saunter, sourdough bread, and sunflower cookies

Saturday did a 5k walk with running friend and we walked it, catching up on life. Goal wasn't on time, but friend time. It was soo windy and at 32F, it made it feel so cold.  Last year it snowed during the event. It is about memories! 

Experimented this last week. 

Sour dough starter and bread. Will exhaust this starter, bake, freeze, and go on. Am reminded that while SD is fine, I don't love it as much as other bread can make. It is fun to make though. 

Used King Arthur flour's recipe for gluten free sourdough starter. 

Used https://joannaoverly.com/gluten-free-sourdough-bread/ recipe for bread, but don't use psyllium and instead added milled chia to bread mix after letting the milled chia sit in the water a little to absorb the liquid. 

First loaf was baked 60 min (as recipe said) on a cookie sheet. It wasn't done in middle so it fell after a while.  

Second loaf baked yesterday and poofed wonderfully. Baked for 75 minutes in my Staub ceramic pan, so held its side shape and poofed up. 

Today I'm letting another loaf set, and also two long baguettes. Will bake tonight (after collegiate women's basketball final game).

Yesterday made up Sunbutter cookies, recipe from Sunbutter which cuts baking soda for a good reason! Refrigerated dough overnight. Baked those up today. Yummy! Plenty to freeze for snacks.

Fresh Bread: Success!

One of the things I've made off and on over the last year (and really, the last twelve years) is bread. I've tried different ways, but I've had great success with this breadbook Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day  which I bought in 2016 (I found the receipt in the book the other day!).  I had really missed Artisan/crusty/peasant style bread.  Oh, the days of going to Panera are long gone, but being able to make that kind of bread, and have a meal of heart bread and great cheese are back. 

When I first bought the book I did make the Mix 1 and 2 as they suggest, and then one day I used the 1:1 flour blend I make and it turned out, so I started experimenting more with my flour blend and the recipes, and tweaking them a bit for our house.   One thing I read early on in the gluten free journey was to add Xanthum Gum as you use it, not to your flour as you create the blend. This allows one to control the Xanthum Gum levels for baked goods. Generally, it's 1 teaspoon for each cup of flour for making bread, and half a teaspoon for most other baked goods. 

The Mike doesn't care for the crunchy bread unless we are having soup for dipping :)  , so I have worked on some other recipes in the book.    If you're going to make a roll, or manipulate the flour, it really does help a lot (as they say) to refrigerate the dough after the initial rise. 

One of my recent finds is a long loaf pan. This one has a small rise in the bottom, which could be used for a long pound cake or angel food cake, but I buttered it up and used it for bread!  

I made up the Challah bread with my  flour blend, added milled chia for more nutrients, and a bit more water for that. 
I skip the initial "let rise in bowl" and I simply add it to the greased baking pan for it to do the rise. I let rise for 2 to 2 1/2 hours depending on how warm or chilly the house is that day.  

Placed just over half the dough in the pan after mixing, the rest I scooped as rolls in a separate pan. 

Although this day was a little warm, I preheated the oven to 105ºF, then shut it off, and covered loosely with plastic wrap, and set in the oven to rise for the next 2 hours. 

I thought half full on the loaf pan would be fine. 

Then it rose in the oven. 

Removed the pans from the oven, removed the plastic wrap, applied an egg wash of 1 egg and a splash of water, scrambled and then silicone brush for applying.  I then preheated the oven to 350ºF and then baked for 55 minutes. 

The rolls. 

OMG This bread!  

POOF. It was TALL.  

It did deflate a little bit, but held it's shape remarkably well.  We managed to not cut into it until it had cooled completely. That was an endeavor!   

This loaf lasted us a week. It was great for fresh with butter, for grilled cheese, for tuna melt (The Mike requested) , and for a cold ham and cheese sandwich.

I realized I probably should have done something simple to the bread, and remembered to do that this next time.  . . . put a few slices in the top of the risen bread. 

This week I made another full batch of the dough.  I split the mix evenly among the two long loaf pans, and so they didn't rise to topping the pan. 

Risen, egg wash, and three angled slices across the top. 

Bake: 350F 60 minutes. Switched and rotated the loaf pans after half an hour. 

Oh, YUM!  

Long Loaf Pan = approximately 15x4x4. One of mine is Wilton, the other is vintage West Bend

The only problem with this, is how to wrap the second loaf to keep it!    

Bread Loaf Recipe: 

Dry ingredients. Weigh and mix together. 

920 grams / 6 cups of my Gluten Free Flour blend,* plus 6 teaspoons of Xanthum Gum 

1 scant Tablespoon kosher salt  (I generally under add salt, figuring we will be using the bread with plenty of salted things like cheese and ham :) 

10 grams of rapid rise yeast, which for me is 1 1/4 envelopes. 

30 grams/ 1 Tablespoon  of milled chia more protein and fiber) 

Wet ingredients: 

4 eggs (farm fresh large/jumbo eggs for me,  totaling 252 grams)

1/2 cup of honey (farm fresh as well. Sometimes I have to heat it up or scoop it out if it solidifies--which happens if it's real).

110grams of Olive Oil (California Olive Ranch for me), or half a cup. 

3 cups of lukewarm water (100ºF to 105ºF) 

Weigh and mix the dry ingredients together in stand mixer bowl.  Measure wet ingredients and add to a separate mixing bowl or container.  All at once, add all the wet ingredients to the dry.  Attach paddle and mix on low for a few minutes to incorporate all the ingredients, then turn to 6  speed, and mix for a couple minutes.

Grease two long loaf pans (15"x4"x4"), or one long loaf pan and one 12-muffin tin.  

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm /draft free area for two hours of rising. General temps for optimum yeast product rising is 80F to 115F.  I put my oven at 105F. 

When rising is complete, preheat oven to 350ºF.   If bread was in oven proofing, remove from oven before preheating.

Remove plastic wrap from pans, scramble one egg with one teaspoon of water, and gently apply to the top of the bread with a pastry brush, silicone kitchen brush, or a folded paper-towel that won't lint/shred.   Then, using a serrated knife, make three slices across the top of the bread.  

When oven has reached temperature, place pans in center oven. Bake for one (1) hour for long loaf pan, 40 minutes for smaller rolls). 

Remove from oven, let cool in pan ten minutes. Remove to cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing with serrated knife. 

* One reason I started making my own flour mix was my desire to have more than "just" white flours in baked goods. Mine has brown rice flour, sorghum, and teff in addition to tapioca and potato starch.  

Thanksgiving dressing--or stuffing without stuffing it in the bird, and gravy.

What do you call the side of bread with veggies?  I grew up with it called "stuffing" but some say it's 'dressing' since it 's not cooked inside the bird.  Cooking inside the bird is often said to not be good as it can inhibit the flow of warm air through the cavity of the turkey. 

I also think it's just a loss *less* work to bake it in a pan than it is to stuff it in a turkey, then remove it to a dish before serving.  

One of my fond memories as a child was sitting at the table in the days before Thanksgiving (it may have been the weekend before), where I opened loaves of (gluten) bread and tore them apart into small pieces.  This was my first lesson in making stuffing. 

When I have time, and we can prep, I usually buy UDIs bread to dice into cubes, and let dry out a bit via placing it on cookie sheets in the oven for a day or two.  Then I put it in the off oven and let it sit for a day or two. 

For things needed for stuffing, my mom always used onion, celery, and carrots. I had some fennel in the fridge, so I added that this time as well.  Other things needed, salt, pepper, sage.   We always used milk as the wetting agent, but you can use turkey or chicken broth as well. 

The vegetables for the stuffing need to be cooked ahead of time on the stove top. This is something you can do the day or two before, or the day of. 

I know the cooking shows always talk of finely chopping onions. Guess what, they're going to be cooked and put into stuffing and I like it a little larger, and carefree/not uniform pieces.  

Plus, I'm not making a soup where they need to be very small and uniform. 

Partial onion I already had, cut the bottom off, sliced body in half, then had a flat surface for  each half to cut into slices and then dice. 

I always use the red onions when I can after watching Christina Cooks say that they have antioxidants, and they add more color to the dish!  

Three ribs of celery. I cut the bottom and top off. 

Then slice the ribs in half. Larger pieces get sliced into three. 

Then dice into pieces about the same size as the onions. 

Carrots.  Peel

Then trim off the top and the tips.

I cut the carrots then lengthwise to make narrower, and then chip into small pieces. 

The fennel got it's top chopped off, and discarded. 

I then sliced it in half and then into matchstick size pieces, as then into small pieces. 

Fennel tastes a little bit like licorice. It isn't too powerful and just adds a subtle flavor. 

The Mike always thinks I have too many small bowls. 

Do I?  

I like being able to put things into small bowls when necessary. Sometimes we only use one, sometimes we use all six. 

This all needs precooked. Preheat a skillet with butter or olive oil.  Then add in the diced vegetables.  

Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the items.  
Cover the skillet and let cook for a few minutes. 
Then stir, cover, cook some more. 

About five to seven minutes total. 

I used the Aleia's kitchen ready to bake croutons as they were on sale last week when I was at the store. Otherwise, as above, I would have just cubed bread or bread heels I had. 
I used the plain version, so I could add the seasonings we wanted. 

This is my mom's stuffing that I had gotten from her shortly after her stroke. I wish I had thought to do so before in the years, so I could have a recipe with her handwriting. 

On top of the vegetables, the seasoning is added:  thyme, sage, pepper. 

After mixing the seasoning and vegetables together, I put into a large mixing bowl to rest/cool a little. 

After ten minutes or so, I add the bread crumbs to the mixing bowl. 

Fold together well to mix the vegetables and croutons. 

I reused those vegetable bowls because I didn't need to dirty even more dishes!   Two eggs, and a cup of liquid. I used milk. You can use turkey or chicken broth, or a different type of 'milk' if you'd like.  Mix these together in the small bowl. 

Grease your pan. I used a 9x13 pan, but have also put this in a shallower jelly roll pan. I use butter, but you can use the fat of your choice if you need to be dairy free.  

Add the milk and eggs to your croutons. Add more liquid if you think it is necessary. I like it a little drier. If you like it more moist, use two cups of liquid. 

Add to the pan, smooth, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350F.  For the last ten minutes go ahead and remove the cover and let bake uncovered. 

One thing that I just have not been able to perfect since being gluten free (14 years) is gravy.  However, these days Simply Organic / Frontier Coop has plenty of mixes for making the holiday a little simpler!  

I make stuffing a few times a year. While we usually have it with turkey, we have it with meatloaf as well (and we will have leftovers of this with meatloaf this weekend). 

Served with sliced turkey and cranberry sauce.  


What else do you have for Thanksgiving?  

Previous post on cooking a turkey. 

Olive bread --Feb 6

I was wanting something different for bread one evening, when I was making chicken breasts seasoned with thyme.  I decided to go for rosemary-thyme-olive chebe. 

These would be the first Chebe I'd make since we decided to cut back on a lot of our cheese intake. (gasp, gasp). I know, it's a shocker, especially for the dairy farmer's daughter!  

Next step: olives.  I had to choose between Kalamata olives and black and green.  I decided to go with the black and green, adding about 3/4 of a cup of mixed sliced olives. 

While I usually use the food processor to mix Chebe, I didn't want the olives to become diced or minced, and so used a fork in order to keep the olives in their shape.

After shaping, I baked on a parchment paper covered pizza stone. 350 20 minutes. 

Tongue in cheek funny platter----it has a stalk of golden ripe wheat on it.
Still a gorgeous sight to this Quirky farm raised gal.

Fresh out of the oven

Plated up for dinner 

I shared this with Chebe and they were so fabulous and kind in that they posted the recipe to the web page's recipe section!