Half-Grain Egg Bread

Liesl is not a big fan of whole wheat.  I’ll eat almost anything (unfortunately), but she has a much more discriminating palate.  Her well-developed olfactory sense contributes to some of her dislikes–including whole wheat.

One trick that works is King Arthur Flour’s suggested addition of a small amount of orange juice–it neutralizes the taste of the tannins in the whole wheat.

Easier still is another offering from King Arthur–their White Whole Wheat Flour.   When Liesl was diagnosed with a barley allergy, I had to become a flour expert–which brands of wheat flour include barley, what stores stock those flours, how those flours work in various applications, etc.

Barley shows up in most bread flours.  I think it has something to do with gluten and/or browning.  I rotate between a few brands of all-purpose flour, but my favorite is the Organic Unbleached White Flour from Bob’s Red Mill.  Has to be organic–Bob’s regular white flour has barley in it.  But it’s hard to find.  I have the best luck at Natural Pantry in Anchorage, but even there it’s often out of stock.  All of the barley-free white flours are quite expensive–I think I paid about $6.99 for the last 5-pound bag I bought.

Enter King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat flour.  Not only is it barley-free, it’s less expensive, and a whole grain.  And–best of all–it doesn’t taste like whole grain.

Liesl’s favorite is the Egg Bread recipe from Bread Machine Magic.  I make the large recipe in my bread machine, set it on the “dough” setting, and divide the dough between two, one-pound loaf pans.  One goes in the freezer, and the other gets devoured pretty quickly.  Yesterday, though, I made one loaf of bread—and a pan of cinnamon rolls, which we enjoyed for breakfast this morning.

Here’s the adapted Egg Bread recipe:

Half Grain Egg Bread

• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups all purpose white flour
• 2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

I also add two heaping tablespoons of vital wheat gluten, since I’m not using bread flour.  And lately I’ve been warming the milk and butter together in the microwave before adding it to the breadmaker–thirty seconds or so.  It seems to make a nicer dough.  If you’re more organized than I am, you could simply let all the ingredients come up to room temperature, and I’m sure that would accomplish the same thing.

Happy baking!

 

 

Knives for Real Kitchens

The finer points of knives — David Lebovitz has lots of, um, tips :: by Culinate staff :: Culinate.

In this article Culinate passes on the well-known rule of knives: no dishwashers.

My first set of knives had wood handles, so I had a second reason not to put them in the dishwasher.  I never used them.

For a long time I made do with a rag-tag assortment of mismatched knives.

Then I found a set of knives that were “dishwasher safe yet best washed by hand,” made by a reputable company, and a reasonable price.  I bought them, but then someone told me I really, really shouldn’t put them in the dishwasher.

So I used them, and because I didn’t put them in the dishwasher, and because I am who I am (less than enthusiastic about hand-washing), they sat in their dirty state for longer than they should have.  Soon they had rust spots, and I stopped using them.

Then I read that you can use a potato to clean rust spots.  I set aside an afternoon and cleaned the whole set.

It worked!  Now I use them again–and I put them in the dishwasher.

My rule about cleaning knives?  Clean them by whatever method makes it more likely that you will use them frequently.

Good Things: Maytag Gemini

A recent conversation about UUs and consumerism on Spirituality and Sunflowers made me think about some of the good things I’ve purchased, things that work, things that are good ideas, things that are aligned with and supportive of my values.

When we bought our condo last summer, there were no appliances in the unit.  It was a foreclosure, and the previous owner took everything that wasn’t nailed down–and a few things that were.  My favorite of the appliances we purchased is, by far, the Maytag Gemini gas range in the kitchen.

Sure, there are things about it that bug me–mostly that the black stove top shows every spill, every grease splatter.  But even that challenge has a silver lining: because they’re so obvious, the spills and splatters get cleaned up before they have a chance to become a permanent part of the appliance.

Obviously, my favorite thing about the Gemini is the double oven, an elegant and efficient use of space.  Instead of a storage bin underneath the main oven, the Gemini has a one-rack oven above the full-size oven.  For a family of two, this smaller oven is perfect. I do much more cooking and baking, because I have an option that feels less wasteful.  I use the top oven for pizza, for a small batch of cupcakes, for a single sheet of cookies, for a pan of roasted vegetables, etc.

For larger families, or for more elaborate cooking, having two ovens is a lifesaver.  Not only does it give you more space, it also gives you the option to bake at two different temperatures.  At Thanksgiving last year, the turkey went in the lower oven, leaving space in top oven for sweet potatoes and acorn squash.  When I purchased the Gemini, I wondered about lifting heavy things–like a turkey–from the lower oven.  I didn’t have any trouble with our turkey, but it wasn’t the biggest bird available.

Two of my core values are home cooking from scratch, and energy efficiency.  The Gemini is supportive of both of these values, and purchasing it was an example of conscious consumption.

Real Things

For years I’ve struggled with cookbooks that won’t stay open while I’m cooking.  I’m always looking for something to keep the book open.  At the same time, this Petoskey stone has been with us through five moves.  Finally it occurred to me that I could give the stone a purpose, and at the same time have a go-to paperweight for my cookbooks.  Sure, I could get a cookbook stand.  But this stone just feels better.  Solid.  Real. A connection to home.

Lemons…Lemonade, Lemon Curd, Lemon Marmalade

One of the things Anchorage lost in the “worst economic times since the Great Depression” was glass recycling.  After months of wincing every time I threw out an empty pickle jar, I finally had an epiphany:  these were free containers!  I don’t know why it took me so long to figure this out, but I’m glad I finally have.  No longer do I have to purchase plastic storage containers, only to throw them out long before their useful life is over, because it turns out they are transforming my ovaries into cancer grenades.  And glass jars make storing things that like to flop around in the pantry–like bags of chocolate chips–so much tidier.  Life giving you lemons?  Look again.  There are so many good things you can make with life’s “gifts.”