Old Time Milling and Polenta

Last weekend we drove over the hills to Calistoga, then down the road to the Bale Grist Mill, a California State Park, to watch them mill corn into polenta.


Here is a diagram of the mill, with the water coming in by flume to the top of the water wheel which turns the wheel, which turns various gears, which in turn turn the millstone to grind the grain, also known as grist. The numbers refer to the description and photos below.

We had a very good guide in the miller. He knew the history and brought it to life with vivid descriptions of the Napa valley full of wheat fields (instead of grape vines), of the mill being a community center where neighbors met and gossiped while the grain was being turned into flour or corn meal or polenta (a coarser corn meal), of the flume being built to the newly constructed mill pond on higher ground so that there was year round water with some force behind it to turn the water wheel,(#1)


and stories about Dr. Bale who founded the mill and of Dr. Bale's widow making sure that after he died the mill had good French mill stones instead of the local quartz ones that the mill started with...and those stones are still in use!

He did a wonderful job of explaining the working parts of the mill, too, including the gears under the main floor.(#2)


Who knew that wooden gears were better than metal ones in a mill? The teeth could be replaced and the metal teeth could cause sparks and start a fire with all that flour flying around.

This mill had a set of mill stones for grinding flour and a set for grinding corn. Since the miller's helper had gone home sick, he asked for volunteers. Cucumber Spraygun was asked to turn the crank which engaged one set of gear with the ones turning the mill wheel on top (the bottom one is fixed). Here he is in action.(#3)



The miller was grinding polenta the afternoon we were there. They used to use Indian corn which is very colorful but some of the kernels grind into black specks...not too good for sales. Now they use plain yellow corn. Here is the set up for milling. The round box contains the stone wheels, the wedged box above holds the grain and there is a chute from it to the opening into the eye of the top stone wheel. From there is goes in between the stones and the grains sort of grind themselves...the stones never touch. (#4)



If you are lucky enough to obtain stone ground polenta, you can make this recipe, but if not, just shorten the cooking time by 3-4 minutes and use regular instant polenta from the store. Either way you can enjoy a grain that is very healthy for you, delicious, and in a dish that you can make ahead.

If you get to Napa County, California, check to see if the Bale Grist Mill is open. If it is, treat yourself to a journey to the past, plus a real-time opportunity to purchase delicious stone ground wheat flour, spelt flour and corn meal as well as this yummy polenta.

Grilled Cheese and Basil Polenta
Adapted from a Donna Hay (#40) recipe as posted on Technicolor Kitchen blog

3 cups (750ml) water
1 cup (170g) stone ground polenta
60g butter, chopped (I only used a tablespoon of butter)
½ cup (50g) finely grated Parmesan
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup basil leaves
2 cups (200g) shredded mozzarella cheese
olive oil, for brushing
ragu or marinara sauce, if desired

Place water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Gradually whisk in the polenta and cook, stirring, for 5-8 minutes or until thickened and grains are no longer hard. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Pour half of the polenta into a 20cm (8 inch) square pan lined with non-stick baking paper (I used foil) and spread to smooth. Top with the basil, mozzarella and remaining polenta. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until set.

Cut into squares/rectangles and brush with oil. Heat a char-grill pan or barbecue over high heat. (I used my cast iron skillet, well heated.) Cook the polenta for 3-4 minutes each side or until golden and the cheese has melted.

Serve topped with a generous serving of the pasta sauce or a ragu or marinara sauce of your choice.

Late But A Zebra Anyway

Good intentions are great but sometimes even with the best of intentions I neglect to do something I want to do. This month it was baking the wonderful Zebra Cake so that I could post with the Cake Slice Bakers on the 20th. Maybe it's because its summer, maybe its because of CS visiting, maybe its because I've been trying to eat foods that are better for my bod...for whatever reason the recipe sat in the kitchen unused until yesterday.

Never at a loss for ideas, once I did decide to bake the cake I also made a change and an addition. When the two batters get separated, I did whisk cocoa powder into the smaller amount, but I also added dried orange peel and some orange oil to the plain batter. Once the cake was baked and cooled, I gilded the lily with a ganache icing. Unfortunately I over heated the ganache and didn't start until 7:30 in the evening, so it was fully dark by the time we enjoyed the Zebra Cake, hence the not-so-great photos.

This was a fun cake to make and delicious, but the texture was not as tender as I would have liked. The chocolate/orange combination was lovely and it made an impressively tall slice...I'm glad I baked it in my 2 inch tall cake pan. The chocolate batter was thicker than the orange batter which might be why my zebra stripes ended up looking more like marble cake. Glad I made this one, even if it was late.



If you haven't already done so, do check out the other Cake Slice Bakers' versions of the Zebra Cake. They are mostly better than mine.



July’s Cake: Zebra Cake
Makes one 9 inch round cake

Zebra Cake
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup whole or 2% milk
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
½ cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9 inch pan, line with a circle of parchment paper, grease the parchment and dust with flour. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, stir in the milk, butter, oil and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary. Stir in the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time.

Transfer a third of the batter into another bowl and whisk in the cocoa powder.
Place a quarter cup of the vanilla batter into the centre of the pan and let it stand for a few seconds so it spreads out slightly. Place 2 tablespoons of the chocolate batter right on top of the vanilla and wait another few seconds until it spreads. Continue alternating vanilla and chocolate until you have used up all the batter and it has spread to the edges of the pan.

Bake until the cake is set and a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a cutting board. Peel away the parchment paper. Re-invert onto a wire rack and cool completely. Slice and serve.

Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for 3 days.

Zucchini Time Chocolate Bread

If you love zucchini squash this is a great time of year. If not, keep a watch on your porch because sometimes gardeners get overwhelmed with too many and will drop some on your doorstep under cover of darkness.

My squash plants are producing like mad. Fortunately over the years I've found fellow squash lovers who gladly take the extras so no midnight furtiveness is necessary for disposing of them.

