Crumpets

Back when my now young adult children were flaxen-haired wee tots, I bought a box of English Muffin/Crumpet Rings at a yard sale. I used them a few times soon after buying them to make English muffins for the kids -and they were a big hit with them- but I haven't used them since. I recently have been pondering the different possible ways for making breads without an oven. On the heels of my (relative) success with cooking pita breads on a griddle, and remembering my dusty box o' rings, I decided to take a bash at making crumpets. If anyone reading this KNOWS HOW TO DO IT PROPER, if you learned to make crumpets from a mother or grandmother, I'd sincerely love to hear from you. As it was, armed only with my good intentions, a box of rings, and a crumpet recipe in James Beard's Beard on Bread, but lacking grandmotherly guidance or ANY actual experience in the crumpet arena, I forged/fumbled ahead. What does a proper crumpet really look like? Well, I actually don't know. These may or may not be real crumpets, but they were real good, and they disappeared in a flash.

James Beard's Crumpets

Mix:

1/2 c. boiling water

1/2 c. milk

Add:

1 T. yeast

1 t. sugar

Allow to get bubbly. Add:

1 3/4 c. all purpose flour

1 1/2 t. salt
Beat several minutes with a spoon, then allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk -about an hour.

Mix and beat into dough:

1/4 t. baking soda

1 T. warm water

Allow again to rise until doubled.

Butter rings, place on medium hot griddle (350 degrees) and ladle in batter to 1/2 inch thickness. Cook until bubbly and dryish. Remove ring, turn and cook on second side until browned.

Lacking genuine yard sale crumpet rings, tuna cans with both ends cut out will work perfectly instead. I either did something a bit WRONG or my rings are a bit oversized, as I only got six crumpets when James' recipe said it should make 8-10. I used bread flour instead of AP (oops!), which may have changed the texture of the batter a bit and explain the difference.

Even if these weren't proper crumpets, they were pretty 'yummy little griddle cooked bread things' and next time I make them I'll be more careful about which flour jar I scoop from, and I'll double the recipe.

Pacific Northwest-style Muffuletta Sandwiches with Manhattan-style Salmon Chowder

When I saw Greg Atkinson's Taste article, A Big Easy Best, in The Seattle Times on Sunday, I was keen to make his muffuletta sandwiches. When my husband glanced at the article with John Lok's gorgeous photo of these sandwiches (my rather pathetic photos by comparison are an embarrassment), he was immediately VERY keen for me to make them. The whole point of a sandwich, aside from the mobility factor, is that they're easy to make, and these sandwiches are very easy. In the Taste article, Greg suggested building them on kaiser rolls or a focaccia loaf, and on his blog, Westcoast (click here) he describes an olive oil bread made in New Orleans a friend prefers to use. Instead, I decided to make my grandmother's potato rolls (click here) shaped bun-style.

I love making any kind of bread. It's soothing and meditative. I find transforming a few basic ingredients into something as wonderful as homemade bread, to be an incredibly satisfying activity. Even though baking bread from start to finish -dry yeast to baked buns- takes up a major portion of a day, I like that it can so easily fit around other activities.

When I'm in the habit of baking most of our breads, as I am these days, I find commercial breads to be a serious disappointment. Even my lamest of loaves are pretty good stuff by comparison. To make any bread or roll recipe into a burger-style buns, I knead them especially well while keeping the dough soft, roll or pat them about 5/8 to 1/2 an inch thick to make 4-inch rounds, and allow a good final rising. I baked these at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I had some extra dough that I made into two wee loaves and baked alongside for the same amount of time.

Home baked buns will turn any sandwich filling into an exceptional sandwich experience. Though these sandwiches would be good made with pretty much any rolls or bread, I must say they were pretty incredible made with these just baked soft potato buns.

Greg Atkinson's Muffuletta Sandwiches

To make the olive salad (for 2-3 sandwiches), combine:

1 c. minced Spanish pimento-stuffed green olives

3 pressed garlic cloves

2-3 T. olive oil
Spread this generously on one side of a split bun.

