STIR THE POTS

The Mix

For bakers, flour is a bit like a painter's colors. Sometimes the choices lead to loaves that are great. Even masterpieces. Other times the choice ends up leaden or bird feed. Spontaneous choices are often determined by what's left in my myriad of left-over flour. Sometimes a thought or plan develops. This loaf, made with a flour of ancient grains, surpassed my expectations in taste. With an even crumb, it didn't stale as some modern wheat varieties quite often do.

 

The mix:

Tumminia

Rye

Spelt

Kamut

Einkorn

Whole wheat

Buckwheat Muffin

For a long time I used a formula for muffins called Universal Muffins, which I discovered from Tightwad Gazette, a newsletter which preaches budget living and frugality. That never figured into my usage of this recipe until investigating its origins. I adapted the formula to metric scale, and introduced buckwheat as part of the mix. Overall, it made for fabulous results.

Chocolate Krantz

Having a bit of extra croissant dough in my kitchen, it inspired me to bake a batch of pain au chocolate. But without solid chocolate bars used to fill them, I substituted with faux  Nutella for what was basically a krantz (aka babka). The activity of this dough was a stunner.  I rolled it up jelly roll style, then cut and braided, loaded it into paper molds and baked...Vavoom, here's what I got with a cup of coffee.

Simit

Sıcak, sıcak!” The words heard in an Istanbul streets, for hot, hot simit. The so called bagel of Turkey, whose history and origins are as mysterious as the Topkapi palace. When I visited and tried them, I wasn't quite understanding it's cultural signifigance and importance. But after so long, I miss having them, and took a day to prepare this version, just need to buy a Turkish tea pot  while sharing with cheese and olives.

Øland Flour

Found this bag of Øland flour at the Union Square market. I'm impressed and it made great bread. 

 

Latest Levain

Here's a levain raised in an uneven often mercurial environment, my work kitchen. The results were sliced and toasted for the first spring wine dinner...Break bread and prosper.

Kornspitz

Kornspitz is an Austrian bread often found in  bread baskets. They are similar to Stangerli or pretzels. I re-worked this batch with fantastic heritage grains and a wheat sourdough. Served with a spread of butter, ham and or cheese, mmmm.

 

Revolution Bread Enkir

Always experiment. Or so it's said. And so I did recently, the results being this tight specimen. My thanks to Eli Colvin from Revolution Breads for sharing his Enkir formula, giving me a base to explore.

 

Here's the mix

EX-T85 Flour Shots

Sunrise Flour Mills gifted me a 5-pound bag newly-milled EX-T85 flour. Remarkable flour. Here's some visual evidence. 

 

Arepas Cafe

Arepas are a mainstay of Venezuela and Colombia. They are actually one of the few pre-Colombian traditional foods still popular.  Recently I went to try some from experts in this dish, namely the Arepas Cafe in Astoria. Home made food, with a line out the door, it's a family business that's been serving happy customers for 13 years. Here's what we tried over a series of repeat visits.