Posts from — April 2009

I’ve been doing a lot of baking lately. It started with the famous no-knead bread recipe and has been blossoming from there. I love to eat bread, slathered with butter or jam, with balsamic vinegar, baked with cheese, or sometimes just plain, so I figure I should figure a little bit out about making it myself.

My first foray out of no-knead territory was to try Cooks Illustrated’s “Almost No-Knead Bread” recipe, which purports to have better flavor, and a more consistent shape & texture than the flamboyantly unpredictable (but startlingly low-fuss) variety. The food scientists over at CI pinpointed two main variables that made true no-knead not quite perfect: moisture content (too high = difficult to work with the dough), and flavor (not bready enough). So, they reduce the moisture ratio and add in two key ingredients: beer and vinegar, to fake the yeasty flavors that supposedly develop in more sophisticated artesenal baking processes.

FYI, CI says to use light lagers only (e.g. Bud) because these beers are fermented near the bottom of the tank with yeast that work at lower temperatures which means they develop more subtle “bready” tastes rather than fruity or spicy flavors that develop from esthers and phenols in ale.

Hey-ne-way, the loaf turned out beautifully:

But woefully the flavor wasn’t that great (it was pretty bland, actually), the crust wasn’t as good as my usual no-knead crust, it turned rather dry after a day, and it took longer to make!

I loved the research that went into this recipe and I might try again, out of respect for all the work that went into its development, but I have to say, I was a little disappointed.

Almost (good) no-knead bread — from Cooks Illustrated
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp water, room temp
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp mild flavored lager
1 tbsp vinegar

1) whisk flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Add water, beer, 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 8 to 18 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 down 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 doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger about 2 hours.

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 head oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor 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 degrees 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 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes loner. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Today it rained and rained and rained.

In the morning I went to mass at an adorable white clapboard church. Maybe 120 folks, and the place was jam-packed — one row of extra foldable chairs set up in the aisle, and barely enough room to walk. A fire-hazard for sure, but it was nice to be there and be sitting so close to the person next to me on a holiday that I love so much.

As called for by the occasion and the weather, I used the inside time as an excuse for a cooking extravaganza.

… try number two with the muffins

… then yogurt from Heritage Farms’ Raw Milk

… next feeding my sourdough starter

… deviled eggs

and finally spinach paratha from Julie Saini’s awesome cookbook…

And then, around 6, we went up to the farmhouse for dinner with Peter and Susan where I got to enjoy my very first Synergy chicken. Peter and Colin got down to the talk about political economy and complexity and I threw in my two cents about ethnomathematics.

Back to the watertower in time for a nice chat with my lovely cousins.

A pleasant, pleasant evening overall.

Borrowed this documentary from the San Juan Island Library and watched it this morning while boiling eggs for Easter deviled eggs and trying a new muffin recipe.

The history of Farmer John’s Illinois farm kind of mirrors the history of Synergy Farm where I am working — from a traditional dairy farm, to a commune, through a period of non-farming (Synergy was a bed-and-breakfast, Farmer John’s land was simply unused), and eventually years later, to an organic and biodynamic farm, serving the local community.

I imagine folks who have been believers since the 60s and before are excited and more than a little smug. But they must also be pretty wary as “organic” filters into popular culture, as it is taken up as a marketing strategy by large corporations and loses much of the richness of its original meaning.

I want to do more study on the history of the idea and the phrase “organic” back through the writings of old Sir Albert Howard, through J.I. Rodale’s How to Grow Fruits and Vegetables by the Organic Method all the way to the trendiness of the O-word today and its connection to the larger (also very en vogue) green movement.

The philosophical question of “what is organic” comes to bear so much on policy and business, and it would be so interesting to understand more about the history of the term and the movement it signifies.

Colin and I rewatched this talk by James Howard Kunstler yesterday. Though he can be overly vitriolic, I appreciate his message and his clear case for the “Tragedy of Suburbia.”

Kunstler’s themes always make me think of this awesome photographer, Andreas Gursky, and this image in particular.

Here are some of my favorite parts from his talk — they do a pretty good job of describing why I care so much about working here on the farm:

“We’re going to have to downscale, rescale, and resize virtually everything we do in this country and we can’t start soon enough to do it. We’re going to have to live closer to where we work, we’re going to have to live closer to each other, we’re going to have to grow more food closer to where we live. The age of the 3000 mile Caesar salad is coming to an end.”

“Life in the mid 21st century is going to be about living locally. Be prepared to be good neighbors. Be prepared to find vocations that make you useful to your neighbors and your fellow citizens.”