On other side, layer slices of:

mortadella

salami

provolone cheese

I also added a smear of mayo on this side of my bun. Greg suggest these be made half an hour or so ahead to allow the olive oil to soak into the bread. I'm going to remember these for taking this summer on picnics, but last night I felt we needed a soup alongside our sandwiches, and this Manhattan-style salmon chowder came to mind. I liked the color of the blue potatoes here, but others eating it weren't as impressed with the visual effect -though all agreed it was very good.

Manhattan-style Salmon Chowder

Melt:

1/4 c. butter

Add:

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 c. celery, chopped
Cook until tender. Add:

1 quart chicken stock

1 t. dried basil

1/3 c. dried Italian parsley

2 potatoes, peeled and diced

Simmer 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cube salmon trim (or a salmon fillet), saute briefly in 1 T. olive oil until done, and add to the chowder.

Leek and Potato Soup and Irish Soda Bread

Many of the most comforting and soul-satisfying foods, like rice, risotto, mashed potatoes and oatmeal, are the least attractive. Their beige monotony does not generate visual excitement, so we take them for granted and often overlook them. For years I have passed by recipes for Irish Soda Bread, believing so few and so basic of ingredients, put together with so little effort, and of such humble origins, could only be so good. Good enough to get one through a famine certainly, but probably not great. Do not be deceived by its simplicity; it is amazing with butter, with or without jam, with fresh horseradish -or served with soup. The honest flavor of the wheat comes through pure and delicious. I now completely get everything I've heard and read from those singing the praises of Irish Soda Bread.

Irish Soda Bread

Mix:

2 c. whole wheat flour

2 c. all purpose flour

1/3 c. brown sugar

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

Cut in:

1/4 c. butter

Stir in:

1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Knead to form a solid, shaggy ball. Place in a well-greased 8 inch square Pyrex dish and flatten to fill. Cut a 1/2 inch x into top. Bake 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until done. Cool completely on wire rack.

The leeks in our garden did very well again this year and I use them in place of onions in many recipes. They are incredibly versatile, lending their own unique character in the kitchen. I really hope they keep well into the winter like they did last year, but I don't suppose we'll be quite so lucky.

Leeks are one of the two main ingredients in Leek and Potato Soup, another food who's beige appearance, simplicity of ingredients, and ease of preparation give very little hint to how delightful it tastes. And this soup has the singular honor of being the very first recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. There can be no higher endorsement, no matter how boring it may look.

Leek and Potato Soup

In stockpot, simmer until tender:

3 c. sliced leeks

3 c. chopped peeled potatoes

2-3 quarts water (or chicken stock)

1 T. salt

Mash, using a slotted spoon, potato or bean masher, or run through a food mill. Do not use a blender which will cause too much starch to be released and make the soup have a 'gluey' texture.

Add:

2 T. butter

white pepper to taste

1/3 c. cream or milk (optional)

Three Seed Bread and Fall Gold Raspberry Jam

Fall Gold Raspberries. They are so pretty and finally ours are producing like crazy! We originally planted them in a spot where we forgot to water them, the deer nibbled on them and, in general, they were rather neglected. After being moved to a larger bed that's closer to the garden, after a period of settling in, they have gotten down to the job of seriously producing raspberries this fall.



I have waited years for the day I could make Gold Raspberry Jam. Ever since we planted the raspberry canes shortly after moving here, I have wanted to make this jam, and finally, last night I did.



It is absolutely delicious, as raspberry jam always is, and so lovely to look at. I adore the novelty of the gold color that surprises you with the unexpected taste of raspberries. This morning, spread on this bread that's been my breakfast almost every day for the past two weeks, it is heaven.



