Table Bread (Vegan)

 
 

A good around the house food.

It is simple and requires just a couple of resting periods where you can go and do something else for awhile and come back to it.

This bread is a good sandwich bread which I have been making regularly in lieu of my fridge fermentation breads.  I just like to mix it up and sometimes I forget to put up the fermenting dough and this becomes a more instant bread.

The active time is maybe 20 minutes. Less once you get the hang of it.  Inactive time depends on how warm your bread environment is. Averages around 1-2 hours.

For this bread you'll need:

Yield is two loaves  (They go quickly!)

• 5 Cups of flour ( I do usually 3 1/2 Cups white unbleached and 1 and 1/2 Cups whole wheat)
• 1 heaping tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/3 Cup vegan sugar (yeast LOVES sugar,  this will help fluff your bread without the fermentation process, it wont make a sweet bread necessarily.  It does take the edge off of the whole wheat which is sometimes bitter)
• 2 Cups tepid water
• 1 heaping tsp yeast

Have oven at a low temp to help warm your kitchen if it is a little frosty.

Mix tepid water and yeast, set aside to froth.

Mix dry ingredients.
Once yeast water is frothy add to the dry mix and stir until combined.  If there are some dry patches then while still in the bowl use your hands to fold and push together.  Turn out on a lightly floured surface.  Knead.  Half the dough.
Knead individually.  Let rest on newly floured surface giving plenty of room for growth.  Cover with a towel.
Let these rest for 30 minutes to an hour until they double in size.

Take two loaf pans and grease with butter, olive oil or fat all the way up the sides and the bottom.

Once the first rise is done punch out the dough and knead again folding inward and shaping the dough vaguely like that of the loaf pan.  Put any seams the dough may have at the bottom and they'll mend during baking.

Bottom seams mended from baking.

Once these are in the pan and ready for the second rise turn the oven to 500 degrees. (480 at the least!)

You will need two pieces of foil to cover the bread gently AFTER the initial browning.  The first heat of the bread is the most important.  It forms the crust and helps the bread retain its shape.
Check after 7-10 minutes once the top is as golden as you'd like then cover with foil lightly curling the edges, it need not be form fitting.  The bread will need another 7-10 minutes to cook fully through.

Take out and ditch from loaf pans.  Place on wire racks to keep the crust firm and from having any soggy bottomed bread.  Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting.  Your bread will still be cooking during this time and it vital for fluffy insides!

If you cut the bread and don't want it to dry out simply place cut side down flat against the bread board or a cutting board. 

I don't package my bread at all.  I leave it out and if it gets too crusty through and through I make toast, crostini, croutons or breadcrumbs.  Num.

Stocking up wisely -- eating where you are

 
 

Some industrious women who kept their progeny healthy.

Planning for disruptions in the food supply chain is something earlier generations were all too familiar with.  Our modern day shipment system has lulled us into a false and dangerous sense of complacency since we're not actually more insulated from shortages than earlier generations -- we're less.  This is due to two major factors.  First and foremost, food stores and stores in general operate on a "Just In Time" delivery system.  This means there's not some secret warehouse out back with supplies when the shelves run out.  When a product is sold out, more must be on its way already.  This system breaks down catastrophically during periods of unexpected turmoil -- when healthy supplies are needed most.  The second reason why we're not better of is due to the fact that most people do not have a real pantry to speak of.  Here at Potlicker HQ, we wrote about this early on.  But that entry was not inclusive, and since that time, I have organized my thoughts on how best to organize your efforts.

A WWII leaflet that helped people make do and thrive on less.

Before starting into what we should stock up on, it's important to know why we should stock up on it in the first place.  A pantry filled with bottles of jam may be tasty, but if you had to live our of your pantry for say, 2 months, you'd literally starve.   So, what DO we need to have to be healthy?   Well, we need to mind two different factors: energy balance and nutrient balance:

Nutrients:

• Proteins - essential to growth and repair of muscle and other body tissues
• Fats - one source of energy and important in relation to fat soluble vitamins
• Carbohydrates - our main source of energy
• Minerals - those inorganic elements occurring in the body and which are critical to its normal functions
• Vitamins - water and fat soluble vitamins play important roles in many chemical processes in the body
• Water - essential to normal body function - as a vehicle for carrying other nutrients and because 60% of the human body is water
• Roughage - the fibrous indigestible portion of our diet essential to health of the digestive system

And then the energy part, which is different for every person depending on things like age, size, activity levels and so on.  We all have a base metabolic rate, which is our baseline for minimum energy.  If we fall below intake of this, our body has to take it from our reserves or slow metabolism down, and that is not a good thing.

To do it right, we need a reliable balance or blend of energy forms in our diet that "burn" the right way -- just like any machine the fuel has to be right for the engine to function optimally.

