BEST BREAD EVER

Have you ever made homemade bread? Today is not specific recipe for bread but an adventure about the process of creating you own freshly milled grain bread. Our friend Larry at Big Dudes Ramblings had a grain mill that he was not using and offered it to his readers. I jumped at the opportunity and he sent it to me gratis. It took me several weeks to finally put it to use but Wow am I glad I did.

Bread is made with flour usually from wheat grains. To make flour you need wheat berries. This is the whole grain which has not been milled. Wheat berries are found at health food stores and here in the Bay Area we have a plethora of these kinds of stores. I found red wheat berries and white wheat berries which have different flavors and textures. Today we are using the white wheat berries that when freshly milled will have bran, germ, and endosperm all included in the final product. Commercially milled flour has the bran and endosperm removed which gives it less nutritional value and its pure white color.

This grain mill attaches to a Kitchen Aide mixer. Here is a tip that may save you a disaster in the kitchen. Make sure that you tighten said attachment otherwise you will be sweeping the floor of wheat berries. These berries were catapulted because not securing the mill will cause it to revolve. Luckily Ms. Goofy was not present and did not see my mistake and hopefully she does not read this. Once everything is secure you pour whole wheat berries into the hopper, turn on the machine and catch flour below in a bowl. There is a knob to determine the coarseness of your flour. I had it all the way to the finest end and it seemed to work fantastically.

The end product flour is a little course because it does have the bran, germ, and endosperm.  I decided to add some commercially milled white bread flour to make this bread more desirable to our liking. You can use the flour as it is but will make very course texture bread. The best part about making bread is the smells and aromas. The aroma of the freshly milled flour is fragrant. The yeast proofing has another comforting familiar smell. The act of kneading the bread has a therapeutic like quality. It is a hands on tactile experience. The finale is the smell of freshly baking bread that will have you drooling with anticipation.

Thankyou Larry for your generous gift that will be put to use often the coming winter months. This mill adds another level to creating some of the best bread ever. Freshly milled grains are healthier than commercially made flour products. The act of making bread is so rewarding. Your sinuses, tummy and health benefits will thank you. I think I will make a sandwich

BACON FOUGASSE

Firebrand Artisan Breads in Oakland California sells a bacon fougasse bread. The fougasse bread is a simple flat bread that is typically leaf shaped and embellished with cheese, herbs , nuts or anchovies.  This version is rich and decadent with a very special ingredient of Berkshire bacon from Belcampo Meat . I heard of this bread and immediately commandeered the Racing Honda to procure this bacony treat.

Parking Karma once again was on my side by the parking spot right in front with time on the meter. (Eat your heart out Great White Hunter). Firebrand is located on the outskirts of the revitalized downtown Oakland. Firebrand is also one of two bakeries located on the same block. I believe Hipster's need multiple bakery choices. This bakery specializes in artisan breads naturally leavened with sourdough yeast, baked in wood fire ovens. The entrance is very plain and I actually wondered if this was the right place. Once in the doors my apprehension was transformed into wonderment.

The inside was huge and cavernous. An open kitchen was a feast for inquisitive eyes. This was a busy hub of bread making activities. The display of breads was very impressive. I was on a mision to buy bacon fougasse today. I made my purchase and left with time to spare on the meter. The smell of fresh bread in the car was intoxicating. It took a lot of will power to not sneak a little piece of bacon off of this creation. Once home it was time to taste. This bread has so many levels of flavor. The sourdough is an earthy, tangy contribution to the profile. The bacon is on top and throughout that adds a savory richness. Belcampos berkshire bacon is a treat with its almost beefy like bacon flavor. The bread has a chew that has one noshing in bread appreciation. I had to use restraint to not eat the whole loaf in one sitting. Oh my, did we love this bread! I even love the name; fougasse. I am already planning a return trip to Firbrand Artisan Breads.

Firebrand Artisan Breads

DUTCH OVEN BEER BREAD

The weather has turned to cool fall temperatures. It is time to turn on the oven and fill the house with the wonderful warming, comforting aromas of bread baking. We are going to try out a recipe using a light lager beer, sometimes referred to as the “King of Beers’ as an ingredient. It will be baked in a covered enamel coated cast iron pot. Cooking our bread in this vessel will form steam to promote a crisp exterior crust. This bread will have a long rise time to develop sour dough like yeasty flavors. Grab your own ‘King of Beers’ and come make some bread with us.

