Making Naan at Home

As it seems to be the norm, my Market clients are continually pushing me to try new things and learn.  First it was pumpernickel bread!  I had never made it.  Then it was healthy hot dog buns!  Too much work, I thought.  Now it is naan.

There is a special Tibetan dinner for a woman who will be going to that county as a missionary.  They want a special way to honour her and show their pride.  So here we are!  I am making naan.

My sister, Trish spent more than 15 years in India and I am hoping that I can have success by association!  My first lesson was to not call it 'naan bread'.  NO, NO, NO," she implored, "Naan means bread."

Trish did not have any recipes.  If you know Indian cooks, they rarely use a recipe.  It is learned.  I found my recipe in The Joy of Cooking, of all places.   I made it exactly as written and was happy with the end product.  However, I will make one change the next time.  The recipe calls for active dry yeast and it is not hydrated before incorporating into the dough.  As a result it hardly rose at all in 1 1/2 hours and also there were little specks of colour throughout the dough.  It was the undissolved yeast.

I will be using instant dry yeast next time and I think it will be delicious.  Another change to the recipe will be to skip over brushing the dough with melted butter before baking.  I don't want to make a mess of my pizza stone and create a lot of smoke from burning butter.  I usually see the chefs slathering butter on one side of the naan and rubbing two of them together to achieve a nicely oiled surface.

They will then be stacked oiled sides together and wrapped in a towel, or in my case for this group, heavy aluminum foil.  I am opting for salted butter in this case because there is little salt in the bread recipe.  I will also use 30% red fyfe flour for added flavour.  I can hardly wait.  I will be baking naan for 60 people!

This is my test run.

Naan               adapted from The Joy of Cooking

1 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup whole red fyfe flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon instant dry yeast

Mix in a large bowl or the mixer bowl of a heavy duty mixer.

Add
2 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
3/4 cup yogurt or buttermilk, at room temperature

Mix by hand or on low speed of your mixer until all ingredients are incorporated.  Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or with the mixer using a dough hook until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and cover well with plastic wrap and let rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat a pizza stone in a 475F oven.

Punch the dough down and divide equally into 4 pieces.  Roll into balls, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll each ball into an oval about 8 inches long and 1/4 inch thick.  Place the dough directly on the baking stone without touching each other.  Bake until each oval gets puffy and just begins to turn golden, 6 to 7 minutes.  Remove from the oven and butter one side of each piece.  Place buttered sides together and stack in a cloth lined basket.  Keep covered and serve warm.

Making Sourdough with Wild Yeast

I have not participated with The Daring Kitchen for several months!  I have been so busy with all my other cooking but I am wanting to get back and try a few things.  I am making bread all the time but have never made it without yeast.  There is yeast naturally in the stoneground flours and in the air and this is captured to create the leavening.  This was fun!  I followed the directions exactly and made both the rye leaven and the wheat leaven. 

I was a little less fussy once the leaven was made.  I was casual with the recipe and they turned out very well.  It is cooling in the kitchen as I write and can hardly wait to cut a slice.  I am especially happy with the rye bread.  This is 100% dark rye bread and although heavy, it has risen nicely.

I had to cut into the wheat loaf.  The texture and flavour is wonderful and the crust is very nice and toothy.  I can't believe I have made bread without yeast.   I will let the rye bread cool until tomorrow before cutting into it.

Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!


Russian Rye Bread
Servings: 1 large loaf or 2 small loaves and excess rye starter to keep for further baking.
Rye Starter - Day 1:
Ingredients
1/4 cup whole (dark) rye flour
1/4 cup  water (at 104°F/40°C)
Total scant ½ cup 
Directions:
1. In a Tupperware or plastic container, mix the flour and water into a paste.
2. Set the lid on top gently, cover with a plastic bag, to prevent messes in case it grows more than expected!
3. Set somewhere warm (around 86°F/30°C if possible). I sometimes put mine on a windowsill near a radiator, but even if it’s not that warm, you’ll still get a starter going – it might just take longer. It should be a very sloppy, runny dough, which will bubble and grow as it ferments.
Rye Starter - Day 2:
Ingredients
1/4 cup whole (dark) rye flour
1/4 cup water (at 104°F/40°C)
scant 1/2 cup starter from Day 1
Total scant 1 cup 
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 1, cover, and return to its warm place.

Rye Starter - Day 3:
Ingredients
1/4 cup whole (dark) rye flour
1/4 cup water (at 104°F/40°C)
scant 1 cup  starter from Day 2
Total 1 cup plus 6 tablespoons 
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 2, cover, and return to its warm place. If you notice it has a grey liquid on top, just stir this back in and continue as normal.

Rye Starter - Day 4:
Ingredients
1/4 cup whole (dark) rye flour
1/4 cup water (at 104°F/40°C)
1 cup plus 6 tablespoons starter from Day 3
Total about 1¾ cups
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 3, cover, and return to its warm place. At this point it should be bubbling and smell yeasty. If not, repeat this process for a further day or so until it is!

Rye Starter, ready for baking.


Russian Rye Bread - Step 1: Production Sourdough
Ingredients
1/4 cup rye leaven (starter)
1 cup whole (dark) rye flour
1 1/4 cups water
Total 2½ cup
Directions:
1. Mix everything into a sloppy dough. Cover and set aside for 12-24 hours, until bubbling. Set aside the remaining starter for further loaves – see the Notes section for tips!

Russian Rye Bread - Step 2: Final Dough
Ingredients
2 cups production sourdough (this should leave some (½ cup) to become your next loaf of bread!)
2 1/3 cups rye flour (light or whole)
1 teaspoon sea salt or ½ teaspoon table salt
3/4 cup water (at 104°F/40°C)
Total 5 cups
Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients together to form a soft dough. With wet hands, scoop the dough up and put it in a well-greased loaf tin.

2. Put the tin inside a large plastic bag, blow it up, and seal it. This should make a good little dome for your bread to proof inside. Set aside somewhere room temperature to warm.
3. The dough should be ready to bake with in anywhere between 2-8 hours, depending on how warm it is. I proof mine by a sunny window in about 4 hours. If the dough was halfway up the tin when you started, it will be ready when it reaches the top (i.e. almost doubles in size).
4. Preheat the oven to very hot 470°F/240°C/gas mark 9. For a large loaf, bake for 50-60 minutes, reducing the temperature to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 after about 10-15 minutes. If baking in small loaf tins, bake for 35-45 minutes, reducing the temperature after 10 minutes. If you are unsure about whether it is done, give it a few minutes longer – it is a very wet dough, so the extra time won’t hurt.
5. Leave to cool on a cooling rack, and rest the loaf for a day before eating it.


French Country Bread
Servings: 1 large loaf plus extra wheat starter for further baking
Wheat Starter - Day 1:
Ingredients
4 1/2 tablespoons  stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
3 tablespoons water
Total scant ½ cup 
Directions:
1. In a Tupperware or plastic container, mix the flour and water into a paste.
2. Set the lid on top gently, cover with a plastic bag, to prevent messes in case it grows more than expected!
3. Set somewhere warm (around 86 F if possible). I sometimes put mine on a windowsill near a radiator, but even if it’s not that warm, you’ll still get a starter going – it might just take longer.

Wheat Starter - Day 2:
Ingredients
4 1/2 tablespoons stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
3 tablespoons water
scant 1/2 cup starter from Day 1
Total scant cup 
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 1, cover, and return to its warm place.
Wheat Starter - Day 3:
Ingredients
4 1/2 tablespoons stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
4 teaspoons water
scant 1 cup  starter from Day 2
Total 1⅓ cup 
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 2, cover, and return to its warm place.
Wheat Starter - Day 4:
Ingredients
3/4 cup  unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup  water
1⅓ cup  starter from Day 3
Total scant 2⅔ cup
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 3, cover, and return to its warm place. At this point it should be bubbling and smell yeasty. If not, repeat this process for a further day or so until it is!

French Country Bread
Stage 1: Refreshing the leaven
Ingredients
1 cup less 1 tablespoon wheat Leaven Starter
6 tablespoons  stoneground bread making whole-wheat or graham flour
1 cup  unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup  water
Production Leaven Total approximately 2¾ cups
Directions:
1. Mix everything into a sloppy dough. It may be fairly stiff at this stage. Cover and set aside for 4 hours, until bubbling and expanded slightly.
French Country Bread

Stage 2: Making the final dough
Ingredients
3/4 cup stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour, plus more for dusting
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons sea salt or ⅔ teaspoon table salt
1 ¼ cups water
1 ¾ cups production leaven – this should leave some (1 cup) for your next loaf.
Total 6 cups
Directions:
1. Mix the dough with all the ingredients except the production leaven. It will be a soft dough.
2. Knead on an UNFLOURED surface for about 8-10 minutes, getting the tips of your fingers wet if you need to. You can use dough scrapers to stretch and fold the dough at this stage, or air knead if you prefer. Basically, you want to stretch the dough and fold it over itself repeatedly until you have a smoother, more elastic dough.
3. Smooth your dough into a circle, then scoop your production leaven into the centre. You want to fold the edges of the dough up to incorporate the leaven, but this might be a messy process. Knead for a couple minutes until the leaven is fully incorporated in the dough.
4. Spread some water on a clean bit of your work surface and lay the dough on top. Cover with an upturned bowl, lining the rim of the bowl with a bit of water. Leave for an hour, so that the gluten can develop and the yeasts can begin to aerate the dough.
5. Once your dough has rested, you can begin to stretch and fold it. Using wet hands and a dough scraper, stretch the dough away from you as far as you can without breaking it and fold it back in on itself. Repeat this in each direction, to the right, towards you, and to the left. This will help create a more ‘vertical’ dough, ready for proofing.
6. Heavily flour a banneton/proofing basket with whole wheat flour and rest your dough, seam side up, in the basket. Put the basket in a large plastic bag, inflate it, and seal it. Set aside somewhere warm for 3-5 hours, or until it has expanded a fair bit. It is ready to bake when the dough responds to a gently poke by slowly pressing back to shape.
7. Preheat the oven to hot 425°F/220°C/gas mark 7. Line a baking sheet with parchment, then carefully invert the dough onto the sheet. I like to put the baking sheet on top of the basket, then gently flip it over so as to disturb the dough as little as possible. Make 2-3 cuts on top of the loaf and bake for 40-50 minutes, reducing the temperature to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 after 10 minutes.
8. Cool on a cooling rack.

How to Make Grenadine

I have 15 cups of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.  See how I did it here.  My first project was pomegranate jelly.  For that I used the clearest juice.  I am reserving the juice that is less clear for granita in a couple of weeks.  The juice will be frozen until I need it.  Today I decided to make grenadine.  Grenadine is pomegranate syrup.  It is a common ingredient in fruity cocktails and often used in barbecue sauces used with pork or chicken.  It can be used with other sauces for pork or chicken.  It would also be nice with pears and apples.

I don't use it very often and have never tasted a homemade grenadine.  This only took 15 minutes to make and I will store it in my refrigerator or freezer until I use it.

You will read in the recipe to reduce the pomegranate juice until half the volume.  This has always been a challenge for me to decide when it has reduced the proper amount.  Today I had a brainwave and measured the depth with a toothpick.  I marked the halfway point and used it to judge my reduction.  It is a very deep ruby red and not as pure red as store bought grenadine but the flavour is amazing.

How to Make Grenadine

1. Bring 2 cups of pomegranate juice to a boil.

2. Lower heat and simmer until it reduces in half. You can let it reduce more that half if you want it to be a bit thicker.

3. Add 1 cup of sugar and let it dissolve and bring back to a boil.

4. Chill.

Making Pomegranate Jelly

After juicing all my pomegranates I am ready to work with the beautiful, deep red, richly flavoured juice.  After the labour of love to extract the juice, I wanted to be sure I had a tried and true recipe and I found it on the Bernardin website.  I was not disappointed.  It is crystal clear, richly flavoured and set very well.  Not one to waste any good food, I used the foam that I skimmed off the boiling jelly in a barbecue sauce for pulled pork.  It added that 'je ne sais quoi' to take it to the next level.  Yummy!

Pomegranates are the highest in antioxidants of any fruit or berry.  Nutrition and flavour in one package.  I know we all think of them as too much work but watch this You Tube video with Martha Stewart.  I tried her method to extract the arils and it works!  No need to go under water any more.

Pomegranate Jelly

Pomegranates are an excellent fruit for making jelly.

Makes about 6 x 250 ml jars.

5 lbs (2.3 kg) pomegranates

1 pkg (57 g) BERNARDIN® Original Fruit Pectin

5 cups (1250 ml) granulated sugar

• Place 6 clean 250 ml mason jars on a rack in a boiling water canner; cover jars with water and heat to a simmer (180°F/82°C). Set screw bands aside. Heat SNAP LID® sealing discs in hot water, not boiling (180°F/82°C). Keep jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use.

• Measure sugar; set aside.

• Measure 3-1/2 (875 ml) cups juice into a large deep stainless steel saucepan. Whisk in BERNARDIN® Original Pectin until dissolved and add 1/2 tsp (2 ml) butter or margarine to reduce foaming, if desired.

• Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Add all the sugar. Stirring constantly, return mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Boil hard 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim foam if necessary.

• Quickly ladle hot jelly into a hot jar to within 1/4 inch (.5 cm) of top rim (headspace). Using nonmetallic utensil, remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rim removing any stickiness. Centre hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight. Return filled jar to rack in canner ensuring jars are covered by water. Repeat for remaining jelly.

• When canner is filled, ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process – boil filled jars – 10 minutes.

• When processing time is complete, turn stove off, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.

• After cooling check jar seals. Sealed discs curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store jars in a cool, dark place. For best quality, use home canned foods within one year.

Pomegranate Palooza! Lotsa Juice!

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas.  I am not sure where in the world it is observed outside Canada and Great Britain.  It is the biggest shopping day of the year.  It is the Canadian equivalent of Black Friday.

I spent my day juicing pomegranates.  It was a quiet day in my kitchen with 32 pomegranates.  I was prepared for the splatters of red.

Thanks to Deana at lostpastremembered I used a citrus juicer to extract the rich sweet and delicious juice.

It took about an hour and I had 15 cups of fresh pomegranate juice.  I have been letting it settle in the refrigerator.  Some solids settle to the bottom leaving a clear juice on top.  My imagination is running wild right now.  What will I do with all this gorgeous ruby liquid.

I will make jelly with the clear juice.  I will freeze some of the juice to make granita in a few weeks.  And I will luxuriate with fresh juice for breakfast for a few days.

Pear and Roquefort Salad

We made this salad at one of the cooking classes and it was a hit.  Even those who didn't think they liked blue cheese loved this salad.  I made it again yesterday for a Christmas dinner package I delivered.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.

Pear and Roguefort Salad

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
3 firm ripe Anjou or Bartlett pears
8 cups spring greens
2 ounces Roquefort cheese, crumbled

Whisk together mustrd, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.  Add 1/4 cup oil in a slow stream as you whisk to maintain an emulsion.  Add in shallots.

Toast pecans in a dry pan. 

Halve and core pears and coarsely chop.  Toss all and serve immediately.  Garnish with pomegranate seeds.