The Underground Baker

2009-01-31T09:57:00.000-08:00

The Pigs Foot and Other Courses
Warning - this post will not be to everyones taste.

Well, my friend K and I finally pulled it together; A dinner based on Le Pied du Conchon. It all started with a phone call.

K - "I got it. Got it at a really good price."

Me - " Really? But is it enough?"

K - "Its fuckin' huge, more than enough."

Me - "OK, who are we gonna invite"

K - "Its gotta be the right kinda people. Everyone has to be into it."

This is it. (FOOD ALERT - some people hate this kind of thing...in this neck of the woods, people picket your house or restaraunt, throw nasty things at you or stalk you for selling or consuming it. So for those of you who are put off by foie gras, perhaps go check out Alenia at Home today. Its a fun blog written by someone who is cooking recipes out of the cookbook of the same name - from Chicago based restaurant of the same name.The last two posts have not contained fattened duck liver, but the second last post is pretty funny on cooking with cigars.)

Actually, this is only half of a foie gras liver, the other half has been stuffed into the Duck in a Can. More about that later.
Foie gras really is a strange food. More the consistancy of butter than than meat. It has been many years since I have worked with it and I really couldn't remember much about handling it. I was trying to clean it up before slicing it and it CRACKED - very frustrating, not to mention a little weird. It was too cool to be worked with, although likey the temperature was perfect for slicing.

But I get ahead of myself. Lets start with the menu. I should stress here that this food, although fairly sophisticated in preparation, is rustic in presentation. Very hard for an unprofessional photographer to make look beautiful. They do a much better job in the book! But don't judge the taste by the look. These dishes taste amazing. My favorite is the un-photogenic Duck in a Can. I cannot wait to eat this fantastically sloppy, fatty, rich dish again.

Rustic Tart with Duck, Goat Cheese and Sour Cherries

Stuffed Pigs Feet with Foie Gras

Duck in a Can

Green Bean
Salad
Lemon Tart

My friend K made the Stuffed Pigs Feet, and he has all the photos. I will have to post the preparation of those another time.
I was responsible for Duck in a Can. The handy thing about this recipe is that you can make it in advance and (Sacre bleu! Martin Picard will strike me dead if he reads the following) I think it would still taste incredible without the foie gras. Here is the recipe.

DUCK IN A CAN

The Can
100 g (3 1/2 oz.) slice of foie gras, 2 1/2 cm (1 inch)thick
1/2 duck magret ( I think this is a typo - I think they forgot to write duck breast)
150 ml (2/3 cup)embeurree de chou (buttery cooked cabbage)
1 head roasted garlic
1 sprig thyme
25 ml (2 T) balsmaic vinegar meat glaze

In a skillet, sear the foie gras on boht sides until nicely coloured and then season to taste. Remove from heat immediately to stop cooking. Set the foie gras aside and keep cool.
Cut the magret to separate the skin and fat from the meat, being careful to keep the skin attached to the meat on one side. Season with salt and pepper. Insert the cold foie gras between the fat and the flesh of the magret.
Pour the meat glaze into the bottom of a can or 500 ml mason jar. Place the stuffed magret in the centre with the skin against the inside of the can or jar. Fill the remaining space with the embeurree di chou and the sprig of thyme. Finish by squeezing the roasted garlic out onto the contents. Seal the can or jar. (I stored my cans of duck for two days in the fridge)Here they are stacked and ready to cook. My appologies folks, I forgot to take pictures of the actual preparation.

PDC Embeurree de chou (Buttery Cooked Cabbage)
1 large Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 head garlic, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced (I cut mine into longish strips)
200 gms (7 oz.) slab bacon, cut into 5 mm (1/4 inch) lardons
100 gms (3 1/2 oz.) butter
3 sprigs thyme
salt and pepper

In a sucepan, sweat the vegtables (except the cabbage) in the butter along with the lardons, cooking until nicely coloured. Then add the cabbafe and cook over medium hear for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking in the oven at 175 (350 F) until cabbage is soft. (I just continued cooking on the stove on low with a lid) Season to taste. Set aside to cool.
Some of this preparation will not be used. Keep it refridgerated for another purpose. (After stuffing the cans, I ate whatever was left immediatly)

Celeriac Puree
I celeriac (celery root)
100 ml (1/2 cup) 35% m.f. cream
30 ml (2 T)nut oil
salt

Peel and chop the celeriac and cook it in boiling salted water. Puree it in a mixer or food processor, gradually adding th ecream until the mixture is smooth. Slowly mix in the nut oil. Add salt. Set aside.

Balsamic Vinegar Meat Glaze
250 (1 cup) 4 year aged balsamic vinegar
125 ml (1/2 cup) venison stock
25 g (2 T) butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
salt

In a saucepan, sweat the onions in the butter, allowing them to caramelize slightly. Deglaze with balsamic vinegar and reduce the mixture by more than one half.
Add the venison stock and reduce until the glaze is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add salt. Stir the cold butter into the hot glaze.
You should have about 150 (2/3 cup) of glaze.

Final Cooking and Preparation
Cook the Duck in a Can for exactly 27 minutes in a large pot of boiling water.

Let sit for 5 minutes before serving. Toast a 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick piece of bread to make a crouton. Cover the crouton with the hot celeriac puree.

Turn the Duck in a Can upside down onto the puree.

(Yes, this is one hot mess - but it tastes unbelievably good. Be sure to take a bite that includes a little of everything, so that you get that "eyes roll to the back of the head" feeling.)

Serve, Raising a glass to your health and your hard work.

FOOTNOTE
The Rustic Tart tasted great, too. (Pardon me if I compliment myself a little) The pastry is from Au Pied de Conchon, and the filling was influenced by Martin in that after making the rich pastry, recipe follows, I spread a cold bechamel sauce over the dough as part of the filling:

Pie Dough
225 gm (8 oz.) cold butter
275 gm (1 2/3 cup) all purpose flour
70 ml (1/3 cup) cold water
pinch fine salt

Cut butter into 2 cm cubes. Mix the flour, salt and butter togethr by hand or in food processor. Some small pieces of butter should remain in the flour mixture. They will help the pastry cook to perfection.
Add water and form a dough roll without working the pastry too much. Leave to rest in the refrigerator at least 2 hours.

Meanwhile, heat on low until most of the liquid is absorbed, two handfulls of dried sour cherries and a few glogs of port. Don't boil!!! Just heat to speed up the absorption time. If you are really organized, you would have soaked the cherries overnight. Strain the cherries just before sprinkling on to tart. Drink remaining port (the port will taste better if you had soaked over night!).

I used Martins method of making the base layer of the tart out of bechamel sauce, except it was cheese sauce that was kicking around in my fridge.

Roll patry out to about 1/8 of an inch thick.
Spread the middle with a thin-ish layer of bechamel sauce, leaving about 2 1/2 inches of pastry edge clear of bechamel. Lay out paper fine sheets of duck prosciutto over the bechamel. Sprinkle with chunks of cold goat cheese (so that it crumbles easily). Then sprinkle over this the cherries.
Fold the bare edges of the tart shell over the filling. Bake at 375 F until golden brown. Cool slightly to serve.

If you can't find duck prosciutto, you could use the traditional Italian ham version. It will be stringy compared the duck imitation. I got the duck prosciutto from a place on Granville Island called Oyama.

2008-10-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

Autumn Market

This is a photo post, snapshots from the Riley Park Farmers Market.

Look at those beautiful purplish tomatoes in the back corner. Actually...now that I look closely I realize they looked more purple in real life...they look murkier in the photo.

I roasted some of these carrots with beets, potatoes, acorn squash, peeled garlic, yam and apple, all diced up smallish and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary, then roasted for about an hour. They were a little brown and crusty on the edges and creamy sweet inside. Made a huge tray of it and what we didn't eat immediately I saved and tossed into salad greens with a few nuts for crunch.

I love the markets in the fall. These photos were taken a few weeks ago. We haven't seen that kind of brilliant sunlight since.
The heirloom tomato plant given to me this summer yeilded up five, (yes, you read correctly) lovely little yellow tomatoes. Thanks Leanne - if you are reading this - it may have been a small crop, but it was a tasty one.

2008-10-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Viva Las Vegas

Snacks at the Hard Rock

Well, after being duly reprimanded, or perhaps challenged, by mr. anchovy saying "blogging is done because of obsessive or disciplined behavior" (or something along those lines) I feel I must post. I am still exhausted from three days in the company of my sister, niece and a thwack of unruly friends.

I cannot say the food I had in Vegas was stellar. Mind you, in that town you only get the best if you are willing to pay for it. I would have to say the best meal/snack I had was at the Hard Rock Hotel. Technically speaking the food was just ok. But the cabana....loved it. You could have served me hard tack with my cocktails and I would have been thrilled. Even if it was bloody cold, (not the food, the weather). We considered just camping out in the cabana.

I can't go to a wedding and not post a picture of the happy couple. They both looked fabulous.

2008-06-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

First Day of Summer Holidays

And we are celebrating with Pancakes.

1 1/2 cups flour of your preference. I usually blend unbleached white and spelt.
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 plain yogurt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat a griddle or frying pan on medium or medium-low.

1. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, baking soda and sugar and stir well with a wire whisk.

2. In a two cup liquid measuring cup measure yogurt and milk, then beat in the eggs and melted butter.

3. Stir the liquid gentley and quickly into the flour mixture. Be sure not to over-stir. This means that you may have bits of flour undisolved and lumping within the mixture. This is ok, see the photo to give yourself an idea of what it should look like.

4. Spoon batter on to the lightly oiled, preheated griddle. When bubbles appear on the damp surface of the pancake, turn to finish cooking the other side. Do not flip your pancakes more than once as this will toughen them.

5. Serve immediately with your favorite fixin's. Our include the classic maple syrup, and or strawberries with thick cream or yogurt- especially at this time of year!

2008-05-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

And Now For Something Completely Different In Reading Material

On the cookbook front I have the album Au Pied de Cochon, which I have been wanting to test and review for some time now. It is not to every one's taste or philosophy, which makes it all that more interesting to ponder. For those not familiar with the Montreal institution, Anthony Bourdain captures it best.