Three Seed Bread is an absolute snap to make. It is substantially seedy (in a good way) and pleasingly whole grainy, without being too hefty. I love it. I adapted a bread machine recipe from the back of a package of Bob's Red Mill flaxseed I'd bought to make flaxseed waffles. It is just as easy made using a stand mixer and could certainly be made by hand.



Three Seed Bread
Adapted from Bob's Red Mill Natural Food, Inc. recipe
Put all ingredients in a stand mixer bowl:
1 1/4 c. water
2 T. honey
1 T. yeast
2 c. white bread flour
1 c. whole wheat bread flour
1 t. salt
2 T. vegetable oil
1/3 c. flaxseed meal
1/3 c. flaxseeds
1/4 c. sunflowers
1-2 T. poppy seeds
Mix and knead with dough hook attachment 5-10 minutes. Leave to rise until doubled. Deflate and let rise again. Deflate. Form a loaf and place in greased bread pan. Let rise until doubled. Bake 325 for 40-45 minutes. Makes 1 loaf. Slice, toast and serve with jam. Repeat daily.

Toast and Jam, or Honey

In a perfect world, I would bake bread almost every day and in this perfect world we would always have homemade bread to eat at our house. I actually do make a lot of bread, but it is in spurts and sputters and when a spurt of bread making sputters, getting interrupted and derailed by LIFE, family members react with hurt irritation that THERE IS NO BREAD IN THIS HOUSE. I am forced to concede that I am not, and never will be living in a perfect world, and I buy some bread.

Toasted home made bread with home canned raspberry jam, what I ate this morning as I have every single morning this week, makes the simplest, yet most sublime, breakfast. Like Molly at Orangette, I also am a big fan of both home made granola and toasted home made, whole grainy breads for breakfast. More and more I am impressed with straightforward foods made really, really well -like bread. Of course, there is all the mundane breads eaten daily and hardly worth noticing. I personally, have made my fair share of home made breads that really weren't that great but there is also bread that is so amazingly good you have to pause and take notice. Its quality shines through because it is made with care and with good, though simple and straightforward, ingredients. You taste wheat or oats, honey or molasses, buttermilk or yogurt, sunflower seeds or whatever else you may have added, and it tastes true and genuine -really good bread.



My husband, though a big fan of all the jams I make, is as serious about honey as A. A. Milne's, Pooh -it is not unusual for him to sit down and eat a cup of honey on toasted slices of home made bread. Honest. We are fortunate to live with access to not just one, but several, small local honey producers -Kathleen Wright at Valley Spinner's Guild, Tom Singleton at the Snohomish Farmer's Market -and Bee Haven's roadside farm stand is within walking distance of our house. I buy honey several quarts at a time, more when we are making wines. In a perfect world, we would raise our own bees -but like I said, I do not and never will live in a perfect world. Luckily though, the world I do live in, where I know several great local honey producers and have the time to (sometimes) make my own jams and breads, is a pretty darn good place. This is the recipe I used to make the bread I've been toasting all week. It is a really easy and reliable recipe.

Sunflower Seed Yogurt Bread
Mix in stand mixer:
2 c. whole wheat flour
4 c. bread flour
2 t. salt
1 T. yeast

Mix and add:
1 c. yogurt
1 c. very hot water
1/4 c. honey

Mix with dough hook, adding a bit more flour or water as needed for proper consistency (not too stiff and not too wet). Knowing the feel of the proper consistency comes with practice. Luckily, practicing means you'll have home made breads to eat and a not necessarily great but just OK homemade bread is still pretty good bread. Knead 5 minutes or so, until the dough clears the side of the bowl. Add 3-4 T. soft butter and knead well. Knead in 3/4 c. raw sunflower seeds (optional, but yummy). Cover bowl with cling wrap and leave to double in size in a warm place (about 2 hours). Deflate and then leave to rise again (about 1 hour) then deflate again, divide and form two balls. Rest 10 minutes then form two loaves and place in two greased loaf pans. Let rise until doubled in size then bake in a 325 degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack.