Mini bread loaves

Fall was definitely in the air today. Walking around with a tee shirt with no jacket made me sneeze and catch a cold. When I came home I started the winter migration of the deck: the plants came inside the house, and it was time to light a fire in the wood stove.  To add to the comfort, I baked off the mini bread loaves which had been rising since noon (I used this recipe, just split the dough into 2 parts and let the dough rise in the mini bread baskets). The rest of the comfort meal was half-clean eating dinner --- a can of 50th anniversary of Andy Warhol’s Campbell tomato soup with kale from the garden, pasta and some cannellini beans.

Russian Chocolate, Date and Walnut Torte

These are the days of world wide culinary social networks and recipes and…. google translate. Which means with some fantasy (and baking wisdom) I can make a Russian cake which had me at “hello”. Or is it a Bulgarian recipe? As Russian grad student said it is not Russian, more likely Bulgarian, cyrillic and all. With some fingers crossed it came out just fine. The raw dough tasted marvelous, the torte even better: light, fluffy, rich, not too sweet and one would not suspect dates I think.


Russian Chocolate, Date and Walnut Torte
a 10 inch non-stick springform pan.

• 2 cups medjol dates
• 1 1/2 cup strong hot coffee
• 10 TB butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• decorate with powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 370F. Spray or butter a 10 inch springform, and set aside.
Prepare 1.5 cups hot, strong coffee (best in a French press with ca 3 TB of fresh ground espresso). De-pit the dates, and cut them into small dice. Place them in a large coffee cup and cover with the hot coffee. Soak for 5 minutes.
Now, mix the flour with the baking soda, salt and cocoa and set aside.
In a standmixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add one egg at a time, and incorporate well. Add vanilla.
Turn speed to low, and slowly add the flour mixture to the cake batter. Mix well. With a large spoon, retrieve the dates from the hot coffee, and add to the cake batter (add a bit of coffee at a time). You should only have about a 1/2 cup of coffee let in the pot after the figs are removed. Incorporate well.
Pour the mixture into the prepared form and sprinkle top with chocolate chips.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until ready by checking with a stick if you spend dry then the cake is ready. Cool before removing from the form.

No-Knead Bread

Years ago, when everyone was baking the New York Times no-knead bread, I tried it out and the only thing that happened was that I ruined a perfectly fine le creuset and generated inedible bread. Not sure what made me try it again (I used the already wrecked le creuset) but this time it worked out beautifully. Maybe, I understand bread a little bit better. Also, I used the kitchenaid standmixer for some good kneading, which allowed the dough to rise in record time (a few hours). Once the bread was baked, it was perfection! This is a really simple recipe with few ingredients; however, the salt should be added late in the process (salt and yeast don’t work together that well during the initial rise process). The trick with the preheated cast iron dutch oven creates a very crusty bread. It is like fresh French bread.   (The recipe is actually very similar to the NYTimes recipe, a bit less water and more yeast, anyway it worked!)


Minimally kneaded bread:

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ts yeast
• 1 ts bakers milk powder (King Arthur Flour website) (optional)
• 1 ts salt
• 1-1/2 cups warm water

1. In a standmixer bowl with the kneading hook attachment, whisk together the flour and yeast. Slowly add the lukewarm water and mix until a shaggy mixture forms. Knead for about 5-10 min., Add the salt, and knead another 2 min. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 6-12 hours (up to 24h if you knead by hand) at room temperature. 
2. Preheat oven to 450F. Place a cast iron dutch oven with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pour the risen dough onto a floured surface (mixture will be sticky) and lightly shape into a round loaf.
3. Remove the hot cast iron pot from the oven and carefully place the dough into it. Cover with a lid and return to oven for 30 minutes. Then, remove the lid and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove bread from oven and from pot and place on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Zucchini Carrot Bread

It is the time of the season when the reliable production of zucchini in the garden leads to.... zucchini bread. I made this recipe with lower calories by adding kidney beans instead of half of the canola oil, and the NuNatural Stevia based baking mix instead of a 1/2 cup of brown sugar. You'd never know -- it tastes great!

