Boston Brown Bread

Using a Dutch Over is the weirdest way to bake bread, in the context of having an actual oven. I acknowledge the historical significance—how cast iron pots pre-date electrical or gas oven technology; I can appreciate how when camping, a Dutch oven would be a cool trick—the romance, even, of baking fresh bread over a fire. Here in my kitchen, though, boiling water in kettle in which I have immersed a bread pan which barely fits (so I also used my cast iron skillet and cake pan with the remaining batter), and covering the bread to steam rather than to bake—seemed like superfluous effort for baking a simple loaf of whole wheat, dark flour quick bread. Here’s me looking skeptical early into the project.

Boston Brown Bread

2 tablespoons unsalted butter (just for greasing pans)

1 cup cornmeal, stone-ground

1 cup rye flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup white flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups buttermilk

¾ cup molasses (dark)

Grease two 8 ½ by 4 inch baking pans as well as the tin foil to cover them (traditionally done in coffee cans, but who has those anymore?)
Fit a standing mixer with a paddle attachment (don’t have one of those! I will be using a good ole’ wooden spoon, which was my mother’s favorite paddle… no hard feelings, Ma) and combine all dry ingredients. Mix on low speed until blended. With the machine still on low speed, slowly pour in buttermilk and molasses and mix until fully combined.
Set each loaf in a Dutch Oven or in a Roasting pan and fill each vessel with enough water to reach halfway up the side of each loaf pan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Check the water level every 30 minutes to make sure the water still reaches halfway up the sides of the loaf pans. Cook until a skewer inserted in the middle of the loaves comes out clean, about 2 hours.

Finally, the bread looked “done” and we tested it out. Spongey. If instead of sea sponges there were backyard mud puddle sponges, this is exactly what I would expect backyard mud puddle sponges to taste like. I give it 1 star, to be nice. Eck. And it looks ugly as sin. I realize why I was unable to search the recipe online and had to type it verbatim from the cookbook—no one cooks this because it a ton of effort, and resembles poop on a stick in texture and taste. Never. Again.

Back to Basics

We are at capacity over here. Bread now lurks on every available counter surface. I’m tired. My wooden spoons are begging for mercy. My blood gluten levels, if they could be drawn, would be screaming. Rather than whip together another sweet, desserty quick bread of the recent variety, my good ole’ sour dough starter (origins Andie Ellis, but before her, who knows? Henry VIII? I assume it’s an aged slime) sat in the fridge panting like the good pet it is. I fed her, and whipped up some quick wheat and flax rolls that I like to have on hand for breakfast sandwiches and olive oil dipping.

1 cup sourdough starter

3.5 cups flour (I do half wheat half white)

1 tsp salt

1.5 cups whole milk (any milk will do—warmed to 115 degrees)

Optional: 2 tablespoons of flax seeds and/or rosemary

Knead and allow to rise covered for several hours. Punch down and shape into loaves, or rolls as I more commonly do because they are good to-go, and allow to rise for another few hours (sometimes overnight in a warmed oven will make them HUGE and fluffy!

Creations from my sourdough starter have become as close a comfort food to Cheerios as I have, and I always think about how in some twisted way, whenever I eat bread made of this starter, I am eating a myriad of fond bacterial colonies that used to belong to my mother—including the stuff under her fingernails or in the mist of her sneeze. One of my many tender thoughts of home while stirring.

Northern Cornbread and Duel Results

The miracle has been made statistically significant! After a focus group analysis with n=17, the old zucchini bread beat Baking Illustrated’s bread 15:2! Go Kelly Almon, worker of culinary miracles!

For our movie party Wednesday night, I served chili accompanied by cornbread. Apparently, there are two types—Northern and Southern. I decided to make the Northern since our guests were almost all Midwesterners. Correction: All Midwesterners. I’ll save the Southern Cornbread recipe for the next Saturday morning KP and I make Andouille sausage and eggs and listen to Dumpstafunk while doing the crossword.

