A Lesson on Artisan Bread from My Friend Doug

So, recently, I had the privilege to take a break from teaching cooking classes and take a class of my own on a subject that has always captured my interest: BREAD.  There is nothing more comforting or nurturing than a fresh loaf of bread, but a true artisan loaf leavened with 100% natural starter is something not easily tamed in the home kitchen.

For help with my quest for the perfect boule, I went to my friend Doug.  You may already know him.  He owns Luminous Kitchens, a local business that makes delicious "Bum Bars" and hand-brewed Kombucha.  Whatdayaknow, the same guy makes some really genius bread, right here in BK and right in his home kitchen.  Luckily for you, he is starting to teach private lessons, so you can learn how to make incredible bread right in your very own home.  Email him to arrange your first class.

Doug showed me a few easy steps to:

- Equip a home kitchen with basic tools for artisan bread baking
- Keep a healthy natural starter
- Mix and proof dough
- Improve a home oven to make a better, crusty loaf of bread
- Best utilize extra sourdough starter

As with all baking, formulas and recipes are always key, but as Doug has taught me, much of the nuance of bread making depends on feel.  You really have to see it done right at least once to get an idea of how artisan bread baking really works.

Here's Doug's formula for a basic country white loaf taken (and adapted) from his tome of choice, Breads from the La Brea Bakery by Nancy Silverton.

12 oz. super active white flour starter
2 pounds plus 2 oz. white bread flour
1 pound 2 oz. water (adjusted to achieve proper consistency)
4 1/2 tsp salt

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Join me at the NYC Brewer's Choice

Please join me, this Thursday, September 30 at City Winery in SOHO.

Betty Brooklyn will be participating in NYC Brewer's Choice, the highlight of New York City's Craft Beer Week!

On the menu are deviled eggs topped with crispy pancetta and handmade dilly bean pickles

The eggs are from free-range, pasture fed hens at Tello's Green Farm in Duchess County, New York.
The pancetta is from local pork that is hand-cured at Bklyn Larder.
Green beans and dill are also locally sourced.

The eggs will be paired with a rye based beer from Bear Republic that was brewed especially for New York Craft Beer Week and just won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Fest. 

Come taste and enjoy the festivities!

Squash and Poblano Pepper Tamales, an End of Summer Treat

These tamales are delicious. Oh yeah, and their vegan. That doesn't stop me from serving them with pride to carnivores and vegetarians alike. Maybe I will send along a recipe for tamales de carnitas soon, though.

Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish that is often made around Christmas and 3 Kings Day. Families will make hundreds of tamales and deliver them to friends and to those in need.

However, tamales are delicious all times of year. They are a great food to take on the road, and are high in protein (from the nixtamalized corn flour).

Seasonality: End of summer as squash, peppers and corn are all ripening
Beverage pairing: Nice cold Mexican lager, your choice

Filling:
Vegetable Oil
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 poblano pepper, diced
1 squash (butternut, kabocha, delecata, whatever), peeled, seeded and chopped
Salt, Pepper
Cumin
1 lime, juiced

-Heat a pot over medium high heat. Add a couple Tablespoons of vegetable oil and wait for that to heat up. Add the onions, garlic and poblano pepper to the oil and cook until they begin to soften. Add the squash and some salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and cover the pot.
-Stir occasionally, replacing the lid each time. Cook until the squash is completely tender. and begins to mush and fall apart.
-Season with additional salt, pepper, cumin and lime juice.
-If you are making a bunch of tamales, you can double or triple the recipe.

Dough:
1/2 Pound masa harina (Maseca is a common brand that can be found in almost any grocery store or bodega)
Paprika
Salt
Cumin
Chili Powder
1/2 Cup corn oil
2 Cups vegetable broth

-Season the corn flour with the spices. Then add the corn oil and fully incorporate it.
-Then add the broth.
-The texture should be similar to a thick peanut butter. If you need to adjust the texture, add more flour or broth.
-The recipe can be doubled or tripled for larger batches.

