Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World (9 page)

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Serious Bread

PREPARATION:
1 3/4 hours

WAITING:
16 hours

V
OLLKORNBROT,
“whole kernel bread” in German, is a dense, whole grain bread popular in northern Europe but difficult to find elsewhere. It’s so dense, in fact, that it’s the black hole of breads, able to suck
SUVS
into its gravitational pull.
V
OLLKORNBROT
is made with whole kernels of wheat and rye, flaxseed, and sunflower seed. A loaf weighs more than 2 pounds when it comes out of the oven. One slice is a meal.

Vollkornbrot
has such a high moisture content that you can make it on the weekend and nibble at it for the rest of the week. It never seems to dry out. Also in its favor is that it’s a no-knead bread, and it requires no shaping. Making this bread is a 2-day process, but most of that time involves letting the dough sit.

You can find wheat and rye berries (i.e., whole kernels of wheat and rye) in your typical health food store bulk bin. Rye flour is often sold in bins, too, or in bags alongside regular flour. Crack the wheat and rye berries by throwing them in a blender or a food processor for a few seconds, or grind them in a grain mill. Process the berries in batches so they don’t overwhelm the appliance. You’re done when there are no more whole kernels and all kernels are chopped in half at minimum—finer is better.

YOU’LL NEED

• 4 ½ ounces wheat berries, cracked
  
• 4 ½ ounces rye berries, cracked
  
• 4 ½ ounces whole wheat flour
  
• 4 ½ ounces rye flour
  
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
  
• 2 cups water
  
• 3 tablespoons sourdough starter (whole wheat, rye, or white) or ½ teaspoon active dry yeast
  
• 2 ½ ounces whole wheat berries
  
• ½ cup flaxseed
  
• ½ cup sunflower seeds (optional)
  
• 1 ½ tablespoons barley malt syrup (optional)
  
• Handful of rolled oats
  

K
ELLY:
Erik, I notice the
Vollkornbrot
recipe is made with sourdough starter, not yeast.

E
RIK:
It’s better that way.

K
ELLY:
But how many people keep a sourdough starter? Can’t it be made with packaged yeast?

E
RIK:
They should make their own sourdough starter. All it takes is flour and water. Sourdough bread tastes better, stays fresh longer, and is more nutritious. Think of all that beautiful wild yeast out there, waiting to be harnessed.

K
ELLY:
But realistically . . .

E
RIK:
Really, it’s not that hard. It’s how this bread is made. The sourness of the starter melds with grains and makes the flavors deeper, richer. And once people have a starter, they can make other loaves, sourdough pancakes, all kinds of things. Nothing can really replace the flavors wild yeasts bring to the table. Store-bought yeast is for chumps.

K
ELLY (GETTING STERN):
Chumps like us. We use it in focaccia. There has to be an alternative, or people won’t bake this bread. It’s hardly raised at all, so it can’t matter that much.

E
RIK (ROLLING HIS EYES):
Okay, okay. I’ll work up an alternative. But seriously, they should try it with the starter.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

DAY 1

STARTING THE SPONGE

Just before you go to bed, combine the cracked wheat berries, cracked rye berries, whole wheat flour, rye flour, salt, water, and sourdough starter in a large bowl. If you’re using yeast instead of starter, dissolve the yeast in the water before adding it to the other ingredients.

At the same time, place the whole wheat berries in a separate bowl and add enough water to cover. Let both the sponge and the wheat berries sit, covered, overnight.

DAY 2

INCORPORATION

The next morning, drain the water off the soaked wheat berries and stir them into the sponge. Add the flaxseed and the sunflower seeds and malt syrup, if using.

Note:
This will be a very moist and sticky bread dough.

PROOFING

After incorporating the seeds and soaked berries, allow the dough to sit in the mixing bowl for 3 to 8 hours. This is all proofing means—letting the dough rest undisturbed so that its flavor and texture improves. This flexibility of schedule means you can bake this bread whenever it’s most convenient for you. Cover the proofing bowl with a plate, or a larger upturned bowl, to keep the dough from drying out. The bread will proof best at regular room temperature. If your house is cold, find a warm place for the bowl to sit.

The dough will not rise much. This proofing period is more about developing flavor than gaining loft. Just trust that it will be done enough after 3 hours. If you poke at it after 3 hours or so, you’ll notice that it has changed a little. The dough will have some air in it, even if it looks sort of inert on the outside.

BAKING

Grease a 5 x 9-inch loaf pan
very well
with butter, being sure to grease the corners of the pan, and sprinkle a single layer of rolled oats across the bottom to prevent sticking. Turn the dough out of the bowl and into the loaf pan. You’ll probably have to use a big wooden spoon to transfer it glob by glob. Smooth the top with the back of the spoon.

Don’t preheat the oven. Just stick the loaf pan on the center rack of the oven and set the temperature to 425°F.

Bake for 40 minutes, then pull the pan from the oven and loosely cover it with a piece of aluminum foil to keep the top of the loaf from browning too much. Bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, then pull it out to take a look. When done, the top will be golden brown and the sides of the loaf will pull away slightly from the sides of the pan. What little you can see of the sides should be golden brown. Test the loaf with a knife to determine whether it is finished. Insert the knife in the center; the blade should come out clean (or cleanish—it might have slight traces of dough on it). Even when finished, this bread is damp and dense.

Remove the finished bread from the pan straight away. Run a butter knife around the edges of the loaf pan to loosen the loaf. Using oven mitts, knock the pan on the countertop, invert it, and give it a shake. The loaf should slide free. Leave it to cool, if you can restrain yourself. This is one bread that is not necessarily better hot out of the oven. It improves somewhat if left alone to cool undisturbed.

How to Make and Maintain Sourdough Starter

To create a sourdough starter, mix 1 cup white flour with 1 cup water. Put this in a lidded glass jar—a quart or pint canning jar works fine—and keep it on the kitchen counter. Each day, pour off half the contents and add ½ cup flour and ½ cup water to replace what you poured off. This is called “feeding the starter”—you are literally giving fresh food to the yeast culture. Without regular feeding, the culture weakens and then spoils.

Pour off and feed every day for a week. You’ll begin to see some changes in the odor and consistency of the starter as wild yeasts begin to colonize it. Air bubbles are a good thing. If liquid forms at the top, just stir it back in. The only bad sign would be truly nasty smells or outright mold, and this would happen only if you’d neglected your starter. After a week, you’ll have a viable white flour starter that you can use for baking. The starter will become stronger and more flavorful over time.

To make a whole wheat or rye starter, simply start feeding this white starter with whole wheat or rye flour instead of white flour. Remember to feed your starter every day, especially wheat and rye starters, which can go rancid fast without regular attention. If you go on vacation or know you won’t be baking for a while, put the starter in the fridge. It can nap in there for a couple of weeks, but not forever. It might take a few days of feeding after it comes out of refrigeration to get back to full strength.

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Homemade Condiments

The nice thing about making your own condiments is that you can customize them any way you wish. That and the fact they are delicious. Experiment with these basics. Once you see how easy it is to make your own, you’ll be converted.

Mayonnaise

PREPARATION:
5 min

Come on, live a little! Don’t deny yourself homemade mayonnaise. The secret to making mayonnaise is to be sure that the eggs and oil are both at room temperature before you begin and to combine them very, very slowly. It’s an emulsion. Make it with a whisk. The egg and oil don’t want to combine—you have to coax them together. If you add the oil too quickly, you’ll end up with a thin, greasy liquid instead of mayonnaise.

YOU’LL NEED

• 2 egg yolks, at room temperature
  
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar
  
• Sea salt and black pepper to taste
  
• ¼ teaspoon dried mustard or paprika (optional)
  
• 1 cup sunflower oil (or a similar mild oil), at room temperature
  

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

TO MAKE MAYONNAISE BY HAND:
Put the egg yolks in a largish bowl. You want lots of room to whisk. Whisk for a minute or so until the yolks turn thick. Add the lemon juice or vinegar, and a pinch of salt and pepper and the paprika or mustard, if using, and whisk another half minute to incorporate. Then start adding the oil, drop by drop. The first addition of oil is the most critical—this is when the emulsion happens. Add a few drops of oil, beat until creamy, add a little more. It should start thickening by the time you’ve added the first 1/3 cup of oil. After that point, you can add the oil a little faster.

TO MAKE MAYONNAISE WITH A BLENDER, A FOOD PROCESSOR, OR A STAND MIXER:
Follow the same protocols as hand mixing. Blend together the eggs, lemon juice, and seasoning first, until well incorporated. Then start adding the oil in a slow, steady drizzle, bit by bit, while the blender or processor is running. The mayo may thicken before you’re done adding the oil, which might cause a countertop blender to choke. Just scrape down the sides and carry on. The result will be a very creamy, thick mayonnaise. Alternatively, you could make the recipe with 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk instead of 2 egg yolks, which will make the mix a teeny bit less thick and easier on your blender.

For both methods, taste and add more salt or pepper or lemon juice if needed. If the mayonnaise sets up too thick, add a spoonful of hot water.

VARIATIONS

Add minced garlic or juice from a garlic press to make aioli. Stir in chopped herbs. Crumble in blue cheese. Add cream and a spoonful of curry powder. Add a spoonful of wasabi.

