A Field Trip, Grain-Free Bread & Garden Frittata

Yesterday I took the boys out to a local farm to pick up some lovely blue potatoes and tomatoes. Alistaire was asleep in the van, Ford stayed there with him, so Walker came with me and checked out everything. He was being very shy for once, so unlike him! Annette, the lady who runs the farm, dug us up a couple of pounds of potatoes while we poked around:

We checked out part of their chickens – the older hens were in the fenced yard while the younger ones were out in the sun. She keeps them apart to keep down bickering. Walker was very fascinated, I don’t think he had seen a live chicken up close before!

When we got home I made this pan of bread. Consider it a focaccia style bread. It is creamy, moist and flavorful. A little goes a long way! It wraps up well and stores for a couple of days. While I spent the money for both goat cheeses used, you could substitute, in theory, cream cheese for the soft cheese and any hard cheese for the hard goat cheese. It won’t be the same but would be a lot cheaper. Still, if I am going to indulge in bread like this, buying the best just seems worth it.

Walker (our toddler) enjoyed the bread quite a bit. He ate the same size square as us!

Grain-Free Almond Herb Bread

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups Almond Meal/Flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt
  • ½ cup finely shredded hard goat cheese
  • 4 ounces soft goat cheese
  • 3 whole eggs, preferably organic & local
  • 3 Tbsp walnut oil or other cold-pressed oil
  • 1 Tbsp minced onion (fresh or rehydrated dried)
  • 4 ounces soft goat cheese
  • Fine sea salt for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°, lightly oil a 9×13″ glass baking pan with a bit more oil, set aside.

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk the eggs smooth, add the soft goat cheese and beat in, then the remaining ingredients. Add to the dry, stir to mix. Spread evenly in the prepared pan. Dust very lightly with a pinch more salt on top.

Bake for 30 minutes, until golden on top. Let cool on a rack, then cut into wedges or squares, pop out with a small spatula. Store leftovers in the refrigerator wrapped up.

The bread is sturdy enough it can be split in half for use as a sandwich bread as well. And served with fresh tomatoes!

Well…here is something to admit: I hadn’t ever bought a Parsnip before. I know….sheesh. I finally found some nice looking ones that were not limp (I am looking at you local Safeway! Your Parsnips could be tied into bows!!) This is a very pretty dish, and yes, it is egg-centric, but I have so many lovely eggs to use up from the farmers market and Saturday is fast approaching! This is a nice way to approach vegetables in children.

But alas, my Garden Frittata needs a little more work. I had baked it and it was a bit soft in the center for my taste (but done on the outside). I ended up crisping it in a skillet in a bit of oil – and then it was quite tasty – and crispy. Back to the drawing, er, recipe board!

~Sarah

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Herby Bread and Pea & Lime Sammie Spread

A two-fer today! Crunchy, crumby-liscous homemade bread and a chunky spread that tops it wonderfully. Who wants an easy & rustic lunch?

The bread was what the spread needed – it has body and holds up to it.

Herby Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1¼ cups warm water
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1½ cups white whole wheat flour
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp dry milk
  • 1½ tsp dried basil
  • 1½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 tsp dry yeast
  • ½ cup raw sunflower seeds

Directions:

Add the ingredients in order listed, except for seeds, or as bread machine calls for, into bread pan. Set for a 1½ lb loaf, basic white, medium crust in standard bread machines. If using a Zojirushi Breadmaker, set for basic loaf, medium crust.

Babysit the dough during the kneading, add more flour if needed. Once the dough looks perfect, add in the sunflower seeds.

Remove promptly after baking is done, let cool before slicing.

Makes one 1½ lb loaf.

Pea & Lime Spread

Ingredients:

  • 12 ounces thawed unsalted frozen petite peas, about 2 2/3 cups peas
  • 2 fresh limes, juiced, about ¼ cup
  • ¼ cup fresh parsley, packed
  • 2 Tbsp dried minced onion, soaked in 2 Tbsp cool water for 30 minutes
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp garlic
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt and ground black pepper

Directions:

Add everything to a food processor bowl. Process on high, stopping to scrape the sides as needed. till slightly chunky. Taste for seasoning.

Serve on crusty bread.

~Sarah

Two Days of Homemade Bread

Woke up to a morning that was cool with pockets of sun but no rain (finally), I loaded up the two youngest in their BOB Duallie stroller after breakfast and we set off for town. As I have mentioned before there is no straight path to “town”, due to the major 3 roads having few sidewalks. Once I make it out of our development, which is all private roads but safe, I am already in for ½ mile. Over the years I have found a couple of back ways to get to the grocery stores, where I only have a few yards of sketchy road walking. The downside is it takes me 5½ miles round trip to do this. I live in city limits! If I could walk the highway, that is one of the main roads, it would be under 3 miles round trip. Oh well, more exercise I suppose. We had a good time though, it was mild temperatures, breezy and the walking went fast. We picked up a sandwich and had lunch at a pocket park on the way back.

Now that the weather is getting nice I am hoping to wean myself off the car for as much as I can. The biggest issue I have faced is finding a route to the post office and library that avoids the dreaded 3rd main road (speed limit 35, people drive it like it is an expressway).

A certain toddler at the library yesterday – his highlight was watching a prisoner transfer between the local cops and the sheriff’s office in the parking lot. He thought it was hilarious…..

I think I have found a back route. The mileage will be bad and it has a very steep hill in the center that I will have to walk both ways, plus when I come back home I have a big hill to get to our house. But why am I crabbing? I NEED to do this. Good training for summer hiking!! Anyways…. time is something I have. The kids love the stroller. And we get outside. Just shows how pedestrian unfriendly my town is :(

But on to better things!

With us now firmly making bread every day (and by “we” that means me and them eating!) I am trying to keep things interesting by trying new variations daily. So what have we had the past two days?

Tuesday -

Golden Raisin Bread

Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup warm water
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, used sunflower
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1¼ cups organic all-purpose flour
  • ¾ cup white whole wheat flour
  • 1¼ tsp dry active yeast
  • 1/3 cup golden raisins

Directions:

Add the ingredients in order listed or as your bread machine calls for, reserving the raisins. Set for a 1 lb whole wheat loaf, medium crust. In the last few minutes of the second knead cycle add the raisins and let them knead in.

Once baked remove promptly, knock out and cool on a wire rack.

Makes a 1 pound loaf.

Wednesday -

Country Crust White Bread

Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup warm water
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil, used olive oil
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1½ Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbsp dry milk
  • 2 cups organic all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp dry active yeast

Directions:

Add the ingredients in order listed or as bread machine calls for. Set for a 1 lb white loaf, medium crust. Once baked remove promptly and knock out, cool on a wire rack.

Makes a 1 pound loaf.

And my anniversary present is slated to show up today! Lets just say it could make bread making even more fun! More to come soon!

~Sarah

Two Takes on White Bread

Against all my railing on about white flour I’ll be honest, there are times I do like it. I thought it out and came to the conclusion that I am OK with using organic, stone ground unbleached all-purpose flour or similar periodically in my baking. There are things that taste only a certain way with sinful, silky grained white flour. And I was having feely-sorry-itis this week and two of our daily breads were naughty bread ;-)

The first was kneaded in the bread machine and baked free form on a baking sheet. A tender loaf, perfect for serving with dinners on the side. I adapted a recipe from Bob’s Red Mills website. The recipe can be made with either whole wheat or all-purpose flour, or a mix. All-purpose does give the lightest bread though.

Almond Meal Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups warm water
  • 2 Tbsp sunflower oil or other neutral vegetable oil
  • 4 cups organic all-purpose or white whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup Almond Meal/Flour
  • 2½ Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast Flakes
  • 2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 Tbsp active dry yeast

Directions:

Add the water and oil to your bread pan, top with dry ingredients, yeast on top. Set bread machine for dough cycle, 2 lb loaf size.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, knock the dough out and shape gently into a round loaf. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°, bake the bread for 30 minutes or until golden on top. Remove from the oven, slide the paper on to a cooling rack, use a thin spatula under the bread and slide the paper out. Let cool fully before slicing.

For storage cut into quarters, freeze the quarters for later use at meals, it thaws quickly on the counter.

This loaf of bread comes from my bread machine’s cookbook Breadman TR2500BC Ultimate Plus 2-Pound Stainless-Steel Convection Breadmaker, on page 36. It is a nearly fail-safe loaf, the 1½ lb loaf is perfectly sized for sandwiches. Walker was howling when I told him he couldn’t have any till morning while it cooled.

Basic Bread Machine White Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup + 2 Tbsp warm water
  • 1½ Tbsp sunflower or other neutral vegetable oil
  • 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1½ tsp kosher salt
  • 1½ Tbsp dry milk
  • 3¼ cups all-purpose organic flour
  • 1¾ tsp active dry yeast

Directions:

Add the water and oil to the bread pan, dry ingredients on top, with yeast last. Set for a 1½ lb white loaf, medium crust. Once baked, remove promptly and let cool on a rack before slicing.

~Sarah

Three Bread Recipes

A compilation of bread recipes I have made this past week. Two are bread machine friendly, the third is old-school. Even with the third recipe, I still spend more time writing up my recipes than I do actually baking bread (mostly because I write-up my blog posts when the baby is sleeping and the toddler isn’t ripping up the house….and I tend to get distracted in those rare moments of quiet..ooh..Facebook! The news! Pinterest! OK! back to writing!!) Overall bread making has become an enjoyable part of my daily life now. I keep trying new ideas and recipes, no reason to eat the same bread every day if one doesn’t have to. The guys like it as well, so it encourages me to keep going.

