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Monday, May 19, 2014

My experiments with baking a basic whole wheat bread Recipe inside

At the beginning of 2013, I asked for your feedback on my Facebook Page on the kind of things youd like to see on the blog this year and that Ill try and incorporate some of your recipe requests. And the one thing that was a popular demand was a healthy loaf of bread. So heres my attempt to share with you a detailed recipe for a sandwich loaf.

Ive tried baking whole wheat bread on several occasions. It has led to a variety of results- my househelp giving me puzzled looks on what that seemingly edible brick is doing on our counter top, me wondering if I should let it dry out in the sun to be used later as a weapon for self defense, my son making me swear that I will not sneak it inside his lunch box, me quietly disposing it in the main trash can of our community, so it can never be traced back to me. But yes, Ill say this one thing. I never gave up. I kept trying from a variety of sources - books, blogs, my own improvisations. Recently, I came across this recipe in the kitchn and there was so much confidence in the tone of that post, it almost felt like a friend had her hand on my shoulder and told me that "this will work!" and work it did.

Other breads you can bake - Cinnamon Rolls | Pesto Pull Apart Loaf

You can be rest assured that this bread is a 100% handmade. No food processors, Kitchen Aids, Bread Machines were involved in the making of this work of art. Oven, yes - I did use an oven :)

You may ask if this is Whole Wheat bread a 100% whole wheat? To be honest, this one has 50% all purpose flour (maida) and 50% whole wheat flour (atta) - so if you trust your Atta to be 100% wheat, you can be sure that this bread is 50% whole wheat. And that is quite healthy given that the soft, spongy, melt in your mouth sliced bread labeled as whole wheat available in supermarkets is definitely NOT even 50% wheat, or theyve added a ton of other ingredients to make it soft and fluffy. The goodness of this bread is once youve mastered this basic loaf, you can keep playing with it in terms of other ingredients added to it such as a variety of other whole grain flours, seeds, flavourings etc. But Id surely request you to try it just like it is if you are a first timer.

This makes 2 loaves of roughly 600 grams each

Ingredients
2 3/4 Cup Atta (whole wheat flour)
2 3/4 Cup Maida (all purpose flour)
2 tbsp flaxseed powder (optional)
1 tbsp salt
1 cup lukewarm water (very slightly warm) plus some more
2 tsp instant yeast or active dry yeast
1/3 Cup Liquid Jaggery or Honey
2 tbsp olive oil / vegetable oil / melted ghee
1 cup lukewarm milk

You also need two 9x5 loaf tins greased and kept aside.

Directions
THE FIRST STAGE - ROUGH DOUGH
In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1 cup lukewarm water-stir with a spoon, cover and keep aside for 5 minutes, until it becomes slightly frothy.
In a large bowl, add the flours, flaxseed meal and salt, stir with a fork and keep aside.
In another bowl, mix all the liquids- liquid jaggery/honey, milk and oil with a fork and keep aside.
Once the yeast gets frothy, make the well in the flour and add the yeast-water and other liquids. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the liquids are absorbed by the flour and it sort of comes together.
Remove this onto a clean counter top or working surface and gently knead, adding up to 1/4 cup more water if this dough is too dry. Knead for 2-3 minutes until it all comes together to a rough ball. Cover this with a big bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes. This allows for the liquids to be well absorbed by the flour particles yielding a softer loaf at the end.

THE SECOND STAGE - KNEADING & PROVING
Once the dough has rested for 20 minutes, youll find this easier to handle. It has to be kneaded (here, you could use a Kitchen Aid or Food Processor) for 10-12 minutes. By kneading I mean-pushing the dough away from you and folding it back on itself towards you. Repeat this process for at least 10 minutes, youll the the dough getting progressively more elastic and soft. Once this is done, shape into a ball. Grease a huge bowl with oil, place the ball in this - cover with a fitting lid + tea towel and keep in the warmest area of your kitchen. You need to give the dough 1-2 hours for it to double in size and this totally depends on the weather conditions, which is why I cannot give you an exact time. If you wish you could keep the dough ball in a plastic transparent box, marking the level with a marker and then marking the level where you expect the doubled dough to reach, so you know that it has indeed doubled in volume.

THE THIRD STAGE - MINI REST
Once the dough has doubled, with a sharp knife divide it into two equal parts. Do NOT be rough with this and punch any air out. Gently shape each half into a ball and keep aside to rest for 10 minutes. This will make the final shaping easier.

THE FOURTH STAGE - SHAPING LOAVES
After 10 minute rest in the previous stage, follow the shaping procedure for each ball. Gently push out into a rectangle and go ahead with the step-by-step shaping instructions given here. I followed them to the tee each time and they worked perfectly. The end result should be a taut dome shaped top of each loaf. And I cannot emphasize enough to do the shaping with light, gentle hands so that you dont push any air out of the loaves. Place the shaped loaves into two 9x5 loaf tins. You could brush water on the loaves and sprinkle any whole grains or seeds on the top to give it a more gourmet look - for eg: whole oats, millets, sesame seeds, or sift 1 tsp of all purpose flour over the top.

THE FIFTH STAGE - PROVING THE LOAVES
Cover the tins with a tea towel and keep in a warm place until the dough rises to the edge of the tin. If you are impatient with this stage and put it into the oven prematurely (which I have done many times and suffered), you will not have well risen loaves, because this bread will only puff mildly in the oven, maximum rise is before it goes into the oven. This takes around 40 mins-1 hour, like I said, do not rush this stage. The middle of this stage is when you turn on the oven to preheat at 220 Celsius / 450 F and let the oven heat at this temp until the loaves rise outside to final level.

THE SIXTH STAGE - BAKING THE LOAVES
When the loaves have risen to just above the tins, brush them with some water. Using a sharp bread knife, make an incision along the length of the loaf. This not only makes the bread look good, but also helps it rise well. Reduce the oven temperature to 190 Celsius / 375 F and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top is nice and golden brown.

THE SEVENTH STAGE - COOLING
Turn out the loaves from the tins. If you have greased the tins well, you wont have problems with this. Turn them upside down on a cooling rack and keep them covered with a breathable cloth like a muslin or so. You could leave them like this overnight or at least aim for an hour or so. During this stage, the bread continues to cook inside and it becomes easier to slice the following morning. If you try to slice the bread as soon as it is out of the oven, consider all your effort wasted, because the inside of the loaf WILL be wet and you will be disappointed with the result. Loaves HAVE to be cooled fully before trying to slice them. If you want to experience the joy of breaking into warm bread just out of the oven, reserve it for the small dinner rolls.

THE EIGHTH STAGE - SLICING
Youve been patient - allowed the loaf to cool overnight. You will now be rewarded with sweet smelling, delicious bread slices for breakfast. Place the bread on a chopping board and with a sharp bread knife, slice it as thick or thin as you want.

Tips

I get started with the process at around 5/6 pm in the evening & it gets baked by 9/10 pm or so, then let it cool overnight before slicing them in the morning. This process works well for me.
The original recipe says 8-10 mins of kneading in food processor (second stage), so make sure you knead at least for 10-15 mins when you are kneading manually. And following the push away-bring back technique for kneading.
If you dont have loaf tins, looks for bread shaping instructions that show you how to shape a free form loaf like focaccia or a dome shaped loaf. The proving and baking times have to be adjusted accordingly. Just make sure that during the final proving, the shaped dough rises really well before putting into the oven.
Dont be afraid to make two loaves at one go, unless of course your oven will only take one tin at a time, in which case, halve all the ingredients and proceed accordingly. Do note that proving times may be less after the second stage.
I buy liquid jaggery from here (Bangalore) but you can mix some crushed jaggery to water, let it liquify on low heat and keep aside to use in recipe or use honey instead. This provides a mild natural sweetness to the loaf and also the brilliant colour without using any additives or artificial colouring agents.

Lastly, bread making is an exercise in patience. You have to allow the bread to pass through each stage and it depends on a lot of factors. You cannot rush through. You may think- WHOA this takes 3-4 hours, but most of it is inactive time, it only requires your passing attention for a few minutes at a time. Its good to keep a little notepad or keep track of the times on your phone, so you dont miss the time windows for kneading, resting, proving etc. A bit of precision and a lot of patience goes a long way in baking that perfect loaf of bread. Dont let the number of steps or the huge number of words written to explain the process overwhelm you. Its quite simple actually. Try it and let me know how it turned out!

Friday, May 2, 2014

We Won a 2011 Saveurs Best Food Blog Award!

I am very proud and honored to announce that Food Wishes has won a second consecutive Saveur Magazines Best Food Blog Award in the video category! A giant thank you to everyone who took the time to register and vote.