One of the ways I love to eat zucchini is in a quickbread with cocoa and chocolate chips added. The first variation I baked had fresh cherries added. Another time I added chopped almonds, almond meal and fresh diced apricots but that version didn't please me, so it never made it onto the blog. This past week, with the help of Cucumber Spraygun who is visiting from the east coast, we made a version with walnuts and dried cranberries (Craisins) that was delicious.

For someone who usually bakes by herself, its sometimes difficult to bake with someone else, even an excellent baker like CS. I kept forgetting things so it was a good thing that we had laid out all of the ingredients. First I forgot that the sugar doesn't go with the dry ingredients...it gets beaten with the eggs. CS caught my mistake and we were able to scoop about 1/2 cup of the sugar out of the dry ingredients and beat it with the eggs. At the end I was so intent on not overmixing the batter that we completely left out the nuts
.

CS sprinkled them heavily on top which was a great save since it meant toasted walnuts...yum...but we think it may also have caused, somehow, for the bread to rise really high in the middle. Last, but not least, I didn't check the bread often enough so the edges ended up slightly burnt which is not good with chocolate.


The good news is that despite all of those errors we ended up with a lovely bread that was moist inside and delicious. It's also easy to make if you pay attention.

Some of the shredded zucchini that we prepared for going in to the bread was excess, so that went into meatloaf and a salad in subsequent days. We also eat zucchini grilled and I put it into my favorite spaghetti sauce, which can be found here. I'm thinking of making some banana bread and adding some shredded zucchini to that. I'll let you know if I do.



There are a few recipes, including the Cake Slice Baker July challenge, which will be posted later. Right now its more fun doing other things with CS and Sweetie...hope you understand. XO Elle

Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Dried Cranberries and Walnuts
based on:

ELIZABETH'S PHENOMENAL CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD
brought to you via Robin Brande & Jama Rattigan & Tanita Davis

3 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs or equivalent egg substitute
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2-3 medium zucchini)(measured after being squeezed dry)
½ cup chopped nuts ( we used walnuts)
1 pkg (12-oz) chocolate chips
½ cup died cranberries (Craisins)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9x5" loaf pans with canola spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. In a separate bowl, beat eggs (or egg substitute and water) with the sugar until well combined. Add oil, yogurt and vanilla. Beat to combine, then stir in zucchini. Add wet bowl to dry bowl and stir until just moistened. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips and Craisins.

Spoon evenly into pans. Bake 55-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Check before 55 minutes...chocolate can burn easily.. Cool 10 minutes in pans, then turn onto racks. This bread is yummy when eaten still warm...the chips are melty and the fragrance is full chocolate!

BBBabes Love Burger Buns

Almost everyone loves a burger or something from the grill that can go in a burger bun. The ever lovely and clever Bread Baking Babes are no exception.

Although Sweetie loves grilling year 'round, when the summer months hit we find that we turn to grilling most evenings of the week. He loves to make pulled pork from a slow cooked fresh piece of picnic pork and I've figured out a soy-based marinade for chicken thighs that's delicious and which I'll post one of these days, but a standby that never disappoints is the ever popular hamburger. Good quality beef and a light hand in making the patties are my only tips since Sweetie usually does the actual cooking.

We sometimes skip the rolls but not this last month. Thanks to the lovely Sara of I Like to Cook, our never boring Kitchen of the Month, the Bread Baking Babes made burger rolls!

This recipe, like the last one for Soda Bread, acknowledges that summertime baking can be different than baking during the rest of the year. There are so many fun things to do away from the kitchen, so 'quick and easy' is often the requirement for summer cooking and baking. These great Burger Buns from Williams-Sonoma fit that description. No overnight preferment, no triple rise, and just about two hours from the idea to the finished warm and crusty roll! If you want to make the popular mini version called sliders, Sara has kindly included directions and Karen of Bake My Day baked up a huge number of sliders so check out her post once it's up.

I enjoyed making them and eating them! I topped mine with a seed mix from King Arthur Flour and it looked like bird seed but tasted wonderful. (I guess bird seed tastes good to birds...but I'll never be a bird my friend.) I also used Irish wholemeal flour for half the flour which gave the rolls a nice nutty taste.


Because my buns usually have too much bread on top, for these I rolled out the dough and cut the buns using a 9.5mm round cutter. As a result my buns were just the right size around and not too tall but nicely rounded...perfect for that 'birdseed' topping.


Half the rolls were enjoyed with burgers at a 4th of July bbq, I used one for a turkey sandwich for lunch,


and the rest (which had been in the freezer to stay fresh) were split and grilled and enjoyed with local turkey sausages (Italian flavored and some with tomato-basil flavor) this week. I found that the ones that had been frozen were a little bit crumbly so I'll probably freeze them unbaked next time and bake them at the time I'll use them.

Don't forget to check out the other Bread Baking Babes' posts (links to right) and to make these delicious rolls yourself to be a Buddy... and feel free to change the size, shape, flours, toppings, etc. Remember, to be a Buddy, you need to e-mail Sara (iliketocookATshawDOTca) the link to your post (or a description of your baking session/results) and a photo by July 29th. That way you can be included in the round-up.

Sara wrote:
"Summer will soon be here and who doesn't like to bbq a burger or hot dog in the summer? And you just know that it will taste even better on a bun you've made yourself. The recipe gives directions to make regular sized burger buns as well as slider sized buns." Thanks Sara for a perfect challenge for July fun.



Homemade Hamburger Buns
Williams-Sonoma

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) milk
8 Tbs (1 stick/125 g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
4 cups (625 g) all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
(Note: I used 2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 cups Irish wholemeal flour)
5 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs kosher salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
sesame seeds for sprinkling (optional)or use the seed or seeds you enjoy

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and butter and heat until the butter is melted, about 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to 105-155'F (40 to 46'C). Add the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the 4 cups of flour, the sugar and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the milk mixture and knead until the dough forms a ball, about 1 minute.