" A one man Dionysian orgy of my favorite things ... a completely unrestrained in-your-face feast of crispy duck fat, unctuous duck livers, moist flavourful blood sausages, marrow-filled bones, tender, lovingly slow-cooked birds, stuffed rabbit, sumptuous and hearty stews - and always: pork, pork, pork - in all its fatty, crispy, and inspiring glory." He has "his own madly enthusiastic signature takes on Quebecois sugar-shack staples like poutine, heaping thick slabs of melting foie gras, foie gras sauce and foie gras fat on the already artery-clogging goodness of hand-cut frits, demi-glace and fresh curds."
As you can see, the book and restaurant has the potential to be unpopular with some folks. Myself, I am looking forward to trying out the recipes, and would love to experience Martin Picard's enthusiasm in person. I don't like to eat slabs of foie gras for the simple reason that I get full so fast from all the richness. But if prepared perfectly I enjoy it. Thankfully my friends who are better human beings allow me my occasional forays into the forbidden. You can be sure the politically correct will not be invited to the recipe testing feast coming up this summer!

OK, I am a tinge troubled by my enthusiasm in looking forward to eating foie gras. Perhaps this calls for a post on how it produced. For now I will provide two articles on foie gras production. The first is on production in France. The smallish farm produces goose foie gras, and the article is from the perspective of someone who eats foie gras. The second is from an animal rights group. Foie gras production is not for the squeamish.

2008-05-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Books for Thoughts on Food

I have got quite a substantial reading list for this summer...although no summer novels yet. Any suggestions?
Perhaps I should finish Don Quixote. Candy and * were reading it last year, so I thought I would give it a go yet once again. Got as far as the windmills, perhaps a little further. I have noticed that everyone talks about the windmills whenever they mention the novel. I believe the reason the windmills are referred to so often is that no one actually reads any further than the bloody windmills.
That said, I am determined to finish it, so voila, another book on the list.
So far the list looks like this:

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats
Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism WARNING: This is an unpleasant clip. If you want to stick to light food topics, skip it, if you want to think about food globally and politically, then the idea of Klein's "shock doctrine" goes hand in hand with it.
Stuffed and Starved Here is a clip of Patel talking about biofuels, the contradiction of too many fat and too many thin people, and trade policies related to food.
Don Quixote
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Coutries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
Extraordinary Evil

2008-04-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

Rustic Cheese Souffle

I love cheese souffles. Before starting, I always think they are going to be a complete pain to make, and then surprised at how quickly the souffle gets into the oven. I also like using up all scraps of cheese found at the bottom of the cheese drawer.
I almost always make extra Bechamel or Cheese sauce to 1) tempt the kids to eat more broccoli 2) use it to top a moussaka or lasagna later in the week. Here is the description of the classic Bechamel from Herrings Dictionary of Classical and Modern Cookery.

Bechamel: white roux moistened with milk, seasoned with salt; a larded onion added, boiled, strained. May be improved with cream.

Here is the cheese sauce.
Mornay: Bechamel sauce beaten with butter, mixed with grated Parmesan and Swiss cheese. May be bound with egg yolks before butter is added.

Here is my recipe for Cheese Sauce.
This is the most time consuming element of the souffle. Having it on hand in the fridge can speed up getting dinner on the table.
Depending on what I am going to use the sauce for, I usually make it thicker than I would for pouring as it can always be thinned for a pouring sauce, but needs to be thicker for souffles and pouring over the top of casseroles like moussaka.

4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk, plus extra for thinning later
1/2 an onion, with a bay leaf skewered to the outer skin with 2 cloves
a few pinches salt
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
white pepper to taste
a tiny pinch of cayenne or hot paprika
1 1/2 cups (or a little more) assorted cheese, with old cheddar being the highest proportion

1. In a medium sized, thick bottomed saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter and dump in the flour. Stir often until the flour mixture gets a sandy texture and lightens in colour.
2. Add the milk slowly while whisking continuously with a wire whisk. Continue stirring until with the whisk until sauce thickens. Reduce heat to low and add the onion.
3. Let simmer on low for 10 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon often to keep the sauce from browning on the bottom. Taste the bechamel. You want to taste just a hint of onion and bay leaf and no trace of flour. Remove the onion if you are pleased with the flavour.
4. Add salt, pepper, cayenne or paprika and mustard to taste, keeping in mind that you still have the cheese to add. If I don't have old cheddar cheese I add a little extra mustard to punch up the flavour abit. Stir in the cheese with a wooden spoon. Use as soon as the cheese is melted.
Note: I don't always add the onion, bay leaf and clove - although I love the flavour, and I also love how the onion looks with the bay leaf attached to it. The reality is that I don't always have time for the extra step...well, in all honesty, its not only time, its just laziness. The souffle does not suffer from the lack of it.

Rustic Cheese Souffle
The rustic part just means dump the batter into any buttered and breadcrumbed oven proof container you can find. I have used saucepans, fry pans, bowls and in this case a low brimmed casserole.

1 cup cheese sauce, above
an extra handful of grated cheese scraps
4 eggs, separated

Preheat the oven to 375.
1. Stir the cheese scraps and egg yolks into the slightly cooled cheese sauce.
2. Beat the egg whites into soft peaks, (try not to beat them into crusty, dryish peaks, they don't fold in so nicely), then fold into the cheese sauce mixture. Using a balloon whisk which you may have used to beat the egg whites are an easy way to keep the souffle batter airy.
3. Pour into a generously buttered and breadcrumbed dish that can accommodate the rise of the souffle. It usually doubles in size before deflating when you plunge the serving spoon into the cumulus of egg.
Bake at 375 oven for about 20 to 35 minutes, depending on how deep your dish is. My shallow dish takes around 25 minutes. Eat right away.