Through your support with these types of awards, you are directly helping get our videos in front of a whole new audience. Thats what this is really all about. That, and bragging rights. Also, my hearty congratulations to all the other winners and nominees.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Cold Strawberry Soda on a Hot Summer Day

Michele and I are still mid-remodel, so this easy, breezy, strawberry syrup recipe was a welcomed addition to the video schedule. I have my friend Jen Yu from Use Real Butter to thank for that, since it was her gorgeous post that inspired this answer to all those “summer drink” food wishes I’ve been receiving lately.

Jen publishes one of the best blogs around, and if you want to see how this beautiful beverage should really be photographed, check out her original post. Jens fine food blogging prowess is only eclipsed by her photography skills. Speaking of which, don’t miss her photos of the recent eclipse!

I can’t think of many summer drinks this wouldn’t be great in, but for me it doesn’t get any better than a simple strawberry soda. Give me a big icy pitcher of this blush brew, an Adirondack chair, a little SPF 100 for my bald spot, and I’m ready to happily take on any heat wave. Of course this is only going to be as great as the strawberries you use, so bide your time until you come across those perfect pints.

By the way, the long-lasting aroma that will envelop your home is so enticing, so heady that the syrup almost seems like an added bonus. Michele walked in just as the berries had finished simmering, and couldn’t believe how wonderful the flat smelled. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Strawberry Syrup (makes about 1 quart)

Original recipe from Marisa McClellan’s highly regarded Food in Jars.

2 lbs very ripe strawberries, hulled and sliced
3 cups cold water
2 cups white granulated sugar

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Robert Rodriguez Makes Breakfast Finally a Celebrity that Can Cook!

While checking messages on YouTube, I got a tip about some cooking videos done by Robert Rodriguez, who directed such films and Spy Kids, and Sin City. I usually jump at the chance to post celebrity video recipes, like I did for Paul McCartney, and Christopher Walken. They are fun to watch, easy to ridicule, and usually generate some interesting conversation. But, much to my surprise (and slight disappointment) this Rodriguez guy can cook! He not only makes a great looking breakfast taco, but he makes his own tortillas. Thats some serious cooking chops. Check it out.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Fresh Peach Tartlet Its Like a Peach Tart Only Smaller

Here is the peach tartlet video recipe I promised the other day. Its a Julia Child recipe from one of the cookbooks she did with Jacques Pepin. I was going to do this delicious dessert for the Julie & Julia post, but decided to go with the more substantial roast chicken recipe.

This is about the easiest "looks hard" pastry technique I know. You can make the pie crust dough if you want (Ive also posted my mothers key lime pie video below so you can see how easy pie crust is), or you can grab a package of the Pillsbury pie crust that is in just about every store these days.

I usually dont give brand names, but in this case I will since Ive tried a couple brands and the Pillsbury is by far the best. It actually has lard in the ingredients, and as any pie maker will tell you, when it comes to delicious, flaky crust, lard kicks ass.

This recipe features the unusual and exotic Chinese 5-spice powder. Peaches are a natural with the aromatic blend of anise, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and Szechuan peppercorns, which usually make up this thousand-year-old spice.

By the way, by watching and mastering this technique, you just learned like 12 different tartlet recipes. This works equally well with apples, pears, plums, etc. Just adjust the caramelizing time based on the density of the fruit so it will be perfectly cooked in the 15 minutes it sits on the tartlet. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 8 tartlets:
2 tbsp butter
3 large peaches, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 pieces (24 slices total)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp Chinese 5-spice
1 box (15-oz) ready-to-use piecrust (2 sheets)
1 egg, beaten plus 1 tsp water

How To Make Pie and Tart Crust:

Friday, March 7, 2014

Simple chicken recipe chicken breast stir fry with peppers and onions a simple food recipe

Do want to make you an easy chicken recipe. Stir fry dishes are ideal if you are looking for a simple chicken recipe. Most of the time will be spent in preparation step. Chop the ingredients, takes time, but if you know how use of kitchen tools, such as knives, it is not that difficult / if you do cooking at a higher temperature, and the ingredients are cut into very small pieces, the actual cooking time is very short. I sometimes use a WOK, but the ship that I use most often is a black iron chicken Fryer. The most stir fry dishes I make are served over rice. I use a microwave for the rice and I start first, so that it is constantly cooking, I am preparing ingredients and cooking the rice you. Stir fries are not only faster, but are also easy to make. About the only way you can mess up, is above the point where the ingredients to burn cooking. To prevent burn you must keep stirring and when it is finished, remove the WOK or skillet from the heat source.

