Vacation

Years ago we decided that we would try to go to Europe, with our three children, for our 25th anniversary. One of our children had a job commitment, so he could only join us for one of our planned two week adventure. Our first week was spent on the MSC Splendida. MSC is an Italian cruise line. We decided that if we were going to Europe, we were going to try to immerse ourselves in the culture. Probably 80% of the people on the cruise line were Italian, with some French, Germans, Dutch, English thrown in. We were the minority, which was fine by me.

I had never been on a cruise. I wasn't sure that I would like it. There are some definite advantages to a cruise. Every morning we woke up in a different port. We got to see five countries. You don't get to see five countries, just a little taste of them. But we have some ideas as to where we would go if we went again.

We would eat breakfast and head off. We had coffee and baked goods it a lot of towns. Our first stop was our shortest, Tunisia. The old town had some beautiful buildings but the number of people intently trying to sell you things was startling.



We went back to the ship for dinner. Dinner always including a pasta course and the risotto was amazing. Every night a different area of Italy was highlighted. We had some good food on the ship.

The next day we work up in Malta. Malta was amazing. There are forts and armor every where. Walking around Valleta was beautiful. We got a ticket to go to a couple museums.



I enjoy a museum. I may enjoy two museums. But by my third museums, I may sit in the courtyard, people watching. I may run into Rod Stewart who had performed the night before.



The next day, we woke up in Messina. We had hired a driver to take us to Castelmola and Taormina. Two picturesque towns high up in the mountains. We enjoyed strolling around and eating gellato and drinking coffee. I could retire here. Serve travelers coffee.





This is the town's public library. Could you read here?



Rome was a big day for us. The port is about 1.25 hours from Rome. We had hired a licensed driver/tour guide to show us the town. It was a whirlwind of activity. We were underground, we were above ground. In ruins, surrounded by bones. Finally, we stopped for a delicious lunch. The pasta and fish were suburb. Fish were piled in the restaurant, ready for your selection. What a lovely day.




The next day was Genoa. We hopped on a double decker tour bus and went all around town. Stopping for coffee and pastries and finally eating some pizza in the plaza by this church.



On Sunday, we went to Mass in French in Marseilles. Where has it gone, all that French that I studied?





By this point, I wanted off the ship because I knew that the next day, Joe would fly into Barcelona and we would all be together. Something that doesn't happen often it seems.





We did a whirlwind tour of Barcelona and flew to Paris to spend some time in our spacious, 500 sq ft apartment. In Texas, spacious and 500 sq feet don't go together...




I loved our apartment. Down the block from a metro stop, a open air market, a boulangerie. The ideal location for us.




We bought a museum pass... How to balance museums and foodie finds? It is a very delicate balance.





We will probably have to return to perfect the balance.

I've Been Away

80% sourdough rye with a rye flour soaker

The breads for July for Mellow Bakers include two rye breads. One of the rye breads contains rye chops. Rye chops are chopped up rye berries. I have been on an elusive search for rye berries. There is only one local grocery store left.

I actually flew to New England and searched for rye chops. OK, so the trip to King Arthur Flour store just happened to fit into my New England trip. It doesn't matter, there were no rye chops in the store. A wonderful store, filled with flour and linens and beautiful things for the kitchen. There is a bakery in the store filled with beautiful delicious goods. I am glad that it is on the other side of the country from me. They were able to suggest a place in Vermont where I could find rye chops, unfortunately, we did not have time to go exploring for whole grains.

So, I have made the 80 percent Sourdough Rye. The night before baking, you make a sourdough with whole-rye flour, water, sourdough culture. You also make rye paste, boiling water is poured on rye flour and left to soften over night.

In the morning I had a bubbly sourdough and a gooey soaker. They were combined with some rye flour, high gluten flour, water, salt and yeast. It made a sticky dough. It was allowed to ferment for 30 mins and then shaped. I needed to use a bit of flour to shape the gooey mess into two loaves. I wondered while I was working with the rye, why it always reminds me of kindergarten and glue paste. I wondered what a mud bath was like while I tried to wash it off my hands.

The loaves fermented again and then were supposedly left for 24 hours to stabilize the texture of the crumb. Except my husband came home and does not believe that any loaf should sit around unsampled for 24 hours. It is a delightful rye. Perhaps the best rye bread that I have ever made.



I saw some beautiful slashing on my travels. I stopped off at the Standard Baking Co. in Portland Maine. I really enjoyed Portland, add it onto your travel list. What a delightful New England town. The customers in the Standard Baking Co. thought that I was odd when I photographed the breads, but look at the slashing.

Bialys

One of the three breads from Hamelman's Bread for July's Mellow Baker's challenge is Bialys. I have made Kossar's Bialys from Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. I was looking forward to seeing how the recipes differed.

This is an easy recipe. High gluten flour, water, salt and yeast are combined in the mixer. The stiff dough is mixed, fermented, folded after an hour and fermented some more. Glezer's recipe used a food processor, which quickly heated the dough, which then had to be cooled. I prefer Hamelman's method.

Half of the bialys are already gone, they are irresistible. I will make these again but caramelize the onions.

