Sunday, January 8, 2012

No-Knead Hungarian Pantry Bread

It's January. (Happy 2012!) I wish I could say it's cold out, but it's not - feels like a warm spring afternoon around here, thanks global warming! - so I've got no real reason to be baking bread other than these: a) it makes the apartment smell good; b) it's cheaper than the good bread from the co-op; and c) oh, right, it's also delicious. Also baking my own bread makes me feel badass. Come to think of it, those are some damn good reasons, so there. My recipe of the moment I'm calling Hungarian Pantry Bread. It has nothing to do with Hungary, other than I got it from my friend Nicole, who got it from her father, who's Hungarian. "Pantry" is because I put in it whatever seeds and things I happen to have in my pantry. I stick to the milder, less-ethnically-affiliated seeds, since I'm aiming for an all-purpose kind of bread, but fennel or cumin or whatever other herbs or spices you've got around would probably be delicious too, if less versatile. Lately the mix has included: Quaker oats, caraway, kalonji (onion) seeds, flax seeds, quinoa, wheat germ, green wheat, sesame, poppy, and some things that look kind of like broken rice grains that my subletters left behind, no idea what they actually are. I use roughly a tablespoon or two of each kind, more of the things I really like (caraway) and less of the ones I'm just trying to use up (mystery grains). It's a long process to make, but most of that is waiting rather than actually doing anything, so I still call it easy. Here goes:

No-Knead Hungarian Pantry Bread
4 1/3 cups flour (I use 1/3 cup buckwheat flour, because I can.)
2 1/4 cups of lukewarm water
1 tablespoon of kosher or coarse salt
1 tablespoon of dry yeast
Seeds
Put everything in a container with a lid. The container should be big enough that there is room for the dough to rise. With a wooden spoon mix the ingredients until just mixed more or less evenly. This should just take a couple of minutes. Don’t knead! You’ll get a kind of ‘rough’ dough.
Let it stand for 2 or 2.5 hrs, with lid on, but not airtight, until the dough rises. Put on lid firmly, and put in fridge.
The next day (or later):
Get a board, sprinkle with corn flour/meal. Take out dough from fridge. Put flour on hands, (can sprinkle a little on the dough), and take the dough out of the plastic container. With your hands, form it into a rough square, and fold each edge under until they sort of meet in the middle underneath.
Put ball of dough on board, sprinkle with a little flour, cover with a light cotton dishtowel, and let it warm up and rise for 2 hrs.
Put dutch oven in oven, heat to 450F.
With serrated bread knife, make 2-3 cuts (about 1/4” deep on top of dough.)
Take hot dutch oven out of oven, put in dough.
Put lid on, put back into oven, and bake for 30 mins.
Take lid off, and continue to bake for another 30 mins.
Take out of the oven, put bread on a board, and let cool. Eat.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

How to Cook a Squash

More recipes! These are from this fall, made with whatever winter squash you like - butternut, delicata, buttercup, acorn, et al. Both are easy as pie and uber-classy. Easier than pie, in fact. Unless you buy your crust pre-made, in which case they're about the same. Both are pureed 'creamy' soups; tossing a potato in gives it that nice texture without any actual cream. Or, you know, add some cream. If you're into that.

Squash Soup #1: Leeks, Celery Root, Ginger
1 squash
1 leek
1 celery root/celeriac/whatever the hell you call it
1-inch chunk ginger
1 small-ish potato
broth
s&p to taste
oil

Cut the squash in half, set it cut-side-up in a baking dish, brush with olive oil, and roast at around 400 til soft, maybe an hour and a half or so. Poke it with a fork, when it's nice and soft with brown at the edges it's done. Let cool.

Peel your celeriac. I usually do this with a knife, 'cause it's way too knobbly for a vegetable peeler. Cut it into chunks, then either rough-chop by hand or give it a good whiz in the food processor, depending how strong your arm is/how lazy you are. Needless to say, I use the food processor.

Peel your ginger. Use a spoon to scrape off the skin; way better than a peeler or knife, and way less chance of slicing your finger open. Chop roughly/stick in the food processor with the celeriac.

Chop your leek. Feel free to use the green parts, if you don't mind that they'll turn your soup kind of a funny color. I don't. Put the chopped leek into a big bowl of cold water and swirl it around a little to get out the dirt. Fun fact: leeks float, dirt sinks.

Peel your potato. Chop into small cubes/add to food processor with the rest.

Heat some oil in a pot. Add the veggies & saute til everything gets soft. Scoop out the flesh of the squash and add that, along with the broth. Simmer for 15 minutes or so.

Blend the soup to make it smooth. Three options if you don't want to scald yourself with a scalding blender full of hot soup: 1) use an immersion blender, 2) let the soup cool first, or 3) take that little clear plastic circle out of the top of the blender, and only fill the thing about halfway each time. I bet you can guess which I do.

Put it all back in the pot, season to taste, warm before serving, garnish with (optional) bacon, and blow the pants off any guests. In a good way.


Squash Soup #2: Apple & Sage
1 squash
1 apple
Onions
Garlic
1 smallish potato
Sage
broth
oil
S&P

Roast your squash. (See above.)

Peel, core, & chop your apple. (I use Granny Smith, but whatevs.) Chop the alliums and potato. Saute it all til the apple is soft and the onions are translucent.

Add the squash flesh, the broth, and half the sage. Simmer for a bit.

Blend as above. Don't scald yourself.

Season to taste. Add the other half of the sage, chopped fine. Bacon would go well here to.