pita casera

In French it’s maison. In Spanish, casero. Homemade. It’s become a bit of a running theme of this blog, eh?

When I started De La Casa I embraced the idea of making as much as possible from scratch – hence titling it from the home. Perhaps it was for budget reasons (both being students for our first year of marriage) or perhaps because I took up this ridiculous hobby in reading the labels of bought food items. I mean, who does that? Why would anyone want to know what’s in what we eat? Well, I thought I did. And I sure do even more so now!

Living up in the North I am pretty much forced to pursue homemade. If I want tomato pasta sauce, I need to simmer it myself. If I want sushi, I need to roll it myself. If I want a fresh loaf of sandwich bread I need to knead and bake it myself. And if, for a Sunday morning breakfast, I want to grace J with wholemeal bagels topped with chunky raspberry jam and a sweep of cream cheese, I have to plan ahead, and make them. Along with the jam.

Pita pockets were one of those things neither J nor I ever really fancied. They always seemed stale even the day they were bought, and had a tendency to tear as soon as you laid a finger on them. But I’ve had this niggling desire to try recreating a warm chickpea dish, basically an unprocessed hummus, I shared one afternoon with my best friend at a vegetarian restaurant in Madrid, Spain for menú del día.

As soon as I decided pita pockets would be the chosen vessel, no time passed before the yeast was activated and the dough kneaded (or, well Kitchen Aided). A sleepover in the refrigerator soured the dough and the following day we were treated to fresh, soft and easily openable pita pockets! The first bite into the pita, housing the warm chickpeas and a dollop of garlic yoghurt, and J was lost for words. I can’t believe you MADE pita pockets.

I dare you. Bake something from scratch that you never thought you would. I tell you, someone will be impressed, if not simply yourself.

Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Recipe adapted from Annies Eats and Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
1 tbsp. honey
1¼ cups warm water (105˚-115˚ F), divided
1½ cups bread flour, divided
1½ cups whole wheat flour, divided
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. salt
Cornmeal, for sprinkling

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer*, combine the yeast, honey and ½ cup of the water.  Stir gently to blend.  Whisk ¼ cup of the bread flour and ¼ cup of the whole wheat flour into the yeast mixture until smooth.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in bulk and bubbly, about 45 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and return the bowl to the mixer stand, fitted with the dough hook.  Add in the remaining ¾ cup of warm water, 1¼ cups bread flour, 1¼ cups whole wheat flour, olive oil and salt.  Knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.  Transfer the ball of dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat, and let rise in a warm draft-free place, about 1 hour, until doubled in bulk. Optional: place in refrigerator overnight or up to 3 days. For the first few of hours in fridge, press down lightly to deflate dough every hour. I refrigerated mine and found the resulting pitas had a beautiful, almost sour taste.

Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 500˚ F.

Once the dough has risen, transfer to a lightly floured work surface, punch down the dough and divide into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball.  Flatten one ball at a time into a disk, then stretch out into a 6½-7 inch circle.  Transfer the rounds to a baking sheet lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  Once all the rounds have been shaped, loosely cover with clean kitchen towels.  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes, until slightly puffy.

Bake 2 minutes, until puffed and pale golden.  Gently flip the pitas over using tongs and bake 1 minute more.  Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.  Repeat with the remaining pitas.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze.

*As always, anything mixed in a stand mixer can be mixed by hand.

 

kitchenaid bagels

Something strange happened last weekend.

It started out with a simple dinner with some friends from our (new) church. And it led to this.

“Oh, would you happen to want a KitchenAid? I don’t use it…”

What followed, a few gasps and hoots later, was some playing around with the dough hook.

And some rising of gorgeously bubbly dough.

Which must, of course, be rolled into balls with holes pressed into the centres.

And left to rise overnight in the fridge, until beautifully soft and puffy.

A couple of minutes in boiling water..

Which resulted in this.

Homemade Bagels
Makes 12 large or 16 medium bagels
Recipe from Annies Eats

I halved this (it made 6 medium and 2 big bagels), but as Annie suggests, make the whole lot and freeze them. You won’t regret making too many.