 

































Zucchini Carrot Bread
1 loaf (22 servings)

Ingredients 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 2 free-range eggs 
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup cooked kidney beans (rinsed, no-salt) 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup NuNaturals baking mix 
• 1 TB vanilla extract
• 1/2 ts salt 
• 1 3/4 cup grated zucchini (squeeze out excess moisture) 
• 1/2 cup grated carrot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 8x4 loaf pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
In a larger food processor, whisk oil and the kidney beans, until smooth. Add eggs and mix until well blended.  Add brown sugar, stevia baking blend, vanilla,  and salt, and puree until smooth.  Pour mixture into a mixing bowl, add grated zucchini and carrot, stirring gently until combined. Add flour mixture to zucchini mixture, folding until just combined. 
Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes and then move to wire rack to cool completely.

Maine coast crackers, again

It’s been busy around here, including baking another batch of the Maine coast crisps (the fancy English/Canadian term for crackers). This time I used 3 small loaf forms, and the crackers came out just the right size. I hope I have enough for the party tomorrow.

Find the recipe here.

And a shout out to the U.S. swim team!

Fig Olive Raincoast Crisps

My reservoir of raincoast crisps (or in my case maine coast crisps) was getting low. These are just a perfect snack with a glass of wine – super crispy, savory, slightly sweet, nutty, fruity, salty….  So, I made a new batch tonight. This time I choose ingredients similar to those of the package I originally bought in Ellsworth, with figs and kalamata olives. With the briney-ness of the olives I like these ones even better than the cranberry walnut rosemary ones from last time (although they are excellent!). 

Due how I prepare the figs and olives, the ‘bread’ (result of the first baking phase) is slightly more soft and crumbly, so it has to cool to be better able to slice it thinly. 

Fig Olive Raincoast Crisps (makes about 48 crisps);

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 cup honey
• 1/8 cup maple syrup

• 1 cup dried mission figs, chopped
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 TB balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup brined kalamata olives, sliced (best from the olive bar!)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup raw pepitas (Trader Joes!)
• 1/4 cup white sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup ground flax seeds
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh or dried rosemary

Preheat oven to 350F, and spray a 5X12 pan. Set aside.

In a pan, heat the red wine and the balsamic vinegar together with the chopped figs to reconstitute the figs and add more flavor to them. Slowly simmer the figs until all of the moisture is evaporated, and the figs are almost dry in the pan. Let cool. 



Sift together the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, and add both together (a standmixer is fine). Now, add the warm figs, the kalamata olives, and all the nuts and seeds. Mix well. Fill into the prepared pan and bake for 45 –50 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool thoroughly. 



Slice very thinly with a serrated bread knife. Set oven to 300F and place slices on cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. Turn over and bake for another 12-15 minutes until crisp. If you give them a whiff with an organic canola or olive oil spray, they bake extra crispy. Cool on a cookie rack, and store in airtight container.



Here are the originals --- it might be good to only quarter the figs and not slice the olives to get the same texture.

Maine Coast Crisps

It is a gray day and we’ve been told it would rain around 10am for the rest of the day, of the weekend, but it 2pm, John Mayer is singing “someone like Olivia”, and I made it both through the farmers market as well as my other grocery run without a drop of rain. At the farmers market I bought a creamy local goat cheese that would go perfectly with my baking adventures from last night: reinventing the delicious (but pricey) raincoast crisps from Canada. 

They are made similarly to biscotti: twice-baked. First, a loaf is baked, cooled, thinly sliced and the slices are baked again to crispy perfection. The combinations are endless (just as the originals), I added ingredients that I had at home: cranberries, pepitas, and walnuts and rosemary. It would work well with kalamata olives, dried figs, caramelized onions and pecans. I am pretty sure I won’t have to wait too long to make the next batch: perfect snack for friends coming over for a glass of wine. 

Home-made these crisps are inexpensive, delicious, and really easy to make. 



Maine Coast Crisps

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey

• 1 cup cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup raw pepitas (Trader Joes!)
• 1/4 cup ground flax seeds
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh or dried rosemary

Sift together the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and stir (I mixed them by hand). Now, add the “flavorings”. Fill into a sprayed 5X12 pan and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Let cool thoroughly. Slice very thinly with a serrated bread knife, set oven at 300F and place slices on silicone lined cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes. Turn over and bake for another 12-15 minutes until crisp. If you give them a whiff with an organic canola or olive oil spray, they bake extra crispy. Store in airtight container. 

The batch mades about 42 crisps; each crisp has about 60kcals.