Hello bread and grain friends,
Hope you’re out there making the most of farmer’s market abundance, long walks, the lingering golden hour of evenings, dipping or splashing in cool water, pita bread on the grill, family members home and around the table, and blooming buds turning to sticky fruit. If you so choose, drop me a line and let me know what you’ve been up to.
Here’s what’s going on in my kitchen this season:
Mama Bread
This season’s Mama bread is made with the Climate Blend from Chimacum Valley Grainery. I’ve been working with more of their flours and each one is as luxurious as the last. They have a New American Stone Mill, the gold standard in producing nutrient-dense, stone-milled flours. The Climate Blend is unique in that it starts with a seed stock that has a diversity of varieties that could respond to changing climate conditions. The reason I like it is simple—it tastes like the aromatic ideal of golden wheat, as if it captured sunlight in a rolling field.
Pomegranate Molasses & Barley Loaves
When developing a bread for Jewish holidays that uses the Seven Species (Wheat, Barley, Olives, Pomegranates, Dates, Figs, and Grapes), I couldn’t figure out how to include pomegranates until I had the idea to use the addictive sweet and pleasantly sour molasses made from the fruit. I started a new starter that included a bit of it, and now even when I’m not making the Seven Species bread, I make these loaves.
100% Einkorn Loaf
Einkorn is the most ancient wheat that we still cultivate. It is genetically different than modern wheat because it reflects the time when wheat had a simpler DNA profile. It does not provide bread with the strong risen quality that modern wheat does, but it’s full of flavor and nutrition. After publishing Einkorn Made Easy, I’ve had a constant rotation of einkorn bread on my board. I make this bread as a pan loaf and it has become our everyday staple.
Challah
I love making Challah on Fridays and putting it out reverently on the dinner table, watching it whittle down as my family joyfully takes bites with our Shabbat dinner. This is the best way to end a busy week, and the loveliest threshold to a mandated time of rest. I feel so much gratitude in these small moments. My favorite recipe lately is from Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft of Breads Bakery in NYC (also in Tel Aviv). I’ve been making it lately with King Arthur Bread flour.
Other news from the world of grain:
– The Grain Gathering is returning in late July for the first time in eight years! Check it out and get your tickets here.
-The Kneading Conference has been announced for July 22nd-24th. Check it out and register here.
-My friend Sonya who hosts the Food Friends Podcast (one of my favorites!) is also the most fun person in the world to walk around a farmer’s market with. She knows who has what and which time of year. She recently started doing tours of two markets in Portland and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. I took my dad and family recently, and although I go to the market regularly, I learned a ton!
-My new book Einkorn Made Easy is out!