Bread Heights (Re-Post)

On the heels of yesterday's post about dutch ovens, and by request, here is a re-post about no-knead bread (originally posted March 31, 2009)

Bread Heights is where you will be residing when you follow this simple recipe and make your own bread. Crunchy, crackly, chewy, sweet-tasting, B R E A D. Rustic, round, simple. Yummy with a capital Y. Soul satisfying. Your arguments: "Bread is difficult. Bread is too time consuming. I don't have a dough mixer. I don't have the arm strength to knead it sufficiently. I don't have a good recipe. I have never baked bread."

[Post Edit: "I can't tolerate gluten." Well, that I cannot help you with on this recipe...but you could try substituting your favorite blend of gluten-free flours and give it a whirl!]

My answer: This bread is easy. This bread takes very little of your time. You don't need any fancy equipment. You don't have to knead this dough! For a complete tutorial BY A 4-YEAR-OLD and the history of this recipe, go to Steamy Kitchen.com. I had seen this bread floating around Blogdom for a while, but I was a skeptic. Now I have made two loaves, and this week am making 4 more.

This bread requires 3 cups of flour, 1 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/4 tsp yeast, and 1 1/2 C water. That is all. Nothing else! Your labor is required for five minutes of initial mixing. The dough sits for 12 to 20 hours by itself in time out. Your labor is required for five minutes of folding the edges and placing in bowl on floured towel. The dough sits for 2 hours to nap and rise. Your labor is required for preheating the oven, placing in baking receptacle, placing in oven. Bakes for 30 minutes with lid on (25 minutes in my oven) and 15-20 minutes with lid off. (11 minutes in my oven.) Your labor is required to remove from oven. Easy peasy. My first two loaves were made with organic, unbleached bread flour. I baked mine in a cast iron dutch oven. The loaf yield is 1.5 lbs. We ate the first loaf in about 2.5 hours. Mr. Nature used some of the second loaf to make french toast. It was thick and hearty, and we ate it with pure maple syrup. Another Yummy with a capital Y.

This week, I am making one loaf with organic unbleached bread flour, one with organic whole wheat bread flour, one with organic rye flour, and one with organic spelt flour. Even the gluten intolerant can make bread if using Rye, Amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa, or rice flour.

Visit the tutorial link, watch the four-year-old make it, then try it yourself. I will never spend $4.00 or more on a store or bakery loaf of bread EVER AGAIN. [Post Edit: I think I emphatically announced something in my bread-delirium that was impossible to achieve! Forgive me when I tell you that I have, since, purchased bakery and even store loaves of bread at $3.99 and even higher...but I wanted to believe that I would always make bread. Like clockwork. Every week. The reality is that I sometimes make the bread, but sometimes I just forget to time it just right, and the bread doesn't get made here...the baker then supplies the bread. Maybe you will do better.] This bread is better, fresher, and so satisfying. Cost about $1.00 to $1.50/loaf - - maybe $2.00 if you count the electricity involved.

Enjoy your trip to Bread Heights!

Now You're Cookin' with CSN Stores

I have had soup two times this week, and a thick Indian curry chicken stew, and I am just getting started! This is the season for dutch ovens, so let's break 'em out and get to work in the kitchen.

Surely, you remember the stewed chicken that I cooked in my dutch oven last year? Or my no-knead bread? MMMmmmm...I can smell it now! Do you know the secret to good bread? It crackles when you press on the top. I assure you, all bread made in my dutch oven

C ~R~ A~ C~ K~ L~ E~ S

in a most agreeably satisfying way. For dutch ovens, I prefer cast iron, and right now, you can get a pre-seasoned dutch oven in 6 qt. size for $49.95, or a model in titanium for $199.99. There are many designs, colors, and styles from which to choose, but I am a believer in simplicity, so I use a plain, simple cast iron 8 qt. dutch oven for most of my dutch oven cooking and baking. Yes, I said baking. I bake my bread in mine, and I might even try it for biscuits this winter!

What are you waiting for?

*as a CSN preferred blogger,
I receive product in
exchange for my post, however
all views expressed are my own.

Paper Clips, Safety Pins and Staples...they aren't what they used to be!

Does anybody else remember strong paper-clips? Or staples that actually required a staple remover for removal? Or safety pins that would actually hold something secure without bending out of shape?

All in the name of "conservation" (or is it just in the name of skimping on quality?), these items are being made with less and less of the metal required to make a quality product, so they are thinner and more flimsy as a result. Now we have "barely there" paper clips that won't hold paper, safety pins that won't hold anything at all, and staples that simply break in half when you attempt to remove them from paper. Flimsy staples, flimsy paper clips, flimsy safety pins. Sometimes it really takes a certain amount of raw material to make a quality product. Skimping just doesn't yield a positive outcome.

How is this better? If the item is of such poor quality that it no longer works for its intended purpose, there is no savings or conservation achieved. We end up using twice as many, or worse, buying them and then just tossing them into the landfill unused with all the other worthless trash in our world. Now the flimsy staples and flimsy paper clips will pile up next to the flimsy file folders and flimsy binders with metal clasps that don't close properly enough to merit being carried to school in any backpack.

Does anybody else have a paper clip, staple, or safety pin gripe? (also, the new water bottles "with 50% less plastic" are worthless, while we're on the subject of less material to make products)

I try to stay away from plastic water bottles, but on occasion, I do purchase one, and the new ones can't even stand up to normal grip. They crush in when you hold them, thus causing an expulsion of water...right onto whatever part of you happens to be in the way. Conservation? I think not. Now, those people who would normally have kept a water bottle for more than one use will no longer have any reason to do so because these are of such poor quality that they are not worth re-using. Way to go, corporate think tank! (I actually prefer to use a Voss glass water bottle--no plastic chemicals, and reusable to infinity, unless you break it.)

