Experiments in Bread Baking – Pulla (Finnish Cardamom Bread)

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My husband gave me the amazing Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. I’ve already made three batches of dough using the recipe. He was inspired to get the book for me after I made a few batches of Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread (also found in How to Cook Everything).

It doesn’t take much for me to want to play with a recipe. It was dumb luck that my efforts turned out tasty, let alone, edible to others. I knew I really wanted to make pulla, AKA cardamom bread. I knew that challah shared a lot of commonality with pulla, so I started with the challah recipe in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Below is how I did it.

unbakedpullaIngredients:

1 3/4 cups lukewarm milk
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp salt Kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
4 large eggs lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water)
Large crystal sugar (optional)

Steps:

1. Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, sugar, cardamom, melted butter and milk in a 5 quart sealable container, or large bowl that can be easily covered (not air tight).

2. Mix in flour using a wooden spoon, do not knead! You can use a heavy duty stand mixer with a dough hook, but with some patience and a spoon, I did just fine.

3. Cover (do not seal) and let it rest for 2 hours, letting it rise and collapse (or at least flatten on top.)

4. You can use immediately, though some may recommend refrigerating and using cold. You can refrigerate the dough and use within the next 5 days, or freeze in 1 lb portions for up to 4 weeks. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before using and allow the usual rest and rise time.

5. The day of baking, butter or grease a cookie sheet, or line with parchment paper or silicone mat. Dust the surface of the dough, reach in and cut off a 1 lb (grapefruit sized) piece. Dust with flour and shape into a ball. Cut the ball into thirds, and start braiding from the center to each of the ends, and tuck the ends under the loaf.

6. You can bake at least two one lb loves on a cookie sheet, which is what I did. Let the bread rest for 40 minutes if you’re using fresh dough, or 1 hour and 20 minutes if you’re using refrigerated dough.pulla

7. Preheat the oven to 350°F twenty minutes before the end of the rising time. For instance, I set a timer for 20 minutes when I start the dough resting with fresh dough. Brush the loaf with an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar as desired. I do not prefer sugar, so I didn’t use any on my loaves.

8. Bake the loaves in the center of the oven for about 25 minutes. The loaves should be golden brown, and should have resistance when pressed in the center. The crust should be smooth and shiny.

9. Wait until they’re cool to slice, though admittedly, it’s hard to not dive right in with a knife.

Happy Birthday, Son – A Year in Baby Consumerism

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Fisher-Price Newborn Rock and Play SleeperSeriously, people. There is an entire industry that is waiting for you to have children so you will spend stupid amounts of money to help you sleep longer and make the transition to parenthood easier in our foolishly independent-focused society. My family has spent some of this ridiculous money. Here’s a list of my favorite things, which worked well for us. Amazon Prime has been a huge help, especially for midnight shopping frenzies while the kid is up and you don’t know how you’re going to be safe to drive the next day. When you can, buy used or borrow from a friend – but always check to see if the item has been recalled. For instance, a bassinet we borrowed had been recalled in 2009, and a stroller I nearly purchased from Craigslist was a recalled version (but they had been shipped the repair, though not installed.)

Also, my best advice to new moms: ignore all mom forums and stay away from baby focused websites. They will make you crazy. Seek real-time, real-mom support in your communities.

Here’s my Top Ten Consumer Choices for the First Year:

