Beta-cyanins! Or, a roll that looks like a little planet Mars. Minnesota beets have received a warm welcome here in the Ellis home. Made beet burgers last night, which Dad suggested might be called Rothlisburgers in honor of the football game he had on, and then since I already had stained fingers, and about four more cups of shredded beets, I turned the beat around and put these little buns together. That’s what Dave said.
Red Beet Buns
Adapted from Artisan Bread in 5min/day
enough dough for 5 batches of 8 buns–40 total
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups spelt flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
1 cup sourdough starter
1 TB kosher salt
3 1/4 cups lukewarm water
3 cups finely shredded peeled raw beets
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
Mixing and storing the dough: Whisk together the flours, water, and sourdough in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded food container. Let rise for forty minutes.
Add the beets, and onion and mix without kneading, the salt dissolved in about 20 ccs of water, using a wooden spoon. You might need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate.
Cover, and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
The dough can be used immediately after its initial rise, though it is easier (very!) to handle when cold. Refrigerate it in a lidded (not airtight) container (keep it in the original mixing container) and use over the next 5 days. The flavor will be best if you wait for at least 24 hours of refrigeration.
On baking day, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. (I found this dough to be very wet, so move your fingers quickly to avoid sticking. Be liberal with the flour-dusting.)
To form the buns: Divide the ball into 8 roughly equal portions (each about the size of a golf ball). Shape each one into a smooth ball. Allow them to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 40 minutes (20 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough). Alternatively, you can rest the buns on a silicone mat-lined cookie sheet or a greased cookie sheet.
Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising buns.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the top crusts with water.
Slide the cookie sheet directly onto the hot stone. Pour 2 cups of hot tap water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for about 20 minutes, until richly browned and firm.
Allow the buns to cool on a rack before eating.
These are really savory. They are dense and hearty, but great if sliced and toasted and spread with spicy hummus. Ooooh. Also great with beet burgers. Double beet.
One holiday tradition in my family is to serve coffee cake or cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, with a steaming hot cup of coffee. On Christmas Eve, we exchange new pairs of pajamas and wear them for the next 25-72 hours. We watch Muppet Christmas Carol. When the pajamas can be worn no longer, we go out to a movie. And then we bowl. Last night we saw Interstellar, a film which presents the one irrefutable sadness of being alive in this world—time gives us loss. Tradition, it seems, while conscious of loss, offers back something we recognize—an anchor in analog—it is a home in and of itself to which we may return after another year of being a pilgrim out into unknown territory—new time. Every year we circle up and have a sweet reminder of all that hasn’t been lost—even if it is only a taste.
Cardamom Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping
Adapted from Food and Wine
2 cups pecans
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
CAKE
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
GLAZE
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons whole milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Glaze: Preheat the oven to 350°. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Butter a 9-by-13-inch metal baking pan.
Spread the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for 8 minutes, until browned. Let cool, then coarsely chop the nuts.
In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter with both sugars, the cardamom and salt. Add the flour and stir until clumpy. Stir in the chopped nuts.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the sugar, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk, melted butter and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the surface. Scatter the crumbs in large clumps over the cake; the crumb layer will be quite deep.
Bake for about 55 minutes, until the crumbs are golden and firm and a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. If the crumbs brown before the cake is done, cover the cake loosely with foil. Transfer to a rack to cool.
In a bowl, whisk all of the glaze ingredients together. Drizzle the glaze over the cake; let cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tradition in action.
And some things never change. Time is feckless versus the silly. Weird face coasters! Great stocking stuffer.
Who wouldn’t want to make breads with names like Ontbijtkoek or Kruidkoek? While watching Starwars. Or Lord of the Rings. I feel like these are words which better suit Orks, rather than Christmas ginger breads, but then again, I am not Dutch. To be honest, they were a little dry for my liking, which could be improved with, say, butter. But this is a Daring Bakers Challenge, and one of my most successful projects to be sure.