The ingredients are few and simple. It will take some patience on your part to achieve maximum flavors. I want to share some things not to do first. Hopefully you can learn from my trials and errors. Use warm water to jump start the yeast. I used cold water and it worked but added several hours to the process. Also let the bread rise is a warm place. This bread is a slow rising dough but a warm environment will help.

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour
2/3 cup of warm water
1/3 cup of beer (King of Beer’s is preferred and I had to wrestle it out of Ms. Goofy’s paw)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
¼ teaspoon yeast.

Notice the small amount of yeast. Combine dry ingredients and then add water, vinegar and beer. Mix for several minutes. It will be very sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and put in warm place. Your rise time will vary. You will need at least 8 hours to develop flavor.. With my conditions I let the dough work for 26 hours. It did not rise very much. When I thought it was ready I kneaded for 10 minutes on a plastic surface so dough would not stick. Take two tablespoons of olive oil and pour into an enameled Dutch oven. Roll dough in oil till covered and lest rise for two more hours. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and place in a cold oven. Yes cold oven. Turn on oven to 425 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove lid and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until bread is brown and internal temperature is 200 degrees.
  This bread had sour dough like flavors that was spectacular. The long rise time developed huge flavor. The King of Beers added a maltiness to make this a Royal treat. It took some patience but was well worth the effort.

OATMEAL BREAD

I love whole wheat bread. The flavor, texture and even the health benefits float my boat. This bread even uses oatmeal.as an ingredient. There is honey to add a little sweetness to this nutty hearty loaf. Ms. Goofy calls my whole wheat breads: 'Sticks & Stones' bread. It is not her favorite. That is fine, because there will be more for me.

Recipe Here

BACON, ONION BREAD

Bacon and caramelized onions all baked into a flavorful yeasty bread sounds scrumptillicious. Image the aromas of onions caramelizing, savory bacon and bread baking all mingling in your kitchen. This was the reality when we created this outrageous loaf of bacon love. Decadent, rich, savory, is it just what the doctor ordered? Grab your defibrillator and pull up a hospital gurney while we create this fabulously rich bread.

We used a recipe from “Yummly nibbles & bits”. We did make a couple of changes to the recipe to suit our tastes. We omitted all the sugars. Caramelizing onions will bring out natural sugars that will suffice for us. We also did not use sugar in the bread. It will take a little longer to rise but will not sacrifice any flavor. There was also a twist in the assembly of this bread. This was because of my inability to follow instructions. I stacked my slices of uncooked bread in the pan horizontally instead of vertically. It did not change the outcome of the bread except for presentation. Recipes are a guideline not the rule.

It is amazing how wonderful onions smell when caramelizing. This was worth the ticket of admission. We did use two yellow onions. They were cooked low and slow until brown and yummy. We used a combination of leftover slab chunks of bacon from the infamous Chilebrown ice cave. The origin of these bacon chunks were from ‘Archers Butcher Block’ & The Local Butcher Shop. This combination made for a regal addition. We assembled our loaf and put it in the oven. The aroma wafting from the oven was tortuously sinful. It took some patience but we were rewarded soon.

Still warm from the oven, this bread delivered everything the smells promised. Sweet with onion flavor, savory/salty bacon crunch all intertwined in yeasty bread. We wanted to go even farther over the top of bacon consumption. A bacon cheeseburger served on Bacon, Onion, Bread did the trick. Oh my gosh!!

Recipe Here

STOLLEN

We would like to wish all you ‘Mad Meat Genius’ readers a Merry Christmas. Another year has passed and the ‘Big Green Egg’ was not under the tree. A tear was wiped from my brow but Holiday cheer will prevail. That is because we have some Christmas Stollen from ‘Ponsford’s Place Bakery’. Stollen is traditional German holiday bread. Ponsford’s describes it as: STOLLEN Full of amazing Dried Fruits (not the fake stuff) (apples, cherries, apricot, cranberries, and raisins) that have been macerated with Lemon Zest, Rum,
Vanilla, almond paste, and some other trade secrets. ($10.00):

Ponsford’s Place Bakery is located in San Rafael California. It is a tiny little shop that is only open Friday & Saturday. They are unique because they use no processed white flour. All the baked goods are made with whole wheat flour. This can be a challenge and they have risen to the task. Ponsford’a offers not only stollen and breads but various savory items such as meat pies, quiche, turnovers and much more.

