Posts Tagged ‘Sourdough’
Sunday, February 5th, 2012
We are pretty much slap bang in the middle of Vacherin season, which runs from late September to early April. This creamy, smooth, slightly nutty and super runny cows milk cheese is an Alpine speciality traditionally sold in round wooden boxes, cinched with a piece of spruce bark.
Vacherin is great eaten at room temperature with some bread, but a killer way of serving it is baked. Particularly when it’s been snowing. It’s like a fondue without the hassle and the Abigail’s Party baggage, and is great lunch for two.
Pre-heat your over to 180 – 200c, then remove all the plastic wrapping from the cheese, but leave it in it’s box. Slice a fat clove of garlic, and then using a sharp knife, pierce the Vacherin’s rind and slide in the slices. Pour over around 50ml of white wine, and then put the cheese into the oven to bake until it’s golden brown and bubbling (15minutes or so).
Serve it with whatever you like, but I like a good mix of raw veg like raddishes and carrots, some hunks of good sourdough, a few boiled potatoes (pink fir are particularly good), a pear and a bit of salad.
Then just dunk in your vehicle of choice, and get cheesy.
Tags: Abigail's Party, Alpine, Baked, Carrots, Chese, Cows, Fondue, Garlic, Milk, Mont D'Or, Pear, pink Fir, Potatoes, Raddishes, Salad, Season, Sourdough, Vacherin, White Wine
Posted in Dinner, Lunch, Recipes | No Comments »
Sunday, July 10th, 2011
My latest, greatest baking discovery is the Dutch Oven I bought a few weeks ago. Recommended by the tutors at the SFBI as one of the best ways to cook bread at home, they yet again have proved they know their onions as it’s already helped me knock out a bunch of consistently great bread in the kitchen of our rented apartment.
The reasons it works so well are two fold. Firstly, the cast iron retains heat brilliantly, and as you’re baking in a sealed vessel your bread is less likely to be subject to any fluctuations in oven temp, which means a good even bake. The second reason is that it the lid traps steam, so there’s no need to fanny about with trays of boiling water or spraying your loaves pre-baking.
You could try something like a Le Creuset, as used baking Jim Lahey’s no knead loaf (where you almost pour the dough in), will work OK, but the Lodge Combo-Cooker I acquired is the business. Firstly, it was about the quarter of the price of a Le Creuset (they are quite a bit more expensive in the UK I’m afraid), and It’s other advantage is that you can invert it using the lid / skillet as the base to bake on which helps give a better crust colour while you’re venting the loaf. NB. You don’t have to have a Dutch Oven to make this formula, but it will give you better results.
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Tags: Bake, Baking, Bread, Combo-Cooker, Dan Lepard, Dutch Oven, Hand Made Loaf, Home, Le Creuset, Levain, Lodge, San Francisco, SFBI, Sourdough, Starter, Wheast Germ, Whole Wheat Flour
Posted in Equipment, Recipes, Travel | 9 Comments »
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
Last week bought with it mixed feelings. It was our last week of studying ‘pure’ bread. This week we’ve moved on to Viennoiserie, and whilst I am totally relishing the fresh challenges and new techniques we’re getting to experience dealing with enriched doughs, I’ve got to confess, I’m missing the bread ‘lab’ quite a bit.
The week was basically a review of all the techniques and baking concepts we’d covered over the past couple of months, and started where we began with baguettes. It was really good to revisit our French friends, as it helped cement a bunch of stuff that wasn’t really glued down. I guess in those first few weeks there was so much information flooding into my brain that I couldn’t really grasp hold of it all, and with baguettes being one of the most challenging breads, there was a lot to remember.
So we did a good day of mixing, shaping, rolling, scoring and baking the buggers, and I was relieved that aside from a few howlers here and there, I was pretty happy with how they turned out. For me, in many ways the scoring is the trickiest thing. You need to get the angle and depth of the cuts just right to get that spring and the famous baguette ears. I changed my technique after a bit more of an in-depth critique of my first batch, which improved results, but I’ve still got a lot of practicing to do.
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Tags: Baguette, Bread, Flat Bread, Gluten Free, Hand Mix, lavash, Miche, Naan, Pitta, Pizza, Poilaine, review, San Francisco, SFBI, Sourdough, Viennoiserie, Week, Wood Fired Oven
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
To quote Jimmy Castor’s ‘Troglodyte‘, “What we’re gonna do right here is go back. Way back. Back into time…” because last week was all about kicking it old school, both in terms of ingredients and baking methods. We’re talking ancient grains and wood fire ovens.
Ancient wheats like spelt, khorasan (more commonly known as Kamut) emmer and, einkorn, and grains like millet, sorghum, quinoa, and teff were the precursors to modern wheat. They fell out of favour centuries ago as farmers and latterly scientists, developed the higher yield grains that we ‘enjoy’ today. However, wheats with increased yields and higher levels of protein / gluten are much harder for our bodies to digest, and less healthy. For this reason, ancient grains have become fashionable again, and are considered by many to be the future of bread.