With this simple chicken recipe made raw chicken or could you chicken leftover cooked. If you should use leftover chicken last, to be added, since it require less cooking time as vegetables. Either way Thisw Court is easy to do. Have a Chinese WOK used here, I use but still prefer a cast iron chicken Fryer. The best way to serve this chicken recipe is Brown over cooked long grain rice.

Chicken stir fry with peppers and onions

Ingredients

2 Chicken breast tenders (3-4 ounces total), cut into bite size pieces
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 / 2 Teaspoon salt
1 / 8 Teaspoon pepper
2 TABLESPOONS soy sauce
3 Tablespoons flour
Instructions

1 Put the flour, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl and stir together, then excavate the chicken and vegetables in it.
2 Heat cast iron pan or Chinese WOK.
3 Add extra virgin olive oil.
4 - Add the chicken and stir constantly for 2 or 3 minutes. If you use cooked chicken can it be added last.
5 Add the chopped onions and chopped pepper and stir continuously for 2-3 minutes.
6 - Add to help 1/2 cup of water, the sauce too thin.

Serve over brown rice cooked.

My name is Frank Ernhart. I am a former engineerin, homemade head with more than 1600 recipes, some original, some previously published everything for free. I hope you click on some links while there, grow advertising to help. The website is http://www.frankernhart.com.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

A Happy Labor Day Weekend Pep Talk

Feeling a little melancholy this holiday? That’s okay, you’re not alone. Sure, this weekend is supposed to acknowledge and celebrate the labor movement in America, but what it does even better is remind everyone that summer is gone.

Wow, that was fast. It seems like only yesterday I was phoning in a Memorial Day post. But, before you get too down, remember, we are now entering prime cooking and eating season. From now until Christmas (only 112 shopping days left!), the kitchen replaces the beach, backyard, and ball diamond, as the center of our happy place. As much as well all miss that fun in the sun, this is any serious foodies favorite time of the year.

Anyway, here’s a shout out to all the dishwashers, cooks, chefs, and other hospitality workers that celebrate Labor Day by working, while the rest of us sit around sipping beers, trying to figure out how summer went by so fast. Have a great holiday, and well see you on the other side. Enjoy!

Speaking of labor – if you’re still searching for some long-weekend-style lusciousness, here are six of my all-time, backyard favs:

Grilled Pineapple Pork Al Pastor

Garlic Ginger Grilled Salmon

Grilled Five Spice Chicken

Grilled Lemon Yogurt Chicken

Grilled Thai Red Curry Beef Flank Steak

Grilled Lamb with Honey Mint Vinaigrette

Saturday, February 22, 2014

A Wonderful Wine Soaked Weekend with Food and Friends at Frick

This weekends food and wine pairing at the Frick Winery was a smashing success! We served a record 1,200 guests, and had a lot of fun doing it. Im still catching up on a massive email backup and have some deadlines at About.com to meet, but I hope to do some video recipes of the items soon. For now you have to settle for a quick photo (click to enlarge) and description. By the way, special thanks to Bill, Dallas and the entire Frick family, as well as our incredible kitchen crew; Al, Peggy (this years MVP), Julie, Merv, and my beautiful and talented wife Michele!

The first item was wild Ahi tuna seared and served rare on a wasabi rice chip. It was topped with a pink ginger dressing and a pinch of seaweed salad. It was probably the most popular bite we served. It was paired with Bill Fricks white wines; a Grenache Blanc, and Viognier.

The second item was ripe Cambazola cheese served on fig bread, with sweet organic strawberries on the side. This is called the "Cinsaut Classic" since weve served it with the Frick Cinsaut wines for the last 12 years! Its a perfect pairing, and while we change the food pairings every year, this bite remains a sweet, salty, and savory constant.

The next bite was a pistachio mortadella on olive bread with shaved grapes. This was paired with the Carignane. This idea was borrowed from Chef Tom Colicchio (head judge of Top Chef). He has a sandwich restaurant in San Francisco called "Wichcraft" and these ingredients made up a sandwich Michele enjoyed last year. The flavors worked so well together, we thought it would make a nice canapé.

Next came a mini-meatball sandwich. Olive oil and spicy tomato sauce were spread on some herbed focaccia, which was topped with a slice of meatball, Parmesan, and fresh mozzarella. A little garlic oil and Italian parsley finished this delicious bite. It was paired with a Merlot, and Fricks new Red/Red, which is a Cabernet/Syrah blend.