Ideally that blend looks something like this:

• 57% Carbohydrates (sugar, sweets, bread, cakes)
• 30% Fats (dairy products, oil)
• 13% Protein (eggs, milk, meat, poultry, fish)

So, this handy chart helps you know what to stock up and in what ratios.  But let's not stop there.  Fat is something that has a very bad rap in our society -- and undeservedly so.  Our brains require it to function, and it helps us store energy reserves for leaner times.  When we don't get enough of it, we lose our minds and starve to death.  No kidding.   In nature it can be one of the hardest things to obtain because it is such a complex structure.  And, to make matters more difficult, there are different kinds of fat as well.

All fats contain both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids but are usually described as 'saturated' or 'unsaturated' according to the proportion of fatty acids present. Saturated fats are generally solid at room temperature and tend to be animal fats. Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and are usually vegetable fats - there are exceptions e.g. palm oil, a vegetable oil that contains a high percentage of saturated fatty acids.

And, carbohydrates have different forms as well;  starchy (aka complex) carbohydrates and simple sugars.    Honey is a great example of a simple sugar source, where potatoes are a classic starchy carb.  Both of these provide essential energy to muscles in the form of glycogen.  The starchy carbohydrates are the ones that have all the vitamins and minerals in them as well as protein. They are also low in fat.  The downside of them is their bulkiness may inhibit your ability to get enough energy from them.   Simple sugars on the other hand are fast-burning, high energy fuel.

Your digestive system converts the carbohydrates in food into glucose, a form of sugar carried in the blood and transported to cells for energy. The glucose, in turn, is broken down into carbon dioxide and water. Any glucose not used by the cells is converted into glycogen - another form of carbohydrate that is stored in the muscles and liver. However, the body's glycogen capacity is limited to about 350 grams; once this maximum has been reached, any excess glucose is quickly converted into fat. Ok, so this is all pretty technical, but here's where it translates into your pantry.

First, there are a few different what I call "vectors" to keep track of:

• cost
• locality (i.e. distance from your home base)
• availability & seasonality
• substitutes (your first choice should be natural/healthy, affordable, storable, and ideally local with a long shelf life)
• importance and composition of the ratio above

 These variables will make up your own personal equation for stocking up.

First, let's talk about locality (distance).  In a short term crisis, this is not as essential because you're expecting the supply chain to be restored after some expected period.  In a long-term crisis, however, this variable is king.   I'll get into that more in a moment.  This will help you gauge your radius.

Availability and seasonality has to do with time of year and your particular location.  In some places you can't grow certain things.  This seems pretty obvious to some, but you'd be amazed how many people think a tomato in Winter is perfectly natural.  Thankfully, there are lot of different charts available about what is in season and when.

Substitutes are a way of determining first, second and third choice for your stock up goods.  For example, in the fats area it might go:  olive oil, pork fat, sunflower oil  in starchy carbs it might be: sweet potato, sunchoke, russet potato

Selecting your primary choices for stocking up is it's own entry, but use the vectors to help you decide.  So, healthy, natural, low cost, local, easily storable, long shelf life is best.

Victorian larder full of pickled sauces, preserves and spices.

Victorian cold storage with potted meats.

So, we need to create a chart that allows us to examine the various vectors in order of importance:

CARBS
FATS
PROTEINS

Then columns for each vector:
DISTANCE
AVAILABILITY
COST

In the availability column, we want to have a Y/N answer, meaning:  "could I or someone with land within 100 miles grow this here?"   Distance is simply how far away the thing is, regardless if you can grow it locally or not.  Cost is your own scheme, but I use High, Medium, and Low.  Also, be mindful of what would cost significantly more during a time of disruption.  Water is a great example of this.  It's cheap and plentiful until it's not, and then it is impossible to get and super expensive.

Next we plug in our favored sources of nutrition and energy into the fields like so:

CARBS

NAME	DISTANCE	AVAIL	COST	CHOICE
sweet potato	local	Y	low	1
sunchoke	local	Y	medium	2

And so on...

Next, you look at the storage space you have and stock up in order that it appears in your list!  And, don't forget the all important salt, water and spices.  It's virtually impossible to have too much of that.  And, having a few luxury items around like coffee and chocolate might not be a bad thing either.

Lastly, you need to determine what type of disruption you are planning for.  Is it 2 weeks?  2 months?  a year?  forever?  In the last case, your pantry could tide you over until you can get food crops growing and animals raised.  And, when planning for self sufficiency, all of these ratios still apply!  Plan your own operations so you have multiple sources of each staple with the highest number of the most important thing.  It's how people have survived on potatoes and lard for generations.

We will keep you posted on what we choose to stock, why and how.
Things that I have on hand in a fairly large number at any time is :

• Organic flours
• Olive Oil
• Home Canned Tomatoes
• Sea Salt
• Vinegar (easy to make after you acquire the mother)
• Honey
• Spices
• Herbs
• Dry beans (lentils of a variety as well)
• Rice
• Dried meat (yes, I'm serious)
• Preserves (a variety)

Freezers are a luxury that should not be relied upon.  When the power goes out, so does your food.
If you want to really save freezer food I recommend the chest freezers as they keep colder longer by not letting all the cold air escape when you open them.  This is a big plus when the power is out and you need to get something out.

Treadle Machine

A Ram's head drawer pull.

Like a lot of folks that are probably my age or older than me, I grew up in a home with a treadle machine.  I don't know the history of it; like how my mother came to own one, or if it was just picked up on a whim or if it was passed to her through a family member.  She used it consistently throughout my childhood.  Never making a fuss with it, but relying on it solely to repair anything or make something we otherwise could not afford.  It simply was a fixture, a tool that prettied up an otherwise unsightly space (our homes were a bit dismal).

Hers was a Singer 27/127 Memphis with the Sphinx decal.  I don't know the year but it is likely it was between 1906-1930.

I had some impatient lessons on it and never could get the damn thing to go in the same direction for any length of time.  The treadle rocks gently back and forth while the wheel (ideally) cranks in one direction (some odd ones roll towards you, most roll away).   Goodnight! My sister and I couldn't keep our mitts off the thing.  We were always screwing with it and got beat hard a couple times for doing who knows what to it.  I'm sure a thousand tangles had to be cut out of the threads and the tension was probably always a bit off because of our playing.  If was the most alluring of all the forbidden things in the house.

So since I've been thinking through a life and could be a world (You don't have to be right or left to see the system is botched) without electricity is completely likely.  Likely, at first by my own design.  So I went on the list making of all the things I would either miss or need should I not have electricity to make my life simpler.

Some resources for the new treadler and other treadle-lovers:

Donna Kohler  Taught by her grandmother the simple act of a close family activity gave birth to a teacher of what is now thankfully once again a growing population of people that don't just collect treadles, but also use them.  She sells a book for maintaining and rehabilitating your treadle through her site.
Dick Wightman - http://www.treadleon.net/ 
Treadleon is a community of treadlers that share with each other experiences of using, acquiring, maintenance, and basic love for the foot powered machines.
On his site is an excellent guide to getting the treadle suited to you.
A LOT, about an easy to acquire sewing machine. The Singer 27/127 
A blogger who uses treadles to make her things.  Huge diversity,  I'm loving the Indian Orange Peel arcs.


There are not many resources available but these few are enough to get you going and on your way to becoming an expert. 

 

I love the provenance, it has pretty much zero significance for anyone other than the immediate family members who know specifically each person named.

What I have and why I have this particular one.

1906 Minnesota A or a Minnie A.  The cabinet has 7 drawers (6 with flippin' ram's heads for the knobs!) and it came with all the attachments and a million (just shy of...) needles.  Which for this machine is a particular find since the needles can be tricky in getting.  The Minnie A has a longer needle than most machines. Who wants to order and wait for the right needle? boo. The price was a little high for ME.  At 100 bucks.  But I am in the most ridiculously expensive part of the nation and it still was more than a few excellent options.  The average great deal was between 50 dollars to 100 dollars all smoothly operable machines just in need of people that will love and use them.  Antique stores almost always call things rare that aren't and have prices on them that reflect their statements and not often the machine's worth. Silly enough the more expensive I found, the less operable they were.  I have no clue what gives with that.  I suppose folks who are trying to pay the mortgage with outmoded objects?  I didn't need a boat anchor.

I got mine from Craigslist from a more than reasonable person!  Your treadle should not cost you more than 120 bucks.  The market from most reasonable folks' standpoint is plain and simple.  A trumped up ponzi-scheme.  The housing market which made credit and the credit life seem like everything would grow in value forever has imploded.  You can't have infinite growth in a finite space.  So collecting isn't of much use when people are losing their shirts.  Just get a good machine that requires only your sweat and maintenance and you'll at least be able to sew shirts for yourself.  Folks who say it is worth "blah blah blah" are usually blowing smoke for the most part because it shouldn't be a shelf for a big bowl of fobs.  It should be your sewing machine!  And worth to a person who is using rather than collecting has a much different perspective.  Everything is worth precisely to the penny what someone is willing to pay for it.

I CRINGE when I see sewing machine cabinet drawers for sale, or worse just the treadle iron with a slap of wood over the top. This obsession with shabby chic has made everyone into Fred Sandford.  DO NOT BUY A MACHINE WITHOUT A CABINET!!! It simply isn't worth the headache. Often these are folks who've come into the machine head have either obtained it without the cabinet or worse... sold the cabinet as a friggin' table.  Wagon wheels look best ON WAGONS sure they mark a lot of driveways but it would be best that the working wheels weren't tossed on the end of every driveway.  Like there aren't enough tables in the world?  Perhaps that is just me?  The sewing machines that are easier to get cabinets for are mainly Singers.  But it is better to start with a whole machine and go from there otherwise you have to make it fit the table and that is often near impossible.  And second would be to have a singer cabinet and then a singer head.  You can forgo all this mess by getting a handcrank machine!  Handcranks are awesome for teaching children to be people powered!

