No-knead bread

Originally published by Mark Bittman (NYT); my sister introduced me to this bread at a holiday gathering. It’s a fairly wet flour/salt/water yeast dough, stirred by hand or with a wood spoon. Should rise 24 hrs, but a bit shorter is OK. The key to a nice crust is to bake in a pre-heated covered dutch oven (or similar), and remove the cover for the last half of the baking. Baking in the covered dutch oven traps the steam, which helps make a nice crispy-and-brown crust.

The original recipe (from the 2010s) was in the NYT. Various improvements and adaptations since then. I’m using Kenji Lopez-Alt’s variation, see https://www.seriouseats.com/better-no-knead-bread-recipe. This recipe is from that website:

• 300 grams (10.5 ounces, about 2 cups) bread flour or all-purpose flour
• 4.5 grams (about 3/4 teaspoon) salt
•  3 grams (about 0.5 teaspoons) yeast
•  210 grams (7.5 ounces, about 1 cup minus 1.5 tablespoons) water
• Some cornmeal or grits
•  By weight (mass): 100 parts flour, 1.5 parts salt, 1 part instant yeast, and 70 parts water.
• I did 400 grams flour, 6 grams kosher salt, 4 grams yeast, 280 grams water
• I generally add about 1 tbsp olive oil to the dough after making the dough
• I prefer less salt (maybe use 1 part salt to 100 parts flour) than in the Serious Eats recipe

This video playlist demonstrates the steps

Making the dough: In a large mixing bowl: Mix flour, yeast, and salt (use a wooden spoon). Add water. Stir until all the flour is incorporated; this is going to be a sticky dough. If the dough seems a bit thick, add a bit of water (flour has some moisture content—at altitude, flour may be a bit drier. “A bit” means a tablespoon or so). The dough does want to be sticky and wet. At this point, I add the oil and give a final stir.

 Let the dough rise: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or the appropriate cover). Let rise at room temperature 12-24 hrs.

 Now, the Serious Eats website goes into a whole thing about putting the bowl in the refrigerator to give an additional “cold rise” time for 2-3 more days—I’m too lazy…

 Bake: (use oven gloves/mitts and tongs as needed!)

·       Put your dutch oven (and cover) in your oven. Preheat to 450 F (or even 500 F, if your oven and dutch oven can handle that).

·       While the oven is heating: If you have baking parchment paper, put a sheet on your counter.  Sprinkle a bit of flour or cornmeal on the paper, dump the dough on top of the paper. Pat into a shape that will fit the dutch oven. Sprinkle a bit more flour on the dough.

o   The website instructs you to shape the dough and let rise again, but this is also from refrigerated dough. I don’t bother.

o   If you have a well-seasoned dutch oven or nonstick, you don’t need the parchment paper

·       After the oven has come to temperature: Take the dutch oven out. Uncover. Pick up the parchment paper with the dough, and put in the dutch oven. If you want to make a decorative slash on the dough, now is the time. Cover the dutch oven and put back in the oven.

o   If you have a well-seasoned dutch oven: You can sprinkle a couple of pinches of cornmeal at the bottom of the dutch oven, and just dump the dough directly into the dutch oven. The cornmeal will give a nice rustic look to the bottom of the loaf

•  If you’d set the oven for more than 450 F: Reduce to 450 F.
• Bake for 30 minutes (covered). Remove the cover.
• If you’d set for convection bake: Think about turning off the convection when you remove the cover.
• Bake an additional 15-20 minutes—or until the crust gets to the color you like.
• Remove dutch oven from oven, turn off the oven.
• Remove the bread (use tongs, or just upend the bread) and place on a rack. You may need to wait a few minutes before you can remove the bread from the dutch oven. Let cool at least 15 minutes on a rack before slicing.

Pasteis de Nata

 

From Lisboa Food Studio:

Pastéis de Nata

For the Puff Pastry
350 gr of low protein flour
180 gr of cold water
6 gr of fine salt
250 gr of a square of butter proper for puff pastry

1. In a large bowl combine the flour, water and salt until get a dough
consisted.
2. Change for a working surface and knead for 3 minutes. Wrap in cling
film and let it rest in the fridge for10 minutes
3. With a rolling pin extend the dough creating 4 wings with a lump in
the middle. The wings should have size to cover the square of butter.
4. Place the butter in the center of the dough, close with the wings and press.
5. With a rolling pin extend the dough until get a rectangle shape
with 5mm thick.
6. Fold in the pastry in three parts.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 one time
8. For the final fold divide the dough in 4 parts instead of 3.
9. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with water. Roll and press a bit
to form a roll. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
10. Cut 8mm thick slices of puff pastry.
11. Place a disc of dough on the bottom of the tins and with your
thumbs press and stretch the dough until it completely covers the tin
interior.

