The oven didn't work when we moved into our house. We knew this, but (wrongly) assumed it would be a simple matter of buying a new oven to replace it. We were wrong. Since this has been a frustrating and at times all-consuming issue, I don't really want to go into it, but I have been with out an oven for nearly a month. This is tragic.
I love baking, and although many people would forgo baking bread come summer, I would love nothing more than to (clear off my counters so I can) knead dough and bake.
Initially, because of the very real constraints of time, money and know-how, I was thinking that we would probably just do without an oven until we had enough of those three things. I figured that there would be somethings we couldn't make, but that mainly, I wouldn't be able to indulge in baking. But, it didn't seem like the end of the world.
This effectively eliminates at least one of our old-stand-by dinners (frozen pizza - not the best, but sometimes, it just hits the spot), as well as things like meatloaf, biscuits, cookies, breads...
I remember reading, years ago, about people cooking and baking entire meals in rice cookers (yes, bread in a rice cooker). I should look into that. We do have a rice cooker. (And it is a trooper of a little thing. It was a wedding present from the best man. One of those things I don't think we registered for, but use regularly.)
There have to be ways to live without an oven. People have done this before. I am not the first person to be sans oven. I just feel so exhausted and frustrated when confronted with the oven conundrum that part of me just gives up for a bit.
Do you have any advice for life without an oven? Have you ever gone for long stretches without certain appliances that you thought/felt were essential? Care to share?
Showing posts with label bread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bread. Show all posts
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Recipe Thursday: Bread add-ins
If you remember, last week, I posted a recipe for wheat bread that includes dry milk. Most recipes don't include dry milk. But, dry milk (aka instant or non-instant milk powder) is nutrient rich, and a great way to increase the nutritional value of food. It also is great to have on hand when baking in case the milk in the fridge has gone sour! I have made mac'n'cheese with dry milk! (I've also made the boxed stuff with leftover marinara instead of milk - it is tasty!)
But back to bread. My first forays into baking bread were with the White Bread Plus recipe, found in some editions of Joy of Cooking. I wanted to try new things, but I was a very novice baker, and nervous about switching things up too much. In my book, on the same page as White Bread Plus was the Cornell Triple Rich Flour Formula.
Yup, the Cornell Triple Rich Flour Formula. Try saying that five times fast.
Basically, before you measure each cup of flour in a given recipe, you put:
1 tablespoon of soy flour
1 tablespoon of dry milk
1 teaspoon of wheat germ
in the bottom of the cup, then add your normal flour.
This adds a nutritional punch to your final product, and is a great way fortify white bread.
Like I said, it has been a while since I've made white bread, or used this recipe. I do remember that the look, feel and taste of the loaves with the CTRFF and those without were basically the same. You could some of the wheat germ, but it just gave a slightly grain-filled look to the bread. Similar to using Hodgson Mill flour instead of the Kroger wheat flour.
Here are some interesting links about CTRFF:
The history of the creator of Cornell Triple Rich bread
A Q & A from a 1980 edition of the Eugene Register-Guard about the benefits of using CTRFF with today's flour. (really, the whole page is interesting, including an article about home-baked bread being tastier than store bought, and a shower versus bath column)
A blogger's (anecdotal and unscientific) taste test!
Cornell Triple Rich Flour Formula and White Bread Plus in Joy of Cooking (pages 602 and 603) [this version of the bread recipe was written for a baker using a mixer - the process is a little different in my book, sans mixer]
Yup, I'm a little nutty.
What sort of things to you add to meals, breads and other foods to make them better?
But back to bread. My first forays into baking bread were with the White Bread Plus recipe, found in some editions of Joy of Cooking. I wanted to try new things, but I was a very novice baker, and nervous about switching things up too much. In my book, on the same page as White Bread Plus was the Cornell Triple Rich Flour Formula.
Yup, the Cornell Triple Rich Flour Formula. Try saying that five times fast.
Basically, before you measure each cup of flour in a given recipe, you put:
1 tablespoon of soy flour
1 tablespoon of dry milk
1 teaspoon of wheat germ
in the bottom of the cup, then add your normal flour.
This adds a nutritional punch to your final product, and is a great way fortify white bread.
Like I said, it has been a while since I've made white bread, or used this recipe. I do remember that the look, feel and taste of the loaves with the CTRFF and those without were basically the same. You could some of the wheat germ, but it just gave a slightly grain-filled look to the bread. Similar to using Hodgson Mill flour instead of the Kroger wheat flour.
Here are some interesting links about CTRFF:
The history of the creator of Cornell Triple Rich bread
A Q & A from a 1980 edition of the Eugene Register-Guard about the benefits of using CTRFF with today's flour. (really, the whole page is interesting, including an article about home-baked bread being tastier than store bought, and a shower versus bath column)
A blogger's (anecdotal and unscientific) taste test!