Speaking of The Baby (Alistaire) he will be 4 months this week. Time is going by too fast.

Up first I was bad and pulled out some (gasp) white flour to try out a new recipe from The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook: A Master Baker’s 300 Favorite Recipes for Perfect-Every-Time Bread-From Every Kind of Machine, on page 202. Who knew white bread could become a treat ;-) I used a bag of Bob’s Red Mill unbleached organic flour that I have hidden away for these special breads.

At over 600 pages it is a bible on making breads, it also touches on pasta, which I will be working on soon. My Mother In-Law passed on to me her old manual pasta machine, of which Kirk remembers helping with. Keep an eye out for me getting into that mess….

Semolina Country Bread

Ingredients:

Directions:

Add the wet ingredients into bread pan, followed by the dry, with yeast on top. Set for a 1½ lb loaf of French bread, medium crust. (Or follow bread machines directions)

After baking remove promptly, knock out of the pan and rest on a cooling rack. Let cool fully, then store in a bread bag, use within 2 days.

From my Breadman TR2500BC Ultimate Plus 2-Pound Stainless-Steel Convection Breadmaker cookbook, on page 52. The 1½ lb loaf is the perfect size for sandwiches. The molasses gives the bread a deep color and a pleasing flavor. I used freshly ground white whole wheat berries for the flour.

100% Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup + 3 Tbsp warm water (80°)
  • 3 Tbsp molasses
  • 2 Tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1½ tsp kosher salt
  • 13 ounces white whole wheat flour (3¼ cups) + more as needed
  • 2 Tbsp dry milk
  • 1½ tsp active dry yeast

Directions:

Add the wet ingredients into bread pan, followed by the dry, with yeast on top. Set for a 1½ lb loaf of whole wheat bread. (Or follow bread machines directions) Watch during the first kneading, adding more flour as needed.

After baking remove promptly, knock out of the pan and rest on a cooling rack. Let cool fully, then store in a bread bag, use within 2 days.

This recipe I found on Bob’s Red Mill website. I cut and froze one of the loaves, so we’d have emergency bread.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients:

½ cup Scottish Oatmeal
1 Tbsp fine sea salt
¼ cup sunflower oil
1/3 cup honey
2 cups milk
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp Vital Wheat Gluten Flour
4-1/2 cups to 4-3/4 white whole wheat flour (18 to 20 ounces freshly ground)

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast. In a sauce pan heat milk, honey, oil and salt just till warm (115°). Add to dry mixture in mixing bowl. Beat at low-speed with electric mixer for 1/2 minute, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes at high-speed.

By hand, stir in oats, gluten and enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead till smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Shape in a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to oil the surface. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 45 minutes). Punch dough down; turn out on a lightly floured surface. Divide in half. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Shape into two loaves; place in two sprayed or lightly oiled metal bread pans. Cover and let rise in warm place till double (about 30 minutes). Bake at 375° for 35-40 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks. Makes 2 loaves

~Sarah

Adventures In Grinding Flour & A New Bread Recipe

There is something about rubbing freshly ground flour between your fingers. It has a grit, a texture, that you don’t get even in stone ground flour. I suppose this would have been highly undesirable in times past, peasant flour in a way. Yet, there is something alluring about it. The smell is incredible, it smells sweet. The flavor compares to nothing. It is fresh flour, ground minutes before you use it! I kept putting off grinding our flour until I painfully ran out of pre-ground flour and faced a stark truth: either I start grinding or I had to skulk my way into the store and buy flour – and admit that to Kirk – considering he had bought me 25 lbs of white wheat berries that were staring back at me. And that months ago Kirk had bought me a Vitamix Blender with the dry container on the side…I was out of excuses.

Frozen wheat berries ready to be ground after measured:

Grinding the flour in the dry container, it takes about a minute. I do 1½ cups berries each round, it seems to give better results, although you can do up to 2 cups at a time:

Closeup of the flour:

Freshly ground and ready to use:

As for the bread? A simple 6 ingredient recipe that I adapted from 100 Days of Real Food. It goes together quickly, although you should babysit the dough in the first kneading to make sure it is perfect. It is a simple bread where the freshly ground flour shines through in taste.

Honey White Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups water (around 80°)
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 20 ounces freshly ground white whole wheat flour
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 2¼ tsp active yeast

Directions:

Add the water, honey and oil to the bread pan. Place 17 ounces of the flour on top. salt and yeast, set for a 2 lb whole wheat loaf, medium crust. During the first kneading watch the dough and add more flour as needed – you may need 2 to 3 ounces more, add it slowly, watching the dough knead, it should pull away from the sides and be smooth but not sticky.

