STIR THE POTS

Roggenvollkornbrot

German bread or rye breads are one of my holy grail or crosses to carry in my quest to wake up America to a  really tasty loaf! Recently aided by Maggie Glezer on some BP% issues I had forgotten from my school training, I set about to conquer a challenging 3 stage detmold rye @ 100%! No easy feat let me tell you, so I ended up with a softic air bag of gummy rye and was about to give up when I remembered a book my friend Nils had told me he used. So I looked through the pages found one formula and trying to translate with a computer translator; my kinder German and bier ordering are pretty much what I know, so  I set about making this monster amount of dough! I just said screw doing the math and proceeded to grind whole grains with a mill I borrowed from work, and seeded the levain, soaked the grains and seeds! I was on my way, overnight and into the following day I didn't give in, I even e-mailed Nils for some help and continued finally trying to make this mother of all doughs by hand in the largest salad bowl I could find!

Et voila, a fine dough with really a thoothy and mild but delicious cake like bite! So don't give up and by all means do the math! This is a lot of dough, I gave three loaves to neighbors and friends!

    Formula from:

Brotrezepte aus ländlichen Backstuben - Landküche (Gebundene Ausgabe)                      

  Sourdough Build:
- 900g whole-rye flour
- 405g rye flour, Type 1150
- 1350g water
- 250g rye sourdough, hydration: 100%

Soaker:
- 200g rye kernels
- 570g chopped rye

- 200g grain-mix (sesame, flaxseed, sunflower seeds
- 1350g boiling water

Dough:

- Sourdough Build
- Soaker
- 300g whole-rye flour
- 135g rye flour, Type 1150
- 10g dried yeast
- 100g warm water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp salt
- 100g grain-mix for the top of the loaf

-> Proof dried yeast in the 100g warm water for about 10 minutes.
-> Mix dough and put into 2 loaf tins, then bake
(nor bulk or final fermentation at room temperature)
-> Bake for 60 minutes at 190°C

Bagels (sourdough of course!)

Talk about an icon, the bagel. Toasted with butter, schmeared with cream cheese or some smoked salmon, it's definitely a must for baking especially sourdough!
My friend Dom from Oz of Bethesdabakin has kindly posted a formula on Dan Lepards site, I also used  Nancy Silverton's  formula from her La  Brea bread book with great results!

New York's once famous Jewish neighborhood the lower eastside  has long since vanished save a few relics like Kossars who make a mean bialy or Katz's with their famous sandwiches(scuttle but is that it will soon shut down!). It say's a lot about where you live when you can't get a Jewish rye or pumpernickel or bagel from a local bakery, seems our culinary traditions are waining even in the so called capital of food! Montreal bagels are the cousins up north who traditionally bake the bagels in wood fired ovens and enrich the dough with egg? Sounds like they have the idea on how to make a good product Make a bagel and schmear it, they are good eats!

Dieter Schorner

I recall first seeing Dieter Schorner in my bread class one Saturday morning about 10- years ago, he left some samples that we enthusiastically polished off! Chef Jacques Torres told us to try the Danish pastries, we didn't need much encouragement either. They were toothsome crisp layers of buttery dough married with pistachio paste and sugar glaze, it was sublime yet so simple. A few weeks later when I befriended a German student from his class, we exchanged stories about cooking and our mutual link to Germany, he kindly left me  copies of Chef Schorner's recipes a literal treasure trove!
I can tell you his brownies with cherries soaked in orange juice are addictive, his stollen simple fruit and nut filled pieces of manna. So when I received e-mail from him that he would be available to speak to me, I was like a kid in a candy shop. First his knowledge is worth its weight in gold, his storytelling from a different era with anecdotes that are well placed for a complacent generation! As for the knuckle headed publisher who said he wasn't current, he should have his head examined! Chef Dieter is a living book of pastry and life experiences  and I can't wait  for a copy!

Click to listen

 

Podcast

Maggie Glezer

Maggie Glezer is someone I respect, she takes time to think of the process of baking bread, from bakers percent, to hydration, crunching the numbers to identifying the science of grains, not a lazy baker like me. Meticulously explaining the steps in baking all the while unveiling the magic that is bread, the staff of life.  Maggie went into the craft to find out what makes bakers and bread tick in her book Artisan baking in America. Blessing of bread is a testament to traditions of Jewish bakers sadly a tradition that is being lost. Her ideas are many and she hasn't started a new book yet, but I am sure when it comes out it will be on my shelf!

Click to listen

Podcast

Let it roll let it roll (blog roll)

The other day I noticed a link on my friend David Aplins blog. It's a way to  introduce food bloggers to one another through the blog roll. It's run by the lady who has an interesting concept on food, leftovers. I should get my brother to check it out, he never eats leftovers, it always has to be fresh or nothing! I especially like the Italian treats that Jenn showcases from her family's roots in Calabria and Sicily. So if you want to meet your fellow food blogger or foodie let it roll!

