I Had Lunch at the CIA

Ever since reading Michael Ruhlman’s The Making of a Chef in 2007, I’ve wanted to have a meal at the CIA. No, not that CIA, although I hear they do have a half-decent cafeteria. This CIA is the Culinary Institute of America, one of the world’s finest cooking schools, located in Hyde Park, NY.

Long term readers of this blog may recall that it was Ruhlman’s tales of life at the CIA that led me to my first food blog – Butter Pig – whose author Tom Dowdy had written a diary of his own 3 months at the school. Blown away by what I had discovered, I bought the CIA textbook The Professional Chef, got myself some good knives, read some Harold McGee and began to cook more. Tom’s writing led me to other food blogs, including the Julie/Julia Project, and suffice it to say, life hasn’t been the same since.

This week, my foodie little brother and his wife invited me to join them on their vacation in the Hudson Valley. I knew immediately where we had to go. Hyde Park and the CIA. The only thing available when we made our last minute call for reservations was an early seating for lunch mid week. We took it!

The CIA is one stunning campus. Timeless, ivy-covered brick buildings (one sporting a figurehead of Paul Bocuse, the hero of French nouvelle cuisine), orderly gardens and stunning views of the Hudson River hills, which were still lusciously verdant on the gorgeous late summer day we visited. Chefs and wanna-be chefs dotted the campus in their chef’s hats and whites, walking with purpose or talking to one another animatedly. There is no lounging on the quad on this campus….

The main building houses the CIA’s restaurants, bookstore and classrooms, which we brazenly spied upon through glass windows along a corridor named for Anthony Bourdain.

It also houses the school’s cafeteria, where seeing the rows of students and faculty in the high arched ceiling room led Rachel to proclaim it to be “Hogwarts with chef’s hats”.

I myself was drawn to the pastry kitchens, and it was all I could do to stop myself from wandering inside to sit in on a class.

Our lunch was at The Bocuse Restaurant, a beautifully appointed space with modern architecture, a window into the kitchen, and really great chairs. (I need to find out where to get those chairs…)

Like all CIA’s restaurants, Bocuse is student and faculty run and staffed, and priced accordingly. This makes for an amazing if somewhat uneven food experience. For instance, the french rolls were fabulous – the pale yet crisp crust retained the smoky flavor of the oven and the crumb was light and soft. The duck with pomegranate reduction was proclaimed by Joe to be the most perfectly-cooked he’d ever eaten,

the heirloom tomato salad with whipped feta had the most delicious pickled onion I’d ever tasted,

the just-right cooked egg atop the fresh cappelini first course wiggled delightfully,

and the salmon was perfectly cooked with an amazingly crisp skin and a Meyer Lemon-Caviar Beurre Nantais to die for.

But the blini served with the smoked salmon first course were nothing special (I was dying for a crisp potato pancake), and the dry, flavorless risotto should never have been allowed to leave the kitchen (we left most of it uneaten).

The desserts however, were perfection.

I have to say, I was almost expecting someone to ask me to grade the service provided by the earnest, hard working students who waited on us. After all, I had quite a few suggestions I wanted to share with them. For instance, I’d say, learn a little more about the items on the menu so you don’t have to keep going back to the kitchen to answer our questions. Seeing our empty glasses, offer us another glass of wine before the main course. Ask us if we want coffee with our dessert. Wipe up those crumbs and that bit of cream sauce on my place mat between courses. And never sweep in to grab my plate while I’m still wiping up the Meyer Lemon-Caviar Beurre Nantais with my bread, although I did like the little “Pardon my reach” you said when doing so…

The experience made me consider why we never asked our patients for feedback on our medical students and residents during their training. After all, who better to tell us what we’re doing right or wrong?

But I am really not complaining. I’m lovingly critiquing.

Because if you ask me if I’d go back to eat at the CIA again, the answer would be a resounding yes. Again. And again.

It was such a privilege to be a part of these young folk’s training and to witness their energy, determination and drive to be among the best-trained chefs in the world.

Life in a restaurant kitchen is not easy, and for many, it is not a well-compensated profession. This can make it hard to justify the expense of a high-end culinary school like the CIA. David Lebowitz has a good summary of the pros and cons of a professional culinary education in his post Should You Go to Culinary School? and renowned pastry chef Shuna Lydon lays out a strong case against culinary school education in her blog Eggbeater –

I didn’t go to culinary school, I did not own a single knife, I did not know what an ‘all-day’ was. I learned everything on the job. And so can you. Or you can go to school. Or take all that money you would sign over to a school, put it in the bank, and go work for someone whose food you love for free and live on that bank account.

The Covid Pandemic made it apparent that food industry workers are essential workers, and deserve to be compensated as such. This in turn has strengthened the movement to unionize the industry and get folks paid the wages they deserve. I for one hope the union movement continues to garner strength. And I hope the CIA is preparing their graduates well to succeed in this challenging calling.

I wish them all the very best.

Spanish Sofrito and the Mediterranean Diet

Sofrito topped flatbreads

In the largest study of its kind to date, the Mediterranean Diet has trumped a low fat diet in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The study was conducted in Spain, where participants assigned to the Mediterranean diet received free olive oil. They were also instructed to use sofrito – “a homemade sauce with garlic, onion, aromatic herbs, and tomato slow cooked in olive oil” – in their cooking two or more times a week.

Free Spanish olive oil and Sofrito as a required food group? I’d have moved to Spain to be in that study! But since that never happened, I figured I’d make some Sofrito and find out why it’s front and center in the Mediterranean diet.

What is Sofrito and Why is it So Healthy?

Sofrito is an aromatic mix of herbs and vegetables, a sort of Mirepoix, used as a flavor base and enhancer in Spanish and Caribbean cultures. It’s more a cooking technique than a recipe in and of itself, and it’s where many recipes start. If you’ve made Paella, you’ve made a sofrito.

There are many versions of Sofrito, depending on where it’s being made. A Puerto Rican patient of mine once gave me a jar of her homemade Sofrito, which was a rich, oily cilantro-based delight. (Here’s a recipe for Puerto Rican Sofrito) Dominican Sofrito uses vinegar, and Cuban Sofrito has ham. The Spanish or Mediterranean Sofrito is primarily tomato based, and includes onions, garlic, herbs, peppers and lots of olive oil.

Spanish researchers have analyzed Mediterranean Sofrito, and determined that its heart healthy attributes are derived from an abundance of antioxidants – polyphenols and carotenoids – as well as Vitamin C. Slow cooking the veggies in olive oil allows these bioactive compounds to move into the olive oil, which in turn enhances their bio-availability. The beneficial effect is almost immediate – inflammatory markers decline in the bloodstream after just a single portion of sofrito!

