I am truly a sucker for really good rye bread. Especially if the rye bread has an extra little something in it to enhance the earthy flavor that rye flour imparts to bread. That’s where the tartness from the sourdough starter comes in, along with the savory goodness provided by a touch of onion and a tiny bit of dill seed. Altogether this combination is unbeatable. Now, something you should know right off the bat. This is not a dark, heavy on the rye, bread.

This bread is blessed with just a light touch of each of the strong flavors that intermingle to produce this delightful loaf. So no worries that the onion or dill will be overpowering. You might even wonder if they are really there at all. But that’s the beauty of this bread. It’s just perfectly balanced.

Now I have been very remiss with all of my recent postings for bread. A few years ago, I actually went so far as to create a post entitled “Bread Baking 101”. Now granted, I didn’t address baking with a sourdough starter in that instructional post. But I did provide a fairly brief but comprehensive overview of ingredients used and “how to” directions that should be of assistance if you are a novice bread baker.

But as helpful as my post might be, there are far better instructional sources out there that take you step by step through the process. My sister-in-law Katie clued me in to the video tutorials presented by Breadtopia. I have watched a couple now and they are very informative and very well done. And of course there are fabulous videos by my favorite chef – Chef John from Food Wishes. (The man’s a genius!)

Anyway, my point is – there’s no reason not to make your own bread. So please don’t be intimidated by bread baking even if you and your kitchen are not on a first name basis. Bread is very easy to prepare, and a lovely homemade loaf is so much cheaper than store bought. Plus you know exactly what goes into the preparation. Of course you might miss the flavor of preservatives or other additives with names you can’t begin to pronounce. And that’s too bad. But take my word for it – you’ll get over it! Remember – He/she who never undertook anything never achieved anything. Or in the common vernacular – nothing ventured, nothing gained! In other words – go for it!

And as always – peace, love, and happy baking to all.

1 T. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing on dough before baking

1/3 c. finely chopped onion

2 c. sourdough starter

2 T. unsalted butter

¼ c. water

2 tsp. kosher salt

4 tsp. dill seed

1 c. rye flour

3 T. vital wheat gluten (I use Bob’s Red Mill)

2 c. white bread flour

fleur de sel or other coarse flaky salt, opt.

Slowly sauté the onions in olive oil until they become translucent. Meanwhile pour sourdough starter into the bowl of your stand mixer.  

When the onions are translucent, remove from heat and add butter, water, salt, and dill seed. Cool to lukewarm and stir into starter.

Add the rye flour and mix well. Add the white flour gradually, until you have a very satiny and soft bread, about 7-8 minutes. Shape into an elongated loaf.

Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and let rise, covered, in a warm place for 1½ to 2½ hours, or until about doubled in bulk. (Rising time will vary according to your starter, but rising always takes longer with breads made with just a sourdough starter than with breads made with active dry yeast).

Make 3-4 diagonal slashes on top of loaf with a razor blade or very sharp knife. Don’t press too hard. Let the cutting implement do the work. (You don’t want to deflate the dough.) Lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle with fleur de sel. (Not too much.)

Bake in a pre-heated 375 oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 205 – 210 degrees.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before slicing.

OK, this is the easiest bread I have ever made. Four main ingredients and just 1 long rising. None of this let the yeast proof, mix the dough, let the dough rise till doubled, shape the dough, rise again, then bake. Just mix the dough, shape it, let it rise, and bake it off.

The first time I made this bread, the crust, internal texture, and taste was outstanding. But the top crust didn’t brown. So I baked another batch, raised the temperature from 425 to 450 degrees, and turned on the convection option on my oven for the last half of the baking time. This time the baguettes came out a light golden brown. In other words – fabuleux!  

Now I must say, I am truly excited about sharing this French bread recipe with you. First of all, like I said, it’s super easy to build. But the most wonderful part is how perfect this bread is for bruschetta and crostini. (And yes I know bruschetta and crostini are Italian dishes, and I’m advising you to bake a French bread.) The fact is – the texture is perfect anytime you want to use bread, either toasted or untoasted, as a base for other ingredients. But I have to tell you, the texture is not that super soft, fine grained quality that you find in some French breads. Which is fine with me. I prefer a more rustic, chewy mouth feel anyway. And I don’t for one moment miss the big holes that are often found in Italian baguettes. (Don’t get me wrong. I love crusty Italian baguettes. Just not for bruschetta or crostini.)

