Sourdough Ciabatta

Ciabatta. What a fun word to say. My boys said it enough times in a row...endlessly...that I almost cringe at the word. However, I will always love the bread. Continuing in the grand tradition of sourdough week I thought we should have something crazy wicked-descent.

This is a good one for bread or pizza. So. Let's jump in.

You will need:

4 scant cups of bread flour (wheat works, but you may need a little more liquid)

1 1/4 cup water, room temperature

1/2 cup sourdough starter

1 tsp active dry yeast

1 T salt

2 T olive oil

Put 2 cups of flour, sourdough starter, 1/2 cup water and the yeast in a large bowl. Mix well, about 5 minutes, then cover and let ferment about 4 hours. This is nice "start and leave dough"...meaning if you leave now for 6-8 hours, it will still be okay.

After first fermentation, add the remaining flour, water, salt and olive oil. Knead very briefly, just until the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth (about 3 minutes). No need to roll into a ball. Just let the dough rest 2 hours more. Unlike the loaf bread I make for sandwiches that has very specific instructions for fermentation shape, this one does fine without much fussing. I like this because usually I will start the dough in the morning. Then mid afternoon I will add the rest of the ingredients. By the time I pick kiddos up from school, the dough is ready to make into rolls, bread, or pizza. Flour a counter top pretty generously and tip the dough out onto the counter. Divide into 4 pieces and form into 8 inch "cut" loaves. Transfer to cornmeal coated baking stone and let rest and raise for one hour uncovered.

If you do rolls instead of loaves, it makes 8-10.

Dust the tops of the rolls lightly with flour. Bake 400 degrees 25-30 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool. (Solar bakers...let bread raise about 30 minutes only then bake in your solar oven. Note, increase baking time by 5 minutes. Crust will not get "crusty". I have yet to get a thick crispy crust out of my solar oven, but they still taste wonderful. )

Dipping oil is often a must have. I go heavy on the garlic. That's how I roll.

My crazy oil usually goes something like this:

1/4 cup olive oil

2-3 cloves fresh pressed garlic

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp fresh pepper

1/4 tsp fresh crushed fennel seed

dash of salt

Combine. Oil is even better after a few days in the fridge. Yikes. Make a double batch.

There you go.

Vegan Sloppy Joes

I think we need a little something for the amazing vegans out there. It's solar cooking week and this is one of my favorite vegan recipes. It's so family friendly and amazingly inexpensive. It serves 10 easily. Which means for me, I have one meal and freeze half for later. It is one of my favorite freezer meals. It's fat free and full of wonderful protein. Great for the body and mind. The secret...lentils.

This recipe works so perfectly in the solar oven it's almost scary. However, if you don't have a solar oven it is also perfect in the crock pot.

You will need:

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup chopped celery

1 lb of lentils (preferably soaked overnight, but if not add 1 hour to the cooking time)

2 cup chopped onion

2 T honey

2T spicy mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper

2 cloves minced garlic

2 14 oz cans vegetable stock (or 4 cups homemade)

1 15 oz can prepared vegan sloppy Joe sauce

8 - 10 whole wheat hamburger or French style rolls, split and toasted.

Combine everything except the sloppy Joe sauce in a large dark crock. I have one from the Pampered Chef that works perfectly, but if you use a smaller pot, half the recipe.

Mix it all up and bake in full sun in the solar oven 2-3 hours. While mine was baking, I mixed the dough for the rolls and made the coleslaw. If you use a crock pot (4 quart size), cover and cook on high heat setting 3-3 and 1/2 hours.

Once the lentils are tender, mix in the sloppy Joe sauce.

I used the overnight started bread. Half the dough I made into buns. Half I made into a loaf of bread. However, I must admit, that the solar oven isn't quite big enough for the buns to turn out round. Usually they are little triangle buns. Still delicious, whole grain, and vegan. The secret is to form the rolls and immediately put them in the solar oven.

The final rise in the oven while it heats up makes perfect rolls.

The oven is right at 200 degrees. It will be just right for baking in about 30 minutes, and the rolls will be light and fluffy.

Bake 350 degrees 30-35 minutes.

Mmm.

Serve with coleslaw or side of your choice. May I suggest the vegan Cuban Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with Pineapple an...

There you go. Vegans rejoice!