The salad in the photo is Arugula, Caramelized Onions with Sage, Goat Cheese, Pecans and a Lemon Vinaigrette. It was really, really good! (the onions were leftovers)

2008-04-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Here is information I should have included with the photos. They are 9 of 24 families photographed for the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. This link has a good description of the book. Here is a link to the article in Time where you will find a few more family photographs than posted here.

2008-04-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Wrote my last exam yesterday and am so happy to be back blogging rather than my books. A friend of mine sent me this little visual study on what some folks eat. The idea was for each family to present all the food and drink they consume in one week.

Food for thought.

Italy : The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Germany : The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

United States : The Revis family of North Carolina.
Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1, 862.78 Mexican Pesos or $89.09

Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Bhutan : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

2007-11-18T10:10:00.001-08:00

Keep the Love Alive
Alright, now just keep feeding your little starter everyday or second day for as long as you can, repeating the procedure of 1/4 cup starter, 3 tablespoons water and 2/3 cup flour (discarding or baking with the remaining starter)kneaded into a stiff dough.
I have made bread from my starter and was pleasantly surprised by the results. (I am eating it right now, and I would be in such trouble if any in the house knew I was eating shattering bread crust bread while over the keyboard)
Sorry Glezer, for some reason I wasn't confident about how well the starter and bread recipe would work. And lord knows, I did not follow the recipe exactly near the end...I over proofed the bread by about 10 hours, (had wine with dinner thereby letting the dough rise overnight!) but because the starter was a little slow, the dough only deflated slightly when I put it on the baking stone.
I will write the rest of the recipe tonight.
Really wish I had pictures to post of my loaf.

2007-11-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

That's It For The Starter
Alright, I fed the starter again, made it into a very stiff dough using the same process as the last. This weekend I'll test its mettle and make some bread.
So sorry there have been no pictures. The new camera that we bought to replace the broken one has mysteriously vanished. Bit of a concern since it cost more than the last. How does one lose a new camera? We hadn't even taken it out of the house yet.
Considering someone just stole our car stereo in the middle of the day in the Science World parking lot, I have the horrible feeling that someone stepped in the door and snitched it under our noses.
Vancouver has a ridiculous level of small crime. Actually, its not too shabby on organized crime either.

2007-11-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Feeding Time
Last night I fed the Glezer starter again. All you need to do is repeat the last step...reserve 1/4 cup of starter, (discard the rest)add 3 tablespoons water, stir to dissolve and then add 2/3 of a cup unbleached flour. Knead to a stiff dough and let sit covered for one to two days.
I did get a very faint greying of the skin on the starter. Perhaps if I had let the starter ferment the full 48 hours it would have gotten darker. Since we only use a fraction of the starter, I just made sure I used the fresh looking sponge from the middle of the dough. It didn't smell particularly bad, just a little sour-ish.
I am addicted to the Free Rice site. Even the kids are on it.

2007-11-11T19:28:00.000-08:00

FREE RICE!!!!
Alright everyone, check this out!

2007-11-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

Feeding Time Already!
Looked at my starter this morning and thought ' hmm, if this was my recipe it would be ready to be fed again." But it isn't my recipe.
I have waited until at least 24 hours have gone by, (ok, I think its been 20), but I think this starter needs to be fed. This morning it was still domed with tiny bubbles that I could hear crackling just a little when I pulled off the lid of the glass bowl.
The starter is now a slightly deflated, flattened mass that smells a little skanky in a fairly inoffensive way. So I shall continue with Glezer's instructions. Keep in mind that I have not gone the two days as she has mentioned in her recipe.
I still have not gotten a grey skin on top of the starter like one of the listers to the Almanac show managed to grow...that is still puzzling me. I'm still standing by my hunch to that the problem - mould in the flour.
The Fifth Day, Third Starter
1/4 cup fermented starter
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
2/3 cup unbleached bread flour
Measure the amount of fermented starter you need and discard the rest. Dissolve it in the water then add the flour and mix into a fairly firm dough. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and let the dough ferment until it is sticky and slightly expanded, one to two days.
After a day, the starter will appear not to be fermenting at all. But if you smell it, it will smell very sour, and if you pull it open with floured fingers. it will be very gooey, extensible and riddled with tiny air bubbles.

2007-11-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

It's Feeding Time
This starter of Glezer's is quite different from others I have tried. I was sure nothing was happening, but after numerous pokes and sniffs, I decided it was time to give my little mound of rye starter its first "feed". By the end of day two it had changed from a sticky pile of flour and water to a slightly flattened, mud-like consistency. When I gently pulled a fork across the surface it made an almost crinkling sound. Ahhhh, the sound of tiny air-bubbles.
I should say that Glezer suggests that the starter should "bubble up, smell and look awful". All things being relative my version looked and smelled pretty dam good. Perhaps Glezer just hasn't been subjected to the plethora of truly foul, neglected starters that those who live with me can attest to. (All in the name of science, or baking, I say.)

The Third Day: Mixing the second starter
2/3 cup unbleached white flour
Mix the flour into the first starter, forming a firm dough and transfer it to a clean nonreactive container. Cover it tightly with plastic wrap and let it ferment for one or two days. When it is very sticky and riddled with tiny bubbles, it is ready to refresh. It will have very little aroma and will not rise very much, if at all.

