No-Knead Bread

A great loaf of bread is a thing of beauty. I've had really bad luck with bread lately, partly due to my reluctance to throw out a batch of old yeast, and partly due to my curiosity about what turned out to be some pretty bad recipes. Last night, I decided to kick my losing streak to the curb with Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread, which created quite the sensation in Mark Bittman's The New York Times column a few years ago.

As expected, the bread turned out perfectly. This is probably the most perfect loaf of No-Knead bread to come out of my oven. Not only is it beautifully rustic, it's strongly scented with rosemary and sage from my family's house in LA. It's taken me awhile, but I'm ready to write down the recipe for myself in case the NYT article disappears from the internet. I've added adjustments, which were mentioned in a follow-up article by Bittman.

• 430 grams or 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting (I substituted in about a cup of whole wheat flour)
• 350 grams or 1 5/8 cup tepid water
• 1 gram or ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 gram or 1¼ teaspoons salt (overwhelming consensus is that this bread needs more salt, especially if you use kosher salt. Two to two and a half teaspoons is a good amount)
• Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (I always use flour because I don't like hard cornmealm, and wheat bran tends to burn)

Combine everything but the cornmeal/bran in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until it all comes together in a shaggy mess. There's no need to scrape down the bowl or make the mix even. Just make sure there aren't lumps of dry flour. At this point, you can add things like a handful of fresh or dried herbs, chopped olives, toasted or raw chopped garlic or onions, nuts, raisins, whatever you like. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and leave for 12-24 hours.

After about 12 hours, your dough will look like a very wet mess. It's up to you to determine when you want to continue to the next step.

A good rule of thumb is this: if the glutens have formed long strings, you're ready to move on. Tilt your bowl. If the dough pulls away and you can see some stringiness clinging to the sides, that's perfect. If the dough moves as one mass or just site there you need to let the dough rest longer.

This part gets tricky. Rub a lot of flour into a silicon mat, then sprinkle generously with more flour, cornmeal, or bran. You can do this in a bowl or on a towel too. Whatever you do, make sure you also cover your hands in plent of flour. Scrape the sticky dough onto the mat, then using your floured hands quickly fold the dough over itself a few times. You will probably feel like this is a futile task, because the bread will retain its shape of a giant blob no matter how much you tug at it. Just try to get it into a circle or an oval. Dust the top generously with flour, cornmeal, or bran. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it sit for an hour. If you remember to, come back from time to time and lift the plastic gently off the dough and then put it back. This will help prevent sticking at the end.

Forty-five minutes into the second rise, turn your oven on to 450 degrees and put in a 5-9 quart pot with a lid. Cast iron, enamel, or Pyrex are best, but any oven safe casserole or pot will work. The smaller your container, the taller and rounder your bread will be. A 9 quart pot will result in a very flat, wide loaf. I used a 5 quart ceramic casserole this time and loved the shape.

Tricky step: when your oven and pot are heated, carefully remove the pot from the oven and take off the lid. Take the plastic wrap off your dough, then carefully but quickly flip the dough into the pot. There will be some sizzling, and the bread might all end up on one side of the pot if you have bad aim. Shake the pot a little, but don't worry. Usually the bread's shape evens out as it rises. Put the lid back on the pot, put the pot back in the oven, and don't open the oven door for half an hour. Then remove the lid from the pot and bake the bread for 20-30 more minutes, until the outside is golden brown and the internal temperature hits 190.

Remove the pot from the oven and put it on a heatproof surface. When the bread is hot enough to handle, put it on a rack to complete cooling. DO NOT cut into a hot loaf of bread fresh from the oven! Not only will you probably burn yourself, you will end up with gummy bread. Bread needs to cool down for at least half an hour so some moisture can escape and leave behind airy goodness. The really cool thing about No-Knead Bread is that as the bread cools, you can hear the crust crackling. It sounds delicious.

It's really best to let the bread cool for an hour or more after you take it out of the oven, but I confess I cut into it after waiting only 30 minutes. A little butter is all this bread needs, though of course the possibilities are endless.

Basic Vinaigrette Tutorial

A lot of how-tos this week. I got a lot of questions while on vacation about how I do this and that, which of course is incredibly flattering--but not as flattering as when people actually try it my way and let me know how it goes! (hint hint) Every avid cook likes to know if her directions actually work.