Increase the speed to medium low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, oil the inside of the bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 10 by 7 1/2 inch (25 by 19 cm) rectangle. Using a ruler as a guide, cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch (6cm) squares. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet, spacing the buns evenly apart, and cover tightly with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400'F (200'C)

Remove the plastic wrap from the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the buns with the egg mixture (I brushed the tops with milk) and sprinkle with sesame (or other) seeds if using.

Bake until the buns and golder and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of a bun registers 190'F (88'C), 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer the buns to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut in half and use as hamburger buns. Makes 12 hamburger buns.

For slider buns:
Follow the instructions above but roll out the dough into a 9 inch (23 cm) square. Cut into 1 1/2 inch (4cm) squares and place on 2 parchment lined baking sheets. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Position one rack in the upper third of an over and one rack in the lower third and preheat to 400'F (200'C). Brush the tops with the egg mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake for about 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and 180 degrees halfway through baking. Makes 36 slider buns.

Waffles and Musings on Blogging

Have you ever wondered what goes into a food blog post? If you have your own blog you already know, but if you mainly visit food blogs you might be interested in my process. If not you can skip down to the photo of the waffle with strawberries and cream and start reading there. I'm sure that there are as many variations on creating food blog posts as there are recipes for chocolate chip cookies...or even more than that, but the basics still are pretty universal. To me a good food blog post includes some writing about food or food related topics, there are almost always photographs and often a recipe.

The process actually starts with a lot of thought, as is true with many arts and crafts (and I leave it to you to decide if this is art or craft or a combination) because it helps to have an idea of what you want to cook, make, bake or explore in the vast topic of 'food'. Since I have a tendency to cook the same recipes over and over with minor variations, and since I usually avoid repeating recipes, my posts are usually baking ones. For some reason I feel more drawn to experiment with and write about baking. Many days as I drive to work I'll be thinking about possible variations on a recipe as I drive. At this time of year my thought stray to berries and what I love best about them and what new-to-me recipe I can bake using them.

After a decision is made about what to make then comes the recipe comparison time. Since baking is based on proportions that work well together I often compare basic recipes for what I have in mind, using recipes in cookbooks, magazines and on the Internet to help me make sure I understand the methods as well as quantities of ingredients. After that I play (again) with variations in my head and then head to the store if I'm missing ingredients or want super fresh ones.

Next comes my favorite part...making and baking. Although I know that mis en place - gathering all the ingredients and implements and pans together before starting - is the most professional, often I only gather stuff for the first part and then gather the rest while some of the recipe is beating or cooling or rising, etc. Same goes for preheating the oven. If the steps to take will take longer than 10 minutes I leave off preheating the oven until about 10 minutes before stuff goes into the oven. Saves on fuel and keeps me from feeling so rushed.

Before the actual making and baking begins I read the recipe all the way through and then read it again while checking for ingredients that are not ones commonly in my kitchen or pans or implements I don't usually use. Trust me, you don't want to be in the middle of a recipe and discover than you're all out of parchment, or vanilla or only have an 8 pan muffin tin when you need a 12 pan one.

Following a recipe might seem simple but if you stop to answer the phone and can't remember if you added that teaspoon of salt you might end up with a flat tasting cake or bread. If you are prone to making changes to any recipe you meet like I am, knowing which part to follow and which part to change requires even closer attention. I try to type up recipes, including the variations but have been know to scrawl variations on a sticky note stuck to the recipe that most closely resembles what I'm making. In general I give credit to the creator of that recipe.

If some part of the making and baking are visually interesting I'll take photos. I love the look of fruits and veggies and like to photograph them often. I'll also take photos to make it easier to understand a complicated recipe. I know food bloggers who take dozens and dozens of photos for one post...and their results are are awesome...but I try to stick to about 12 per post so that I end up with three or four in the post. It helps the post load faster if there aren't a lot of photos and I don't wish to take the time to go through dozens to find the best three. Maybe when I'm retired in 10 years or so :).

The finished dish always gets photographed and often there is a photo of the dish plated, too. If you decide to try food blogging the best thing to do is to visit lots and lots of food blogs and see what style and type of food photo suits you.

The food has been made, photographed and enjoyed. My next step is usually to process the photos. I'm pretty adept with Photoshop so it usually doesn't take me too long. I suppose if I were more picky I'd get better photos and it would take longer, but my enthusiasms extend to many other areas in my life so blogging gets its due share and no more. I always save the photos at 72 dpi which is low resolution. What you see on the Internet really doesn't look any better in high resolution than at 72 dpi and the lower resolution helps photos load faster, plus they take up less space on your hard drive. I often save them in a folder which is labeled with the name of the dish.

Now comes my favorite part (after eating the food) which is writing the post. Usually I have something I want to share with you about the food I've made...so that's what I write. Sometimes I include tidbits of what is going on in my life and every now and then we visit the Land of St. Honore' for story time and pure fiction. No matter what the rest of the post contains, I try to make sure to mention anything that will help you re-create the recipe for yourself and your family. Posting the recipe also means that I can go back to it when I want to make it again...a digital recipe book of the best kind!

Although there are many ways to create a post I usually write the content, add the photos, add the links, check the spelling (if I'm not in a hurry to post) and then put it up. Usually I'll then check what you see and make changes or corrections if needed (and again if I have time). Lots of times I'm posting at night and too tired to be as diligent as I should be.

So that's what I do and the post itself, including taking the photos and processing them, takes about an hour to two hours. Research for the recipe is ongoing so I have no idea how long I spend on it. The recipes usually give some indication of how much time they require, but often I would be making them even if I didn't blog so I don't pay attention to that either.

If you are thinking of food blogging or already doing it and want to exchange ideas and information, feel free to comment or e-mail me. I can be a fun hobby which combines the creativity of cooking and baking, photography and writing.