How I’m Using Sofrito

Tuna on Farro with Sofrito and Parsley

It took no more to convince me to start including Sofrito in my diet. I made a simple recipe for Spanish Sofrito, which I served atop some leftover farro and Italian Flott Tuna (My fave canned tuna). It was a delicious, umami-rich lunch! A few days later, we topped a flatbread recipe from Ottolenghi with the rest of the sofrito, and served it alongside his Gigli, Chickpea and Za’atar.

I’ll be making Sofrito again soon and hope to find ways to incorporate it into my diet at least three times a week. Thinking of cooking an egg atop some sofrito, like a shakshukah, or using it to atop broiled fish. If you have ideas or suggestions for using Sofrito in everyday cooking, feel free to comment below.

Print Recipe

Spanish Sofrito

This classic sauce is a staple of a heart-healthy Mediterranean Diet. There are lots of different Sofrito recipes out there – all have varying portions of tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and herbs. This recipe is modified from one I found on the Spruce Eats.
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: Mediterranean diet, Sofrito, Spain, Spanish, Tomatoes

Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 Onion Minced
  • 4 cloves Garlic Minced
  • 1 green pepper seeded and minced
  • 14.5 ounces Diced tomatoes
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tsp Pimenton (Smoked Paprika)
  • 1 tsp Dried oregano
  • 1 Bay Leaf (Optional)

Instructions

  • Place a large heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Once the oil is warm, add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until only slightly brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion and peppers, lower the heat and begin to cook them down VERY slowly, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized. This will take about 30 minutes. About halfway through, stir in salt, pepper, pimenton and oregano.
  • Once onions are caramelized, add tomatoes and bay leaf (If using). Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until all the liquid evaporates and the color turns deep red, 25 to 35 minutes more. When everything is caramelized, the oil will begin to separate from the vegetables a bit. Remove the bay leaf.
  • Sofrito can be used immediately, or stored in fridge for a week and up to a year in the freezer.
Print Recipe

Olive Oil Flatbread with Spanish Sofrito

This is modified from an Ottolenghi Flatbread recipe.

Ingredients

  • 200 g Bread flour
  • 1 tsp Fast acting Yeast
  • 1 tsp Olive Oil
  • 120 ml Lukewarm Water
  • Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 1/2 Cup Sofrito

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and yeast. Add 1 tbsp of oil to the water, pour into the flour mixture and combine w a rubber or dough spatula. Transfer to a lightly oiled work surface and, with lightly oiled hands, knead the dough for five minutes, until soft and elastic (add more oil if it starts to stick to the surface). Transfer to a large bowl, cover with a slightly damp, clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for about 40 minutes, until nearly doubled in size, then cut into four equal pieces.
  • Warm the sofrito in a small saucepan on the stove. Heat a large baking tray on the middle shelf in a 450 degrees Fahrenheit oven. When it has doubled in size, transfer the four pieces of dough to a lightly oiled work surface and use your hands to stretch each one into a rough circle about 18cm wide and 5mm thin.
  • Remove the hot tray from the oven and quickly put two flatbreads on it, spacing them well apart. Quickly return the tray to the oven and bake for eight minutes, until the dough is golden brown and crisp. Repeat with the remaining dough.
  • Top the flatbreads wtih the warmed sofrito and grate a little Parmesan atop. Serve immediately

Foraged Sumac / Ottolenghi’s Gigli with Chickpeas & Za’atar

I first encountered wild sumac in 2015 in Pennsylvania’s Loyalsock Forest. I’ve foraged for it most summers since, both there

and along the Pine Creek Rail Trail.

This year’s sumac crop was a little disappointing. Despite how much I picked, most of the fruits had worm infestations that limited the amount of usable berries. (Note to self – pick sooner in the season next year…) Still, I got about a cup and a half of dried sumac for my efforts, more than enough for my needs. (If you want to know how to harvest and dry sumac to make the spice, read here.)

I used the fruits of my harvest to to make Za’tar, a Middle Eastern spice mix of sumac, thyme, oregano, salt and sesame seeds.This year, my friend Paula gifted me some dried oregano just around the time I finished drying my sumac, so I used that and discovered that home-grown dried herbs make a superior spice blend! (Duh…)

If you’re looking to use za’atar in cooking, look to the cookbooks of Yotam Ottolenghi, the Israeli-born Brit who has introduced many a home cook to the flavors and spices of the Middle East. (He sells Sumac and a Palestinian Za’atar on his site.)

From Ottolenghi’s cookbook Simple comes this recipe for Gigli Pasta with Chickpeas and Za’atar. Here he uses za’atar as a garnish, which I find is a wonderful way to showcase the individual spices in the mix.

Even if you don’t forage your own sumac, za’atar is not too hard to find in most good grocery stores or online. I urge you to give it a try!

Gigli with Chickpeas and Za’atar

As much as I love this dish as published by Ottolenghi, I’ve made a couple of changes. First, I increased the garlic from 2 to 3 cloves (and may go to 4 cloves next time) and doubled the spinach. I’ve saved some pasta water to thin out the sauce at the end, as it really thickens if you let it sit. And I feel like the dish needs tomatoes to complete it. There are two ways to accomplish this. One is to add tomatoes to the sauce itself or to leftovers the following day. An even better option is to serve the pasta with flatbreads topped with tomato sofrito and garlic, as I’ve done up there. The combo is perfection.

Print Recipe

Gigli with Chickpeas & Za’atar

Ottolenghi's recipe for pasta with chickpeas, spinach and za'atar.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: anchovies, Chickpeas, Pasta, sumac, Za’atar

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 10 grams thyme leaves, finely chopped 1/2 cup
  • 7 anchovy filets drained and finely chopped
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt and black pepper
  • 2 cans 15.5 oz/480 g chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 2/3 cup chicken broth
  • 7 ounces gigli pasta
  • 100 grams baby spinach leaves
  • 3/4 cup chopped parsley (15 grams)
  • 1 1/2 tsp za'atar
  • 1 small can diced tomatoes (optional)

Instructions

  • Place large saute pan over high heat, All olive oil, then onion, garlic, cumin, thyme, anchovies and lemon peel, 1/2 tsp salt and a good grind of pepper. Fry, stirring often till soft and golden. Decrease heat to med-high, add chickpeas and sugar and fry , stirring occasionally, till chickpeas begin to brown and crisp up. Add chicken stock and lemon juice and simmer 6 mins, till sauce slightly reduced. Remove from heat and hold. (Can make ahead) If you are going to add tomatoes, I would do so along with chicken stock and lemon juice.
  • Boil large pot salted water. Cook pasta for 8 mins till al dente, Drain and set aside. (Save some pasta water if the sauce has gotten too thick, you can thin it a bit.)
  • Stir spinach and parsley into chickpeas, warming it to wilt the spinach if needed. Add pasta to the chickpeas and stir to combine. Divide among 4 plates and srpinkle za'atar atop. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and serve.

