Lockdown bread for lunch

I made this on one of the first lockdown days, and I’ve made it every few days since then. Almost exactly the King Arthur recipe.

Things I love about it:

• Taste and crumb have been great when I overproofed it, when I put the formed loaf in the fridge overnight, and when I made it on the schedule shown here.
• It uses sourdough starter but also uses yeast, so it’s delicious but also speedy. Wake up at a reasonable time and have fresh bread for lunch.
• Besides what you’re feeding the starter, it’s all whole-grain flours, which have been more in-stock in my local stores and also help keep it feeling like healthy-times. 
• Oh and it’s also just a really versatile loaf-pan bread for sandwiches, toast, just some butter, etc.

255 g warm water (a bit more than a cup)
1 t yeast
2 T honey
2 T butter
340 g whole wheat flour (3 c)
227 g happy sourdough starter
1/4 c semolina
1/4 c wheat germ
1/4 c cornmeal
1 t salt
1/3 c assorted seeds/oats

8:05 am: Put a large bowl on a kitchen scale. Add the water and sprinkle on the yeast, and wait a couple min to hydrate. In the meantime, microwave together the honey and butter.

8:10 am: Add all the ingredients to the bowl except the oats/seeds. Stir until it comes together, but don’t knead yet—wait a 10-20 min to hydrate.

8:30 am: Knead in the bowl for 5-7 min. Cover the bowl with a shower cap and let rise until doubled (60-90 min).

10 am: Butter a loaf pan, and put the seeds/oats on a wide plate. Deflate the dough and gather into a log as long as the loaf pan. Roll the dough in the seeds/oats to cover the outside, then place into the loaf pan. Cover with the shower cap and let rise for another 60-90 min. (If this stage is taking an inconvenient amount of time, you can wrap the loaf pan in a plastic bag and stick in the fridge for at least 8 hr.)

11 am: Start the oven preheating to 350F.

11:15 am: The bread will be risen above the edge of the pan. Put in the oven and bake for 45 min. It will get golden brown but not dark, with little or no oven spring.

Noon: You have bread! You should wait at least a few min to let it cool before slicing though.

Pineapple fried rice

Coronavirus quarantine -> restarting the blog!!

This made one very full wok, about 6 servings. I’m clearly out of practice with blogging since I forgot to take a picture of the final product, but here’s a shot of the mise en place:

1 red onion
1 large jalepeno
2in piece ginger
1 bell pepper, or a few multicolored baby bell peppers
2 carrots
2-3c green beans
2-3c diced pineapple (half a large pineapple)
1c cashews
1c diced smoked tofu (or more if you have it)
3 T soy sauce
2 T fish sauce
juice of 1 lime
2 eggs, beaten
4c cooked rice
1/2 bunch green onions
1 bunch Thai basil

Prep: Cook the rice. Mince the jalapeño and ginger together. Julienne the onion, bell pepper, and carrots. Trim the green beans and cut in half. Peel and dice the pineapple (or for bonus points, cut the pineapple in half and scoop out the innards leaving two boats intact). Beat the eggs. Slice the green onions and basil.

Heat sesame oil in a wok. Add the onion, then jalapeño and ginger, then carrots, then bell pepper, then green beans, then pineapple, then cashews, then tofu, stir frying for a minute or two between each addition. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, and lime. Cook until all veggies are tender and the liquid is partially reduced. Drizzle the egg over the top and cook without stirring until the egg is set, then stir it in. Stir in the rice, green onions, and basil, along with another glug of sesame oil, and cook until the rice is heated through and ideally browning a bit.

For bonus points, scoop some of the fried rice into the pineapple boats and bake. We were tired after a nice long hike so we didn’t do the bonus version this time ;)

Serve with sriracha to taste.