To assemble:
Corn Husks (Hojas de Mais)

-Soak the corn husks in luke warm water for 20 minutes.
-Make a 1/8" to 1/4" layer of Masa dough on one side of the husk, leaving 1" at the far edge.
-Place a small amount of filling (approx. 3 TBS) in the center of the dough, in a line.
-Roll the tamale up like a sushi roll or a cigar. Be sure to pinch it together slightly when one edge of the dough touches the other side. You want the dough to fuse together.
-Fold the bottom end of the corn husk up to seal it together.
-Place all of the tamales in a tall steamer with the folded end toward the bottom.
-Steam the tamales for 45 minutes, making sure that the water does not run out, burning the bottom of the pot.
-Remove the tamales, unwrap them, and slice them in pieces to taste.
-Enjoy!

HERE is a really cute you tube video of some little girls making tamales

End of Summer Canning

Tomato Jam with Cinnamon Basil and Crystallized Ginger
Tomato jam is great for grilled chicken sandwiches, delicious with pesto on grilled bread, and perfect with fresh mozzarella on a piece of country wheat toast. You don't have to add the ginger or the basil. You can add whatever seasoning or spice you like. With this recipe you will get significantly less yield than a tomato sauce, but to me, it's worth it for the super-sweet concentrated tomato taste.

Ingredients:
3 Quarts of your favorite heirloom tomato, chopped
1 Cup sugar
2 Cups white wine vinegar
4 Inches ginger, minced
10 Pieces crystallized ginger, diced
1 Bunch cinnamon basil (or other spicy basil such as Thai or Mexican)
Salt and pepper, to taste

-Boil the tomatoes with sugar, vinegar, and ginger.
-Stir frequently and reduce to a very thick mixture (almost a paste).
-At the last moment, stir in the crystallized ginger and basil.
-Season with salt and pepper.
-Process jars in boiling water bath.


Jupiter Grape Jam with Balsamic and Rosemary
Jupiter Grapes are a seedless table grape available from the finger lakes region of New York state only for a very short window. They are super flavorful like concord grapes (maybe a little juicier), but because they are seedless you can use them to make jam (with the whole fruit), not just jelly (strained). This jam is less sweet than most and can be used as a sauce for quail, in a mini tart, or just with pb on a sandwich.

Ingredients:
4 Bunches Jupiter grapes, pulled from the stems and rinsed
4 Sprigs rosemary
1 Cup Balsamic vinegar
Generous amount of Black Pepper
Salt to taste

-Boil the Jupiter grapes in a large pot with a little bit of water and 1/2 of the Balsamic vinegar until quite thick.
-Then, season the jam to your taste with the remaining vinegar, black pepper and salt, add the rosemary and allow it to steep for 30 min.
-Remove the rosemary, bring the mixture back to a boil and can it.

Tomatillo Salsa
This is one of my favorite recipes to make this time of year and it is so SUPER easy! You do need two very important pieces of equipment, however: a cast iron pan, griddle or grill and a blender. Can this and you will be feasting on summer bounty for the rest of the winter, or as long as your supplies last....

Ingredients:
3 LBS of fresh tomatillos, leaves removed and fruit rinsed
4 Jalepenos
2 Heads of garlic, roasted in aluminum foil in a 300F oven until soft (20 min.)
2 Cloves garlic, raw
2 Bunches fresh cilantro
Fresh lime juice to taste
Salt to taste

-Heat your cast iron pan until it is extremely hot.
-Do not add oil.
-Drop in your tomatillos and jalepenos, blackening them on all sides. You will need to move them around to blacken them evenly. Also, you will want to do this in small enough batches where all the tomatillos can touch the bottom of the pan for more even cooking/blackening. You could also do this on a grill/griddle or barbecue if you prefer.
-Then just toss all of your blackened tomatillos and jalepenos in your blender with the roasted and raw garlic and cilantro.
-Blend (you can leave it a little chunky). Then season your salsa with salt and lime juice. You can just stop there and enjoy your creation on chips right out of the blender, but if you have slightly more restraint, bring it to a boil on the stove top. You may want to reduce the salsa a little if you feel like it is too watery. If so, this is the time to do it. When you have reached the consistency that you desire, taste it again to make sure that you still have all the acidity that you want and can it.

More Good Work from Betty Brooklyn

Check out this link for another great fundraiser event supported by Betty Brooklyn on July 3ed!

http://brooklynbased.net/everything/portside-bbq-and-fundraiser-july-3/

Betty Brooklyn's Pies Take the Cake!

Betty Brooklyn was the winner of the People's Choice award at Pie Lovers Unite, the BK Farmyards Pie Cook-off held on June 12. Many thanks to all who came and showed their support! And thanks to BK for my awesome prizes!