Dorie Greenspan’s Apple Cake ala’ Marie-Hélène

I found the recipe for this delicious Apple Cake on Food52, which features an adorable and informative video of Samantha Seneviratne and her little boy making a modified version of the original recipe, which Dorie Greenspan originally shared on Epicurious. Dorie credits her friend Marie-Hélène Brunet-Lhoste for the recipe, but truth be told, Dorie created this recipe herself, having been given only a few vague instructions from Marie-Hélène.

This cake is mostly apples with a little sweet batter (and a little rum…) holding them together. It’s easy to make, bakes up beautifully, and, reports Dorie, tastes “more comforting with each passing day”, making it a wonderful make-ahead dessert for a dinner party or pot luck.

Dorie’s recipe calls for an 8-inch springform pan, so if you have an 8-inch springform pan, work from her recipe and not mine. Since I only had a 9 inch springform, I adjusted Dorie’s recipe, increasing it 25%, which I learned is the increase in surface area when you move from an 8 to a 9 inch cake pan, and increased the baking time by about 10 minutes. (Thank you, Epicurious! ) I made my cake using gala apples, which tend to hold their shape while baking. Next time, I’ll take Dorie’s advice and mix up apple types, so that some melt into the cake while others hold their form

I used about 1/4 home milled whole wheat flour in this iteration, and plan to try it again with 50% whole wheat, which I read can be done without making any other adjustments to a recipe. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Marie Helene’s Apple Cake From Dorie Greenspan

Via Epicurious and Food 52 and adapted to a 9inch springform pan.

Ingredients

  • 120 g all purpose flour (I used 100 g all purpose and 20g home milled red spring wheat)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Large pinch salt (Somewhere between 1/16 and 1/8 tsp)
  • 5 large apples (if you can, choose different kinds)
  • 2 1/2 large eggs (62.5 g beaten eggs)
  • 187 grams sugar
  • 4 tablespoons dark rum
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9-inch springform pan and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.

Peel the apples, cut them off the cores and into 1- to 2-inch chunks.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk till foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk for a minute or so to blend. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter, mixing gently after each addition so that you have a smooth, rather thick batter. Fold in the apples so they are evenly coated with batter. Scrape the mix into the pan and make sure it’s even.

Bake on the parchment lined baking sheet in the center of the oven for 60-65 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean; the cake may pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.

Carefully run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the pan. If you want to remove the cake from the bottom of the spring-form pan, wait until the cake is almost cooled, then carefully run a spatula under and either slide it onto your serving plate, or invert onto parchment paper lined plate and then invert again onto the serving plate. (Mine just slid easily without needing to invert it twice.)

The cake can be served warm or at room temperature, with or without a little softly whipped, barely sweetened heavy cream or a spoonful of ice cream. (We served ice cream)

The cake will keep for about 2 days at room temperature. Dorie advises not to wrap the cake, as it it too moist. Just leave the cake on its plate and press a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper against the cut surfaces. I store mine in a vintage covered cake saver.

Coffee Marinated Braised Short Ribs – update

Sometimes a recipe is just so damned good it becomes a family standard. This is one of those recipes. We made it (and I posted it) for the first time over 10 years ago for Christmas Eve dinner, and about once a year since then. My mother-in-law Irene adopted the recipe to replace turkey at Thanksgiving, though I’m sure she’s tweaked it someway, as she always does.

Last night I tweaked it by adding two large carrots, diced, at the same time as the onion and garlic. Should have done that years ago, it’s the perfect addition. Next time I’m changing from chicken to beef broth. I never understood why the recipe uses chicken broth anyway.

So go yourself a favor and make these short ribs. Serve over unadulterated mashed potatoes with a side of roasted green beans (Blanch green beans in boiling water, then drain well, toss w olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 400 degrees F for 10-15 mins).

You’re welcome.

COFFEE-BRAISED SHORT RIBS

This recipe is modified from a bison-rib recipe on Epicurious. Serves 4-6.

Marinade

  • 4 cups water
  • 3 cups strong brewed coffee
  • 1/2 cup coarse kosher salt
  • 3 tbsp + 2 tsp packed  brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
  • 2 tablespoons + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 cups ice cubes
  • 4 lbs short ribs

Short Ribs

  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1 tbsp instant espresso
  • 4 strips bacon, chopped (Optional, and just as delicious without the bacon)
  • 2 cups chopped onions
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into large dice
  • 6 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup low salt chicken broth
  • 1/4 cup Mr TBTAM’s barbecue sauce (you can use tomato paste or chili sauce)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce

Marinade
Stir  water, coffee,  salt and sugar in large bowl until salt and sugar dissolve. Add syrup and remaining marinade ingredients. Stir until ice melts. Add ribs. Place plate atop ribs to keep submerged. Cover and chill 4 to 6 hours. Drain ribs; discard marinade.

Short ribs
Preheat oven to 325°F. In a pyrex measuring cup, stir instant espresso into boiling water and set aside to cool.(Alternatively, use another cup of strong brewed coffee.)

Sauté bacon in heavy heavy ovenproof pot over medium heat until fat starts to render and it begins to brown (be careful – don’t burn it!) Remove bacon to a plate. Increase heat to medium-high.

Working in batches, cook ribs until browned on all sides and transfer to a plate. Add onions, garlic, carrots and red pepper flakes to the pot and cook over medium heat till veggies are soft, about 10 minutes. Add coffee and broth; stir, scraping up browned bits. Add remaining ingredients; bring to boil. Add bacon and ribs, cover, and transfer to oven. Braise until meat is tender, about 2 – 2 1/2 hours.

Transfer ribs to plate; tent with foil to keep warm. Remove fat from surface of sauce. Boil sauce until thickened and reduced to your satisfaction (about 2 cups). Pour sauce over ribs.

Serve over homemade mashed potatoes.

My Best Chocolate Cake. Ever.

Long time readers of this blog know I’ve been on a many years’ long journey to find and make the perfect chocolate cake. This cake came close, but it took me three tries to get its right, and still it wasn’t quite the best. My friend Susan and I have been trying to get the Black and White Cake recipe from Amy’s Bread, hands down the best cake I’d ever tasted, to perform in our hands, but with disappointing results. (We are convinced she, like many cooks, has left out something in the recipe to make sure that none of us could ever match that amazing cake.)

Well, dear reader, I’m here to announce that I’ve finally found a cake that matches up to Amy’s. Its from Ina Garten, called “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake.

It’s hands down THE BEST chocolate cake I’ve ever made. Moist, rich, but not too dense, dark, and delicious.

I attribute my success with this cake to several factors:

  1. A great recipe.
  2. Using good cocoa. I spent some time researching cocoa, and eventually settled on Valrhona Poudre de Cacao. Then I discovered that in her most recent version of this recipe, Ina actually recommends Valrhona, a departure from her usual recommendation of Pernigotti cocoa. Both these cocoa’s are Dutch process, which is an important distinction. Dutch processing alkalinizes the cocoa, raising the pH, which in turn can affect how well the baking soda works. In this recipe there is both baking powder and baking soda. I suspect the baking soda is because of the acidic buttermilk, and that the baking powder is there to augment the rise. I also suspect for this recipe, it probably doesn’t mater if you use Dutch process or regular cocoa in this recipe. But get a good quality cocoa.
  3. These cake pans. An unusual size – 8 by 2 inches. They make for a very high yet compact and stable cake, easy to remove from the pan without breaking. I was tempted to split the layers and make a 4 tiered cake, but in the end left it as is and was not disappointed.
  4. Using instant espresso powder to make the cup of coffee called for in the recipe. Espresso powder is an open secret ingredient in the baking community for enhancing chocolate flavor without adding too much in the way of coffee notes. I use Cafe Bustelo or Medaglia D’Oro brand, but if you know of one better let me know.

Ina uses an icing made with a raw egg yolk, and I’m just not willing to go there. So I modified my own tried and true coffee icing, adding a little cocoa powder to make it mocha. Next time I’m going to using Amy’s buttercream and see how close I can come to her black and white cake. I’ll let you know how that turns out.

IINA GARTEN’S BEATTY’S CHOCOLATE CAKE

Note: The batter for this cake is quite thin, but don’t worry. It cooks up perfectly in the 8 by 2 inch pan. I used 2 tsp instant espresso in 1 cup hot water for the cup of coffee. Eggs should be at room temp, and coffee not too hot.

Ingredients

  • 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ¾ cups good cocoa powder, such as Valrhona
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 extra-large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans.  Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ones.  With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. The batter will be quite thin. (Don’t worry). Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. When completely cool, ice with mocha frosting. Keeps well in fridge overnight to serve the next day.

MOCHA FROSTING

  • ¾ cup butter
  • 1 tbsp instant espresso or coffee granules
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp hot water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
  • 4 tbsps heavy cream

Dissolve coffee granules and cocoa in hot water. Set aside until cool. Place butter in bowl. Turn to Speed 6 and cream for 1 minute. Do not overbeat or it will melt. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cooled espresso/cocoa and vanilla to butter. Cream 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl

Add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Stop and scrape bowl. Add cream and beat on Speed 4 for 2 minutes, until fluffy. If frosting is too soft, refrigerate for a while before frosting cake.

Place 1st layer on cake plate upside down and frost. Place 2nd layer on top and frost top and sides.

No-Time Bread

The thing about sourdough bread is that it takes TIME. Time for the starter to wake up, time for the leaven to develop, time for the gluten to form and time overnight for the flavor to develop – the tart, rich aromatic flavor that tells you “this is bread, the way bread was meant to be made”.

But what do you do when you have everything you need to make bread except for time – the one ingredient you can’t pluck out of your larder, or run to the store to pick up at the last minute ?

If you’re like me, you search for a fast bread recipe. And guess what? I found a great fast bread from Faith Durand and her team at Kitchn. The recipe takes advantage of your Kitchen Aid and a microwave to move things along, and adds a touch of sugar for encouragement and a bit of vinegar to modulate gluten development, resulting in a surprisingly lovely rise. From start to finish in under 2 hours!

Let me admit right up front – this is NOT going to be the most flavorful bread you’ve ever made. You are not going to wow your fellow bread-making friends with this bread, or become famous at your farmers market selling this bread.

What you will do is create a perfectly lovely, surprisingly light and well-risen loaf of plain white bread, with a lovely crunchy thin crust. If you make it in a loaf pan and slice it thin for sandwiches, I suspect you’ll find yourself thinking of Wonder Bread, or the Italian bread served before your meal at your local Trattatoria. It’s not the main show or the centerpiece of your table, but a strong supporting actor, more than fine enough to dip into good olive oil or to stand alongside an amazing bowl of homemade soup or pasta. Toasted and spread with butter and jelly, this bread is a delight. Use it to sandwich your husband’s amazing chicken salad and you’re in heaven.

But the best thing about this bread? You can think about making it at 4 pm and have it with dinner at 6.

NO TIME BREAD RECIPE

I can’t improve upon the great pics and video accompanying this recipe at the Kitchn website, so I’m just gonna send you there. Stay tuned, though, I’m experimenting with making a fast bread using whole wheat, and when I get it right, I’ll post that recipe.

Red Fife Country Sourdough

Tartine Basic Country Sourdough made with Red Fife Whole Wheat

If you noticed an absence of bread on my Instagram feeds of late, it’s because I’ve been experimenting with heritage grains in my sourdough bread. And let’s just say the results, until now, have not been not exactly picture worthy. Low rise, dense crumb, and a rock-hard crust. Reminds me of my days working in a summer camp kitchen, where I frequently overcooked the dinner rolls. My kitchen mates took to calling them hockey pucks and treated them accordingly by shoving them with push brooms across the bakery floor. Bigger than hockey pucks, my heritage grain breads were more like a discus, and while I was tempted to toss them across the room accordingly, I dumped them in the trash instead.

The problem with my heritage bread was, I believe, three fold. First, the whole wheat flour I was using was like a water sponge, and I wasn’t adjusting my hydration accordingly. Second, it’s a whole grain flour, meaning it has parts of the wheat berry, that while healthy, have sharp edges that cut through the forming gluten network. A good sourdough rise needs both high hydration and great gluten formation, and I was failing on both counts. Third, I was using a new recipe I’d never tried before, and now I was adjusting that recipe by using whole grain flour. Too many variables to introduce at once.