2007-11-07T18:09:00.000-08:00

Here is a question I received shortly after the Almanac Show. The listener was having trouble with a starter from Maggie Gleezer’s book Artisan Baking.
The listener writes; “At each stage the starter developed a grey, mouldy-looking crust on top. Each time I refreshed it I removed the crust but it developed again after two days. At the end of two weeks (about six or seven refreshings) the starter still didn’t rise much so I gave up and threw it out. Is the grey on top normal? Does it mean there is unwanted bacteria in the starter?”
One of the best tricks I have learned about starters...I think it was from Reinharts book, is that when you refresh a starter, you need to have a small ratio of starter to the flour water ratio. If there is too much starter it grows to quickly and literally eats all the "food" you have provided with the flour and water. So I started adding cups of water and flour to my starters, then having way too much starter kicking around my fridge. So now I use a tablespoon or two of starter for a cup of flour and water. It always seems easier for me to turn this into a larger starter over a day or two rather than be discarding cups and cups of the frothy stuff everyday....I don't have many friends who want their own starters. But don't try storing starter in the tablespoon quantities. Always have about a cup (or more) made. If you have made it fresh, give it an hour or so at room temperature to get the yeast and enzymes a good start...I always picture them as eating, and they can't have a good feed if they start cold. Store that in the fridge if you aren't using it and then refresh it at least once, (three times seems to be the magic number for a nice vigorous starter, but I always use it after the first feeding because I am not thinking three refreshings ahead of time in my life right now!)
The other question regarding bad bacteria...hmm. I've only had starters go mouldy from neglect. If I refresh them regularly they have not gotten mouldy. Greyish, yes. I wonder if there could have been mould in the flour.
I am not sure if the above information will solve the listeners problem, so I am going to make the starter my self.
This starter takes seven to fourteen days to make, and I will write the recipe down in pieces…starting with day one right now.
The First Day
Mixing the First Starter
½ cup water, lukewarm
¾ cup whole rye flour
Mix the water and rye in a nonreactive bowl and tightly cover it with plastic wrap, or transfer it to a sealed glass or plastic jar. Let stand for about two days. It should bubble up, smell and look awful, and then subside. At this point it is ready to refresh.
Well, I’m off to start the starter. I’ll be back in two days to let you know if it got the grey, mouldy-looking skin.

Great question! and thanks for listening to the show,

2007-10-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone, and a special welcome to those of you new to the underground baker blog. I have posted the recipes for today's CBC Almanac Show faster than usual so listeners can peruse them if they are so inclined. I took a ton of pictures while baking, but am having trouble getting them online. So, if there are no photos on this visit, come back a little later and I should have them up.
If you have any questions, feel free to put them under "comments" and I will get to them as soon as I can.
Recipes not included in today's list (for Starters and Barms) can be found by going back to the previous Almanac Show found on the side bar.

Apple Pecan Bread

This loaf takes two and a half to three days to make, although the work is minimal. All the time is dedicated to the rise.

Ingredients

Sponge:
1 ¾ cup water
2/3 cup barm
2 T milk
1 T maple syrup
2 cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup dark rye flour
¼ t salt

Dough:
¾ cup water
1 t maple syrup
1 T salt
4 cups unbleached white flour
The Sponge
2 T walnut oil
3 cups pecans, lightly toasted and cooled
1 cup roughly diced apple

A few handfuls of unbleached white flour for kneading

Day one: Making the Sponge, (I usually start around 5 pm)
•Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well until you have a sloppy but smooth batter. Scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula, wrap with plastic and let sit at room temperature until bubbles form and a few pop. This takes up to 5 hours, depending on how vigorous the barm.
•Place in a refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours. (I do this just before I go to bed)
Day Two: Making the Dough
•In the morning, combine in a 4 qt + mixer bowl or large standard bowl for mixing by hand, the water, maple syrup and salt and mix well. Add the Sponge and flour, mixing with the dough hook for a machine, and stirring heartily by hand until a shaggy dough has formed. For those using a mixer, continue kneading in the machine for about 5 minutes. (The dough is a bit wet, so will cling to the side of the bowl more than other bread doughs) If kneading by hand, turn out on to a floured surface and knead anywhere from 6 to 8 minutes. (Alright, a moment of honesty. I admit, I don’t actually time myself…I knead until it feels right, but I have kept a glancing eye at the clock on occasion and it rarely takes 10 minutes to knead a dough that has such long proofing times)
•Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic and let proof for 8 to 12 hours in a cool place.
Day Three: Finishing the Bread
If you are using a baking stone, sprinkle two peels or cookie sheets with a generous amount of cornmeal. You want the cornmeal to work like ball bearings between the sheet and the bread. The stickier the bread dough, the more meal you need.
•If you are using cookie sheets to bake on, you won’t need to use as much cornmeal as the bread will pull away from the sheets as it bakes.
•The dough should be almost double in size. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide in two and shape each half into a round loaf by flattening the ball slightly, then pulling an edge into the center and pressing it into the center of the loaf. (firmly, but not so hard that you flatten the dough – remember, you are trying to make a ball) Place the ball of dough smooth side up on your prepared pans.
•Repeat with the second piece of dough.
•Let dough rise for about 2 hours or until almost doubled in size. Meanwhile, about an hour into the rising time, preheat your oven to 400. If possible have a rack under the one you will be baking on and place a shallow pan on it that you can pour water into when you have put you bread in the oven to bake. The water will create a swoosh of steam that will improve your bread. Measure out a cup of water and put it beside the stove.