NORTHERN CORNBREAD

Baking Illustrated

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup milk

Directions:

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a 9×9-inch baking pan with butter.
Whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Push the dry ingredients up the sides of the bowl to make a well.
Crack the eggs into the well and stir lightly with a wooden spoon, then add the buttermilk and milk. Stir the wet and dry ingredients quickly until almost combined. Add the melted butter and stir until the ingredients are just combined.
Pour the batter into the greased pan. Bake until the top of the cornbread is golden brown and lightly cracked and the edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan, about 25 minutes.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool slightly, 5 to 10 minutes. Cut the cornbread into squares and serve warm. Pan can be wrapped in foil and stored at room temperature for up to 1 day. Reheat cornbread in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

I meant to take a picture of the finished loaf, but forgot and when I returned to where I had left it there was just one last measly piece! I took its photo among the remnants of our feast.

Old Zucchini Bread, Duel Part II

If I were Cleopatra, in addition to glass, I would have used cinnamon for eye shadow. Cinnamon makes everything wonderful. That is why I am kind of hoping my old zucchini bread recipe will win. Votes will be collected tonight at our Movie Club party. Currently at n=3 and it’s old:new:: 2:1.

Old Zucchini Recipe from Kelly Almon

Into one (yes! Just one!) bowl, beat:

3 eggs

1 cup of olive oil

2 cups sugar

Then add

3 tsp vanilla (mix)

3 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

4-8 tsp cinnamon (I love a lot of cinnamon)

¼ tsp baking powder

2 cups of grated zucchini (water pressed or otherwise drained out)

Cook at 350 for 1 hour, makes two loafs. Also, sometimes I put them in cupcake holders and make zucchinicakes.

And to clarify in the photo, the old recipe on the left isn’t burnt, it is tan with cinnamon.

Zucchini Bread Duel

Collecting votes now….

Zucchini Duel Part I

Zucchini bread I know quite well. My experience with zucchini bread harkens back to the early days when Kelly Almon and Lindsey Willis (now Hays), sophomore college dorm-mates of mine, would fire up the oven in Ashton 2^nd East and bake bread for the 30 some girls on our floor. The smell they filled our halls with was one of home. Both Kelly and Lindsey are currently up for canonization and authorities are verifying their second and third miracles. Their second miracle was when they taught me to bake zucchini bread and, later, the third miracle, rosemary wheat bread using yeast! Lindsey’s later miracles: getting me to eat vegetables, among them, are undoubtable phenoms.

What sacrilege against my culinary saints when I spied today’s recipe: Zucchini Bread. Kelly had it perfected and here they would blaspheme against her good recipe and offer their indulgent loaf instead? I recently watched the film The Third Miracle, in which, miracles must be put to the test. It seemed to me none other than righteous to apply the same methodology here. Today I will make the “new zucchini” and tomorrow shall be the “old zucchini” and then we will have no less than n=15 taste test and decide the true best.

New Zucchini Bread
Adapted from Baking Illustrated, pgs 29-30

Yields = (1) 9-inch loaf

2 cups wheat flour
1 pound zucchini, washed and dried, ends and stems removed, grated

(While doing the boring grating procedure if you are like me and don’t have a food processor, allow me to recommend some entertainment a la Martin Short that should last you through the zucchini and a half:

This silly video features Rufford Smithe-Pennington, the royal birthing representative. The Dutchess Kate’s birth canal is alluded to as the The Chunnel, ahem. http://www.hulu.com/watch/435939#i1,p0,d1

And Holiday Pageant with Paul McCartney—

http://www.hulu.com/watch/435942#i1,p5,d1

Back to business:

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup pecans
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
1 Tbsp. juice from a lemon
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees f. and adjust oven rack to middle position. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

2) Shread zucchini using a food processor, using the shreading blade. Transfer shreaded zucchini to a strainer, toss zucchini with 2 Tbsp. of sugar, then place strainer over bowl, set at least 2 inches over the bowl and allow to drain for about 30 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a cooling rack and cool completely. Transfer the nuts to a large bowl; add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until combined. Set aside.

4) Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter in a medium bowl until combined. Set aside.

5) After the zucchini has drained, squeeze the zucchini with several layers of paper towels to absorb excess moisture. Stir the zucchini and the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth surface with a rubber spatula.

6) Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55-60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool for at least 1 hour before serving

Okay—here is the bread, which will remain untasted until we can do a side by side analysis with the old zucchini bread recipe. May I also mention that the trophy for the Calvary Fantasy Football League just happens to have snuck into this photograph..