For the sponge:
1 tsp. (0.11 oz.) instant yeast
4 cups (18 oz.) unbleached bread flour
2 ½ cups (20 oz.) water, at room temperature

For the dough:
½ teaspoon (0.055 oz.) instant yeast
3 ¾ cups (17 oz.) unbleached bread flour
2 ¾ teaspoons (0.7 oz.) salt
2 teaspoons (0.33 oz.) malt powder OR 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz.) dark or light malt syrup, honey, or brown sugar

To finish:
1 tablespoon baking soda
Semolina flour or cornmeal, for dusting
Desired toppings (such as cinnamon-sugar, shredded cheese, seeds, etc.)
To make the sponge, stir the yeast into the flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add the water, whisking or stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter (similar to pancake batter). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly. It should swell to nearly double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the countertop.

To make the dough, in the same mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour and all of the salt and malt. Stir (or mix on low speed with the dough hook) until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cup flour to stiffen the dough.

Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for at least 10 minutes (or for 6 minutes with the mixer). The dough should be firm, stiffer than French bread dough, but still pliable and smooth. There should be no raw flour – all the ingredients should be hydrated. The dough should pass the windowpane test (google it). If the dough seems dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems tacky or sticky, add more flour to achieve the stiffness required. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky. Immediately divide the dough into 4 ½ ounce pieces for standard bagels, or smaller if desired. Form the pieces into rolls. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for approximately 20 minutes.

Line two sheet pans with baking parchment and mist lightly with spray oil. Proceed with shaping the bagels by pushing a hole through the center and stretching out the hole to 2 ½ inches in diameter. Place each of the shaped pieces 2 inches apart on the pan. Mist the bagels very lightly with the spray oil and slip each pan into a food-grade plastic bag, or cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.

Check to see if the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator by using the “float test”. Fill a small bowl with cool or room-temperature water. The bagels are ready to be retarded when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. Take one bagel and test it. If it floats, immediately return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight. (At this point, the bagels can be refrigerated for up to 2 days). If the bagel does not float, return it to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature, checking back every 10 to 20 minutes or so until a tester floats. The time needed to accomplish the float will vary, depending on the ambient temperature and the stiffness of the dough.

The following day (or when you are ready to bake the bagels), preheat the oven to 500° F (260˚C) with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the pot the better), and add the baking soda. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby. Have your toppings ready.

Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many comfortably fit (they should float within 10 seconds).

After 1 minute flip them over and boil another minute. If you like very chewy bagels, you can extend the boiling to 2 minutes per side.

While the bagels are boiling, sprinkle the same parchment-line sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you decided to replace the paper, be sure to spray the new paper lightly with spray oil to prevent the bagels from sticking to the surface.) If you want to top the bagels, do so as soon as they come out of the water.

When all the bagels have been boiled, place the pans on the 2 middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 5 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180˚ rotation. (If you are baking only 1 pan, keep it on the center shelf but still rotate 180˚.) After the rotation, lower the oven setting to 450° F (230˚C) and continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the bagels turn light golden brown. You may bake them darker if you prefer.

Remove the pans from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving.

Once cool, eat fresh, or slice and freeze to be toasted later. Perfect filled with a poached egg and salad or, of course, spread with cream cheese and jam

 

chocolate eclairs

Oh there is something great about meeting and befriending new people, in a new town, in a new country. Who share the same passion for the North. And for outdoors adventure. Who love food. Good food.

There is also something great about creating an eye-catching dessert with next to no ingredients!

Borrow a few eggs from the neighbour (as I did), whip up some humble choux pastries, spoon over some melted chocolate and pop over for dessert with someone in YOUR neighbourhood.

Chocolate Eclairs
Recipe from TwoSpoons (also found in the Edmonds cookbook)
Makes about 20 small eclairs

100g butter
1 cup plain flour
3 eggs

150g chocolate (preferably around 50% cocoa, or the eclairs won’t be sweet enough)

Preheat oven to 200C (400F), with a rack centered. Bring butter and 1 cup of water to a rapid boil in a medium sized saucepan. Remove from heat and beat in flour with a wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the side of the saucepan. Cool a few minutes, then beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixture is uniform and glossy.

Pipe or spoon mounds onto a tray. Bake for 20 mins or until puffy and lightly golden. Lower heat to 120C (250F) and bake for another 15 minutes or so until golden brown. Cool on racks.

