wholewheat cinnamon muffins

Tonight I decided to make wholewheat cinnamon muffins with freshly milled wheat. This is a variation of different recipes I've used in the past.

2 cups freshly milled wholewheat
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
1 cup milk
pinch nutmeg
1.5 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp melted butter

Preheat the oven at 375F

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix the egg, melted butter and milk. Pour the wet mix into the dry and combine until they are mixed. Don't over mix. Divide the dough into 12 muffin and bake for 15-20min.

Flour, I never understood you until now

I'm glad I bought a mill and decided to give it a try. For 40+ years I've been eating food made with flour. Growing up we ate breads and pastries made with white flour. All this time, I thought I was tasting flour, but really I was missing the whole picture. After I got married, I switched to wholewheat bread and learned to like it. For many years I ate and enjoyed Mathews wholewheat sandwich bread.

The thing is, what I was tasting wasn't really wholewheat. It was the sugars and other flavors Mathews added to the bread. When I started going to Rose32, I was amazed at how awesome the breads are. Not just the french baguette, every loaf had a rich and complex flavor. Frank's loaf, local loaf and other whole grain loafs were simply amazing. I attributed it frank's skill, recipe, yeast and oven.

Baking with home milled fresh flour has really opened my eyes. Even though I don't have Frank's skill, yeast or Italian stone oven, the last 2 loafs I made have a bit of that richness it was missing. There are many things I like about modern technology and how it's improved the standard of living, but often I feel we too detached from nature. Eating freshly milled flour is making me see how detached we are from the soil. The richness our planet provides is there, but we've largely ignore it to the detriment of every creature living on this rock.

Part of me is angry and wants to scream "how the fuck did we get here?" Another side is thankful for people like Montana flour and make their products available. I really wish US culture would change and people would stop and notice how lucky we are. We live on a planet that provides us with soo much. It is our duty to treat this planet with greater respect.

Wholewheat loaf

I've been experimenting with wholewheat loaf for a few weeks. I'd been thinking about milling my own flour and didn't think it makes much difference. Boy was I ever wrong. The bottom line is home milled flour produces a loaf that is different in texture and flavor. Store bought wholewheat has a slight bitter after taste and it tends to be more dense. The flavor is richer and fuller with a naturally sweet after taste.

2 cups home mill hard red spring wheat
1 cup KA all purpose flour
1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1.5 cups warm water

Preheat dutch oven at 500F for 30min

I use the no-knead technique and let it rise at minimum 12 hours. With store bought wholewheat it tends to work better rising 14 hours. After the dough is formed into a loaf, I let it rise 35-45min and then bake it at 450F for 30 covered and 8min uncovered.

A couple of other notes. When I mixed the home milled flour, it mixes easier and absorbs the water much faster than store flour. I set my wondermill between bread and pastry flour, so that probably contributes to the texture. From a crumb perspective, the home milled flour is light and chewy. It's not as fluffy as 3 cups of KA all purpose flour, but the texture of the gluten tastes the same. Whereas with KA wholewheat flour, it is noticeably more dense and not as chewy.

 I milled 6 cups, since that's what I need for this week.

The dough once it is mixed

The final loaf is a little lighter in color than store flour

Another Pumpkin Soup

Since fall is here, I decided to make pumpkin soup again. This time I changed the recipe

1 pie pumpkin
2 large carrots
1 yellow onion
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
2 tbsp butter
1 can cocanut milk
1/2 cup milk or lactaid
3 cloves garlic
Sriracha to taste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
4 cups of chicken broth
1 tbsp canola oil

Preheat the oven 350F

Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel the carrots and chop them into 2" pieces. Peel the garlic and cut off the end. Roast the pumpkin skin side down with the carrots and garlic for 45-50 minutes.

Dice the onion and sweat them in a pot until translucent. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin and turmeric. Cook for a minute and add the chicken broth. Bring it to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, then turn down to simmer and add the cocanut milk, salt and butter.

When the pumpkin is ready, scoop out the inside. Put the pumpkin, garlic and carrots in the pot and simmer for 5 minutes, then use a hand held blender to puree the soup. Once it's smoothe, cook for ten minutes on medium low. Finally add the milk and cook for 2 minutes and serve.

Lemon lime muffins

It's been a challenge to feed the son breakfast in the mornings now that he has to catch the school bus by 6:50. This morning I made muffins, which he liked so it's a keeper for week day breakfast.

1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 dash of cinnamon (optional)
1 lemon
1 lime
4 tbsp butter
2 eggs
2-3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup currants
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven at 375F

In a bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, currants and cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix the eggs and sugar. Melt the butter and add to the wet mix with 1/2 cup milk. Add vanilla, lemon & lime juice and stir. Combine the wet with the dry mix. Don't over mix, just enough until they are combined.

