Making Irish Soda Bread

Back when I lived in Fairfield, CT there was a bakery that everyone just loved, Devore's Donuts.

 Every Sunday, people would stop in on their way home from church and pick up doughnuts and other goodies. They were famous for their raised glazed doughnuts and crullers.  They closed down in 2005 and r-opened for a few years on Brooklawn Ave. in Bridgeport, but sadly they are gone too.

The owner published their Irish Soda Bread recipe in the local newspaper, the Bridgeport Post.  My Mom cut it out and gave me the recipe a few years back.  Today I decided to make it.  I made it once a while back, here is the result back then. 

Here's the recipe:

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Powdered Milk
pinch salt
5 cups All Purpose Flout
2 1/2 cups Cake Flour
1/3 cup Baking Powder
1/2 Cup shortening

 Using my Kitchen Aid Mixer, I put in all the above ingredients and mixed for 5 minutes with the dough hook.

After thoroughly mixed add:

1 cup of eggs (yes your read that right, last time it was 5 eggs depending on egg size)
3 cups water
1/3 Cup caraway seeds (optional)
1 1/2 cup raisins (optional, this time we used dried cranberries)

Mix for 5 more minutes, the dough will be really sticky

Put dough on counter or breadboard and divide into 3 sections and form into balls or loaves.  It will be sticky, don't worry about the flour ruining your mix!

Set each floured ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprinkle a little flour on top. Cut an "X" across the top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 50-55 minutes until golden brown. You can check by using a cake tester to see if it comes out clean.

Peaking in the oven. Almost done.

Remove from oven and place on wire racks to cool.

More Sourdough Bread: Terra Cotta vs Enameled Cast-Iron

On our last visit to Savers, I found this real nice Terra Cotta dutch oven for $3.50.  It says "Gourmet Topf" on the lid and measures about 12" x 8" at the center.  I looked on ebay and these sell for around $50.  Sweet Deal!

Now that I have this cookware along with the blue Le Creuset, I can bake two loaves simultaneously and save time and electricity. It would also give a chance see if there is any difference between the two for the end product.

I followed the same process as in the other post with a few minor changes.  Since I started late in the evening I didn't have time to do 4-5 proofing and folding cycles.  Instead after 1 cycle, I just left in on the counter overnight to proof.  In the morning, the dough had filled the proofing container just like when we left it to go shopping.  In the morning I just pretended the proofing cycle was over and formed two loafs and continued the process from there.  I put the loaves in the proofing baskets and put them in the refrigerator for about 4-5 hours.

I soaked the Terra Cotta with water and put both dutch ovens in the oven to preheat to 500 degrees.

 At 500 degrees I slid both loaves in using a pizza peel and put on the covers.  After 30 minutes, I removed both covers, lowered the oven to 450 degrees and baked them for 20 more minutes.

Both loaves completed.

 To me it seems like there is little difference between the two  loaves. I am sure they will taste the same also. We will see.

Sourdough bread ready to eat.

Making Sourdough Bread

I decide to start making sourdough bread again.  Since I got rid of all my starter when we stopped eating bread about 2 years ago, I need to get some.  Luckily a friend at the town auction game me some of hers.  I also got online and bough some from ebay.  This starter is called 'Larry" since it came from the down defunct "Larry's Restaurant" near San Francisco.

Since Larry was dried flakes it took about a week to activate it by feeding it flour and water.  After a few days it came alive, and I have been using Larry for all my bread.  I gave my friend a jar of Larry in return for the starter that she gave me. I did use her for my first batch before larry awoke.

The process takes two days (overnight) and starts with creating enough starter for the recipe and enough left over to save.  You know when the starter is ready by taking a teaspoon of starter and placing it in a cup of water.  If it floats, it's ready.  Time to make the bread. All the ingredients must be weighed to get the correct proportions, using measuring cups is not sufficient due to the different densities of different flour.  I have used King Arthur's All Purpose, King Arthur's Bread Flour and Bob's Red Mill Artisan Flour all with equal success. I can't tell the difference, but I am sure a bread connoisseur could..

I start by mixing 700g of warm water with 200g of starter in a large bowl.  Next, I slowly add 1000g of flour, mixing and scraping until it is well mixed and forms a large heap of dough.  (Note: for rye bread mix 100g of rye flour first, then add 900g of regular flour).  The dough is not a large ball of dry dough at this point, in fact, it never becomes "dry" at anytime during the process.

After mixing and scraping, cover the bowl and let rest for 30-45 minutes.  After it has rested, add 20g of salt and 50g more of warm water and mix well.  You can used your hands, it will be "gooey" and have the consistency of 'slime".

"Gooey" dough reading for covered conatiner

 
 After it is well mixed place in a covered container for "proofing".  It's really just letting the dough rise. It's called "proofing" because you want o "prove" that the dough will rise when baked.

Ready for proofing

Every 45-60 minutes, stretch and fold the dough in the container.  You should do this for 4-5 times (4-5 hours).

This was over-proofed. We went shopping and saw this when we returned. No harm!

When the dough is "proofed" enough, dump the dough on the counter (we have granite otherwise use a bread board) and cut in half because you will making two loaves.  Form two round balls of dough.  Cover both balls of dough and let rest for 30 minutes.