Mango Ginger Scones with Lime Honey Butter

Here we are in the middle of solar baking week and I have to share one of my favorite recipes for scones. I don't know what it is about a well made scone that invokes all the feelings a calm Sunday morning in my Grandma's kitchen. I am not sure I ever had a scone until I left home to go to culinary school. It may just be a comforting mild and tender pastry. Like my Grandma in pastry form. That I eat. Hmmm. Not really sure that sounds right. I'm going with it though.

Mangoes are in season here and I have to admit, they are one of my all time favorite fruits. Right up there with blackberries ( when they are on sale, there will be a full week just on blackberries...because it's my blog and because I say so.) Before that happens however, let's finish up this epic week of solar baking ( though I won't stop giving solar tips long after this week is over. ) You know I love you right?

Seriously though...lets make some scones.

You will need:

2 cups all purpose or cake flour (white or wheat)

1/2 cup sugar or 1/4 cup crystal fructose
1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup butter (or vegans use "Spectrum" brand shortening, non-hydrogenated)

1 mango, peeled and chopped

2T candied ginger, minced fine

2 eggs beaten (or 1/2 cup "eggbeaters")

2T honey

5 T lemonade or mango juice

Lime honey butter:

5 T butter

3T honey

zest of one lime

1/4 tsp rum extract

Directions: Open your solar oven and put it in full sun. Regular oven, pre-heat to 425. My solar oven reaches about 350 usually...so these will take a little longer to bake in the solar oven than the regular oven. Not a huge difference in any other way that I can see.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Cut the butter into chunks and work into the flour mixture until it is really small pieces. Looks a lot like little peas. REALLY little peas.

One thing I love in a good pastry is some nice candied ginger. If you don't have some, you can use 1 tsp dry powder. I happen to think the candied stuff is really snazzy. Right up there with sequins on Elvis' sunglasses and jumpsuits. See the sparkle?

Wah-huh.

Fold the mango and ginger into the dry ingredients. First pause for dramatic effect. This is the part where I tell my husband he can feel free to kiss me. Yes. He is easily swayed by my reference to Elvis. Roll drums...

Whisk the eggs, juice and honey all together. Go on then...with vim and vigor. Oh my gosh...I just used "vim and vigor" in a sentence. Yikes. I scare myself sometimes.

Now, see the mango mixed into the dry ingredients? It's hiding in there. Probably scared by my reference to "vim and vigor".

Pour the wet whisked ingredients into the dry mixed ingredients. Very technical, but I think you can handle it.

Stir it up, just until the wet stuff ins mixed in. Don't mix it too much or you will have what I very scientifically refer to as a "hockey puck" scone. Hard little dough balls not suitable for ingestion by man or beast...though I dare say many a man has chocked those pucks down for fear of waking the said beast in his wife.

Flour a counter top very generously. Don't go crazy, but seriously don't go super light either. Spread out the flour and then roll the dough out of the mixing bowl. It should look really pretty with some nice pieces of mango sticking out all over. Yea, babe. This is the good stuff right here.

Cover the top of the dough ball with sugar, about 1/4 cup and then pat it out into a round circle, about 8 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick. It doesn't have to be exact. I like it kind of jagged around the edges. I think it's a matter of preference.

Cut the dough into 8 pieces, like an unbaked pie.

Mmmm.

Transfer to a baking sheet and bake (leave about 1inch between them). Solar oven takes 15-17 minutes. Regular oven at 425 takes 10-12 minutes.

Lime honey butter. Mix the softened room temperature butter with the remaining ingredients.
Really this picture doesn't do it justice. It's one of life's simple pleasures.
Slathered on a warm mango ginger scone...you may never recover.
There you go. Happy baking. Even in August.

Yellow Cupcakes

It's still hotter than a horse's patooot here in Arizona. In this weather, I do something crazy...I use my solar oven. I keep it out on my patio and it keeps the heat outside. Love it! I have had a lot of requests for more solar cooking, and I am so happy to help! So, this week I thought I would share some of my favorite solar recipes. Some of them are baked goods, some are main courses. If you don't have a solar oven, they work in the regular oven. A couple work in the crock pot.

Face wanted to have some cupcakes. I have to admit, I really like "A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes" by Dede Wilson. In particular, the recipe for yellow cupcakes I have found to make a very nice quality cupcake.