So now that you have some idea on how my blog posts are created, for today the post will be about waffles. Unlike many recipes I post, this one is a variation of a recipe that I've posted before. There is something about the combination of fresh strawberries and crisp, airy hot sourdough waffles that calls to me every year. For this year's variation I let the starter sit for a few days before making the batter (and the batter sits overnight) so there was a lovely pronounced sourdough flavor and aroma to these beauties. I also used some of the Irish wholemeal style flour from King Arthur for half of the flour. The resulting waffles had a nice nuttiness from that flour, plus darling little flecks wheat goodness.

You can make these without a sourdough starter, too. You'll find that recipe at the end of this post: http://feedingmyenthusiasms.blogspot.com/2009/06/ancient-church-meeting-tommy-waffles.html

You can serve these waffle with any toppings you like but they really don't need any additional butter. If you do want to top 'em with butter they will probably be even more delicious. Berries are my delight right now and we had some whipped cream handy, too. One version of total decadence is to sit in the sun next to the sweet peas and morning glories eating these luscious waffles, ripe sliced local strawberries and some whipped cream. Wish I could have shared.

NOTE: For those of you who can’t imagine having a single purpose item like a waffle iron, perhaps it helps that mine was from a garage sale and is eons old. It’s smallish and round and fits inside of a stew pot so it doesn't take up extra room in the cupboard. If it is still working when I die, my survivors will probably discard it, but for now it does the trick and produces nice circles of yummy, crispy waffles.


Amazing Overnight Wholemeal Waffles
adapted for sourdough starter
from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe' Cookbook

Sponge:
1 cup sourdough starter
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup water
Whisk together and let sit, uncovered, at room temperature for 2 hours

Batter:
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup Irish wholemeal wheat flour
all of the sponge
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs

Nonstick spray
Butter (and bread) for the waffle iron
Sliced strawberries
Whipped cream if you are feeling decadent or maple syrup if you prefer


Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Add the sponge that has sat for 2 hours waiting for this moment, and whisk to combine. Add the milk and whisk until blended. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature (or put in the fridge if room temp. is over 70 degrees F.)

The next morning, preheat the waffle iron. Melt the 6 tablespoons butter and let cool a bit. Beat the egg is a small bowl (unnecessary if using egg substitute) then beat it into the batter along with the melted butter. Whisk the egg white until it forms soft peaks. Fold into the batter with a spatula.

Lightly spray the hot waffle iron with non stick spray, top and bottom plates, and then butter a piece of bread and use that to rub some butter on top and bottom plates.

Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface…this varies by waffle iron…about 2/3 cup. Lower the top and cook until golden brown…it’s OK to check now and then. It takes about 2-3 minutes and it's usually when the steam starts to diminish. You want it golden brown, but not dark brown.

Serve hot, right away, with strawberries, whipped cream or maple syrup, or toppings of your choice.

Note; If you have too many waffles for the number of people you are feeding, bake the leftover batter a little less than the ones you are eating, let cool on a baking rack, then freeze and store in the freezer tightly wrapped. Re-heat in the toaster.

Happy 4th

Dear Reader,

No recipe today, just a hearty wish that you have a happy day. If you live in the USA, Happy 4th of July! Our Constitutional right to freedome of speech is one of the things that keeps the Inernet working and strong, including blogging. Here is a toast to that Bill of Rights and to blogging and bloggers everywhere! A toast, too, to the readers who keep it interesting.

I'm off to a friend's picnic. Maybe Sweetie and I will see some fireworks, too.

XO Elle

Berries Top the Cake

It's truly berry season around here. My fridge last night had fresh local organic blueberries that were fat and juicy, lovely large ripe ollalieberries, and some strawberries that were past their prime but still fine to eat. The first of the blackberries are ripening, too. Raspberries at the market smell wonderful and I'd buy some if I didn't already have so many berries.

Breakfast muesli with the fresh blueberries has been a special treat the last few mornings. For yesterday's lunch I added some of the blueberries and some of the ollalieberries to a nice green salad with chicken and avocados...yummy!

When I arrived home yesterday evening, I found that Grandma L had picked another quart of the ollalieberries. That was the final push I needed to bake a cake with berries. Thanks Grandma!


I looked through a few magazines and cookbooks and finally decided to modify a peach upside down cake recipe in the Cake Keepers book that the Cake Slice Bakers have been using this year. On top of the melted butter/brown sugar layer I placed two cups of sliced strawberries, spread them out, then dotted the spaces between with about a cup of the ollalieberries. The cake itself is a vanilla butter cake with buttermilk for tang. I added some cinnamon to the flour mixture to jazz it up a bit. It baked up with a nice moist crumb and a wonderful mixed berry topping. Sweetie had some more for breakfast, with some more fresh berries added. Yay for berry season! Enjoy this cake yourself while the berries are at their best.



Summertime Berry Buttermilk Upside-Down Cake
an adaptation of a recipe from Lauren Chattman's Cake Keeper Cakes

For the Topping:
1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter (I used 6 tablespoons instead of the 8 tablespoons)
3/4 cup brown sugar
about 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
about 1 cup fresh blackberries or ollalieberries

For the Cake:
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Make the Topping
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch round nonstick pan and dust with flour or use a seasoned cast iron skillet as I did.
Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat (or in the cast iron skillet) until foaming. Stir in the brown sugar, turn the heat to low, and cook, whisking, for 2 minutes. If baking in the cake pan, scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. If using the skillet smooth out the butter/brown sugar mixture if needed.

Arrange the sliced strawberries evenly over the butter/brown sugar mixture. Place the ollalieberries or blackberries in between the slices, making sure they are touching the butter/brown sugar mixture. Set aside.

Make the Cake
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Combine the eggs,, vanilla and buttermilk in a large glass measuring cup and lightly beat.

Beat together the butter and granulates sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium-high speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beater(s) as necessary.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, pour the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the sides as needed. After the last addition, mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.

Pour or spoon the batter over the berry mixture, gently spreading evenly with a spatula.

Bake in preheated oven until the cake is dark golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 35 - 40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let stand for 5 minutes.