Icing:
Melt chocolate on lowest heat possible in a small saucepan, stirring constantly until mixture is uniform. Alternatively, a simple icing of icing sugar (1 cup), cocoa (1 tbsp), butter (a dab) and hot water (a dab) will do the trick if chocolate is not readily available. Dip eclairs into chocolate or drizzle over.

homemade roti

I am a total bowl-foodie. It’s not an exaggeration to say that pretty well every night, J and I eat dinner from a bowl. Of course, if I was cooking roasts and pork chops this wouldn’t be the case. But I have never cooked either and, well, I don’t really plan too. Instead we eat risotto, stir-fries, pasta, curry, rice bowls and vegetable stews. These are the types of meals I grew up with, and have consequently brought into our marriage. J was more of a meat and three veg kind of guy, but a few years of eating with my family, he quickly became accustomed to bowl food. Just give him a good piece of bread to soak it up and he’s more than happy!

Our hands-down favorite bowl food soaker-upper (what, that’s not a word?) is fresh, homemade roti – the most simple recipe I have come across, and by far the most used. This recipe was passed on to me by my dear friend at my kitchen tea party years ago and it has proved itself on regular occasions and in all forms – homemade crackers, tortillas, taco shells, canapé bases. We ensure we always have a stack of roti in the freezer, and do not hesitate to whip these up for curry nights, or as tortilla shells for tomorrow’s lunch. This is the same recipe we (normally) use for freezer burritos – we just make them much larger to contain the rice and refried beans. Less than twenty minutes from start to finish. Give them a go and watch El Paso go out of business.

Tips for homemade roti

• Use boiling water. It melts the butter and creates soft malleable dough.
• Do not overhandle. Knead gently to bring the mixture together. It should be soft without being tacky. Add more water or flour as necessary.
• After mixing, roll out and cook immediately. The dough balls that patiently wait for their turn under the pin will need to be covered with a teatowel to prevent drying out.
• Lightly flour the bench but avoid overflouring. Ensuring the dough isn’t too sticky before rolling means you won’t be piling flour up on the outside, which leads to crispy roti (and burnt flour on the pan).
• Crank the pan up hot! You want the roti on there for a short burst to brown the outside and keep the inside soft. We favor our cast iron pan and get it almost to the point of smoking before cooking the first roti.
• Start pressing the roti with a teatowel soon after it hits the pan. Press firmly meanwhile turning the roti in the pan, allowing the steam to rise up around the point of pressure and create bubbles. If you get one big burnt patch, you are pressing in the same place for too long!
• These can be made a couple of hours in advance as they keep well if wrapped in a teatowel to stay warm. Leftovers keep well in the freezer. Just defrost them and reheat in a hot pan for a few minutes each side.

Note: Yes, I am using a baking-spray can to roll my roti. You too could use a baking-spray can. But a rolling pin is preferable, if you are so lucky. I will be on the prowl for one at yard sales this coming summer. Yep they have yard sales in Norman Wells.

improvisation & chocolate banana brownie

I’ve become rather good at improvising. When you don’t have what you think you need, it forces you to become creative. Very often, when it comes the setting up home here in the far North the option is between ordering online, paying shipping costs and waiting a couple of weeks for arrival, or whipping up an alternative. I’d like to think I’ve become pretty good at my alternatives!

Trying to start seedlings without seed raising mix and a tray. Alternative: egg cartons with cardboard markers, and some rocky dirt scraped out from beneath the snow. Hey the seeds aren’t nearly as fussy as I thought!

Limited cutlery selection (one knife! We take turns eating dinner..) rolling around in the drawer. Alternative: cutting up those boxes from the food mail order and constructing a recycled cutlery drawer.

Damp clothes, no clothes rack and a reluctance to use the dryer (you know us New Zealanders – we’re so used to conserving energy). Alternative: move a set of shelves into the sunniest window, hang up the washing and wait a whole hour for it to be bone dry. Okay, an exaggeration but, boy, the dryness up here, despite dehydrating your hands, is incredible for drying clothes!

Attempting to create a beautiful photoshoot to document THE best butter-less brownie (I’m not exaggerating) and becoming frustrated with the lack of platters, absence of baking utensils and the fact that even my teaspoons don’t match. Alternative: suck it up and claim the mismatched, vintage style. Hey that works!

Craving a fresh, under-ripe banana (the best!) and moaning that they are all beyond ripe (I swear the central heating fast-tracks the ripening process here). Alternative: browse the blogosphere for banana recipes (that are a much-needed change from banana bread).

