A Bagel Love Affair

I don’t remember having bagels growing up.  The first bagels I remember were those I bought in the university union cafe after swim practice.  I was cold and tired after my early morning workout, and the bagels were warm and squishy from the microwave.  They weren’t toasted; it was just a plain grocery store bagel split, spread with cream cheese, and zapped until the cream cheese melted into gooey oozy wonderfulness.

So, I consider it accurate to say I didn’t have my first real bagel until my early 20s, when I was working at a law firm in Century City.  Once a week, mid-morning, the receptionist would page “Penny Lane.”  That was the signal — the bagel lady was in the break room with her cart full of fresh, New York style bagels.  It was a revelation.  There weren’t a million flavors like at bagel shops now; just the basics: plain, sesame, poppy seed and, my favorite, salt.  Tearing my teeth into the chewy crust, and then the moist interior, — with just a wee bit of cream cheese.  Heaven.

I still love a good bagel.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a good bagel shop nearby.  I’ve tried to make bagels a few times over the years and I think I finally nailed it.  I used this bagel recipe.

I followed the recipe exactly except for throwing in a tablespoon or so of sourdough starter.  I was feeding my starter and it kills me to dump the excess down the drain so I tend to throw it into whatever I’m making.  Bagel dough needs to be kneaded a long, long time so I did that in my standing mixer.  Usually I like to knead dough by hand because I enjoy feeling it come together, but I wasn’t really up for kneading for 15 minutes or more.  After kneading and an initial rise, I cut the dough into eight pieces and rolled them into balls with nice tight skins.  Another rise, and then I poked my finger through each ball, twirled the dough until the opening was wide and set it down to rest.  Fun.

While the bagels rested again (they aren’t hard to make but they do take a while with all the resting that goes on), I heated the water bath (water plus malt syrup and sugar) and turned on the oven.

I put them in the simmering water four at a time, and cooked them a couple minutes on each side.  Then I fished them out and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

I brushed them with egg white whisked with a little water and then sprinkled most of them with sesame.  I don’t have any rock salt on hand or I would have used that.  Maybe next time I’ll try flakey sea salt and see how that goes.  After brushing and topping the bagels, I popped them in the oven.

They came out looking like the real deal and, more importantly, tasting like the real deal.

Making Sourdough Bread

I've been using the same sourdough starter for about fifteen years.  I brought it with me when we moved, stashing it safely in my temporary housing refrigerator until we found this place.  The thing about sourdough starter is it will stay dormant in the refrigerator for months; in this case, I think its been at least a year since I made sourdough bread.

I pulled it out of the refrigerator last weekend and fed it three times a day, Saturday and Sunday, and then put it back in the refrigerator to rest until this weekend.  Thursday I pulled it back out, fed it that evening and twice on Friday.  My favorite sourdough starter recipe calls for feeding three times a day, at 4-6 hour intervals, but on a work day that isn't going to happen.  I use this cookbook, which goes into excruciating detail on each step (the recipe for starter is at least five pages and the recipe for the bread goes probably ten more).  But, the results are amazing and once you have a feel for making bread, the instructions can be condensed.

The thing is, feeding the starter this way yields a bubbling, cracking, totally alive starter.

Saturday morning, I measured out enough starter for the recipe and then poured most of the rest back into my jar to keep for next time.  I added flour, water and a smidge of yeast (not needed but I'm superstitious so I do).  I kneaded it until it was fairly smooth, covered it with a towel for 20 minutes and let it rest.

Then I sprinkled it with sea salt and kept on kneading.  When the dough was smooth (like a baby's bottom) and starting to push back, I put it in a container to rise.  I marked the height of the dough on the outside with a marker.

When it had doubled in size, a few hours later, I took it out, divided it into two pieces and formed them into loaves.

I have these cool forms for shaping bread.  I line it with a clean linen towel, shake some flour on the towel, then set the formed loaves into the bowls.  I covered them with plastic wrap and let them rise an hour or so before putting them in the refrigerator.

Having them spend the night in the refrigerator slows down the fermentation and gives the bread better texture and better flavor.

This morning, I pulled the loaves out of the refrigerator.  I took off the plastic wrap so the tops wouldn't get soggy, and wrapped their towels over the top (floured).  They were on the counter for a few hours, coming to room temperature and doing a bit more rising.

In the meantime, I put my pizza stone in the oven and cranked up the heat.  The stone was in the oven for an hour before I added the bread so it could absorb all the heat.  When everything was ready to go, I inverted the loaves onto a piece of parchment paper set on a baking sheet so that I could easily slide them into the oven.  I slashed the tops so they could spring up in the oven.  Last, I sprayed the baking stone with water to create steam and then slid the loaves into the oven.

I sprayed again, twice, during the first five minutes of baking and then left the bread alone; other than turning it once to get even color.

One loaf didn't spring much -- I don't think my slashes were exactly right: too shallow and too straight.  It looks like a fat frisbee.  The other one came out perfect.

I'm mafrdeoup for dinner and the bread was perfect.  I had one bowl of soup and an unspecified number of pieces of bread.  I love bread.

Random Friday

1.  I keep forgetting to post pictures of the bread and the rhubarb berry pie I made for Easter.  I was proud of both; they came out pretty and tasted good too.  We spent Easter with some friends and shared the cooking.  I brought lamb for the BBQ in addition to the pie and bread.  Our neighbor was a bit dubious about the pie since her only experience with rhubarb was as a child at her grandmothers house, a mushy compote foul tasting thing.  My pie changed her mind about rhubarb -- it must have been the Skoog Farm rhubarb.  Kyle came up from Berkeley so that was a really nice, unexpected, surprise.

2.  I pulled my sourdough starter out of the fridge and have been feeding it.  I'm going to make a couple loaves this weekend -- a nice rainy day activity.

3.  Last year, we replaced the shower and remodeled the master bathroom because the shower was leaking, and dripping from the downstairs ceiling onto the counter.  The other day, Brett noticed that the paint on the ceiling by our breakfast nook is bubbling -- and sure enough, it's right below the tub in the second upstairs bathroom.  So, we will need to replace that.  The tile is really old (and the grout is shot, ugly, kind of green even after multiple applications of bleach).  I won't be sad to see it go -- but this wasn't in the budget.  Sigh.  It's always something in an old house. By the time we finish, we will have replaced everything I'm sure.

Rustic Bread: Round Two

For round two, I used a recipe from "Bread Alone."  Unlike the La Brea bread book, this one does not rely on sourdough starter so I didn't have to do the whole feeding three times a day for three days gig.  This author also is very precise in measurements and temperature -- and in the type of flour you use.  There is an entire chapter on flour; the protein content needed and sources.  I mail ordered some high gluten, high protein flour and mixed it with wheat flour.  Three parts high gluten to one part wheat flour. 

The night before I wanted to bake the bread, I made my poolish.  I mixed water, a pinch of yeast and flour together and stirred until it all grabbed together and was smooth.  Then I covered it and put it in the refrigerator for a long fermentation.  You can also leave it on the counter for a few hours, but the book said that if I put in the refrigerator and slowed the process down for 12-15 hours, I would end up with a better tasting loaf.  Sounded good to me.  The next morning I took it out, put it on the counter and let it come to room temperature (about three hours).  In that three hours, it rose up and bubbled happily.

I added more water, flour, yeast and some salt.  I warmed the water up more than last time -- in an attempt to get my dough to the elusive perfect dough temperature of 78F.  The instructions gave a wide variation in the amount of flour to use -- it is a "feel" thing, depending on humidity and weather and age/type of flour.  I used the least amount I could manage as a wetter, stickier dough yields a lighter airier loaf in my experience.  I set the timer and kneaded for the prescribed 17 minutes (so much better than 45).  Then I put it in my proofing container (which is clear so I can see how much it rises) for about three hours.  It doubled and bubbled.  When it was ready to be deflated, formed and put in their baskets, I noticed that the dough didn't hold its shape well since it was so soft.  It rose nicely in the baskets but when I turned it out to bake, they deflated quite a bit.  Rats.  Then my razor snagged on the tops and deflated them even more instead of just cutting a clean line.  I slid them into the oven onto the baking stone, squirted in the water, and waited for the result. 

Nice color, nice crust but not as high as I would like.  Overall, I'm calling it a success but next time I will make the dough a tad bit stiffer. 

For dinner we had BBQ steaks, salad with a garlicky vinaigrette, and bread.  Glorious bread. 

Brett said this is the best tasting bread I've made.  I would have to agree. 

Bon appetit!

Rustic Bread: Round One

I fought the bread, and I thought the bread won.  BUT, it didn't!!  I'm pretty pleased with round one and am ready to try again in a week or so with some tweaks.

I used the basic sourdough white bread recipe from the La Brea cookbook.  The recipe is eight pages long so I was a lot bit intimidated.  The instructions for feeding the starter were precise -- measurements in ounces and not cups -- and feeding three times a day.  I was dubious about that, but dutifully pulled my starter out of the refrigerator and fed it exactly as instructed for three days.  It changed from a sour smelling, slightly bubbly slurry to a thick, yeasty mass that clung together and cackled merrily.  I was impressed.

This was at the start of day two.  It got even better; frothy, like the top of a rootbeer float.

When it was time to mix the dough, I assembled my scale (to weigh the water, flour and starter), my instant thermometer (to check the temp of the kitchen, the water, and the dough at various stages), my bench scraper and my proofing bowl.

I mixed up the flour, water, and starter and then dumped the clumpy, gooky mass onto the work area.  I started kneading it and pretty soon it came together and transformed into a wonderful elastic dough.  After letting it rest 20 minutes, I sprinkled on the salt and resumed kneading.

...and kneading

...and kneading...

Brett came into the house and asked what I was doing, making such a racket.  At that point, I had been kneading for half an hour.  My heart rate was up, I was sweating and the dough still wasn't at 78F.  It crept up from 72 where I started to 75 but it wouldn't budge beyond that.  Brett took some short video of my fighting the dough.  At this point, I had scraped my knuckle raw (can you see the blood streaks on the table in the picture above?) and I was frustrated -- and tired. 

