STIR THE POTS

Nduja

Sometimes it's better to be behind a trend, especially when it's something to do with food. Let other people do the tasting and wait for you and your taste buds to catch up! Other times, well, don't walk for it, run!  Case in point. While walking through Grand Central Market recently, I passed  Murray's cheese's new charcuterie department. Amongst the salsicce, I saw nduja. Yes nduja, that Calabrian soft salami that is the rage in the salumi circles.

 

According to the folks at Murray's, this particular version of nduja (above) is from Boccalone and pronounced "en doo ya." A waiter at work who is from Calabria shrugged when I mentioned this delicacy from his native land. Apparently it's less a specialty in southern Italy than a regular staple. Regardless, a shout out to these guys who make such fine pig products. 

 

This recent walk around Grand Central Market reminded me of my visit to San Francisco's  Ferry Market, a place I visited while attending bread school. I still remember my baguettes with their fierce fennel pollen flavored salami, a perfect casse croûte for my walks to class. Hoooha! 

Nduja is made with the head of the pork minus the cheeks, which are saved to make guanciale. A distant  cousin to the French Andouille, the nduja is packed in the lower intestine of its own tripe lining. My first tasting done, I find this spreadable salami heady spicy and ready for some more tasting!

Nudja has that sort mystical aura, difficult to find and legendary among some foodies. Unless you're Calabrian or have visited that part of the "Toe " of Italy, or come upon this delicacy by sheer luck. You might think it were spam (gone funky), or even musty looking botargo. No, it's just a for the strong-hearted, a salami that spreads a fiery new dimension, especially compared to the standard hard salami that most of us know. Nudge, nudge.. go get some!

Baking madness, a baker obsessed!

Times a wasting! Not having had a decent piece of bread in weeks, I thought the best way to quench my craving was to start baking. I had three levains in the fridge. The liquid and solid levains took a single feeding to awaken, perhaps because I had fed them quite often before leaving for Ecuador.  Anyway, the first bake was a multigrain loaf we did at SFBI, made with a pre-ferment and some yeast. But this time I made it all natural levain.

 


 

Multigrain bread(adapted from SFBI)

Soaker:

30g flax seeds

30g sesame seeds

30g sunflower seeds

30g oats,( I used Bob's Red mill 5 grain rolled cereal)

75g water

Soak for at least two hours

Levain:

80g flour

45g water

10g starter

Final dough:

215g AP flour

85g   Whole wheat

35g   Rye

240g water

195g soaker

135g levain

10g salt

Mix flour and water, autolyse for 30 to 60 minutes. Add in levain and mix at first speed for about 3 minutes. Mix in salt at second speed mix to medium or improved consistency, (window pane), add in soaker until incorporated at second speed.

1-11/2 hour bulk ferment with one fold if needed.

divide into 1lb or 454 g pieces, pre-shape into balls and rest at least 30 minutes.

Shape, whatever suits you, I made batards, since my attempt at school was less then spectacular!

1-2 hours rise in banneton or couche.

Bake about 35-40 minutes with steam at 450 F

These are quite moist and I allowed them to sit in the oven an extra 10-15 minutes with the oven off and the door slightly ajar.

Having followed the amazing home baker, Hans Joakim on his blog at the fresh loaf, I picked one of the many formulas he shared. Not having baked for awhile, I did make some errors in measuring the ingredients for this rye starter-based pain au levain. It still seemed to hold its form and taste. I will give it a proper go again and probably a lot more of this repertoire from this fine baker!

Finally, there's a loaf based on Jim Lahey's "no knead dough", something I'm revisiting, wondering if I can really make this loaf with just a levain rather then yeast. Umm.... verdict  is still out as the loaf or blob is still in my oven...maybe I will give that another look over and try again? (or not?).

Well two out of three isn't that bad.

Will be submitted to Susan @ Wild yeast yeast spotting!

Tortillas to Empanadas

Visiting Ecuador, I have been craving a piece of decent bread. All I have found here are pillows of soft white dough, yeasted, slightly sweet, shaped into odd looking but familiar pseudo-crescent rolls. Other than that there's some yellowish colored bread, or even some neon pink glazed sweet breads carted on window paned boxes mounted on bicycles with parasols with the peddlers literally pedaling their goods.

 

Out of sheer bread withdrawal, I decided to attempt something that could be recognized as handmade, with some taste of wheat and perhaps some additional flavor profile. Say, wheat tortillas. I didn’t have sourdough in mind, and for that matter didn't even have any yeast. Instead I relied soley on flour, water, salt and the flavor enhancer (and really fantastic ingredient) manteca de cerdo. Otherwise known as lard! The other thing I lacked was a rolling pin, so relied on Dan Lepard's innovative method of a wine bottle.Yes, they do make wine here, but that is another story. I started the dough using the ratio technique. Without Michael Ruhlman’s ratio book in hand, I used only my sense and experience to guide me; as the only scale we have available is huge and is used to weigh fish and vegetables. Rudimentary skill was at its most primeval stages.I rubbed the lard into the dough, added salt and eyeballed the water to the feel of how the dough was coming along, as I hadn’t previously used flour here.

