The Modern Victory Garden

HARVEST MONDAY

Each Monday, Daphne’s Dandelions hosts “Harvest Monday” where everyone submits links to their blog posts summarizing their harvest for the week.   It’s fun to see what people are producing from gardens from so many different regions, and how they are using it.   Check it out and join in too!           

Another rather crazy week for me and as a result I was not in the garden much at all.   I did harvest some green onions and chives during the week, which were used in evening meal preparations but they were never photographed or weighed.   On Sunday I pulled some regular and some golden beets. 

I just trimmed them up and roasted them skin and all with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt.   Just before serving, I cut the larger root into quarters.   They were delicious served alongside baked salmon in dill sauce and pasta tossed with freshly grated parmesan cheese and a sauté of garlic (storage), chopped tomato (frozen whole tomatoes), and small dices of a quality hard salami.                                            

Harvest totals for the week of December 12th through 18th (rounded to the nearest ¼ pound).

• Beets 0.75 lbs
• Onions (green) 0.00 lbs (not enough to make harvest tally weight)

Total For Week 0.75 lbs

Total Year to Date 366.50 lbs                                    

Eggs collected this week – 12                                               

BREAD RECIPE TINKERING

I have long been a fan of no knead bread and make it regularly because I love the consistently beautiful artisan style loaves it produces; crisp crust with a tender crumb inside and all without a whole lot of work or time demands of the baker.                             

There are so many good things about this bread that it is hard to find fault with it, but it does indeed have some limitations, especially for those of us that work out of the home during the week.   The regular sized loaf of bread either gets used up early in the week and I have to then pull a previously baked loaf out of the freezer (which is never as good as a fresh baked loaf) OR the loaf is not used up quickly and the crust gets soft and the bread gets stale tasting.   The long soak period of no knead bread makes it impractical to work into a regular work day, so a mid-week baking has not been an option.   My wish list for the no knead bread was to have more frequent baking (not confined to the weekend) as an option and a smaller loaf so that it would be used fast enough to ensure it was at its peak from start to finish.    

Recently, a Mother Earth News article referenced a prior article they had published in December 2008 about “fresh-baked bread in five minutes a day”.   This recipe and approach uses high moisture dough with no kneading involved too, but refrigerates the dough which replaces the majority of the soak period.   You then pull off a chunk of the dough, shape it into a boule, and bake it in a high heat oven (on a baking stone) with a pan of steam water – after first letting the dough warm up and rise for a bit on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel.   This recipe as described works beautifully and produces a smaller loaf of bread and the dough is ready when you are which makes evening baking mid-week practical.   I made several batches of this recipe and baked it as described with consistently good success.   However, I yearned for the simpler baking process of the traditional no knead bread – using a covered Dutch oven to hold in the steam which removes the need to use the pizza peel, baking stone, and pan of hot steam water.   I just find it much simpler to use the covered preheated baking pan.    I decided to hybridize the “fresh-baked bread in five minutes a day” recipe with the baking process of the no knead bread recipe to get gorgeous artisan style bread baked on demand and in smaller loaves.   I have been testing the recipe out for the past several weeks and am happy with the consistent results I am getting.   I like to do the initial mixing and rising on the weekend when I have more time, but I have also done it during an evening during the week day. 

To start out with, I had to find a smaller version of the covered enameled cast iron Dutch oven that I use for the no knead bread as it is just too large.   I was able to find a 2 quart version that is just right for the purpose.   Here it is next to my full size pot that I regularly use for the no knead bread.  

So here is the recipe as modified:                                               

Ingredients (makes 4 one-pound loaves)

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 ½ TBSP granulated yeast (1 ½ packets)
• 1 ½ TBSP course kosher or sea salt
• 6 ½ cups unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose white flour

Mixing and Storing the Dough

1. Heat the water to just a little warmer than body temperature (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit)

2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5-quart bowl.

3. Mix in the flour by gently scooping it up with the measuring cup and then level it with a knife.   Mix with a spoon or in a food processor or stand mixer with dough hook, until uniformly moist.   If hand mixing gets too difficult, you can wet your hands and press it together.   Don’t knead though!   Should be completed in just a matter of minutes and the dough should be very wet and loose enough to conform to the container.   The wetter dough actually encourages the development of sourdough characteristics while in storage.   By the end of the week, my dough has a very definite sourdough smell and taste to it.

4. Cover the bowl loosely (not air tight) or place in a 6-quart dough tub which is a resealable, lidded container (not airtight – with gasket or with the corner lifted) and allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flatten on top).   This usually takes about 2 hours.   The dough is very forgiving and longer rise times will not hurt it at all.   Once it is raised, you then put it in the fridge where it will stay until you are ready to use it!   In fact, you can use it just three hours later if you would like, but I find it is better to wait at least 12 hours.   The dough improves with age.                                                        

On Baking Day

5. Sprinkle flour in the bottom and sides of a 2 or 3 quart bowl – roughly the same size as the pot you intend to bake the bread in.

6. Sprinkle the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour, then cut off a 1-pound (large grapefruit-sized) piece with a serrated knife or with your hand (messier but easier).   Put the rest of the dough back into the refrigerator.   Using flour on your hands to keep the dough from sticking, gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on four “sides”, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go, until the bottom has a seam of bunched up ends.

7. Place the ball in the previously prepared bowl.   Let it rest (warm up) and rise for 2 hours.   At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees.   Put a 2- to 2 ½ -quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.   When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven.   Carefully and quickly invert the rising bowl with the dough over the hot pot, turning the dough out - seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.   Cover with lid and bake 20 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 10 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.   Cool on a rack.   

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener