Made From Scratch Diet

"If your subsequent encounters with either the process of baking or eating bread is somehow altered toward the good, the noble, and most importantly, the holy, then I will be able to rest more comfortably with the weight of my burden."

Brother Juniper's Bread Book

Erica has been out of the house and in her own place now for eight months now. She was pretty sure that once she moved she'd lose a little weight because she'd be more active, going up and down the stairs in her townhouse, vacuuming, dusting, doing laundry, grocery shopping—you know, all those things she hated doing here at home, but that would keep her dashing madly about once she moved. It didn't quite happen, though. Well, she does dash about, and the house is always clean, but she didn't lose weight. I did the same thing. When I moved in with Rick I gained twenty pounds that first year. I guess I cooked too much food. And I probably snacked way too much. (We were also living in Texas, really far away from home, and I was totally in love with chicken fried steak with white gravy.) Erica's a great cook, though, so at least she and Chris have been eating scrumptious food. I was just plain lucky I didn't kill Rick in those early years since I made some absolutely awful horrible barely digestible unidentifiable meals. Now I can laugh about backing the car up over "donuts" I attempted to make from poppin' fresh biscuits and not having them break. Seriously, not a dent. I consider my mom a darn good cook, and my mother-in-law is fantastic. I wanted to be like them—and like my grandmother, who was from Bari, Italy—and cook simple and seemingly effortless meals. So, I learned. And probably not a minute too soon for Rick's sake.

As the years passed, knowledge and influences and tastes changed. Rick and I moved back to New York from Texas. We became fascinated with Japanese cooking, became coffee snobs, wine snobs, and then vegetarians for seventeen years. We slowly incorporated meat back into our diet a little at a time and for various reasons. We've had bee hives and collected the honey, made our own beer, and had awesome vegetable gardens, canning and freezing the excess. Rick got his hunting license, but never caught anything although he got really good at tracking (he couldn't shoot the animals). Instead, he had customers at his photolab who gave him venison. We live right near the water, so went fishing often. We've always made our own yogurt and bread. We made fresh juice with a hand-cranked juicer. But there were times when we got lazy and bought processed foods (don't tell, but I've gotten the tiny bags of Fritos at the grocery check out and eaten them in the car ride home), but every so often we'd catch ourselves and purge the house. When we learned about BPA we tried not to buy anything in cans. It's not like we bought a lot, but we did buy tuna and anchovies and tomatoes and pineapple. Now what? Well, we started buying Pomi tomatoes and anchovies in a jar. We tossed all plastic containers out and bought glass. We quit buying plastic wrap and only use aluminum foil on very rare occasions. We also try to buy humanely raised beef and chicken. And organic vegetables. We try really hard to make everything from scratch, if possible. Recently, we began dehydrating vegetables, while they're in season, to last us until the next season. We're fermenting foods all over the kitchen. My Christmas present from Rick was a handcranked mayonnaise maker. (It's awesome!).

Which brings me to the whole foods diet. Erica and Chris are giving it a try (along with a stricter exercise program, which I'm sorta kinda doing, too, in an abbreviated version because I'm older). "Whole foods" refers to unprocessed products, like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds. It may include meats, poultry, and fish depending on what you read, and by who. On one hand it makes complete sense—eating healthy and whole foods should be everyone's goal—but on the other hand, some Web sites and books on the subject seem just a bit too rigid for me. Some processed foods just don't seem all bad. Life without ketchup? I've actually tried making my own, following recipes from Laurel's Kitchen and another from Nourishing Traditions. As much as I love both cookbooks, I still like store bought ketchup, sorry. I only buy organic, no additives, but to some it's still considered processed. I only cooked brown rice for awhile, and still do at times, but I happen to like white rice a whole lot better. And, if you read my blog with any regularity, you know I love bread, but white flour is a big no no to some whole foods advocates.

I would imagine Erica and Chris will be strict for a while and then settle into what works best for them. Rick and I went through similar decisions and discoveries concerning food. Heck, their enthusiasm might make me and Rick take notice of a few things we've overlooked (like the bottle of lemon juice, which I never thought to check, is loaded with crap). Rather than call our diet a whole foods diet, though, I call ours a made-from-scratch diet. Sometimes it's just plain inconvenient to be too damned fussy. Not to mention, we ain't got tons of money. If I only have $25 to spend on food for the week and I really really want to make sauce, well, then, I'll buy a can of crushed tomatoes for 88¢ instead of the Pomi tomatoes for $2.49 and hope the BPA won't kill me. If the butcher has chicken cutlet on sale for $1.99/lb., I'll pick some up and not ask how it was raised. I guess the thing is to compromise wisely. I carry my dirty dozen/clean 15 fruits and vegetable list with me, and I check the Better World Shopper site every so often, too, to kind of cross-reference what I buy. I do the best I can with the money and resources I have.