I decided to take a step back to the recipe that never fails me – Tartine’s Basic Country Bread – and ease my way a little more slowly into heritage whole grains. The Tartine loaf has 50% whole wheat in the levain and 10% in the final flour mix. I decided to really take it slowly and use the heritage flour only in the final mix.

For the levain, I used a whole wheat mix that I made one day while consolidating my pantry – equal parts Hechkner’s, King Arthur sprouted and One Degree sprouted whole wheat. For the final dough I used Red Fife Heritage Whole Grain Wheat Flour from Gianoforte Farms in upstate New York. I purchased the flour at GrowGrains NYC in the Union Square Farmers Market, a fabulous source for locally-grown grains and flour.

What is Red Fife Wheat?

Red Fife wheat, named for the farmer Dave Fife who first grew it on his farm in Peterboro Ontario in 1842, was once the dominant wheat used in Canadian baking. Legend has it that Fife first obtained the wheat from a friend who had accidentally dropped his hat into a load of the wheat sitting on a ship from Ukraine in the Glasgow Harbor. Finding the kernels in his hatband, he shipped them off to Fife, who planted them with success.

Red fife was the dominant wheat in Canada until the early 1900’s, when it was supplanted by new species cross-bred for disease resistance. It disappeared into plant breeders seed collections until 1988, when it resurfaced as part of a “Living Museum of Wheat” at a historic Grist Mill in Keremeos, BC. Since that time, production has grown, and Red Fife is now one of the darlings of the heritage grain and artisan bread movement not just in Canada and the US, but around the world.

More on Red Fife from The Canadian Encyclopedia

To make my bread, I needed to sift my whole grain Red Fife Flour to remove the larger sharper parts of the grain that threatened my gluten network. (Not quite what bread makers call High Extraction Flour, but a step in that direction.) I know – this defeats the whole purpose of using whole grain wheat, which is to get the health benefits of the entire kernel. But rest assured – the kitchen strainer I used didn’t strain out all the good parts – just the larger, sharper parts, which I can use later as a coating on my breads or as a topping for my oatmeal.

Other than that one step, I followed Tartine’s recipe and method, adjusting my timing based on the temperature, making both a boule and a batard. (See this previous post to learn how I do it.) The result was a delicious bread with a fabulous rise, an aerie crumb and a chewy crust.

I’ve ordered a set of mesh flour sieves from Breadtopia, and plan next to try my hand next using Red Fife in a 50% whole wheat loaf. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Tartine Basic Country Bread with Red Fife Wheat

Don’t even think of making sourdough bread for the first time using just this blog post, as this is an extremely abbreviated version of the technique. If you really want to learn how to make this sourdough, you are best off working directly from Chad Robertsons’ book Tartine Bread. If you don’t want that kind of initial investment, the NY Times Tartine Bread recipe is a nice way to start. (That’s how I got hooked.).

Leaven (7 am Saturday)

  • 25 grams active starter (My starter is fed with sprouted rye)
  • 200 grams warm (78 degree) water
  • 200 grams of a 50/50 blend whole wheat (mixture described above) and bread flour (King Arthur Artisan Bread Flour)

Disperse the starter in the water, then stir in the flour till there are no dry parts. Cover and let rise till ready. I kept my leaven at about 80 degrees in a home-made proof box – an unplugged microwave with a pyrex cup filled with boiling water and a thermometer sitting next to the leaven, refreshing the water every hour or so – and it was ready in less than 6 hours. if you keep your leaven at cooler temps, you can prepare the leaven before bed and let it develop overnight.

Note that you’ll only be using about half the leaven in the final dough. The rest can serve as your starter in the future. Alternatively, halve the amounts of flour and water in the recipe above and use it all. Just remember to save your unused starter.

Mix and first rise (1 pm Saturday)

Before measuring it, sift the red fife wheat to remove the larger bran particles. Save these for dusting your bannetons.

  • 200 grams leaven
  • 900 grams white bread flour (I used King Arthur Artisan Bread Flour)
  • 100 grams sifted Red Fife whole wheat
  • 700 grams warm water (80 degrees) + 50 grams more (added with the salt)
  • 20 grams sea salt

In a large bowl, disperse 200 grams leaven in 700 grams of warm water with your fingers. Whisk the flours together and add to the water/leaven till there are no dry bits of flour.

Let dough autolyse (rest) 45 mins. After the rest, lightly stir the salt into the remaining 50 grams of water (it does not need to dissolve) and add to the dough using your fingers. The dough will come apart, then come together again.

Let rise for 3-4 hours, turning every 30 minutes. (Here’s a video I made of the amazing Sarah Owens teaching us how to turn our dough during the rise.)

Pre-shape, Rest and Final Shaping (4:30 pm)

Pull dough out of bowl onto a very lightly floured surface. Pre-shape, rest for 30 mins, preparing bannetons while the bread rests. Perform final shaping. (Here’s another video of Sara Owens making bread that shows her shaping technique, which is what I use.) Place bread into bannetons, cover and proof overnight in the fridge.

Score and bake (Sunday 7:30 am)

Preheat a bread cloche or covered dutch oven in an oven set to 500 degrees. When the oven temp reaches 500 degrees, take the bread out of the fridge, lightly dust the surface of the dough with rice flour and turn out gently onto a sheet of parchment paper. Score as desired.

Uncover the dutch oven or cloche. Holding the parchment paper, gently lower the bread onto the cloche or hot dutch oven. Cover and bake for 20 mins. Remove the cover and bake another 20-30 mins.

Lift the bread out of the pot onto a rack to cool. Let the bread sit and sing for at least an hour, and ideally for 2-4 hours before cutting into it.

Spelt Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

Mr TBTAM makes a mean sandwich. Perfect little combinations of meat and cheese, sometimes tuna salad, always topped with either fresh roasted peppers or some red pepper relish, just the right amount of mustard or mayo, and a perfectly placed lettuce slice.

He is quite proud of these sandwiches, so proud that he will often stop his lunch preparations to find me so he can show me the freshly cut edge of the masterpiece he is taking to work tomorrow morning. At this point I am required to ooh and aah and if I am lucky, he will make me a sandwich as well.

As much as he loves my thick sourdough boules, I know what Mr TBTAM really wants me to make is a sandwich bread. So when this spelt sourdough sandwich loaf from Maurizio Leo’s website The Perfect Loaf caught my eye this week, I knew I had to try it.

The Perfect Loaf is an award winning blog and the online bible for sourdough obsessives like myself. Maurizio, a software engineer turned bread baker, is truly going for perfection. Each recipe catalogues his trial and error efforts at finding just the right combo of freshly milled flour, water and salt to get that perfect slice of bread. I can lose myself for hours among his recipes, videos, photos, and musings about sourdough bread making.

I have to admit I was quite nervous about trying this bread. Spelt is one of the ancient wheats, the other two being Emmer and Einkhorn. Spelt is healthier (higher in protein, zinc and tryptophan, lower in gluten) and more flavorful than modern wheat, but its gluten performs much better than that of Einkorn and Emmer. However, Spelt is notorious for its wet, hard to handle dough, so you cannot just substitute it one for one for modern wheat in a bread recipe. You have to adjust your hydration accordingly, something you can only do by trial and error. Which means a fair amount of failure till you get it right.

Fortunately, Maurizio has done all that hard work for us, playing with multiple levels of hydration in one degree increments until he got this spelt bread loaf just right. A little OCD, perhaps, but I for one am grateful for it! I’m awed at his diligence and perseverance and grateful for this recipe.

I was so happy to see the oven spring on this loaf I was literally dancing around the kitchen! On second thought, however, you don’t really want a pan loaf to spring this much. I think I could have proofed it a bit longer in my box or scored it to control the spring a bit and keep the loaf more level. Or perhaps it’s simply that my pan is so shallow – only 2.75 inches tall. I’m gonna’ get me a deeper pan for my next try.

This bread has great flavor and a lovely texture. Not too wet, not too heavy – just right. I need a better bread knife to get prettier crumb cuts, but I think you can see its got plenty of nice little air pockets.

Mr TBTAM decided he could not wait for lunch tomorrow to taste this bread. Since I had two nice marrow bones just finishing stewing in a pot of cabbage borscht, we decided to christen the bread with marrow. Heaven.

SOURDOUGH SPELT SANDWICH BREAD

I modified Mauritzio’s recipe to a total dough weight of 1200 grams to fit my 9.25″ x 5.25″ x 2.75″ loaf pan, and reduced the hydration to around 70% at his advice to spelt newbies.

Levain

  • 5 g mature starter (my starter is a 1:2:2 starter/rye flour/water)
  • 35 g water
  • 35 g spelt flour

Mix ingredients in a clear jar. Cover and let sit out overnight at room temp (mid-70’s right now)

Dough Ingredients

  • 605 g Spelt Flour (I used Arrowhead Mills)
  • 413 g water
  • 32 g honey
  • 32 g olive oil
  • 14 g salt
  • 76 g levain
  • Rolled oats, sesame and poppy seeds (Optional Topping)

Technique

  • In the morning, mix mature levain in a large bowl with flour, honey, extra virgin olive oil, salt and water till the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. (If working with spelt for the first time, hold back about 10 grams of the water until you are sure you need it – this can be a very wet dough, and different brands of spelt can behave differently. The amounts above worked fine for my flour.)
  • Stretch and fold for 4-5 mins till smooth and elastic. Cover for a 3 1/2 hour bulk ferment, performing 4 stretch and folds – the first after the first 15 mins, then every 30 mins thereafter for three more folds – then let the dough rest for the remainder of the ferment time.
  • Pre-shape dough into a taut round on an unfloured countertop using wet hands and a dough scraper, then rest uncovered for 20 mins.
  • Lightly grease the pan with oil. Shape dough on a floured surface. If using a topping, spritz top lightly with water, roll in topping on a cloth towel, then place in the pan seam side down. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof 1-2 hours at room temp. (Confession – I had dinner plans and so I put the bread into the fridge in a plastic bag overnight, during which it did not rise much, then proofed it in the morning in my microwave proof setup* for 2 hours, where it rose to a perfect proof.)
  • Towards end of proofing, place a metal pan on the over floor and preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • When your dough is fully proofed, unwrap and place on rack in middle of the oven. Pour boiling water or toss a handful of ice cubes into the metal pan, spray water several times into the oven chamber with a handheld spray bottle and close the oven door. (My bread was quite moist from the microwave proof, so I did not spray the oven.)
  • Drop the oven temp to 425°F and bake for 20 minutes, then remove steaming pan (careful!) and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes. When the bread looks well colored on top and the interior temp registers around 205°F, remove the loaf from its pan and finish baking in the oven directly on the oven rack for 5 minutes for more color. Remove fully cooked bread from oven and let cool 3-4 hours before slicing.

*MICROWAVE PROOFING BOX
Place your bread into the microwave with a large mug of boiling water then close the door. Don’t turn it on! (You can unplug to be on the safe side.) Monitor the temp so it does not go too high. Replace the boiling water as needed to maintain optimal temp.

Monday Evening Bread Bake

It’s all in the timing.

If you plan it just right, you can see a play, eat with friends, and get a lot of work done, including a full day at the office, all while making sourdough bread.

I started this loaf late Sunday morning, using my own modification of Tartine’s Country Bread recipe.

After mixing the leaven, I worked at the dining room table on charts and labs from last week’s busy office hours, then let the leaven continue to mature on the kitchen counter while we headed up to An Beal Bocht in Riverdale to see a wonderful production of Every Brilliant Thing at their Poor Mouth Theater (Aiofe Williamson was brilliant herself! ), followed by a rousing traditional Irish music session and a late lunch in the cafe with Paula and Tony.

When we got home at about 6 pm, I made the autolyse, mixed the bread and began the first rise with folds every 30 mins between completing even more charts and reviewing even more labs. (Did you know that for every hour seeing patients a doc spends another two in the EMR documenting and such? Welcome to my weekend…)

By 11 pm, I was tuckered out. The bread had finished its second rise and was shaped and proofing in the fridge.

Today, while my bread sat in the fridge gathering its tangy flavor, I was at the hospital by 7 am for grand rounds, followed by a morning full of patients, and more charting, patient calls and meetings in the afternoon.

Home by about 6:30 pm, I set up the Dutch oven to preheat, then scored and baked the bread while we ate a delicious dinner of leftover chili from Saturday night’s dinner. By 10 pm, the bread was cool enough to slice

and for Mr TBTAM to make tomorrow’s lunches before going to bed. I’ll store the rest of the loaf cut side down on the bread board for another day or so, then slice it up and store it in the freezer for the rest of this week’s lunches. If Mr TBTAM doesn’t eat it all tonight….

Bottom line – If you do it right, sourdough bread making can fit into the busiest of schedules. It’s all in the timing.

Trash Picked Picasso

Over the years, we’ve trash-picked quite a few wonderful items on the streets of New York City, including a lamp, a fan, a painting and a sofa. But this tops them all.

It’s a limited edition, certified Collector’s Guild lithograph of an original Picasso etching entitled Femme Nu de Dos. We found it in a broken old frame lying atop a bunch of trash bags placed for pickup on the street one evening, just as it was starting to rain. I imagine someone was cleaning out a departed loved ones things, saw the broken frame and tossed it out without realizing what it was.

I’m so happy we got to it before the rain did. We reframed it in a new black frame and hung it in the hall, along with the certificate of authenticity we found on the back of the original picture.

Now, this print was not run off by Picasso himself. But it’s the next best thing, having been printed from an original Picasso etching, with Picasso’s signature on the plate. (It’s backwards in the print.) After the artist had used the plate to run off his own limited edition, the Collector’s Guild in America bought the plate and the rights to print from it.

So, while our Femme was not printed by Picasso, she certainly was drawn by him.

When another print from this same Collector’s Guild edition showed up on PBS Antiques Road Show in 2013, admittedly in a much nicer frame, they valued it at $1500.

To me, it’s priceless.

I Want to Be Her

Okay I admit it. I want to be French. And live in both New York and Paris. And spend my days making sourdough bread and amazing food and writing and filming about that. Just like Marie Constantinesco, whose charming web series “My Life in Sourdough” has captured my heart and my imagination.

My Life in Sourdough tells the story of Jeanne, a young French woman living in Brooklyn and traveling back and forth to Paris, who loves to cook and eat (and somehow stays thin). Failing to find love with the men she is dating, Jeanne gives her heart to her sourdough starter Fluffy and finds true love in making bread. Which I totally get, although for me its more like having an affair with my sourdough, since I’ve already found true love. Which may explain why I have yet to name my starter. Which is probably as bad as not naming your first child…

Anyway, each episode of My Life in Sourdough is accompanied by a filmed recipe. And there are tips for sourdough making. And videos with the likes of David Lebowitz. And shots of Parisian cheese shops and markets. I mean, this series has managed to capture five of the things I most dearly love – food, sourdough, bread, NYC, and Paris – in a series of small, beautifully filmed, tiny bites.

I’ve only seen two episodes and a few trailers so far, and am doling them out to myself slowly, to make it last. In between, I’m following Marie on her instagram account and still can’t get enough of vicariously living a life of sourdough, NYC and Paris.

Did I mention I want to be her?

Ottolenghi Hummus

This hummus recipe from Yoman Ottolenghi and Sami Tamini’s Jerusalem cookbook is hands down the best, creamiest hummus I’ve ever made or eaten.

The recipe uses dried chickpeas – which require an overnight soak – so you’ll need to plan ahead, probably the only downside to this amazing recipe. Lest you try to shortcut it, know that I’ve made this recipe with both canned and cooked chickpeas, and can attest that starting with dried chickpeas makes a superior hummus. It’s a lighter color and flavor, much softer and just plain better.

You can tweak the recipe to your taste by making it more or less garlicky or lemony – the recipe as I’ve written it has a bit more lemon and a tad less garlic than Ottolenghi’s original. If you want, you can also add a scant 1/4 tsp cumin, as I have done. Or not. It’s up to you.

Ottolenghi has strong feelings about hummus, which he most adamantly believes should not be made with olive oil. Rather, one reserves the olive oil for drizzling on the hummus when serving. He also recommends only Al Arz or Al Yaman tahini, which I did not use, but intend to order for future hummus making. And thankfully, gives a nod to my added cumin.

In the Guardian’s version of this basic hummus, Ottolenghi adds bicarbonate of soda during soaking as well as while cooking the chickpeas. For some reason, the Jerusalem Cookbook version (which is what I used) only adds the baking soda during cooking. It’s unclear to me what difference these two approaches would make in the final product, but it is clear that adding baking soda at some point in the cooking process is crucial to getting a soft cooked chickpea.

Deb Perlman argues that peeling the skin from the cooked chickpea makes for an even creamier hummus, so I tried that. She’s right. And it’s not hard – if you truly cook your chickpeas to softness, the skins literally float off into the water. Now you just need to pick them out, and peel an occasional errant unshed skin. If this still seems like to much work, as Deb tells us, you can buy pre-peeled Indian split chickpeas (called Dal), so that’s now on my list to try.

This hummus is so much more than just a place to dip your carrot sticks and pita chips. For instance, you can use it as a bed for lamb and zucchini meatballs. (Recipe modified from this.)

You can find various iterations of this recipe on Food52, Epicurious , the NY Times or the Guardian, but do yourself a favor and just get Jerusalem, the cookbook in which it originally appeared. You’ll get so much more than just an amazing hummus recipe.

JERUSALEM HUMMUS

This makes a rather large batch of hummus (about 3 cups). Feel free to reduce amounts by half if you don’t need so much. I’ve modified the original recipe by adding 1/4 tsp ground cumin, increasing the lemon juice from 4 to 6 tbsp, and cutting back on a clove of garlic. I served it with a scattering of toasted pine nuts, a sprinkle of sumac and a drizzle of olive oil.

Ingredients
1 ¼ cups dried chickpeas (250 grams)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light tahini paste (270 grams)
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 1/2 tbsp ice water
1/4 tsp ground cumin
For garnish
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1 tsp dried sumac

Instructions
Put chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water at least twice their volume. Leave to soak overnight.

The next day, drain the chickpeas. In a saucepan, combine drained chickpeas and 1 tsp baking soda over high heat. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 6 1/2 cups (1.5 liters) water and bring to a boil. Cook at a simmer, skimming off any foam and any skins that float to the surface, till soft. (For me this took almost an hour.) Once done, they should be very tender, breaking easily when pressed between your thumb and finger, almost but not quite mushy.

Drain chickpeas. If you want, pick out and discard the skins, peeling the occasional chickpea as needed (or not). You should have roughly 3 cups of chickpeas. Place chickpeas in a food processor and process until you get a stiff paste. Then, with the machine still running, add the tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Slowly drizzle in the ice water and allow it to mix for about 5 minutes, until you get a very smooth and creamy paste. The hummus may seem thin, but don’t worry – it will thicken as it rests.

Transfer hummus to a bowl, cover surface with plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. If not using immediately, refrigerate until needed, up to two days. Remove from fridge at least 30 minutes before serving. Garnish with pine nuts, olive oil and a bit of dried sumac.

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More on Hummus

Tartine’s Basic Country Bread

I think I finally got this sourdough thing down.

Check out this boule made using Tartine’s Country Bread recipe, the holy grail of sourdough. It’s the first sourdough recipe I ever tried, and now the best I’ve ever made.

For those of you as new to this whole sourdough thing as I was just 6 months ago, Tartine is the bakery run by Chad Robertson in San Francisco, turning out small batches (only 240 loaves a day) of what many say is the best bread you’ll ever taste. Following in the footsteps of bakers like Nancy Silverton at La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles, Chad helped to put artisan sourdough on the map beyond San Francisco. By graciously sharing their expertise, he and others have inspired a whole crop of bakers across the nation and around the world who are making artisan sourdough bread. (Check out this UK local bakery just opened by a 15 year old baker and her dad who make sourdough using a starter “blossomed from a single apple in our garden”.) Add in folks passionate about using locally grown heritage grains to make healthier, more digestible bread (yes, gluten ain’t so bad if you make it right) and you’ve got a movement to bring healthy bread back to the masses.

I’m still in love with Jim Lahey’s No knead yeast bread, and if my time is limited, it’s my go to, never fail me bread. But given a free weekend and time to fold and shape, I’ll be tweaking my sourdough. I can’t wait to see what kind of rise I can get in the warmer weather, and I want to start using heritage grains, adding things like olives and sun dried tomatoes and cheese to my breads, and playing with the starter and leaven to get a sweeter flavor.

From what I’ve seen and am learning, sourdough bread baking is a never-ending journey. So stay tuned.

Requisite Crumb Shot

Tartine’s Basic Country Bread

Don’t even think of making the bread for the first time using just this blog post. But Robertson’s recipe make two loaves, and I wanted to have my own one-loaf version and also record my experience making this loaf. I’ve also added little tweaks that work in my kitchen, so I’ll remember them next time. (Welcome to sourdough, the perfect bread making technique for those with OCD.)

If you really want to learn how to make this sourdough, you are best off working directly from Chad Robertsons’ book Tartine Bread. If you don’t want that kind of initial investment, the NY Times Tartine Bread recipe is a nice way to start. (That’s how I got hooked.).

To make this loaf, I started the leaven at about 8 am, then packed it loosely in the car to allow it to ripen on the ride and at the cottage (temps were in high 60’s – very low 70’s). After dinner, I mixed the bread and did the first rise and folding for 3 hours. I rested and shaped the dough around 10:30, then placed it in a covered basket in the fridge and went to bed. I heated the oven, scored and baked the bread starting about 7:30 am the next morning.

My traveling leaven and bread making supplies

Make the leaven (Saturday 8am)

  • 1 tbsp starter (My starter is fed with sprouted rye)
  • 100 grams warm (78 degree) water
  • 100 grams of a 50/50 blend whole wheat and bread flour

Disperse the starter in the water with your fingers, then stir in the flour till there are no dry parts. Cover and let rise at a coolish temp overnight or for 8-10 hours. I had temps in the high 60’s to very low 70’s, Robertson recommends 65 degrees.

Mix and first rise (Saturday evening starting about 7 pm)

  • 100 grams leaven
  • 450 grams white bread flour (I used King Arthur)
  • 50 grams whole wheat flour
  • 350 grams warm water (80 degrees) + 25 grams more (added with the salt) I used Brita-filtered water from the fridge pitcher + a little warmer water straight from the tap to get it to the right temp.
  • 10 grams sea salt

This is a 75% hydration dough. In a large bowl (mine was ceramic), disperse 100 grams leaven in 350 grams of warm water with your fingers. Whisk the flours together and add to the water/leaven till there are no dry bits of flour. It will be quite thick – but not to worry you are adding more water in a bit.

Let dough rest 30 mins. (Robertson says 25 -40 mins). After the rest, lightly stir the salt into the remaining 25 grams of water (it does not need to dissolve) and add to the dough using your fingers. The dough will come apart, then come together again.

First (Bulk) rise

Let rise for 3 hours, covered with a tea towel moistened with warm water after each turn. Every 30 mins give the dough a turn, becoming gentler as the dough becomes more billowy and aerated to avoid pressing out the gases.

Here’s video I made of the amazing Sarah C Owens turning her dough at a sourdough class I took with her on Far Rockaway last month.

When the dough is risen and ready, it’s time to pre-shape, bench rest and final shape it.

Pre-shape, Rest and Final Shaping (10:00 pm)

Pull dough out of bowl onto a very lightly floured surface. Fold the four sides of the dough onto itself, incorporating as little dough as possible into the dough. Roll the dough over, folded side down, and pull it around, tucking it under as you go to make a neat round package with a nice tight skin. Let it rest for 30 minutes to allow the gluten to loosen up for the final shaping,

Now slip the bench knife under the dough, flip it over and shape into a boule shape using a series of folds as you’ve learnt them. An explanation of this is beyond the scope of this post, but here’s a great video that shows pretty much exactly how I pre-shaped and final shaped my dough. (Shaping starts around 2:45 min.)

Using the bench knife, flip the shaped dough seam side up into a pre-floured unlined banneton, cover loosely with plastic wrap and then a tea towel and place in the fridge over night. You can use a cloth lined banneton if you prefer, but you won’t get those nice flour lines.

Score and bake (Sunday 7:30 am)

Preheat a covered dutch oven in an oven set to 500 degrees. Take out and uncover banneton, letting it sit on the counter while the oven preheats. When the oven temp reaches 500 degrees, lightly dust the surface of the dough with rice flour and turn out gently onto a sheet of parchment paper. Score as desired. I used kitchen shears to score this loaf, having left my bread lame (a hand held razor blade thingy) at home in NYC, and was pleased with the results.

Carefully pull the hot dutch oven out and uncover. Holding the parchment paper, gently lower the dough boule scored side up into the dutch oven. Cover, turn the heat down to 450 degrees and bake for 20 mins. Remove the cover and bake another 30 mins.

Lift the bread out of the pot onto a rack to cool. Let the bread sit and sing for at least an hour, and ideally for 2-4 hours before cutting into it.

What I learned from making this loaf

  • I can make one loaf of Tartine bread at a time.
  • It’s much easier to work with lower than higher hydration dough
  • I think I need to check my oven thermostat, and if it’s correct, keep it at 500 degrees the whole bake – while the top caramelized nicely, I expected a darker lower crust and bottom.
  • I may try Jim Lahey’s trick of dusting the bread with wheat bran – it darkens very nicely.
  • I LOVE SOURDOUGH!