Cheery And Cheer: Baking Day Cuz It's Raining

Monday, November 17, 2014

Baking Day Cuz It's Raining

Sprouted Whole Wheat Seeded Baguette

I love days like today, dark, rainy (but not too many in a row) because it puts me in the mood to bake (and clean) and I was wanting to make homemade burger buns. And I needed to make a cake for a birthday girl for tomorrow (I'll report on that later - it's a gluten free cake and that's a new area for me). I also love when all the rooms are dark even though it's day time and I have to turn on lamps - cozy!

Going from darkness into light

Lamps on in all these rooms downstairs to make it all cheery and cheer

Kitchen all lit up - music on - Yankee candle lit - water kettle on - let it rain - ready to bake!

We're having ground lamb burgers for dinner and it's hard to find a good burger bun that is really healthy and so I'm using the recipe that makes our standard sandwich bread that I've been making for years - it has an amazing crumb, and rises high even though it is 100% whole grains - no white flour ever. And no sugar (except for the dab I add to the yeast and water). Here's what the loaf bread looks like and notice how thinly it can be sliced.

Okay - let's make burger buns! This is my rendition of the basic Tassajara Yeasted Bread from this wonderful book.

I use sprouted whole wheat flour - sprouting grains changes their chemistry a bit (I'm no scientist so I'll give you a link (wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/sprouted-whole-grains) which explains how sprouting magnifies certain vitamins in the grain and also makes them easier for people to digest. I love the taste and texture and if it's healthier, even better. I've been using a lot of sprouted grains lately, rice included. You can buy sprouted flour online or at health food stores.

My recipe has four risings - don't let that put you off; you get a lot done while the rising is going on and the work is minimal especially if you use a large mixer or food processor. I doubled this recipe today but I'm giving you the basic one.

100 % Whole Wheat Bread (or rolls, buns, baguettes, etc)

3 cups lukewarm water - 1 1/2 T. yeast - heaping teaspoon sugar or honey - 4 cups whole wheat flour
Put all of this is a large mixer and blend for a minute or do 100 strokes by hand. Let this rise right in the bowl for 45 minutes on your counter top. Now go do some laundry, rake leaves, or make a cup of herbal tea and read emails.

Add 4 tsp salt, 2 T olive, canola, or coconut oil (you can omit fat if you feel strongly about it but it's minimal), 3 1/2 - 4 cups more of whole wheat flour (you can substitute half of this with another whole grain like spelt, amaranth, etc - today I used some spelt) and 1/4 cup powdered gluten. Gluten is necessary when using whole grain or it won't rise as well and be kind of dense. Mix this with your dough hook for 5 minutes on high speed, or knead 8-10 minutes by hand or 45 seconds tops in a food processor. Add more flour or water if needed so that the dough is cleaning the bowl. Put dough in lightly oiled large bowl and set in your oven that has been warmed slightly and then turned off. Let rise 1 hour while you go do other fun things. Punch down and let rise 45 minutes. Punch down again. Now form your dough into 2 loaves or however many buns/rolls you get from it in the size you want. Bread forms go into greased pans, rolls will be placed close together in a greased 13x9 pan, and hamburger buns will be formed and placed not touching on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheets. Let rise on counter top for 25 minutes while you preheat oven to 350. Bake rolls/buns for about 25 minutes and bread for 40 minutes. Of course baking time depends on your oven. Convection ovens bake faster. Your bread should be golden and you can tap it and it's not springy. You know all this.

Here's today's bread. I made 2 dozen good size buns and 1 large seeded baguette. I rolled the baguette over and over in a mix of pepitas, sunflower, poppy and sesame seeds. The rolls were incredible. I made ground lamb burgers that had crumbled feta cheese mixed in and I cooked mushrooms right along side the burgers as they cooked and then piled the mushrooms on top to let the burgers finish. We put lettuce and a sauce made from ketchup, creamy mustard and mayo on the buns. I served these with steamed mashed butternut squash and green beans. Totally delicious!! Homemade buns are the best.