Scary Bread Santa

The stollen was sweet and satisfying. It definitely helped me through my yearly green disappointment. We are definitely returning to Ponsford’s Place to sample more of their offerings. “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

Ponsford's Place Bakery

117 Shaver St.

San Rafael, Ca. 94909

HARD RED WINTER WHEAT

Community Grains grows and mills a very special whole grain flour. This flour contains all the natural nutrients that are in the original grain that are lost with conventional milling. One hundred percent of the germ, bran and endosperm are included in this flour. With conventional milling the three components are separated and if whole wheat flour is desired these parts are reconstituted. This grain is local, grown in the Woodland California area. The health benefits of whole wheat flour are superior to your standard white flour. Whole wheat flour performs differently than all purpose flour so adjustments to recipes will be necessary. Today we are making Ciabatta bread. We are using the recipe from the Community Grain website. Here is the recipe we used.

The process of baking bread is a special experience. The proofing of the yeast, the kneading of the dough, the rising, the wonderful smells of baking and ultimately eating your creation cannot be experienced by words alone. This recipe uses a lot of water and can be challenging. This dough is sticky and a little difficult to manage. The end results are worth the effort.

Our bread was delicious. It had a nutty flavor that made this bread special. Our bread did not have the large round air pockets inside the crust like the videos results. I believe that I did not mix the initial dough long enough in the mixer to form gluten. I am not the best example of following instructions. Still this bread was a success. Creating and experiencing fresh bread is what it is all about.

Community Grains

PARKER HOUSE ROLLS

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday is a lazy day to park in front of the television and watch your local football team battle on the field of glory. While watching these warriors fight for victory, nourishment and plenty of ice cold beverages will be needed for the duration. We have a beautiful pork shoulder roast obtained from the U.C. Davis Meat Labs. It will be smoked with apple wood in our stoker controlled smoker. This will be a great time to make some ‘Parker House Rolls’. These soft and buttery rolls will be great with Cole slaw and smoked pork. We will use our not so secret ingredient of Barly Malt Syrup. Let the games begin.

Ingredients

1. 3/4 cup warm milk


2. 1 teaspoon yeast


3. 1 teaspoon barly malt syrup


4. 1/4 cup whole wheat flout


5. 1 3/4 cup bread flour


6. 1 teaspoon salt


7. 2 1/2 tablespoons softened butter


8. 1/4 cup melted butter

Combine the first three ingredients and let proof for five minutes. Add the flour, salt and softened butter and knead until smooth. Cover and let rise for one hour. Take a cast iron skllet and use half of your melter butter to coat pan. Take risen dough and roll into balls and place in buttered pan. Let rise for 45 minutes. Brush top of rolls with remaining butter and bake in 325 degree oven for 25 minutes.

This meal was a touchdown. These rolls were rich and decadent with butter. They were a perfect vehicle to cradle some smoky delicious pork. The Cole slaw was a good accompaniment to cut the richness of the pork and rolls. This meal was comforting just like the couch that was my throne. The Oakland Raiders were not the only winners this Sunday.

BARLEY MALT SYRUP

Barley malt syrup is a key ingredient for home brewers and bakers. Alton Brown from the ‘Food Network” swears buy it for pizza dough making. It is a key ingredient for ‘Parker House Rolls’ from the famous ‘Parker House’ in Boston. Barley malt syrup is created from whole grain organic barley. It is sprouted and then heated to create enzymes that convert to starch, with the complex carbohydrate turning to sugars. It is evaporated to create syrup. This thick syrup is half as sweet as white sugar with a molasses/ honey type quality, and a malt flavor that will be great for baked goods.

It took some searching to find this nectar of the ‘Food Network Guru’s’. It is not stocked at our local ‘Wally Mart”. Luckily the Bay Area is full of ‘Health Food’ stores and a jar was found. This syrup can be used as substitute for sugar or honey in your baking recipes. I just substituted this syrup in our English muffin and pizza dough list of ingredients. If you liked your baked goods a little sweeter you may have to add additional sweetener according to the syrup label. We will have to give a taste test to check out this advice.

The English muffin and pizza dough really took off with the combination of Barley malt syrup and yeast. They both rose with vigor and stamina. This syrup may have blue pill quality on the baking scene. The English muffins did have a hint of malt flavor. It was very pleasant with subtle malt flavor. The pizza dough did not have a malt flavor, possibly because it was hidden with the cornucopia of other tasty ingredients. We did not notice any lack of flavor because of the smaller sugar content.

If you like to bake, Barley Malt Syrup is a must have ingredient. It will add flavor with less sugars. This thick sweet syrup marries with yeast to form yummy baking delights. I cannot wait to try making some ‘Parker House’ rolls.

