Cookin'

Yesterday I did a lot of cooking for my ladyfriend and her guests. One visitor brought some Asian pears and I turned a few of them into a clafoutis.

It turned out alright and was quite tasty. I made it with einkorn instead of normal hard red wheat or whatever your typical all-purpose flour is made of hoping that my ladyfriend wouldn't suffer any achy joints after eating it. Plus I have just started using einkorn and am running it through its paces. I have an idea of its limitations in breadmaking and now I want to learn how other treats turn out when using it.

I also made a loaf of maple bread.

The recipe called for 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and the bread had a slight maple flavor to it. Very good and I can imagine that it would make some fine French toast.

(I also made another apple crisp.)

I dare sport thus with bread

With the cooler weather I have been doing more cooking inside. Last night I made chili and einkorn bread.

The chili turned out well. I think I'll add more coriander next time. I used a couple freshly picked serranoes from my plant which is still bearing fruit despite the change of season.

I tried my hand at einkorn brot because my ladyfriend has a mild allergy to normal American wheat. During our trip in the UK, she ate bread and pastry shells aplenty without getting the joint pain that she experiences eating the same things here. I figured I'd try to find a flour to make tasty things that wouldn't cause her any discomfort.

The bread machine recipe at the jovial website gave a custom bread machine cycle to accommodate the grain's weak gluten bonds. Apparently the typical third rise would break them and make for a deflated loaf. My machine being a more basic model, I used the Dough cycle which, I believe, allows for a final manual proofing outside the bread machine. Feeling like the Dr. Frankenstein of bakers, I threw the resulting dough into a loaf pan to see how it would turn out. Not bad.

Not, perhaps, the most aesthetically pleasing loaf but it tasted good.

I am told that a well-buttered slice drizzled with honey was a fine way to break a fast. So far no aches.