One thing I learned in Texas

This post is going to be short and sweet. Texas meets the Big Island. 

I lived in Texas for five years. I left Fort Worth 29 years ago. I remember a few good things, one being Pimento Cheese. There is also really great Chicken Fried Steak, Brisket cooked long and slow, Weatherford Peaches and fresh shelled Cream Peas, the later two coming from the Weatherford Farmer's Market. Every summer, I remember those glorious peaches and peas, no matter how far I am from them. And then there are days like today that I think about the Pimento Cheese that Gloria Copeland's momma, Mary taught me to make. It is absurdly simple as far as recipes go, but it is also complex in layered flavors and Southern Style. They eat it on white bread sandwiches, but I make grilled cheese sandwiches on sprouted wheat with it, use it as a dip and today I put it on home made bagels and put it under the broiler. Hot Damn... it is as good as ever. 

This simple concoction is not really a recipe, but you have to taste it to be sure that the right amounts of each ingredient are included. I take "about" 2 cups of grated sharp cheddar, 1 cup of mayonnaise (they use Best Foods, I use my own), 1 cup of chopped and drained pimentos, 1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapenos (my addition to the recipe), 2-3 grated dill pickles and some black pepper. It is that easy. It should then be chilled for at least 2 hours if you can stand the wait. 

Wordless Wednesdays: This Morning's Sunrise

Island Bagels

Typical day in Paradise...a cruise ship passes by the bagels

This week's Bread Bakers Apprentice challenge was to make bagels. The recipe was different in a few ways from previous bagel recipes I have made. Peter has developed a recipe including a sponge, a wet mixture of flour, yeast and water that is the base for the eventual dough. I used my new bread whisk to stir up the sponge and it worked great.

This sponge is allowed to rest, giving a richer flavor. Then additional flour, water and yeast are added to the sponge. I used my Kitchen Aid to do the dough and to knead the dough.

Thirdly, he suggests putting the shaped bagels into the refrigerator over night to retard the rise and add further flavor and chew. His recipe suggests balls of dough that are 4.5 ounces, but I made mine 4 ounces, as well as some mini bagels that were 2 ounces.

Tis is a water bagel, which has a chewy texture and great flavor achieved by retarding the proofing process over night in a refrigerator. In my first batch, I think I may have had a little too much yeast, as I used my sourdough starter for the sponge (longer proofed starter than just adding straight yeast) and then added the fresh yeast called for in the dough.

Another thing I did that varied from Peter's suggestion is that I baked my bagels directly on my hearth stone insert in my oven, instead of on pans. Except for breads that have to be baked in a form, I bake all of my bread this way. This means that I had to put them on a peel coated with cornmeal or semolina before baking. Here they are baking:

They were very puffy, but ever so delicious. The next batch I made came out more like I like my bagels, but it was done with just fresh yeast and no retardation. Having said that, I prefer Montreal style bagels, which are more pretzel like in texture, instead of the more puffy and bread like commercial bagels.

We took some of the first batch over to our friends Joey and Bonnie's for brunch. We enjoyed them along with Bonnie's Waffles, fresh fruit, Bloody Marys and Champagne while watching the incredibly blue sea from their lanai.

I also had some extra dough when I made the second batch... and a hungry husband. So I made a few "Bagel Dogs" and they came out great. He loved them and proclaimed them the best thing I have ever made. He is extremely enthusiastic sometimes. The good thing here and now is the best thing. Wes is famous for proclaiming, "That was the best dinner I have ever eaten in a private residence." I must have heard that at least 50 times. He is also a big hot dog fan, so that may have had something to do with his proclamation, but he has been eating a lot of my bread baking samples lately and I do think he liked the bagel dogs best of the BBA challenge recipes so far.  He has been having a bagel with creamed cheese every morning since the first batch came out on Sunday. Here is a close up of the bagel dogs:

Toppings are added to the bagels when they come out of the boiling water. I sweetened my water with malt syrup. Here they are in their bath:

I made a variety of toppings and all were delicious. I still think I like sesame best. Wes likes the onion. For the onion topping you can reconstitute dried onions and the same goes with garlic, or you can lightly sauté fresh onions or garlic with olive oil for a few minutes as I did and achieve a fresher flavor. I also used my smoked salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds and a red Hawai'ian Salt mixture that has some garlic and herbs in it. I even added just a bit of cornmeal to a few of them. With the seeded varieties, I added a tiny bit of my smoked salt to the top.

