Auntie X's No-Knead Bread

Every weekend I make a batch of No-Knead Bread, sometimes I make extra dough and freeze it for later. I really love the flavor and texture that the long, slow rise gives the bread. My recipe is based on the NY Times recipe with a few changes.

ingredients:
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast (I just eyeball it in the palm of my hand)
1 to 2 teaspoons raw/turbinado sugar (eyeballed)
1 to 2 teaspoons salt (again, I just eyeball it)
1-5/8 cups warm tapwater

1. In a big bowl mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until all the flour is wet, don't stress over having everything incorporated because the long rise will cover a multitude of sins.

2. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit on top of the fridge or in some other warm, draft-free place for 12 to 18 hours.

3. About a half hour before you're ready to bake the bread pre-heat the oven as hot as it will go: 500 F if yours will allow, mine tops out at 450 F. Liberally flour your countertop, much more heavily than you would for other breads or cookies... if you see any spots of countertop the dough will stick. Basically the dough is a very wet dough. Dump the dough out onto the floured surface and scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Don't try to knead the dough, just fold it into thirds from both directions, flour the top, then cover with the plastic wrap off the bowl, and let rest for 30 minutes.

While your dough is resting, prep your loaf pan. First I take a large piece of aluminum foil, about twice as long as the loaf pan or longer:



Place the loaf pan in the middle of the piece of foil and first fold up the long edges against the outside of the loaf pan:



Then squeeze the ends together at each end of the loaf pan:



Then lift the short end of the foil up against the ends of the loaf pan and crimp to secure:




Now take the loaf pan out of the foil, and presto, you have a perfect mirror image that will keep the steam in, allowing the bread to rise to its maximum height before crusting.



I use Earth Balance or Soy Garden to lightly grease the loaf pan:



Once the dough has rested for 30 minutes, drop it into the loaf pan, it doesn't much matter how un-gracefully you do this, because it pretty much evens out in the oven.



Next, cover the loaf pan with the tinfoil tent and squeeze the edges tightly to the pan for as close a seal as possible:



Next pop the loaf into the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, use tongs to remove the aluminum foil and bake another 20 minutes to brown the crust.



The beauty of this recipe is that it is so forgiving.

FFtVSC: Lentil Soup with Kale Ribbons

This is a good solid work night dinner. It is a delicious, nutritious, and uncomplicated recipe. I give it a thumbs up.

Spring-Thyme Linguine for one

We've had a few really warm days, and the nights have stayed above freezing for most of them, so Paul and I decided to take full advantage of this beautiful sunny weather. Yesterday we took a picnic dinner out to the local state forest and hiked a bit. Today while Paul has been at work, I've been raking away the protective winter mulch and death to reveal the new buds of spring. The thyme in the herb garden is doing so well, you'd hardly think that winter had happened. Consequently, this lunch was born.

Ingredients:

1 generous serving of linguine, cooked but still damp with cooking liquid to prevent sticking
1 T olive oil
3 large porcini mushrooms, sliced
6 small spring onions, greens chopped into larger pieces, whites sliced finely
1 clove garlic, minced if you don't own a garlic press (though every garlic-lover should!)
1 small splash of white wine or rice wine vinegar
1-2 T fresh spring thyme, leaves slid off the stem
salt and pepper to taste

For this recipe I used my well-seasoned cast iron skillet.
Add the olive oil and mushrooms to the skillet and toss vigorously over high heat so that all of the liquid escaping the mushrooms evaporates. Stir-fry until the mushrooms have lost most of their water and started to brown, but haven't yet reached the crispy stage.
Reduce heat to med-low and add the green onions, toss until the whites of the onions have softened. Squeeze in garlic clove and continue stiffing for about a minute. Add linguine and white wine and toss. Turn off heat and add fresh thyme, salt and pepper to taste.

Bon Appetite!