Italian baguettes often have holes as part of the texture we all know and love. But big holes allow bits and pieces of tomatoes, for example, to fall through and land on your lap. This bread is simply the perfect combination of slightly chewy, but with a crumb that happily supports ingredients either being dolloped, spread, or layered on top of the slices. In other words – perfect for bruschetta and crostini.

I really can’t wait to serve this bread to guests. Toasted and topped with tomatoes, basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Or pâté. OMG – this bread will be fantastic spread with pâté. Or soft cheeses. The list goes on and on.  

Now we can get really adequate baguettes at our local grocery store sometimes. If we are lucky enough to hit the grocery store at just the right time. But they are expensive, and like I said, not always available. But because these homemade baguettes are so darn easy to make, I don’t have to worry about obtaining fresh baguettes ever again. Not when I can spend 15-20 minutes building a product that is perfect and always available.

And of course, you don’t have to use these baguettes just for bruschetta. I toasted some slices this morning for breakfast, and they were perfect with our easy-over eggs. And the other evening I served a few slices with an Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper infused extra virgin olive oil. Delicious.

And last night I made bruschetta with slices of this amazing bread. Toasted the slices, scraped the toasted bread with a garlic clove, drizzled on some extra virgin olive oil, and topped them with diced tomato, chopped fresh basil, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Felt like we were back in Italy. (Close as we’re going to get this year. Boo coronavirus!)

And I can’t wait to use one of these baguettes as a roll for a subway style sandwich. And homemade croutons. This bread, cut into ¾-inch squares, sautéed in a bit of olive oil and butter, and finished with a light dusting of granulated garlic is going to produce perfectly delicious croutons. Caesar salad, here we come!

So if you too are a bread person, but don’t want to spend a lot of time or money in the preparation, this is the bread for you. Happy bread baking to all.

And yes, I love my new 15 x 13-inch 4 gutter baguette loaf pan. Worth the money just for the convenience. And yes this recipe can easily be doubled. (See picture below.)

½ c. sourdough starter

½ c. slightly warm water  

½ tsp. fine sea salt

2 c. fluffed* bread flour, or a tiny bit more if needed

Combine the sourdough starter, warm water, salt, and most of the flour in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using your dough hook, mix and knead until the dough is still a little sticky, but the bottom of the bowl is clean. (You will probably need all of the 2 cups of flour.) Form the dough into a ball and cut in half.

Place a small amount of flour on a clean surface and flour your hands. Shape each piece into a long baguette shape. I finish forming the baguette by rolling it in the flour until it is about 10-inches long. (Don’t use too much flour. Just enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and the shaping surface.)

Place the formed baguettes onto a parchment paper lined baguette pan (only if your baguette pan has holes in it) or a greased baking sheet. If your baguette pan does not have holes, give it a light coating of cooking spray, but no parchment paper required.

Cover lightly with plastic wrap that has been lightly greased with cooking spray and let rise until double in size in a warm place, 3-4 hours. Don’t over rise the baguettes. Mine took a little over 3 hours to rise on my kitchen counter. (The counter I use to rise bread is lighted. Don’t know if the light helps, but I feel like it contributes to making my bread rise really nicely.)

Bake baguettes in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a very light golden-brown. Turn your oven to convection half way through the baking process. Remove from oven and place on a wire cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before serving. If you don’t have a convection oven, not to worry. However, it might not get as golden brown. Who cares! It will still taste delicious.

*How to fluff flour: As you’re spooning out the flour, lightly stir up the flour in the container, and gently shake the flour as you fill the measuring cup. Then level off the measuring cup with a table knife or other straight edged implement.  

When it comes to kalamata olives, fresh rosemary, and garlic – well – how can you really go wrong? And when they are baked into a beautiful sourdough boule (round loaf), there is just no finer way to display this incredible threesome. They are simply simpatico ingredients.

The first time I paired kalamata olives and rosemary together in a bread recipe was about 6 years ago. This bread is very similar with one important exception. Rosemary Olive Bread is leavened with a package of active dry yeast. This recipe calls for a cup of sourdough starter. And therefore has a lovely “tang” to it.

