I think this might be the 8th or 9th attempt I’ve made at perfecting Almost No-Knead Sourdough and I think that I might have nailed it. I’ll need to try it a few times more to make sure, and I’d like to ensure that I can substitute half of the white flour for whole wheat flour as well. But I’m feeling really good about this method and, in the end, the only change I really needed to make was to reduce the resting and rising times. Who knew?
Apparently, if you allow sourdough to rest for too long, whatever bonds there are that should keep the dough together sort of disintegrate and the dough turns into a wet, gloppy mess.
Ingredients
15 ounces all purpose flour (3 cups)
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
7 ounces water, at room temperature (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
3 ounces mild-flavored lager (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons), such as Budweiser
1/4 cup sourdough starter
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Instructions
1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, starter, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 6 hours.
2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has double in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 1 hour.
3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500*F. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor sharp blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425*F and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210*F, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
4. Refresh starter by mixing in 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 water.
I forgot to put a slit in the bread, so it’s not quite as pretty as my original Almost No-Knead Bread loaf, but that’s an easy fix for next time. I’m still refreshing my starter with whole wheat flour and that seems to be having a nice effect. Next time I’ll try replacing half of the flour with whole wheat flour. The sourdough flavor in this loaf was nice and pronounced.
I am feeling a bit sheepish that the only thing I really needed to do was change the rising and resting times, but it’s been a fun journey. It’s nice to finally have achieved something resembling success!
In theory, if I was more confident in the rising abilities of my starter, I could omit the yeast entirely, but my starter has proven finicky. Hopefully this will change in time.
Thursday, 08 July 2010 20:51
Cow
Ingredients
For marinade
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 onion, sliced
3-4 eye round steaks, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
Instructions
1. Combine all marinade ingredients in a ziptop bag or container. Add meat and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours. Turn meat occasionally to distribute marinade evenly.
2. Heat skillet over high heat. Sear steaks for 2 minutes per side, reduce heat to medium and cook until desired doneness is reached.
Comments
When I bought grassfed cow a few months ago one of the cuts was an eye round roast weighing .9 pounds. I’ve only ever roasted large eye rounds, so I wasn’t very sure what to do with the eye round. I decided to cut it into two steaks and cook it this way. It worked very well and looked a lot like filet mignon. The marinade did help to tenderize the meat and we enjoyed the taste as well. The marinade recipe is from TheMeatSource.com.
Shown here with Roasted Beet Risotto.
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Ingredients
For the rub
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons pepper
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon coriander
1 beef brisket (5 to 6 pounds), with at least 1/4-inch thick fat layer
Wood chips (I used pecan.)
Instructions
1. Mix all rub ingredients. Generously rub over brisket, place in a ziptop bag or other sealable container. Refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours, or even overnight.
2. Place brisket on aluminum foil pan (or make a pan with a double sheet of heavy duty alumnimum foil) and smoke at 200-250*F for 6 to 8 hours or until fork tender. Baste brisket every 30-45 minutes with juices that have accumulated in the pan.
3. Remove the brisket pan from the grill and let rest for 15 minutes. Transfer the brisket to a cutting board and thinly slice it across the grain.
Comments
Since this rub worked so well on short ribs, and since I had leftovers, I went ahead and used it for the brisket. Wow, was it delicious. We were all concerned that it would be to dry and had barbeque sauce on the table just in case, but no one touched it. The meat was extremely flavorful and the smell was just fantastic. It’s safe to say that we are completely sold on smoked meats now.
Shown here with Cream Cheese and Chive Mashed Potatoes that I made with garlic chives instead of regular chives. Yum.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010 21:17
Chicken
Ingredients
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 packet fajita seasoning
1/4 cup water
4 cups grilled fajita vegetables, chopped (I used the vegetables I had leftover from the last time I made fajitas.)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
2 3/3 cups milk or half and half
12 ounces shredded cheese (Cheddar, Mexican blend, Colby, jack, or some mixture.)
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes, drained
12 flour tortillas, sliced into 1-inch strips
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350*F and spray 9- by 12-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté until cooked through. Add seasoning packet and water and continue stirring until liquid is gone. (If you’ve got leftover chicken from making fajitas, you can completely skip this step.)
3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk and stir until smooth. Increase heat to medium-high and simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and add 8 ounces cheese, stirring until melted. Stir in Ro-Tel tomatoes.
4. Place half of the chicken and vegetables in prepared baking dish. Top with half of the tortilla strips and half of the cheese sauce. Repeat layers, ending with cheese sauce.
5. Top with remaining shredded cheese and bake 20 to 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbly and cheese has melted. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Comments
I made entirely too many vegetables the last time I made fajitas and I needed to figure out what to do with them. I figured that I should be able to make some sort of casserole with the leftovers and this is what I came up with. Lance and I both enjoyed this quite a bit – fajitas in a casserole dish with queso sauce to bring it all together. Next time I end up with too many vegetables after fajita night, I know what I’ll be doing with them!
I didn’t have leftover chicken from fajita night, so I had to cook some more. If you have leftover fajita chicken, you can skip step 2.
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