The Happiest Baby on the Block – The basics in this book are a lifesaver for the first three months. Read this book, if you can, before the baby is born. It’s seriously one of the best things you can do for yourself and your baby. Which brings me to one of the keys of the Happiest Baby…
SwaddleMe velcro-enhanced swaddles – These are key for those times you’re too tired to re-swaddle using the swaddling techniques in Happiest Baby on the Block
Swaddle Cloths by aden + anais – you (or someone else!) can make swaddle cloths using a 4’x4′ piece of muslin or flannel, but if you just need to buy some to start, this is a great way to do it.
Fisher-Price Newborn Rock ‘N Play Sleeper, Yellow
– We used the older version of this as a bassinet for the first six months, especially useful for reflux. It was crucial to getting more sleep for us and our baby. Please note that there was a recent advisory regarding the older model, as some caregivers experienced mold growth after some use, as that the old version was harder to clean. More information here.
Medela Freestyle Breast Pump – I borrowed a Medela bump from a friend, and also rented a hospital grade pump. This was spendy, but wonderful to have if I needed to move around while pumping.
Maclaren Quest (and Raincover) – People laugh about how much you can spend on strollers, but the Maclaren is worth it, if you compare it to other strollers in its class. This folds easy, is light enough to carry and has a carrying strap. The rain cover is the easiest to deploy of all stroller covers I’ve tried. Skip the City Mini and pretty much any other stroller, and if you just buy one stroller, buy the Maclaren Quest.
Bugaboo Bee Stroller and Canopy and Bugaboo Baby Cocoon Light – This is an excessively expensive stroller. It’s great for around the neighborhood if you’re in a more urban center. I like the cocoon for making it into a mini-pram, but it’s still super compact, unlike other strollers.
Dr. Brown’s Formula Mixing Pitcher – We wanted to breast feed, but ran into supply issues. This was crucial, especially when traveling.
Ergo Carrier – This is a great carrier that works for the long haul. Definitely not for the totally new-born, but great once they hit 12 lbs.
Moby Wrap Original 100% Cotton Baby Carrier, Black – I loved my super-snuggly Moby for the first few months. I highly recommend it as a first carrier.

Don’t Despair. Create.

Posted on Posted in Food and DrinkTagged , , ,

bourbon ballsThis time of year, I always think about local Seattle journalist, Megan Seling from The Stranger and her piece from a few years back . I’ve probably posted about this before. What’s great about it is that it speaks of the things we do to get us through the long winter months of dark and grey. I’m having a great December so far, personally, but it’s been rough in the world around me. Today I’m making (or attempting to make) bourbon chocolate truffles and bourbon balls. The picture is of the last batch of bourbon balls I made a few years ago. The secret is great bourbon and never, ever using any recipe that calls for Nilla wafers. Seriously, it’s just not right.

Wish me luck as I hopefully come out of this day with edible confections!

Welcome to the New

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cookies

After much dithering, and a lot of time, I’ve finally gotten my new blog up and running. I should also say, I’ve gotten the data from my old blog, quasilaur.net, merged into this blog after most of the data was seemingly lost for the ages. (Moral of the story: don’t lose contact with the person who hosts your data, don’t lose your passwords, keep your version updated.) The blog I had moved to in between quasilaur and ironheadjane used my (now inaccurate) real name. I’ve scrapped that nonsense now and with all my data in one place, you can now rest assured that I am Quasilaur, aka Iron Head Jane (a little hard headed.)

Whew. It took database mucking about and reading lots of documentation to get this site to the basic state it’s in. There’s definite work to be done, but at least the content is there. I’m late in my annual baking frenzy chronicling, and I hope to get to that ASAP.

The photo is of vegan spritz cookies I made last month to celebrate Ref 74 passing here in Washington.

See y’all again soon!

Vegan Raisin Scone

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This morning, my son was not about to let me sleep in, so I made scones! I used coconut milk where you would normally use whipping cream, and flax seed and water for the egg. It turned out to be a light, soft scone, and definitely not as sweet as what you’d find in a Starbucks. You will need one 15 oz can of regular coconut milk to skim the cream.

Vegan Raisin Scones

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup Earth Balance Buttery Sticks or other vegan margarine, cut into pieces
2 Tbsp flax meal
6 Tbsp water
3/4 cup coconut milk (do not shake the can, scoop out the creamy coconut part, when you’ve got all that, top off to 3/4 cup with the remaining liquid)
1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit, roughly chopped
Sugar for sprinkling
Almond Milk (or other milk replacer)

In a small bowl, mix cool water with the flax meal and set aside.

Use two medium bowls to for the wet and dry ingredients. In one bowl, mix the 2 Tbsp sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and flour. Cut the margarine into the dry ingredients until it’s coarse and crumbly. In the other bowl, mix the flax meal mixture with the coconut milk and raisins. Use a fork to mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, until they are just moist.

Lightly flower a flat surface, and kneed the dough until it is mostly smooth, about 10-12 strokes. Pat down into an 8 inch round, and then cut into 8 wedges.

Put the cut wedges at least one inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush with almond milk, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake to 350°F for 16-18 minutes, or until golden brown. When out of the oven, remove from the sheet so they don’t stick, and serve warm.