After baking knock out and let cool fully before slicing.

Makes a 2 lb loaf. Store wrapped, best if eaten within 2 days.

~Sarah

Proudly made in our Vitamix Blender:

Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread with Sweet Potatoes

As part of the move to eating as unprocessed as we can, I have been grinding Hard White Wheat Berries, which I buy in 25 lb bags. I freeze the wheat berries and grind in my Vitamix‘s dry container. 1 minute to fresh flour! I don’t save any money, the wheat berries and the ground flour both cost $20 for 25 lbs when I buy them direct from Bob’s Red Mill, the key is the wheat berries produce a fresher product. But the one issue with whole wheat flours, especially home ground, is that it is dense. Weighing your flour is very important. Small scales (digital) are not too pricey and tuck away, I picked mine up at Costco years ago for under $20. Anyhow, a cup measured of flour can be as much as 5.6 ounces (or more), weighed is 4 ounces. This can lead easily to dry bread! So weigh, don’t measure. Need an easy resource on weights? King Aurthur has one you will want to bookmark.

To show the difference I made two loaves of Mark Bittman’s No-Knead Bread with Squash from The Food Matters Cookbook: 500 Revolutionary Recipes for Better Living, with the first loaf using scooped flour, the second loaf using weighed flour. In the case of not weighing the flour, I had to add over an extra ¼ cup of water and the dough did not rise as high the first time. While this is correctable in an easy recipe such as this, if you are baking tender quick breads such as banana, you risk getting a lead loaf o’ bread. So weigh the flour, you won’t regret taking the time.

I weighed the bread loaves after baking: the one without weighed flour comes in at 35.8 ounces, the loaf with weighed flour? 28 ounces. 7½ ounce difference is quite a bit!

As for the photo, the larger loaf on the left is the heavier one.

As for the vegetable choice in the bread? Use what you like and have on hand. Canned works great, be sure it is vegetable only, no added thickeners or sweeteners. Canned pumpkin, butternut and Organic Sweet Potato Puree all work well.

Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread with Sweet Potatoes, adapted from pages 541-542

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups white whole wheat (12 ounces)
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1½ tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 cup purée cooked squash or sweet potatoes, such as a can of Organic Sweet Potato Puree
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

Combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the sweet potatoes and water, stir until blended. The dough should be quite wet, almost like a batter. If not, add in a bit more water.

Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, set in a warm spot to rise for two hours.

Add half the oil to a 9″ by 5″ bread pan, swirl to coat. Gently scrape the dough into the pan and settle it evenly. Drizzle the remaining oil on top and cover back up with the plastic wrap. Let rise for another 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and bake the bread for about 45 minutes (check with an instant read thermometer for an internal temperature of 200°). Knock the bread out on a cooling rack, let cool fully before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf, store wrapped.

~Sarah

Proudly made with our Vitamix:

Herb Focaccia Bread

I was inspired by this recipe to try a new way of making focaccia bread. Being at freezing (or well below) the past couple of weeks my herb plants have looked pretty sad outside but I was able to collect enough rosemary and sage to make the bread – rosemary handles the cold well, even up North. It is an evergreen and if not babied it will thrive through snow even!

The recipe called for double the olive oil for the topping, I cut it in half. I am sure that it would taste that much better, it was still swimming in oil at the half way point! When the bread comes out there will be some oil on top but as it cools down it will sink in. And the second round will freeze nicely as well……and goes perfect with soups and chowders! Yum!

Herb Focaccia Bread
Ingredients:

  • 1 cup warm water (115-120ºF)
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbsp dry yeast
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
  • 
½ tsp ground black pepper

Topping:

  • 
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 
½ tsp ground black pepper
  • 
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (green can type works well)

Directions:
Mix the warm water, sugar and yeast and let the yeast bubble for a couple of minutes. Add the yeast mixture to a stand mixer bowl along with the salt, olive oil, and 1 1/2 cups of the flour, beat on low. Add the rest of the flour and the herbs and pepper and beat on low until just mixed.
Knock the dough off the mixing blade and put in the dough hook, let beat for 5-8 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Divide dough in half and let rest for 5 minutes loosely covered with plastic wrap.
Heat the oven to 400ºF. Prepare two 9-inch glass pie plates by oiling with a little olive oil. Pat each dough half into the prepared plate, easing the dough out to the sides. Let rest for 5 minutes and then dot with fork tines all over. Brush each half with half the olive oil. Mix the black pepper, rosemary and Parmesan and sprinkle half over each pan.
Let rise for 15 minutes, covered loosely with plastic wrap.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cut in wedges.
Makes 2 9″ rounds.

~Sarah

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