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Oh, Strawberries!  They are abound now and will be gone soon.

I was thrilled that a local 3 generation family owned farm with organic, pesticide free,  picked daily, fruits and veggies, have opened a second stand down the road from me.  They have another stand near by but this one is super convenient for me.  Now I have three to pick from all within less than 15 minutes drive and, that's not counting the 2 farmer's market's.  

I feel so spoiled after moving from the desert.  There was one ranch that was picked over and trampled before anything was ready at least by the time I arrived.  It made me so sad to see had people abused all the brothers hard work.  Thank goodness Whole Foods arrived.  

I've made a few batches for sending to some of my family and, extra for Mike..who loves  my strawberry jam, strawberry shortcake and anything else strawberry.  

I made some strawberry shortcake cookies.  It's an old Martha Stewart recipe that I've tweaked with sour cream instead of heavy cream.  Basically, I think it's just like a scone.  I think I would like scones made with these fresh strawberries even more than the cookies.  But these are different and very enjoyable.    

I also baked a Pain Au Levain with whole wheat ala Jeffrey Hamelman's 'Bread'.  Mike loves a bit of toast with the SJ.  

Strawberry Jam on Pain Au Levain w/ whole wheat - Jeffrey Hamelman's 'Bread'

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies -  These cookies remind me of a scone, they are not mild in sweetness and, the strawberries really come through in flavor.  

I've posted the recipe below.  They should be eaten right away or refrigerated for a short time.  They won't last long.

 Martha Stewart's strawberry desserts

Strawberry - Shortcake Cookies

A handy portable version of a classic dessert.

12 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4 in diced pieces (2 cups)

1 teaspoon - fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 ounces (6 TBsp. cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

2/3 cup of heavy cream -  I didn't have any cream so I used sour cream

Some sparkle sugar crystals to sprinkle on top of cookies before baking.

1.  Preheat oven 375F - I use convection setting for best results.

Combine strawberries, lemon juice and a Tablespoon of granulated sugar.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt,

and remaining 7 Tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl.  Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with

your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in

strawberry mixture.

2.  Using a 1 1/2 - inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment,

spacing evenly apart.  sprinkly with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes apx.  

Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool.  Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container

at room temperature for up to 1 day. 

Have a Berry Happy Day!

Sylvia

So I've stuck with it into week two (lets see about week 10).  To prep for this market I have to be prepared as i work M-F and that means after work Friday is the likely time I'll be bulk fermenting/shaping/retarding.  Followed by waking up early to bake the loaves and get down to the market in time.   

This week I chose to use one of my trade items from last week.  Local dried figs. I write up a recipe and it continues to be manipulated right until I finally make the dough.  Then I put together a rough guideline and let the dough lead.  I'll post recipe and tommorrow after all is said and done some pictures and I'll update the recipe with some notes. 

Figgy Sour                           

108 grams HP
36 g Rye
144 g H20
32 g Mature White Starter 
--------------------------------
ferment 8 hours

Dough
48   g Dried Figs (chopped roughly)
80 g Hot water
------------------------------------
Soak figs warm water when you make the levain.

------------------------------------
96 g  Kamut
552 g HP
91  g   Yogurt  (scale when you make the levain and let come to room temp)
215 g H20
1/2 tsp fennel seed (soak in final dough water while figs are soaking)
16 g Sea Salt
----------------------------------
DDT 76deg

When levain is ready
1) Drain Figs and add liquid to final dough liquid.  Mix in the yogurt
2) Add Flours and mix until shaggy dough is formed (autolyse 1 hour) 
3) Add levain and blend in, Add salt and continue mixing
4) Mix on low speed for a few minutes until dough begins to develop. (I have a 4 speed mixer and use speed 2) Once slighly developed
Add  figs and mix in slowly.
When pulled away from bowl turn up to speed 3 for 30 seconds to mix and mash some of the figs just a bit.
5) Bulk ferment 3-4 hours with 4 s+f at 30 minutes intervals. (4 hours with 4 s + f)
6) Divide and shape into bannetons. Proof 1-2 hours at room temp and retard.
7) Bake with steam at 460 for 15 vent for 25

Updates tommorrow when all is said and done.  Currently shaped and waiting to be retarded. 

Warning - this contains lots of photos

I outlined the experiments I wanted to undertake with regards to GF baking  in a previous post and here is a brief personal log of the first steps.

I baked gluten free breads with a mix of tapioca flour, potato flour and five other flours using instant yeast as rising agent and psyllium husk as gelling agent.

The psyllium husks have been soaked with 20g water per g Psyllium.

For each of the "main" flours (making up 60% of the total flour, the rest are the starches) the amount of psyllium has been varied and hydration has been adjusted to give the doughs a similar feel as far as possible.