This recipe also includes a bit of garlic and some black pepper. (Got to change things up a bit to keep Mr. C. riveted!) Well anyway, to make a short story long, I wanted to use some of my CSS (Coronavirus Sourdough Starter) (or Renee as “she’s” affectionately referred to here at Chez Carr) in the production of yet another bread that most of you will never build. (Why some of you even bother to read my posts is beyond my understanding. But I am mighty glad you come along for the ride.) Anyway……..

If you have nothing better to do with your time, have all the ingredients, and love bread, give this delicious combination of ingredients a try. For lunch yesterday I toasted a piece of this bread and placed a thin slice of Black Forrest ham on top. What an amazing and simple open faced sandwich that made! I’m still reeling from the fabulous flavor combination.

So to all of you who like myself, believe that the act of baking bread is almost sacrosanct, I implore you to give this recipe a try. Of course, if you are not an olive lover, or abhor rosemary, or God forbid, can’t abide garlic – well – you may be excused! The rest of you – get busy. This bread is worth the effort.

And just because I usually bake this type of bread in a clay baker when others use an old fashioned cast iron Dutch oven, I decided to buy a 5 quart cast iron Dutch oven to see how well it actually worked. The result was just the same as when I use my clay baker. Beautiful crust, lovely crumb, and fabulous curb appeal.

So if you have been storing a “heritage” Dutch oven out in your garage or even out in your tool shed, now’s the time to dig it out. (You might want to clean it up a bit before you use it again.) But if it’s at least a 5 quart, it would be perfect for this recipe. Or most other bread recipes that call for a clay baker or Dutch oven. And isn’t it fun to “re-purpose” something that might even have sentimental value. Could have been given to you by your grandmother, or even passed down to her from her grandmother. I know the Dutch oven I have downstairs in my storage room that was handed down to me by my parents, is as old as the hills. Not large enough for the purpose of baking bread, but I wouldn’t part with it for any amount of money.

So to all, have fun in the kitchen. If you have never baked bread, now is the time to give it a try. If prehistoric humans could “bake” a gruel made from grain and water on a hot rock 30,000 years ago, you should be able to mix some flour, water, yeast, and salt together in your KitchenAid mixer and throw it in your perfectly heat controlled oven with fairly predictable results. Just sayin’!

As always, peace and love to all. And keep your sense of humor. Laughter is strong medicine. It helps protect all of us from the damaging effects of undue stress. And stress is the number one feeling of emotion most of us are experiencing right now. So fight back. If nothing else, go make a face at yourself in your bathroom mirror. A funny face, along with how your normally perfectly quaffed hair looks right now should do the trick. No wait! That could lead to tears. Never mind. Bad idea.

1 c. sourdough starter   

3 c. bread flour, plus more as needed   

1 c. lukewarm water

1 T. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl

1 tsp. kosher salt   

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 T. finely chopped fresh rosemary

¾ c. roughly chopped Kalamata olives

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

In the bowl of your stand mixer, mix the sourdough starter, 2 cups of the flour, water, and olive oil together. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 4 hours.

Add the remaining cup of  flour to the mixer bowl along with the salt, pepper, rosemary, chopped olives, and garlic.   

Knead till the dough comes together. If your dough looks wet, add more bread flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Your dough should be slightly sticky but not wet. Continue to knead on medium speed for five minutes.

Pour a bit of olive oil over the dough, and using your hands roll it into a ball evenly covered with the oil.  Cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm spot for two hours. The dough will rise a little, but it may not double. Punch down the dough and shape into a boule (round).

Cover a cookie sheet with a rectangle of parchment paper, and place the loaf on the parchment. Dust with a bit of flour and cover with a tea towel. Place in a warm spot for an hour.

In the last half hour of rising, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. If you have a baking stone, pizza stone, clay baker, or Dutch oven, place it in the middle rack of the oven. You want it to heat right along with the oven.

Five minutes before you place your loaf in the oven, pour a cup of hot water into an oven-safe pan and place it on the lowest rack of the oven. Please note: If you are using a clay baker (bread cloche) or Dutch oven, no need to place container with water in your oven.