Dutch sweet bread, or Ontbijtkoek
Ala Daring Bakers Challenge
1 large egg
1 tablespoon cane sugar syrup
1 cup less 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
1 tablespoon ground gingerbread spices*
1¼ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1¾ teaspoons baking powder
*Gingerbread spice blend:
6 tablespoons (40 gm) cinnamon
2 teaspoons (10 gm) nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground anise
1 teaspoon ground mace
Preheat oven to moderate 350°F and line a 12“x5“ baking tin with parchment paper.
Put the egg, syrup, water, spices and brown sugar in a bowl. Whisk until everything is dissolved.
Add the whole-wheat flour and the baking powder into the bowl and mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon until the flour is wet. It doesn’t matter if there are some lumps left.
Pour into the baking tin and bake in a preheated moderate 350°F oven for 70 minutes.
To check if the sweet bread is done, stick a wooden skewer or toothpick into the middle. If it comes out clean the sweet bread is ready.
Take the cake out of the oven, allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes
After the 5 minutes take the cake out of the pan and let the cake cool down to room temperature before serving.
Kruidkoek
4 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 cups milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to moderate 350°F and line a 12“x5“ baking tin with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl
Put the milk in a small saucepan and warm until it almost comes to a boil. Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients whisk (by hand or using a machine) until the batter is totally smooth.
Pour into the baking tin and bake in a preheated moderate 350°F oven for 90 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean
Take the cake out of the oven, allow it to cool in the pan for 5 minutes
After the 5 minutes take the cake out of the pan and let the cake cool down to room temperature before serving.
Like salmon, KP and I will be pushing home against the snow current sweeping across I-90, also against the current of ever-thicker probability that our Mazda at 221,000+ miles will cease to function for another 3,500 miles. Against the odds, it is instinct telling us that there is no place like home for Christmas. Looking forward to eating as much fish as possible in the NW, savoring the grit of real espresso and, most of all, to sharing laughs with family at smorgasbord and over the annual Christmas family competition—the game we have yet to reveal. With gasoline in Minnesota at $2.19, there is no better time for a 25 hour roadtrip. See you soon NW. Chickens, don’t party too hard without us.
Slow-Cooked Salmon, Chickpeas and Greens
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more
1 15.5-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1 bunch small mustard greens, I used Napa Cabbage
1 teaspoon honey
4 6-oz. skinless salmon fillets
VINAIGRETTE AND ASSEMBLY
½ small shallot, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup olive oil
And another ¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, patted dry
SALMON
Preheat oven to 250°. Brush a large baking dish with oil. Combine chickpeas, cumin, and 1 Tbsp. oil in a medium bowl. Mash about half of chickpeas with a fork; season with salt and pepper. Transfer chickpea mixture to prepared dish.
Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook garlic, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add mustard greens and cook, tossing, until slightly wilted, about 1 minute. Add honey and ¼ cup water; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing, until greens are completely wilted, about 2 minutes. Transfer to dish with chickpea mixture.
Season salmon with salt and pepper; arrange over greens and chickpea mixture and drizzle with oil. Bake until salmon is opaque in the center, 30–35 minutes.
VINAIGRETTE AND ASSEMBLY
Whisk shallot, lemon juice, mustard, and honey in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. Gradually whisk in olive oil; season with salt and pepper.
Heat vegetable oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook capers until opened and crisp, about 30 seconds; drain on paper towels.
Drizzle salmon with vinaigrette and top with capers. YUM YUM YUM. Watch out Seattle, this sock-eye is coming for ya.
As we approach the longest night of the year, I’ve been having the sensation that the sky has subsumed control over my eyelids. Dawn is my coffee and twilight my curtain. So, I only have like eight solid hours of viable consciousness to work with until well into January. Cookies do seem to help make the day worth extending against the dark. Gingersnaps and Genderbread.