The details of the bakes are in a google sheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkcYHhPxccKtdG5aRV96RVY3TUkzdWM1R0tWcndmaXc&usp=sharing

The sorghum was a flour from TRS, the millet was a GF certified flour from Infinity Foods and the others were freshly milled.

The breads were baked at 210C for about 40 minutes.

Now to the results:

Quinoa gets the best marks in terms of color, Sorghum in terms of handling, consistency and crumb. Rice bread was surprisingly light and tasty.

The amount of psyllium has a great influence on the handling qualities of the dough, there is a fine line between yielding a pliable and a dough that feels more like jelly.

Because Psyllium attracts so much water the amount of Psyllium also hugely determines the final hydratiuon of the dough.

1. Buckwheat:

With 2% Psyllium / 90% Hydration and 4%Psyllium / 110% Hydration the crumb was pleasant and the taste strong but not overpowering. Above 110% Hydration the taste became watery.

The batch after "shaping":

After baking (the same labels apply):

And here the crumb:

2. A batch with brown rice, sorghum and quinoa, after shaping:

After proofing (the same labels apply):

After baking:

And here the crumb:

3. Millet

This was the first of the batches, and I might have overproofed a bit.

The shaped batch:

After proofing

After baking

And here the crumb:

The 4% Psyllium Millet loaf is agreeable. I might repeat this with less hydration, although I must say that for me millet is the clear looser in terms of texture, taste and handling.

            
 Levain

35 gr Starter

140 gr di H20

140 gr Semola  di Grano Duro Rimacinata

Left at Room  temperature 22 ° for 10 H 

Final Dough

350 + 50  gr di H20

4 gr of Malt

560 gr di Semola di grano Duro Rimacinata

13 gr Salt

Method

-         when levain is ready

-         take the 350gr H20 and mix the malt

-         mix water and levain together with a mixer and rest for 15 min

-         add the salt and the 5o gr of  water and rest  for 40 min

-         1 ½  H bulk fermentation every 30 min S & F

-         20 min of rest after the last S & F

-         Preshape  and bench rest  15 min

-         shape and bannetton for 20 min and than in fridge 4 ° for 20 H

-         1 H at room temperature in the same time preheat the oven

-          scoring and baking at :

-         15 min with steam at 250°

 -        30 min NO steam  at 250 °

-      15 min at 200 with the oven  door slightly open

For one loaf

http://freebakery.blogspot.it/

Enriched yeast dough with butter, milk and sugar. I ferment half the dough without butter and sugar overnight using my bread yeast culture. The following day I incorporate the next half flour with sugar, butter and spices (I use caraway seeds here) . Let dough rise till doubled then shape in rings and place them close to each other on a tray.  Dissolve some sugar in milk and use it to glaze the rings then sprinkle with seasme seeds. Let them rest until puffed up, an hour or so, and bake at 180-200 till golden. I'm not precise on ingredients but around 50g butter and sugar to 400g flour is the ratio is used. They stale out quite easily so eat them warm.

Okay my second Attempt at Feta Cheese and Hot Pepper bread!
but this time I use a cast iron dutch oven and I am very happy!

Having never made Ezekiel Bread before, this was a real treat for Lucy.  Us older ex-Hippie types haven’t made it for decades.   One reason is the 2 day sprouting for the beans and rice in one large pile and then sprouting whole grains in another.

Then you mix half of each pile, add the dough liquid to it and then chop them up in a mini Cuisinart chopper.  Chop them into the smallest pieces you can for adding to the dough as a horrible looking gruel .....that doesn’t smell too good either.  My apprentice appreciated me thinking of her by having this mix smell especially horrid.

There were 3 leavens for this recipe; SD, YW and a poolish.  Ezekiel is famous for rising from the dead and making the bread named after him into bricks.  He night do this just for fun or possibly spite since he was forced to eat an unleavened version of this bread for two years while wandering in a harsh desert.  I’d really be mad about that but maybe gladder at being alive at the end of the ordeal…. I guess.

The leavens were not made from sprouted grains but were made in (3) 4 hour builds/   The SD portion was then refrigerated overnight.   The poolish took 12 hours to double after the last feeding as did the YW levain.  Why they were so slow is unknown, but mysterious none the less as are most things coming out of this kitchen no a days.

As for using non sprouted grains in the leavens, Lucy said she is crazy as any other baking apprentice but she isn’t as stupid as some of them.  This is debatable and isn’t saying all that much anywasy when you think about it a second longer than she does.

We were going to make this a 100% whole grain affair in keeping with the door stops that Ezekiel actually ate but thought better of it.   We could always do another bake at 100% whole grain if this one doesn't end up breaking rock in a quarry.

The leavens ended up being such a huge portion of this bread, we decided not to retard it and risk a possible IED in the fridge.  We are old enough to want to live forever so tempting fate is not one of out strong suits - even though it seems we we do it all the time concerning much more dangerous things. 