Here is a bagel "just formed":

I still think I need to work on perfecting this particular recipe. If I use yeast as Mr. Reinhardt suggests instead of the sourdough starter, I can be more exact. The taste was incredible, but they were not as "pretty" as I wanted them to be. They should make great bagel chips and sandwiches! Of course if Wes has his way I will be making more bagel dogs.  I think I will try making small appetizer size bagel dogs someday soon.

This week we are doing Brioche, one of my favorite breads. It is a rich egg and butter bread with a glossy crust that also is incredible in French toast and sandwiches. Till then, Aloha.

Baking with Swine Flu

You know the saying, "Don't throw pearls before swine. " Well, someone threw the swine my way last week...flu that is. I am pretty sure I have the swine flu. I have had all of the symptoms since last Friday with no let up in sight. I have to believe this is going to end sooner or later!

If you have been following my blog, you already know that I am involved in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, and that involves baking one bread a week and posting on Mondays about that week's bread. Even though I was sick, I was determined to bake my loaf of Artos Greek Celebration bread. I started out on Friday morning getting my sourdough starter out of the fridge and waking it up. It took a couple of feedings, but by Saturday morning I was feeling sicker than ever, so I put the starter back in the fridge and had to start the whole thing again on Sunday morning. I got as far as making the dough and going through its first rise (or proofing) and felt so sick that I put it back in the fridge to retard the dough. This process actually increases flavor in most breads but that was not my reasoning. I just needed time to feel well enough to complete the task.

Finally, this morning I got the dough out of the fridge, punched it down, removed a portion for the decoration, added chopped dried papaya, dried pineapple and toasted macadamia nuts. Yes, I was taking liberties with the Christopsomos version of the bread which normally is a Christmas Bread, studded with golden raisins, walnuts and dried cherries. Hey... it is May and I am in Hawaii! I promise to make the Christmas version next December. I made the bole and set it out to rise.

The dough itself is enhanced with cloves, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, almond extract and orange zest. Some versions of the Artos are sprinkled with sesame seeds. Some have a citrus glaze. I did not want mine sweeter or nuttier and the version I was doing was decorated with dough appliques. So I opted for an egg wash half way through the cooking time.

Through the flu, I trudged on... a day late, I can now post for you the victory of another bread from the fabulous book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. If you love baking, especially artisan bread, you will love this book. It is not too late to bake along with me, and as I said before, if you are on the island, come bake with me in person! Next week I hope to be Swine Flu Free and baking bagels, one of my favorite breads. I am going to include the bagel recipe, as I think that is a very special one. After that is brioche featuring Liz' most beautiful Puna eggs (another story in the making).

Meanwhile, here are a few notes on the Artos I made:

• Because I had to retard the dough for two days, my bread may have developed deeper flavor.  It had great texture and crumb. 
• The loaf was HUGE. I am not sure why, but perhaps my sourdough starter is stronger than the poolish or barm that the book suggests using. And the recipe adds additional yeast to the mix. 
• This like the first bread, the Anadama is probably a bread  I would not have made except for the challenge. I am glad I did make it and will try it again for holidays. 
• I "Hawaiianized" the loaf and was pleased with the results. The pineapple, papaya and mac nuts were a pleasant addition to the loaf.
  
• This bread is lovely on its own with some sweet butter, but also could be used for french toast, bread pudding and for making crostini to be eaten with cheese. 