The dough is formed into balls, which rise again. They are then formed into six inch pizza shape with a raised outer lip. Think inflatable kiddie pool. A teaspoon of finely chopped onions, that had visited with some white bread crumbs, is put in the center of the dough.

Here is the big difference. Glezer's recipe called for the same finely chopped onions without the bread crumbs. The onions are mounded and cooked in a 350 degree oven for an hour, caramelizing them before putting them in the bialys. I much preferred the flavor of the caramelized onions.

Distracted Baking

My husband frequently comments on how I can cook dinner and maintain conversations with all of the members of my household and advance the laundry and answer the phone all at the same time. Distracted cooking is not really challenging for me. It kinds of fits with our family lifestyle.

Now distracted baking may be another thing all together. I am writing my final paper for what has been a challenging, annoying grad school course. The problem with online classes is that you are limited in your interaction with your professor and that he/she can post a comment onto your work that doubles or triple the amount of work that you have to do without any effort on their part. Maybe it is distracted teaching. Maybe there is a purpose to it.

I am waiting for this class to be over, but I am thinking about my paper and working on my paper while making Hamelman's sourdoughs with whole wheat and with increased whole grain. Distracting baking, perhaps not a good idea.

I made the levains last night. It is hot, humid and heavy here in Texas. Nothing is going to take more than 12 hours to be ready.

I assembled my mis en place for the whole wheat.



Mixed the flours, levain, and water. Waited for the autolyse phase to end, added the salt, mixed for 2 minutes and put it aside for fermentation.

The I assembled my mis en place for the increased whole grain. Can you spot a significant difference between the two mis en places.




I mixed the flours, levain, and water and made liquid slop.

Ah, distracted baking. Did I check the errata sheet before I started baking? No. Did I check out the Mellow Baker's web site, too easy. Look at the differences in bread flours between the two loaves. My increased whole grain mis en place had 8 oz which, we all know is not 5.5 cups. Not the 1 pound, 8 oz that the recipe actually needs.

It didn't take me long to notice the mistake. When I combined the ingredients, I made dough batter. No pictures because I was working so quickly to correct the error so the rye didn't turn into gluten mess. I added extra flour to what I hope is the correct proportions.

Perhaps now would be a good time for all of us to go through the errata sheet and make the necessary corrections. Or we could all work on our papers.

The dough fermented for two hours and then was shaped. The whole wheat loaf was easy to work with.



I am concerned about the increased whole grain. It has huge air bubbles, and is a little looser than I would prefer.




I ended up with some beautiful looking loaves. The ones on the left are the increased grain.




The rye is slightly darker. The both have a nice flavor.

Simple risky salad #38

This salad appeals to me, I hope that I enjoy it. I may end up eating all of it. Any one who has been following my bread baking blog is aware that my family is adverse to fruit in the breads. Cooked raisins are not allowed in my house. Delicious dates never factor into my ingredients.

I was pondering their aversion to fruits. They will eat apple pie, blueberry pie, tarts with fruits but ask the fruit to share the stage, combine with dough and they turn their noses up at my baked goods.

Their dislike extends to some natural dinner combinations including my favorite pork with apples. There an exception to the rule, mangos and pork have the approval of all family members.

Go figure. Any way, this salad in Bittman's 101 salads caught my eye. Watermelon, red onion, feta, olives and mint with a little lemon and olive oil. Where could you go wrong? Oh yeah, the fruit thing...

I made up the salads and put them in the refrigerator to chill. Now, I just want to let you know that I don't make these things up.

My husband came home, I put the salad in front of him and he said,

"This is very disturbing"

He tried some more and then said

"This is that Bittman guy, isn't it"

A few more bites,

"on my fork there are onions, cheese and you would think tomatoes, but no..."

Well, the salad is gone. I really enjoyed it. Tom would eat it again, I don't have the heart to tell him that there is one with tomatoes and watermelon...

101 salads for summer

Last summer Mark Bittman published 101 salad recipes in his column in the New York Times. He says that the majority of them take less than 20 mins to prepare.

I need to do something to offset my fascination with baking all the recipes in a bread cookbooks! The Mellow Bakers are baking their way through the 84 recipes in Jeffrey Hamelman's book, Bread. The Modern Bakers are baking their way through Nick Malgieri's The Modern Bakers.

Bittman's recipes are indeed minimalist. A list of ingredients, no measurements. They plant the idea for a delicious salad. I've made quite a few of them, but this summer I am going to focus on seeing how many I can try.

Tonight's salad. Chickpeas, shredded carrots, celery and coconut with a dressing of lemon, olive oil, cilantro and curry powder.

I really enjoy cilantro, however I can remember the first time I tried it. We were out on a fancy date night. With two boys, fifteen months apart, we didn't do that much. We had been transferred to Tucson, AZ. Our first experience with Southwestern cuisine. Tom ordered some soup and had me taste it. We were both pretty certain that the chef had dumped soap in to the soup. Cilantro aldehydes are similar to aldehydes found in soaps and lotions. Some people can't stand the flavor. The New York Times has an interesting article on why people don't like it.

Our tastes have matured, we really enjoy cilantro. We try to grow it in the backyard, before the heat gets to it.