3 for Nils

Recently I left a comment on my friend Nils's site about forgetting quoting Goethe and just keep baking! Just wanted to apologize and to show Nils I wasn't lying about the three loaves I made either, it would'nt seem right that he should make a loaf and I wouldn't?

So the first is Nick Greco's levain which I made before and I really like!

Next is a loaf that had some bad luck slipping off the edge of my baking stone! It's the castaigne (chestnut) loaf or I guess a good name would be kastanien laib or chestnut loaf. I will work on not screwing up the shape next time, as the taste is intense with some good sheeps cheese, formidable!

And finally the old seigle rustique with raisins and walnuts, dense but also a keeper, though I may increase the levain % next try or even make a firm levain to see what the texture would be like?

Any way Nils eat your heart out, though I think I want to since you have that awesome bread book from Austria!

Brotzeit is to you too!

The Modern

It's been years since I worked at the MOMA or even went to an exhibition. It's Strange how I remember that place, it was the first kitchen I cooked in New York city. The restaurant  or dining room where my brother and I worked at is no longer there,though they still have a cafe on the second floor for the masses and downstairs the sleeker and stylish restaurant, The Modern. Initially when the review for the restaurant came out in the NYT I remember noting some interesting dishes and the name of the Chef,but I never really read the  reviews as a reference,as they can take away from a personal choice or perspective.It's like when a movie is critiqued, how can someone tell you how you will feel unless you see it for yourself, just like a wine or food, it's personal. So we went yesterday after trying to make a making a reservation last weekend. This time we left our name and while we had to wait and hour to be seated we went window shopping at the museum store across the seat. Returning to the still busy dining room we were seated by the very crowded bar in the lounge area of the restaurant, the room has fine acoustics so you don't feel overwhelmed by noise level, it's rather serene actually, even with it's modern look. While perusing the wine list,(pricey but filled with some good choices.), I looked up and saw Chef David Bouley walking into the restaurant, you couldn't miss him, he seemed to be taking in all the atmosphere and later ventured into the kitchen, hmmmm...was he spying? ( I desperatley wanted to ask him for an interview, it didn't happen though!)

The service was very good, we did get the wrong wine but that was resolved, as the manager said they have over 600 hundred wines in the cellar. The dining room was closed but the lounge restaurant was full, and we looked over a menu with so many choices that it was hard to choose! The menu was filled with worldwide ingredients and had hints of Alsatian dishes which were what I wanted to try. It seems the best thing when ordering. My chef once told us to always order salad, that way you could judge a chefs skill by the vinaigrette he made. I always try something that doesn't seem to overworked or difficult, simple is better and so I went for Modern liverwurst, not that it looked modern but I think it's a homemade wurst. It came with pickled vegetables and some toasted rye bread accompanied with whole grain mustard. It was divine, how can you go wrong? My companions at the table I was with tried a salad with coach farms cheese and pumpkin seeds, and a mushroom soup that looked foamed with a side of some sort of fried chorizo ravioli,really delicious! Main course was a Gaeta olive crusted quail with a chorizo, barley, toasted almonds, and pickled ramps. Quail was pink and moist and the garnish was earthy and married well with the Syrah from Morrocco. The other mains at the table were,Loup de mer with cockles and organic vegetables in there own jus, a duck confit with pommes Lyonnaise and frisee and finally an upsidedown tuna tartare with fennel, Japanese cucumber and aioli! Whew, the portions were just the right amount as desserts we ordered finished us off were also just as good! I had an apple strudel with prune armaganac ice cream, a Modern cheesecake with almonds and passion fruit sauce. The manager graciously gave us a wonderful serving of beignets with two sauces compliments of the house, he said they were a gift from his predecessor who had once been my boss!

So now that I have enjoyed a meal where I once worked, it's nice to feel welcomed back. I am sending  chef Gabriel Kreuther a thank you and an invitation to speak with me at stirthepots, stay tuned!

Boulangerie, pie in the sky!

Some times a dream is fulfilled or sent by mail! In my case the dream is a bakery, I can't reason why, since it's probably the hardest physical work next to a chef.
Still it's nice that someone recognizes the love you have for a labor that is both nourishing and a skill that is so zen, perhaps not achievable but still a dream! Over the holidays I   received a bag of chestnut flour from the Ticino region of Switzerland along with a formula. I was even more surprised by the artwork accompanied in the package, a still life of two bakers with a background filled with an oven, pretzels on a ring, croissants,bag of flour with a mouse and even a tresse loaf. My sister,bless her heart sent me a wonderful piece that honors both me and St. Honore, the bakers saint! It's a lonely job, but what other person brings sustenance to the table like a baker? My brother jokes about my "yeast infection", I suppose I have the last laugh though  when he devours a fresh loaf slathered with butter and jam.