Impulse Baking

This morning we went to Barryville, PA's farmer's market. We didn't eat breakfast before we left the house, so the first stall I headed for was the stall with jam-tasting and tiny specks of baked goods to try out. Blueberry-jalapeno jam was on offer, as well as an orange marmalade which I tried on some zucchini bread. Pushing the idea of a blueberry-jalapeno jam experiment out of my mind for a moment, I knew I had to make zucchini bread. Today. 

So I tasked D with picking out a basket of zukes while I got some eggs, and no sooner were we in the house than I started making this zucchini bread. And after an hour when it was out of the oven, it was almost gone. If I had a jar big enough, I would pickle the tiny ones, but I guess that will have to wait until another day. Like the blueberry-jalapeno jam. 

I found a recipe that uses sourdough and of course had to try it. It's delicious.

Cardamom-Zucchini Sourdough Bread

1/2 cup good olive oil
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup zucchini, grated
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 cup raisins

Mix oil, sugar, starter and milk. Stir and let sit for a few moments. Stir in your grated zucchini (if you like your bread more veggie, use more than a cup. If you like your bread puffy, use an egg in addition to the other wet ingredients, but then decrease your sourdough or milk by about 1/8-1/4 of a cup). In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, powder, soda, spices) well and then add to the wet mixture to blend just enough. Fold in the raisins. (You can use nuts unless someone you love doesn't like them. Walnuts, pecans, almonds...whatever you like). 

Grease a bread pan and pour the mixture in, leaving just a tiny bit in the bowl for you to scoop up with your finger and eat. Bake at 325° for about an hour (test by sticking a toothpick in the densest part and see if it comes out gooey. If it does, it's not done). 

Let it cool for a few minutes and try to restrain your people from attacking it while it sets. If you want to save some for the morning (zucchini french toast, anyone?), you should have made two loaves. 

The Sourdough Experiments

People really appreciate freshly-baked bread. You pop a loaf in the oven before guests arrive and the smell wafting from your kitchen will make people feel as welcome as anything. I've been experimenting with sourdough recipes since I brought my first starter back from San Francisco about three years ago. I've had a very hard time finding a recipe for a nice rustic loaf, but this one is the best so far. This recipe is from the King Arthur flour website, and it worked pretty well--it yields a nice crust and a chewy center. The problem that I've had is with the rising. I don't know if its the climate or what, but I rarely ever get the nice air pockets that characterize a good sourdough. I also have a hard time getting the loaves to rise high when I made free-form loaves; my dough seems to expand lengthwise, but not rise up. This time I used additional yeast toward the end of the process, and formed a lip of aluminum foil around the dough to keep it from expanding outward. This experiment makes me think that I ought to search for some spring-form dough ring for my next loaf.

I made two loaves in preparation for weekend guests. We served the freshly-baked loaves with a dinner of pan-seared venison, leeks, and sweet potatoes. The leftovers went well with pea soup for the next day's lunch, and toasted for tuna-salad sandwiches.

Rustic Supper Sourdough

1 cup "fed" sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 cups flour

Combine all of the ingredients, kneading to form a smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise, in a covered bowl, until it's doubled in size, about 90 minutes. Gently divide the dough in half; it'll deflate somewhat. Shape the dough into two oval loaves--this is where I deviated from the recipe. I sprinkled a little bit of dried yeast and stretched it through the dough, folding it over and under itself until I had two smooth loaves. Place the loaves on a lightly greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until very puffy, about 1 hour. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray the loaves with olive oil or lukewarm water. At this point, you can also do an egg wash to make the crust shiny. I didn't do that this time around. Make two fairly deep diagonal slashes in each. Bake the bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's a very deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven, and cool on a rack.