Showing posts with label author_Mark Bittman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label author_Mark Bittman. Show all posts

Sunday 12 March 2017

Whole wheat flatbread. By Mark Bittman.

- The Secret To Making Really Great 100-Percent Whole Grain Bread | Kitchn:
- The Wheat Lowdown - The New York Times:
With so many relatively decent loaves readily available in stores, bread-baking is more of a hobby.
There are three reasons that my whole-grain breads have become better: the food processor, the overnight rise and the sourdough starter.
And they all involve abandoning kneading.
Kneading dough by hand for 20 minutes — as was the practice when I first started baking — was never actually necessary (few home bakers knew that), but a requirement of a particular kind of bread made in a relatively hurried fashion using a relatively large amount of domesticated (that is, store-bought) yeast.

I came to the realization that great 100 percent whole-grain bread can be made only with sourdough (it’s about the difference between how whole grains respond to store-bought yeast and how they respond to acid, or a combination of acid and wild yeast), and I discovered that via a combination of driving other people crazy with questions and a recipe from “The Scandinavian Cookbook,” by my friend Trine Hahnemann.

Sourdough rye requires time: a few days to make the starter, and 12 hours or so every time you want to make bread.
But kneading? No.
You can make it lighter in texture and color by using a touch of white flour in place of whole wheat, though to me that defeats the purpose.
You can make it darker in color — gorgeously so — by adding roasted malt powder.
Seeds — fennel, caraway, anise — add flavor.
If it’s too chewy for you, use flour in place of cracked rye.
Finally — and this may be hard to believe — it’s best when wrapped in plastic and cured for a day before eating.
If you follow the instructions to the gram, you will produce very good bread.
By upping the amount of yeast, using the food processor and incorporating relatively large amounts of fat (in the form of olive oil), you can make a 100 percent whole-wheat focaccia (other shapes, including baguettes, will also work, but I like it best as a puffy flatbread) in a minimum of time.
Really, the best treatment for whole grain is sourdough.
But if you’re in a hurry, greatness takes second place.

Thursday 9 February 2017

Pasta Frittata.

Pasta Frittata Recipe - NYT Cooking:
Pasta pancake (frittata).
Leftover Pasta Reborn as a Pie!
Creamy and solid at the same time, the pasta frittata is more substantial than a regular frittata, but no less versatile.
“Substitute almost any cheese for the Parmesan (or leave it out altogether) and toss in any cooked vegetable or meat.
Make it your own.
A handful of parsley stirred into the mix is nice.
The key to extreme enjoyment is to make sure that some ends of pasta pieces protrude from the top of the mixture when you put it in the oven.
They will become crunchy, giving the leftover pasta yet one more pleasant dimension.
It is best to use fairly low oven heat to keep the eggs from overcooking, but as long as you remove the pie the moment the eggs no longer look runny, it will be fine.”

100g spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine or other long pasta (or about 1/2 pound cooked pasta)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup minced pancetta, bacon or prosciutto, optional
6 eggs
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese (our cheese of choice here is Gruyère - Gruyère is a nutty cheese that melts well)
Some frittata recipes don't use any cream or milk (1/4 cup), but we find that doing so adds a lovely creaminess and protects the eggs from becoming rubbery.

If using leftover cooked pasta, chop it up.
If using dried pasta, bring a large pot of water to a boil, and salt it.
Cook pasta until barely tender, somewhat short of where you would normally cook it.
Drain, and immediately toss it in a wide bowl with half the butter or oil.
Cool it a bit.

Heat oven to 180C.
Put remaining butter or oil in a large nonstick ovenproof skillet, and turn heat to medium-high.
If you are using meat, add it, and cook, stirring occasionally until crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. (If not using meat, proceed.)
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk or half and half until fully combined.
Stir in cheese and season with salt and pepper.
Combine pasta with ingredients, along with salt and pepper (less salt if you are using meat).
Pour into skillet, and turn heat to medium-low.
Use a spoon if necessary to even out top of frittata.
Cook undisturbed until mixture firms up on bottom, then transfer to oven.
Bake just until top is set, about 10 minutes.
Be careful not to overcook it.
Remove, and serve hot or at room temperature.

Once you've made a few frittatas and are comfortable with the technique, you'll be able to adjust the ingredients according to the season and your taste: blanched dark greens in the fall, for example, or roasted winter squash later in the year.
Usually it starts on the stove and ends in the oven, where it develops a nice, golden finish.
'via Blog this'

Thursday 29 December 2016

No-Knead Bread, 10 Years Later.

I was sitting at my desk at the Times 10 years ago when Jim Lahey – whom I knew only by reputation – emailed me: “I have a new method of making bread that requires no kneading and can give you professional results at home.”

I started baking bread in 1970, and, when my friend Charlie Van Over developed what I still believe is the best food processor method there is, I adopted that and never looked back. But Lahey’s invitation was intriguing.

It was a period during which the Times was experimenting with video, and I was one of the lucky guinea pigs. So on a bright November day (Jim insists it was election day 2006; I have no recollection), I walked over with two video people, we watched Jim do his thing, I wrote it up, the video people edited, and ….
It became one of the most popular stories in the history of the Times.

That level of popularity was a peculiar confluence of events, but that bread recipe (which I used yesterday, and will tomorrow, barely unchanged from the original), has legs. That original description by Jim remains true, and literally millions of people now make bread according to Jim’s instructions.

A few weeks ago, just before election day 2016, I met two video people from Food & Wine at Sullivan Street (which hasn’t changed much) and we taped a reunion, with Jim commenting on and critiquing my technique (which evidently isn’t bad).
You can watch (the extremely abridged version) here.
As you can tell – we had fun.









Tested and Proven - delicious!
So new recipe (12-06-2016):

2 2/3 Cup white flour
1 1/3 Cup whole wheat flour (Whole-wheat flour - in the US or wholemeal flour in the UK)
2 teasp salt
1/2 teasp yeast
2 Cup water

12 hour first rise
fold three times on floured surface
for 2-hour second rise

Bake 30 min at 500F/260C in covered dutch oven
Bake 15 minutes uncovered

AND old recipe (2015):
3 cups - 400 grams all-purpose or bread flour
1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) instant yeast
1+1/4 teaspoons (8 grams) salt
1 5/8 cups (1+1/3 - 300 grams in book) water.

Monday 26 December 2016

How to Make No-Knead Bread.

- How to Make No-Knead Bread | Food & Wine: video!
These days I usually use:
1 cup of whole wheat,
2 cups of unbleached white bread flour,
handfuls of pumpkin, sunflower, poppy and sesame seed, and
one heaping half tsp of instant yeast.

And more: - Five Seed Bread – lovinghomemade:

No-Knead Bread.

No-Knead Bread Recipe - NYT Cooking: 2015.
YIELD: One 680 Gram loaf.
3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

- In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt.
Add 1 5/8 - 1.5 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 21C.

- Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.
Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

- Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball.
Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal.
Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours.
When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

- At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 230C-260C.
Put a 6- to 8-Liters heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.
When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven.
Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, 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 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned.
Cool on a rack.