Where your daily bread begins

Check out this series of short films about wheat farmers in Kansas: www.kingarthurflour.com/ourfarmers.

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Testing three American Rye Whiskies

Rye whisky has been emerging from a long dormancy of late. Rye whisky is as American as George Washington and baseball, and even has a connection with our first president. I have three different ryes in front of me at the moment, one from Jim Beam, another from Rittenhouse, and finally a Virginia local from Copper Fox. They all have a similar coloring, sort of a deep copper, even thought they are very different whiskies. Jim Beam's is 80 proof and has the classic, spicey nose, though it is softer than I expected. Taking it in and holding it on the tongue reveals some sweet notes swimming with a mild spice. Rittenhouse is 100 proof and has some stronger spice on the nose and that carries into the tongue. White pepper notes compete with some light background caramel. Comparing the first two, the Rittenhouse has a bit more roundness and heft to it, but both are quite good. Finally the Copper Fox, which is a middle-weight at 90 proof between the other two and is only aged about 14 months. The other significant difference is that it is only 2/3rd rye and 1/3 hand malted barley, which yields a much fatter nose with some of the rubber smell I get from their single malt whisky. The trademark spice of a rye is not there, not even on the tongue. I think the apple wood is not doing this whisky any favors.

A little more sourdough

standpauke Today I baked off some more sourdough. This time I used ice cubes in the cast iron pan to get a little more steam. The color is a little deeper this time and you can see the slashing made for some nice patterns.

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Are you an elitist?

Here's another take (from the folks at FarmAid) on why supporting local agriculture is not an elitist pursuit. It does seem a bit silly to me that one is considered elitist for supporting the very population (salt of the earth, no-kidding farmers and the like) that many laud and trumpet as "real americans". The knock on the locavore etc movement is that not everyone can afford to buy all those lovely ingredients at farmers' markets. It is generally speaking true that most patrons of farmers' markets are middle class, but I think that is starting to change. We are seeing more markets turn up in urban settings away from the trendy neighborhoods, and the road-side stand is also experiencing an upward trend. The costs at these markets of course must be compared to supermarket prices, but if we really look at food deserts, they often don't even have access to decent supermarkets with real produce and the like. On a personal note, if the high price of meat leads to more shifts in diets to vegetables and grains, I can't see that as a bad thing. Far too many Americans still go hungry, but feeding people with cheap, mass-produced, fat-heavy proteins (e.g., burgers) is not the best option. And with the growth in attention to how we eat and where it comes from, it is no longer the only option.

Artisan Bread Course Day 4

The final day of our bread course was a whirlwind of activity as we made tons of bread, from finishing our croissants to stuffed rye fougasse, wood-fired oven baked pizza and our sourdoughs. The sourdoughs were the same dough as we had baked off on day 3, but this time with a night in the fridge to help build up acetic acid, and therefore give the final bread more tang. The fougasse involved building out our dough from the pre-ferment and letting it proof, followed by rolling out and actually stuffing it. The term fougasse comes from the Latin for "focus", which apparently implies the hearth as the focus of the home. I have made plain-jane fougasse from bread flour, but never stuffed one before. What makes it a fougasse is not so much the dough, but how it is shaped. Once it is shaped into a square or round, but flat dough, various holes and cuts are made into it, which are then pulled apart. We stuffed ours with roasted beets, caramelized onions and goats cheese, folded them over and then made ladder cuts (parallel cuts through the dough) that we pulled apart. It's a bit like a calzone, but with holes in it.

The final work on the croissants involved rolling out to a seven-inch wide piece and then measuring off four-inch lengths to cut and shape. At this point, the dough should be about a quarter inch thick. We were able to get about three or four four-by-seven inch squares out of the dough. I used one slightly irregular end to make a chocolate and marzipan-filled croissant, which is folded over itself, rather than rolled like a traditional croissant. One important note at this point is that the filled croissants should be rolled thinner than a quarter inch, which I forgot to do. Hence, I ended up with a very large croissant (not that I was particularly complaining -- it made a fantastic breakfast sitting on the porch of the Inn the next morning in the cool breeze and with my coffee). Once they had risen one more time (ideally in a proofing box at 80-82 degrees), we brushed them with an egg wash and in the ovens they went. The dough can also be spread thin and used to make a very rich flat-bread pizza or sorts with cooked bacon, onions and cheese.

Finally, we made our pizzas and got to use the large wood-fired oven. I tend to think that you can get very credible pizza at home, but the wood-fired flavor is a bit like barbecuing on real coals versus on gas -- there is a difference, though both are good. At the end of the day, we had quite a haul of baked goods. Those in my class who were locals had plenty to share with their families -- I ended up stopping at Norwich Wine and Spirits for a nice bottle of Rosso di Montalcino to sip with my pizza for dinner. Then I had to triage my bread for what I could reasonably take on board my Southwest flight in a carry-on bag.

I really enjoyed the four days at King Arthur Flour and learned a lot. Just by using the preferred dough temperature formula and what I learned about shaping and slashing dough yielded much improved baguettes this weekend. I still would like to learn a lot more about sourdoughs and baking with whole grains, but this class has given me a great foundation to build upon.