Category Archives: bread

Introducing…the Ooto!

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Well, I said I was going to invent my own version of a flat bread/pancake along the lines of injera, tortillas, pita, roti, dosas, moo shu etc, etc. And I HAVE DONE IT!! *THUNDERCLAP* I feel like John Cleese in the brontosaurus sketch. This flat bread, which is mine, belongs to me and I made it.

But let’s start at the beginning… I’ve always loved foods you could eat with your hands. Indian, Ethiopian, middle eastern – any cuisine that involves lots of little delicious dishes you mix and match, and eat with a bit of bread that you tear off, or a big piece of bread that you wrap around. It’s the best, most enjoyable way to eat. I’ve made (or tried to make) injera, pita, roti, crepes, etc, with varying levels of success, but it’s never quite as good as you can get at the restaurant. And yet, I’d like to eat this way more often. And so I decided to try to invent a new type of bread of my very own. Here was my criteria… I wanted it to be crispy on the outside, but softer and chewier on the inside. I wanted it to be smoothish on one side, but have crumpet-like holes on the other. I wanted it to hold together well enough to be a useful utensil, but not be too dense. I wanted it to taste good all on its own, but not be too distracting from other tastes on the plate. I wanted it to be fairly easy to make, and not fall apart frustratingly when you tried to cook it. I wanted it to have little toasty patterns on it.

And here is what I came up with. I’m calling it the ooto (it’s an acroynm!) because I like the sound of the word. But I suppose I might reconsider that in days to come. It’s made with semolina flour and regular flour, which gives it a nice taste & texture. It’s got black pepper in it, but no other distracting herbs or spices. Black pepper goes with everything! The first pancake fell apart, but after that it was a breeze to make. Although it did smoke up my kitchen a little, since I used olive oil, which is tasty but does get smoky. And that’s pretty much the news about that. My family liked it. And it tasted good today toasted and crispy – nice with scrambled eggs.

Here’s The Ethiopians with ONE. Why? Because I love it, that’s why! And this post, which is mine, belongs to me!!
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Cheater’s flaky paratha

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I love paratha. I like any food that has layers of deliciousness that are fun to peel apart and eat. I’ve tried making it myself many times, but the results tend to be tough, oily, and stodgy. Not the delightful combination of light flakiness and pleasantly substantial whole-wheatiness that is paratha. The other day I decided to cheat a bit, by deploying a sneaky application of puff pastry techniques. That’s right! I added butter. Because everything is better with butter. I used a combination of whole wheat flour and white flour (with a bit of basil, because I love basil with curry flavors). I rubbed olive oil into the bulk of the flour, and I made a little square lozenge of frozen grated butter and a tiny bit of flour to wrap inside the dough. I cooked them on a skillet till they got nice brown spots, then put them in the toaster oven till they puffed a bit. They turned out quite nice. Not completely like paratha, but with their own charm. The outside was a little crispier, and the inside was nice and flaky and layered.

Here’s Booker T and the MG’s with Jelly Bread.
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Flavored flat breads

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flavored flat breads

Once upon a time, I was scared to experiment with yeasted dough. I believed that if you didn’t follow the recipe exactly (resting time, kneading time, temperatures, rising time, oh my!) The whole project would fall flat. Well, it turns out that’s not exactly true. And now I have a lot of fun trying out different sorts of breads and yeasted crusts. It doesn’t always work, of course – it’s all part of the learning process.

One revelation for me, was that you don’t have to use the whole small packet of yeast in every recipe! It’s true! I like yeast to do its magical job in raising my dough, but I don’t want to taste the yeast. So I use less. Which also means that you don’t have to use pounds and pounds of flour.

These flatbreads are crispy on the outside and light and layered on the inside. You can flavor them with anything you like. I did one with herbed butter and green peppercorns. And for the other I used smoked gouda and sage. But you can use any combination of herbs and spices that you like. You could use finely chopped nuts. You could use most cheeses. You could add olives or capers. You don’t want anything too bulky, because you’re going to incorporate the flavoring element between layers, and try to roll it out as thin as you can. (Hence making the flatbread flat!). We had these with a bowl of soup, but they’d be good with pasta, or any sort of stew. Or cut into slices as an appetizer. Like all yeasted things, they took quite a few hours, but they don’t need too much attention.

Here’s Blind Willie McTell with This is Not the Stove to Brown Your Bread. I love this song!
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Oatmeal buttermilk biscuits (with 2 kinds of pepper!)

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Oatmeal biscuits

Is there anything nicer than a warm biscuit straight out of the oven? A homemade biscuit can be just the thing to turn a bowl of soup into a satisfying dinner. And they’re good the next morning toasted and buttered, with jam or scrambled eggs.

These biscuits, rendered more hearty and flavorful with toasted oats and black & white pepper, are dropped rather than rolled and cut out. So they’re super simple and quick to make! The slightly peppery taste goes well with coffee in the morning, and even with jam. Pepper makes everything better!!

Here’s the Beastie Boys with Biscuits and Butter
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Sweet potato buns

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I made these sweet potato buns with the last of the veg from our CSA. They’re a lovely rosy color, have a crisp crust and a fine crumb. I added a little cardamom and paprika, so they have a subtle sweet/smoky flavor that seems to go with their color. Yesterday was a day of freezing dampness, and it was nice to have a fresh-baked bun at the end of it.

Good with black bean burgers!

Here’s Mikey Dread’s Hot Cross Bun to listen to as you wait for the dough to rise.

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Rosemary bread

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rosemary bread

I bought a huge bunch of fresh rosemary, and I dried most of it in the oven, but I wanted to do something with a small amount while it was fresh. Cold and miserable weather (snow in October!) always inspires me to make something that takes a lot of time, but not a lot of attention–bread! I decided to make a brioche-type of dough, playing on the secret sweetness of rosemary. And I added green peppercorns and a bit of lemon zest, two other flavors that seem to span the salty/sweet divide. The result is a rich, finely-crumbed bread with a very subtle flavor. Nice the first day with soup, and very good toasted with salted butter the next day. It would probably make a good grilled cheese sandwich with some mild and salty cheese, but there’s none left to try it out on!

Here’s some wise advice from Justin Hinds…Save a Bread to listen to while you wait for your dough to rise.

more…
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