The handcrank machines are far fewer and the prices are even more wild... anywhere from 50 - 1000 bucks.  phew!  I know less about them other than their ease of use versus learning the finesse of the footwork required on the treadle machines.  I believe you can convert treadles to handcrank and to electric models (misses the point of sewing without power then). 

Make it happen!  Whatever IT is.

Cardamom Orange Coffee cake (Vegan)

Oh my, num num.

You know what I love?  A cake batter that I can lick the spoon and a little more without concern of the instilled phobias passed onto me via mom, health class and the FDA.  I know my chicken buddies don't have salmonella - that is rather a factory farm poor care issue.  But the phobia lingers... I still lick the spoon of other cakes because I'm a pig... but still.

No guilt, no fears.

I looked and looked for an orange cardamom cake that sounded nice.  Nothing.  I got excited when I found a link to David Leibovitz' version and then it ended in a broken link.  Cuter, because of his cursing in French error page.  Alas,  no recipe sounded good and Liebovitz couldn't throw me a bone.

I wanted to bring something into the office, yeah I'm on occasion in an office these days.  It is a borrowed space and I like to leave treats in mortal fear that everyone there hates me.  There are a few nut allergies and a few vegans so to please all I made a No nut, no animal product dish.  Here is to hoping they like coffee, oranges and cardamom.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

What you'll need:
All in one bowl, the following:
2 Giant/Large oranges - zest into bowl and then juice well  (To maximize the juice yield from your oranges roll them around on your counter or cutting board until they are squishy then halve and pulverize picking out seeds)
1/2 Cup Olive oil
1/2 -3/4 Cup applesauce
1 and 1/3 Cup vegan sugar
1 TBSP Orange liquor, liquer ( I used some young and not ready yet 44 which has cinnamon,orange and coffee in it )
Whip smooth and add to dry ingredients once they are mixed and complete.

 ***UPDATE***
If it isn't a smooth/gooey pourable mix, then add in a little extra applesauce, water, tea, or liquid coffee to get the consistency to pour.  Since Orange sizes vary so wildly and juicers also do, then the amount of juice yield could be low one time and high the next.

All Dry ingredients in another larger bowl:
3 Cups flour total (Organic if you have it)
    I did 2 Cups unbleached white and 1 Cup whole wheat
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 TBSP coffee ground finely and sieved into the flour
1 tsp cardamom seeds from their pods.  I think about 12 pods?  I forgot to count while cutting them open.  It is a kind of joy to open the cardamom.  I ground the seeds in my coffee grinder with some coffee so the cardamom doesn't dominate my grinder.  If you have a dedicated grinder for spices then go for it.  My spice grinder is used for hot peppers... that and cumin will flavor everything.  So beware.

Nice color with flecks of coffee, and zest. Mmmm

The batter should run off the spoon easily and not have many significant chunks, but no need to beat too much.  It also pulls together so nicely and quickly that it doesn't warrant getting a mixer dirty.

Pour this into an oiled and floured pan.  I used a bundt pan and it took 35 minutes at 375.

Serve warm or the next day with coffee or tea.  I like it warm with the perfume wafting through the room!

Chocolate Schwarzbrot (Blackbread)

This is truly a bread and not a cake.  It is a decadent and lovely bread, but make no mistake it is an adult's delight.  This recipe makes 2 loaves

You'll need:
3 Cups Organic kamut/khorasan flour  - Two names for the same flour.
2 1/2 Cups white unbleached flour
1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
1/2 Scant Cup Cocoa powder
2 TBSP finely ground dark roast coffee I used Italian Roast Stumptown (a local roaster here, chances are there is a good one near you)
1/3 Cup vegan sugar (or demerara or other raw sugar or other less refined) you wont want to skip this little bit as the darkness of the real chocolate needs a hint of lightening and this doesn't make the bread in anyway too sweet.
1 egg both yolk and whites (you can replace with butter or oil but a good sized egg is a perfect amount so it seems a bit more difficult to get right with anything else.  Go easy on oil as it can make your bread a little oily like a cake.)
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
A tiny handful -1/4 Cup of the darkest chocolate chips you can find.  At least 70 % cocoa solids chop and fold in while kneading.

Approx. 2 1/2 Cups Tepid water and 2 heaping tsp yeast
I dissolve the yeast into 2 cups and add water as I go so there isn't too much.  If there is too much just add more flour.

Run all dry ingredients through a sieve or flour sifter.  Do the coffee alone through the sieve so you can throw out any large chunks, you want just the dustiest pieces to go through.

Mix all ingredients.

