Kale Problem? Kale Solution!

Kale. (Photo courtesy of PioneerValleyGirl)

This summer, Flourboy and I have been participating in a CSA.  Enjoying the farm-fresh bounty of summer (without having to personally farm anything) has been a real treat!  But, it has also resulted in multiple batches of kale, collard greens, and swiss chard cluttering up the lower half of our fridge.  Don't get me wrong: I like a good batch of steamed greens.  It's just that that only gets you so far when you're getting this stuff week after week after week.  We tried kale chips.  We were not impressed.  (purported to be like potato chips... really??? Those are NOT like any brand of potato chips that I'm familiar with.)

So, I came up with a better use for all those greens:

 

My Mom used to make spinach dip and serve it in a bread bowl.  Kale is similar to spinach, and it turns out that it works great in this dip!

Kale Dip:

1. Coarsely chop and cook a large batch of kale.  

2. Chop it finely using a food processor.

3. Follow the Mrs. Grass Spinach Dip recipe, substituting the chopped kale for the frozen spinach.

Wheat Sourdough Bread Bowl:

1. Make the Firm.  Mix 2 c. Sourdough Starter with 2 c. white bread flour.  Knead until smooth.  Let rise at room temperature for 8 hours.  Then punch down, knead, and refrigerate until you are ready to make the dough (within 12-24 hours).

2. Make the Dough.  Mix the Firm (chopped into several pieces), 4 c. white bread flour, 2 c. whole wheat flour, 1 Tbsp. salt, 1 tsp. sugar, and 2 c. cool water.  Knead until smooth and elastic.  Let rise in the fridge 8 hours (or overnight; until about doubled in bulk.)

3. Divide the dough into 3 pieces.  Shape into round loaves.  Let rise in the fridge for 8 hours (or until almost doubled).

4. Let the dough come to room temperature (about 1 hour) before baking. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then 375 for 25 minutes more.  Turn off the oven and let the loaves sit inside for 10 minutes more.

5. Cool completely before cutting a square out of the top and tearing out the inside of the loaf.

The last part is obvious...  put the dip inside the bread bowl and serve it up!  This snack definitely got great reviews in the lab!  Need to make an appetizer for your next football party?  Try it out!

Seven Days of (Sourdough) Creation

 In the beginning there was flour and water (with a little bit of malt and honey), and the sourdough starter was a formless mass.  The baker hovered over it and thought, "please let there be yeast!" and she hoped that it would be good.  There was darkness and light.  Together these made up the first day.

Then the baker saw that there were layers in the starter.  But she paid no attention.  She mixed in extra malt and honey with flour and water.  And she thought it could be good.  All this happened on the second day.

Then the baker saw that there were bubbles in the starter.  Carbon dioxide!  She knew that this was good, mixed in more flour and water... and then transferred the starter to a bigger bowl... on the third day.

At this time the bowl was teeming with all kinds of life.  The baker threw out half of the starter and added more fresh flour and water.  This completed the fourth day.

Then the baker saw that the instructions called for the addition of more flour and water.  She blinked twice in disbelief, then added it.  The bowl was overflowing with starter on the fifth day.  She put it in the refrigerator overnight.

Then the baker saw that it was time to make the firm.  She mixed 2 cups of unbleached bread flour with 2 cups of sourdough starter (and a small sprinkling of water to help it pull together).  She kneaded the mass until it formed a smooth dough and left it to rise for 8 hours at room temperature.  She stored it in the refrigerator overnight.  And she began to feel very tired on the sixth day.

In the morning, with the firm in hand, the baker set out to make sourdough.  She mixed the firm with 6 cups of unbleached bread four, 1 Tbsp. salt, 1 1/4 tsp. malt, and 2 cups of cool water.  She kneaded the dough.  And kneaded and kneaded.  Longer than ever before.  And tried unsuccessfully to replicate the windowpane test, so kneaded some more.  Then she let the dough rise for 6 hours (instead of 4, because she went fishing and lost track of time).  She punched the dough down and shaped it into three loaves and let them rise for 3 hours.  She fretted that they would not turn out and decided to bake two loaves that night (instead of putting them in the refrigerator until morning).   She scored the loaves and baked them, steaming them for maximum crustiness.

Then she pulled them out of the oven.  And as they were cooling she heard the most magnificent sound ever: crackling.  The bread was singing on its cooling rack!  She was pleased with her creation and saw that it was good.

So the creation of the starter and the firm and the loaves was completed.  And on the seventh day, having completed her task, the baker collapsed into bed, exhausted.  (Of course, she also got up early on the eighth day to cook the last loaf, but that's not really important in the end.)

This is the account of the creation of sourdough.

Holy Sourdough Starter Batman!

