Too Much Food » whole grains

Whole Wheat Dill Beer Bread

Pinjing — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:40:22 +0000

Here’s the recipe for the beer bread pictured in the previous post; this is a super easy, quick-to-put-together quick bread. I love how it only takes one bowl and a few ingredients that you probably have in your pantry. After a bake in the oven, you have yourself a crusty, savory and moist bread that you could dunk in a bowl of hot soup or eaten at breakfast with your choice of spread (maybe a sundried-tomato,fig, and caper balsamic jam, perhaps?).

As with most of my baked goods, I opted to use white whole wheat flour. Since this is a quick, not yeasted, bread, I substituted half the portion of white whole wheat with whole wheat pastry flour to avoid a heavy texture. This worked out quite well; the bread was hearty, but not gummy or dense. As for the taste, the whole wheat added a welcome nutty flavor that complimented the yeasty aroma of the beer. As for the beer that I used, I just used a can of Kirin Ichiban, as that was what I had on hand.

Whole Wheat Dill Beer Bread
Recipe adapted from Farmgirl Fare’s Beyond Easy Beer Bread.
Yields one 9″ x 5″ loaf.

What you’ll need:

180g (1 1/2 cups) whole-wheat pastry flour
180g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose or white whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons dried dill
1 cup grated cheese of your choice (I used Trader Joe’s soy cheese)
12 ounces beer
1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water, optional, for glaze

The procedure:

Preheat the oven to 375F. Prepare your loaf pan either by oiling/buttering it or lining with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except for the beer until well combined. Pour in the beer and mix, trying not to overmix (similar to when you are making muffins, you don’t want to develop too much gluten which could result in tough bread). Mix until just combined. The batter will be thick.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and if using the glaze, brush the top of the bread with the glaze and place in the oven. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. The crust will be golden brown. If you feel like the crust is browning too quickly, you can place a piece of tin foil over the top as a tent.

Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely. Slice and enjoy!

This recipe is super versatile as well; you could add any number of herbs (I used dill in my case), cheeses, nuts or dried fruits. Get creative!

Enjoy!

Yeah, I did too (another Irish Soda Bread post).

Pinjing — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:45:06 +0000

As it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I felt the need to bake a soda bread. Googling will take you to a bunch of results for recipes, I based mine off of a traditional version; here the gist of what I did.

Whole-Wheat Mini Irish Soda Bread
Makes 1 mini-round.

Preheated oven to 400 degrees F. 1/4 cup almond milk and 1 teaspoon white vinegar mixed to make “buttermilk” and set it aside for 5 minutes. Whisked 60 g coarse-ground whole wheat flour and 30 g whole wheat pastry flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon raw sugar and a pinch of caraway seeds. Made a well in the center of the dry mixture and poured in all buttermilk at once, mixed quickly with a fork until it just came together, then mounded it in a mini 6.5″ cast iron skillet, scored it into quarters with a serrated knife, into the oven for 25 minutes (tapped on the bottom to make sure it was done).

It’s good, but not extraordinary. Using the whole wheat flour gives it a nutty taste, was just sweet enough (but not too sweet and the caraway seeds give off a nice anise flavor. I had a quarter of the loaf this morning for breakfast, with a thin layer of Marmite (love it? hate it?) spread on top.

I also had another quarter toasted with some tamarind toor dal that I had made the day before; it was the epitome of comfort food.

Whole Grain Phulka

Pinjing — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:28:15 +0000

I’ve been craving carbs lately (see previous post); in my latest attempt to alleviate my cravings for all things floury, I tried my hand at making some Indian flatbreads.

I decided to try making phulkas, which are unleavened flatbreads made with only flour and water (no oil). When the phulkas are cooked, no oil is used; the flatbreads are thrown on a hot cast iron griddle, flipped, then finished over an open flame. I’ve recently become a fan of Manjula (her blog is full of wonderful traditional Indian recipes and videos accompanying them; she makes everything look so easy and effortless; I highly recommend it). Her blog post on roti served as my inspiration.

As I didn’t have any of the Indian flours in my pantry (I must make a trip to a local Indian grocer!), I found myself trying various combinations of flours (all whole-wheat, half cornmeal/white flour, 1/4 besan (chickpea flour), 1/4 cornmeal, 1/2 white flour, half oat flour and half white flour), I found that the cornmeal versions dried out too quickly and became frisbees after a few hours; the ones made with half oat flour and half white flour stayed soft and had a pleasant nutty flavor (and much healthier than ones made with all white flour!). More importantly, making sure that the dough was kneaded until completely smooth and resting it for at least a half an hour ensured that the phulka puffed up over the open flame.

The recipe I have below is more of a guideline; factors such as the flour you use, humidity, and temperature of the water will determine whether you achieve phulka success or not. Even if they don’t puff up, they’ll still be tasty nonetheless.

Whole-Grain Phulkas
Makes 3 6″ flatbreads.

What you’ll need:

30g oat flour
30g all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
warm water

Useful tools to have: a silicon baking mat to knead the dough, a cast-iron griddle, small french-style rolling pin, tongs.

The procedure:

Mix the flours together with your hands, make a well in the center. Pour warm water slowly into the flour mixture while mixing with one hand until a rough dough is achieved. Keep kneading (adding water as necessary) until you get a smooth, soft ball of dough.

Lightly oil a piece of plastic wrap, wrap the dough in it and allow to rest for at least 30 mins.

Divide the dough into three walnut-sized balls. Dip each ball into some flour to keep it from sticking to the mat when you’re rolling them out. Roll out each phulka into a 6″ circle.

Heat a griddle over medium-high heat (too hot or too cool of a skillet will result in a dry phulka). Test to see if it’s hot enough by flicking a few drops of water on it; if it sizzles, it’s ready. Turn on another burner on medium heat (for finishing the phulka). Throw a phulka on the griddle, watch until it turns color (should turn a paler color); about 45 secs to 1 minute. Flip the phulka over and cook for another 30 seconds.

Using the tongs, carefully pick up the phulka and place it over the open flame, allowing it to puff up (should take about 5 seconds) and char in some spots. Flip over for another 5 seconds, then wrap in a kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out while making the other ones.

These should really be eaten immediately as they tend to dry out due to the lack of fat or oil. However, if you find yourself with extra, keep them in the kitchen towel and place in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator. I find that steaming them the next day refreshes them to a more pliable state.

Enjoy! Some suggestions for serving: a nice chutney, yogurt, curry, or as a wrap for scrambled tofu, salad, etc. The possibilities are endless, really.