What do you do with homemade mayonnaise? Of course, it’s a great dip for almost anything, a nice side for meat and fish, and indispensable for egg and tuna salad, but we like it best with vegetables. There’s a type of salad called Russian Salad, made with chilled diced potatoes, mixed vegetables, and cubes of meat tossed in a generous quantity of mayo. We do variations on that dish using boiled potatoes as a base and adding whatever we’ve got coming out of our garden, as well as pickles, olives, chunks of cheese, or hard-cooked egg. All of that is tossed with shameless quantities of mayo and some extra lemon juice and salt and pepper to brighten it up. It’s one-bowl eating at its best, perfect for summer cooking. Sometimes the mix is as simple as potatoes and bitter greens; other times we’ve put everything in there but the kitchen sink. No matter what you use, the mayo binds it into eating perfection.

Keep the mayonnaise in the fridge and eat it all within a few days.

Makes 1 cup

Mustard

PREPARATION:
5 min

WAITING:
1 day

Mustard is so simple to make, and so easily you’ll wonder why you ever bought it in a

YOU’LL NEED

• 6 tablespoons whole mustard seeds (all yellow works, or use half brown seeds and half yellow seeds for a more pungent mustard. Buy mustard seeds in bulk for the best prices.)
  
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
  
• 2 tablespoons white wine or apple cider vine
  
• ½ teaspoon salt
  
• Pinch of ground allspice
  
• Couple of grinds of black pepper
  

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

In a glass bowl or jar, combine all the ingredients and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, you’ll find that the seeds have soaked up most if not all of the liquid. Transfer the mix to a food processor or blender or use a mortar and pestle. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of water and grind the mustard to the consistency you like.

The flavor improves after a couple of days in the fridge, although you could use the mustard right away if you must. Taking this basic recipe as a starting point, customize your mustard any way you like: Add herbs and spices before the overnight soak, or add honey when you pulverize it to make a sweet mustard, or add a little horseradish if you like your mustard hot. To make bright yellow mustard, stir in a small spoonful of turmeric.

Transfer the final product to a glass jar. It will keep in the fridge for weeks.

Makes 1 cup

Harissa

PREPARATION:
3 min

WAITING:
10-40 min

In our house,
harissa
is the hot sauce we reach for the most. It goes on eggs, into stews, over tacos, even on chips.
Harissa
is a hot pepper condiment native to North Africa and most often associated with Moroccan cuisine. The recipe varies from region to region and from house to house.

We asked a Moroccan friend how to make
harissa,
and he shrugged and said, “You just grind peppers with garlic and oil and add a little salt.” It’s that simple. You can find
harissa
recipes that are much more elaborate, but elaborate doesn’t mean better.

Each time we make
harissa,
it comes out a little different, but it’s always good, because peppers, garlic, and salt are natural mates. In combination, they make the tongue happy. The big variable is the peppers. We hesitate to recommend any particular type of pepper because we want you to make it with whatever peppers are local and convenient to you.

You can use fresh peppers or dried peppers. Fresh-pepper
harissa
is bright red-orange and can be blazingly hot. It looks like the
harissa
that you buy in cans or tubes in import stores.
Harissa
made with dried peppers is a deep, sultry brown. Its flavor is richer and more mellow than the fresh version. It reminds us of the Mexican sauce called
mole.
In the summer, we make fresh-pepper
harissa
from hot Italian long peppers that we grow in our own garden. For the rest of the year, we make it with dried chiles sold in our local Latin market, like chiles negros, ancho chiles, and New Mexico chiles. Use whatever peppers you prefer. If you don’t like much heat, use roasted red peppers to dilute the heat of fresh peppers.

The following hypothetical harissa recipe is just to start you off. Once you have the basics down, improvise and find a balance that works for you.

YOU’LL NEED

• 4 ounces dried peppers or 8 ounces fresh peppers
  
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  
• 1½ teaspoons salt
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
  
• Optional seasonings: 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground caraway (any one or all three), 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves, lemon juice to taste
  

PUTTING IT TOGETHER

Pull the stems from the peppers, open them up, and remove the seeds. If you are using dried peppers, pour boiling water over them and let them soak for a half hour first. Be careful not to touch your face while stemming and seeding, and wash your hands well after handling peppers. Otherwise you might suffer the same fate as Erik, who visited the restroom after seeding fresh hot peppers. . . . Well, the less said of the incident, the better.

Transfer the peppers to the bowl of a food processor or a mortar and pestle. Add the garlic and salt. Begin to process or grind. Drizzle in the olive oil as you go. Don’t add much oil now, just enough to make a smooth paste. If you wish, add the additional spices, mint leaves, and lemon juice, according to taste.