FOCACCIA

  Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup lukewarm water
• 3 ½ to 4 cups of a combination of whole wheat flour and bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp yeast
• ¼ cup of olive oil (1/2 for bread and other ½ for topping)

 

 Simple ingredients make for a very special, tasty Italian style bread. Combine ingredients and knead. Let dough rise for an hour or two. Spread dough on to a baking sheet, flatten and dimple and pour remaining olive oil on to bread. Sprinkle with the slightest rain of salt. Let rise for 1/2 hour. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 35 minutes, or until the smell completely intoxicates you.

  

  The bread smells so delicious while baking. Eating this bread while still warm is a treat that makes all the effort so worth it. We enjoyed our focaccia with some raviolis and malfatta. I do have to admit that our focaccia was darn good but not as good as Angelo’s. Hey Angelo! ‘How about helping a Pison out with a recipe?’

WILD FLOUR BREAD

Bread, baked in a wood fired oven, and using organic sourdough is a special treat. It is even more special when it is in the middle of your scenic drive. Wild Flour Bread fills this bill. Wild Flour is located 10 miles away from Bodega Bay or ten miles away from Occidental. California. It is a scenic drive which ever way you travel. The Wild Flour Bread bakery produces ten to twelve different breads daily. From cheese fougasse, cinnamon buns and even a 100 percent rye bread is baked in a eucalyptus fired wood oven. The tattooed and pierced staff is very friendly and will dole out samples to your hearts desires. There will be a long line but it is worth the wait and you can view the birds painted on the wall, a tribute to Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds'.(filmed in Bodega Bay 10 miles down the road). There is a wonderful garden to explore right outside the bakery. The next time your are traveling on the 'Bohemian Highway be sure to stop at Wild Flour Bread.

Wild Flour Bread 

ENGLISH EGG NOG MUFFINS

We are still baking in the Mad Meat Genius kitchen. A vision to make some English muffins came after consuming some eggnog.. No, it was not the brandy that laced this cinnamon, egg, milk concoction It was some leftover eggnog left in our politically correct glass milk container. Strauss farms makes a wonderful eggnog. It is organic and from what I heard the Cows are happy. Some dried cranberries will be added to these muffins to sweeten them up.This will be a Mad Muffin experiment. Will these muffins be delicious or will they be the folly of a Jepson brandy premonition.

English Muffins

1. 1 cup egg nog
2. 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
3. 1 cup dried cranberries
4. 3 tablespoons melted butter
5. 5 cups bread flour
6. 1 cup whole wheat flour
7. 1 teaspoon salt
8. 1 egg
9. 1 tablespoon yeast

Proof yeast in lukewarm egg nog. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Nead for 5 minutes. Let rise in covered lightly oiled bowl. Let rise for two hours. After 2 hours roll out and cut into muffin shapes. Take a pastry brush and dip in a cup of water. Brush muffins and sprinkle corn meal on both sides. Let rise for another 30 minutes. Cook on a hot griddle. Cook for aprox 5 minutes on each side. Muffins should be brown on both sides. Let cool completely

We were pleasantly surprised. These muffins were delicious. This is perfect with the morning coffee. They are toasted and serve with a dab of butter. You will have a sweet treat with a slight hint egg nog flavor with these muffins.

BROWN RICE ONION BREAD

The days are getting shorter. The thermometer is dropping. It actually was below 70 degrees yesterday. Now that is cold. I may have to change out of my Bermuda's and Birkenstock. That was a joke, son. I have never owned a pair of Birkenstock. It is the time of year to make pots of simmering goodness and fire up the oven for baked goods. I came across a recipe in our local paper for making bread with wild rice. Some locally grown brown rice will be substituted for the wild rice. Black bean chili made with elk meat and home smoked chipotle peppers will accompany the bread. The kitchen will be sizzling with warmth and love. Yes, I will be wearing my Bermudas and shades.

Brown Rice Onion Bread

1. 5 cups bread flour
2. 1 cup whole wheat flour
3. 1 1/2 tablespoon yeast
4. 1/4 cup brown sugar
5. 2 teaspoons salt
6. 1 cup cooked rice (wild or brown)
7. 1 1/2 cup lukewarm water
8. 1/2 cup buttermilk
9. 1/4 cup dried onions minced

Place all ingredients in food processor and mix for 4 minutes. You will have a fairly sticky dough. Turn mixture out on to a cutting board and knead by hand for another 2 minutes. Add minimal amount of flour to prevent sticking. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Take dough out of refrigerator two hours before baking. Place in well oiled loaf pan. (one large or two small) Let rise to 1 inch over lip of pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until internal temperature is 185 degrees. Let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

The black bean chili is made from some ground and loin elk meat. The elk meat is another gift from the Great White Hunter. The recipe is very similar to a recipe used in Bowl of Red from a previous post. Black beans, home grown tomatoes and whole dried chipotles are the difference. Yes, you read correctly. We still have some home grown tomatoes on the vine. They do not have the flavor of summer, but they are still a vast improvement over store bought tomatoes. We will have tomatoes until the rain starts.



The Brown Rice Onion Bread was a very moist loaf. It had a nutty sweet flavor. It toasted up very nice. The dried onion was just a subtle hint of allium flavor. You will not notice that brown rice is an ingredient. The chipotle black bean chili was smoky, spicy and very comforting. A slice of bread with a bowl of red is a wonderful combination of home style warmth.

BARBEQUE LASAGNA

The first week of fall has fell hard. The weather has been hovering around 90 degrees. We have an overabundance of tomato's to harvest. One of our house specialities is making spaghetti sauce. We bought a large commercial size food mill at a garage sale. It is a wonderful tool to separate seeds and skins from the tomato. We add home grown herbs and peppers to our seedless, skinless pot of tomatoes. Mushrooms , Dakota Sausage, and some baconburger meat rounds off this pot of red gold. It is simmered for a while. The house smells great. We have our fill and freeze the rest. One use of this yummy sauce is to make Lasagna. The only problem is turning the oven on will make the house hotter than necessary. No worries! The Weber barbeque will come to the rescue. I will make the Lasagna in a disposable pan and cook it with an indirect heat. The perfect Chilebrown twist.

Lasagna

1. One box of Lasagna noodles (cooked according to box directions
2. 4 cups of home made sauce
3. 1 small container ricotta cheese
4. 1 small mozzarella shredded
5. 1 cup Parmesans cheese

Take a disposable foil pan and lightly oil. Layer noodles to cover bottom. Take one cup of sauce and cover noodles. Add 1/3 mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Layer another round of noodles sauce and cheese. Repeat and cover top with more sauce and Parmesan.Cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour at 375 or until cheese is bubbly and top is browned. Leave foil on for first 45 minutes and remove to facilitate browning.

We threw in some bread cooked on the wood fired oven. What a feast! The house stayed cool and We ate like Royalty!

FOCACCIA

It was a dark and stormy night. Well maybe it was a little overcast. This was the perfect excuse to make some Focaccia. As you may know, bread baking in the oven will omit a wonderful aroma that will lift your spirits and float your boat. Something like that. We just happened to have a 25 pound sack of bread flour.

This flour was obtained at Moore's flour mill in Redding Ca. They grind all their grains on the premise. This place is run and owned by the son of Bob Moore. Bob Moore originally started this mill and moved on to Oregon and built his empire of Bobs Red Mill. Moores is a great place to find any type of flour or grains for your baking needs.

Focaccia

1. 4 cups bread flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. 1 tablespoon yeast
4. 2 tablespoons olive oil
5. 1 1/2 cups warm water

Proof the yeast in water for 5 minutes. Add rest of ingredients and knead till you have a nice dough. Place in oiled bowl and let rise for aprox 1 1/2 hours. Take a well oiled baking sheet and press dough onto sheet with your fingers. Press out into rectangle. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes. Drizzle more olive oil over top and bake in 400 oven for aprox 35 minutes.

BAGELS

The Ahwanee Hotel may be shut down for two years for a seismic retrofit if they can obtain funds through the stimulus program. Huh? The Mad Meat Genius promised no religion, politics or rants, BUT, (......deleted by author......). Sorry, to get out of this funky mood, Bagels will be made. There is nothing like the smell and taste of freshly baked bread. The interesting step of making bagels is that they are boiled before they are baked. Lets get boiling.

Bagels

1. 2 cups warm water
2. 2 teaspoons yeast
3. 1 teaspoon salt
4. 3 tablespoons sugar (honey)
5. 6 cups flour (I used combination of wheat and bread flour)
6. 2 egg yolks beaten with 2 tablespoons water

Proof the yeast with water. Add sugar salt and flour. Combine and knead for 10 minutes. Place in oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour. Take dough and divide into 18 pieces. You can make them larger or smaller to your liking. Roll into disc and push your finger into center to create a hole. Let rise for another 45 minutes. Take a large pot of water and add 2 tablespoons of sugar. Bring to boil. Place your dough into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, turning a couple of times. Remove and dry dough. Place on oiled cookie sheet. Coat with egg mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Owwoohe, they smell so good. They taste even better. The World is a better place now!