Even with the humidity, the dough was perfect. I made up some tortillas which puffed up and tasted great. Whether plain or with cheese, tomatoes and chilies for an ad hoc  quesadilla, it worked, to the amazement of the cooks who had never had this style of tortilla. One of the cooks asked me if I knew how to make empanadas and if this dough would work. Having never considered the idea of tortilla dough being multi-purpose, I supposed that it could, and why not try? So I made little golf ball sized dough, patted them out flat with my hand, and proceeded to fill them with shrimp. Then we made some cheese with herbs. Our medium of cooking was in lard, fried things are good, especially in lard.

 

 

Tortilla and Empanada Dough

 

2 Cups of flour

1 tsp of salt

4Tbsp of lard

Water, add till you get a malleable dough.

 

Rub in the lard with the flour and salt, add in water till you have a manageable dough, mix but don’t over knead dough. (Think short crust or pie dough.)

Rest at least 20 minutes covered with a towel. Divide into golf ball size or make larger empanada’s if so inclined.

Roll into a circle for Tortillas, about 8 inches round. To cook tortillas use a round cast iron skillet or a flat Teflon pan and cook over medium high heat on both sides till puffy and blistered, about 1 minute for each side.

For empanadas, roll out dough about a quarter inch thick or pat dough with flat of your hand to create a oval shaped piece of dough. Fill the center of the dough with whatever filling you choose, about a tablespoon of filling depending how big you made the piece of dough. Pinch sides of dough to seal. Crimp with a fork or pleat edges with fingers.

Fry in a high sided pot or fryer till golden brown  350 F.

Shapes of things....Fendu and Pistolet

The French have the funniest names for things, including the shapes and names for breads. Categorized precisely, as well as baked, we know them as fendu,(split) or pistolet (pistol), and miche which is derrière. So here, down below are some examples of the breads beyond the humor.

Thanks to Vincent Talleu for linking a cool video about Tour's Jacques Mahou,which inspired me to give these loaves a try. I was unsuccessful making them in previous attempts as home. But this time, with just some good shaping, a dowel and some great dough, voila!

I would be remiss to forget to mention my other inspirations, Susan of Wild Yeast and, of course, master baker Jeffrey Hamelman for his wonderful Vermont Sourdough, which was my shaping medium. I made this bread to take with me to Ecuador for family, I may just keep one as the bread is softy there!

This is going to Susan's Yeastspotting, and this I promise is my last bake till I return, maybe??

JT's 85x3 au nature, sans levure chimique

The breads above were found on a formula via MC. It's an 85x3 bread, some high extraction flour, and three pre-ferments, biga, poolish and levain. All to say it took lots of math. Well I crunched numbers and avoided any commercial yeast and....

Truth be told, I massacred the process and didn't do the second addition of water thing. No doppio impasto or basinage,whatever... no, that's not me. I just autolyse'ed and went full throttle making my loaf. Hell, it's August, which means I am on vacation! Using the last bit of Golden Buffalo flour, my pre-ferments were far from kosher, using whole wheat with a percentage of white flour. Like I said, it's August, and hate to rub it in, but this chef is taking some time off!

Anyway this formula kicked ass. This loaf wasn't gonna go for a long cold retarding, no it went from bulk proofing, with some folds, pre-shape, final proof and smack into my oven... So, thanks to it's innovative creator, JT and for MC who always inspires....

And now, well, have a great month. I'm off to South America. See you when I get back from my next adventure.....I will be away checking out the Pacific whales of this planet's southern hemisphere.

 
 

Olé!

My recent bakes, Sicilian semolina (at left), and a Pane di segale with pancetta (on the right) are a shout out (or hola) to those baking in Spain. They aren't Spanish breads, but I've yet to  consider or try some Spanish bread formulas, and hope I do them justice, if some Spanish bakers could point me in the right direction.

Recently I was featured in a Spanish periodical El Pais amongst other fine bread bloggers, by some really inspired bloggers themselves, Javier Marca and Augustin Oliet of Madrid Tiene Miga...

 Ole! Y Gracias....

Pretzel logic

This weekend has been hot as an oven again, inside and outside. It's my perfect excuse for a baker's lost weekend, as the wife's away and I am furthering my perpetual education in baking. My latest trial has been going for that elusive pretzel, or should I say Laugenbrezel, more commonly known as a German lye pretzel.

For years I have wavered on whether I should try using lye, that caustic chemical that could burn your skin, blind you or, on a more hopeful note, unclog your clogged-up drain. Screw it, times a wasting! Last year I got the courage up and bought some lye online, but lacked courage  and time (or maybe it was just a sourdough recipe) to try and use it. Crank up the AC, crunch the percentages, and what else to do except make brezeln? I mean it's research, really!

