A Day In The Life Of A Retired Guy

 

Started my day with making the dough.  

Easy peasy.

Braised and deboned a couple wild turkey hindquarters for soup, assembled a batch of Lenten tuna salad, prepped for Wednesday’s class and closed with that dough.

Daily Bread!

Entirely possible my kitchen likely smells better than yours...

Gentlemen - Start Your Ovens

Good Monday morning friends. 

My Friday ritual is to feed my sourdough starters.

With freezing temperatures across the land it is opportunities like this that call for baking. You know, if you can’t stand the cold; stay in the kitchen. 

 
At Friday bedtime I set this handmade dough ball of future sourdough breadness on the counter (covered) to proof overnight.  Arising on Saturday....

At the time of another pipe freezing sunrise there was this. 

This recipe is from a sourdough baking class and is a reasonably fool-proof bake. Step-by-step illustrated instructions as follows:

Sourdough Bread

Making Pat’s Sourdough Bread at Home: 

Pat is from the neighboring town of Algoma. The starter I received as a gift to the class participants can be traced over the years through Pat’s sister in Michigan, to her daughter in NYC, to her friend Laurent Gras*, a Michelin starred chef from France. I received a gift of a 40-year-old starter that began its life in France.  Here’s how to keep it going.

Feeding the starter:

120g water

100g old starter

100g flour (10g rye flour and 90g high protein bread flour)

 

(Any discarded starter is used for baking) 

 

double in volume

Whisk the water and starter to make a slurry. Add flour and whisk until lumps have dissolved. Pour into a quart mason jar and set on the counter at room temperature. The starter should double in volume. Then settle down to its original level. After 24 hours, refrigerate.  I use a Mason “Pickle Pipe” (fermentation airlock) to seal my jars. 

Starter can live in the fridge for approximately 7 days. Feed once a week. For more sour flavor use starter that has been refrigerated 4-6 days.  If you keep your starter in the garage beer fridge like I do I’ve learned it will keep for up to three weeks without feeding while we’re away traveling.   Lastly, I keep frozen batches of both my starters in a basement chest freezer as a backup against loss.  

Starting the bread:

Start to finish about 12-16 hours - mostly overnight.  Hands-on time is less than 1 hour.

385g water

90g starter

520g flour (100g whole wheat and 420g high protein bread flour)

12g table salt (to be added later)

Mix water with starter to make a slurry.  Whisk the two flours together and add to the slurry.  Mix everything by hand or a plastic bowl scraper.  Cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Stretching the bread:

Stretch and fold eight times. Rest another 15 minutes. Sprinkle half the salt on the dough then stretch and fold 8 times. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the dough with the remaining salt and stretch and fold 8 times. Cover the dough and let it rest overnight (8-10 hours) at room temperature (68-70 F) until doubled in size. If it is warmer this may take 6-8 hours. Wet hands are non-stick.  

 

Note:  The stretch, fold and rest process is three times.  Resist any impulse to fold and knead on the countertop. I like to finish this step before bedtime. (top photo)

Forming the loaf:

First thing in the morning after the dough and I have risen is this step.  Start the coffee and dump the dough out onto a floured counter. Cover with a bowl and let it rest ½ hour. With wet hands stretch and fold the dough forming a round loaf. Place on a floured towel and place in a bowl seam side up. Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for 1-4 hours. (It is cold enough this time of year to leave it on the kitchen countertop)

 

Drink coffee 

Baking the loaf:

45 minutes before baking allow the cast iron pot and lid to preheat in a 450 oven. Tip the towel-lined loaf from the bowl into parchment paper-lined cast iron. Slash and bake covered for 40 minutes at a reduced 425.  At the 40 minute interval remove the lid and bake for an additional 20 minutes at 375 (uncovered).  Total bake time is 60 minutes.  Remove loaf to a wire rack and allow to rest at room temperature.

  

slash

cover

40 minutes at 425F covered - uncover and 20 additional minutes at 375F

cool on wire rack

DO NOT give in to any urge to cut the loaf before it has cooled!  After it has cooled you can place the loaf cut side down on a cutting board for up to a day before bagging in plastic.  Sourdough bread is naturally resistant to turning stale; if it lasts that long anyway.

Pro Tip: This sourdough bread is a very forgiving bake; don’t feel like you’re a slave to pinpoint timing.  Nevertheless, weights and measures must be precise.  Pull and fold your dough like taffy.  Do not knead it on a countertop.

Once upon a time my whole wheat flour had turned so I tossed it out.  Substituting 100g of all-purpose flour resulted in a fine result.

If you care to introduce all the salt to the dry flours before mixing I could not detect any detrimental effect to the loaf.  This saves a step in the stretching and folding process.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Gras_(chef).  As of 01.24.26 the starter is now 44 years of age.

Boy Trap

I'm going to ignore the sexist undertone of this piece of vintage advertising because I am not woke.

I am strong.

And I would never fall for this trap.

I've eaten more than my share of Wonder Bread in my lifetime and this doesn't make the cut.

Another example of uninspired and unappealing food from the 1960s.

 

*Roast beef and lettuce is a good start.  Needs marble rye, Swiss cheese and whole grain horseradish mustard.

Deer Camp

Been busy here at The Platz and the blog has been neglected.

Deer Camp is running at full tilt and it's out 30th Anniversary!

Raise the flag and bake the bread.

That's a deli rye and a sourdough boule.

The Best Part Of Waking Up

Delightful sight and smell to wake-up to.

Homemade, sunrise boule......

 

The Return of the Deli Rye

As cold as it's been lately one of the flip sides of the situation is more time in the kitchen.

I haven't made this in many moons but in the interest of keeping out of a 'bread rut' I made this over the weekend.

I amped it-up with a generous sprinkling of pretzel salt to give it a decidedly German flair.

Homemade deli rye....

Deer Camp Recap

Yesterday was a day of rest with everyone here at camp sleeping-in to 7 AM.  After a delightful breakfast of strong black coffee and Shit On A Biscuit...

We off-loaded seven whitetails from the meat pole and loaded-up the pick-up truck.  

Four deer to be processed into steaks, chops, burger and bagged scraps along with the three remaining deer donated to the Northeast Wisconsin Food Pantry Network.  

There is also the following;

Deer camp wine - courtesy of my neighbor and his wife who happen to be wine-making enthusiasts 

Deer camp bread - second loaf pictured after the hungry crew devoured the first loaf in one sitting

Deer camp homemade biscuits - the vessel for the creamed chipped beef (above)

Deer camp fish fry of wild-caught perch, walleye and crappies

Deer camp homemade clam chowder

Deer camp flag
 

Deer camp dog

And a deer camp sunset 

All in-all more fun than a barrel of monkeys.  We reconvene in December. 

Easy Pumpkin Bread

I made this for Halloween.  It's spicy-tasty, not too sweet and easy to make.  So if you're looking for something to bake with your grand kids or for company, or to have for dessert or with a cuppa joe in the morning you might want to give this a try.  If I still had a day job I would win hearts and minds in the break room with a couple of these loaves.  With more holidays on the calendar it is a terrific and easy addition to your feast.  I'll probably make a loaf for deer camp too.

Easy Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

1 box of spice cake mix (Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, whatever)

1 15 oz can pumpkin - pure, plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

2 eggs

4 oz applesauce (individual 4 oz cups come in a six-pak)

4 oz sour cream (about 4 heaping tablespoons)

Double fist-full of chopped pecans

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350F.  

Using a hand mixer combine all of the wet ingredients in a bowl until blended.  Add the cake mix along with the pecans and continue to blend until well-mixed.  Pour into a 9 X 5 inch greased (or non-stick) loaf pan and bake at 350 for one hour. Ovens vary so do the toothpick test to confirm doneness.  Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

You will note that there is no oil in this recipe.  I purposefully planned to substitute unsweetened, all natural apple sauce for oil knowing that the pumpkin provided plenty of moist goodness.  The sour cream was added on a whim as I had an opened container close to expiring.  I think it added a tangy richness to the final result.  It is optional.  Without the oil this is a healthier version of quick bread - not too sweet and plenty of fiber.  That said, you can readily omit the applesauce and sour cream and substitute a quarter cup of vegetable oil.

If you want total decadence consider adding semi-sweet chocolate chips to the recipe.

Daily Bread

Actually a couple of days worth of bread.

Today dawned, dank, damp, overcast and cold.  46F when I finally got around to firing the Forno around noon.  

I had previously prepared a large batch of signature French Boule bread dough yesterday and it had been proofing for about 24 hours already.  I was either going to bake a traditional Boule in the kitchen range - or was going to bake hard rolls in the old-school wood oven out back.

As you correctly concluded it was old school today.

The fire built in the oven was considerably smaller than what I would have started if planning to bake pizzas.  I was looking to charge the brick interior not at 900F but something on the order of 450F.  Bread-baking temp.

With the oven heating, I measured-out my dough into eight basically equal portions and formed balls to further proof on a pan lined with parchment paper and corn meal.

The clouds parted and the sun emerged about the time the fire had died-down and pushing the embers to the back, I inserted my pan of rolls, gave the dome a healthy spritz of water from a spray bottle to establish a steamy-hot atmosphere and closed the oven door.

This was my first foray into hard roll baking with a wood oven and it wasn't long before the back yard smelled of fresh-baked bread.  I likely messed with the oven temp with more frequent checking but it's a learning curve after-ll.

I rotated the pan and the 20 minute mark - gave the dome another spritz and closed the door.

20-25 minutes later there was this...

 

Eight crusty hard rolls made the old school way.

 

Daily Bread

We no longer purchase much in the way of bread stuffs any long - mostly specialty items like English muffins and bagels.   This is a consequence of my bread-baking evolution.

I have a contractor lined-up to construct a cut stone pedestal and countertop upon-which will be installed a Forno Bravo wood-fired outdoor oven.  

Until then I've been diligently mastering the art of baking a French Boule and Deli Rye.  

The plan is to eventually include a practical selection of flat breads, focaccia and pizza dough.  Once these are mastered my scheme is to introduce sourdough starter as an optional leavening agent.  Yes, ambitious but attainable.  I think.  After that it is making this come together in a wood-fired outdoor oven.

Last week our daily bread included a first attempt at a traditional Italian loaf.

It turned-out well - proving the hypothesis that bakery-quality bread can be made at home if you put your mind, heart and hands to the task at hand.  

Sunday, I made some large croutons from the last of it.  

 

Toasted gently and anointed with olive oil and grated Parmesan - they were served topped with olivara bruschetta tapenade and anchovies along with adult beverages for Valentines Movie Night.

The journey continues.....