mad about bread and a giveaway

i've been pouring over these these two bread books for the past few weeks. one is danish chef claus meyer's baking book. claus meyer is a passionate advocate of nordic cooking, using locally-sourced ingredients and there has recently been a 6-part series of his nordic cooking programs on television. i am utterly smitten by his passion and enthusiasm as well as his knowledge of the traditions and ingredients  in our part of the world. the other is one of the wonderful river cottage handbooks. i've got this one on bread, the one on mushrooms and the one on preserves. i can highly recommend the books as very useful, accessible, well-written and inspiring (and no, i have no vested interest in saying that).

both books cover the ins and outs of everything from all of the baking accessories you need (i've got to get my hands on some of those proving baskets like the one pictured above) to the different aspects of the grains and how they behave in their various ways of being ground. i found myself hanging on every word and generally being fascinated by the whole chemistry of baking. wishing now that i'd paid a bit more attention instead of reading dostoevsky during science class in high school. and both books sold me on the notion of making my own sourdough starter.

so, about two weeks ago, i did exactly that. for the first stage, you take 150g of good strong wholemeal flour (rye, spelt, wheat are all fine) and 250ml of water and beat them up well with a whisk in a container with a lid. i used a large tupperware container. it would be ideal and a bit more aesthetically-pleasing to have a crock of some sort, but i felt all of the ones i have were a bit large for the task, so tupperware it was. then you leave it sit on the counter somewhere out of the way and you begin to check on it. the natural yeast that's all around us will begin to work its magic (perhaps within a few hours, but for sure within a couple of days) and you'll start to see bubbles coming up in the mixture. once you see those little bubbles, it's time to feed the starter, which you do by adding 150g of flour and 250ml of water (that's approximately a cup of each for those using american measurements). you don't have to be exact about this, just use roughly equal portions of flour and water. 

you continue this feeding for a good ten days. after the first two rounds, you should discard half of your dough when you do the feeding (or it will become a VERY large batch rather quickly), which is again 150g flour/250ml water, well whisked in, because you want to get as much air (and thus bacteria) into the mix as possible. the whole process is quite fascinating and daniel stevens (who wrote the river cottage book) is not wrong when he says that the starter will become almost like a friend - which indeed it will become if you keep it going endlessly like many bakers do (daniel knew bakers who had had their starter for 30 years!). you'll constantly be checking on it to see how the fermentation is coming along. it will develop different smells along way. mine currently smells like apples. but it could smell vinegary or malty or even like sour milk. get to know yours.

after about ten days, it's ready to use. both books have a variety of sourdough bread recipes and claus meyer's book actually advocates using the sourdough starter together with a pinch of regular yeast in any bread you make. i have yet to try that.

it requires a bit more planning ahead to make sourdough, as it requires more proving time, but it's totally worth it. i used the river cottage sourdough recipe, which is as follows:

before going to bed, mix (using the dough hook of your mixer) well:
650 ml warm water
500 grams strong white bread flour
and a good ladleful of sourdough starter

remember to feed your starter after you take some, otherwise you'll deplete your supply.

the next morning, pour the bubbly, rather soupy mixture back into the mixer and add:
600 grams strong flour
25 grams of salt

that may sound like a lot of salt, but bread needs the salt (tho' it does interfere a bit with the rising) to get the right crispy crust. claus meyer is a big advocate of plenty of salt in the bread.  mix this in your mixer with the dough hook - once it's combined, turn it up on high and let the mixer knead it for 10-12 minutes. or knead it by hand if that's what you like (i'm lazy, so i let the mixer do it). plus, this dough is rather soft and sticky, so it's difficult to knead by hand.

for mine, i used a mixture of a couple of flours, but you can use a regular high quality wheat flour, or mix in a bit of spelt or whatever you'd like. my starter itself has been subject to my flour whims in its feedings, so it has had snacks of good wholewheat flour, some of the nordic grain sorts - emmer, ølandshvede and svejderug along the way, so it is very wholegrain. but you can be as purist as you like, or use what's available in your area. whatever you choose, the starter will have the personality you give it.

next, the bread requires four provings (according to the book). i actually only gave mine two, because i had to go away during the day. and let's face it, four is rather intimidating.

