Triple-Ginger Chocolate Stout Gingerbread
By Betsy | 10:26 amI had really good luck making the Mendenhall Sourdough Gingerbread recipe while we were all snowbound last week — the kids devoured it (including the two extra kids I inherited due to snow.) But while I loved using my sourdough starter for this, I wasn’t quite happy with the recipe.
Enter Smitten Kitchen’s Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread recipe, which promised to add the spicy, earthy notes I was looking for (it starts out by calling for Guinness, no less!) So I mashed the two recipes together, adding my own twists. I figured I could substitute Black Butte Porter for the Guinness called for - but also wanted to add both fresh ginger & crystallized ginger. Thought it could use some hints of citrus. And while I’m at it? Why not add some cocoa & mini chips to complement the porter. (Yes, I am and always will be a a muxer.
I wasn’t quite sure that this combination of flavors would work - but it does, oh yes it does!
Betsy’s Triple-Ginger Chocolate Gingerbread
1 cup Guinness Stout (I used Black Butte Porter)
1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (use 1 1/2 teaspoons if not using sourdough starter; omit if your starter is high-powered already…)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 teaspoons ground ginger (this can go up to a tablespoon, on second thought…)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup of crystallized ginger, minced fine
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon Trader Joe’s pumpkin pie spice blend (add in pinches of allspice, cardamon and some extra cinnamon if you don’t have this)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind (can use part orange rind)
3 large eggs
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup active sourdough starter (if you don’t have sourdough starter, up the flour to 2 cups & add in 1 extra teaspoon of baking powder.)
Optional: 1/2 bag mini chocolate chips.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease two non-stick loaf pans (can also flour them, but I don’t much like the extra flour coating/look, ugh. Or maybe I just don’t have the flouring knack!)
Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in baking soda, add fresh grated ginger and lemon rind, then cool to room temperature. (Use a bigger pan than you think; the baking soda will cause this to foam waaaaay up!)
Sift together flour, baking powder, spices, and minced crystallized ginger in a large bowl. Whisk together eggs and sugars. Whisk in oil, then molasses mixture. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips if using. Add in sourdough starter slowing, mixing carefully to maintain a bubbly batter. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Pour batter into loaf pans. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then turn out on cooling rack and let cool completely.
You can serve this unadorned, dusted with confectioner’s sugar, or drizzled with a lemon glaze (I whipped one together with cream cheese & confectioner’s sugar to top the last loaf with for a gathering later today just a few minutes ago…)
Topics: Chef Whims | No Comments »
Yes, I’m Still Alive
By Betsy | 6:46 pmWhat am I up to, anyway?
- We’re snowed in! For days now! Portland doesn’t usually get snow, and when we do it freaks us out, ices up and/or melts quickly, and generally causes more trouble than it warrants. This time around? We’ve had snow for days (the kids had the last 3 of 5 school days canceled.) We’re housebound, short-tempered, and about ready to gnaw each other’s arms off. Sounds like fun, right?
- Why don’t we just go outside and play in the stuff, you might ask? We’ve also been sick. Dog-sick. So I can barely drag myself out of the house to forage for essentials, much less shovel the driveway.
- At least we now have heat, though. See, we didn’t for close to a week. Yep, when the daytime temps were hovering at a most unusual 20ish. But we now have a new gas furnace to replace the old oil behemoth. Oh, yeah — there was a plumbing emergency in there as well. Nothing like being sick, cold and less-than-recently bathed to put one in a pleasant mood, no?
- But the house is warm now. Hot steamy showers are my new BFF (best way to try and fight this crud.) And we’ve got plenty of food; we’re all surviving just fine. (Except for those occasional fits where I want to gnaw an arm, that is…)
For those still coming around this barren wasteland looking for traces of me, let me point you to a couple of other places you can keep up with what I’m up to: My Lifestream (including some voluminous Twitter activity) on betsyrichter.me; OurPDX, which is getting the lion’s share of my attention lately. And if you’ve stuck with me and/or have read this all the way to the bitter end, here’s a gift for you: My personalized holiday station on Pandora.
And with that? I’m outta here. I have three more boxes of those wonderful tissues with lotion in them to plow through…
Topics: Boss Lady | No Comments »
Cranberry Chutney
By Betsy | 10:04 pmI may be tempting fate before I actually have other people eat this tomorrow, but I think I’ve hit on a winner here. I wanted cranberry chutney this time around - not relish, not sauce. Wanted hits of sweet and sour, spicy and savory.
Here’s what I came up with (used a recipe from Epicurious as the base, but have tortured it beyond belief.) I *would* have added sliced kumquats if I could have found any, but our store was out this evening, alas.
I made a double batch for dinner tomorrow for 20+, here’s a more reasonable version:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used a mix of white and brown sugars)
- 3/4 cup apple cider or apple juice
- 1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
- 1 large Bosc pear, peeled, halved, cored, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
- 1 heaping teaspoon grated horseradish
- One cinnamon stick
- Pinch each of ground cloves, allspice, nutmeg and cardamon
- grated orange peel from one large orange
- fresh grated pepper and salt to season
Preparation
Stir sugar, and cider in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Blend vinegar, ginger and horseradish together in small food processor until smooth, add to saucepan. Add remaining ingredients (except for salt and pepper.) Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until chutney thickens, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl; cover and chill. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.)