Anyhoo, this is tonight's basil vinaigrette. Most people buy salad dressing in a bottle, but it's so easy to make a small amount. Not only do I get to change up the flavors every time, it helps me use up the vinegars and olive oil that tend to just sit around in my cabinets. Call me crazy, but the fewer bottles lying around the better.

Vinaigrette is an emulsion, so creating a creamy vinaigrette requires two things: the right proportions, and agitation. Here are the basics you'll need:

• one part acid. This can be vinegar, lemon juice, citrus juice, or a combination of the three
• three parts oil. This is usually the olive oil of your choice. Use light oil if you want the flavor to be delicate, and extra virgin if you want the grassy olive oil flavor to shine. You can also use infused oils
• salt and sugar to taste
• optional: herbs, garlic, ginger, peppers, nuts, fruits, and/or other flavoring agents
  

If you whisk the acid and oil together very quickly, you'll soon have a creamy vinaigrette. The rest is bonus! But for those who want a real recipe, this is what I did for my basil vinaigrette:

• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 6 leaves basil, chopped finely
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4/tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar

I combined the basil, pepper, salt, and sugar in a bowl and ground them together with the back of a spoon. Then I added the vinegar and mixed until the sugar and salt dissolved, Using a whisk, I drizzled in the olive oil and whisked furiously until the dressing was creamy. Then I poured it over some mixed greens and heirloom tomatoes.

Having one fresh herb or brightly flavored fruit really takes your vinaigrette to the next level. Last weekend, for example, I pureed a single perfect strawberry into a bowl of dressing for a group of 11. Not much of an investment, but suddenly we were dining on strawberry vinaigrette instead of just eating olive oil and vinegar.

French Press Tutorial

Sometimes people ask me how to make coffee, and the answer is a lot simpler than one might expect from an acknowledged addict. I've fiddled with various ways of making coffee, and the French press is now my favorite because it's cheap, doesn't take up any space, and makes a great cup of black coffee.

When you drink black coffee, the freshness of your coffee beans becomes exponentially more important than if you're going to add cream and/or sugar to your brew. Grinding the coffee correctly is also important. The best description I've heard for what French press coffee should be like is this: fine enough that it's like sand you can comfortably stand on, but not as fine as the powdery sand that makes you feel like you're really on a tropical paradise.

For my 80z. French press, I use two to three heaping tablespoons of ground coffee, depending on mood and beans. Remember to rinse your press pot with hot water before you put the coffee in.

Next, fill the pot with hot water. How hot? 180 degrees or so. Just kidding, who measures? I know I don't. I let the water come to a boil, take it off the heat, swirl it until the boiling stops, and pour the water into the pot in a thin stream. It's not perfect, but it's a lot easier than having to take out a thermometer.

This next step I didn't do until recently, but I think it's important because I noticed the coffee looks really different. Stir with a spoon or chopstick. See how a light layer of foam forms on top of the coffee? That's called blooming. If your beans are fresh, when you start stirring you'll hear a slight fizz or whoosh, sort of like the sound of a can of soda being opened. Then the beans will rise a little, and foam will appear.

Now, you wait. Three minutes, to be precise. Put the lid on your pot and adjust the mesh presser so it's hovering above the coffee. You want the lid on to retain heat, but if you let the metal part touch the coffee it'll cool everything down a little. It's not a huge deal, but since this is a tutorial...

When three minutes are up, press the mesh strainer to the bottom of your press pot. You should have to exert a little force to press the coffee down. It shouldn't feel like arm wrestling, but if you're able to slam the strainer down in a second or two your coffee is too coarse. The exact amount of force you exert should be about how hard you would need to press on a bathroom scale with your palm for it to reat 10-15 lbs. But again, when it's 8 a.m. it's more important to get the coffee into your system than to quibble over details.

Pour the coffee out of the press pot, and you should have a rich, clean cup of black coffee with a very fine layer of powdery sediment when you reach the bottom. Bottoms up!

Scallion Pancakes Tutorial

A recent post on a friend's blog reminded me that my own scallion pancakes tutorial was never completed. That, and the three bundles of scallions in my fridge, prompted me to update my recipe and write it down so I'll remember better in the future.