•When the bread is almost ready to go in the oven, slash it with a very sharp knife in a criss cross pattern, or what ever you choose. Pop it in the oven and immediately pour your reserved water into your very hot pan below the bread. You may want to have oven mitts on for this. Close the oven door right away and bake the bread for 50 minutes, or until the interior registers 200 on an instant read thermometer.
•Cool the bread on wire racks.

Buttermilk Buns
My Grandmother gave me all of her recipes some time ago, and this is one of them. I have changed it slightly. Originally it called for dried potato flakes, which I have omitted, instead using cooking water from potatoes from if I have it, and switching buttermilk for milk. Sweet and fluffy they remind me of Sunday dinners at Nesta’s.

Ingredients

1 cup scalded milk
1 ½ cups cooled potato water
2/3 cup melted butter
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon salt
6 cups flour
1 tablespoon granulated yeast
melted butter for glazing

Preparation
•Combine milk, potato water, melted butter, sugar, eggs and salt in a bowl.
•Combine 5 ½ cups of flour with yeast in a 4 quart bowl. Pour the liquid ingredients into the flour and stir with a sturdy spoon until a shaggy mass has formed. Pour this future dough onto a floured surface and fold/knead the mass to a smooth ball. Use the reserved flour for this. If the dough is too sticky add a bit more flour. Dough with this much butter in it usually pulls away from a lightly floured surface more easily than dough with no fat content.
•Roll the dough in a buttered 4-quart bowl, cover with plastic and let rise at room temperature for two hours.
•Grease 2-12 cup muffin pans generously with butter.
•Punch dough down and form into a ball. Divide the dough in half and set aside, covered. Roll the first ball of dough into a log and divide into 12 pieces. Divide each of these pieces into 3, and roll these little pieces into balls.

Roll the little balls by kneading with the fingertip, then pinching the underside together to make the top of the round nice and smooth.
Place in the well buttered cup of the muffin pan. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
•Let the dough rise for 2 hours, then bake in a preheated 375 oven for 15 to 20 minutes. The buns should be golden and brown. If they brown too fast, turn the oven down by 25 degrees.
•Cool on a wire rack, if you can.

Potato Rosemary Bread

Ingredients

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, steamed, cooled and roughly mashed
5 ½ cups unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 ½ cups water
2 ½ teaspoons yeast
leaves from 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, roughly chopped or torn

Preparation

Day One
•Combine flour and salt in a 4 quart mixing bowl.
•Combine the water, yeast and potatoes.
•Stir the water mixture into the flour mixture until it messy dough. Add the rosemary and work it in a little.
•Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, until the dough feels smooth and springy. It will have little lumps of potato in it still. This is good.
•Transfer into a deep, clean, buttered bowl. It should be big enough to accommodate the dough doubling in size. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Day two
•Prepare a peel or cookie sheets with cornmeal, being extra generous with the meal if your dough seems a little sticky.
•Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board. Shape into on large round loaf, or two smaller. Place on the prepared peel or cookie sheet(s). Let rise about 1 ½ hours, or until almost double in size.
•About an hour before baking the bread, preheat your oven to 400. Place a shallow pan on the bottom rack for water. Place a cup of water at the side of the stove.
•When the dough has almost doubled, slash the surface with a very sharp knife in a cross or square. Place in the preheated oven and pour the water quickly into the pan under the bread. Bake the bread for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 200.
•Cool on a wire rack.

Sourdough Spelt BreadThis recipe is from the book The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. I have written it the way I make it, so the procedures are in my words. My apologies Mr. Reinhart…in your eyes I have probably butchered it. So listeners, readers…. If you have any problems, well you know who to talk to.
I have included rye flour where spelt flour is used, as it is the same recipe BUT the Rye Bread really needs the second proofing. The Spelt Bread is nice even with the one-day short cut. If you have the time for a three day bread, follow the instructions for Rye, (don’t worry about the degassing with the spelt, it has more gluten like properties than the rye flour.)

Ingredients

The Starter:
½ cup barm
1 cup spelt flour (or rye)
¼ cup warm water

The porridge:
½ cup spelt meal, or flakes (or rye flakes)
½ cup boiling water

The Dough:
3 cups spelt flour (rye)
1 ½ t sea salt
The Starter
The Porridge
1 cup water

Preparation

Day One:
•Combine the barm, spelt (rye) flour and warm water in a bowl and mix to form a stiff ball. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours. Transfer to the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours.
Meanwhile, combine the boiled water and spelt (rye) flakes to make the porridge. Let this sit at room temperature until you are ready to add it to the dough the next day.
Day Two:
•Cut the Starter into 1-inch pieces and let sit at room temperature in the bowl, covered, to take the chill off. This photo will give you an idea of the density of the starter.

•In a 4-quart mixing bowl (for a mixer or for hand mixing) combine the flour and sea salt and stir well. Add the cubed Starter, the Porridge and water. In a mixer blend for about 5 minutes with a paddle, or by hand stir until a shaggy dough forms, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until a smooth dough has formed and there are no noticeable signs of the starter within the dough.
•Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let sit for 4 hours, or until almost double in size. (ok, the rye bread doesn’t really double in size, at least not for me, but it will get bigger and feel a little spongy)
•When the dough has almost doubled in size, prepare your pans, or peel if you are using a baking stone. Sprinkle cookie sheets lightly with cornmeal if you are planning on baking on them. Sprinkle the peel more generously, since you are using the cornmeal as ball bearings to help slide the dough off the peel. The stickier the dough, the more cornmeal.
•Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface. Divide in half.
•If you are making Spelt Bread shape into two round balls by pulling the edges towards the middle and kneading is slightly with your fingertips. Turn the dough smooth side up on the prepared cookie sheets or peel. Let rise at room temperature for 2 hours or until almost double in size.
Day Three if you are making Rye Bread
•If you are making Rye Bread, place each half of dough in two oiled bags and let the dough have a second rise over night in the fridge. In the morning shape into balls or logs, being very careful to gently turn the dough out of the bags and place it on the peel with out handling it too much. This will prevent the dough from degassing, and you will get better volume during baking, but remember, we’re talking rye bread, so don’t be expecting a lot of height.
•After the dough has risen for about an hour, preheat the oven to 400. If possible, have a rack below the one you will be baking your bread on and place a shallow metal pan that can hold a cup of water. Set a cup of water beside the stove.
•When the dough has risen, cut a few slashes on the top of the loaves, about 2mm deep. If the oven is big enough bake both loaves at the same time. If not, cut the rise time of one of the loaves a little short, (15 minutes? It kind of depends on how vigorous your starter is!), so that the second one won’t over proof by the time it’s turn comes to go in the oven. Pop your loaf (or loaves) in the hot oven and quickly pour the water into the hot pan below the bread, (you may want to wear an oven mitt for this). Bake bread for approximately 40 minutes or until the internal temperature is 200. (use an instant read thermometer)
•Cool bread on wire racks.

2007-10-11T12:24:00.000-07:00

Summer Fun with the Little Red Hen

Summer is far behind us now, but the day of baking a hundred loaves in a day is still fresh in my memory. Which is good because I have another Almanac show coming up at the end of the month, and that means I need to put together some new recipes. If anyone wants a particular type of bread made just for them, now is the time to request it!
I plan on doing one white-ish loaf, perhaps a potato rosemary bread. A nice, dense fruit and nut loaf will be in order to go with the cool, rainy evenings. Add a nice fire, some blue cheese and a glass of smooth, sweetish port for a little piece of hedonistic heaven. Maybe a baguette would be perfect for sopping up winter soups.
That is a start.

2007-09-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

No Pics!!!

At least not for awhile as the camera's lens shutter has just jammed and won't let me take nor download pictures...only weeks after the warranty expired. Grrrrr.
So, I will tell you what is up for the fall, and save my summer stories for later. Let me say here that our road trip was lovely. We ate well and played in the water almost every day. If we weren't on a farm we were playing in the lake or scrabbling along the seashore. The days were warm. There were bugs and snakes to keep the kids happy when they weren't in the water and cool drinks in every cooler opened.

We ate:
freshly caught salmon
blackberries, (made gem-like blackberry jelly too)
baked a hell of alot of bread in a day, (what Janice? 115 loaves in two modest ovens?- great fun that, and it tasted wonderful too)
eggs gathered by little hands that when cracked open let out a solar hued blast of brilliance and a taste to match
pancakes with peaches that had never seen a refrigerator
prawns fetched from the watery and thunderous foot of a lightning storm

Now to the fall. The kids are somewhat settled into school, G has started muttering about work, and I have purchased my books for a semester at SFU.
Yes, I am back to school folks. Don't think I won't be baking and cooking...I will need it to give my brain a rest. And of course I will need to pay for tuition, so I may actually have to flog my cakes a little more aggressively.

2007-08-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

End of Summer

A sure sign summer is wrapping up is to find myself on the computer. I have a camera full of pictures and hope to start posting them soon.
I am off to school...I am now adding "student" to my profile. We will see if I can find some good coffee at SFU. Any suggestions out there?

2007-07-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hello Victoria

I'm here in beautiful Victoria, about to go in search for a coffee. Can I find those previous recommendations from months ago? No.
Send 'em in folks, if you know a coffee shop I might like. I will be heading up island in a few days, getting as far as Nanaimo if you want me to check out cafe's - or bakeries for that matter - while I'm about.

2007-07-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Baking Bands

Thought I would try out these insulated baking rings. They are supposed to prevent the doming of your cakes so you don't waste, (??? it doesn't go to waste around here - we eat it straight up, and if I'm making lots of cake we turn it into trifle!) so much cake when trimming.
They worked fairly well with the larger cake, (6"), but not so well for the little 4" pans. It didn't help that I overfilled the little pans so the insulators didn't really have the opportunity to work.
They work out to be alot cheaper than buying sets of insulated pans, but I find them a little awkward to work with. Because I use spring form pans, the ring does not fit tightly. Perhaps that is why I get slight doming. If I used sealed pans I would imagine I could put them in a water bath. But I don't. I do like having more cake to work with, so I think I will continue to use them.
I did notice that someone else didn't think these bands are perfect and are attempting to design something a little more efficient.

2007-07-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

Sticks and Stones Can Break My Bones,
But Insinuations by Psychopaths Cannot Hurt Me.

What more is there to say?
Actually, there is lots to say, but I'll save it for another day.