And last, but in no way least, was a wild boar sausage skewered with a black mission fig and watercress leaf. It was served on some crushed hazelnuts, and paired with Fricks magnificent Syrah. The sweet dried figs were quickly poached in the Syrah, sugar, and black pepper. This was probably my favorite bite, and a great combination of flavors and textures.

I will hopefully be caught up soon, and back with new videos and other assorted foodie fun. I hope you enjoy the photos and descriptions, and maybe even order some wine from the Frick winery. Cheers!

Thursday, February 20, 2014

A Rainy Sunday Rerun – Sticky Ginger Garlic Chicken Wings

Its a cool, rainy day in San Francisco, and I still have a very full day of cooking and photography ahead, but I wanted to take a minute to post this picture, and rerun the video, for sticky ginger garlic chicken wings.

I had to make a batch yesterday to photograph for the cookbook, and Id forgotten how great this recipe is. Its definitely my favorite chicken wing recipe, and the one I find most addictive.

You can make these really mild or super hot, but thats really between you and your endorphins. If by some rare chance you havent seen or tried these yet, do it. Enjoy!

Get the ingredient amounts here from the original post...

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

A Hazy Gaze at a Glaze for the Lazy Days of Summer

This somewhat mysterious post is for a Pinot-glazed mushroom burger topping that will make its official appearance as part of a sponsored recipe Ill be doing at a future date. I can give no details, except that its a cheeseburger, and it kicks ass.

Im not a huge fan of sloppy toppings for cheeseburgers. I dont mind beef grease dripping down my forearms, but Im not really into chopped vegetable matter following it down my elbows. These mushrooms are a delicious exception. Plus, theyre not even that messy.

The key is browning whatever fungi you happen to choose in a good amount of brown butter. Then, when you add the pinot noir, the wine will glaze the surface rather than soak into the mushrooms. The fat sort of makes the flesh wine-proof, and everybody wins.

Stay tuned for the mysterious burger post, and the next time you want to dress up a cheeseburger, give these pinot-glazed mushrooms a try. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

8 oz sliced mushrooms

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup lighter red wine

*also great with any number of spices and/or fresh herbs

View the complete recipe

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

SANDRAS ROBUST ROASTED SHRIMP with a HOMEMADE THOUSAND ISLAND DIPPING SAUCE

A quick and easy method in which to prepare
a very tasty and rewarding shrimp dish...

Servings: (4)
Prep: 10 mins. |
Roast: 6 mins.

Posted: by Sandra

INGREDIENTS:

***Thousand Island Dip/Dressing (Yields 2-1/2 cups)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup ketchup
¼ cup sweet pickle relish
2 teaspoons worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons milk (add more or less, depending of your desired thickness)
1 boiled egg, finely chopped

***Roasting Shrimp
20 large raw shrimp/prawns, peeled (tails on)
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice

--Lemon wedges for serving

METHOD

To make the dip, whisk all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl until creamy. Place into refrigerator in an airtight covered glass container, until ready to serve, and for flavors to meld.

To roast the shrimp, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with oil, and set aside.

Place prepared fresh shrimp in a medium-sized bowl and sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste. Pour olive oil and lemon juice over the shrimp, and toss to coat. Place onto prepared baking sheet, and roast in oven for 5 to 6 minutes, just until the shrimp are opaque and have a slight curl; turning halfway through cooking - do not overcook. Cool shrimp and serve with a side of homemade thousand island dip and lemon wedges ~ Enjoy!

Friday, December 20, 2013

A Tease a Taste and a Trip Home

Michele and I are traveling to New York State to see my family, including my mom Pauline (you may remember her from such video recipes as "Key Lime Pie").

As usual Ill try and post from the road, and hopefully share a few photos (videos?) of whatever family feasts ensue.

These photos are a tease to some video recipes I plan on filming when I get back to San Francisco. These were taken last night during a dinner with cousin Tony and Nora (you may remember them from such posts as "The "Found on Foodbuzz" 24-Item Tasting Menu").

Pictured here (at night with annoying flash lighting): a new salmon technique I think Ive perfected, salmon filet tied with salmon belly; whole-wheat flatbread; and individual apple "tart tartin" with ginger snap crust.

Finally, a little taste of something many of you have asked for… written recipes!!!

Thanks to a new venture by a loyal viewer, we could soon have transcripts for all my original recipe videos. Im not sure exactly how they will be distributed yet, but stay tuned for details to follow! Enjoy!

Click her for a sample recipe transcript for: Thai-Style Beef Stew PDF