We did our usual 10 minutes of slap and folds even though this dough, if you could call it that, was a sticky, goopy mess that wouldn’t begin to get tame until 5minutes had passed.  Eventually it came together enough to let rest 15 minutes before 3 sets of S&F’s were done on 20 minute intervals. The left over half of the beans and rice sprouts, as well as, the grain sprouts were incorporated on the first set. 

The do was allowed to ferment for 30 minutes before it being formed into one large chacon using a knotted roll in the middle, surrounded by 8 balls and then one twisted twin sister rope.  The design was then covered by the remaining dough shaped in the air into a huge bialy. 

The basket contained dough was placed into a used trash can liner to final proof on the counter for 1 ½ hours before Old Betsy was cranked up to 500 F with top and bottom stones inplace.  Once the temperature hit 450 F we slipped in the CI skillet full of lava rocks and half full of water on the bottom rack to create steam and set the timer for 20 minutes to allow the temperature lagging stone to get at least 450 F.

When 20 minutes was up steam was aplenty and we un-molded the chacon onto a peel covered in parchment and slipped the bread into Betsy’s steaming hot maw.  After 2 minutes we turned the temperature down to 450 F.   13 minutes later we removed the steam and turned the temperature down to 400 F, convection this time.

We rotated the bread every 5 minutes on the stone for 25 minutes until the bread hit 203 F in the middle then e turned off the heat and let the bread come up to 205 F when it was removed to a cooling rack.

The bread took on a handsome, if unusually deep, mahogany color that we have never seen before but like very much.  The crust was very crisp which we also like and it stayed that way as it cooled.   It wasn’t as aromatic as bread with aromatic seeds, even though it smelled very earthy.

We can’t wait to taste it and see what this unusual ingredient list with beans and rice sprouts with grain sprouts will taste like and see how beautiful the crust is, how moist, soft and open it turned out.  Have to wait for that though.  The wait is over and we have never had a bread that tastes like this.  Deep and rich like a pumpernickel... and with all the beans - Satan's Farts may be closer than you think.  It has its own taste but the taste isn't beans or grain.  My daughter liked it with butter out of the microwave.  I loved it toasted - a wholemeal in one bread.  The process was long but the rewards were great.  One of those great meals in a bread.  Perfect as a salad foil.  The crumb was soft and moist but not as open as we thought it would be - not dense and heavy but not as open as we get it next time.

Next time...... and there will be one, we will omit the YW levain - no need, do an overnight retard, make it 100% whole grain by subbing WW for the AP and get some crunch in there with whole hemp and millet seeds....possibly some dried entamame.  Haven't decided on the dried fruit but apricots come to mind.   It's a lot work for a baker and his apprentice compared to normal bread bakes - but worth it.

There is a  toasted and buttered slice of multi grain Dapumpernickel in the middle of this fine breakfast in order to compare it to the Ezekiel Chacon.  We like the Ezekiel even better and we love the pumpernickel.  Testament to a fine bread and breakfast.

Lunch wasn;lt bad either with a smoked pork, brie and hot pepper jack grilled cheese sandwich, watermelon, strawberry, pickled Thai eggplant, grilled summer squash and eggplant, salad and all the fixin's with home grown tomato, steamed broccoli and yellow squash, half a banana, BBQ baked beans, celery, red pepper and carrot sticks and a half an avocado.  Just yummy!  We like thsi bread very much and the sour has really started to come out on day 2.

Formula

baking a  SD rye inspired by Khalid with little adaption of my own.

200g rye starter  at 100% hydration

54g dark rye flour

150g rye flour

25g whole spelt flour

200g bread flour

400g AP flour

600g water (hold back 240g)

15g salt

20 dates soaked in hot water 10mins. seeded n blend with 240g water

80g toasted sunflower seeds

dough hydration 72%

mix AP flour and Starter and 360g water. let rest 8 hours (sponge)

add pureed dates, salt, toasted sunflower seeds, all rye flour  and spelt n bread flour to the sponge till soft n smooth ball.

rest 40mins SF 3 times 30, 60 and 90 mins

shape and proofed 1- 2 hours. or retard in the fridge 8-12 hours

preheat oven 420 F .. bake with lava stone steam at 375 F 40 - 45 mins. remove lava stones tray after 15 mins.

yield 2 medium loaves

my mom's garden.. she lives 3 hours drive away from me. she caught a busy bee gathering honey from her bush flower tree :)

this bread have a good sour using a sponge method and i did retard the dough for 12 hours. suprisingly not sweet.. just hint of sweet from the dates.

little crunch from the beautiful green sunflower seeds.

good with smoke salmon n Gorgonzola !! 

happy baking and gardening 

evon