Making Cheese

I made this cheese tonight from our last 1/2 gallon of raw goat milk:

I only used 1/2 gallon of milk, so 1/4 cup vinegar, and I did not use 1tsp of salt. I just sprinkled salt into my palm and then sprinkled it on (so, about a "pinch" of salt). I did use a thermometer, and it helps to keep stirring the milk continuously as it nears 190 degrees to keep it from scorching.

This makes yummy ricotta-like cheese that is good to just eat, or to add to salads or onto crackers with tomatoes and/or other veggies. YUM!

the recipe came from Cheese Making.

BARE BONES

The following recipe represents the ultimate in simplicity in cheese making. It will produce a delicious cottage cheese that resembles ricotta and is excellent fresh or used in cooking Italian dishes such as lasagna. We recommend that beginners start with a cottage cheese to get the feel for the basics and for the instant gratification of being able to enjoy the product immediately.

Ingredients:

1 gallon 2% milk
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp salt

1. Heat the milk to 190F. You will need a thermometer for other cheeses but you can get by here turning off the heat just before the milk begins to boil.

2. Add the vinegar and allow the mixture to cool.

3. When cool, pour the mixture, (which now consists of curds and whey as in Miss Muffet food) into a colander and drain off the whey.

4. Pour the curds into a bowl and sprinkle on the salt and mix well. You may wish to use less salt or more. It is simply a matter of taste which is the next step. You can add a little cream for a silky texture.

The end of the tomatoes

The last of the tomatoes are trying to ripen before the frost arrives. Many of these green little sungolds will, sadly, have to be nipped off the vine still green so that the plant's energy can concentrate on those that are closer to ripe.

As for the bigger tomato vines, they are providing some wonderfully tart, close to ripe, green tomatoes for that southern comfort, fried green tomatoes. We generally don't "fry" foods anymore, but a bit of olive or coconut oil in the pan to saute with will do just fine.

How is your garden ending the season?

Seasons come, and...

It is

time to put on the flannel sheets

put away the summer cushions

cover up the porch swing

put up the darker colored valances

break out the pumpkin recipes

and polish off the soup ladles...

Busy, busy...

Been busy practicing voice over demos and learning Cubase software.

Watching the leaves turn orange and yellow and red and the rain come down as the

thermometer drops into the sweater range.

Voice work is fun and very challenging. Wish me luck!

pumpkin harvest?

Our pumpkin vine has yielded one pumpkin this year. I am thankful for this one pumpkin because last year's vine produced zero pumpkins. This is an heirloom variety for pie baking. I look forward to that delectable pie!

(for all the other pies, we will buy our pumpkins from the farm up the street that grows without any pesticides or herbicides - we got 18 pumpkins there last year.)

Another Most Enjoyable Treasure Hunt

The whole town turned out for the whole-town yard sale, and as always, we had a most enjoyable treasure hunt. This year, we only came home with three purchased items, but we had a lot of fun walking the streets and perusing the wares.Amilia especially liked the ceramic cheetah head above, the cute dog below,and the stuffed bird, none of which did we buy, or even price.It was just fun to see all the colors and textures, and to comment together on which items were best, worst, and in-between. We did come home with a book, a doll carrier for Emma (the doll), and a new bed for Amilia. It was a frugal, fruitful, and reserved purchasing excursion.

Until next year...(or maybe until next week when the Fireman's annual sale arrives).

School Days

I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend. We went visiting family in California, and though I took TWO cameras along, I did not snap one photo. Of anything. At all. None.

Can you believe that??

I could hardly believe it, either, but alas, it is the truth. That just means that you do not have to see the brown edges of the visible air we had to breathe, or the weeds and trash and despair clinging to the freeways up and down the state, or the waves of heat rising from the pavement.

But, you also do not get to see the tears streaming down our faces when we were laughing so hard at the Chinese restaurant that we almost fell out of our seats. We had ordered so much food that they actually had to bring up another table just to house the many heaping plates.
The poor server was actually afraid to take plates away when empty (after Amilia growled at her for attempting to take the soup that was not finished); I think she wondered if we might also eat the plates themselves!

You also do not get to see us running for the frisbees and running for water with heat-flushed faces. Just let me report to you that all these things were a happy end to the summer season.

Even though the calendar says it is still summer, school has begun, and the summer has slipped by into another chapter in our personal histories. The trees say Fall is arriving, and the cold air here at home is in agreement.

School days are here again, and
The Holidays are not far behind...

Happy Labor Day Weekend to you all!

I am taking a few days to rest and relax. I will be back here on Tuesday, ready to share some more marvelous content with you.

In the meantime, you might want to have a listen to my latest blogtalkradio broadcast. Note that I am still working on perfecting sound, and that I use a Skype connection to host the show, and this time there are a few audible glitches here and there. Overall, not too bad for my second show ever (if you ask me...which you didn't).

Listen to internet radio with Outside The Garden on Blog Talk Radio

Dear Blog,

I thought about what I would say here today, and then I had to finish my work day, so I forgot.

When I arrived home, I had to:

help with dinner (Mr. Nature thankfully does the majority of this task for me most days),

help Amilia finish her homework,

wash - dry- put away two loads of laundry, (okay, the second load is drying now...),

look for the supplies to clean the fish bowl (never found, so Nemo will have to gasp through another day),

clean the bathroom,

talk to family on the phone,

and then I had to play games with Amilia because it is "game night"

which reminded me that I was going to talk about game night here today.

But, after all the work getting to game night, and then playing Spanish Bingo once and Candyland twice, and helping clean up after dinner, I no longer have any energy to say what I was going to say here tonight.

I do so hope you understand. Until tomorrow,