Beer Anyone?

Vortlimpa - sweet and dark!

I'll admit, I'm not a beer drinker.  It’s not that I couldn’t get to like some of my husband’s homemade dark beer, it’s a calorie and quantity thing.  To me drinking a delicious tasting homemade dark beer is like eating an entire chocolate cake by myself in one sitting - too rich and too filling.  I prefer a nice dry red!

But, there’s more than one way to have your stout... A number of years ago, I first made this delicious bread using a homemade stout. So, beer drinkers and aficionados of fine taste, here is my favorite way to have beer.

The recipe originated from my 1987 version of Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads. 

Vortlimpa

This recipe makes 2 long slender loaves.  Bernard describes it this way, “Stout (or dark beer) tempered with molasses, orange zest, and fennel gives Vortlimpa a sweet, dark taste that will confound and delight the tongue.”

Ingredients:       (My changes and comments are in italics.)

2 cups stout or dark beer
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons butter
½ cup dark molasses
2 packages dry yeast
3 cups medium rye flour          (1 ½ cups medium rye and 2 cups whole wheat)
2 cups unbleached bread or all purpose flour, approximately
Zest of 1 orange, finely chopped    (1/4 teaspoon orange oil)
1 Tablespoon ground or crushed fennel seed   (Optional )

1 Tablespoon molasses mixed with 2 Tablespoons water

(The rye flour is sticky and I like the flavor mixed with whole wheat.  I rarely have a fresh orange on hand, but I always have my orange oil in the pantry so I don’t have to buy any special ingredients. I’m sure the orange zest would be wonderful if you have it.  I also do not use the crushed or ground fennel seed, I just like the bread without.)
Warm the beer, salt, and butter until the butter has melted.  Let cool to lukewarm and stir in the yeast.

Measure the rye flour (and whole wheat flour if using) into a large mixing bowl and pour in the stout mixture. Beat by hand about 100 strokes and add the orange zest (or orange oil), and (optional) fennel seed.  Stir and work the dough.  (You might be tempted to skip the orange, but don't, it really makes the overall flavor. I encourage you to try to fennel too.)

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface with a cup of flour.  In the beginning the dough will be sticky. Handle the new dough gingerly, dusting well with flour until you have struck a workable balance. This could mean the addition of a cup or more of flour. After the dough is well formed, continue kneading for at least another 8 minutes.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Leave to rise at room temperature until doubled.  (My dough and my loaf look a little grainy.  I used a medium ground rye flour which turned out ok, but I think I'll go back to my finely ground rye flour in the future.)
Turn the dough out onto a flat work surface and cut in half.  Flatten each half with the palm of your hand into a long rectangle. Roll each into a long slender cylinder, about 12"-14" long.  Place on a prepared baking sheet (greased and dusted with cornmeal).  Be sure to place them far enough apart that they do not touch when they rise.  If they threaten to touch, place a flour dusted kitchen towel between them. Let them rise a second time to be about double.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees about 20 minutes before baking.  Prick the tops with a toothpick, 1" deep to allow steam to escape without lifting off the top of the loaf.  Bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes and then turn the heat down to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 30 minutes more.  Halfway through baking, turn the loaves around and brush the tops with the molasses-water glaze.  About 4 minutes before the loaves are done, brush them with the glaze again.

They are done when the loaves are dark and shiny and the bottom crust is hard and sounds hollow.  Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  (By all means, have some softened butter ready, hack off a piece and enjoy it as soon as you can handle it.)

To keep it crisp, store it in a paper sack.  For a soft crust wrap it in a plastic bag.

The Missoula Community Food Co-op now has a nice selection of wine and beer and as soon as I heard that, my first thought was of this bread! 

Eggs - Another Spring Bounty

                  
Another sign of spring - EGGS!  If you have your own backyard flock, you will now be appreciating more and more eggs as the hens return to production from their winter rest.  

I thought I’d share with you a recipe that I developed over 20 years ago while living on Steamboat Island Road in Olympia, Washington.  Back then, I had 24 chickens and way too many eggs.  I would make this big batch of custard and have it for breakfast in the mornings.  You can cut the recipe in half if you aren’t ready for the big batch.

Farm Fresh Egg Custard

6 cups of milk (you can use any kind, whole to non-fat dry milk with water)
3/4 cup sugar    
1 3/4 cups of whole fresh eggs (10-12 eggs)
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon salt

Microwave the milk until hot (on high 5-8 minutes) or bring it to just below a boil on the stove.  This is called scalding.   Scalding is an old term for heating milk to 180 degrees prior to using it.  I don't understand all that happens in this process, but it does have an effect on the milk proteins and it reduces whey separation in custards and yogurt making.

Crack the eggs into a 4 cup measuring cup until you have about 1 3/4 cups.  Add the vanilla, sugar, and the salt, and mix together.  Mix thoroughly, but avoid incorporating air into the eggs. 

Mixed, strained and ready to pour into my custard cups.

Temper the egg with about a cup of the hot milk stirred quickly into the eggs and then pour the egg mixture into the hot milk and stir well to dissolve the sugar and salt and get the mixture consistent.

Then using a small screen strainer, I pour the mixture back into the measuring cup through the strainer.  The measuring cup makes it easier to pour into the custard cups.

After placing the pan in the oven add an inch of water to the pan.

Pour into custard cups (about 8 -12 cups depending on the size) and stand the cups in a pan with an inch of water. If you like, you can put a little sprinkle of nutmeg on the top of each cup.

Bake at 350 degrees for about one hour or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  The custard will dome up and be jiggly when it's done.



Once cooled, cover and refrigerate your custard.  Serve it plain or if you desire, you can top it with a tablespoon of maple syrup, fresh strawberries or raspberries that have been tossed with a little sugar to bring out the juices, or a dollop of whipped cream.

Spring is in the Air!

The Window Herb Garden

We’ve made it through the month of March with it’s predictably cold and wet weather. Not that we can’t expect more of it in April, but the sun is well on it’s way back north. That means planting time!  I’ve had years of experience with trying to plant tomato seeds and the like in trays indoors, only to have them become tall and spindly and never make it to the garden. In my well earned wisdom of senior years, I don’t plant anything before April. Here on this mountain, the earliest outdoor planting can safely occur, is Memorial Day and even then sometimes things have to be covered from an occasional frost or snow flurry.

To curb my appetite for getting started, I get my seeds early, organize and dream, and just for fun plant some little pots of herbs for a kitchen window.  A few years back I was in need of pot markers. I searched around looking for something to mark the plants that suddenly go from a single small row in a seed tray to an entire tray or two in the greenhouse.  Here is my secret revealed!  I spied  a couple of yogurt containers in my recycle bin and a light came on in my head.  My markers just became free and unlimited.

Unlimited pot markers!

  
I bet you have a few of these empty containers around or know where to find them.  I start by cutting straight down the side and then around the bottom, removing the bottom entirely.  Then I cut strips along the side, about ½ inch each and point the bottom.  I use a black sharpie to write my plant name on the white side. 



I love these markers!  I save them from year to year for the plants that I always grow and always seem to need a few more for the plants I give away.


This year I bought a heat mat for starting seeds - wow does that make a difference!  Heat mat or not, put your little seeded pots in a plastic bag, blow it up like a balloon and put a twist tie on it.  This helps to keep the seeds evenly moist until they emerge.
 

Put your seed pots in a plastic bag to raise the humidity.

April's full moon is happening on the 6th so spring planting is ON!