Turn out dough onto floured surface, knead until nice and elastic.  Cut into two equal pieces. Knead and ball up then let rest on floured surface and sprinkle lightly with flour and cover with a clean towel to rise.  I like to let it rise twice for half an hour at a time.  Knead in a sprinkle more flour and lightly shape to your pan's shape, flour top and cover again for the second rise for another 30 minutes.  Your oven should be preheating at this point to 480-500 degrees. Grease your bread pan.  I used pork fat, but butter or olive oil should work as well.  Bake for 20 minutes (watch it closely and remember the top will look darker than normal bread like it is burned, but it is just the darkness of the ingredients).

Let sit for a couple minutes in the pan and remove by turning over.  Bread should slide out easily.  Knock lightly on the bottom and it should sound hollow.  Done.  Das ist alles!  Let rest for 5 minutes at least!  The center will do a lot of finishing in this time, it is vital.  If you cannot wait and rip into it, at least place cut side down against the board as this will let the rest finish and keeps moisture in. ;)

I served this bread alongside lavender raspberry pork tenderloin and sweet potatoes over rice and a big glass of mead.  This bread is substantial enough to have for breakfast with coffee or a strong tea.

Excellent for cheese sandwiches with some good beer! Not kidding!

So...

Kitchen gear

I rarely buy utensils.  I  mainly use pots and pans that have the ability to be included in my will.  I have never treated myself to good towels or good potholders.  My kitchen was filled with not only delicious baked goods, but a lot of cursing.  I burned my digits every time I'd reach for something! Until now...

I have the best potholders I have used to date.

My New Year's resolution is FUNCTION!  To buy only things which I need, have function and can help me be a taskmaster.  

The potholders were made with love and care in South Dakota.  South Dakota?  Yep.  I'm not big on shipping things all around the globe, but hell, IKEA ships things from factories in the poorest countries in the world to their giant box stores all over the globe in the "developed" countries so it seems silly for me to split hairs and have guilt about getting some upcycled ones sent directly to me from the maker.

The kind lady who made them has a store, Pieces Of Olde, where you can get many other things she has made.  I selected the potholders because I'm a sucker for function.  There are aprons and other home lovelies there. The totes and pillows are really nice for the folks that like the full imagery of the feedsacks -- which are usually full of visual interest, nostalgia and tenderness.

The potholders are made from feedsack, ticking and other vintage fabrics.  They are cotton and frankly, wonderful. The potholder section of her store. 
Mmmm look at that butter colored pair!  Be mindful of dimensions when ordering.  I'm certain you'll love them.

Available still at Pieces Of Olde

Whether pulling a lasagna or bread from the oven, my hands are thankful for her hard work.

Bialys

A thing of beauty.

Bialys ( bee ah lee ) are so often said to be "like a bagel" they are in that they are also round.  Bialys are chewy, airy and have a little raft-like cavity which holds whatever you'd like in there.  They haven't the girth or time bending density of bagels - They are a kind little thing.

Traditional fillings will be a smattering of garlic, or onions, poppy seeds or any mixture of these.  You can make them sweet instead of savory and you can make them cheesy or meaty.  They have a short baking time so the only rule to what goes in them is that it should either be somewhat previously cooked or cook within the same time as the bialy.  For these I very gently cooked minced onions in olive oil on low until translucent and then added a pinch of salt and poppy seeds to them.

For these little guys I make a dough that goes into the refrigerator and sits at least overnight.  This same dough is the base for a lot of delicious things.  I'll mention those later.  I start the dough just like a quick bread; so flour(s), salt,water, yeast which is spoon blended for a couple minutes.  Scraped out onto a floured surface and kneaded for another 4 minutes and then a sealable container with twice the volume of what you are putting into it.  Cover the bottom of the container with olive oil and coat the sides and the interior rim of the lid.  This will make sure the sough releases from the container when you remove some for rising.

What you need:

2 Cups whole wheat flour
2 Cups unbleached white flour
1 and 3/4 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp yeast
1 heaping tsp sea salt

Mix thoroughly the flours.  Sprinkle salt in and mix.  Put yeast into the lukewarm water.  Combine all to make a dough and if a little wet add some flour or if a little dry sprinkle touches of lukewarm water in until mostly just held together.  Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth and balled up well.

Your fridge container should have double volume of your dough for expansion.  Oil it and the lid and place dough inside container.

Let stand overnight.  Or at least 2 hours.  Planning ahead always makes it quicker.
 ...
After a couple hours in the fridge you'll notice the dough getting softer and happier.  The next day the dough will be full of lovely holes. You can leave the dough in the refrigerator up to 3 days before who knows what happens.  After that it could turn into running shoes, I don't know.  It will gain in a "sour" flavor.  Which I LOVE, but isn't for everyone. The first few days wont be an intense flavor, just more like a real bakery's bread rather than the pale versions that quicker breads give. 1-3 days and it is chewy, moist, and steadily becomes more like a sourdough.  Now you have enough dough to make 2 batches of bialys. Or 1 batch of bialys and really 2-4 kick ass pizzas, flatbreads, pitas.  This dough is amazing.  Airy and chewy.  Either way you choose to go it is nice to leave at least half the dough for the following day.  No matter what if you use up the second half take a small handful of dough from it and leave it in the container.  This is your poolish.*

The best thing about this is that you will have bread ready to start anyday you want it by keeping some in the fridge!  Every other night I make a batch and put it in the fridge.  Each time I take out some for a recipe I make sure I always leave at least a handful of dough to "start" the next batch with.  *This is a poolish.  The poolish makes a safisticated bread always lending it's wisdom to the next batch making sure to pass on its flavor.  This is another thing bread bakers use to make such tasty bread. *

If/when you go straight from the fridge this dough will be approximately halved for the following photos and the remainder put back into the fridge.  You'll knead and shape it on a floured surface, let it rest while you work on other things for a few minutes under a towel (15 or so to take the chill out)  then pat and shape into a square like below to measure out however many bialy you wish it to make this does 16, 2 inch bialy or 8 monster bialy.  

This tool is for dough cutting and is worth every penny.  I recommend them, they also scrape clean your work surface.

I bundle the shapes from squares into circles.  Watch the video for a more detailed explanation.

My monkey mitten working it's magic.

Holy crap, I'm a wizard.

These will now rise for 30-45 (it likes longer - upto an hour and half but this can be rushed if you need. Longer equals softer) minutes in a warmish kitchen (or place near a warming oven).  The dough will crust over a touch, I ignore it but you can sprinkle/mist the tops with a little water or oil to prevent this.  A few (10-20) minutes before shaping PREHEAT OVEN TO 480

I lightly flour the pan with unbleached flour and then shape the bialy.  I simply press my thumbs into the center of the ball and scoot the ball around in my hand like a teeny tiny steering wheel keep a fat ring around the outer edge and making a thin center well.  The center will be very thin and translucent when held up to the light.  Tears in the dough don't matter too much and you can stretch it to make the bialy a touch wider.  The center should be an inch - two inches. 

Bialy, like most bread loves a hot oven.  These since they are so tiny will only take 5-7 minutes max.  Always check around 5 to make sure they aren't in there up to no good.  They should feel a touch firm when poked and have nice coloring.  The flours browness is a good indicator too.  It will be russet where the bread isn't.  After a few moments out of the oven the once firm bialys become soft and chewy.

Chocolate Cherry sauce

Yes, I'm serious.

Who thinks "I need to eat more chocolate?"  I do.  Chocolate (not milk chocolate, and not Hershey's) is good for you.

I sliced pork tenderloin into thin coins so it cooks quickly on a low-med heat in a well seasoned cast iron pan (I sprinkle them with salt and maybe if I'm feeling real crazy some paprika) and then set aside.  I'll pour off any liquid from the meat for my dog pal.

For the sauce:
3 heaping TBSP Cherry preserves (or 1/4 Cup sweet cherries pitted and halved)  Tart pie cherries are fine too you just need to adjust them with some vegan sugar.
2 TBSP vegan sugar (more if using straight sour pie cherries)
2 TBSP cocoa powder (straight real stuff not with anything added)
1/4 Cup water to dissolve sugar and cocoa powder in.

I put my sugar and water into a sauce pan and simmer it just until sugar is dissolved, you'll need to be constantly stirring.  After the sugar is dissolved I add cocoa and whisk it in to make it as smooth as possible.  Now the little teeny balls of cocoa is NOT a bad thing.

  * Tangent*Most cocoa powder is "Dutched" or Dutch process and that means they've removed the cocoa butter which then gets turned into chocolates and white chocolate and non-food things.  So those tiny annoying balls of cocoa form from the residual cocoa butter and oils in the cocoa - and try as you may to smash them, they are stubborn.  * Tangent over*

So once it is as smooth as I can get it I pour it over a tiny screen to filter out the lumps and let the sauce pour through into another little pan.  I'll use a steeping ball made of mesh to do this since the wire is a very fine mesh.  Then on very low I'll scoop in the cherries, or cherry preserves.  Blending everything until it become a warm smooth syrupy bliss.

This will be a thin sauce, like a glaze.

You can now drizzle this over pork tenderloin, chicken, duck, a roast.  I get all sloppy and just toss the meat in it so it coats it like a really fancytown bbq.  This sauce likes a darker meat, a gamey meat best... but unless you're rich or a hunter you may be limited.

If you're vegetarian this is CRAZY delicious over garlic mashed potatoes!  No kidding at all.
It is also an intensely wonderful thing to sop up with bread and biscuits!

There are a million variations you can do on this.  Like using a liquer, sherry, lavender blossoms etc.
Enjoy!

Bulgogi - no soy sauce -

Bulgogi was something I used to dream of and think of fondly feeling I could never recreate it without the magic of soy sauce.  Like MOST recipes I found a beyond suitable representation of my favorite and I couldn't be more happy with this one.

There is a sweet bulgogi (often served on beef) and a hot bulgogi (often served on pork).  I love both but prefer the super hot!