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Tags: Ancient Grains, Baking, Bread, Einkorn, Emmer, Future, Kamut, Khorasan, Millet, Past, Quinoa, San Francisco, SFBI, Sorghum, Sourdough, Spelt, Starters, Teff, Wood Fired Oven
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
What. A. Week.
Despite the past two weeks at SFBI being fantastic, one of the things I’ve been most excited about getting stuck into is making sourdoughs and science behind the rise. I’ve done a fair few sourdough experiments at home in the past, but never really nailed it, so the past week really ticked some major boxes for me.
We started our foray into the world of sour by looking into it’s history and mythology, and of course touching on the famous San Francisco Sourdough. It’s interesting stuff (at least to me), and as a few readers have expressed an interest in knowing more, here’s a potted version.
Sourdough was discovered / invented by accident in ancient Egypt at around 1500 BC. The story goes that some women making loaves on the banks of the Nile left a couple out in the humid, sunny conditions. They discovered their omission, and added the dough that had started to leaven to the rest of their batch. They liked the resulting lighter bread and it’s flavour, and kick started a great bread making tradition.
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Tags: Baking, Bread, Culture, Egypt, Hand Mix, History, Leavening, Natural, Nile, San Francisco, San Francisco Sourdough, SFBI, Sourdough, Starter, Still, Yeast
Posted in Opinion, Reading, Reviews, Travel | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
I first heard about The Meatwagon a few months ago on the BBC 4’s Food Programme, and subsequently on a number of blogs. It seems to have become the stuff of legend pretty quickly, and for those into their food, you can understand why. The story goes that the owner of the wagon, Yianni, quit his job and headed for the US to research the perfect burger. He toured the length and breadth of the country (I may be embellishing here) picking up recipes, tips and tricks until he thought he’d cracked it. He then returned to London, formula in hand, bought a food truck and then hit the road spreading the good burger word. Insane and inspiring in equal measure.
Until last week, his burgers had evaded my jaws, but when I heard that he was pitching up at The Ship pub near me, I knew I had a date with meaty destiny, particularly as Yianni had picked up ‘Best Sandwich’ at the British Street Food Awards the previous weekend. As we approached the wagon, for some reason we felt a sense of trepidation, the kind you get when approaching an illegal rave. Would there be a huge queue? Would there be any meat left? What were we going to do if we couldn’t get our fix?
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Tags: Bacon, Beef, Burgers, Byron, Cheese, Chilli, Cloche, GHot Plate, Mesatwagon, Perfect, Sourdough, Steak, Steam
Posted in Opinion, Reviews | 6 Comments »
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Having recently turned one, I’m in a reflective mood, so I thought I’d list my top 10 food highs and lows of the year. In no particular order.
Photo: MrLerone
Highs
1.Polpo – my new favourite restaurant. Very good Italian style tapas eating.
2.Sydney Breakfasts – just the bomb. I wish i could start every day Sydney style.
3.Whole Foods Market – the big one on Ken High Street is like heaven on earth.
4.Good Coffee – being shown what real coffee should taste like by Campos and Kaffeine.
5.Stuffed Courgette Flowers – still really chuffed about making these bad boys in France.
6.Engagement Dinner at Brasserie Balzar – the perfect Parisian place to pop the question.
7.Ramond Blanc’s Kitchen Secrets – for my money, the best cookery show of the past year
8.The Santa Barbara Shellfish Company – one of the standout meals from our California road trip.
9.Good Mexican Food – from Benitos Hat to La Super Rica the Mexicans have been killing it. Me gusta.
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Tags: Balzar, Borough Market, Breakfast, Campos, Coffee, Courgette Flowers, Falafel, Just Falafs, Kaffeine, mexican, Polpo, Ramond Blanc, Scotts, Sophie Dahl, Sourdough, Sydney, The Wolseley, Tierra Brindisa, Whole Foods
Posted in Opinion, Reviews, Travel | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Whilst my Mac is being re-habilitated I don’t have access to my holiday pics, so I’ll have to come back to the stuff I rustled up in France at a later date. But my camera is still working, and I’ve bought my schizo old mac back from the dead, so I can do a bit of posting in the meantime.
This recipe is my take on the tapas classic Gambas al Ajillo, and It’s pretty simple and quick too. Buy the biggest, fattest prawns you can afford. Serves two as a main course.
Ingredients
8 King prawns / Tiger prawns
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 dried or fresh red chilli, chopped
20g unsalted butter
35ml extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 large lemon
Salt to taste
Handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
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Tags: Butter, Chilli, Garlic, King Prawns, Lemon, Olive Oil, Parsley, Salt, Sourdough, Tapas, Tiger Prawns
Posted in Lunch, Recipes | 2 Comments »