Take a very sharp or serrated knife and score the loaf carefully, making a large X.  Don’t use too much force or you will deflate the bread. Just let the weight of the knife do the work.

Carefully pick up the parchment sheet and place the loaf directly on the baking stone or pizza stone. If you don’t have a baking stone or pizza stone, simply place the cookie sheet with the loaf into the middle rack of the oven.

If you are using a clay baker or Dutch oven, remove from the oven. Carefully take off the lid. Set the loaf complete with parchment paper onto or into the bottom and cover with the lid. (A trick I use to make lifting my clay baker in and out of the oven, is to place it on a low sided baking sheet before it ever goes into the oven. It’s much easier to lift a baking sheet than a clay baker. Much less likely to burn yourself.)

If using a baking stone, pizza stone, or a plain baking sheet, bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then lower the temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 45 minutes or so. The internal temperature should be about 204 degrees. Remove from oven and let the bread cool on a rack before slicing.

If using a clay baker or Dutch oven, bake covered in the 450 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove the lid (very carefully) and continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches about 204 degrees. Remove from oven and let the bread cool on a rack before slicing.

Ok, disclaimer. I made these yesterday and they were fine. However, Mr. C. and I both agreed that (pardon me while I use a common vernacular) the muffins were just a touch too “Euell Gibbons” for us. (For more on Mr. Gibbons, see the short biography below.)

The original recipe, the one I made yesterday and you see in the picture, called for all whole wheat pastry flour. This sounded perfect at the time, but we have since decided that all that whole wheat is just too “healthy tasting” for our palates. We like whole wheat English muffins, but apparently the kind we have purchased in the past, had a whole bunch of white flour in the mix. (And yes I know, we are wusses. But we both grew up on white bread. In my case it was homemade bread, but it was still exclusively made with good old white flour.)

But I must say, we did enjoy the all whole wheat muffins toasted this morning and slathered with butter and local honey. But I am looking forward to building a batch replacing some of the whole wheat flour as listed below. Now, have I made these English muffins per the recipe below? Nope! Would I stake my reputation on this recipe? Yep. In fact that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Now, the one thing I can’t stress enough, is how bloody easy these English muffins were to prepare. Absolutely nothing to it. And I must admit, before building these yesterday I was a bit wary. But isn’t that always the case when you haven’t performed almost any task. Must be part of the human condition. You know, the part where you don’t want to fail, regardless of how easy or difficult the task. But then when you do “win”, you look back on whatever the endeavor was and completely forget about any trepidations you had in the first place. Sound familiar? Bottom line: I would count yesterdays’ English muffins as a win-win-loss-win.

I won by not giving in to my fear of failure. I won because they baked up beautifully. I lost because the muffins were a bit too “whole wheaty” for our taste. But I won again be changing the recipe enough to better fit our tastes. Basically a 3-1 win. And I’d say that’s an acceptable score!

So if you too want to score well with your family, cook up a batch of these English muffins. They are absolutely divine right off the griddle. But toasted for breakfast, there is just not a better vehicle for enjoying peanut butter, honey, or your favorite jam, jelly, or spread.

As always, peace, love, and happy cooking to all. Stay safe!  

Day 1: (sponge)

½ c. sourdough starter

1 T. honey

1 c. whole milk (can use 1% or skim, but whole milk makes them more tender)

1 c. whole wheat pastry flour (can use white whole wheat or regular whole wheat flour)

1 c. bread flour

Mix the starter, honey, milk, whole wheat pastry flour, and the bread flour in the bowl of your stand mixer. (I use a simple table knife to mix the ingredients.) Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature overnight.

Day 2:

1½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

½ c. bread flour, plus more as needed (could be quite a bit more)

cornmeal  

Add the soda, salt, and ¼ cup of the flour to the sponge. Mix together with your dough hook and knead for 3-4 minutes, adding remaining flour, and even more as needed. (The dough is perfect when it is tacky to the touch. But if too much dough sticks to your finger when pressed, add another tablespoon or so of the flour.) 

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead a few times into a round shape. Pat the dough to about ½-inch thick. Cut into rounds with a 3-inch biscuit cutter. Re-flatten the scraps to make additional muffins.