Place a large plate over the pan and, using oven mitts, invert the cake onto the plate. If necessary, replace any fruit stuck to the pan. Let the cake cook for 20 minutes and serve, warm, or serve at room temperature. Store uneaten cake (if any!) in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Elle's note: While this cake is excellent all by itself, I'll bet you can imagine how delicious it would be with a scoop of vanilla or berry ice cream. I suspect that you could substitute frozen berries for the fresh ones and the recipe would still be wonderful.

Crustless Savory Veggie Delight

I'm not a party animal. Maybe its because I was super shy as a youngster, maybe its because I've always been on the heavy side, maybe its because I've never enjoyed crowds...who know why. Even so, sometimes I choose to go to a party. Recently I went to a birthday party for a lovely woman who love to do long bike rides. Guests were a fine combination of neighbors who live near where I work and J's friends from the City, including biking friends. The latter were particularly fun to talk with.

Since I knew that a lot of the guests would be health conscious I decided to bring a crust less quiche loaded with veggies. As is often the case at big parties I only spoke to one person who tried some but he gave the dish a hearty thumbs up.

Brown rice gives substance and a nice nutty flavor. I love spinach in almost anything and since I also used red pepper dice and fresh corn kernels the quiche had a nice confetti appearance with red, green, yellow and the caramelized onions golden brown. It goes together fairly quickly, too and can be served warm or cool. Maybe you'd like to try it for your next party?


Veggie Brown Rice Crust less Pie

1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon olive or safflower oil
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (a mix of colors if possible)
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed (I like to use frozen chopped, but you can steam fresh spinach and chop it but you'll need a fair amount of fresh spinach to make 1 cup cooked)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme OR 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
1 cup cooked AND COOLED brown rice (you can use cooked white but you lose that wonderful nutty flavor)
1 3/4 cups milk
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Butter a 10 inch pie plate with butter and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Tilt to coat the pie plate with the crumbs. Discard the excess crumbs.

In a skillet, over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil, then add the chopped onions and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, to lightly brown the vegetables. Turn down the heat if they start to blacken. To the browned onions and peppers, add the spinach and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the mixture is heated through. Stir in the corn, nutmeg and thyme. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the cooled rice and the cooled veggie mixture. Spread in the prepared pie plate. Set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the milk, eggs, sour cream or yogurt, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Pour this milk mixture over the veggie-rice mixture in the pie plate. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.

When oven is at 350 degrees F, bake the pie for about 35 minutes, or until top is lightly browned and the middle is almost set. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Cut into serving portions and serve or refrigerate and serve later at room temperature.

You Know It's Summer When

You Know It's Summer When...
... The light coming in the window at 5:30 am is bright enough to wake you up completely...if all the birds singing at 5 am doesn't do it.
...The morning glories are covering the trellis with their royal purple ephemeral flowers.
... Everyone on the street are wearing shorts, tank tops and flip flops even if the high temperature is 73 degrees and lower.
...You sneeze as soon as you stick your head out the door because of all the pollen floating around.
...You start to crave ice cream and icy drinks even if you usually don't really care for super cold foods.


---The zucchini squash plants are cranking out those squash in record time and the tomato plants are producing lots of flowers.
...You can find really ripe peaches at the market and the olallieberries are ripe and ready to pick down by the road.


So a couple of days ago I picked three pints of those gorgeous black and juicy berries and gave one pint to Grandma L to enjoy. Some more went into the morning fruit bowl. That still left a pint to play with.

Coming home from work on Friday I stopped at the market and bought four large, super ripe white peaches.

Saturday morning I was awake at 5:30 and so was Sweetie due to all that light so I made us a peach and blackberry morning treat. At first I was going to make pie but Sweetie wanted a cobbler. I ended up with the prepared fruit getting hot in the oven in a wide pie pan while I mixed up something more like a muffin batter instead of a biscuit batter (which is the usual topping for a cobbler) and it baked up hot and good and went down well with a cup of coffee. Too chilly to eat out on the deck...a little tule fog drifted up the hill (also a summer thing in Sonoma County)...but we sat around and read the paper and welcomed the day.


Saturday was also a significant day on the project. The 16 foot long main beam proved to be too dry rotted at the end and so it had to come down. That let me test my slightly improved biceps (Cool Fitness has been helping me learn to do slow weights but I don' think three session yields much improvement yet) as I held each piece as it was cut off. We're talking about 3-4 foot pieces of a 4 x 8 beam. Not too shabby. Sweetie has been doing most of the work by himself.

Not sure why but being able to work with him and help today really helped with my missing Xam. Most of the morning it had been hitting me hard that he wasn't around after days of almost not noticing. Good thing that working with Sweetie makes things better now.

So, back to peaches and berries: the proportions here are pretty loose - about 4 large peaches and a pint of berries and one batch of the topping - but you could substitute a couple more peaches and leave out the berries or use a couple of pints of berries alone. I happen to think that the flavor combo of peaches and olallieberries or blackberries is the perfect expression of summertime.



Hot Peaches and Berries with Muffin Top

4 large peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced, then cut into large chunks
1 pint olallieberries or blackberries, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats - regular or quick but not instant
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix together peach chunks, olallieberries, flour and nutmeg. Place in a greased shallow baking dish and bake until hot, about 5 minutes.

While the fruit mixture is getting hot, in a large bowl mix together the brown sugar, flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl mix together the butter and buttermilk. When the fruit mixture is hot, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir just until barely blended. Scoop the batter over the hot fruit. I put the batter around the edges, leaving a space in the center where the fruit showed through...it also lets the steam escape.

Bake 15 -20 minutes or until the topping is browned and cooked through.

Remove from the oven and cool slightly before serving. Serve some of the topping and some of the fruit in bowls. If you like pour on a little light cream but it's fine all by itself.

Note: If you pack the brown sugar the amount called for makes a pretty sweet topping. If you prefer it less sweet just scoop the brown sugar lightly into the measuring cup.

Makes 4 -6 servings.

Best Potato Casserole I've Had

We have heat people! Summer is finally here...and right on time. Should be over 95 today and the tomatoes are loving it. The beans, cukes, and chard are growing rapidly...you can almost see them get bigger as you watch. The morning glories are blooming and sending up long runners and the sweet peas are climbing, too, but I worry that this heat might be more than they like...we'll see. Although I love being in the garden, sometimes its fun to be in the kitchen. For Father's dinner I made a casserole the day before (when it was cooler) to reheat just before dinnertime.

Being Irish...well half Irish anyway...I figure that loving potatoes is a right of heritage. Although I love 'em baked and mashed and oven fried for a casserole of potatoes my favorite recipe is a gratin of potatoes with Gruyere cheesed called Pommes Savoyard.

Thinly sliced peeled potatoes are layered with a butter-onion-garlic mixture, salt and pepper, nutmeg and Gruyere cheese, then bathed in chicken or beef broth and baked until the potatoes are tender and the top is golden brown. Because you are not using a large amount of butter and are using no milk or cream this dish is easier on the waistline than some potato casseroles. Whenever I serve it there are always requests for second helpings and most people also request the recipe. I wish I could sit you down at my table and give you those first and second helpings, but since I can't I can at least give you the recipe so you can impress and please YOUR friends and family!

If you have a food processor with the slicing disc for thin slices, this is the time to use it. You can also use the grating disc to grate the cheese. I used pre-sliced Swiss cheese because that's what I had on hand, so I used a sharp knife to cut it into tiny dice. Even without the food processor this is a pretty easy recipe but you do need to allow plenty of time for it to cook to mellow tenderness.

Pommes Savoyard
3 all-purpose potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled ( I used Idahos)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons finely minced onion (I used about twice this amount...I love onions)
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste
nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
1/2 cup grated Gruyere or Swiss cheese (about 2 ounces)
1 cup beef broth or chicken broth (I used a bit more -see note below -and used chicken broth)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel potatoes and slice them 1/8-inch thick. (Rinse in cold water, then drain and pat dry with paper towels - this part I skipped and it came out fine, but you can do it if you like).

Combine the butter, onion and garlic. Use on third of the mixture to grease a shallow 1 quart baking dish. (A shallow dish is important so that you get plenty of browned topping!)

Spread half of the potatoes in a dish, and season to taste with salt and pepper and nutmeg.

Sprinkle half of the cheese over the potatoes. (I made a single layer of potatoes over the initial butter mixture, seasoned it and sprinkled on about 1/4 of the cheese, then put in a second single layer and treated it as I did the first layer, repeated that process until there were no more potatoes to layer...about 4 layers).

Arrange the remaining potato slices in an even layer over the cheese; season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Top with the remaining cheese.

Pour the broth over all and dot with the remaining butter mixture. Note: I made sure that the broth comes up almost to the top of the layered potatoes so that they will cook evenly throughout...you may need to use more broth than the recipe calls for but it is worth it and the broth cooks into the potatoes and cooks off so the potatoes keep their shape and are not soggy, so it's OK.

Bake for 1 1/4 hours, or until the potatoes are tender throughout and golden brown on top. Serves 4 - 6.

Sweet Strawberry Summer

The Cake Slice Bakers were equally divided for June between a lovely Lime Chiffon Cake and a White Chocolate Strawberry snacking cake. Because I had some strawberries and white chocolate chips on hand I decided to make that cake. I also had some blueberries that needed using up, so they went in to the cake, too, and their slight tartness added a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the strawberries, cake and white chocolate. I still found the cake to be a bit too sweet...I know, I know I love sweet, but this was even a bit much for me...but Sweetie loved it.

This is a great snacking cake because it isn't too crumbly and goes well with tea or coffee and probably would go well with a glass of milk, too.

The method is straightforward and easy. I did find that it needed to bake longer than the recipe indicated. If I had used frozen blueberries or something then I may have expected that but all the ingredients were at room temperature. One of the results of taking it out of the oven and only finding out it was undercooked after it had cooled a bit was that the center sank and when I baked it a bit more what had sunk didn't get any higher, although the cake finished baking so it wasn't batter filled anymore. I had done the toothpick in the center comes out clean part...and it was...but it is a buttery cake so I think the butter allowed the toothpick to slip out leaving the uncooked part behind.

Do give it a try while the berries are in season, just add another 5 - 10 minutes on to the baking time. Also go check out the other Cake Slice Bakers' sites, too.

Some of them voted for the Lime cake and I'll bet it is a winner, too.


June’s Cake: Fresh Strawberry Cake with White Chocolate Chips
Makes one 8 inch square cake
(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)

Ingredients
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
1½ cups all purpose flour
1½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
6 tbsp (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
8 ounces strawberries, stemmed and sliced
1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

Method
Heat the oven to 350F. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan and dust it with flour, knocking out the excess.

Combine the egg, egg yolk, sour cream, lemon zest and vanilla in a large measuring jug and beat lightly. Combined 1¼ cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric whisk on medium high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides when necessary.

With the mixer on medium low speed, pour the egg mixture into the bowl in a slow stream, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the bowl.

Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time. After the last addition mix for 30 seconds on medium speed.

Combine the strawberries and remaining ¼ cup flour in a medium bowl and toss to coat. Fold the flour covered berries along with the chocolate chips into the batter using a spatula.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake the cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. Let the cake cool ion the pan for about 5 minutes, invert it onto a wire rack and then turn it right side up to cool completely.

Cut into squares and serve.

It's Good to Be Irish

My Mom made Irish soda bread now and then while I was growing up and I enjoyed the soft, warm bread with some butter and jam, but the most memorable soda bread was the loaf made by Aunt May when we visited the family in New York. I was in high school and interested in baking so she showed me her recipe and how she made it. Aunt May, as fully Irish as my Mom, served hers with tea in the afternoon and then I helped her with the 'washing up'. He loaf was very tender and not at all dry. She used currants and buttermilk. Butter and jam were still the accompaniments, but the bread was delicious all by itself.


This month the Bread Baking Babes are making Irish soda bread with herbs with the recipe coming form the very Irish The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen. Remembering my Aunt May's soda bread I strayed from the recipe a bit. First of all I only made half the recipe. If all by siblings were here for tea I would make the whole batch, but a half batch is much more sensible for two. I decided to make it for breakfast on the weekend, so I went for slightly sweet instead of with herbs. Not having any currants on hand I added 1/4 cup golden raisins instead.

Good soda bread is soft and tender as a good biscuit, but better for you (especially if you use whole wheat flour for part of the flour as I did. To up the authenticity I used King Arthur Flour's Irish Wholemeal Flour which is even more coarse than most whole wheat flours ) because you don't use any added fat as you do with biscuits. Buttermilk gives some of the properties of fat and the additional blessing of tanginess. Key to success is to handle the ingredients with a very light hand and barely mix them together. I used my spread fingers since this is the method recommended by Tim Allen. It's messy, but you do get a lovely light, tender, moist loaf that way. Butter and jam optional.


Do check out the other Babes' blogs for their take on Soda Bread. Bet most of them followed the recipe and used herbs. I plan to make another half batch myself and do that, too.

Best of all, you can easily be a Buddy this month. This lovely little loaf goes together really, really quickly and bakes up in a little over a half hour, so you can have hot, fresh, delicious bread on the table in no time! To be a Buddy, bake the bread (the recipe is below), post about it, and then send an e-mail with a link for your post to our lovely Ilva so she can send you a badge. Links for the Babes, including Ilva's blog are at the right. Come on, give this Soda Bread a try...you can pretend to be Irish even if it isn't St. Patrick's Day.



White Soda Bread with Herbs
from The Ballymaloe Bread Book by Tim Allen

1 loaf

450 g/1lb plain white four
1 level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon bread soda, finely sieved
1 dessert spoon each of rosemary, sage and chives, all freshly chopped
400 ml/ 14 fl oz buttermilk

Heat up the oven to 230 degrees C/450 degrees F

Sieve the flour, salt and bread soda into a large, wide mixing bowl. Add the freshly chopped herbs to the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the centre. Pour most of the milk into the flour. Using one hand with the fingers open and stiff, mix in a full circle drawing in the flour from the sides of the bowl, adding more milk if necessary. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky.

The trick with all soda breads is not to over-mix the dough. Mix the dough as quickly and as gently as possible, keeping it really light and airy. When the dough comes together, turn it out onto a well-floured work surface. Wash and dry your hands.

Gently roll the ball of dough around with floury hands for a few seconds, just enough to tidy up. Then pat it gently into a round, about 5 cm/2 in high.

Place the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet. With a sharp knife cut a deep cross in the middle of it, letting the cuts go over the sides of the bread. Then prick the four triangles with your knife: according to Irish folklore this will let the fairies out!

Put this into your preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 200 degrees C/400 degrees F for a further 25 minutes, or until cooked. When the bread is cooked it will sound hollow when tapped.

Elle's variation: Add 1 tablespoon granulated sugar to the dry ingredients. Add 1/4 cup golden raisins to the dry ingredients and mix well until they are coated with flour. Omit all the herbs. Otherwise, follow the recipe as written.

A Tangy Way to Beat the Heat

There are benefits to sorting through old stuff. Since sorting through old stuff is one of my least favorite pastimes, that's a good thing. One of the benefits is that you sometimes find something that you missed before.

June of 1999 was really, really busy. Not a lot of time to look through magazines, so I set some aside. Given that the following month was the worst of my life I guess its not too surprising that I never got back to looking through them. Then they got buried below the desk in the corner of the bedroom in a box of other stuff I didn't have the energy to deal with. It's only taken 12 years but the good news is that most of that stuff went into the recycle container. Yay for getting rid of useless stuff!

One of the magazines that I did keep to look at NOW was the June 1999 Bon Appetit magazine. It has a gorgeous fresh apricot tart on the cover...you may see my version of that here in the future...and near the middle there is a simple recipe for Homemade Lemonade. According to the article lemonade was invented in 1620 in Paris (who knew?) and lemonade is "still one of the most popular drinks of summertime."

It was warm enough today to think about making lemonade and I had a couple of lemons and a lime where were barely enough to make two servings, but I did it anyway. I heartily recommend that you have at least 6 or 8 fruits on hand because this is a seriously delicious drink. It's a proportional thing so the amount of citrus juice determines how much lemonade (or in my case Lemon-Limeade) you'll have to drink.



Homemade Lemonade

1 quart water
1 quart sugar
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Cold water
Ice
Lemon slices

In a saucepan combine the 1 quart water and 1 quart sugar (for my version I combined 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar because I knew I didn't need a quart of the sugar syrup). Stir the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat and chill.

When you are ready to make the lemonade, juice some lemons and measure the juice (for my version I combined the juice of one lime and one and a half lemons, then sliced the remaining half of the lemon to go in the pitcher). Have the chilled sugar syrup and cold water ready, too.

Into a pitcher place: 1 part of the sugar syrup (also called simple sugar or simple syrup), 1 part lemon juice and 3 parts water. If you are willing to strain the mixture as you pour it over ice, you can also add the zest grated from one or two of the lemons...it adds a nice tang! If you look closely at my photos you'll see that I didn't strain mine...and I should have...so you get the good advice.

Chill the mixture. When cold, pour it into glassed filled with ice cubes. Garnish with the sliced lemons.

For variation you can add a splash of vodka for an adult beverage, or skip the vodka and throw in a few fresh raspberries for both color and flavor. Most of all, enjoy while the lemonade is icy cold, especially if the day is a hot one.

