for bread lovers

Remember that new adventure I told you about a couple of posts back? Well here is the fruits of that adventure or rather the bread of that adventure.

Sourdough bread is not like yeast leavened bread which you can make all in one day. With sourdough you have to be planning ahead in order to make it because you have to make the starter if you don't have any sourdough starter. Then you have to make the sponge and then the final step is the actual bread. So like I said you have to be planning ahead in order to make this.

To make the starter you combine 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of water in a glass or ceramic bowl and stir it up. Then allow it to sit uncovered in a warm place for 2 to 5 days, stirring it occasionally. When the starter is ready it will have a clean, yeasty smell, small bubbles and will have a slightly thicker texture than it had to begin with.

The night before you want to make the bread you need to make the sponge. To make the sponge add 2 cups flour and 2 cups warm water to the starter then cover it and allow it to sit in a warm place overnight. The next step is very important! Before you start making the bread in the morning make sure you take out 1 cup of starter so that you have it to use the next time. If you forget (like I have) you have to start all over making the starter again (which I need to do. . .oops!).

This is the starter.

Now you are ready to make the bread. To the sponge add 6 cups flour (depending on what type of bread you want you can use different flour. I used a combination of unbleached all purpose flour and whole wheat.), 2 cups warm water, 2 tsp. salt, and 2 Tbsp. honey. Combine into a smooth dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough with floured hands for 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary to prevent sticking.


Place the kneaded dough in a greased bowl and brush the top with oil. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for about 3 hours or until doubled in size.

Reknead briefly and then split the dough in half and place in greased loaf pans. Brush the tops with a little more oil and allow to rise for 2ish hours. Slice the tops of the loaves and bake for about 40 minutes to an hour (depending on how hot your oven runs) in a 350* oven. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and remove from the loaf pans. Enjoy warm with butter and strawberry jam or however else you enjoy your bread.

meatloaf

The other day it was a bit of a dreary day and my roommate was having a sort of bad day, so I decided to make some comfort food. I'd been wanting to try making meatloaf for a while because it is usually made with eggs, and I wanted to try making it without eggs for my roommate.

I adapted this from the recipe that my grandma usually makes out of our family cookbook. I know, you wish you had a family cookbook too. I just threw in whatever spices I felt like. Feel free to mix it up however you want.

Meatloaf
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground elk
2 slices bread, crumbled up
ketchup
splash red wine
dash cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, chili powder

Crumble the two slices of bread in a bowl. I was able to find bread that wasn't made with eggs, so I went with that.

Then season with the spices you choose to use.


Add the ketchup.


Then add in the beef and elk as well as the red wine. Mix it all up together. I used my hands because that's just how I roll but I supposed you could mix it with a spoon.

Place in a loaf pan and pour some more red wine over it. Then top with some tomato sauce and bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. I think mine was about 45 minutes because my oven runs hot.

I'm not a big meatloaf person. I didn't really grow up eating it, but this turned out well. I actually think it was better the next day because it had time for the flavors to combine and sit together and be all happy. It might actually be good to let it sit for a bit and marinate before topping with the tomato sauce and baking it.

banana bread

I used to make banana bread all the time. My favorite coffeeshop would give me all of their old or unusable bananas to make into banana bread. At one point, I actually had about 30 bananas in my freezer. I was a little overwhelmed. They all eventually found their way into banana bread which found it's way in the the stomachs of many happy people.

However, one of the foods that my roommate is allergic to is bananas. . .sad day in happy town. I had just enough bananas left in my freezer to make one more batch, so I decided to make it up and send it with the muffins to my friend who was entertaining house guests last weekend. And here's the thing about my banana bread. I almost never make it the same way twice. Yes, I have a recipe that I gauge off of, but every time I make it I decide I want to try something a little different. And honestly, I don't even really remember what all I put in this batch as I didn't really write it down as I was making it, but I will try my best to remember.

Banana Bread
1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 coconut sugar and 1/2 dark brown sugar)
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
3 Tbsp. applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour (I used a combination of almond flour, whole wheat and unbleached all purpose)
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. (approx) cinnamon
dash nutmeg (or some fresh ground)
2/3 cup sour milk
(I didn't have any milk on hand, so I used almond milk with a bit of vinegar in it)
3 very ripe bananas
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix together shortening and sugars.

And this is where I stopped taking pictures. Add in the egg, applesauce and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients. Then alternately add the milk, bananas, and dry ingredients to the sugar mixture. I add a banana, 1/3 of the milk, 1/3 of the flour mixture, and repeat until it's all in. Mix well. Then stir in the chopped pecans. Pour batter into two greased regular loaf pans. Bake at 325* for 40 to 60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. My oven takes about 40 to 45 minutes.

bread of the bostonian persuasion

Yes, that is a fancy way of saying Boston Brown Bread (BBB, cause writing out Boston Brown Bread gets kind of time consuming after a while, ya know?). You know the stuff. Dense, slightly sweet, steamed in a can instead of baked. My mouth is watering for some more just writing about it. It has literally been years since I have made BBB. I'm quite certain that the last time I made it I was in early high school, so we are looking at a good 6 to 8 years ago.

Well, I was looking through my old recipe file from 4-H and spotted this gem once more. What really made me stop, though, was that this recipe has no yeast in it. Bread made without yeast is kind of my holy grail right now (hmm. . .monty python anyone?). I digress. Since my roomie is allergic to yeast, it makes bread a might difficult. So seeing that this bread doesn't call for yeast made my heart beat a little faster (literally I think it did). It's a simple recipe that is easy to whip up, although it does take a little while to steam.

The original recipe calls for yellow cornmeal, white flour and rye flour. Two of those are out, but easy to substitute for. I also substituted almond milk for cows milk.

Scant 1 c. oat flour
Scant 1 c. rice flour
Scant 1 c. rye flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1/2 c. almond milk
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. molasses

Start by combining all of your dry ingredients in a bowl.


Set that aside and warm the milk and water in a saucepan. Once it is warm, add the molasses.

Add the dry ingredients and mix until it just forms a dough ball. Do not over mix. (I'm not sure what exactly will happen if you over mix it, but my guess is that it will become tough, and no one wants tough bread. . .just sayin').


Place in a greased can.


Cover with waxed paper and secure. I used a rubber band because I had one handy. You can also tie it down with string. Place the can on a trivet in a pan of boiling water. If you don't have a trivet you can just place it in the pan, but it will make noise and be annoying. I suggest using a trivet. (I need to get one before I make this again). Add water as necessary to keep about 2 inches of water in the pan.


It will cook for an hour to an hour and a half. Mine was about an hour. Remove it to a cooling rack and after letting it cool in the can for just a bit, loosen the sides with a knife and it should just slide right out. And volia! Delicious Boston Brown Bread!

This lasted for about 2 days. . .okay, maybe a day and a half in our house. Yum!