My inspiration started last week while visiting my mom. We took a visit to that über supermarket and entertainment park known as Whole foods. As I passed the buffet line of salads and all sorts of healthy stuff, out of the corner of my eye, I saw these huge looking pretzels. I asked the lady behind the counter to cut it in half, dreaming of smearing it with butter and ham, like back in my days in Germany!

To my horror and amazement  she cut the pretzel in half on the vertical rather then horizontal. Horror. How was I gonna make a pretzel and speck sandwich? While trying to rectify the mistake with my wife's handy Swiss Army knife, it reminded me that Americans don't really understand how to enjoy a pretzel (or brezel). They eat these monster soft ones off push carts that are smeared with mustard. Or you find bagged in various guises and shapes of the  hard pretzel variety!

 

There is still a lot to be learned, in terms of what a real brezel is or how it should be eaten. Call it pretzel logic. My batch this weekend were based on the formula from FCI where I attended baking classes ages ago.I decided to turn them into sourdough with my new and improved stiff levain.

 

Laugabrezeln

Makes 6 85g pieces.

220g flour

65g water (you may have to add a little extra depending on your absorption)

187g levain (mine is @60% hydration)

5g    malt

10g oil (neutral, canola, sunflower, or lard if you feel piggish?)

5g salt

Salt for the top of pretzels.

Mix all the ingredients till you get a firm bagel like dough.

Bulk proof about 2 hours. Pre-shape into small logs and rest 25 minutes.

Roll from the middle of dough out to both sides leaving the middle thicker as you roll out edges. Cross your arms and lift the two strands and twist, pressing the ends into the dough as illustrated!

Chill 30 minutes.

Lye dip: 40 grams of lye + 1 liter  water whisked carefully with wire whip until diluted...caution it's caustic, use gloves, goggles and open the windows to vent!!!

Proceed to dip pretzels, one at a time. Using a spatula or skimmer, place on a rack to let excess drip. Salt, I used Sicilian sea salt, or go without?

Bake @440 F for 16 minutes, no steam!

Das ist lecker!

Pissaladiere, that French pie!

French pizza, is much ignored but always beloved by Francophilic geeks like us (moi!), aptly  noted to me by an old friend today observing dinner I cooked and posted on my Facebook page. It was a Pissaladiere.

Pissaladiere is the maligned cousin of the more common la pizza Italiana, which itself comes in so many shapes and configurations nevermind the D.O.C.G or whatever? This particular pie, comes from Nice and its environs, including my mother's childhood home of the Var.

You ought to know this onion, garlic topped oil laden dough is a one of the pre-Colombian tomato type; this pizza was introduced into what was a region in both French and Italian hands throughout history, hence good taste abounds from both sides of the border. It's especially flavorful with additions of herbs, tomatoes, olives. Mind you no sane French guy would consider cheese on this pie. On the other hand some in San Remo put mozzarella on it. Sacre bleu! My mother used to make it for us when were kids, and that flavor hasn't left my taste buds since.

Ma tartine de été

Bread is for men to eat, let man eat bread!

The weather has been frightful. More to the point, it's hot as hell but my levains have been stuck in the fridge, unfed. And if I don't get back to feeding them they may not come back to life. Despite lacking the scientific eye of some fellow bakers, these last few weeks led me to an observation. Specifically this: I made some bread using a lower hydrated levain; around 60%...what's called a stiff levain. Now, I have been a liquid levain user for sometime, and I can tell you it's a hard habit to quit. Anyway, this particular levain came from a formula I often use for a miche. It comes from an article Amy Scherber had written for in Pastry Arts and Design few years back when I was just getting a grip on Miche (lots of double entendre in  baking terminology!)

Nevermind, my wife had laid down her golden rule for our NYC apartment. No baking in this summer heat, especially with her family visiting! Thankfully they loved this bread so much they asked me to bake another loaf to take home. No problemo! And from this loaf was left over a bit of levain which was duly dispatched and propagated for the next loaves for the care packages. Ready for my observation? Here goes. This same levain somehow still showed strength after sitting in the fridge. With  just two feedings it was percolating , ripe and ready to  make some awesome loaves. I used Jeffrey Hamelman's book, which admittedly I haven't had that much luck with in making a fantastic loaf for some odd reason. Strange since I took a course with him and the formulas are spot on? Must be me, the heat, or my schedule.

Enough verbiage. Here are two of my latest bakes...mostly big miche's that I baked au creuset, to get that nice crust and bakery look!

Hamelman's mixed flour levain...Long shelf life and wonderful tasting.

Another levain from Hamelman...levain with whole wheat.

Oh, and it makes for a great peanut butter and marmalade tartine too!

Title of my post is from the Honorable Robert Nesta,"Bob Marley", song Bus dem shut (Pyaka).

This is post is being submitted at Susan's yeast spotting!