For the Custard
300 ml of whole milk
200 ml of cream (35% fat content)
180 gr of caster sugar
2 tablespoon of cornstarch
4 egg yolks
Cinnamon stick
Lemon zest

1. Dissolve the cornstarch with a part of milk.
2. In a pot, combine everything, except the egg yolks. Bring to a low
simmering just to infuse the aromatics and thicken it up to a double
cream texture (6 minutes)
3. Let it cool to room temperature, before adding the beating egg yolks.
4. Fill up the tins up to ¾.
5. Bake at maximum heat (250ºC or 500 Fahrenheit). Place the tray in
the middle of the oven, fan off with heat coming from top and bottom
either.
6. Should bake for 12/15 minutes. First the puff pastry will start to
flake. After a few minutes the custard will rise and form a dome. When
the black dots appear on top, Pastéis de Nata are done.

Personal notes: For high altitude, more water is needed, otherwise, the dough is dry and won't roll out well. Maybe use baking flour next time instead of all-purpose? 500 F is too hot--use 475 or 480, mix of convection and regular bake. Be sure to use a pan under the tins to catch the butter which will overflow! Makes 18-19 pastries, and enough leftover custard to make 1-2 crema catalanas.

Crispy Roast Potatoes

 

From seriouseats: best crispy roast potatoes

Use Yukon Gold potatoes, large-ish and quartered, or medium-sized and halved.

In 2 quarts of boiling water (with 2 T kosher salt and optional 1/2 t baking soda), add 4 lb of cut Yukon Gold potatoes. After returning to the boil, cook 10-15 minutes. Drain, put back in pan and shake a bit to bruise the potatoes. Oil generously (5 T olive oil, or combination of olive oil, duck fat, etc.). Bake (convection bake or air-fry) about up to 20 minutes in a 400 F oven, shake & turn potatoes. Continue baking another 30 minutes until exterior is nice golden brown. Add garlic & seasonings such as rosemary, thyme near the end. Add kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Or, pan-fry the potatoes until nice and golden brown, adding seasonings at the end.

Keto crackers with psyllium husks and sunflower, pumpkin, flax, and sesame seeds

 Adapted from the post at alphafoodie.com (but that site's ads are really obnoxious!) Use raw, not toasted seeds. Remember that flax seeds and sesame seeds should be refrigerated after opening the package. Makes a 12x17 tray, which can be cut to about 28 pieces.

• 1.25 cup sunflower seeds
• 0.75 cup pepitas
• 0.75 cup sesame seeds
• 0.75 cup flax seeds
• 2 Tbsp psyllium husk (+ a bit)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dried herbs (or more), such as rosemary
• pinch of cayenne
• 2 1/4 cup water (minus a bit)

Mix all dry ingredients. Add water. Stir thoroughly, and let rest for about 30 minutes. Preheat convection oven to 290 F. Line a 12x17 tray with parchment paper. Pour the gelled mixture on the parchment paper, smooth out with the spatula that you used to mix. Bake about 30 minutes, take out of oven & pre-cut. Return to oven, bake another 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, flip on another sheet of parchment paper, and peel off the sheet to expose the bottom half (now on top). Bake another 10-15 minutes. Take out, let cool, and store.

Nutrition calculations (assuming no calories in spices, cut in 28 pieces):

Instant Pot Seitan

 Adapted from mywfpbkitchen.com

• 1.25 c vital wheat gluten
• 0.25 c other flour (garbanzo, coconut, etc)
• 1.125 c liquid
• 1 tsp salt
• Seasonings

Mix by hand; knead for 3-5 minutes by hand. Roll out, cut into small strips.

In instant pot: 2 c of broth or other flavored liquid, a dash of oil. Begin to heat, add seitan strips.

Pressure cook 15 minutes. Allow another 10 minutes after cooking before release.

