This
is how we do it. Part 1.—Its all about the food.
People
ask, often. How do we do it? 5 kids. Small house.
One steady income… and that one is a 10-month income.
Here’s
the answer.
I
don’t have a freakin’ clue.
Ok. No entirely true. But a lot of the time, I have no idea
why we don’t all hate each other.
How we manage eat good food. How come we have so much fun.
All
of that. I’m just not sure.
Here’s
what I do know. We enjoy our food. And. We cook a lot . often from scratch.
Now I know part of our
ability to do that is that we have jobs that allow us flexibility to be home and make food. That’s pretty great. We have a huge, ancient and awesome
freezer in our basement, courtesy of
our friend Kate, who inherited it when she bought her house. So we can make batches of things.
Staples
in our house include:
Roast
chicken, everyone likes it. Most
common prep is sticking it in the crock-pot for a few hours and seasoning it
lightly with butter salt lemon, because of the variety of palates in
house. We often eat most of it for
a dinner, but there is usually enough for Chris to take to work and we often
make stock from it. We eat with Rice we buy in big burlap bags, or potatoes or cous cous . Add what ever fresh veggies we can steam. Maybe applesauce.
Which
leads to soups and chilies. We do
a lot of those because we can freeze extra and they are SO yummy with fresh
bread and can be very healthy. Top
favs—potatoes, leek and Kale, Moroccan Lentil.
I’m the chili maker ( Chris is the soup maker), and I mix it
up… chicken, pork, veggie.
Quiches,
with Chris’ piecrust and whatever we have on hand. At least two at time so we can freeze one.
Alice having Quiche by the campfire
Plus
you know, Mexican, quickie spaghetti dinners, mac and cheese… stuff like that ,
we aren’t perfect! J
We
have homemade pizza about once a week.
And crepes! We love crepes and do them breakfast style for dinner, usually with bacon and sometimes bacon AND sausages if we are feeling indulgent. I'm the crepe maker. Yeah, I'm awesome.
But
here’s the biggest and most important staple of our diet. Chris
makes bread. A Lot Almost everyday. You can have the most boring meal in
the world and add fresh bread (or biscuits, or cornbread) and man, it turns
awesome.
So
here’s the way we pull off fresh bread 5-7 times a week. (By we I mean Chris makes it and we eat
it.)
I don’t know how much flour we go
through in a week in my house, but I think it’s safe to estimate 10-15 pounds.
Most of it turns into fresh, tasty, free-form loaves made from the following recipe.
This recipe is the result of a combination of information from many cookbooks,
friends’ anecdotal information, Internet cooking sites, and a lot of time in
the kitchen fiddling around until I found what worked for me. I have passed the
recipe around to friends, who have had success with it. Do keep in mind that
all of the baking times and temperatures, and even the ratios of the
ingredients, may vary somewhat depending upon your environment. Ovens are
calibrated differently, cooks use different ingredients and tools, even the
particular mix of chemicals in tap or well water from region to region … all of
these are variables that can affect one’s cooking. This is the recipe that
works for me on an almost-daily basis; I hope that it works for you, too, but
be open to making adjustments until you have The Right Recipe for you, your
oven, and your family.
Recipe:
7 cups flour
3 cups warm water (about
100 degrees F)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
Directions:
–dough–
Combine dry ingredients, then
add water.
Stir until no dry flour remains.
Cover loosely & let stand for
at least 2hrs (or until about doubled in volume).
Put in fridge (for up to
almost two weeks) or…MAKE BREAD NOW!
–bread–
Haul dough out of fridge.
Fill
a pie pan / brownie pan with hot water and place on bottom rack of oven.
Grease
a cookie sheet & sprinkle with corn meal or flour.
Sprinkle flour over
surface of dough and then grab a suitable piece.
Quickly & lightly tuck
edges under, turning 1/4 turn or so each time,
until you have formed a ball
(15-60 seconds should do it).
Place the ball of dough (wadded-up side
face-down) on the cookie sheet.
Let rise for 20 minutes, then turn oven on and
set to 450F.
When oven is up to temp, add whatever finishing touches you
desire*
Pop in oven, set timer for 25 minutes and go away.
Come back at timer,
spin cookie sheet around 180 degrees &
set oven to 350F and timer to 25
minutes again. Go away.
Check for doneness by tapping on bottom of loaf:
-if it
sounds hollow, put it on a rack until cooled completely
-otherwise,put it back
in the oven for 5-10 minutes and try again
Once it’s at room temperature,
ENJOY!