You will need:

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (or cake flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature, cut into small pieces)
3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk ( I use soy milk)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For me, that means opening the flaps of my solar oven so it gets really hot.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl to aerate and combine. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar gradually beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down after each additions, allowing each egg to be absorbed before each addition. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, alternately with the milk. Begin and end with the flour mixture.

Divide batter evenly among cupcake pan, lined with paper liners. I have one that makes half a half dozen, since the chamber in the solar oven is a little bit smaller than the regular oven. For solar, put in hot oven and bake 20-25 minutes. For regular oven, 350 degrees 18-20 minutes.

To check if the cupcakes are done, insert a toothpick in the center. If it shows a few moist crumbs but comes out clean, it is done. The cupcakes might color a bit around the edges, but they should not get brown. This recipe yields 12 cupcakes. So it's not a major project, just a nice amount.


The killer chocolate frosting is my recipe. It's a nice touch and fat free as far as frostings go. Not bad.

Chocolate Glaze

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup hot water

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

Mix well. Easy stuff right?

If your husband doesn't eat all the frosting, feel free to slather it on those cooled cupcakes. Ace is incorrigible. Really.

There you go.

Whole Grain Rye ( Solar Oven or Not)

A recent email from a new friend named Olivia, has prompted an in depth look at a newer direction of bread for my blog. She wanted to learn how to make good pumpernickel bread. I am not certain what most people think of when they think of pumpernickel. For most "middle of the road" Americans, it is a dark brown almost black bread with a light texture. True real Volkornbrot...the German stuff...is heavy and has to be cut very thin. It takes almost 6 days from formation of the starter to the climactic consumptions of the first slice. If however I hear back from my readers that the authentic stuff is what they want, I will move forward with blogging that. In the meantime...I am putting up this recipe for an old fashioned Peasant's Rye. It is a combination of a few recipes that I have come up with and I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do. It is 100% whole grain. If you use white flour, please omit the second (3/4 cup) amount of water. This cooked in the solar oven won't be as dark brown as if it was baked in the oven. It will still brown, but not like other regular ovens will. Don't be discouraged by the number of ingredients. It's well worth the effort.
Tess' Old Fashioned Peasant's Rye
You will need:
2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (max 110 degrees)
5 cups whole wheat flour, preferably fresh ground and preferably fine ground
1 cup 100% whole grain rye flour
1T caraway seeds
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa (unsweetened powdered)
3/4 cup water (omit if using white flour)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 T honey (buckwheat) or Molasses
2 T oil
2T apple cider vinegar
1-2 large shallots, pressed
Directions:
In a small dish, combine the yeast and 1/4 cup slightly warm water. Let it rest until it wakes up and bubbles. It should be a happy little riser. If it doesn't bubble, you can assume you're yeast is still dead asleep...and may never come back. Try again with a fresh batch of yeast and water. Don't let the water get too hot. It may also help to add a tsp of sugar or honey for the yeast to have a quick breakfast.
I'm making my bread in my Kitchen Aid. As of Christmas, I've called it my
New Mixer ...though it's not technically totally new anymore. In the mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Buttermilk, water,

Out of order and not wet, but add them here anyway...caraway seeds. Random diversionary conversation break--caraway is what gives rye it's very distinct flavor. Caraway is also a natural digestive aid...so it makes it go down easier. Coated in chocolate would make it go even better...

Which we do... "The chocolate syrup makes it go down easier." Quick, name that movie!

Princess Bride fans out there are spitting cocoa out their nose right now. Or now. Tee hee.

Add the 1/4 cup cocoa...mmmm. Chocolate in bread. Now there is something I can get behind! It helps get that dark color. Power to the cocoa! Hey, that sounds like something I would say out loud when my kids used their brains. I think in that case cocoa would be spelled coco (like coconut). I digress. Okay add the cocoa.

Add the oil, vinegar, and yeast/water combination to the bowl.

Add the honey. Dance around singing "awwww sugar...do, do, do, do, do, do...honey, honey....". You can skip that step if you want. That dance step. Pardon my pun.