FFtVSC: Wild Rice Pilaf with Peas, Lemon Zest, and Tarragon

This Wild Rice Pilaf from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker is unexpectedly one of the best recipes of this cookbook. I'm a relative novice when it comes to tarragon. I remember the first time I tried tarragon it seemed too licorice-y and sweet, and I generally prefer savory flavors. But I'm beginning to learn how it can be used in unexpected ways. I didn't want to run out to buy fresh tarragon, so I used a teaspoon of dried instead of the Tablespoon of fresh that the recipe calls for. I must admit that lemon and tarragon make a lovely pairing, and the two together helped balance out the natural swampiness of the wild rice without masking it's rich nuttiness. I also want to mention that cooking the wild rice in the slow cooker is pure genius. I used my rice cooker last time I made wild rice, and it's so tricky to get it beyond the crunchy stage and into delightful fluffiness. The slow cooker cooks the wild rice slowly enough that it doesn't burn, and the glass lid allows you to easily monitor the cooking progress without releasing all of the wonderful steam.

FFtVSC: South-African Slow-Cooked Bobotie

I had never heard of bobotie before I tried this recipe for the first time, and therefore I had no expectations. I think that this dish is one of the shining stars of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. With the small caveat that the quality of the bread makes a huge difference. The bread that I like to use for this recipe is 9 grain bread from Baker's Inn because it's so chock full of whole grains and seeds. I also generally add more bread than the recipe calls for so that the bobotie ends up light and fluffy. The combination of the hearty bread cubes, sweet sauteed onion and apricot, and the mildly spicy curry powder makes me think of the holidays. It's like a delicious combination of Tourtiere, bread stuffing, and spicy pumpkin pie. Topped with crunchy sliced almonds, how can you go wrong?

FFtVSC: Pesto-Infused White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Stew

I'll admit, I didn't actually cook this one, Paul threw it together in the crockpot while I was at work. Unfortunately it didn't really turn out the way that I had thought it would. From the name of the dish I thought it would have the thick almost caramelized taste of the sun-dried tomatoes, the rich creaminess of the white beans and the sweet kick of the pesto. It didn't. I couldn't really taste the sun-dried tomatoes, nor the pesto, and the beans were lackluster. I'm hoping that this was a result of poor measurement, substandard ingredients, or a less-experienced cook. It's too bad because the concept of a sun-dried tomato and pesto stew was very enticing. I might need to rework it later when I have the time.

Veganomicon: Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls

I'm back!

These babies made an appearance as Sunday lunch. They were pretty good. I've never had sushi with mayo in it, though I've heard it's very popular here in the States. I added all the hot oil that I had which was much more than the recipe called for, and it still didn't qualify as spicy for me, so either my hot oil wasn't very hot, or the mayo took away too much of the hit. The tempeh filling was a bit like "tuna" salad, and the fillings squished out the sides as I was forming the rolls. I think I would like to see some red pepper strips in this next time for a touch of color and sweetness.

M.I.A.

It's no secret that I haven't posted in a looooong time. Life happens.

My sister is more than halfway through her pregnancy now. We've gone shopping for baby furniture and shopping for maternity clothes, and just plain shopping. For some reason when she and I are together we end up "running a few errands" which ends up as a full day of shopping.

My brother's daughter Charlie had her hip surgery. It was a very long procedure that took a whole day and then a week at Boston Children's Hospital. She's doing well so far, though we had a little infection/pneumonia scare when she was recovering from the surgery. Luckily it wasn't insurmountable. She will be in a very elaborate cast for a while, which means that she can't fit in her car seat, so no visiting Auntie X.

And I got a full-time job for the first time in 2 years. Unfortunately, with 9 hours at work and 3 hours of commute each day, there isn't a lot of time left for cooking and blogging. I'm trying to be more proactive, planning ahead all meals and snacks for the entire week, doing all of my grocery shopping over the weekend, and using the crockpot as much as possible. Unfortunately even the best laid plans get brushed aside sometimes, especially this last week when I put in almost a full day's worth of overtime.

I don't want to give up this blog because I love to cook, but I think I'm going to have to get creative about how a do my blogging. I also have been really disappointed with the performance of my digital camera. The camera is a hand-me-down that I got from my mother-in-law. It was a reasonable camera for taking pictures of the renovation, but since the camera can't focus on anything closer than about 6 feet, it takes pretty unappealing food photos. But I also feel like photos are a very important part of food blogging. We eat first with our eyes, and it was always nicer to have a photograph to give you an idea about what the finished product will look like. Different cooks have different ideas about what "chop" or "thinly" means. Having a picture can give you and idea about what the author intended. So I've decided that one of the first purchases that I'll make with my new found income (once I've paid down some debt) is a new digital camera. I'd like to get the same one that Susan has over at Fat Free Vegan.