And here’s the full video in case you’re interested — he’s a pretty hilarious guy.

This morning I tried again with the carrot squash muffins, making the planned adjustments — reducing the sugar, using wheat bran, and using oil instead of yogurt.

I was also pretty meticulous in employing the “muffin method,” mixing wet and dry separately and then mixing them together with the greatest of care.

I love the heartiness of bran and the feel in my mouth compared to the cakiness/sponginess of regular muffins and the combination of bran and whole-wheat flour, plus lots and lots of veggies, was perfect. The finished product was a yummy balance between crumbly and moist — not the cardboard crumbs you sometimes get with bran. I could see reducing the sugar even more, but only because the carrots here are so gosh-darn sweet.

The only thing that could make these better is a little more crisp on the outside. The first batch were getting brown at 25 minutes, but were still a little moist on the inside. I think some fiddling with the temperature and cooking time could make this recipe even better, but maybe it will also require an ingredient shift… I left a message on a real pastry chef’s blog to see if she could help with the chemistry of it all. Will report back if I hear from her.

Bran Carrot Squash Muffins
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cup wheat bran
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
2 large eggs
1/2 cup organic canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups grated raw carrot
1 cup spaghetti squash, cooked and well mashed
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup raisins

1) Grease your muffin tin really really well and consider using muffin liners to make things easier on yourself — this is important. The bran makes these muffins fall apart more easily, so you’ll need to take care or your muffins will stick and your tops will fall off. This is okay in a Seinfeld episode, but less cool in real life. If you’re filling the muffin pan to the top because you want big crispy muffin tops, also make sure that you grease the top of the pan and not just the inside of the cups or it will stick.
2) mix dry ingredients: flour, bran, salt, bkg pwdr, bkg soda, nutmeg, cinnamon
3) in separate bowl, mix eggs, oil and vanilla
4) mix carrot & squash into flour mix
5) mix wet stuff in — just give it a couple stirs, some flour will remain floury
6) add sugars and raisins and mix until just combined
7) put into your well-greased pan
cook 25 minutes at 350

The day started out a little dreary, and I was planning to stay in, but the sun came a’shining a little after noontime, so I bucked up and headed out on a ride.

I like that the roads on the island make loops. It’s so satisfying to keep moving forwards instead of doubling back on a road where you’ve been before.

View

in a larger map

Like most of the island, this route was up and down and up and down, but I think I chose the right direction when I went counter-clockwise because I shot down some hills that could have been gnarly to climb. Maybe one day when I’m feeling intense, I’ll try going the other direction and see if I survive.

Despite the sun, the air was cool and I could smell blackberries and grass and sometimes the sea for the whole ride. So joyous! I want to figure out how to collect and dry blackberry leaves for tea. With that delicious of a smell, it’s got to taste good.

Overall, this came out to around 18 miles, and I did it in a little under 2 hours with three little stops to take pictures of the pretty beach.

San Juan State Park

Off Westview Road

I live in a yellow water tower on the farm between the main farmhouse, the bunkhouse, and the barn. Every morning, I wake up around 7 and putter around, put on my work clothes, and head out the door and around to the back of my tower where my kitchen lives.

I put the tea kettle on to boil, make myself some granola with cream-top yogurt and dried cranberries and plop down on a stool in front of my yellow-checkered table to check emails and read some of a library book. Then it’s 8:30, which is when I grab my gloves and maybe my hat and head out to work.

The five of us meet in the barn to discuss the day’s work. Google, the lion-maned, attention-hog of the twin barn cats (brother: Yahoo), sidles up to each of us in turn, scratching at our work boots and rubbing up our legs until someone acquiesces and picks him up. Susan doles out our work for the day, we collect shovels and rakes and carts and off we go.

Tuesday is harvest day, but the rest of the week is varied depending on the weather, who’s working, and what’s coming up in the next few weeks. Today, I took care of chickens, double-dug a bed, covered compost, planted potatoes, and seeded trays of head lettuce which will be ready to transplant in a few weeks. When it’s hailed or snowed, we’ve tried to do warm work — seeding flats in the barn or catching up on random indoor chores. When it’s warm, we’ve planted broccoli and kale and let the pullets out .

Around noon we break for lunch and I eat something over in the bunkhouse where my fellow interns live or I make something quick for myself — a fried egg sandwich with salad or tuna fish over rice — and then relax for a bit, check emails, do some food-prep for dinner. Then it’s back out at one, and work until 5 or a little later.

After work, there’s dinner, sometimes a bike ride into town, writing, reading, and other puttering. To bed before midnight and then morning again!

Tonight I made a simple, but toothsome dinner of brown rice and carrots with ginger-soy braising greens and some yummy slivers of cheese on the top. For dessert, I heated up a carrot-squash muffin and had some coffee from my Vietnamese coffee pot. Yum.

Hearty Brown Rice with Carrots
1 cup short grain brown rice, rinsed
1.5 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic finely diced
1/4 onion finely diced
1/2 cup fresh carrots, chopped small

1) heat olive oil in a small pot/saucepan
2) when it’s heated so it changes consistency and swishes around in the pan easily, add in onions & stir. 30 seconds later, add garlic and fry some more. 30 seconds later, add carrots and stir some more. onions should be translucent by now.
3) add in your rice kernels and stir to coat with oil. mix everything up well.
4) add your water and bring to a boil with the lid on the saucepan.
5) take off your lid and turn the heat down to a simmer, cook 25 minutes, stirring every-so-often. If all the water evaporates, add a splash.
6) if you like your rice a little wet/chewy, add a splash of water (a tsp or two) and salt & pepper to taste, give the rice a stir, then turn off the heat and leave it to sit for 5-10 minutes.

And heated up the next day with a scrambled egg:

This morning, I got up at 6:30, performed my morning ablutions and headed to my kitchen, laptop under-arm, to test out some carrot-squash muffins. I made up the recipe from a few different recipe combinations and my own swaps.

Carrot Squash Muffins
2 cups grated raw carrot
1 cup spaghetti squash, cooked
2 cups (280 grams) whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3.5 grams) salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1) mix dry ingredients: flour, salt, bkg pwdr, bkg soda
2) mix eggs, yogurt, vanilla, sugar
3) mix carrot & squash into flour mix
4) mix wet stuff into mix until just combined
5) put into well-greased muffin tin
6) cook 25 minutes at 350

The squash was pretty when I baked it, but…. they didn’t come out quite as nice as I would have liked.

What was up:
– too sweet
– squash was lumpy in batter — don’t love the aftertaste of the squash
– too moist on the bottom
– don’t love the spongey texture

Antidotes I’ll try:
– cook 30 minutes at 350
– use uncooked squash, well grated/shredded
– add 1/2 cup of bran and reduce flour by 1/4 cup
– reduce sugar by 1/2 cup
– sub oil for yogurt

When I was a little over 5, my family and I took a road trip from Orange County to Washington State to visit family friends. Somewhere along the way — maybe in Oregon, maybe all the way up near Bellingham? — anyway, somewhere, we stopped to pick blueberries. As a kid who loved berries, this was like some kind of ridiculous dream (a place where these little morsels of goodness grew from the ground as far as they eye could see and you were free to eat as many as you wanted?!). So it shouldn’t have been too surprising when later that trip I announced to my parents my future occupation:

Since then, I’ve cycled through many career aspirations: scientist, English professor, lawyer (very brief), social entrepreneur, education policy guru. But I guess things really do come back full circle sometimes because as of today, the thing that I can most see myself doing is becoming a farmer.

For the next six months, I’m apprenticing on an organic farm on an island off the coast of Washington state. I’m learning about how to build good soil, how to plant flats, and transplant them later, control weeds & pests, take care of chickens, go to market. I’ve been here for exactly a week now and I feel a joy and satisfaction that makes me feel like I’ve found something that I can love. Of course, time will tell if my upper back can handle all this love, but for now, I’m giving in to ‘happy.’

Funny enough, America seems to be coming ’round as well. A report by the National Gardening Association shows that 43 million American households plan to grow some kind of food for themselves this year. That’s a 19% increase from 2008. And it’s not all just talk — seed sales for edible plants are up. Apparently, Burpee recorded a 20% spike last year, while smaller companies have seen sales increases of 40% or more. I couldn’t find historical data on household food growing, but just for some context, in 1900, almost 40% of Americans lived on farms whereas only 2% of us live on farms today. Needless to say, the number of people who know something about growing food has dwindled over the last century-plus, but it looks like maybe that might change.

I’m no luddite. I don’t think we should “go back to the way things were” and I don’t want to idealize a romantic agrarian lifestyle, but I do think that it’s pretty cool and pretty important that more of us are starting to learn more about something so essential to our health, environment, happiness, and essential humanhood.

Can’t help but feel happy to be part of that.

Photo by Scott Schopieray