Finding a packet of oh-so-tasty chocolate ‘Rosettes’ left by the last tenants and snacking on them. Every evening. Alternative: combine them with bananas to make Double Chocolate Banana Brownie!

I am a total sucker for brownie, and pretty darn picky. It must be fudgy not cakey, with a cracked top, a gooey middle and decent chunks of dark (or caramelized white) chocolate. Exactly like we had, stacked in a tower for our wedding ‘cake’, just over two wonderful years ago.

Since moving up to the far North I have put butter on the ‘use rarely’ list, due it being so expensive here (and so pale too… I think that’s an American thing). And then, per chance, I stumble upon one amazing blogger who decided to replace the butter in the famous brownie with mashed bananas, forcing banana bread and brownie into the same pan.

Double Chocolate Banana Brownie
Recipe from A Full Measure of Happiness

2 ripe bananas
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
1/3 C vegetable oil
1 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 C walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). Measure wet ingredients (vanilla, egg, bananas, oil) and sugar into a bowl and beat until well combined (and bananas are mashed). Add dry ingredients (salt, baking powder, cocoa and flour) and fold together. Mix through nuts and chocolate. Pour into brownie pan and press into the corners. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes until center is just cooked.

Allow to cool and slice into squares. Leaving it on the deck at 5˚C outside helps fast-track this process. Just so you know..

I can assure you these are incredible. They are not going to last long here! Dark, fudgy brownie, with a hint of banana bread, chunks of chocolate and crispy edges. Oh the edges, the best part. Of course the center pieces are very good too – and I would know..

homemade crackers

Late notice guests for dinner? Needing snacks for the hockey game? Planning a date night with your beloved?

Whip up some fresh crackers! Three ingredients, twenty minutes, your choice of seasoning – plain, salted, rosemary, Moroccan or Southwest (if, like us, you happen to have inherited a jar of it). I tell you, you’ll never go back to store-bought crackers. Much used recipe from my dear old friend Rachel Hope.

sweet home alabanana bread

Some of the most unusual things become real events when you live up here. One is mail. Of any sort*. Another is being given a ride while running to work (yes running, because when you have a one hour lunch break to fit an appointment at the bank, get lunch and cover the 20min walk to AND from work you have to rush. How do working people get things done!?). Through this I have met some lovely people, including the town manager. Don’t worry, I would always give them a good look over before accepting the ride, but I’m learning that this is part of community living and building up trust.

But a particular significant event is when food mail arrives. We had only been here less than a week, yet when these boxes were unloaded from the plane two days delayed (after living off rolled oats and Dairy Milk chocolate left by previous tenants) we were joyous!

When it comes to food there are two options – buy from the local store and spend heaps a lot, or order it in from a nearby city (Yellowknife or Inuvik) and risk delay and squashing of produce. We got both this time. Nevertheless, squashed bananas still make good banana bread.

When butter is over $6 a block (and that’s Canadian currency) you learn to improvise. Baking with oil will become commonplace. When you have a limited range of baking supplies you also become creative in the tools you use, as you will see in later posts. This loaf turned out fine baked in a brownie tin and sliced roughly with our treasured one and only knife. It makes for a great, not-too-sweet, low calorie morning tea.

*If you are feeling that way inclined, our postal address is Box 386, Norman Wells, NT X0E 0V0

Sweet Home Alabanana {Banana Bread}
Recipe from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry, my new Canadian cookbook.
Makes 16 slices

Note: Using ripe bananas is important as this recipe doesn’t use a lot of sugar. Mine weren’t ripe, just squashed so this wasn’t very sweet. And don’t bother with buttermilk – a splash of lemon juice or vinegar to your milk (powdered for us) works just fine. This freezes well, sliced, in snaplock bags.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup oat bran
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (3-4)
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F (180˚C). Spray two 8×4 inch (20 x 10 cm) loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Mix flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix and set aside.
3. Beat together eggs and brown sugar on medium speed of electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add bananas, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat again until well mixed.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not use electric mixer. Fold in nuts and chocolate chips.
5. Divide the batter between the two load banks and bake for 30-35 minutes or until inserted toothpick (or spaghetti stick) comes out clean.

Nutritional information per slice
173 calories, 6.4 grams of fat, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1.9 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein