100 Mile Bread Experiences: Guest Post

Hi everyone. I'm Shara's husband, Rick, and I've been asked to do a guest post about my bread making experiences. In mid-July I had taken a bread making workshop at a local bakery, the Golden Hearth. The workshop was totally amazing! Organized by Rachel and Michael at the HealingPathCentre, we learned how to make our own sourdough starter and bread as well as a 90% rye which has lasts a bit longer than other breads.

I do almost no baking (until now), and I knew nothing about bread before taking the workshop. I had seen my grandmother bake bread years ago I think, that's about it. I had always wondered what sourdough was... now I know it's just a mixture of flour and water! There's a lot of chemistry involved, but basically, the sour part comes from the fermentation of the naturally occurring yeast that's already in the air and on the flour itself. Sourdough was chosen because it's 100% local since it doesn't require added yeast. It takes longer to prepare because the process of letting the dough rise or proof takes longer without adding yeast.

At the end of the two day workshop we came away with two loaves of sourdough bread and two loaves of 90% rye. We also were given the recipes so we can make our own sourdough from scratch (equal parts flour and water - 100 grams of each) but the baker at Golden Hearth was nice enough to give us a small sample of his sourdough starter culture to start off our own sourdough bread in the future. Although you can store the culture in the fridge until you're ready to prep it for making bread, he's used the same starter for more than 3 years (you have to feed it more flour and water each day- kind of like having a pet!).

My own bread making experiences since the workshop have been pretty successful. After eating all the bread that I came home with, I made one loaf of sourdough on my own and it was really good! I was SO nervous... I had put the salt into the mixture at the wrong time so I thought we'd end up with a brick instead of a loaf. Then I was worried I'd fed the starter wrong and we'd end up with a brick. Then I was worried I would under-knead it and we'd end up with a brick! Well, we didn't end up with a brick. I was very happy when it came out of the oven, I felt like I was the proud father of this loaf of bread!

It's been a few weeks since that incredible day, and I've just finished working on my second loaf. This time I waited to put the salt in at the right time. I'm still a bit nervous about how it'll turn out. The dough is in the fridge for the night, and I'll proof it out in room temperature for about 2 hours tomorrow, and then into the oven it goes! I'll ask Shara to let you know how it turns out :)

If you have any bread making tips or even horror stories, I'd like to hear them. Please post a comment below!

Millbank Adventures

Since we were out of cheese, we decided to take a road trip to Millbank to visit the Millbank Cheese Outlet, and to stop off at Anna Mae's (also in Millbank) for some of their yummy tarts which we had first come across at Herrle's. Turns out it's not a long drive at all- 40mins or so. Anna Mae's was PACKED, so we just ducked in, got our baked goods (butter tarts for Rick, raspberry ones for me, plus some cheese buns that looked too good to pass up), then went straight to the cheese store. The cheese place was the total opposite of Anna Mae's- not a single car in the parking lot and only us and the girl behind the counter in the store. We got some nice cheese though (and local!), some monterrey jack, cheddar, and brick with hot pepper flakes. Yummy in sandwiches (especially since Rick's been making his sourdough), omlettes, and for snacking!

We also went to Stemmler's on the way back to get some more ham for sandwiches and bacon (Rick's been craving it since we were there a month ago picking up our freezer order). We also peeked into Martin's Family Fruit Farm- looks like a neat place, but we already had enough peaches & berries in the fridge at home. Something to keep in mind when we want apples in the fall though. With the weather my thoughts are starting to turn towards fall with it's yummy apples, squash & pumpkins!

Foccacia Recipe

Here's the foccacia recipe I used. I made the dough in the breadmaker to save time, but if you're making it by hand, mix the water and yeast together first, then about 10 mins later add the other ingredients. Once the ingredients are mixed, knead until it's elastic (5-7 mins or so), then let rise in a covered bowl for 30 mins. Then follow this recipe starting at step 3.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups warm water
1tbsp honey
2tbsp canola oil (the cold-pressed oil I got from Bailey's is awesome- frankly, it's nicer and more flavourful than a lot of grocery store olive oils out there, pricey though)
1.5tsp salt
4.5 cups flour
2tsp active dry yeast (I consider this part of the 99% rule)

Directions:
1) place all ingredients in the above order into the breadmaker & make on dough setting
2) turn out onto a floured surface, invert large mixing bowl over dough and let rest 10 minutes
3) coat a large raised edge cookie sheet with canola oil
4) roll out dough until it fits the pan
5) place in warm oven (I turned it on to about 200 for 3-4 mins then turned it off before putting the dough in) and leave until it's doubled in size (appox. 40 minutes)
5) using your fingers, press holes into the foccacia
6) drizzle with canola oil and sprinkle with whatever chopped herbs you have- I used rosemary, oregano & basil but others would work too. Minced garlic & shredded parmesan would be yummy!
7) Bake in oven at 450 for 20mins.
8) Let cool, the eat!

Month 1 Done!

That's right- one month down, 3-ish more to go! 4 weeks in, things are chugging along pretty nicely for the most part. Thinking ahead and making sure we have bread made and meat defrosted for the next day is becoming second nature (almost), and the last couple of weeks have really brought our little deck garden to life. We have more lettuce, cherry tomatoes and green and red peppers ready to harvest daily and the beans are coming along nicely. I'm actually having trouble keeping up with the herbs, and think that I'll have to stop harvesting all of it because I already have quite a lot of it dried or drying.

Last night I surprised even me by making a really nice focacchia topped with chopped fresh rosemary, basil and oregano from our garden. I made it from scratch, and it is SO good! This is something I don't think I'd even dream of trying before, but since I'm getting to be an old hand at buns and such, I thought I'd give it a go.

We've gotten into a good pattern of eating 100% local at home (minus fair trade coffee and chocolate- for medicinal purposes), and bringing 100% local lunches and snacks to work. This leaves a little wiggle room for going to friends' places and eating their food from time to time. It works for us, and I have to say that drinking local wine instead of the usual Irish cider while sitting in someone's backyard is almost just as good!

Right now I'm turning my thoughts to our camping trip in a couple of weeks. Should be ok, although I'm not sure if I can give up s'mores. I know they're nutritionally void at best, but there's something about fire roasted marshmallows that are just so tasty!

Back on the wagon

Well dear readers, I have a confession to make. After a rough week, and finding the chicken I'd hoped to cook for dinner still frozen, I ordered pizza.

I haven't given up though, and despite the fact that the pizza incident was followed yesterday morning by the OMG they have fresh made chocolate almond pastries at the bakery I must have one incident, I am back to local foods once again.

Do I feel guilty? No- and not just because it was the best tasting pizza ever (forbidden food tastes SO good!), but because frankly I am not much of an all-or-nothing kinda gal.

I think local food is always going to be a factor now even after the challenge is over, and I really don't want to go back to my eating out, or eating preservative laden prepared food now that I know how good the real thing tastes, but I can't say that I won't order pizza or chinese food every so often- I'll just be more picky about it.

Strawberry Picking, Jam & Soy Sauce Cravings...

I love strawberries. In my opinion there is nothing better than these sweet tasty treats. I've always been a bit of a strawberry snob though- only the small Ontario berries for me. The larger ones from Cali have always been a disappointment- they look ok, but bite into them and they taste like water.

With this in mind, our last trip strawberry picking on Canada Day didn't yield quite enough for me to make it through until next season, especially since this summer I'd nearly psyched myself up to try making jam. So Rick and I went back to Herrle's after work on Thursday to pick some more- 10lbs more. The nice thing about Herrle's is they post on their website how the picking is (from fair-very good) and let you know when they anticipate the berries to be gone. They also grow different types of berries which are ready at different times- all taste delish, and it means the season is extended. The picking look less than 30mins, and although the prep to get them ready for the freezer took an hour, the thought of berries in January kept me going!

Friday I decided that enough was enough- although I've been wanting to can jam for over a year, I was always too scared to actually do it. It all seemed so complicated and the thought of getting botulism if I screwed up didn't make me feel any better! It turned out ok though- the book I got (Well Preserved: small batch preserving for the new cook), explained things pretty thoroughly and it actually only took a couple of hours. I'd do it again, and now that I'm fairly comfortable with the process and have figured out what head room and finger tight mean, I think I'm ready to try salsa once tomato season is in full force in a couple of weeks.

Ok- to end this post I'm going to indulge myself in a 100-mile whine: I miss soy sauce! For some reason the Starbuck's latte cravings I thought I'd have are completely missing and instead I've found myself dreaming of soy sauce. I did end up going for sushi this weekend (part of the special event clause in the 100-mile guidelines- Rick and I decided that book/meat club, all-day work retreats and weddings are our exceptions), but this won't happen again for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself thinking this would be the last time I'd be able to have it until October. Sadly, I think the msg in the restaurant's sauce contributed to the wicked headache I had after, but that's one of the side effects of clean living I guess.

Then, a miracle happened! I open my e-mail this morning to find that Bailey's has found a local supplier! Woohooo! Soy sauce for me! Next week- stir fry.

Other blogs?

There certainly are a lot of us doing this 100-day, 100-mile challenge here in Waterloo Region! It seems that wherever I go, I keep running into people who are making a conscious effort to eat more locally grown food- a girl in my dance class, a friend at a bbq, a co-worker- all are taking a closer look at where their food comes from. It's so cool! Never did I think I'd be trading bread baking tips on my coffee break, or getting farmer recommendations over (local) lunch!

And the cooler thing is that I'm also learning things from folks I haven't even met. Lots of people are writing their own blogs, making comments on websites, and sharing their knowledge and experiences. I know, you think I'm gonna break out into 'it's a small world', don't you? (That's the wonder of blogging- maybe I am and you just don't know it!)

There are lots of places I check out for ideas- foodlink, the healing path blog, and the food network's 100-mile microsite to name a few. Here's another that is pretty good written by someone in the area: http://100milevegandiet.blogspot.com/. I mean really- anyone who thinks that kohlrabi looks like sputnik has gotta be cool!