Cornell Triple Rich Flour Formula and White Bread Plus in Joy of Cooking (pages 602 and 603) [this version of the bread recipe was written for a baker using a mixer - the process is a little different in my book, sans mixer]
Yup, I'm a little nutty.
What sort of things to you add to meals, breads and other foods to make them better?
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Recipe Thursday: Wheat Bread
Remember that post about bread, where I am convinced that I killed the yeast? I thought I'd share the recipe with you! The recipe is from More With Less.
I do want to say that despite not really rising, the bread was still very yummy, with great flavor, and a nice texture. It was a little heavy, but not too much. I was actually a little surprised.
First, you mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of dry milk, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 2 packages of yeast together.
Second, you warm 3 cups of water (the recipe calls for potato water or water - I've only ever had/used plain old tap water), 1/2 cup of honey, and 2 tablespoons of oil. (Here's my first deviation, since I only had/have olive oil, I melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan before adding the water and honey. It has been fine so far!)
When the water mixture is warm (NOT HOT!!), add to the flour mixture, and ... mix. Recipe is written for using an electric mixer. I prefer not to use one. Recipe says to mix for 3 minutes. I just mix until it is fairly consistent, without huge lumps.
Now, you add 1 cup of whole wheat flour, mix. Add up to 4 and 1/2 cups of white flour. As most experienced bakers, and the recipe advise, you should reserve the last cup or so to be added during kneading. I generally add a cup at a time, and when it is very difficult to mix, flour my counter, and turn it out to be kneaded. Usually, I've added 3 cups of white flour.
Since I know that I will need to add flour, I usually liberally sprinkle flour on top of the dough, on my hands, and on my pastry knives/bowl scrapers, which I use to start the kneading process. Kneading really is a hands-on learning process. You want to work the dough until it will not accept more flour, but this is a tricky line, because you can overwork it. The best way I can describe kneading is that you take one side of the dough-ball, and fold it to the center, pushing with the heal of your hand. As you do this, you are rotating the dough about 90 degrees. You keep doing this, adding flour as necessary, until the dough isn't sticky anymore.
Grease a bowl, put the dough in it, and turn (to coat). Set aside in a warm, draft free area to rise. My mom always wet a cheese cloth with hot-as-you-can-stand-it water, wrung it out thoroughly, and loosely placed it over the bread. I do too.
After it had doubled in bulk (about an hour), punch down the dough, and turn back out onto the counter. Knead very lightly, and divide it so you can form loaves. Recipe says it will make 2; I have found that it can easily make 3 loaves.
Grease your loaf pans, place your formed loaves in said pans, and set aside to rise. Again with the warm towel/cheese cloth. Again with the double in bulk. Again, it will take about an hour.
Bake for about 40 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn out onto cooling rakes, and resist the urge to eat it all in one sitting. Properly stored, it should freeze just fine for at least a few weeks. I've not had it last that long though, usually gets eaten!
Do you make your own bread? Is there a recipe that you swear by?
I do want to say that despite not really rising, the bread was still very yummy, with great flavor, and a nice texture. It was a little heavy, but not too much. I was actually a little surprised.
First, you mix 3 cups of whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of dry milk, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 2 packages of yeast together.
Second, you warm 3 cups of water (the recipe calls for potato water or water - I've only ever had/used plain old tap water), 1/2 cup of honey, and 2 tablespoons of oil. (Here's my first deviation, since I only had/have olive oil, I melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan before adding the water and honey. It has been fine so far!)
When the water mixture is warm (NOT HOT!!), add to the flour mixture, and ... mix. Recipe is written for using an electric mixer. I prefer not to use one. Recipe says to mix for 3 minutes. I just mix until it is fairly consistent, without huge lumps.
Now, you add 1 cup of whole wheat flour, mix. Add up to 4 and 1/2 cups of white flour. As most experienced bakers, and the recipe advise, you should reserve the last cup or so to be added during kneading. I generally add a cup at a time, and when it is very difficult to mix, flour my counter, and turn it out to be kneaded. Usually, I've added 3 cups of white flour.
Since I know that I will need to add flour, I usually liberally sprinkle flour on top of the dough, on my hands, and on my pastry knives/bowl scrapers, which I use to start the kneading process. Kneading really is a hands-on learning process. You want to work the dough until it will not accept more flour, but this is a tricky line, because you can overwork it. The best way I can describe kneading is that you take one side of the dough-ball, and fold it to the center, pushing with the heal of your hand. As you do this, you are rotating the dough about 90 degrees. You keep doing this, adding flour as necessary, until the dough isn't sticky anymore.
Grease a bowl, put the dough in it, and turn (to coat). Set aside in a warm, draft free area to rise. My mom always wet a cheese cloth with hot-as-you-can-stand-it water, wrung it out thoroughly, and loosely placed it over the bread. I do too.