The horseradish mellows out to a nice kick, especially when combined with the ginger. In fact, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t stir a little bit more in! Will wait tomorrow, re-taste, and make the call then…
Topics: Chef Whims | No Comments »
Still Obsessing…
By Betsy | 2:40 pmYes, I’m still baking bread - in fact, I’m trying to come up with the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving dinner with friends later this week. This is really really close!
Yes, I made that!
Barley-Oat Bread
2 cups cold liquid culture (from my sourdough starter - read this for more info)
3 cups flour (plus more for kneading)
1 cup oat flour
1 cup barley flakes (I got mine in the bulk food aisle at either WinCo or Whole Foods) and/or oatmeal (I did a mix)
3/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill 7-grain cereal mix
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
2 teaspoons salt
1. Mix the liquid culture with 1 cup of the flour, the barley/oat mix, and one cup of the water in a large mixing bowl. This is your sponge. Proof 12 hours at room temperature or 6 hours in a proofing box at 85 degrees. (I cover bowl with plastic and leave in oven that’s been warmed briefly, along with a pan of boiling water on the bottom shelf. If you have a proofing box, you know what they are. If you don’t? Google is your friend here…!)
2. Add the oat flour and 1/2 cup of the water. Mix and spoon-knead in bowl until smooth. Proof 8 hours at room temperature (or 4 hours in proofing box.)
3. Punch down. Melt butter, add milk and warm briefly. Dissolve the salt in the liquid, & add the Bob’s Red Mill mix. Stir well, and let sit 5-10 minutes. Add to the dough and stir well, adding rest of flour (save 1 cup to flour board with) in 1 cup-increments. When too stiff to mix by hand/spoon, transfer to the floured board and knead in the remaining flour.
4. Form 2 loaves and proof a third time (I re-heat oven to warn & add boiling water to the pan) for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, or until loaves have doubled in size.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 40-45 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.
Notes:
May need more flour; I lost track of just how much I used! Also, the recipe I started with calls for it to be baked in pans; I used this as the maiden voyage for my new french bread double-loaf pan. Alas, I had to do a second shaping when I noticed it was spilling out the sides - next time, I’ll start by rolling it out much thinner if I’m baking a long free-form loaf, or could do it on silpat/baking sheets as a round loaf, maybe. Also — I’m adding vital wheat gluten in place of flour to help the texture/rise. I sub in one tablespoon of Bob’s for every cup of flour the recipe calls for. If you want to make this vegan, I’d use all water and sub in olive oil for the butter.
Topics: Chef Whims | 1 Comment »
My Latest Obsession
By Betsy | 7:42 pmI’m baking bread. But I’m not using regular old yeast — instead, I followed Audrey’s lead and now have my own sourdough starter.
(How’s that whole ’say no to more’ thing going again, you might ask? Just you wait and see…!)
It took me a bit - I didn’t realize that it might take a few days to get the starter going, plus when they say ‘foamy’, they mean an inch or so of foam. But now that I’ve got it going, I’m going through tons and tons of flour, and making lots of bread. Challah. Cinnamon-cranberry swirl bread. Oatmeal bread. Beer-cheese bread.
You can use the starter for other baked goods, of course - I’ve used it to make chocolate-chip pancakes (my daughter’s favorite) on the weekend. Or applesauce waffles for a friend.
I had tried making pizza as well, but failed miserably the first few times — didn’t let it rise long enough, didn’t cook it long enough, or at a high enough temperature. The kids were less than thrilled: “Mom, why can’t you just order pizza?”
But tonight, I made the best homemade pizza ever (with an assist from my new perforated pizza pan.) Here’s how I did it:
1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup water (I cheated this time & added 1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast - see below for the reason)
squeeze or two of honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
more flour for final kneading/shaping
Mix 1 cup of the starter, 1 cup of the flour, and 1/3 cup of the water together in large bowl. Stir vigorously. Loosely cover & put into an oven you’ve warmed briefly (along with a pan of water for humidity.) Let sit overnight.
In the morning, add the rest of the flour, cornmeal, honey, and olive oil. Stir vigorously (I’ve heard this referred to as ’spoon kneading’) Cover and put back into the oven that you’ve re-warmed.
When you get home from work, remove the dough & shape it to fit your pizza pan. Let it sit for a final rise while you preheat your oven to 450. Brush with olive oil and bake for 7-10 minutes without any toppings, then add your toppings & bake for another 15 -20 minutes (or until done to your liking.)
Why’d I add the yeast this time? Normally, I’d have made the recipe as described above, starting the sponge last night. But I was home sick and didn’t get the ‘hey, why not try making pizza with the new pan’ bug until 9:30 this morning - so I added the yeast with the first rise, then stirred it back down & added the rest of the stuff halfway through the day.
How good was it? So good — and so easy, with just a little forethought — that I’m never ordering delivery pizza or buying takeout pizza again.
Topics: Chef Whims | 3 Comments »