Finally, after 45 minutes of beating that dough to a pulp -- from satiny, to beaking down, to satiny, to breaking down -- I quit.  I looked at the instructions and it said that the kneading should only take five minutes or so.  I was supposed to stop at the first satiny part but I didn't trust myself and kept going; focused on the dough temperature.  I was SURE I had wreacked the dough by over-kneading it.  I put it in the  proofing container, snapped on the lid, and left it to rise for four hours, while I sulked.

It rose, but it didn't double like it was supposed to.  Crap.  I dumped it out, formed it into boules and put the rounds of dough in cloth lined baskets for their second rise in the refrigerator.

The next morning, I pulled them out.  They had hardly budged.  I put them on the counter to finish their rise (rustic bread rises slowly which develops its wonderful flavor).  They didn't ever reach the top of their forms, but they did rise a bit and get ever so slightly puffy.  I felt a glimmer of hope. 

I agressively slashed the top of the loaves to encourage a big spring in the oven, pumped my spray bottle full of water into the oven, and popped them in onto a baking stone. 

And they pretty much worked.  I have a few things to tweak next time around but overall I was pleased.  The bread tasted great -- we had a feast of artichokes from the garden, homemade mayonnaise, rustic bread and butter. 

Bon appetite!
 

Bread, Glorious Bread

Bread is no doubt my favorite food.  Not plain Jane sandwich bread, but chewy, crusty magical loaves and rolls.  Give me a good chewy bagel, a flaky croissant, an airy Italian loaf, a baguette with a crunchy crust and light interior, or a loaf of rustic bread -- thick, chewy and crisp - crackling almost - full of air holes and slightly tart on the inside.  Heaven. 

I've been making bread for years.  I started when my children were babies.  I was given a bread machine for Christmas, I think.  They were all the rage.  I started making all our bread in that machine and by the time it broke down from sheer exhaustion, I was hooked.  I never replaced the machine and instead learned to knead by hand.  I started with "safe" breads -- white bread, dinner rolls and the like.  Then I ventured into bagels and pretzels.  I started buying special equipment -- rising bowls, a bench knife -- and ingredients -- flour from King Arthur, good quality yeast and specialty flours.  I made sourdough starter.  I had some success and some failure but I always had fun. 

I love the feel of making bread.  Its like training a young horse -- but in a day or two, instead of years.  You start with raw ingredients, stir them together and let them sit.  I start many of my breads with a biga or poolish which is just flour, water and pinch of yeast.  Then it sits on the counter, covered, overnight and the next day it looks like a wet sponge.  It's ready to become more.  Just like your young horse.  I add the remaining flour and some salt, dump it on the counter and get to work.  When I start kneading, it is a shaggy mess that clings to my fingers and looks like it will never amount to anything.  But I keep at it.  And I let it rest a few minutes, so it can absorb what I'm doing.  Eventually, the dough changes under my hands and becomes smooth, silky and resistant.  It pushes back at me.  Then I let it rest some more.  I form it into loaves or little balls to become rolls.  It rests some more.  Then it goes into the oven -- maybe fancy with sesame seeds and a slashed crust to let the inside spring high; or maybe simple rolls snuggled next to each other. 

In recent years, I've started trying to make more rustic artisan breads.  They are tricky.  You don't use as much (or any) yeast.  It's a trick to get fantastic crust from a regular oven.  Bread bakeries have ovens that can shoot steam into the interior, creating great crust.  I use a spray bottle or a pan on the bottom of the oven with some water. 

My friend, Terri, makes amazing bread.  When she lived in California she would use our group of friends as guinea pigs to try the breads she made.  They were amazing.  Recently, she posted on FB the two books she uses the most when baking bread.  I couldn't help myself.  I went straight to Amazon and ordered them.  Then I read them and I went to the King Arthur site and ordered high gluten organic flour  with the appropriate protein content to make those thick crusty loaves.  I'm going to start feeding my sourdough starter and get it in shape to bake. 

Last night I made naan.  Its an Indian flatbread that you get at restaurants to sop up your curry.  It has a wonderful chewy texture and is cooked in a tandoori oven, so it looks a bit charred.  I found a recipe that promised to deliver naan without the tandoori.  It started with a mix of flour, water, yeast and yogurt that grew bubbly over a 24 hour period.  After kneading and resting, I shaped it into balls.

Meanwhile, I picked a couple artichokes from the garden and whipped up a vinaigrette.

I put my largest cast iron pan on the stove and while it got hot, I rolled out one of the balls of dough.  I pricked it all over with a fork, like you would a pie crust, misted it with water and put it in the pan.  It cooked covered for about four minutes.  Then I uncovered it and flipped it over. 

Meanwhile, Brett took our steaks out to the BBQ.  When he came back, dinner was ready.  I opened a bottle of wine and it was amazing.  We, um, drank the whole bottle.  It was that good.  It was from the Paso Robles wine country here in California.  It's called Per Cazo ZinG.  We are going up to the area tomorrow to move my son out of the dorms.  We may have to go buy the winery and get some more.

Bon appetit!