Next post in a few days will be an interview with "Taro Sam" the Lau Lau King. I did the interview last week. See you then!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge Week 1

I am one of 200 bakers around the world involved in an amazing baking challenge. 

It is not a contest, but instead a group of mostly food bloggers who together are baking our way through the  James Beard Award baking book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Penned by Peter Reinhart, a baker extraordinaire that I have admired since his days as a baker in Sonoma County, California. His first book, Brother Juniper's Bread Book has long been a staple in my kitchen. 

The Challenge started when Pinch My Salt blogger, Nicole invited us to join her in the challenge to bake one recipe together each week and blog about it. So, the 200 of us are on our way.

This is week one. Our bread is called Anadama, a cornmeal (Polenta actually) infused bread that makes a really nice toast as well as awesome croutons and bread crumbs. I even used the dough as a pizza dough with fantastic success. Anadama has a fun story about it, Supposedly a very long time ago in Rockport Massachusetts a man was mad at his wife, Anna not only for leaving him, but also for leaving him with a pot of cornmeal and molasses, which he threw together with some yeast and flour muttering, "Anna Damn Her!" 

And so, here are some photos of the first bread and a pizza I made. 

The process is a long one, involving some waiting time while the polenta soaks 24 hours and the dough can also be slowed in rising midway through baking. Let me just say, the wait is worth it. Essentially it is a simple bread to make, just time consuming vs. an everyday loaf. The slight crunch added by the cornmeal and the slightly sweet and rich taste of the molasses work ever so well together. 

I would like to continue perfecting technique on this bread, adding whole wheat flour in place of the unbleached bread flour and working on the second rise a bit. I also noticed (too late) that I made one loaf bigger than the other. 

Here the loaves are in the oven baking: 

And since we just moved to Hawaii, I could not find my carbon steel bread pans. I usually make baguettes and free formed breads, so I was limited to these two smaller ceramic bakers, which worked fine, but I do want to try baking it in metal pans. 

Here is a BLT I made with the Anadama Bread, toasted. 

I will not be posting all of the recipes here for the breads, as it would be against copyright laws to do so, but I will be posting pictures, methods, successes and failures and challenges of doing these breads in a Hawaiian climate and with limited resources for ingredients. And I may post an occasional recipe. Mostly, I want to encourage you, my readers to go buy the book if you do not own it already and follow along, posting comments about your experiences. You certainly don't have to make every bread in the book as we are, but at least try some of them. 

Every Monday I will post about the bread I made that week. Our next bread is Artos: Greek Celebration Bread, which can be formed in a variety of ways. Please, if you are joining me in this challenge, or just baking one or two breads, send me an e-mail and let me know and feel free to create your own blog posts and link them here under comments so other readers can see what you are doing. 

If you live in the Hilo area and would like to come make bread with me, that would be great too! Just send me a note and we can make it happen. 

The Opportunist

Yesterday was Market Day. Our local Hilo Farmer's Market is open seven days a week, but on Wednesday and Saturday, it comes alive with local vendors and all kinds of good stuff. I try to hit it early in the morning if I can. Generally, I plan at least that day's menu around what I find at the farmer's market and the grocery store that I stop at afterwards. Yesterday was a day like any other Market Day. I had no idea what we were having for dinner when I left for the market.  

First stop... 7:45 am... our downtown Natural Foods store, Abundant Life, I was looking for my favorite Greek Yogurt which they have been out of for two weeks. Score Zero, still out. Next I was looking for molasses for bread baking. Score One! Oh... big bag of Coconut Flour on sale for half price... Score Two.  You win some and you lose some in this town when it comes to shopping.  

Next stop... 8 am Hilo Farmer's Market , just starting to buzz with activity. First I hit my herb dealer, no it is not like it sounds, she sells organic fresh green herbs at $1 for each big fat bunch. Yes, I do grow my own but I still have not come to the point where I am able to supply all of my needs in the gardens, so for $6 I get one huge bunch each of Organic Mint, Holy Basil, Genoa Basil, Chervil, Lemon Grass and Cilantro with roots. Because I am a regular customer she throws in two Japanese cucumbers and some radishes and says, "Tank you vewy much, see you nes time." with a big smile.  

I stopped by at Tom Sharkey's Booth just to say hi. He is a great character that I will be making a special post on soon. He has a coffee and cacao plantation just down the road from me and I buy his coffee beans exclusively. Tom came from the Bay Area too and is a big Giants fan. When we were just tourists here and visiting the market Wes was wearing a Giant's shirt and Tom grabbed him and talked story for at least 15 minutes. That is the way it is here. You never know when someone is going to launch into a talking binge and it could eat up a good part of your day to just listen and talk to them. But that is OK, it is accepted to be late because you ran into a friend and talked for an hour. We have one friend that we know will be here for at least two hours if he drops by to pick something up. It is wonderful time spent in the very best way. You should never be in a hurry if you live in Hilo.  I did not need anything but a hello and a hug from Tom, as I bought beans last week, but we chat every week at the market. When he started sending a worker to the market on Saturdays I really missed seeing him there.   His worker left town a week ago, so he is back at the market. Know anyone who wants to work on a coffee and cacao plantation? I might be able to hook you up.  

After Tom it was a new vendor whose booth was next to toms. She was a new girl  with some items from her organic garden. I bought Tuscan Kale from her and some big beautiful radishes. Then I meandered around, picking up a pineapple, some fresh lychees, mangoes, papayas (8 for $2.00) and beautiful organic tomatoes from the hippies that live on the commune. One thing about living in this climate, we don't have serious seasons, so while some fruit trees only fruit at certain times of the year we can get beautiful juicy organic tomatoes and sweet corn almost all year and if you are not growing your own… the new age hippies grow beautiful ones in their sweet, life loving organic garden. 

Then it was on to the grocery store. AGHHHH, they were re-organizing the whole store, putting in new shelving and it was a zoo. I walked through the produce department and spied beautiful tightly packed artichokes (not local, from California most likely) $2 each... Score! My mind was already thinking... “My friend Liz sells me beautiful eggs, I can make a lemon mayonnaise to serve with them!”  

Then to the butcher section ... oh my... a HUGE bone in grass fed rib eye steak the size of manhattan... on sale for $8. SCORE big time. 

Back home I unloaded my groceries and put the three inch steak in a zip lock bag with marinade. Then drove to Wes' office, picked him up and headed down to Puna to pick up  Wes'  new (used) SUV. Since I was down in Puna, I went to welcome home my friends Keith and Noel who live in Orchidland. If you are a regular follower of this blog, you will know they just got back from Italy. AND they brought me a present from Italy ... Porcini Mushrooms (my head was already spinning about what I can do with these and the steak)! 

Sidebar: I was never much of a mushroom girl. That is because my initiation into the fungus world was with button mushrooms. I now know that I just don't really like button mushrooms. But give me wild fungi and my head swims with delight. Porcini, Morels and Chanterelles are three of the things that give me great pleasure in this world. Thanks Noel and Keith for bringing me a treasure from the old country.  

From there on, it just got easier. Two weeks ago at the Waimea Hawaiian Homestead Farmers Market I lucked out on to a 20# bag of veal bones from Hind's Daleico Ranch who raise organic Red Veal. SCORE big time. Veal bones in Hawaii? It is a miracle! I have never seen them ANYWHERE  since we moved here. Time for stock, I made 4 gallons of stock, and reduced it down. The stock sitting in my refrigerator would be perfect for a sauce with those porcini that just flew thousands of miles to get here.  OK, I am usually the "local food police", but there are some occasional exceptions. Hey... I made my stock from local veal!  

So, I stuck two potatoes, sprayed with garlic olive oil  in the oven on a bed of salt. 

I steamed the artichokes. I made lemon mayo (so easy… you should never buy mayonnaise!) with Liz's beautiful green and blue eggs. I went to turn on the grill... AGHHHH! We were out of propane. OK, I will sear the steaks and finish them in the oven while making the sauce.  

Everything turned out terrifically ... the sauce was dark, velvety and rich with many layers of intense flavor (the kind of sauce where you swipe the pan with your finger for one last taste before you wash it) with the rare steak oozing it's own juices sliced thinly (remember we were sharing a steak). The lemon mayo was a perfect pairing with the artichokes. The potatoes were a vehicle for more of that porcini sauce. Here is how I made it:  

Segue: I suppose I should give you instructions on making reduced veal stock. I always reduce my stock, as it takes less room in the freezer and you can always add water to reconstitute it if need be. If you cannot find veal bones, you could make stock with oxtails and beef bones, but veal bones seem to be best for stock. DO NOT try this with canned or boxed stock/broth. This is a long slow process (not the least bit difficult) and it is somewhat costly to make, but it is so special, you really MUST try this, don’t be daunted by the endeavor, it truly is worth it. I will do a stock primer one of these days, meanwhile here is the way I make reduced veal stock:

Veal Stock Reduction 
Yield: 2 Cups
10 pounds veal bones 
2 carrots, coarsely chopped *
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped *
1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped *
1 leek, cleaned and coarsely chopped *
1 bulb garlic, cut in half 
2 tablespoons olive oil 
1/2 cup tomato concassée (or 4 TBS Tomato paste)
4 cups dry red wine (such as Burgundy)

METHOD  Place the bones in a roasting pan and roast in the oven at 450 degrees for 2 hours, or until golden brown turning mid-way through the roasting. When bones are browned, caramelize the carrots, celery, onion, leek, and garlic in the olive oil in a large stockpot. Add the tomato concassée in a hot spot and cook for 5 minutes. Deglaze with the red wine and reduce until most of the wine has been cooked out. Add the browned bones and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer over low heat for 12 hours taking care to not let it boil again. If you do not have a very low flame simmering burner on your stove, once it has boiled the first time, place it in a crock pot on low for 12-15 hours. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and simmer over medium heat for 45 minutes, or until it coats the back of a spoon. Extra reduction can be stored in the freezer for several months.

*You can use a food processor to chop these all together, pulsing.

**Note: if you really don’t want to go through this whole process, you can buy reduced veal stock, but it is expensive and if you live in Hawaii… count on adding postage to the price. If you live near a Whole Foods Market, you should be able to find it there. Personally, I know that homemade is better, a lot better. Here are two links for companies that make it: 

Allen Brothers  

More Than Gourmet 

Back to the Porcini Sauce…. Here it is at the mid-way point of the reduction.

 Soak about 1 cup of dried porcini mushrooms in very hot water for 15 minutes. Drain. Do not use the water, though you may be tempted to, as it smells lovely, it has dirt in it. Coarsely chop the porcini. 

In the same pan I had seared the steak in I added about 2 TBS olive oil. I had used 2 Tablespoons of butter to sear the steak, so there was a tiny bit of that left along with other tasty bits. I chopped 2 large shallots, and sautéed them, then added a small dollop of tomato paste in the hot spot of the pan. Then in went the porcini. After sautéing a bit, I added about 1 ½ cups of concentrated veal stock, slowly simmering for about 10minutes to further reduce it. I tossed in a hand full of fresh parsley, chopped finely. Then I threw in a glass of cabernet (the same vintage we would be drinking later) and reduced it back down until it became a thick rich sauce, thicker than gravy, but not as thick as jam. I tasted and added fresh ground pepper and about a teaspoon of my smoked sea salt. This made enough sauce to have some for 2 meals. I think I will it with veal chops next time. It will keep for a week or so in the refrigerator if you can keep yourself from opening it and taking out a little spoonful every day, no kidding it is that “Oh my GOD Good!” 

So, that was how I became an Opportunist on Market Day. You should be so lucky. 

Coming up,  the kick off of a year of Artisan Brea Baking with the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge… THIS is going to be good stuff, so check back on Monday.