Divide the batter evenly to make 12 muffins. Bake for 15 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Banana Bread is good for you

I make banana bread regularly and often look at recipes to explore different ways to kick it up. One thing I don't like about most recipes is they use 1-1.5 cups of sugar, which is way too much. My recipe uses a lot less sugar. Instead I use more nuts, salt and vanilla to give it flavor.

1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4-1/3 cup sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
2 large ripe bananas
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup milk

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.

Mash the bananas with 1/4 cup sugar. Once it's mixed, add the egg, vanilla, melted butter and milk.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, walnuts, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients a little. Add the wet to the dry and fold until it's mixed. Don't over mix. Grease a loaf pan with some oil.

Pour the dough into the pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. Once it's done, let it cool for 10-15min before serving it.

Lime lemon scones

I made scones this morning and came up with a recipe that turned out just the way I like it. Had to write it down so that I don't forget.

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup currants
6 tbsp butter
1 tbsp baking soda
1 lime
1/2 lemon
1 cup milk

Preheat the oven at 425F

In a bowl combine flour, salt, sugar and baking soda. Cut the butter into cubes and mix it with the flour until it looks like bread crumbs. Juice the lime and half lemon. Combine juice with milk and mix with the flour mixture. Don't over work the dough. Need the dough for 1 minute and divide into 10-12 scones.

Bake for 14-15 minutes, let it cool and then eat!

Pete's Scallion Flatbread

Last nite I started a scallion loaf for break. This morning, I decided to fry the bread instead to see how it would turn out. I'm happy report, it's awesome!!!! Oh My God, it knocked my socks off and everyone loved it. My wife was going to meditate before breakfast, but after she had a taste she said "I think I'll meditate after break, that is soo good."

This recipe is inspired by scallion pancake and da bing. It doesn't have the layers like either of them, but instead it has this wonderful chewy texture with a crisp cust and moist center. If you want to learn how to make da bing, here is a  video from youtube.

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour - I use king arthurs
1 heaping tsp of salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar

Mix everything in a bowl and let it rise 12-16 hours. When you're ready to fry the bread, divide it into 6 pieces and form a ball. Preheat a 12" frying pan with 1 tbsp of oil. When the oil smokes a little turn the heat down to medium or medium-high. Flatten each ball until it is about 6-8 inches in diameter. Fry the bread for 2-3 minutes until it's golden brown. Flip it over and brown the other side. It should take about 7-9minutes to cook each one.

If you want to make sure they stay warm, preheat your oven to 350. When each one is done, put them on a baking sheet to stay warm until they are all done. When all six are done, serve immediately.

banana peanut brownies

My recipe was inspired by this one. I made some changes to my taste and added more salt to help prevent dehydration. In my quest for yummy home made century fuel, I've been experimenting with various recipes the last 2 years. At the 2013 greylock century, they had brownies at the second rest stop.

Ingredients
10 oz dark chocolate
1/2 cup all natural chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp Vanilla
1.5 cups king arthur all purpose flour
1.5 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 before you start and line a square or rectangular baking pan with parchment paper.

In a small sauce pan combine the dark chocolate chips, peanut butter and canola oil. On low heat stir until the mixture is melted and combined. Let it cool for 2 minutes.

In a mixing bowl mash the bananas, gradually mix in the eggs one at a time. Next add the vanilla followed by the chocolate mixture.

In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Give it a quick stir and then pour in the wet mix. Fold until it is combined, but don't over mix.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20-24min and take it out. Let it cool for 20min - 1 hr. Once it's cool, chill it in the freezer and then cut into squares or bars. Wrap them following the Skratchlabs method here and store in the freezer or frig. If you plan to use them the next day, put them in the frig. They should store in the freezer in a ziplock bag for a couple weeks.

Update
After the brownies were chilled in the freezer, I cut them and wrapped them. Unfortunately they are a bit too gooey and won't survive more than 30min in the back pocket, so I have to go back to the drawing board. They were yummy though

Carrot muffins

This recipe was inspired by Allan Benton's bacon. Yesterday the order arrived and my kids wanted bacon for breakfast. I thought about what would pair with the bacon and felt a carrot muffin might do the trick. As usual I googled for carrot muffin to see what others have done. After looking at 3 different recipes, I came up with this recipe. As usual, I reduce the sugar and add flavor through spices. 1/4 cup of brown sugar instead of 1/2-3/4 cups of sugar is way better. You get to taste the orange juice, cinnamon and carrot.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 carrots
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp canola oil
1 egg
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup milk/lactaid
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven at 375F. I used two medium size carrots for the recipe. You can add more if you like. Once the carrots are grated, it is about 3/4 cup. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients and grated carrots. In a second bowl beat the egg, add butter, followed by orange juice and milk. Pour the wet mix into the dry and stir until incorporated. Don't over mix. Divide the batter into 12 muffins. Bake for 20-25min or until golden brown.