I will take some pleasure in writing a description from my lovely dictionary, the not so short Oxford. Bear with me today.

Psychopathy: "a state characterized by persistent egocentric, irresponsible, and antisocial or aggressive behavior, and an inability to form normal relationships with others; the state of having such a disorder.

Since this is a food blog, I shall give you a recipe.
Here is a recipe for an empty person:

Take a Narcissist, stir in Psychopathy and let sit for awhile, (don't forget the older the ferment, the nastier the results).
In no time at all you will have a pearl.

Most pearls look like crap, (they only string the pretty ones, and then those hang around most necks amplifying every flaw in the poorly adorned), and taste even worse if you have the unfortunate experience of eating one. All that crunchy crustiness is horrible, and it's really just hardened spit. So do what the oyster is trying to do and get rid of it.

2007-07-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

I’m It!
I had been secretly jealous that no one had tagged me since starting this blog, and lo, now I’m “It”. Except of course this is a food blog, so I am going to modify the questions to food as much as possible. Is this allowed???

1. Name your favorite professional cook or restaurant. That is tough one, since a few of my friends are also some of the best cooks I know, so I will change it to favorite restaurant. The place I will always go to is Vij’s restaurant, their food has been good for a long time.
2.Who is your favorite historical cook? Julia Child, (does being dead make you historical?). She won me over by her complete lack of pretension and abundant enthusiasm for cooks trying to find their way. I also love reading Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s book the Physiology of Taste in the same way that I enjoy reading some poets.
3.What kind of pitch would you give the Food Network? Well, the underground baker needs to go on a trip looking for underground food trends and tastes funded by making a documentary/TV show of it. Oh dear, I think it’s been done before…but not by me!
4.Which is your favorite city for food, (not mentioning your home town)? Mexico City, San Francisco and home, (I know, I’m not supposed to say that, but the food here can be pretty dam fine). Oooh, Singapore was amazing, too. But I still have a lot more cities to explore.
5.Who is your favorite food writer? Anthony Bourdain, not because his food is good, (it could be shite for all I know), but because his writing makes me laugh and celebrates good food without being too pretentious. I also like the writing of the of man who ate everything, Jeffrey Steingarten.
6.Are you a Wilsonian Idealist or Nixonian Realist in foreign policy? I would have to think too hard to convert that one to a food question. Any suggestions?
7.What is your favorite food show? I like Nigella and of course the already mentioned Mr. Bourdain. Having not seen too many shows I don’t really have much to draw on. Any recommendations? (Any of the Iron Chef shows look too much like work.)

Whew, that was the first set of tag questions, and now for the second. I will try to maintain food content.

1.What were you doing 10 years ago? Cooking my ass off.
2.What were you doing 1 year ago? Chasing children, baking, visiting family.
3.What five snacks do you enjoy? Many cheeses with crusty bread, tapas or antipasto, cake, my sister’s broccoli salad, chips and dip.
4.What five recipes do you have memorized? Beurre blanc, hollandaise, waffles, pizza dough, chocolate chip cookies, (ok, I have to admit, I probably have hundreds in my head, but the first two are ones I will remember on my deathbed even if I never make them again, and the last three are what I make way too often).
5.What five things would you do if you were a millionaire? If it was a cool mil, I’d take care of my family, (that would take care of most of the money), buy a cabin somewhere nice, let my man buy some gadgets no matter what they were, build myself an amazing pantry made up of all the condiments I cannot afford, (beautiful balsamic vinegars, olive oils, truffles and the like) and travel a bit. If it was a multi-mil, I’d do the same plus I’d do some research with communities that need help, here at home and in other countries, to find out what they believe they need and fund them.
6.List five bad food/eating habits. Leaving cookbooks all around, nibbling my nails, eating too much chocolate (I talking kilos!), doing too many things last minute when cooking, and eating chips.
7.What five things do you like cooking/preparing? Making my coffee in the morning, crepes, stirring ganache, roasting/braising meats, icing cakes, kneading bread, making cassoulet, (ok, that’s six, but my list is endless).
8.What five things would you never eat or buy? Store bought fish sticks, power bars, energy drinks or pop, artificial sweeteners or whiteners, margarine.

I tag nowt, mr anchovy, red and echos of a dream…I tag so many because I don’t expect you to do the tag unless you feel like it. Remember, it’s a food tag.
Do one, both or none!

2007-06-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

Bittersweet with Caramel Gems

Last week was busy, hence the long stretch between posts. This little stacked number was for a party of 14. It is coated and filled with a bittersweet ganache flavoured with cognac. The middle layer of each cake is studded with caramel pockets. The caramel glaze, (dusted with gold powder) is surrounded by balls of chocolate fondant. The cake was originally going to be draped with chocolate fondant until I discovered that the chocolate fondant recipe I used is not such a great draper - in actual fact it doesn't - If I had read the second part of the recipe a little more thoroughly I would have known that before I made two batches thinking I had done something wrong. Ah well, live and learn.
Speaking of learning, I was quite impressed that when I went online to problem solve the draping issue, I found the blog of the author Rose Levy Beranbaum, and posed my dilema there. I was pleasantly suprised by getting a response not only from her blog master, (???, like a webmaster but for blogs???), but from Rose herself. It was the latter who pointed out that I had missed the crucial draping information. Dam, how embarrassing.