Scallion pancakes can be paper thin and crispy or rather dense and chewy, but I prefer something in between the two extremes. This is crispy on the outside, but still with a nice layer of dough for some toothsome goodness.

RECIPE:

For the dough:

• 2 cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, mixed well with flour
• a cup each of very hot water and iced water (you won't use all)
• 3 green onions, roots removed and chopped finely (white and green parts)
• sesame oil

Use a heavy bowl or have someone hold it for you while you pour hot water in with one hand and start mixing the flour and salt together with the other hand. As soon as any clumps start to form, switch to cold water. Ultimately, you should be using half hot and half cold, but the first few times it might be hard to gauge this. Don't sweat it, you'll be fine. You should try to knead your dough until it's smooth and about as hard as Play Dough, but it's fine if at this point it's a little lumpy.

Let it rest for half an hour and knead again, then let it rest for an hour (or at least 30 minutes). At this point the dough should be soft, smooth, wet enough that it wants to stick to your palm after you give it a knead, but dry enough that if you lift your hand the dough eventually falls and leaves your palm clean. Do not re-work the dough at this point; you don't want to tighten up the dough again.

Pull off a handful of dough, dust and flour a clean surface, and roll out the dough. At this stage, the thinner you roll the better. Pour a small puddle of sesame oil on the dough, about the size of a dime, and smear it around. Top the dough generously with scallions and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt.

Roll up the dough from one end to another, making sure you enclose all the scallion pieces.

Now roll up the cylinder into a coil, making sure to keep the coil tight.

You've created a ball of dough. Press the ends in and seal tightly before pressing the top with your palm and flattening the ball into a disc.

Now roll out the scallion pancake the the thickness you desire. The sesame oil and enclosed scallions will help make almost imperceptible layers in your dough. You won't really be able to see the layers, but having the sesame oil break up the dough a little helps the pancake from being too dense and chewy. The step of sprinkling salt onto the scallions means that when you roll out the pancake, the salt is crushed into the scallions and the scallion's juices are also crushed into the dough. The result is a more evenly salty, very flavorful savory pancake.

When you've made your pancakes, fry them on medium high heat in a pan that is well coated with oil. This is not diet food. Your pancake will look white and dry unless the entire bottom of your pan is covered in a layer of oil. Fry each side until it is golden brown, and enjoy!

Kombucha Report

A glass of kombucha made from high mountain Taiwanese oolong tea (courtesy of my aunt's tea shop). This particular batch had a fragrant honey flavor, light fizz, and champagne-like color.


Four batches of kombucha in, I'm ready to give a full report on kombucha brewing. Please let me know if anything is unclear so I can edit my instructions. I plan to send this to people who ask me how to make kombucha in the future, so I want it to be very precise.

Reminder: you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them and get a good look at what's going on.

First, a quick lesson: kombucha (translation: kombu tea) is usually considered a new age Japanese health product, but it's been used all over Asia for hundreds of years. In a nutshell, it's fermented tea. Some people call it mushroom juice, others tea wine. You'll understand why these names were chosen if you decide to keep reading.

To make kombucha, one needs the following:

• kombucha culture (parent culture)
• 1 cup kombucha
• 1 gallon clean water
• pot big enough to boil a gallon of water
• enough tea for 8 strong cups of tea
• 1 cup granulated sugar (brown sugar works too)
• clean glass container able to hold a gallon of water, no lid necessary
• paper towel or clean hand towel
• rubber band
• Enough glass bottles with lids to hold all the liquid. The lids need to be plastic.

If you're brewing for one and/or only have smaller cooking vessels, cut the amounts in half (half a gallon of water, half a cup of sugar, half gallon sized glass jar, etc.). I've tried this and it still works well. In fact, the first time it worked so well I decided a little extra sugar and old kombucha in the new brew was a good idea. Extra food for what might be a slightly week culture.