*NOTES (this is where I get
long-winded)
FINISHING TOUCHES include (but are NOT
limited to):
Coatings:
milk – gives a rich, soft brown finish
egg yolk + a
splash of water – gives a shiny, brown finish
Sprinkles:
salt (particularly
kosher)
onion bits, garlic
poppy, sesame, flax seeds
FLOUR: I use cheap, grocery store brand
unbleached white, but as long as it’s some kind of white, you’re OK. you can
also experiment with mixtures…I often replace 1/2 to 1 cup with whole wheat. I
have also used as much as one cup of oatmeal (both quick and not-quick, but
quick works better). much more than that and you have to futz around with the
amount of liquid). You can use a little more or less flour…7 cups will make a
dough that is pretty easy to handle, particularly when you want to make long
baguettes or oval loaves instead of round ones. Much less than 7 cups and I’m
swearing & flinging dough all over my kitchen, increasingly desperate to
escape the sticky stuff that utterly refuses to behave. Much more than 7 cups
and it makes a pretty dry loaf that must be eaten the same day or it turns to
stone. So I usually use 7 cups of flour, but your mileage may vary.
That said,
when you dump in the flour you can be a little bit loose w/measuring. This is
not one of those hyper-precise “scrape off the extra with the back of a knife”
kind of things. I do take care to make piles in the container, though, so I
don’t lose count of how much is in there. An entire cup over or under will ruin
your bread-baking day.
WATER: by “warm” they mean roughly
100-105 deg fahrenheit … it should feel almost hot on your wrist, but not
quite. I used a thermometer the first ten times or so, now I can adjust the tap
and get it close enough.
Too hot & you kill the yeast, too cold and it takes
about an eon for the yeast to wake up and bubble (though it will, eventually…I
have had dough rise for 12 hours because of having used water that was too
cool).
SALT: I use kosher usually, but have
used regular ol’ table salt to good effect, too. you can vary the amount a bit,
but I almost always use a tablespoon per batch. Too much salt & the yeast
dies, too little & the bread lacks some flavor and the yeast goes nuts and
tries to take over your house. I’d recommend not going over/under by more than
1/2 tablespoon.
YEAST: I buy the little jars of it…they
last a lot longer than the 3-pack envelopes. If you are using the envelopes,
one packet is about 2-1/4 teaspoons, which is close enough (3 tea = 1 table,
when it comes to spoons). You can use as little as one teaspoon…takes all
afternoon to do the initial rise, but it works fine….I do this when I’m short
on yeast and/or long on time.
CONTAINER: get a big tupperware or
something. by big, I’m talking bigger than you’d take for your lunch. Mine
happens to be a 19-cup (4.5 liter, says on the bottom, I checked) square
monster (square fits the fridge well) for which we lost the lid long ago. I use
foil to cover it. you need to be able to cover it loosely so it won’t dry out
and so it won’t build up pressure. If you have something with a lid, just leave
a corner or edge popped up & you’re good to go.
MISCELLANEOUS / THE PROCESS IN MORE
DETAIL (in other words, still more long-winded):
first, add the yeast & salt, in
either order, then mix the dry ingredients together.
then, add the water. stir for a few
minutes, until it’s all incorporated. it will become very gooey, dough-y, and
look all wrong if you’ve ever made regular, kneaded bread. It’s OK. really.
put the cover on (if you’re using foil,
put it on as tightly as you want, it won’t explode. if you’re using a real lid,
leave a crack somewhere).
set the whole mess on the counter for
about 2 hours…or til it’s about doubled in volume. in the winter it takes
longer since the kitchen’s colder. sometimes it’s done in one hour in the
summer. no worries, you’ll get the hang of it by about batch # 5. I have left
it for 4-5 hours and it still turned out OK in the end, though the entire
container was filled and the foil beginning to lift off of the container. it’s
all good. mostly, look for about doubling in size.
after the initial rise, you have two
options:
stick it in the fridge for as long as about 10 days
or
tear some off
& make bread
the sooner you use it, the lighter
& more tender it will be
the longer you wait, the more of a [faint, but
nice] sourdough-y flavor you’ll get. Over time, it will get progressively [a
little more] chewy. but because it’s no-knead, it will always be pretty tender,
never tough-and-chewy.
You will be able to get 2-4 loaves per
batch, depending on what you’re after. you might start out using 1/4th of the
dough at a time because it’s a little challenging to handle until you get the
hang of it.
whenever you decide to make bread,
here’s what you do…
grease a baking sheet. I use butter,
spray stuff, whatever’s around. olive oil works really well for me.
sprinkle
corn meal (or flour, but corn meal works much better) on the cookie sheet and
set aside.
haul out the container of dough &
set on the counter, lid off.
get a spare cake/brownie/pie pan &
fill with screaming hot tap water. put this anywhere in your oven that won’t
interfere with your baking sheet.
barely warm your oven. I turn on the
light, then set it to the lowest temp (170 on mine), set the timer for 1
minute, then turn off the oven. just trying to get a consistent temp for the
rising….your settings may vary, and that’s ok…just get into a habit and stick
to it. I leave the light on until I pull the risen dough out.
during the one-minute oven run, I get
out my flour and liberally sprinkle it on the section of dough I’m going to
pull out. this stuff is sticky!…get the flour all the way to the edges and a
little past the line where you’re going to divide it. don’t be shy about it,
you don’t want to be able to see any bare dough in your target area. bare dough
= sticky goop all over your hands.
AFTER turning off the oven, use your
well-floured hands to grab some dough.
form it into a ball (check youtube for
how to do this if you’re not sure…some great tutorials there. The less time you
handle it the better…you don’t want this stuff to start getting sticky on you,
it WILL kick your ass. with [a little] practice, you will be able to make a
nice ball out of the stuff in about 15-30 seconds.
plop your ball down in the middle of
the cookie sheet (gently), with the wadded-up side down.
put a tea towel / miscellaneous kitchen
cloth over the whole works & stick in the oven to rise. double-check that
your oven’s TURNED OFF!
set timer for 20-30 mins (less in
summer, more in winter), go away and let it rise. at the timer, take the baking
sheet out and set on the counter. it won’t rise as much as kneaded bread does,
and often spreads out some…not to worry, it will rise like mad in the oven.
preheat oven to 450. leave the pan of
water in there.
when the oven beeps to tell you it’s at
temp, take the towel off the dough, brush on some milk or egg yolk, sprinkle on
some salt / poppy seeds / sesame seeds / whatever you fancy.
egg holds on
better to whatever you’re sprinkling. If you use egg yolk, add a teaspoon or
two of water to thin it.
slash the dough (or it will split
somewhere randomly…which makes for a tasty but less pretty loaf). I have never
been able to slash this stuff with a knife well…either my knives suck or the
dough’s too soft and goopy…so I use kitchen scissors and snip straight down.
3-4 slashes (or snips, in my case), about 1/2-inch deep will probably do fine.
or two slashes in an ‘X’ … that looks pretty, too. Slashes should go to pretty
near the edges…within about an inch.
stick the sucker in the oven. be quick,
because you’re gonna be hit with a massive amount of steam from the pan of
water you put in there. keep your head back and squint.
set timer for 25 mins & go away.
don’t open the door! even tho it’s tempting. don’t do it. The steam is what
makes the nice crust.
at the bell, you get to see it. open
the oven & give the baking sheet a 180 so your bread will cook evenly.
close the oven & set the timer for
another 25 mins and turn the heat down to 350. go away again.
at the bell, haul it out, flip it over
and tap it on the bottom with your finger: if it sounds hollow, it’s done … if
not, stick it back in for 10 mins & repeat. I have accidentally left these
loaves in the oven for over an hour AT 450 and they still work fine … a little
browner than usual and you gotta eat ‘em in a day because they’re a little dry.
point being: don’t worry that you’re going to over-cook it if you guess wrong
and have it in there for 10 mins “too long.” once in awhile I have to put a
loaf back in 2 or 3 times. S’OK.
when done, put on a rack to cool
completely. if you cut it while still really really warm, you’d better eat it
all right then and there, or it will dry out by morning. Otherwise … you’ve got
fresh bread, possibly in less time than it will take to read all of this!
FURTHER NOTES:
you can add just about anything to the
basic recipe to modify your breads. I often add one egg (no more than 3), or
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil, or use some milk + some water as long as total liquid is
pretty close to 3 cups.
Egg[s] will add a slightly yellow color
+ more springy bread + nice flavor. Milk adds flavor & increases
tenderness, oil makes for a soft & chewy bread with nice flavor.
Up to 3-4 tablespoons sugar works, too
(but beware the rising…it will speed up). Sugar/molasses/honey will give a
slightly darker, crunchier crust because of the sugar on the surface
carmelizing as it cooks.
If you add eggs / oil in addition to 3
cups of water, you may have to add some flour (1/4 cup or so at a time) to soak
up the additional liquid.
REFERENCE MATERIALS:
I began with Google, looking for advice
for novice bakers, and ended up discovering the world of no-knead breads. One
of the best references on the topic is Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
(though their specific method doesn’t work reliably for me (or my oven,
perhaps)). The book is filled with gorgeous photographs and tons of helpful
information. You will find all sorts of tips, video tutorials, and great
pictures on their site. www.artisanbreadinfive.com
Also, google “New York Times no-knead
bread” and you’ll find some more info about this kind of recipe. Theirs is not
as easy, though, IMHO. But still useful.
Fanny Farmer — my edition is about 30
years old; any will do. This is an excellent reference for all sorts of
American cooking, and the baking section is filled with useful tips &
tricks.
Beard on Bread — another fantastic
reference, by a master of bread baking. While a bit off the subject of yeast
breads, his baking powder biscuit recipe is unparalleled. They are demanded in
my house, and frequently.
making pie dough
green pop overs for St Paddy's day
And well, we try-, try- to enjoy the little things. Including cheap wine.