the bread is baked at a very high temperature - 250°C/480°F when you first put it in the oven. there are a lot of instructions about spraying it with water and about putting a pan of water in the oven, but i'll admit i didn't do that (it was too overwhelming, but i will try it another time, especially after i sat down and read how that makes a good crusty crust). you turn down to 200°C/390°F once it puffs up (which it will do rather alarmingly) and the crust starts to brown. the recipe actually should make 2-3 loaves, but i made one giant loaf. mine baked for about 40-45 minutes, but it may take longer (i always think my oven is fast). you will know it's done by knocking on it. it just sounds done (vague of me, i realize, but try it, you'll see what i mean).  we ate it, fresh from the oven, with a fresh batch of hummus and i utterly neglected to photograph it.

this book can be yours!

and my adventures in sourdough will continue as i intend to keep my starter going for a long time to come. the best part about an established starter is that you can give a bit of it as a gift. plus, as it matures, it just gets better and better.

and to encourage you in your own baking adventures, we're going to give away a copy of the river cottage bread book right here (i somehow ended up with two - undoubtedly in a confluence of bad memory and amazon order button madness).  just leave a comment about your most memorable bread experience and we'll draw a lucky winner on friday, may 6.

favorite cookbook: nigel slater's real food

nigel slater's real food made a cook of my sister. until that fateful day when she made his fabulously simple pasta with spicy sausage, basil and mustard (p. 118), she didn't think she could cook. it was a transformative recipe for her. and happily, she was at our house at the time, so we got to be there to witness her transformation. and sop up the last of the creamy, mustardy goodness with a crust of garlic bread.

the simple alchemy of a few good sausages, separated from their casings and browned in the pan until they get a bit caramely, a glass of white wine (two if you count the one you get to drink while you make it), a pinch of chili flakes, a good dollop of tangy dijon mustard (we use a fantastic one with tarragon from a local supermarket called Irma*), and a quarter liter of double cream turned together with your favorite pasta is magical. a few fresh basil leaves strewn over the mixture before serving and you've reached nirvana.

this book is full of the kind of cooking that's easy, yet feels luxurious even on an everyday basis. you can do this pasta from start to finish in 20 minutes and it will turn out perfectly every time (if your sausages are good ones - that's key). it's become a standard dish at our house and we eat it pretty much once a week.

the book is divided into eight chapters, each one focusing on the good things in life: potatoes, chicken, sausages, garlic, bread, cheese, ice cream and yes, chocolate. what could be better than that?

another favorite that gets made regularly at our house is nigel's coq au riesling (p. 76)

that's garlic bread - photo merely for the sake of showing the stove where i cooked all last summer

a year ago, when i was without a kitchen all summer and had to do all of my cooking on the old stove above in the middle of our construction site, i made this recipe again and again. it is best slow-cooked for several hours in a big heavy cast iron le cruset pot. it was perfect, as it didn't require me to watch over it the whole time.

here's nigel's original:

50 grams butter
1 tablespoon olive oil (he likes that combo too)
100 grams streaky bacon or pancetta, diced
2 small - medium onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
4 joints of free range chicken on the bone.
200 grams small brown mushrooms, halved
500 ml medium-dry white wine such as riesling
300 ml double cream
3 tablespoons chopped parley

start the bacon in the pan with the butter and olive oil, then add the onions and garlic. remove. then brown the chicken pieces. add the mushrooms, continue browning, then add the bacon and onions back in, then pour in the wine and allow it to simmer.

nigel says to simmer for 25 minutes or so, then remove the chicken pieces and add the cream, cooking the sauce down til it begins to thicken, then add the chicken back in heat to serving temperature.

however, i've never done it like that (i'm no good at following instructions, you see). instead, after browning the chicken, i add the wine and allow it to simmer over the old stove for an hour. i've used chicken thighs. i've used a whole chicken (which i don't bother to brown). i've added potatoes or jerusalem artichokes (i normally don't like those that much, but they're great in this dish so in they go when they come in my organic box). i've generally put in a handful of thyme (it's my favorite with chicken). i don't always put in the mushrooms nigel suggests. sometimes i use a chardonnay not a riesling. i do add the cream in about 30 minutes before serving. and because it has a quite a soup-like consistency, i often serve it in bowls over rice. i've been known to put a few spears of asparagus on top during the last 5 minutes before serving.  it's a versatile dish. i actually made it for blog camp 2.0, so it's even good enough to serve to guests.

these are just two samplings from this wonderful cookbook. it's the second of my top five and one i definitely wouldn't want to be without.

* i'll draw a name next weekend from all who leave a comment on this post and send one of you lucky people a jar of the heavenly tarragon mustard from irma.

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and do be on the lookout for a guest post from the lovely christina later this week! she's so fantastic, we just had to invite her to share some of her deliciousness with all of you.