Hello bread and grain friends,
Big sigh. School is back in session and we’re in transition—mostly the good kind—over here at my house. My Jewish mama roots come out on days when I’m adamant about having a hot meal ready for the kids when they get home from school. Today, I even had time to take a break from work to make these rolls with this flour I’d been wanting to try. I know I sound annoyingly domestic when I say that I felt joy in the comfort my teens took coming home and sinking, for just a moment, into the safety of being here, and the house smelling all hearthy, and them eating roll after roll while telling me tidbits about their day between glances at their phones. Hey, I’ll take what I can get.
Here’s what’s on the menu this month:
Mama Bread
This month’s Mama bread is made with whole organic spelt flour, purple barley, and red floriani corn. I like keeping a diversity of grains in rotation, and these three pair well together. All the grains for this bread come from Camas Country Mill.
Fennel & Currant Loaves
I just had a hankering for this flavor combo. I have a stash of wild fennel seeds, and I roasted them a bit and added them, along with a hearty handful of currants, to my basic mama bread loaves, and baked them in pans.
Cacio e Pepe Focaccia
My friend Charlene brought me a huge, and I mean huuuuge, block of pecorino romano cheese. I watched a movie and grated it all up and shared it around. I’m making a few batches of focaccia with T65 Glacier Peak flour from Cairnspring Mill and topping it with a generous shower of pecorino cheese and fresh ground pepper. This will make for an easy weeknight meal served alongside a batch of Lentil soup or cold gazpacho.
Sesame Einkorn
I got a new batch of Einkorn grain and I’ve been playing with it to figure out the hydration of the new harvest. In the meantime, I’m craving that alluring sesame crunch. I grind the grains and toast and soak the seeds the night before, and it’s so worth it! The einkorn comes from Bluebird Grain Farms and the sesame is Anson Mills Sea Island benne seeds.
With delight and gratitude,
Other news from the world of grain:
-If you’ve been around here a while, you probably know that I am a huge fan of Eat This Podcast. Jeremy takes deep dives into his topics, and he tends to be one of the more thoughtful podcast hosts in the food area. I, of course, went crazy for his recent series on grain, which was based on the book Oceans of Grain by Scott Reynolds Nelson. Check out the three episodes in this series: One on Grain and Transport; one on Grain and Finance; and and amazing episode on Empire and Grain.
-I love this video from The Bread Lab about affordable bread for everyone.
– I am hosting a monthly Zoom meeting as a free resource for all bakers who want to ask questions and share ideas. It will be the first Sunday of each month, and you can join the first one on Sunday November 7th from 10am to 11:30am PST by going to this link. Hope to see you there!
-For information about the Flour Hour experience on Airbnb, go here.