg or two also help with that. Heidi also includes a layer of hazelnuts - boosting that Autumnal feel of this dessert sevenfold. It's good. No, it's Love.

Of course, you can use whatever pie crust you like - I opted for Dorie Greenspan's Pate Sablee. I mixed it up in the food pro, and pressed it into the 4 inch tart tins. For each tin, I used 1/2 c. plus 2 T. of crumbly dough, and a single recipe of her pastry perfectly fills 5 shells.

Pumpkin Custard Tarts (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)
makes 5 4 inch tarts, or 1 9 inch pie

• 2 c. hazelnuts
  
• 1/2 c. dark brown sugar
• 1 T. pumpkin pie spice (I slightly altered the 101 Cookbooks one, and listed it below)
• 1 t. salt
• 1 T. cornstarch (or arrowroot)
  
• 1 can (1 1/2 c.) pumpkin puree
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• half a can of coconut milk (about 6 oz. If doubling the amounts for two pies or 10 tarts, use a whole can (13+ oz.) of coconut milk)

Preheat oven to 350.

Puree 1 1/2 cups of the toasted hazelnuts in a food processor until they turn into a hazelnut paste, past the 'crumble' stage. I added a teaspoon or so of maple syrup to help it along. Set aside. Chop the remaining 1/2 cup of hazelnuts and set aside to use as garnish.

To make the pumpkin pie filling, whisk together the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice blend, salt, and cornstarch (or arrowroot). Stir in the pumpkin puree, and vanilla, then stir in the eggs and coconut milk until just combined. Set aside.

Before filling the pie crust, crumble the hazelnut paste on top of the pie dough into the pie plate, quickly and gently press it into a thin layer across the bottom creating a layer of hazelnuts that will sit between the dough and the filling. Fill the pie crust with the filling. Fill the tins fairly full - (it will puff up a little as it bakes, then fall slightly as it cools, ) and bake for 35-40 minutes (up to 50 minutes or so for the pie). For the 4 inch tarts, I used a heaping 1/3 cup of filling in each... and then baked off any remaining pumpkin custard in ramekins. The center of the pie should just barely jiggle when you tap the pans, the edges should be set, and a thin knife inserted at the centers should come out cleanly.

Let the tarts cool fully before digging in. I like to think that it lets everything "marry" nicely. Of course you can eat them how you wish. Serve plain, or with barely sweetened whipped cream and a sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts, or with ice cream.

Pumpkin Pie Spice (adapted from Kathy FitzHenry, via 101 cookbooks)

• 1 T. cassia (Saigon) cinnamon
• heaping 1/2 t. allspice
• 1/4 t. cloves
• 1 1/2 t. ground ginger
  

Dorie's Pate Sablee: (Baking: From My Home to Yours)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.

Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in--you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas.

Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses--about 10 seconds each--until the dough, whisk will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. You may need to add a tiny bit of ice water if the dough doesn't stay together when pinched.

(You can gather the dough up into a ball, and gently knead it out into a disk, then roll on a floured surface like a traditional pie dough. But, it also works to simply pat it out into the tart shell.)

I'm a glutton for Cassia cinnamon. I first tasted it's spicy, red hot related flavor at the Spice House, and ever since I have to stock both "True Cinnamon" and Saigon Cassia Cinnamon in my spice pantry. It is so addicting, a fully unique cinnamon experience. I made these tarts a couple of different times this week, and dusted some with extra cinnamon, as my Mom also does, for looks and for extra spicy cinnamon kick.

I'm sure these are just the first of the pies to take me through to the new year. I have a couple of pie pumpkins that need the roasting and puree treatment, something I generally leave to Libby's since I actually really like the flavor of canned pumpkin.

It's not too often that I like some prepared and out of a store-bought can, but canned pumpkin is one of those things, and as this FoodinJars post reminds us, it isn't advisable for home canning in any form anyway. So, go ahead and add a sauteed leek or onion, maybe some celery and a carrot, (chile flake of course) and in mere moments your can of store pumpkin can turn into a lovely soup. Pancakes and muffins too, all perfectly accepting of a can of pumpkin. I like the cheat once in a while, and with the brevity of Fall in full swing, I'll be sure to indulge frequently.

Vegan Monday: Sourdough Peanut Butter Blondies.

Directly after finishing last Vegan Monday's Chocolate Sourdough cake, my fervor for all things sourdough led me on a quest for more sourdough desserts. Whilst looking at too much information, I found that I really can use sourdough starter in any baked good if I use this proportion: 1 cup of sourdough starter = 1/4 c. flour and 1/2 c. liquid. It seems logical to me, and it made this already great recipe into something even a bit healthier, at least in my own opinion.

I turned once again to Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. (I still have these books on loan from Ginny, and it's embarrassing that I haven't even thought of returning them. You'll likely receive them back with some baked goods, Ginny - hope that makes up for my negligence!!) I am usually a chocolate person. I like chocolate with peanut butter, but not peanut butter with chocolate. Well, this recipe changed all that. It's fudgey and peanutty, thick and dense but not too rich. The perfect non-chocolate brownie.

I omitted the salt from the batter since I only had salted peanuts on hand for the top, and it was a horrible error. The blondies were still great, but missing that once nuance. Nothing a little homemade chocolate syrup (and *gasp*, a little homemade ice cream) didn't cure, but I won't omit it in the future.

Vegan Sourdough Peanut Butter Blondies (adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero)

• 3/4 c. peanut butter (I used smooth, plain peanut butter from my co-op. Ingredient list: peanuts.)
• 1 c. sourdough starter
• half of a 1/3 c. measure of oil (I used coconut oil, and eyeballed it)
  
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
  
• 1/3 c. peanuts (for the top - I didn't measure)

Preheat oven to 350. The girls say to use a 8x8 square metal baking dish, but I don't have one, so I used an 8 inch cake tin, and it worked fine. Lightly grease your baking container of choice.

In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter, oil and brown sugar. Mix well, until well incorporated. Add the sourdough starter and vanilla, and blend in thoroughly.

Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix the dough (using your hands if you need to) well. The batter is very thick, and doesn't spread on it's own. Transfer dough to baking tin, press into sides, and press the peanuts into the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until set and lightly browned on top. Cool completely in tin before slicing.

There isn't much more to say about these beauties. They are what they purport to be, and they are delicious. No one would guess they are vegan, and any die hard peanut fans can rest assured that a peanut craving will be satiated. This pan is long gone, but I feel like I want to make another one.

Oh, it's so easy for me to fall head over heels for sweets during this time of year. From the first whisper of cool weather straight on til January, I feel like I'm entitled to make (and, by default, eat) any and all sweets my heart desires - and fortunately December allows me to give away to my hearts content. By the time January rolls around, I'm easily reconditioned. In time and solidarity with other resolution-makers, I want no sugar whatsoever, and I want to be a virtuous and healthy eater, free of the entrapments of my all mighty sweet tooth.

I have to make a serious pact with myself to eat less sugar, at least until Thanksgiving. Part of the problem, is that I just love to bake, and falling leaves and brisk, humidity free days only serve to add fuel to the fire. But now that I've made actual bread with my starter, I have less excuse to want to use up starter in hollow caloric and fleeting deliciousness, and can concentrate on more healthful endeavors. Wish me luck!

Sourdough Success!

Well, here it is:

my first loaf of Wisconsin sourdough bread. It is 100% naturally leavened, the power of it's rising I've decided to attribute to the addition of rye flour to my starter a couple of weeks ago. Ever since I started feeding my starter the diet variety, he has done nothing but thrive - and I am now proud to offer up portions of starter to any Milwaukee area bakers who are interested! (Just email me for details: unless I have people storming casa rcakewalk, I'm more than happy to give you your very own portion for free!)

In no small amount, I owe this loaf to Breadtopia - a small website and company devoted to assisting and reassuring home bakers like me. I used the recipe on their site for No-Knead Sourdough bread, a similar composition to my ever-loved Lahey bread but containing starter in lieu of any commercial yeast. Given my previous failures using my natural leavener, I didn't fully expect my dough to even rise. I mixed it up yesterday afternoon at 2:00 PM, and by 6:30 this morning:

it had raised miraculously to the top of my bowl! I could hardly wait to bake it. Since I ordered it with my last King Arthur Flour purchases, I've been trying to work with a brotform, a coiled cane rising basket. I've tried coating it with flour, wheat bran, oat bran, and combinations of all three, and have had problems with the dough sticking to the sides. Yes, I realize that mostly I'm using fairly wet dough (something that is a safeguard in producing "holey" bread) and that my basket isn't seasoned with years of wear. Fortunately, even after my loaf stuck miserably to the side when I was flipping it over into a pot heated to 500 degrees, it still rose and baked into a thing of beauty.

I know, I'm biased. But it's my baby, and he's all grown up. Producing bread from home is probably one of my greatest joys. It still seems unreal to me that humans have been making bread, or types of bread, for so long. The things that our planet is able to give us continue to astound me daily; the vast variety to make the human experience enjoyable and delicious is too great to comprehend. Nothing can be more natural than capturing wild yeast and putting it to work in flour and water, 3 ingredients that can do so much more than stave off hunger. Bread is the ultimate health food, the staff of life, and it's not to be taken lightly.

At the same time, it's worthy of noting, You can make bread. Anyone can. With such a small monetary investment, a bit of patience and determination, you can make something from almost nothing, and you can make it to your own specifications. The more often you practice, the more you will know and understand how dough works. So many describe the process as therapeutic, which I can agree with, but more so I feel that when I work with dough I'm doing something that connects me to almost every culture on the planet. I can learn so much from making flatbreads from India, or tortillas from different regions in Mexico, about the differences in atmosphere and ethnicity, anthropological truths and variances that I'd never have learned about in school.

Sourdough, I suppose, seems most ancient to me, and since it requires a modicum of daily attention, it seems like a long lost relative. The recipe from Breadtopia uses a pound of flour, white mixed with whole wheat, and bakes slightly hotter than the Lahey method. I think the crust had a better texture do to the higher temp, it certainly had better color. Since I had the bit of rye in the starter, I could absolutely taste the trace of rye in my final bread. Truth be told, I couldn't wait until the bread was fully cool to cut into it... I was way too excited. But, the crust was fantastic, and the crumb a creamy, custardy and wheaty blend of flavors that even my Husband liked. (Boy-O not so much, he even tried it three times, trying to like it - so that impressed me!) By the time lunch was over, only half a loaf remains. My lunch today? Bread, Swiss cheese, an apple, and kombucha.

If you have any trepidation from trying to make a yeasted bread of any sort, I hope you will be inspired to try or try again. I think back to a month ago and remember that I was thinking to give up on my starter and start again. It's a living process, and as with any living thing, there are no exact sciences or methods there are only suggestions and more suggestions. I'm happy that I found Breadtopia to give me that extra nudge of encouragement when I was looking for more advice yesterday. (They also have a nice shop with reasonably priced bread making accessories.) It's also so nice to re-discover that bakers in general are a helpful and curious type, willing to help or offer troubleshooting should you need it.

Now that I know my starter is capable of rising bread with no help from commercial yeast, I feel fearless in new experimenting. I also feel like telling all the neighbors that my starter is ALIVE and it works! Who knows, I probably will if I can work it into conversation... Meanwhile, I can obsess at length here at CakeWalk.



(This post has been YeastSpotted.)