Place the muffin rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkled with a dusting of cornmeal. Leave a good 2-inches between each muffin. Dust the tops with a bit more cornmeal. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours. (They will not puff a lot.)

Very lightly grease a griddle, or leave it dry if you have a non-stick griddle, and heat to medium-low (about 275 degrees). If the griddle is too hot, the inside of the muffin will not cook properly and the outside will burn.

Place the muffins on the heated griddle and cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side until that side is hard to the touch and nicely browned. Flip and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes on the other side, or again, until nicely browned. They are usually done when the sides are firm. If the muffins are browned enough, but still don’t seem cooked through, place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes.

Place cooked muffins on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container or freeze for longer storage. Best if split apart with the tines of a table fork, toasted, buttered, and spread with honey, jam, or jelly. Peanut butter is also delightful on these muffins.

Euell Gibbons was a man ahead of his time or perhaps way behind (centuries) his time. He had a lifelong interest in food foraged from plants that were very nutritious but often neglected. In 1964 he wrote a whole-food cookbook entitled “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” and in 1967 “A Wild Way to Eat”. But his real claim to fame came in the 1970s when he starred in a television commercial where he asked, “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.” The statement was so bizarre, that it immediately caught everyone’s attention. And the commercial created a whole new set of customers for Grape-Nuts cereal.

In his later years, he and his wife joined a community of Quakers in Philadelphia where very morning he cooked the shared breakfast. It is said that he became a Quaker because “it was the only group I could join without pretending to have beliefs that I didn’t have or concealing beliefs that I did have.”

This is the perfect sandwich bread to bake while everyone is on lockdown. Every ingredient can be substituted.

When I built this bread yesterday, I used the first ingredient listed, but I could have just as easily and successfully used the alternative. Which is truly a good deal when all of us are trying to make do with what we have on hand. No one wants to make an unnecessary trip to the grocery store. This is not the time for strict adherence to recipes. This is the time to make do with what we have and let our creativity shine! And bread is a perfect way to express creativity.

Unlike cake, for example, which is based on strict adherence to the listed ingredients, you can build a loaf of yeast bread using just about any ingredients you choose to incorporate. As long as you have yeast, liquid, flour, and salt, you can throw just about any other ingredient into the mix. And this bread (from the ambitiouskitchen.com site) is a good example of using interesting ingredients. (The alternative ingredients are all my idea. But trust me. They will all work beautifully. I’ve made a lot of bread in the last 50 years, and have used every one of these alternative ingredients.)      

And boy howdy, does this healthy, soft bread make terrific toast! And tomorrow morning, I’m going to make French toast. And serve it with warm berry syrup. I’d invite you over to dine with us, but, well, I’m too stingy to share! Not really, it’s just this social distancing thing that’s going around right now. Absolutely necessary, but not very much fun for anyone. Speaking of fun, I thought you might enjoy a bit of humor today before you start baking this bread. As always, peace, love, and a good laugh to all.

Half of us are going to come out of this quarantine as amazing cooks. The other half will come out with a drinking problem.

I used to spin that toilet paper like I was on Wheel of Fortune. Now I turn it like I’m cracking a safe.

I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.

Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit. Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.

Homeschooling is going well. 2 students suspended for fighting and 1 teacher fired for drinking on the job.

I don’t think anyone expected that when we changed the clocks we’d go from Standard Time to the Twilight Zone

This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought her cat understood her. I came into my house, told my dog. We laughed a lot.

So, after this quarantine…..will the producers of My 600 Pound Life just find me or do I find them?

Quarantine Day 5: Went to this restaurant called THE KITCHEN. You have to gather all the ingredients and make your own meal. I have no clue how this place is still in business.

My body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately that when I pee it cleans the toilet.

Day 5 of Homeschooling: One of these little monsters called in a bomb threat.

I’m so excited — it’s time to take out the garbage. What should I wear?

Classified Ad: Single man with toilet paper seeks woman with hand sanitizer for good clean fun.

Day 6 of Homeschooling: My child just said “I hope I don’t have the same teacher next year”…. I’m offended.

1¼ c. slightly warm water*

1/3 c. + 2 T. powdered milk*   

1 scant T. or 1 pkg. active dry yeast

1 T. honey or maple syrup

1/3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats, or whatever kind of uncooked oats you might happen to have on hand

3 T. unsalted butter, melted (but salted butter is just fine)

1 tsp. kosher salt or regular table salt

2 T. flaxseed meal, chia seeds, or hemp seeds or none at all

¾ c. whole wheat pastry flour or regular whole wheat flour

2 c. bread flour or regular all-purpose flour, plus more if needed

4 T. mixed seeds – whatever you have on hand (I used 2 T. raw sunflower seeds, 1 T. sesame seeds, and 1 T. poppy seeds)

olive or veggie oil, for coating

Mix the water and powdered milk in the bowl of your stand mixer. Stir in the yeast, honey, and oats. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

Add the melted butter, salt, flaxseed meal, and whole wheat pastry flour. Mix together with your dough hook. Add the bread flour. When the dough begins to form, add the mixed seeds. Knead the dough for about 4 minutes. (The dough should be fairly soft. There should still be a bit sticking to the bottom of the bowl.)   

Once done kneading, pour a bit of olive oil over the dough, and using your hands, roll the dough into a ball making sure the entire surface has a thin coating of oil. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 60-90 minutes, or until doubled in size. This may take more or less time depending on the weather or temperature in your home. When you feel the dough is ready, make a small indentation with your finger near the edge of the bowl. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for the next step.

Lightly grease an 8×4-inch loaf pan. After dough has risen, punch it down and form into a loaf shape. Place in prepared pan, tucking the ends underneath. Pat the dough out until it fits into the corners of the pan and is flat on top.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise again for 30-60 minutes or until the loaf has risen an inch above the rim of the pan.  This may take more or less time depending on how warm it is in your home. Watch carefully because you don’t want the dough to rise too much.

Once the dough has risen to about the top of the pan, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees while the dough finishes rising. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until loaf is slightly golden brown on top. The internal temperature should be about 195 degrees.

Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. If the bread resists coming out of the pan, leave it alone for about 10 minutes, then try again. Allow the bread to cool for at least 2 hours before slicing. Bread should be wrapped tightly and stored at room temperature.  

*or 1¼ cup no fat, low fat, or whole milk, scalded – to scald milk, heat it in a small saucepan over low heat until milk is warm (about 115 degrees). Before pouring it into the bowl of your mixer, the scalded milk should be slightly warm to the touch.   

For a couple years now I have been buying mediocre bagels and calling it good. What have I been thinking? OK, Costco used to make really decent bagels. But the last few times we tried them, we felt they were lacking. Now I can’t really describe what the difference was. But we both noticed it. So we stopped buying them.

Our local grocery store sells a reasonable bagel. But they are bloody expensive and not quite up to my standard. Of course, you have to realize I have very high standards when it comes to bagels. I lived in Bellevue for 37 years. And for part of that time, at least until the mid-90s when the bakery/delicatessen closed, I was a patron of Brenner Brothers Bakery. And a fan of Yetta. (She was the sister and always worked the front counter. A very independent woman with her own sense of style. She always wore glittery pins, flowers and ribbons in her platinum blond hair, and red fingernail polish. Always a joy to be waited on by her.) But I digress…..

Now, not only did Brenner Brothers bake some of the best bread I ever tasted, they sold bagels. (They also made the best sandwiches I ever wrapped my mouth around.) Sigh……… So I know what a really good bagel should taste like. It should have a truly delectable dense, chewy, doughy interior, with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. Again, heavy sigh.

Well I have to tell you in full disclosure, these bagels aren’t quite as good as the bagels I adored all those years ago. But they are still darned good. And better than anything I can buy in my area of the world. And they are easy to build. And why I waited all these years to make bagels is truly beyond my comprehension. I guess I just assumed they would be hard to prepare.

But in reality, they are not at all difficult to make. Even the boiling step is easy. Really! And when I think about what I was spending on purchased bagels, compared to what it costs me to build my own, I’m almost embarrassed to even bring it up. It’s like about ten cents on the dollar. So, I’ve decided that my store bought bagel buying days are over.

So on that triumphant note, I encourage you to try this recipe and see if you don’t agree that building your own bagels is well worth the effort. And of course you don’t have to make “everything” bagels. You can top your bagels with anything your big old heart desires. Or leave the top plain so you can fill your bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, for example.

As always – stay adventurous in the kitchen, stay healthy, and above all keep your sense of humor.

As a side note, I actually built these bagels 2 days in a row. With the first batch, I forgot to let the dough rise the second time. So the bagels were pretty darn flat when they came out of the oven. I was not happy with myself when I figured out what had gone wrong. But you know what, this kind of thing happens. And it happens to every cook. And the only thing that separates the people who just carry on and learn from their mistakes, from the people who get so upset with themselves that they just give up, is a bit of self-directed diatribe at their own expense. And the names I called myself after figuring out my mistake. Suffice it to say, they would all have had to be redacted if they had been included in a legal document! Then, after sharing a good laugh with Mr. C. at my ineptitude, I had a big old martini. Yesterday morning, I simply started over, after first underlining the part about rising the dough after forming it into bagel shapes. As if I could have forgotten that step. Not bloody likely!

1 c. sourdough starter, room temp.

½ c. + 3 T. slightly warm water  

2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus more to use in the mixing bowl and shaping the bagels

½ c. whole wheat flour

2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1½ tsp. kosher salt

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 T. milk

“Everything Seasoning” (see recipe below)

Mix the starter, water, oil, whole wheat flour, 2 cups of the all-purpose flour, and salt together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Knead the dough with a dough hook for about 4 minutes, adding more all-purpose flour as needed. The dough should be very stiff.

Pour a bit of oil over the dough, and using your hands roll the dough into a ball making sure that the entire ball of dough is lightly greased. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 4 hours.

Lightly punch (deflate) the dough and form into 8 equal sized balls. (I use a bit of olive oil to grease my hands while I shape the dough.)

Shape the bagels by forming each piece into a ball and using your thumb, punch a hole through the middle of the ball, stretching to make the center hole larger. Set the shaped bagels on a lightly greased large parchment paper lined baking sheet.  

Cover the shaped bagels with a tea towel and let sit for about 60 – 90 minutes. (They are not going to rise very much.)

Fill a large 12-inch skillet ½ to ¾ full with water. Add the tablespoon of soda. Bring the water to a boil. When the water is boiling, drop the bagels, one at a time, into the boiling water. Boil for 1 minute, turning after half a minute. Then using a slotted spoon or spatula, place the bagels back on the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Continue until all the bagels have been boiled.

Brush the bagels with milk, then sprinkle with “everything” seasoning. 

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in a pre-heated 450 degree oven, or until the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees. Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack before slicing.

“EVERYTHING” SEASONING

2 T. poppy seeds

2 T. sesame seeds

1 T. dried finely minced onion (I crush the dehydrated onion in my mortar and pestle before adding it to the other ingredients)

1 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp. kosher salt

Mix all ingredients together and store in an air-tight container.

Well I’ve done it again. I’ve baked yet another loaf of delicious bread that I can’t wait to consume. This is not working in my favor. I try to behave. I really do. But when fresh bread is in the house, well, all bets are off! There is just something so inviting about popping a piece in the toaster, then slathering it with butter or perhaps a bit of local honey (see note below) or peanut butter. Who can resist? Not me, that’s for darned sure.

So in keeping with my dedication to share wonderful recipes with you, here goes another lovely and reasonably easy bread recipe to keep you occupied and literally off the streets. Of course in doing so, I’m probably not helping you keep or work towards a svelte body. But I don’t want to be alone. I’m really just a pack animal. But I tell you, if I “pack” on any more weight from being confined to quarters, I’m going to have to “pack” my bags and head for a diet clinic. And with my luck, I’d probably be turned away. After all, there is this “sheltering in place” thing going around these days.

So I guess for the foreseeable future I will just have to practice portion control. (I really hate that phrase – “portion control”. To my thinking, whoever invented it should be locked up with only cold Spam, mashed turnips, green Jell-O, and dry shredded wheat to eat! Then he or she could enjoy “portion control” in the confines of their own making!) And yes confinement is getting to me. Which I strongly believe puts me in the “normal” category.

On a serious note, like reasonable people everywhere, confining myself to my home (as much as possible) is exactly what I should be doing through this coronavirus crisis. Not only am I protecting myself, I’m not spreading Covid-19 to anyone else should I somehow have become infected. This seems so easy for me to understand.

But I’m lucky. I’m retired. I have Mr. C. to share confinement with. And we have no children at home to entertain, help with homework, keep healthy, while at the same time possibly have the financial concerns that many young families have. Like I said – we are lucky.

So I guess I’ll stop worrying about the couple extra pounds, and instead address my thoughts to how lucky I am to have food in the first place. And while I’m at it, send some more money to our local food bank.

As always, peace, love and a generous portion of laughter to all. Stay healthy.

1 c. sourdough starter, room temperature

1½ c. rye flour (I use light rye flour for this recipe)

1 c. slightly warm water

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1½ tsp. kosher salt

2 T. brown sugar, packed

olive oil

Day 1:

Combine room temperature starter, rye flour, and water in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand on your counter overnight.

Day 2:

Add the whole wheat flour, most of the all-purpose flour, salt, and brown sugar to the bowl and using your dough hook, beat the mixture until the dough comes together. Knead for several minutes until the dough is smooth and springy. Add addition all-purpose flour, a tablespoon or two at a time during the kneading process as necessary to reduce excess stickiness. However, this dough should remain somewhat tacky. There should be a bit of the dough that wants to stick to the bottom of the bowl. (See NOTE about bread baking below.)

Pour a little oil over the dough, the using your hands, roll the dough into a lightly greased ball. Cover with a clean tea towel and let rise about 2 hours in a warm place until doubled in size. (When you think it has risen enough, use your finger to make a small dent in the dough near the side of the bowl. If the dent remains, the bread is ready to bake.)

Baking option 1: Baking your bread on a baking stone or greased baking sheet

Punch down dough to release air; shape into a round loaf (boule) or an oval (batard). Place on a baking stone lightly sprinkled with flour or cornmeal or a greased baking sheet. Lightly cover with a tea towel, and allow to rise about 30 minutes until almost doubled.

When ready to bake, cut 2-3 deep slashes on top of loaf. Let sit for 5 minutes, then lightly mist with water. Bake in a pre-heated 425 oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 400 degrees and bake another 20-25 minutes or until loaf is browned and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. The internal temperature of the bread should be about 205 degrees before it is removed from the oven. Let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Baking option 2: Baking your bread in a clay baker   

Punch down dough to release air; shape into a round loaf (boule) or an oval (batard) and place on a rectangle of parchment paper. (Shape your bread according to the shape of your clay baker.) Lightly cover with a tea towel, and allow to rise about 30 minutes until almost doubled.  

Meanwhile pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees with your clay baker inside. You want to heat the clay baker as the oven heats. 

When ready to bake, cut 2-4 deep slashes on top of loaf. Let sit for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the clay baker from your oven and take the lid off. Gently pick up the dough using the corners of the parchment paper. Lower the dough onto the clay baker and replace the hot lid. Place the clay baker back into the oven and bake covered for 25 minutes. (I have found that if I put the hot clay baker on a baking pan as you see in the picture, it is much easier and safer to lift in and out of the oven, rather than just lifting the clay baker itself. You don’t have to do it my way, but it works well for me.)

After 25 minutes carefully remove the lid and continue baking for 15-20 more minutes. The internal temperature should be about 205 degrees when the bread is removed from the oven.

Carefully lift the bread off of the clay baker. Place on a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing.

Note: Bread baking is not like baking a cake. When you bake a cake you use exactly the amount of each ingredient as listed. With bread baking, especially sourdough bread where everyone has a different starter (some more liquidy than others) and each baker is using a different kind of flour, amounts are hard to predict. So if you end up using more or less flour than quoted in a bread recipe, not to worry. Pay greater attention to consistency rather than the amount of flour you use.

Cats Paw Honey (our honey of choice)

Cats Paw Bees is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of an organic environment for the honey bee in the local community of Stanwood and Camano Island in the Puget Sound area of Western Washington. Andy & Bonnie Swanson own and operate Cats Paw Bees using natural and organic methods to raise honey bees, producing a raw natural honey filled with local floral flavors.