It's official.  I now have enough sourdough starter to begin making sourdough bread!  Actually, that's an understatement.  It'd be more accurate to say that I have a vat of sourdough starter, and I'm hoping that no extraordinary act of macroevolution occurs overnight to transform this pool of seemingly innocent microorganisms into a new species capable of collective organization and intent.

If you are interested in making your own starter, I have to (again) put in a plug for actually getting your hands on the book, Crust and Crumb, by Peter Reinhart.  I can't really replicate all of his helpful notes here, which is why having the book is helpful.

Here's the gist of what I did:

Day 1:  Mixed 1 c. organic, whole-wheat flour; 1 Tbsp. diastatic barley malt syrup; 1 tsp. honey; and 1 c. water (used to soak 1 c. organic raisins prior to addition).
Day 2:  Added 1 c. unbleached bread flour; 1/2 tsp. malt, 1 tsp. honey; and 3/4 c. water.
Day 3:  Added 2 c. unbleached bread flour; 1/2 tsp. malt, and 1 1/2 c. water.
Day 4:  Discarded 2 1/2 c. starter.  Then added 2 c. unbleached bread flour and 1 1/2 c. water.
Day 5:  Added 4 c. unbleached bread flour and 3 c. water.

OOOooo bubbly goodness!

Fresh ingredients were stirred in each evening before bed.  The starter was kept at room temperature for development but has since been transferred to the refrigerator for storage.  The plan now:

• While in use, Refresh the starter every 2 days (by disposing of half, then adding back a 4:3 ratio of flour:water by volume).
• To make dough, take the starter out of the fridge 1 hour prior to mixing.
• When not in use (short term), keep refrigerated and build up with two refreshments prior to use.
• When not in use (long term), freeze the starter for up to 6 months.  Thaw in the refrigerator and refresh 3 times before use.
• If the starter separates in the fridge, skim off the gray liquid prior to refreshing. (This liquor is called "hooch" after the Hoochinoo Indians who used to trade supplies with Alaskan gold miners to obtain the whiskey-like substance.)

Hopefully, I'll get a loaf of sourdough made this weekend.  Then I'll be able to report if this worked!  If so, I'll keep refreshing the starter for a couple of weeks.  Since I have to throw half away each time, I might be looking for volunteers to take some off my hands.  (Note: An acceptable form of compensation for *some* individuals might include a quality photograph of one of my loaves of sourdough... <wink, wink>)

Adventures in Sourdough

Country White Sourdough

This week I'm somewhat reluctantly beginning a sourdough starter.  Truth be told, I'm a little bit daunted by the whole sourdough thing.  If there's any kind of bread that has a BIG reputation to live up to, it's sourdough.  I've already confessed that I'm an overachiever and a perfectionist which gives me cause for trepidation.  But alas, I promised my labmate a bread of his choosing, and he picked sourdough. *sigh*

But, this got me to wondering, what is it that makes sourdough bread sourdough?  I have been reading through various books on bread (and have consulted some old—quite hilarious—magazine clippings from 1988), and this is what I have been able to gather:

In any type of leavened bread (ie: stuff other than flatbread or matzo), yeast is the agent responsible for making dough rise.  That is because yeast eats sugar (which comes from the breakdown of starch in flour); then it burps up CO2 gas; and this gas gets trapped inside the dough, making it rise.  Commercial yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is the kind of yeast I typically employ.

But, when it comes to sourdough, there is another important microorganism involved: lactic bacteria.  Like commercial yeast, lactic bacteria eat sugar and burp up CO2.  But, they also produce lactic acid and acetic acid which result in "buttery" and "sour" flavors.  One of the more famous strains of lactic bacteria, Lactobacillus sanfrancisco, is the bug responsible for the distinctive flavor of San Francisco Sourdough.

This brings us to two important points:

1) Lactic bacteria need more time than commercial yeast to produce their respective biometabolites.  This is why 'normal bread' does not have the same flavor as sourdough; it is developed too fast for the other flavors to emerge.  This is also the reasoning behind using a sourdough starter.  Starters provide extra long fermentation times to gradually build up the dough and incorporate more lactic bacteria-derived flavors into the final product.

2) Commercial yeast isn't very tolerant of the acidic conditions produced by lactic bacteria if the two are co-fermented for longer periods of time.  Consequently, a different kind of yeast (one that is more compatible with the acidic conditions), Saccharomyces exiguus, is often used in sourdough starter.  S. exiguus is a wild yeast that grows ubiquitously, but two particularly common places to find it are on grapes and whole grains.  This is why organic, unbleached, whole wheat or rye flours are often used to begin starters.  This is also why the water used in starters is sometimes pre-soaked in raisins before adding it to the flour.  (Note: one of the worst things you can do is try make sourdough starter with bleached white flour!) 

For the time being, I have decided to go with a starter recipe that I found in Peter Reinhart's book, Crust and Crumb.  (A delightful read if I don't say so myself!)  I will post pictures of the starter and outline instructions in a few days.