After resting, fold the loafs at least 5 time and form loaves by pushing the dough under the loaf to create "tension" on the top.  This will be the top of the loaf and will be placed upside down in the baskets.   I use these proofing Rattan Basket with liners.  Using the liner really helps when trying to get the dough out of the basket without deforming the loaves.

Proofing baskets with liners

 Place the two loaves in the baskets with the top of the loaf in the bottom of the basket.  They will be flipped over prior to baking.  I place each loaf in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight for the final rise.  I do it overnight.

Loaves in proofing baskets after the overnight proofing

Baking

The loaves are baked in a covered cast iron Dutch oven or something similar.  I was lucky that I was able to buy Le Creust Doufeu #35 Oval Cast Iron Dutch Oven a few years back at our local aution for $25.  These sell for $500 on ebay, it is great for doing bread.

Place the Dutch Oven in the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.  While the oven is preheating, remove the loaves from the refrigerator.  When the oven reaches 500 degrees, place a small sheet of parchment paper on top of one of the loaves and flip it over onto a pizza peel. This will assist you in getting the loaf into the Dutch oven. (500 degrees is HOT!).

Slowly lift the basket & liner off of the loaf, the liner will invert and slowly peal off of the dough. using a razor blade or sharp knife, make a few slits in the top of the dough.   (The parchment paper goes in the oven with the dough.)

With Oven Mitts, Open the oven, remove the top of the dutch oven and using the pizza peel, carefully slide the dough into the dutch oven, replace the cover and bake for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, more or less, depending on your oven and dutch oven, the bread should be almost golden brown like the picture below.

Golden Brown after 25 minutes.

Remove the cover, lower the oven to 450 degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes longer until done.

Overdone, I forgot to lower oven to 450.

When done, remove bread and place on rack to cool.  They say you shouldn't cut it until it is room temperature as it continues to cook on the counter. Repeat with the other loaf.

If successful, you should end up with two loaves like this.

Neighbor's Dance Party

The Swinging Streaks. The band sets up in the corner of the living room.

About two or three times each year our neighbors throw a dance party at their house.  They always have a live band, usually the Swinging Steaks, The John Cate Band or Grand Theft Audio.  Last night it was the Swinging Steaks.  This is their favorite band and it;'s the 14th time they have played at their house.  Everyone bring a pot luck dish, there is sooo much food and alcohol it's ridiculous.


I was able to get pictures of the booze & deserts, but the food table was too crowded.

We eat for about an hour then the band plays and the real party and the dancing begins.

Click in the video to see the band in action.

There were over 60 people in attendance. We had a great time and are thankful that we have nice neighbors that love to throw these parties!  Next party is in April with The John Cate Band!

Set It & Forget It!

I never thought I would ever in a million years use this appliance that was always on TV. We are not very big on using electrical counter top gadgets, let alone those advertised on TV.. But since I got this one brand new in the box at the recycle center for free, you know "set it and forget it" Showtime Rotisserie, we find that we can't live without it.

 It makes the best rotisserie chicken with my homemade seasoning. Who knew?

Making Homemade Garlic Powder

A few years back when I built my chicken plucker, I bought the plans from Herrick Kimball from Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker.   At that time he was also selling his homemade garlic powder, so I bought some and it was great!  I guess now he also has a book on how to make garlic powder here  Make Great Garlic Powder.   I just found this link today and didn't know he had a book about garlic powder also.

This year our garlic crop was not that great due to the bad weather and lack of rain.  I has an excess of small bulbs and decided to try to make my own garlic powder.  Additionally, the dehydrator was already on the counter from making dried apple rings.

So I took a bunch of the small bulbs and took the skin off of the cloves.

Next, I used the garlic press and squished the cloves onto a dehydrator shelf.

Then I put the shelf into the dehydrator.

After a few hours in the dehydrator, the garlic was dry enough to put into a coffee grinder to grind it down to a powder. The powder is then sifted and the larger pieces reground until it all fits through the sifter.

We are left with a pile just garlic powder.

This is added to the other batch I made yesterday.  I don't think we will need to buy garlic powder for a while!

Load Noise - 30 Year Old Water Heater

Last month, Elly & I heard a loud clang noise that came from the kitchen/garage area of the house.  It sort of sounded like the garage door springs breaking.  We checked all over and found nothing that was broken or didn't work, so we didn't give it anymore thought.  Well, two weeks ago, I went to the basement to look for some paint and found that the metal jacket on our water heater had burst open.  No water on the floor, not leaking, just the jacket burst.

Water Heater split at the seam

 It's one of those "stone-lined" water heaters that we put in when we built the house over 30 years ago.  So I guess we got our monies worth. The Styrofoam lining was soaking up the water from a small leak somewhere and expanded, causing the metal jacket to open at the seam. After taking the heater apart, I think one of the fittings failed, not the tank itself.

So, off to the plumbing supplier to get a new water heater.  Two days later, after retro-fitting the outdoor boiler to the water heater, we once again have hot water!  This tank only has a 6 year warranty.  I guess it what keeps the economy moving!.

The new heater installed