I got my kombucha culture from a friend. Kombucha owners are happy to share, both because it's really fun to pass on knowledge and because if you make kombucha regularly you create more cultures than you can possibly use. The culture, which is a symbiotic living mass of yeast and bacteria, is about a third of an inch thick and rubbery. To me, it feels sort of like a large raw squid. The color is slightly off white like a very clean, thick layer of lard. However, the culture will darken depending on what kind of tea it's soaked in and darkens with age. Kombucha culture is also sold on line, and I've heard some health food stores sell frozen cultures. The one in this picture is floating in some fairly sour kombucha, which smelled almost like pure vinegar.

Before you begin, clean everything including your hands and forearms with hot soapy water. Cleanliness really counts for this kitchen project.

To start, boil a gallon of water and brew your tea in it until the tea is nice and strong. Alternatively, you can boil a few cups of water, make extra strong tea in it, add the cup of sugar, make sure the sugar melts completely, and dilute the liquid with clean bottled water. Since the water needs to be sterile, however, you don't want to brew a small amount and then add tap water. And since I don't spend money on bottled water, I find it easier to just boil a whole gallon of water and let it cool down to body temperature before I start.

When the tea is warm, strain out the tea. Put in the kombucha culture and a cup of old kombucha. I haven't measured the temperature exactly, but the tea needs to be cool enough to comfortably put your hand in for at least twenty seconds. It's important not to kill the culture by burning it, but the culture won't like cold tea either. Anything between room temperature (70) and body temperature (98) should be fine.

At this point, your culture might sink, float, or stand up vertically like the one in this photo. Don't worry about it. Cover with a clean towel and wrap with a rubber band. This will keep stuff from falling in. Keep the kombucha in a cool dark place with plenty of air. I keep mine in an ajar cabinet, but any dark corner is fine. You want to avoid places with a lot of fumes (garage) or too much grease (open area of kitchen).

Leave the brew alone for at least five days. Since my apartment is relatively cool, every batch of kombucha I've made has taken at least seven days. It will be faster in hot weather and slower in cold weather. I've heard it can take between one and three weeks, so that's your window. Things that can slow down kombucha maturation include but are not limited to:

• cold weather
• a very young parent culture
• a very old parent culture
• a weakly formed parent culture (thin, uneven)
• oil in your tea (such as bergamot in Earl Grey)
• oil on any of your cooking utensils
• fruit in your tea (again, with the oil)
• you used brown sugar
• you didn't use real tea (chamomile, mint, apple, etc.)--this won't work at all
• you didn't add enough old kombucha
• your old kombucha was a little weak

As your brew ages, the culture will create a "baby" culture on the surface of the tea. The culture, which is alive, begins to process the sugar and caffeine in the tea. That's why you need to use real sugar and real tea. No Splenda, no decaf. Don't worry, your final product will be both sugar and caffeine free. The sugar and caffeine is there for the culture to eat. Not you. What you will be ingesting is the "waste product" of the culture. These waste products include a myriad of acids, B vitamins, vitamin C, various forms of yeast, and some bacteria. Just as the flavors of wild yeast caught for bread or beer will differ depending on environment, your kombucha's flavor will differ depending on what's floating around in your home.

The appearance of the "baby" is an indicator of the health of your "parent." The first few days it will seem like nothing is happening. Then, a white ring will begin to form around the edges of the tea, clinging to the glass jar. Then, usually overnight, a thin layer will develop on the surface of the tea, like in this photo. This layer will thicken and become quite solid by the one week mark. Weak baby formation is caused by one of the causes I mentioned above.

I've also noticed that if you haven't strained your tea through a fine mesh, sometimes little tea bits will float to the surface and get caught in the baby. Sometimes this makes ugly bubbles, or dark blotches on the baby. It's really ugly and undesirable, so strain your tea well. Even better, use loose leaf tea. Tea bags are made with broken up, sometimes powdery tea that is too low quality to sell as loose leaf. If you use loose leaf tea the large leaves will stay intact during brewing and there won't be residue to get caught in the baby.

Kombucha is one funky looking creature. As it brews, different things start going on. My first brew started bubbling furiously after about five days. I could see bubbles rising from the baby culture up to the surface. I also accidentally knocked the jar, displacing the layer that had formed on the surface. What happened was that a new layer formed, so my new baby was two thin cultures instead of one thick one. Lesson: don't jostle the kombucha! Another time, I noticed cloudy webs floating in the tea, linking the old culture to the baby culture. Kind of like a Creation of Adam thing going on in my cabinet. You can see shadowy strands in this photo. The color of the tea will also change. It might get a little cloudy from the yeast, and it will lighten from the acid in the kombucha.