Now get ready, cause these pies are coming right back at you! Betty Brooklyn is giving an encore performance, serving her delicious savory pies at Meatopia, the cities biggest meat event ever! The event is going to be held on Governor's Island on Sunday, July 11th . Get you tickets now! http://meatopia.org/

Here's a recipe to make these yummy pies at home! Beware, this is a multi-day process, but boy is it worth it!

I made 4 times this much, but I wanted to keep the quantities manageable for those who may want to try it at home. This amount should make about 25 mini pies. But hey, if you are going through the trouble, why not make a few extra to give to friends or save in the freezer for a rainy day. You could even heat them up in a toaster oven for breakfast!

Ingredients

For the braised shortribs:
1 1/4 LBS. Local, grass-fed shortribs
Salt and Pepper
12 oz. Home-brewed stout (or you could use Guiness)
Chicken stock
1/4 can Tomato paste
1 Red onion
1 Carrot

To make the filling:
1/2 Red onion
1/2 Jalepeno
Braised short ribs
Salt and pepper
Homemade whole grain spicy mustard (or you could buy whole grain mustard)
Slotted spoon or spatula

To make the crust:
2 1/2 c All purpose flour
2 TBS Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Vegetable shortening
1/4 cup and 2 TBS Buttermilk

To assemble the pies:
Mini muffin tin
Short rib mix
Crust
More home made whole grain spicy mustard
Light egg wash

For the shortribs:
-Pat the short ribs dry and season them generously with salt and pepper.
-Sear the short ribs in a pan or skillet until they have a nice brown color on all sides. Try not to allow the pan to burn.
-Deglaze your pan using a little beer to loosen the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Place the liquid in a pot deep enough to hold all of your ingredients.
-Peel the onion and carrot. Cut them into large chunks and brown them in a pan or skillet. Then add the tomato paste and cook it until it begins to darken.
-Transfer all your veggies to the pot containing your liquid from the previous deglazing.
-Then, deglaze your vegetable pan using a little beer and add that liquid to the pot as well.
-Add the shortribs to the pot. Add the rest of the beer and add chicken stock until the ribs are just covered with liquid.
-Cover the pot and cook at a simmer for 4-6 hours or until the ribs are completely tender. You can do this on the stove on low heat or in the oven at 225F.
-When the ribs are very tender, remove the pot from the heat and cool rapidly in an ice bath.

To make the filling:
-When the mixture is cool, remove the ribs and place them on a cutting board.
-Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve and reduce the liquid at a simmer, skimming regularly, until it is thick enough to barely coat the back of a metal spoon.
-Remove bones and sinew from the braised ribs (you can save this to make a weak stock later).
-Chop the meat finely.
-Dice the red onion and jalepeno very finely and sautee them in a pot that is large enough to hold the sum of all of your filling ingredients.
-Add the reduced liquid and the chopped ribs.
-Cook the mixture, stirring with a slotted spatula or spoon to break-up the beef into more uniform pieces.
-Cook until the mixture is thick and fairly homogeneous (it doesn't have to be completely without chunks).
-Season with salt, pepper and spicy mustard.
-Cool the mixture in an ice bath.

To make the crust:
-Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.
-Add the butter and shortening and rub it into the butter with your hands. Make sure to not rub it in too thoroughly, you want some buttery bits.
-Add the buttermilk all at once and mix just to incorporate.
-Knead for 1 or 2 turns on the counter top and rest the dough (wrapped in plastic wrap) in the refrigerator for an hour.

To assemble the pies:
-Roll out the pie crust very thinly and cut into appropriate sizes for your muffin tins (top and bottom). I use a round cookie cutter set and just find the right size out of the set, but you could use the rim of a glass if it is the right size, or just roll a sheet of dough over the tray and remove the excess dough that you don't need after pushing it into the molds.
-Fill the pies to the rim with your cooled short rib filling. Then put about a teaspoon of spicy mustard on top.
-Then put on your top crust.
-Seal the top crust to the bottom crust with a fork and punch a small hole in the top of each pie to vent.
-Brush with a light egg wash using a pastry brush or a digital pastry brush (your fingers).
-Pop them in a 375F oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are bubbly and golden brown.
-ENJOY!!! You've earned it!