After it had doubled in bulk (about an hour), punch down the dough, and turn back out onto the counter. Knead very lightly, and divide it so you can form loaves. Recipe says it will make 2; I have found that it can easily make 3 loaves.
Grease your loaf pans, place your formed loaves in said pans, and set aside to rise. Again with the warm towel/cheese cloth. Again with the double in bulk. Again, it will take about an hour.
Bake for about 40 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn out onto cooling rakes, and resist the urge to eat it all in one sitting. Properly stored, it should freeze just fine for at least a few weeks. I've not had it last that long though, usually gets eaten!
Do you make your own bread? Is there a recipe that you swear by?
Monday, April 12, 2010
Bread: The rise and fall of a baker
One thing that I actually can do, and do relatively well, is bake bread. My bread baking repertoire is limited, consisting mainly of various white and wheat loaf breads; the kind of bread good for sandwiches, toast, and Nutella (mmmm).
The most challenging thing about baking bread is the waiting. Sure, you have to keep things in proportion, and make sure that nothing gets too hot (or else it will kill the yeast), but most bread recipes now take all of that into consideration, and you can use ready-packaged yeast, so even the rising is more assured.
I was reading a book a few months ago, and this particular section was set in pre-Revolutionary War America (pre- by a year or two), and the wife commented that they were having flat bread for dinner because the bread didn't rise. The words all made sense to me. I know what unrisen bread is. I know proofing/letting bread rise takes time. I know that you can kill the yeast, so the bread won't rise, but was a little baffled at the why and how behind this comment (nevermind the time travel or modern people living in the mid- to late- 1700s, I was hung up on the bread baking). Then, somewhere in the text, another seemingly throwaway line about leaving dough out/vats of beer out to collect wild yeast flipped my mental light switch to the "on" position. I'm so used to my little packets of yeast, or even seeing those jars that I didn't even think about what wall would be involved in making a yeast bread then.
So, I suppose I should remedy my "the hardest thing" statement to reference working with yeast.
Especially since I think I committed my first mass murder of yeast last week. I was working with a wheat recipe, with which I have had past and recent success, where you heat oil (or butter, in my case), water, and honey to warm before adding it to some of the flour, mixed with dry milk, salt, and yeast. I think I let the honeyed water heat up too much. Instead of just letting it be warm enough, I had to try to perfect, and ended up with too warm. Result: dead yeast, dough that never doubled in bulk, and dense loaves.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if I remembered the salt - that could have affected the rising, too.
I also kneaded a lot more than I usually do.
I ended up with these loaves that were about half to three-fourths as high as they should have been, and that didn't quite fill the entire breadth of the pan. Also, after the proofing, I took the smallest loaf, and divided it up and made into rolls. The rolls were an interesting experiment, and provided a very filling breakfast for the next day
I haven't really done sweet breads, quick breads, salt-rising, or sourdough breads. Have you?
The most challenging thing about baking bread is the waiting. Sure, you have to keep things in proportion, and make sure that nothing gets too hot (or else it will kill the yeast), but most bread recipes now take all of that into consideration, and you can use ready-packaged yeast, so even the rising is more assured.
I was reading a book a few months ago, and this particular section was set in pre-Revolutionary War America (pre- by a year or two), and the wife commented that they were having flat bread for dinner because the bread didn't rise. The words all made sense to me. I know what unrisen bread is. I know proofing/letting bread rise takes time. I know that you can kill the yeast, so the bread won't rise, but was a little baffled at the why and how behind this comment (nevermind the time travel or modern people living in the mid- to late- 1700s, I was hung up on the bread baking). Then, somewhere in the text, another seemingly throwaway line about leaving dough out/vats of beer out to collect wild yeast flipped my mental light switch to the "on" position. I'm so used to my little packets of yeast, or even seeing those jars that I didn't even think about what wall would be involved in making a yeast bread then.
So, I suppose I should remedy my "the hardest thing" statement to reference working with yeast.
Especially since I think I committed my first mass murder of yeast last week. I was working with a wheat recipe, with which I have had past and recent success, where you heat oil (or butter, in my case), water, and honey to warm before adding it to some of the flour, mixed with dry milk, salt, and yeast. I think I let the honeyed water heat up too much. Instead of just letting it be warm enough, I had to try to perfect, and ended up with too warm. Result: dead yeast, dough that never doubled in bulk, and dense loaves.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if I remembered the salt - that could have affected the rising, too.
I also kneaded a lot more than I usually do.
I ended up with these loaves that were about half to three-fourths as high as they should have been, and that didn't quite fill the entire breadth of the pan. Also, after the proofing, I took the smallest loaf, and divided it up and made into rolls. The rolls were an interesting experiment, and provided a very filling breakfast for the next day
I haven't really done sweet breads, quick breads, salt-rising, or sourdough breads. Have you?
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