Add the 5 cups whole wheat flour and the salt. Hold back on adding the rye flour. It has very little gluten protein and I like to hold it back so I can really develop the gluten. Gluten, gluten, gluten. It's magical stuff. Basically it is the natural protein in wheat (and a few other grains) that attaches to itself to form long elastic strands and a sponge-like mesh that traps gas and allows the bread to raise well. Take the time to develop it, and you have a powerful ally in the dough. It's like having a friend in the business, but you eat the friend.
One more thing...I don't let the salt go in first. It kills enough of the yeast that it totally affects the bread. I notice a difference. Really.

On medium low (speed 2 for Kitchen Aid) knead for 5 minutes.
Turn off mixer. I hate to sound "simple stupid", but there will be one person who tries to mix in the rye flour with the mixer on who gets a huge rush of a mighty rye wind--- right in the eyes. Aside from the poetic phrase of "rye in the eye"...it isn't fun. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl while you're at it. Add the rye flour.

At this time I also add the pressed shallot. Omit if you want, but I love the subtle flavor.

Shallot is good. It's a flavor crossed between garlic and onion.

Continue to knead the dough on medium low speed 5 more minutes.

Turn off the machine and set your timer for 10 minutes. This step is 100% necessary for good whole grain bread. It give the protein and bran time to absorb as much moisture as possible before adding more flour. Adding more flour before the 10 minute rest will result in dry bread. Don't do it. ( If you used white flour, still do this step. You will need to add a bit more flour if you didn't already omit the 3/4 cup of water, or my may need to add a touch more liquid.)
After the rest, mix 2-3 more minutes adding just enough flour for the dough to really climb up the dough hook and look like this:
(clicking on the picture will make it appear full screen)

Lightly mist your counter top with water. Yes. I use water instead of flour to cover my counter top. It gives me really moist whole grain bread.

See that counter top?! Haaa. Not sticking, and no added flour to dry out my bread.

Form into a nice pretty ball. This will help the gluten mesh to hold in the gasses. This is where I act like a mature motherly God fearing adult and not my 9 year old son...sigh.

The gasses will, in some mysterious and magical way transform the young gluten into something stronger, more elastic, and better able to give good volume to bread. Long way of saying, not to skimp on the fermentation process. Long allegory about "life" to be added later...

Put the dough in the mixing bowl (I rinse the bowl out a little so I can really gauge the growth of the bread during fermentation).
Cover with a lid or plastic. I just so happen to have a lid from my Pampered Chef cookware that fits perfectly.1 and a half to 2 hours later give or take...the dough should look like this. Climbed clear up the sides of the bowl about 3 inches from the top. Don't let it raise too long. It should giggle when you poke it with your finger. It may help to run your finger under water first.

Poke it like this...

Oooo, ahhhh, ohhh. See, like the mouth of the Pillsbury's dough boy...but fat like he was having an allergic reaction to being stung by a bee.

Now, pull back those fat rolls. I mean dough rolls. Expel the air, but also' look at the elastic gluten strand development. It's really well worth clicking on this picture.

Pull it away from the sides all the way around. More gluten. See?

This may be my favorite picture of gluten in the history of gluten history.
Form this dough into a ball again, and return the lid for a second raise (45 minutes to an hour). Repeat the very technically named "dough poke procedure"

Remove from the bowl and form into two sandwich loaves. Detailed instructions can be found in the loaf molding section. If baking in the regular oven, lightly mist with water and allow to raise 45 minutes to an hour. Mist with water again and sprinkle with caraway seeds. Preheat oven the last few minutes of raising. Bake at 400 degrees 15 minutes and then lower oven temperature to 350 and bake 20-25 minutes more, internal temperature of 175 degrees.

For Solar baking: Immediately after forming into loaves and putting in oiled 8 inch by 4 inch dark colored loaf pans, put in your solar oven.

Lightly misted with water and then topped with caraway seeds...wow.

After about 20 minutes, the temperature was already 250 degrees. With the door closed but not clasped, the bread was raising nicely. One hour and 15 minutes later it was baked through.

Best part of solar baking...no added cooling cost from heating up my house. Arizona! Yikes we are already having to use our AC for an hour or two in the afternoon. That is so sad!

Remove from oven and put on a cooling rack out of the pan. Allow to cool about 20 minutes before slicing. Store in a covered container. Bread should stay nice and moist 4-5 days.

There you go.