Molasses Gingersnaps and Genderbread
Adapted from Penzeys
3/4 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
1/4 Cup molasses
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2-1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
2 Cups flour
1/3 Cup extra sugar, vanilla sugar or a mixture of both for rolling
Preheat oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, molasses, egg, baking soda, salt, spices and flour. Mix well. Form into 1-inch balls and roll in the extra sugar or vanilla sugar. Place widely apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. For a chewy cookie, bake the minimum time; for crispy, bake the maximum time.
I’m on Child Psychiatry and I recently learned about a teen-geared teaching tool on gender identity and sexuality called the Genderbread person. Of course, the moment I heard of this, I vowed—I shall bake these.
For my gender/gingerbread, I used the old standard recipe. Ambiguous genitalia is WAY too difficult to represent in frosting, by the way.
Endeavoring this recipe was the closest thing I could imagine to American Ninja Warrior in the kitchen. Not that I ever watched American Ninja Warrior. But when I am consciously aware of principles of physical science and chemistry while trying to cook something—which is to say I am NOT in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s state of Flow—cooking ceases to be a relaxation activity and feels more like, well, culinary constipation. This little circle stack of caramel may not look like much, but I do believe Sweat should be included as an ingredient. Tears, too, for some.
Frozen Crème Caramel
Adapted from Food and Wine
CUSTARD
1 2/3 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
3 large yolks
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
CARAMEL
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons water
Whipped cream, for serving (optional)
MAKE THE CUSTARD In a small saucepan, combine the cream, milk and vanilla bean and seeds. Bring to a simmer over moderate heat, then cover and remove from the heat. Let stand for 10 minutes. Remove the bean.
Preheat the oven to 300°. Fill a large bowl with ice water. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the egg, sugar and salt. Slowly whisk in the cream mixture. Set the bowl in the ice bath and let stand, stirring the custard occasionally, until chilled, about 20 minutes.
MEANWHILE, MAKE THE CARAMEL Arrange six 4-ounce ramekins in a large baking dish. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and the 1/4 cup of water and bring to a simmer. Cook over moderate heat, washing down the side of the pan with a wet pastry brush, until a light amber caramel forms, 15 minutes. Carefully stir in the remaining 3 tablespoons of water and simmer until the caramel is dissolved. Pour the caramel into the ramekins, swirling to coat the bottoms evenly. Let the caramel cool for 15 minutes.
Fill the ramekins with the chilled custard. Carefully pour enough hot water into the baking dish to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes, until the custards are almost set but still slightly jiggly in the center. Remove the foil and let the custards cool to room temperature in the water in the pan, 30 minutes. Wrap the ramekins in plastic and refrigerate until the custards are thoroughly chilled, at least 6 hours or overnight.
Freeze the chilled crème caramels for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Thirty minutes before serving, take the crème caramels out and let stand at room temperature until just slightly frozen in the center. Run a thin knife around the crème caramels and invert them onto plates. Serve with whipped cream. Wipe brow. Add Kleenex to the grocery list. Serve to VERY special people who are naturally complementary.
A German fellow I have been working with was thrilled when I brought in my latest loaf—stollen, er, “sch-tollen.” He regaled me with the history of the bread, how in Dresden, large stollen loaves would be prepared sometimes weeks in advance of the Advent season and then stored outside under shelters where the elements kept them refrigerated. He told me the name of the bread actually came from these shelters, “stollen” meaning something like a post or a support.
Reading further, the story of stollen gets even more rich. In fifteenth century Saxony (central Germany), Advent was a time of fasting, and butter in particular was outlawed by the Catholic church. Saxon bakers tried oil, but it was expensive and turnip-tasting. Imagining myself in this era, I hope I would have been one of the intrepid Butter-Letter writers who petitioned the Pope to allow butter to be used in the stollen Christmas pastries. Of course, in reality, the writers were Saxon princes, but perhaps I could have been a ghost-writer. The first Pope rejected the letters, and then there were five more Pope vetoes before Pope Innocent VIII allowed (only the Prince) the use of butter. Everyone else still had to pay a fine if they were caught, but thankfully the Protestant reformation brought the butter ban crumbling down (pun intended). Happy to be on the side of history that supports Jesus having butter on his birthday. After all, the cattle were lowing.
Christstollen
Adapted from The Bread Bakers Apprentice
Sponge:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sourdough starter
Fruit:*
1 cup golden raisins, plus additional for sprinkling on final dough
1 cup candied fruit mix, plus additional for sprinkling on final dough
1/2 cup brandy, rum, or schnapps
1 tablespoon orange or lemon extract
*I substituted regular dried fruit, cranberries, for the candied fruit.
Dough:
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (optional)
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg
5 tablespoons olive oil
About 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup slivered blanched almonds (or marzipan)
melted butter for topping
Powdered sugar for topping (I also skipped this, as I wanted to have a more “everyday stollen.”
Two days before making this bread, soak the raisins and candied fruit in the brandy, rum, or schnapps and the orange or lemon extract, tossing the fruit a few times a day until the liquid is absorbed. If you’d prefer not to use alcohol, you can double the amount of extract and add 1/2 cup of water. You can also simply add the fruit, without the alcohol, into the final dough and add the extract directly to the dough.
I used dried cranberries for this recipe because that is all I had on hand.
Make the sponge by warming the milk to about 100°F. Whisk in the flour and sourdough starter. Cover with plastic wrap and ferment for 1 hour, or until the sponge is very foamy and ready to collapse when tapped.
To make the dough, in a mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), stir together the flour, sugar, salt, orange and lemon zests, and cinnamon. Then stir in (or mix in on low speed with the paddle attachment) the sponge, egg, butter, and enough water to form a soft, but not sticky, ball.
This should take about 2 minutes. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
Add in the fruit and mix it with your hands (or on low speed) to incorporate.
Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing with the dough hook) to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should feel soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for approximately 6 minutes (4 minutes by machine). Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Ferment at room temperature for 45 minutes. The dough will rise somewhat but will not double in size.
Shaping the Stollen:
Sprinkle flour lightly on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter.
With your hands, form the dough into a thick rectangle, 8 by 4 inches (5 by 3 inches for 2 smaller loaves), and dust it with flour.
Sprinkle the top with slivered almonds and extra fruit.
Take a small rolling pin and press down on the center of the rectangle,
Roll the dough in the center only, leaving 1 inch at both the top and the bottom edges as thick as the original rectangle.
The new rectangle, with its thick top and bottom edges, should be 12 inches wide by 6 inches long (8 by 5 inches for 2 loaves). The interior of the rectangle should be about 1/2 inch thick.
Using a pastry scraper to loosen the dough from the counter, lift the top edge and bring it down and over the bottom edge, going just past the bottom edge. The thin inside part of the rectangle should remain behind the bottom edge.
Turn the dough seam side up and tuck additional slivered almonds and fruit under the dough flap.
Fold the top edge back over the bottom edge and rest it on the thin center section. Tuck more almonds and fruit under the new fold. The dough should have a folded, layered look, with fruit and almonds peaking out both sides. Gently squeeze the loaf to press it together.
Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Transfer the stollen to the pan and, as you set the dough down, curl it into a slight crescent. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Proof for approximately 1 hour at room temperature, or until the dough is 1 1/2 times its original size. Preheat the oven to 350°F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Bake the stollen for 20 minutes.
Rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the loaves. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.
Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and brush the top with vegetable oil while still hot. Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.
Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first. The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar. (again, I skipped this part because I wanted to bring the stollen for lunch at work, and didn’t want to cover my black suit pants with white powder –in essence, the lessons I learned from beignets while wearing black in New Orleans)
Let cool for at least 1 hour before serving. I brought mine to a Christmas party and forgot to take a picture until after it had been sliced up.
I’ve been thinking about what I would have written to the Pope to convince him to let us use butter for Christmas baking. Perhaps, a haiku:
Dear Pope, butter is
to Christmas what Jesus is
to our hearts: filling.