After day 5, use a spoon or straw to taste a little of your kombucha. It should no longer be sweet. Instead, it should smell and taste a lot like apple cider vinegar. You want there to be a faint tang, and if you're lucky the kombucha will be fizzy as well. If it's pretty tangy, it's time to decant. Otherwise, leave it and taste it every day until it's what you want.

It's hard to know what's right for you the first time around. Just keep in mind that the kombucha should not taste sweet. If it's still sugary, the brew's not ready. And it will mellow out after decanting, so remember that if it tastes a little tangy it will lose some of that quality before you drink it.

To decant, you need some clean glass bottles with plastic lids. I use old alcohol and juice bottles. Glass is best, plastic is fine. Metal will kill kombucha. Before you start, set aside the old culture and baby culture in a few cups of the kombucha. Keep the tupperware in a cool dark place, slightly ajar so the cultures can breath. I was going to start a new brew right away so I put the baby culture and a cup of tea back in the glass container. This bottle looks a little darker than it actually is because of the dark wood table, but it's kombucha made from oolong so it's actually lighter than apple juice.

Using the rest of the kombucha, fill the bottles to the very top, leaving no room for air. This will help the kombucha develop fizziness, and keep the bottle from exploding from the built up pressure. Leave the bottles in a cool dark place for five days, then transfer to your refridgerator. I've been pretty good about finishing my kombucha, so I'm not sure how long it lasts if you don't open it. Some people say a few months in the fridge. I notice that opened bottles start tasting pretty sour after two weeks, so I wouldn't keep opened bottles around for too long.

You can start a new brew right away with one of the cultures. It's up to you whether you want to use the new baby (which will now become a parent) or the old parent. Here is a picture of a brand new baby culture with a cup of just-made tea. You can see that some fizz formed when I poured the tea back into the container. I don't know if it's luck or what, but I've always had very fizzy results. This combination of tea and culture is what you need to start a new brew. Just add a gallon of lukewarm strong tea that has a cup of sugar melted into it.

Parent cultures are good for about a dozen brews. The performance of a parent takes on the shape of a bell curve. The first few babies it makes will be a little on the thin side, then it will make a few great babies before it starts getting old and is ready to be buried in the back yard or thrown in the garbage. If you find yourself with two very thin parents, use them both in the same container to make your next brew. Hopefully you'll end up with one great baby. Like I keep saying, everything's trial and error with kombucha, so go with your gut. Ideally I want to keep two or three healthy cultures going at all times in case I kill one.

What tea is best? You can use any black, green, or oolong tea to make kombucha. As you can tell from my photos, I've used tea that's almost black as well as tea that's a pale honey color. The important thing is to use caffeinated tea and tea without a lot of oil or fruit in it. I tried using passionfruit black tea once. It eventually worked, but the fruit oils in the tea made the baby very thin and uneven. The kombucha itself was mild and not very fizzy. If I use passionfruit tea again I would cut the amount in half and use a good black tea as well.

I've had the best luck with high quality Taiwanese high mountain oolong (It's the one in the glass in the first photo). Great flavor, beautiful pale color, and an extremely thick, white baby (it's the perfectly round one in photos above). The best cheaper alternative has been Stassen jasmine green tea bags, available at most Chinese markets.

A closer look at an especially well-formed kombucha baby. Because it was made in a jar of oolong tea, the culture wasn't darkened by dark tea. It's the color of lard, and smooth and shiny all over. I was really proud of this one.

I've heard that people flavor their tea when they bottle it. Some people put in a few pieces of dried fruit or fresh ginger. I'll report back if I do a ginger infused kombucha. I'm hoping it will be like homemade ginger ale. So far, I've noticed that extremely dark black tea makes a hoppy brew sort of like beer. A lighter tea makes a tea that tastes more like an unsweetened wine cooler. I notice that the bubbles in kombucha are smaller than bubbles in soda. Best of all, kombucha will create a little carbon dioxide even after being opened, so it stays bubbly for over a week instead of going flat like soda.