For the sweet bulgogi you cut all the pepper(s) in half (or even further if cooking for the heat tolerant impaired) the amount below and double the sugar of the amount below.

For Hot bulgogi you will need:
1 to 2 lb (mine is usually 1.5 beef) of London broil beef or equivalent of pork loin cut sliced thinly 1/8th inch.  I get mine from Afton field farm and I let it half thaw so it is really easy to cut, if you let it thaw fully it will wiggle and squish away from your blade's edge.
1 tsp Cayenne
1/2 tsp Serrano
1 tsp Paprika  (Getting good paprika is a pain - it should smell Earthy and taste like a round light warmth - not just be red)
1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes OR an equally high heat pepper flake I use - Thai Orange.
A handful of garlic cloves, 6 med. cloves approx.  Crushed using a press.
1 TBSP - 1/4 Cup vegan sugar
1/2 tsp - 1 TBSP any honey you like (I use a really light colored honey for the hot bulgogi and a dark honey for the sweet bulgogi)
1/2 tsp sea salt

Optional:
1/2 inch knuckle of Fresh Ginger if you want.  I don't usually, but it is really tasty with it as well.
Top with toasted golden flax seed or sesame.
Top with spring onion, green onion sliced thinly or chives.

All of these peppers I grow and process into either powder or flake form. But if you have a flavorful and reliable spice resource then use those.

 

Preparation:
When making bulgogi the most important bit is that the meat is sliced thinly (against the grain) this does several things it coats the meat in the spices thoroughly, the meat will curl a bit as it cooks and hold little spicy pockets of garlic, peppers and sugar lastly it cooks it very very quickly and it should be very tender (not overcooked) and made after all other foods for the meal are finished or on their way to being done.

If it looks like way too much pepper, it is perfect.

I cook this, like many things, in a dry (but well seasoned) cast iron pan.  The meat goes directly into a warm-hot pan - it will stick a little but it will release juices from the meat and free up.  Quickly press or add chopped garlic to meat and toss.  Add all peppers and salt, stir in and lastly add sugar and stir making sure all is coated.  If at any point you find this frustrating, or don't have a cast iron pan you can use a spoonful of sunflower oil, safflower oil to the pan to aid in cooking.

 

It is done once the salt and sugar have dissolved, coat with juices and pepper in the pan and serve with your choice of goodness.

This is usually served with rice and wrapped in a fat green leafy vegetable like a romaine or butter lettuce.  I like it with sweet potatoes or squash in the winter.  Hot and spicy meals make the winter get scared away at least for a moment.  Num.

Stretchin' yo Chicken Change

On the mashed potatoes is my cranberry salsa!  2 Cups cranberries blitzed, 1 shallot or small onion, 1-2 garlic cloves, 3 jalapenos or more, 1/4 Cup olive oil, 1/4 Cup honey and salt to taste (you can always add sugar to taste mix well to have it dissolve!).  Can be served raw or simmered -add honey last if you choose to cook it.

James Brown was sold out for it.  Bad for James Brown, but someone made out like a bandit.  Because chicken change can go so far.  Especially when being poorer the whole needing to eat, well can take its toll on one's wallet.  But also convenience is killing us - all those easy spice packages, quick meals are loaded with MSG (we call it The Spice).

There is a lot of what Jason and I refer to as the natural bad stuff in anything with protein. Or natural "spice."  That is the thing MSG is mimicking which occurs in all proteins once broken down.  So chicken skin will have it.  Bones will have it (marrow).  Even protein rich vegetables.  Like if you make veggie stock and let the vegetables stay in there until they are puree that is bad.   So we will walk you through MINIMIZING it.  It wont eliminate it.  Because a little of the natural bad stuff is completely NORMAL.  The processed bad stuff is horrific.  Chicken soup from a restaurant = MSG, "Homemade chicken soup" with boullion = MSG, Chicken soup from scratch with these instructions will yield as healthy a version as can be made.

The meals from 1 bird and how many they can feed: At the top picture left is the chickens backbone and neck in the plastic.  I will save and freeze this if I don't feel like making soup and then freezing the soup in meal portions. Which will yield 3-4 meals worth of soup at least.  Then the thighs are a meal for Jason and I, the wings and drumsticks are a meal, the breasts and sliced into 1/2-1 inch strips and used in 2-4 meals. So 1 chicken for us is 7-10 meals minimum depending on how industrious I want to be. Even if I bake the entire chicken and shred it into my favorite bar-b-q sauce it will make just as many meals or more.  We are in a bizarre age of owning a lot and consuming a lot but then also no one likes to spend money.  This way you don't quite get something for nothing, but even better you get a lot just from being so wise!

fried breast, oven roasted potatoes and wild rice... dip liberally in the BBQ sauce pictured below!

Berber-Q sauce is the same as Bar-b-q, I just double or triple a lot of the spices like allspice and garlic. Making a very dark sauce.

1. Breasts  depending on size, you can make more than one meal alone from them.  The average bird yields two meals just from the two breasts for Jason and I.  So 1 breast cooked and shared along with fruit, veggies, greens makes a very reasonable meal.  We usually make Jason's favorite from the breast -- Bar-b-Q fried chicken tenders.


2. Wings and Drumsticks any one of those or both served up with something is a pretty hearty meal. There are a lot of combinations that can come from these humble pieces.  They can be stripped and made into pot pie, empanadas, tacos, pizza topping, gravy for grains, hot wings, a fruit compote served on top of them or roasted up with some root vegetables.  (the links are for most of the meat of the chicken, not just wings and drumsticks)

Oat flour crusted drumstick and thigh baked with strawberry/apricot sauce (simmer fruit lightly until it "bleeds" with a touch of sugar or honey), basmati rice and fresh zucchini

3. Thighs are usually baked in shallow sunflower oil in my cast iron skillet.  I remove the skin from them and lightly coat the tops in sunflower oil and then add my herbs and a coat of whole wheat flour and home processed oat flour (for extra crunch). I cook them on 400 until the top crumbs are crispy and when poked no red-pink juice comes out.  I usually just keep an eye on them so they don't get overbaked (too often the case with veggies and meat alike)  You want the chicken moist, that just means taking it out AS SOON as the juice runs clear. These on special occasion I bake with the drumstick intact and makes for a more energy rich meal rather than heavy on the grains.  Thighs are good in pot pies, handpies, tacos and roasted.  Like most dark meat is.  I like to make thighs with my Apricot and Strawberry sauce.*

Some veg being cooked in water separate from my chicken water to be added once the veggies are just undercrisp.

4. Backbone and Neck makes the best soup.  This is because of the natural spice it contains of course, but also because the meat on them is difficult to remove and this keeps it from being wasted.  The skin and the bones - also what little meat remains on it - once boiled makes a soup that it difficult to resist.  (Which on this blog, we know why that is)  The meat once boiled for NO LONGER THAN 20 MINUTES is very easily removed once it has cooled.  I will go into further detail under the rules.

So 1 chicken for 2 people will make AT LEAST 6 meals.  Realistically the soup will be eaten at least 2-4 times between 2 people (we had it for 3 meals each with some leftover which we then used the remainder for potpies and got another 2 meals from - making 5 meals from JUST the backbone and neck). So for Jason and I one chicken makes 7 to 10 meals.  So you can see how a humble bird can be really worth the price tag so many think is too high. Soup freezes really well!  So to help you make cooking easier and have a quick dinner for the family take out a little tub of your homemade soup defrost it an then place it on a low simmer heating pan and make up whatever else you'd like with it.  Voila!  Dinner in a half hour.

RULES for soup:

• I leave the back and neck intact to remove whole.
• Don't overcook, the longer you cook the chicken parts, the more you break it down and you don't need a liquefied chicken in order to make a tasty soup.
• As the SPICE/foam/fatty sludge builds up and floats to the surface scoop it out and throw it away.  Dogs love this crap and it is an okay treat for them.  But beware they will become HYPER FOCUSED (yes, like children after fast food) on getting more and acting out.  So I toss my furry pal outside when she gets spice-treats.
• Final rule make sure there is a lot of fresh veg and herbs going in the soup to stretch it and also to add flavor that isn't just birdfat and salt.

When I was a kid and I was watching a friend's family member (an old German woman) cooking some beans, I noticed she was skimming the foam and froth off the top of the liquid.  I asked her 'What are you doing?' she said "I'm throwing away the farts."  What she was doing was removing the broken protein from the legumes (msg) taught to her by her mother to help with digestion and to ease stomach issues.  She knew them as farts.  I know now that it causes digestive upset to have large amounts of this stuff.   So when you skim this stuff whether it is fatty, foamy or other -- your stomach and family members will thank you.

The natural form of "The Spice"that collects on the surface of the boiling soup -- we skim it off and into another pan while it is cooking.  When soup cools, it may also have a "skin" on it, that looks like ice.  This is also "the spice" so make sure you remove it before stirring or eating.

My soup is water, onion, celery, garlic and carrot along with salt, pepper and whatever herbs I may have.  It feels a little insulting to give ratios really since the ratio is usually whatever amount feeds the number of people you have and a single chicken back can make about 15-18 cups of soup (not broth but all in all).  The ratio of veg-broth-chicken is a taste thing.  I almost always plump up a soup with 2 cups of onion, 2 cups of carrot, 1 heaping cup of celery and a handful of garlic cloves.  The more the merrier.

In case you missed where I get my chicken.  It is from Afton Field Farm they are good folks and wonderful stewards of the animals they keep.  You can get a detailed account of what the goings on are at Afton Field Farm through Alicia's blog.  In the "Our Friends" list on the left side of the blog are links to people who care, people who do it right and other resources.  If you are not local and want a farmer who does it right check out localharvest.