Low carb/keto friendly bread or pizza dough

 This recipe: 

Found on Reddit

• 1 c warm water (100-110 F)
• 1 t sugar or honey, dissolve into the water
• 1 T active dry yeast (1 package), mix with water to proof 5-10 minutes
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 c vital wheat gluten
• 1/2 c oat fiber
• 2/3 c ground flax meal
• 1/2 t xanthan gum
• 1 t kosher salt
• 2 T softened butter

Mix all in a stand mixer using a dough hook, continue kneading with dough hook for 5-7 minutes. Let rise about 1 hour. You can roll out for pizza dough (it's a very stiff dough), or make a baguette or loaf. For a pizza, bake about 10-15 minutes at 475 F (on a pizza stone). For a baguette, it looks like 20 minutes or so in a 450 F oven (with steam). I have not tried baking like no-knead (covered pre-heated container at 450 F for 30 minutes, then, uncover and continue baking another 15-30 minutes), but it should work just fine.

Popovers

Basically from Joy of Cooking:

Preheat oven (convection) to 410 F
1 cup flour, pinch of salt, cayenne pepper or other spices
Melt 1.5 tbsp butter, add
1 1/4 cup milk, add
2 eggs
Beat liquids
Beat into flour lightly--don't overbeat. Lumpy is fine.
Spray 8 muffin tins with PAM or similar
Pour into muffin tins
Place in oven, cook about 20 minutes
Reduce to 360 F, cook another 15 minutes

When you take out: Puncture the sides of the popovers to release steam. Serve hot.

Psyllium "english muffin"

From brokefoodies.com "keto eggs benedict"--just the english muffin part:

In a microwaveable bowl, mix:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp almond meal
• 1 tbsp psyllium husk
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• dash salt
• 1 tbsp water or milk
• 1 egg

Microwave for 90 seconds. Let stand for 1 minute, then, dump out of bowl. Slice in half, toast or pan-fry each half until surface is crisped up and brown (a couple of minutes).

Results come out decently. I don't know that this would taste good cold.

Duck de Marietta

Discovered this recipe in 2017--it was a big hit. It takes 6-7 hrs to cook.

Defrost and clean a whole duck. Rub outside with salt & pepper, put citrus on the insides. Score the skin (just the outer layer, don't cut into the meat).

Put on a rack, breast down; roast (regular bake) at 250 F for 3-4 hrs; flip and put on convection for another 3 hrs. (Or you can do the whole thing in convection at 250 F). Then, raise temperature to 450 F (convection bake or roast) for about 20-30 minutes until breast skin looks nice, brown, and crispy.

Remove from oven, let stand for 15-20 minutes, carve.

Meat will be well done, but quite tender and not dried out.

Flaxseed crackers

Adapted from more googled recipes...

• 1 cup ground flaxseed meal
• 1 tbsp psyllium husk
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• Sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup water

Mix all. Spray some parchment paper with Pam; spoon out over the parchment paper. Take another piece of parchment paper, spray with Pam and cover the mixture. Roll to about the size of a cookie sheet between the two pieces of parchment paper. Transfer to cookie sheet, peel off the top piece of parchment paper. Score the wafer.

Bake 380F (convection bake) about 25 minutes (check near the end of the baking time). When it begins to just smoke a little bit, or the edges are very dry, remove from oven. Break apart, turn off oven, and return to oven for a few minutes to help dry out.

These work out pretty well, and are easier to make than the psyllium crackers.

Nutrition summary for 30 grams (4 tbsp) of ground flaxseed meal: 10 grams fat (1 gram saturated); 6 grams protein, 10 grams total carbs (8 grams fiber->2 grams net carbs). (16 tbsp in 1 cup)

Fiber crackers

This is adapted from googling "psyllium crackers".

• 8 Tbsp psyllium husk powder
• 6 Tbsp flax seed meal
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp (more or less) sesame seeds (if you have them)
• 1 tsp (more or less) seasonings, including salt
• 3 cups (or a touch more) water

Mix dry ingredients. Add 3 cups of water while stirring with a fork. You'll get a gloopy mess. If the mixture seems stiff, add more water. You're going for something with a consistency like applesauce cups.  This will thicken while resting, so don't worry about it looking like it's too thin. Let mixture rest 5-10 minutes while you do the next step:

Preheat oven to 275 F (convection bake). Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spray parchment paper lightly with Pam. Spread about 1 gloopy forkful of the mixture on the parchment paper at a time, and work it flat on the paper with the fork (roughly 1/8" to 1/4" thick, no thicker than 1/4"). Repeat until all done.

Bake at 275 F (convection) for 1:30. Take out of oven, flip each cracker, put back in oven. Increase temperature to 300 F, and cook another 30 minutes. Top and bottom of each cracker will be dull looking & crackers will be dry.  Take out of oven, let cool, and store in a dry place (cookie jar, ziplock bag, etc.)

This makes about 18+ crackers (about 2"x4" each).

Salmon (or other fish) en papillote

Using aluminum foil, and whole fillets, rather than individual serving pieces.

Preheated 400 F oven; 17 minutes is slightly overdone for fully defrosted salmon.  Try 14 minutes next time.

o mai cam thao

From the youtube video of Uyen Thy's Vietnamese cooking show:

• 3 lbs craisins (sweetened dried cranberries)
• 1 c lemon juice
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 c water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 lb fresh ginger
• 1 c ground cam thao (licorice root), divided into 2 parts

Stir sugar & salt into the lemon juice; add water; mix together with dry ingredients & half the licorice.  Let soak overnight in a covered container to let the dried fruit rehydrate.  Pour out into a foil-lined pan; dehydrate in a 200 F oven (door ajar) for ~6 hrs, stirring every couple of hours.  (Food dehydrator is probably ideal)  At the end of the dehydration, there should be no free liquid--it should have evaporated, but the dried fruit should still be soft.  Stir in the remainder of the licorice root.

Attempt #1, 5/9/2013:

• 2 lbs Trader Joe's unsulfured dried apricots
• 1/2 c sugar
• juice from 2 limes
• 1/2 c sliced licorice root, rehydrated with 1/2 c hot water, then, ground in food processor (next time, try the vitamix, and don't rehydrate)
• Water made up to 1/2 c, added to 1/2 c sugar
• 2 large ginger roots; when ground, comes to 2 cups
• 2/3 tbsp salt

170 F convection to dehydrate.

Almond cream for tarte; tarte aux pommes

• 6 tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup ground almonds
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp rum

Use a food processor; beat almonds, sugar, & butter together.  Add eggs, then, rum & vanilla.

Pour out into a container & refrigerate until ready to use.

Peel & slice apples that hold their shape:  Golden delicious, granny smith, fuji

Line a pan with pate brisee; spread a layer of almond cream.  Layer slices of apples.  Cook in a preheated 350 oven for 40-50 minutes (convection--also try 325 F for 40 minutes, up to 375 or 400 last 5-10 minutes).

Red chile sauce (vitamix) and carne adovada

Put into the vitamix:

• 10 dried red chile pods (break off the stems)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• About 2 cups hot water

Mix on slow a bit, then, move to high.  Mix on "high" for 3-4 minutes.  That's it.

For the Carne Adovada:

• Use 6 pods.  (8 pods was a bit too spicy)
• Replace salt with bouillon (enough for 2-3 cups)
• Add 2-3 tbsp flour before blending

For about 3 lbs of meat in a crockpot:  Use the above amount of red chile sauce, + 1 chopped onion, some oregano, 2 14-oz cans of hominy.  Cook in crockpot on low for 8 hrs.

No-knead pizza dough

2.5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients.  Add water, stir until water is all absorbed.  You may need 1 more tbsp of water if the humidity is low.  The dough will be sticky.  Maybe coat the dough with a spoon of olive oil at the end of all the stirring.

Cover, let rise 18-24 hrs.

Preheat the oven with the pizza stones (convection 450 or 475 F).  Scrape out the dough on a floured surface.  Divide and form balls (fold the dough into balls).  Set seam down; cover and let rest about 30 minutes.  Roll out gently; place on pizza peel (flour & cornmeal on peel).  Add toppings.  Slide on stone; bake 8-9 minutes.

Makes about 4 personal-sized thin-crust pizzas.

Basic brine

Basic brine, for turkey (or other poultry), or pork tenderloin:

4 cups water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar (minus a bit)

Reduce the salt a bit, and add some soy sauce if you want to change the color.  Substituting some honey for the sugar is also good.  Substituting about 1-2 tbsp of soy sauce is a good substitution for pork tenderloin & boneless chicken thighs.

Easy method:  Take 2 cups of water and heat.  Dissolve salt and sugar.  Add spices/herbs as desired (hot pepper flakes, garlic, thyme, rosemary, etc.).  Add ice to come up to 4 cups volume.

Whole turkey takes at least 1 gallon of brine (multiply above by 4), and 12-18 hrs to brine.  Pork tenderloin takes about 5-6 hrs.  Boneless chicken thighs (for grilling) take 2-4 hrs of brining.