A very young me attempting to make gravy
for my first Thanksgiving dinner. I think
this was one meal that actually came out okay.
Rick apparently documented the occasion.
Odessa, Texas 1978.

Eating is about nourishing yourself; to foster and sustain good health and support life. There are times, though, when food needs to feed the soul as well as the body and nothing does that better for me than a loaf of fresh baked bread, white flour or no. Or maybe, like tonight, homemade pizza. I guess I'm addicted, as Brother Juniper so eloquently writes, to the religious and spiritual aspects of baking bread. 

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

We received a very thoughtful and much appreciated present of some King Arthur bread flour from Rick's sister, and Rick wanted to give it a try, substituting all bread flour for his usual combination of unbleached white and whole wheat flours. The bread was awesome (I love King Arthur's flour, but had never bought the bread flour), but while he was shaping the dough and heating up the clay pot, Rick began ruminating on the parallels between today's mass produced food—or in this case, bread—and music. Click on the caption under my favorite photo of Rick's delicious bread to go on over to the blog Rick writes so you can read his musings on the subject.

Nothing beats peanut butter and honey on warm homemade bread!

Blogging from the Dentist's Office

Wow, two blogs so close together! I haven't done that in a while. Okay, so Annalee had an impacted wisdom tooth that had a pretty bad infection and the dentist wanted it out fast—like within 24 hours fast—before the infection hit her bloodstream. It was scheduled for 2:00 p.m., but the oral surgeon called at 9:00 a.m. asking how fast we could get there since they had a cancellation. Annalee and I had just finished breakfast, but we were still in our jammies. She jumped into the shower, and I ran around gathering things to do while sitting in the lobby waiting. I took crocheting, a book, my laptop, a magazine, a sudoku, and some income tax stuff to sort through. I was set. It was a 45-minute drive in the rain, which made it seem longer, but we made it there by 10:15. I spent the first ten or fifteen minutes looking through the gossip magazines, but decided to finally finish reading Chasing Chiles, Hot Spots Along the Pepper Trail instead. Once I finished, I went on to the next thing on my list: calling my mom and Rick's mom to see how they were. I thought this was a good opportunity. I managed to talk with my mom for about 5 minutes, but she was on her way to church for a meeting. Next, I called Rick to let him know what was up, but he was riding the exercycle, so the call was short. I did confirm that we had pastina and farina for Annalee to eat, though. Then I called Rick's mom. No sooner had she answered when the receptionist yelled, "no cell phones allowed in here, can't you read?" Oops. I missed the tiny sign by the window, and since I am new to cell phones, I didn't realize it was an issue. After profuse apologizing, I opened my laptop. With no internet reception, I stared at it for a bit and then saw an e-mail, already opened so no internet connection was needed, from Rick about the printing of his banjo book and a reference to a cookbook. Well, okay, then—I'll write a blog!

In preparation for the banjo workshop he will be leading at the end of the month, Rick began compiling information to make a small handout for the workshop attendees. Since I'm so nice (ha, I had no clue what I was in for!), I volunteered to help design and lay the pamphlet out. Only problem is, it turned into a 40-page book, and more work than either of us anticipated. I think the final product is pretty awesome, though. Okay, I'm prejudiced because most of the time I think Rick is pretty darn awesome. Of course, now that it's done, Rick has thought of a zillion more things he could add. Hmmm, maybe some day he'll write a much longer, more in-depth, book on the banjo. Although I teasingly tell folks that I ought to teach him how to use InDesign first, it was actually kind of fun to work with him, and I think we managed to do a good job together. Check it out: Ragged but Right: the Ungentle Art of Clawhammer Banjo.

With the arrival of his proof, though, Rick mentioned that I should post something more on the cookbook I designed for the Quaker meeting, Conscience Bay Monthly Meeting, that we attend. Conscience Bay had its fiftieth anniversary last May, and held a celebration open to the wider community, with music (us—the Homegrown String Band), craft booths, food, labyrinth walks, and talks on Quakerism. And, of course, the cookbook, Recipes from the Quaker Garden. Included is a no-knead spicy bread recipe by Rick, a red bean and rice recipe by Annalee, a few recipes by me, and pumpkin soup by Erica, not to mention many other recipes from Friends (Quakers). At the Christmas potluck at the meetinghouse, the pumpkin soup was a huge hit. Luckily, Erica brought a huge crockpot of it, because people were going back for seconds and thirds. The spicy bread recipe and the pumpkin soup make a great cold weather dinner. (Annalee's red beans and rice is pretty darn tasty, too!) And I just happened to have all the info on my laptop as I sat and sat and sat and waited.

See those hot pepper flakes? Spicy!

Rick's Spicy Sandwich Bread

For more complete directions on how to make this no-knead bread, please visit my June 25, 2011 post. Rick made slight variations in the ingredient amounts, and added the red and black peppers, but the rest of the process is the same. Remember, you need to start this the night before you intend to eat it!

3¼ cups unbleached white flour

¼ cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1½ teaspoons sea salt

¼ teaspoon instant yeast

1½ cups filtered (unchlorinated) water

(chlorine will inhibit fermentation)

Hard to photograph, but yummy!

Erica's Pumpkin Soup

30 oz. pumpkin puree

1 cup light cream

1 onion, minced

2 celery stalks, minced

½ carrot, minced

28 oz. chicken broth

1 tablespoon brown sugar

½ teaspoon curry powder

¼ teaspoon cumin powder

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

½ lb. prosciutto, cut to ¼" dice

2 tablespoons butter

• Sauté onion, celery, carrot, and prosciutto in butter until soft.

• Add cumin, curry, and coriander. Stir for a minute a two, so vegetables absorb the flavor.

• Add pumpkin, chicken broth, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower & simmer for 15 minutes.

• Add cream. Simmer until warmed through.

Serves 4 

I hope you enjoy the bread and the pumpkin soup! As for Annalee . . . well, she came through the oral surgery like a trooper. She iced on and off every twenty minutes all day, took some Advil, and surprised everyone including herself. She was all set to be in pain and whimpering in bed, ringing a bell to summon us, and ready to write requests out. Instead, she's starving and bored and managing to chatter (or maybe mumble) up a storm.

Rainy Day Bread

 We had three days of rain and had been out of bread for as long. The forecast was for more rain over the next two days, our solar oven was forlornly sitting in the basement, and I was in full fledged bread withdrawal. If you read my first post, you know I love the bread Rick makes in our Romertopf clay baker in the kitchen oven. You also know I love bread period. What to do? Well, I annoyed him Thursday night until he mixed his dough so we would have some freshly baked bread for lunch yesterday. Unfortunately, I was busy all morning so wasn't able to remind (pinch, poke, prod?) Rick into remembering to actually put the bread in the oven. Minor technicality. I wandered in at noon, looked around, and whined to the best of my ability. To his credit. Rick volunteered to stay home, but he was all dressed and ready to go run 9 miles in the woods, so I told him I'd take care of it. Besides, I figured maybe I ought to make use of a hot oven, so decided to make a focaccia-style bread to go along with our dinner at the same time.

*Rick's bread recipe, hinted at in post #1:

3 2/3 cups unbleached white flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

2 cups water

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

No knead bread cooked in clay pot. photo by Rick

Mix the flours, sea salt, and yeast together in a bowl. Add 1 3/4 cups of the water and the apple cider vinegar. Mix quickly. Add the extra 1/4 cup of water as needed. Do not knead, just make sure it's well mixed. (The dough might be stickier/wetter than you're used to.) Cover and let ferment overnight for 12 – 14 hours. The next day, soak your unglazed clay pot in water. After it has soaked for 10 minutes or so, place the clay pot in a cold oven on a rack in the second lowest position. Turn the oven on to 475º. While the oven is preheating, scoop the bread dough out of the bowl and onto a piece of parchment paper (cut to fit the clay pot) that has been dusted with some wheat flour. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough along with some wheat germ, if you have it on hand. Cover and let rest until the oven comes to temperature. Carefully take the clay pot out (never put it on metal, but rather on a thick potholder). Plop the dough, parchment paper and all, into the bottom of the clay pot. Cover and place back in the oven. If you're only cooking the one loaf, then leave the bread in at 475º for 40–45 minutes, covered. If you think the bread needs a little more color, you can leave it in for an extra minute or two uncovered. Once done, the hardest part is to leave the bread alone for 45–60 minutes before slicing and eating.

(Note: Since I was also cooking the focaccia, though, I put the bread in at 475º for 20 minutes, then lowered the temperature to 450º while the focaccia baked along with it for the second 20 minutes. Once the focaccia was out I left the bread in for another 6 minutes or so uncovered to brown.)

I was fairly proud of myself for how the bread came out since the last time I had tried to bake a loaf of semolina bread in our smaller Romertopf baker I had forgotten to put it in the cold oven. When the oven came to temperature I went to plop the bread in the clay pot and saw it still soaking in the sink. I handled that in the best way possible: I stomped downstairs and scolded Rick for not reminding me to put the clay pot in the cold oven before turning it on. He just stared at me as if I'd lost my mind (probably have) and said he had no idea what I was talking about. Husbands can be so thick at times! So I stomped back upstairs and, after a moment of muttering, stuck two of my regular old Calphalon metal bread loaf pans in the oven. I let them heat for about 15 minutes then dropped the dough in one loaf pan and carefully placed the other on top. It worked perfectly, even if it was a bit clumsy. So if you don't have a clay baker, improvise. The standard bread loaf pans worked in a pinch. Jim Lahey, of the Sullivan Street Bakery, advises using a Dutch oven (we don't own one, though). The idea is to have a pan that can go in a very hot oven, that can be covered, and that was preheated first.

Next time we have a super sunny day and I think I can get the solar oven up to 350º or even 400º for awhile, I might give this recipe a try outside. My feeling, though, is that whatever bread goes out in the solar oven needs to have a firmer dough and a longer second rise in the loaf pan. You know, the old standard where you let the dough rise the second time in the pan it's being cooked in until it's about an inch above the rim. That's what I did with my first attempt at bread outside (post #1). Rick wants to see what would happen if we used my oops-I-made-a-mistake method mentioned above using two loaf pans. i.e. heat the loaf pans in a hot solar oven for an hour, then drop the bread in one loaf pan and cover with the second and leave in the solar oven until done.

A peak at the crumb. photo by me!

This bread is awesome, but we probably won't make it too often during the summer months. With no AC and loads of hot humid days here on Long Island, turning the oven on isn't very desirable. But on those cold, snowy winter days when you actually want the oven on inside it's heaven. I guess it wasn't too bad for a dreary chilly June day, either, when you despair that summer took a vacation.

*This recipe is Rick's adaptation of Jim Lahey's revolutionary no knead bread. And rather than go into the science of no knead bread dough (I would never be able to explain it as well anyway), please visit seriouseats.com's explanation of how and why no knead bread works, the reason for the really hot oven, and the covered pot. 

Solar Bread

Bread is often used as a metaphor for life. In fact, the word is used just as often as a metaphor as it is a food. Peter Reinhart has written some wonderful books on bread, many of which I own and refer to every day. In an interview, he states "bread making parallels the stages of how our souls unfold in search of meaning and purpose . . . it is whether each of us can find the links, the metaphorical and actual bridges that connect us to something bigger than ourselves." 


I'm not nearly as eloquent as Peter Reinhart, but I share his sentiment. As a mother and wife, making bread is a prayer of love. To me, a meal isn't complete without an accompanying loaf of bread. The smell of it cooking brings a sense of satisfaction and well being (but the 45 minute wait to slice it open is absolutely agonizing). The look on everyone's face as they eat a still warm piece of bread, though, is the best reward.

Our Global Sun Oven out by the garden path.

Rick, my wonderful and talented husband of 32 years, recently discovered the art of bread making and makes such awesome bread that that I've pretty much delegated him as baker of our daily bread. That leaves me to make the sourdough baguettes, the bagels, pita bread, and whatever other bread strikes my fancy. He's been absorbed in his new inkle loom, though, so I decided to experiment with the bread making process. Knowing that we were going to have a bright sunny hot day today outdoor cooking seemed the way to go, so I thought I'd give the solar oven a try. I make coffeecakes in it—and they come out great—so I was wondering how bread would turn out. It would save on our propane use and keep the house cooler than if we had a 475 degree oven on for an hour. Anyway, I mixed some dough at 10:30 last night so I could get the bread out by 11 a.m. 

Rick's recipe is super simple—flour, instant yeast, sea salt, and water. That's it. Mix together and leave overnight. Normally he'll cook the bread in a Romertopf clay cooker, but I was planning on using two regular loaf pans in the solar oven. Because of that I increased the flour and added more yeast because I wasn't sure if the solar oven would be hot enough to pop the dough up nicely. And I couldn't resist adding some honey and powdered milk.

The finished loaves.

My solar oven bread recipe:

4 cups unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp. yeast

1/4 cup powdered milk

1 Tbl. honey

2 cups water

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

I mixed the dough and left it over night. I put the solar oven outside first thing to heat up. Then I divided the dough into the two loaf pans and let them rise a bit while I ate breakfast. I left the breads in the solar oven while I ran 5 miles and took a shower. When the internal temperature of the bread reached 210 degrees and the top looked brown, I took them out. The bread didn't rise as much as if I had left it for a longer second rise, or baked it in a hotter oven, but it did taste great and had a good crumb. Next time I might let it rise a bit more. Rick says I should use less yeast, especially since I'm leaving it overnight to ferment, but I'm not sure about that. I feel that the bread should be risen about an inch or more over the top of the bread pan before it goes into the solar oven.

We have a Global Sun Oven, which they say can reach temperatures of 400 degrees. Ours tends to average between 300 and 350 degrees. It's wonderful, though, and I'll post other solar recipes.