Whole Wheat Baguettes

This round of baguettes was a little different. I changed so many components (some intentional and some not so much) that I'm not sure what made the differences. Here are the changes:

1. I made the biga the same way but it rested for half an hour on the counter before going in the refrigerator overnight. It was much less fermented looking compared to aging it two nights on the counter (understandable, since the refrigerator slows the process and it was a shorter time).
2. I used 300 g of whole wheat flour, so about a third of the total. For how much the baby loves the bread, I'm trying to get more nutrition in it. I'd like to use more in the future
3. I used unbleached all-purpose flour instead of bread flour. Oops! I think this made a big difference.
4. After mixing the flour and water in step one, I added a splash more of water (maybe 30 g) since it was very dry and not coming together. That did the trick to make the consistency what I wanted.
5. I more closely followed directions relative to times than I did last week which resulted in less rise time overall.
6. I made five loaves instead of four and put three of them in the freezer just before they would have gone in the oven. We'll see later how this works out when I defrost and bake them.

And now for the differences we noticed.

1. As I mentioned above, the dough was dry after combining all the ingredients, so I added a bit more water. My guess is that the whole wheat flour made this difference, but I don't have a lot of experience going back and forth between the two flours, so I'm not sure.
2. The crust was great when it came out of the oven, but even just a couple hours later it didn't hold its crunch.
3. The inside of the loaf didn't have the same holey texture as the last time. It was more like a regular store bought loaf of bread.

Next time, I will go back to the longer aging of the biga, stick with the same amount of whole wheat flour, and do my best to use bread flour. I may take a loaf out of the freezer tonight to defrost on the counter overnight and bake in the morning. Hopefully it works!

Here's a picture of the whole wheat baguettes in the couche for the final rise.

Broccoli and Beef

Another dinner from last week was a Broccoli and Beef slow cooker meal over rice. I had to drastically alter the final cook time and temperature because of what was going on during the day. After adding the broccoli, I cooked on low for longer. This made the broccoli too soft for our taste. Also, we weren't thrilled with the flavors. I reduced the vinegar from the original and had to remove the sesame oil because of allergies, but it still didn't come out well. Next time I'll try different seasonings for the beef and get closer to the suggested cooking time and temp to help the texture.

Broccoli and Beef from "A Year of Slow Cooking"

INGREDIENTS
1/4 C soy sauce
2 TBSP white wine
1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 lb thin beef, sliced thinly
1 bag thawed broccoli florets, about 1 lb (to add later)

METHOD

1. Add soy sauce, wine, vinegar, sugar, garlic, and red pepper to the slow cooker and mix well.
2. Add the beef and mix to coat.
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, depending on the cut of meat. Thicker pieces will take longer to tenderize.
4. An hour before serving, add the bag of broccoli, cover and cook on high for another hour or so.
5. Stir gently to coat broccoli, and serve over rice.

Yield: 4 servings

Vegetable Curry Slow Cooker Meal

Last week we had several slow cooker meals which was wonderful! It gave us a chance to enjoy doing some other things later in the day instead of squeezing in dinner preparations. One night we had a Vegetable Curry Slow Cooker meal. It was good, but not quite as flavorful as when I had it at a friend's house, so I'll have to figure out what I should change. I left out the chili to make it more appealing for the baby, so perhaps that's where I went wrong. I served the meal over rice but the recipe calls for couscous, so use whichever you prefer.

Vegetable Curry Slow Cooker Meal from a friend (not sure of the original source)

INGREDIENTS
1 TBSP olive oil
1 1/2 C chopped onion
1 C sliced carrots
1 TBSP curry powder
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 serrano chile, seeded and minced
3 C cooked chickpeas
1 1/2 C cubed peeled baking potato
1 C diced green bell pepper
1 C cut green beans
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (14-ounce) can vegetable broth
3 C fresh baby spinach
1 C light coconut milk

METHOD

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and carrot; cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender.
2. Add curry powder, sugar, ginger, garlic, and chile; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
3. Place onion mixture in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Stir in chickpeas and next 8 ingredients (through broth).
4. Cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours or until vegetables are tender.
5. Add spinach and coconut milk; stir until spinach wilts.

Yield: 6 servings (1 1/3 C vegetable mixture)

Baguettes

Last week I had a chance to make baguettes. I started with a biga on Monday and ended with four baguettes on Wednesday. The biga aged on the counter for two nights since I wasn't able to get to it sooner. I was surprised how easy it was to make these while looking after a toddler and having company over. The "drop hook fold" between rises was great for getting the job done quickly and easily. The bread was forgiving when I was late folding between rises. The only things that seemed to suffer were the photos. But at least we had delicious bread at the end of it all.

Four loaves were a bit much for our family to eat before they started getting hard, but instead of making a half portion next time, I'll try freezing a couple loaves when they're ready for the oven and see how they come out when I bake them later.

Here's the biga after kneading and ready to sit.

Here are the baguettes in my impromptu couche.

And the final product hot from the oven! This is how my family ruins their dinner.

French Onion Soup and Baps

Last night we had French Onion Soup with our delicious baps. It was a flavorful and easy meal. Next time I'll add more water, maybe another 2-3 cups. There were a lot of onions for the amount of liquid, and we needed more servings. Also, the recipe called for canned beef broth. I try not to use canned broth and usually use water instead. Since there were so few ingredients, I felt I needed to add some seasoning (hence giving in to the bouillon cubes and adding some herbs), so I just sprinkled in a couple herbs that I thought would be good. For the baps, this time I made them with half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. They turned out great!

French Onion Soup from "A Year of Slow Cooking"

INGREDIENTS
3 TBSP butter
2 yellow onions, sliced into rings
5 C water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp each of oregano and thyme
1/2 TBSP granulated sugar
1/4 C cooking sherry
1/2 tsp kosher salt
slices of wheat bread
swiss cheese or gruyere cheese

METHOD

1. Heat your crockpot to high and add butter to start melting.
2. Add onions to crockpot; break up the slices with your fingers, and rub them around in the melted butter.
3. Add the water, bouillon, seasonings, sugar, salt, and sherry.
4. Cook on high for 6-8 hours or low for 10-12.
5. Before serving, broil sliced bread with cheese on top until melted and browned. Then place bread in soup and eat!

Yield: 4 servings

Blueberry Muffins

Over the weekend we needed some entertainment, so I made muffins with the little boy. In addition to being allergy safe, it was fun to make these muffins egg free since it allowed him to taste as much as he wanted along the way. We had fun, and I think we'll be doing this a lot more together now that he loves to "dump" ingredients in the bowl, as he likes to say.

Joyce's Blueberry Muffins from "Bakin' Without Eggs"

INGREDIENTS
2 C plus 2 TBSP unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 C light cream or milk
1/2 C applesauce
1 C drained fresh or frozen blueberries

Topping
3 TBSP brown sugar
1 TBSP margarine or butter, room temperature
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease twelve muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, combine 2 C flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, lemon peel and juice, milk, and applesauce; with a wooden spoon, mix until thoroughly combined.
3. In a small bowl, toss blueberries with remaining 2 TBSP flour just to coat (this prevents them from sinking), then fold them into batter gently. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling half full. Set aside.
4. To Prepare Topping: In a separate small bowl, with a fork, stir sugar, margarine or butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg until crumbly. Spoon evenly on each muffin before baking.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. Serve warm.

Yield: 12 servings

Pepperoni Portobello Pizzas

Last night's meal was Pepperoni Portobello Pizzas with leftover bean soup from the night before. These were really quick and delicious, but I could have probably eaten three or four. Also, I couldn't find the mushrooms as cheap as I probably needed to for meeting the price per serving listed in the recipe. But it's still a good, healthy, quick meal for when you need one. Even the baby wanted more!