Dante-Nut Bread

Because I go to Calvary Episcopal Church where the summer and fall are spent cutting dates for the church’s “World Famous Fruitcake!” I was understandably averse to touching another date for today’s slated bread recipe: Date-nut bread. Plus, we don’t have any dates in the house and when I read the date pitting/boiling protocol, what a drag.

After yesterday’s super success with cranberry-pecan bread, I was eager to use more nuts in bread today, though. So, I’ve removed dates and added Dante to the recipe. Yes, Dante.

Dante because I am rereading the Divine Comedy this week for the third or fourth time as research for my book project (unrelated to bread project). How does one add Dante? Well, while mixing the batter I watched my favorite nut, Will Ferrell, impersonate the devil: “Mondays, God I hate Mondays, they make me-hee so steamed…” (hilarious).

And while fiendishly laughing, I discovered a way to make the bread into a loaf that would “force kings to their knees and set the oceans to boil!”

Remove dates/water. Add cinnamon (2 tables spoons)—because I’m sure the Inferno is spicy. I also put the bread into a round cake mold, because Dante’s levels of hell and heaven are all set into perfect forms: circles.

Dante-Nut Bread
adapted from Baking Illustrated

~~2 c fresh whole dates~~
~~1 c boiling water~~
1 tsp baking soda
2 c wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 c chopped pecans from Mr. Billy’s tree in Green County, NC
2/3 c buttermilk
3/4 c dark brown sugar
6 tbsp olive oil (or melted butter, but I used oil to be healthy)
1 egg

1. Forget about the dates, pitting, all that garbage. Save it for fruitcake if you go to Calvary Episcopal.
2. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in another bowl. Stir in the nuts.
3. Stir the buttermilk and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the butter and egg and stir. Stir in the date mixture, then the dry ingredients, just until combined.
4. Scrape into a greased and floured 9-by-5 loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees until the loaf is dark brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then depan onto a rack and cool.

And “Behold, a fiendish masterpiece from the bowels of hell!!!!!” –

—I would give it 4 stars, but I’ll collect more data this evening after bringing the round to the beer church ceremony in which KP and I are trophied Fantasy Football Champions 2012-13!

Cranberry Nut Bread

Friends, don’t try this one at home. Try the bread recipe, but when you put it in the oven don’t allow the evil temptress Productivity to tell you that while it is baking for 45 minutes you should try to squeeze in a 4-mile run because you haven’t jogged since before Christmas, chunky buns. Gosh the inner voice is a snake, but even so I listened to her and soon after found myself wheezing, out of shape, numb from the ankles down (because it’s a sunny 19 degrees here this afternoon), watching my phone clock with a sense of doom like McGruber, sprinting down icy 4^th Ave, an all out effort to get home before the bread burned the house down. When I pushed through the door, my oven timer had 9 seconds left! I peed my pants a little, kicked off my shoes, threw a steaming fleece headband against the wall, and delivered my first born Cranberry Nut Bread, just in time.

Cranberry Nut Bread

adapted from Baking Illustrated

featured on Sourdough Surprises

⅓ cup orange juice (pulp free, my choice)

1 T. grated orange zest form 1 large orange

⅔ cup buttermilk

6 T. unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing pans

1 large egg, beaten lightly

2 cups wheat flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup sourdough starter

1½ cups cranberries, chopped coarse

½ cup toasted pecans (best from Mr. Billy’s tree in Green County, North Carolina)

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

Stir the orange juice, orange zest, buttermilk, melted butter, sourdough starter and egg in a small bowl.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir the orange liquid mixture into the dry mixture. Stir in the cranberries and nuts.

Bake for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350ºF and bake for another 35-45 minutes.

Mr. Billy, Tom, Holly, and Jude—this one’s for you. The pecans you gave us for Christmas toasted nicely into the loaf and eating it reminds Karl-Peter and I of the handful of Easters we’ve had cranberries and pecans on lamb with y’all. We love you! And Tom, we’ll see you through the television today with Seahawks versus Redskins, yes?

The bread: 5 stars! It only makes one loaf, which is disappointing. I really wish it made twelve. I couldn’t resist including a picture of Izzy giving the fresh loaf the look of love. One and a half cups of cranberries makes it REALLY cranberry-y, so if you like dense fruit, stick with the recipe. I think I would have been happy with a ½ a cup of cranberries/loaf. Also, I used wheat flour, and it didn’t weigh down the bread terribly, which is good! Wish we could be in North Carolina enjoying it with the providers of our pecans–Happy Sunday.

Orange-Spice Banana Bread Sans Banana

I love the world we live in where two women meet at a grocery store’s free wine tasting and later, from several features of the conversation, one woman Googles the other “medical student writer in Rochester, MN” and Voila! she invites the Googled-one to her Dutch-themed party (tonight).

Anneriecke, the Googler, is Dutch and before she goes back to Holland she wants to throw a proper Dutch Party! Her house rules: 5 points if you can pronounce ‘Gouda’ with a proper ‘g’; 10 points if you wear something orange; 100 points if you come by bike!

I LOVE points, and Gouda (pr. How-da), so we must go. Of course, since I’m a medical student, I have elected to shoot for A+ 115 points. What bread can you bring to an Orange party? Fortuitously, the next recipe in Baking Illustrated is Orange-Spice Banana Bread! Put the bread on the moped (loose interpretation of bike), and we are ready to party Dutch-style!

Orange-Spice Banana Bread (no banana)

INGREDIENTS

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan

¾ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons orange zest

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

~~3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)~~

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for the pan

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Same as yesterday’s non-banana banana recipe (of which the remaining loaf I was able to bring to a research party-potluck and conveniently leave there…sorry Dr. Juhn. (heh heh)).
—

While the non-banana banana bread was baking, I fiddled around in the kitchen and decided to try a Snow Crab Risotto recipe I picked up at our grocery store: (recipe). As it turns out, a little snow crab risotto, sauvignon blanc, and orange-spice non-banana banana bread is a nice combo. 3.75 stars. The orange-spice bread dough was really tasty, tastier than the bread baked with it (I should have just stopped there).But this bread was better than yesterday. I also substituted wheat flour for white and it is hardly noticeable and still rises fine. Of note, the crust on this faux-banana bread is really crispy, which I like.

Well, I bought an orange flower for my moped flower holder and KP got an orange outfit at Savers today, so we’ll be off to party with the Dutch! Maybe I can steal an oven of theirs for a recipe next week…

Took several photos of this project. I am particularly sad Izzy could not try the risotto. She appears nonplussed.

Banana-Chocolate Bread Sans Banana

What I thought was a structural flaw in the Bakers Illustrated tour and a shameful omission turned out not to be a problem at all. I just had to keep reading. There are three appealing variations on Banana Bread, one with Chocolate, one with coconut and macadamia nuts, and one with orange-spice. Why not just lose the banana what with all this other good stuff?

This is one of the great privileges of cooking, and I forget this often with my analness, that in recipes you can simply ignore things you don’t like (sometimes); it’s not like bananas get hurt feelings for being left out!

Banana Chocolate Bread (no banana)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan

10 tablespoons white sugar

½ cup (heaping) bittersweet chocolate

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

~~3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)~~

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for the pan

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan. Dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess.
Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, together in a large bowl.
Mix the yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a medium bowl. Lightly fold the banana mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined and the batter looks thick and chunky. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Meh, I’d give it 3 stars. The dough was impossibly sticky, but it wasn’t until I had already mixed all of the ingredients that I considered how the lack of banana would leave me with a deficit of moisture. I added maybe ¼ cup of milk. Surprisingly, though it went into the pan like desiccated peanut butter it came out of the oven like a normal loaf of bread, and of what I know of banana bread, the loaf at least looked the part! The taste is unremarkable, even with the chocolate. When I told KP what I was up to, he said So you’re making chocolate cake? Definitely tastes more bready than cake, and it isn’t hardly sweet. Good with espresso, but not good good. Turns out, I don’t even like banana bread without the bananas. So now I have two excuses.

While I was mixing and KP was grating bittersweet chocolate with a mini-grater he got for Christmas, we were watching You and Me and Everyone We Know, this weird Indy film set in Portland that Roger Ebert said was one of the ten best films ever made…I have to say, the non-banana banana bread was better than that weird movie. I would give it a meh and will limit my tasters to n=2.