All Dogs Go to Heaven

Dear Reader,

Yesterday our great good canine companion Xam, the Bread Baker's Dog, went to heaven. He is probably running around the fields of heaven with our son Max. Notice that Xam is Max spelled backwards...that's how Max wanted it. Xam started out as Max's dog. Later he spent a lot of time with me and once Sweetie retired he spent a lot of time with him.

Xam loved 'people food', especially freshly baked bread. He was an expert Frisbee catcher until a few years ago when it was harder for him to jump. He loved to go on rides and especially to the beach or for the quiet walk along the Laguna where his tail was up and swishing back and forth in pleasure. He was a leaner, loving to lean up against you when you were petting him. Almost every evening he would go out the dog door and bark at the property line near the road...just to let everyone know that he was guarding the house...or maybe it was because the squirrel who lived in the tree there was teasing him...hard to say.

We got to keep Xam almost as long as Max was with us. 15 years for Xam, which is pretty long for a big old black lab, 16 (almost 17) for Max, which is way too short. We miss both of them intensely. We are grateful that we had each of them in our lives. Sweetie and I are sad today, missing them both. No food talk this time...maybe tomorrow.

XO Elle

101 Sourdough

Although it might look like this is going to be a tutorial (especially to the hardy souls who attend or attended college) the actual reason for the 101 is the weight of the flour.

Before we get into weighing flour, I'm happy to announce the winners of the My Southern Food book by Thomas Nelson Publishers. The first out of the hat was Richelle, who doesn't seem to have a blog but did send her e-mail address along. The second drawn was Kelly-Jane of Cooking the Books with Kelly-Jane. She has a great blog and it will be fun to see if she posts anything from the book. The last name drawn was Lynnette of Desserts Divine, a new blog for me to visit and a nice one. Congratulations to each of you. An e-mail has been sent to you asking for a mailing address. The publisher mails the books directly to you.

Back to baking! One of the things that can happen if you bake a lot of similar breads is that you get familiar with the ratios for a good loaf. This time I wanted to use my sourdough starter, three kinds of flour and some water and salt.

For one loaf (shown above) I also went seedy by using some recently received King Arthur Flour's Harvest Grains Blend. Whole oat berries, millet, rye flakes and wheat flakes enhance texture. Flax, poppy, sesame, and sunflower seeds add crunch and great, nutty flavor. I used 6 tablespoons of the mixture for one loaf and it adds just the right amount of textural and seedy interest. The point of mentioning this isn't to hawk King Arthur's blend, but to suggest that when you are making two loaves that you don't have to make them the same. Have some fun! Work in some chopped nuts or just one kind of seed like sesame or sunflower if you don't have a blend...or create your own blend. One of the reasons that making bread continues to appeal to me is that I see it as a creative vehicle and a way to add joy to my life...and the bread is great to eat, too.

Back to the flours: I weighed out the remainder in a bag of bread flour and it came to 101 grams. I decided to build my flour mixture from that measurement, so I did two additional 101s of bread flour, 101 grams of whole wheat flour twice and 101 grams of King Arthur Flour's Ancient Grains blend for a bit more complexity of flavor. As it turned out I ended up needing a bit more bread flour at the end, so the weights didn't work out quite so neatly, but the proportions are still good ones for flavor. The same flour can need variations depending on the weather. I would have thought that our rainy weather would mean less flour but it seems that it meant more added. Of course it could be that my starter was wetter than I thought it was. There are lots of variable in making the dough, so relax and go with what yours wants you to do. You are looking for a supple, soft dough that has body but isn't stiff.

This made a tight grained, slightly chewy bread with good wheat flavor plus that small bit of complex 'I wonder what else is in this bread' taste that was so delicious. I shaped the 'plain' loaf into a long thin loaf, slightly curved to fit in the pan, and made the seedy loaf into a torpedo shape.

For those of you who wonder how I can keep making bread so often and not be as big as a house...I am not as big as a house, but I am overweight and...ta da!...I'm now doing slow weight lifting to help burn some of the calories and to be heart happy. I also eat a lot of soups and salads which I love as much as bread.

This recipe is going over to Susan at Wild Yeast. Her weekly Yeastspotting event is a wonderland of bread ideas for those of us addicted to bread baking. Check it out HERE.

101 Sourdough

582 grams sourdough starter
300 grams water, lukewarm
353 grams bread flour
202 grams whole wheat flour
101 grams ancient grain blend
15 grams sea salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer place the sourdough starter and the water; whisk to blend.

in another large bowl whisk together the bread flour, whole wheat flour, ancient grain blend (or additional bread or whole wheat instead, if you prefer), and the salt.

Whisk 1 cup of the flour mixture into the sourdough mixture, then attach the bowl to the mixer. With the dough hook attached and the mixer on low to medium-low, add the about 1 cup of the flour at a time, letting at least half of it incorporate into the dough before adding the next 1 cup. For the last cup of flour, add the flour mixture by tablespoonfuls, one at a time, until the dough is soft and climbs the dough hook and doesn't completely slump into the bottom of the bowl when you stop adding flour. You may need to add an additional small amount of flour if the dough is very soft. Let the mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes.

Turn the dough out into an oiled rising container or bowl. Cover with oiled plastic wrap or a clean shower cap and let rise until double in bulk, about 2 hours.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to remove gas bubbles. Cut dough in half and return one piece of dough to the rising container or bowl. Flatten the remaining piece of dough on the lightly floured surface into a rough rectangle, then shape and either put into a bread pan or let rise on a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Take the second piece of dough and repeat the process you used for the first piece of dough, or you can do as I did and knead in 1/2 cup mixed seeds and grain flakes (I used King Arthur's grain blend), then shape and let rise as with the first loaf.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. If suing a baking stone, let it preheat at the same time in the oven. Slash the loaves when the oven is hot. Paint with egg wash if desired (1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon of water). Bake in the center of the oven (on a baking stone if possible) for 45 minutes to an hour, or until loaf sounds hollow when the back is tapped. Let cool before serving.

Makes 2 loaves.