This post is featured on Sourdough Surprises: www.sourdoughsurprises.blogspot.com
Hoisin sauce, Chinese plum sauce, is good stuff. Here’s a quick dinner with cauliflower for those who need a recipe that involves one or two stirs, and then standing over the stove for twenty minutes in a dumb stupor of exhaustion, a mental state after a long week of work that I like to dress up with a fancy word—meditation. Turns out hoisin is a Romanized Chinese word for seafood—hoisin is neither a plum sauce or seafood. It’s soy. This just goes to show—names are just names. The food, a state of mind, is something entirely other.
Hoisin Roasted Cauliflower
Recipe from my local Co-op
1 head fresh cauliflower, washed; florets separated into small pieces
3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Preheat oven to 400˚F.
Mix hoisin, vinegar and sesame oil in a small bowl and pour over cauliflower and toss to coat.
Spread cauliflower into a single layer on the baking sheet and roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until just tender, turning the cauliflower after 20 minutes.
You don’t even have to come out of your stupor to eat these–standing at the stove, finger-licking hoisin sauce and munching pale little trees.
“He heard people singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.”
The last sentence in The Giver, by Lois Lowry. After watching the movie a second time, it occurs to me that Lowry meant to suggest a Platonic interpretation of the holiday season. The carols, the lights, the spirit of Christmas—a mere shadow of some symphony, some sun, a more beautiful Elsewhere that is surely closer than we understand it to be. Christmas is an echo.
Meini or Cornbread Scones
Adapted from The Italian Baker, by Carol Field
2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1¼ cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons honey
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ cup plus 2 teaspoons milk
1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1¾ cups plus 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fine yellow cornmeal
3½ teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
About 1/3 cup granulated sugar
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
Using the whisk attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and the honey for 1 to 2 minutes at low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg, egg yolk, and 2 teaspoons milk and continue beating for 1 minute. Mix in the flour, cornmeal, and baking powder. Add ½ cup milk and the almond extract and mix at the lowest speed until blended. The dough should be stiff but not heavy. Knead briefly by hand or mixer, sprinkling with additional flour as needed, until buttery, soft, pliable, and slightly sticky.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut the dough into 15 equal pieces (90 grams each). Flour your hands and roll each piece into a ball. Flatten each ball into a ½-inch-thick patty, the size of a hamburger and the width of a woman’s hand. Place on the paper-lined baking sheets.
Brush the tops with water and then sprinkle with granulated sugar, making sure a thin layer of sugar covers each bun. You can shake off the excess sugar by holding on to the paper and shaking the sugar up and over the edge of the pan. Place the confectioners’ sugar in a sifter or sieve and sift the sugar heavily over the buns so that they look as if they’re lost in a blizzard of sugar. The excess powdered sugar can stay on the paper because it will not caramelize.
Heat oven to 375ºF. Bake until the sugar on top has cracked into an irregular design, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on racks.
It is a jalapeño Christmas tree kind of year. I’m waiting for two little jalapeños to finish growing, and figured, if this thing is going to take up space in my living room, the little peppers might as well keep festive company with the holiday ornaments.
Also, haven’t exactly had time to enjoy holiday décor at home—been on the interview trail doing the “You’re Gonna Love Me” song, only to come home saying I’m in Love, I’m in Love, and I don’t care who knows it. All I know is come Match Day, I’ll be happy one of six ways. Meanwhile, I’m wild for what Minnesota has to offer the oven.
Wild Rice Wheat Bread
Adapted from The Minnesota Farmers Market Cookbook
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup buttermilk powder
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
2 cups bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup cooked wild rice
1 cup sourdough starter
Combine all ingredients in a bread machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Place on dough setting; if dough is too wet, add a couple tablespoons of flour. If dough is too dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. You can stop the machine and start over to knead the dough to your liking. After the dough cycle, form into two loaves and place in 8×4 inch loaf pans. Cover with a damp towel and let rise until double, about 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 28 to 30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack. Jingle bell rock.
