It’s fall harvest time which is all about eating the food you spent most of your year growing and stopping by the local farmers market to try grower’s produce for the next 3 months leading up to Thanksgiving. Fun. There’s no wrong way to go. A great time to try out any new recipes as fresh food will be lower priced. Also, edible flowers. Sunflowers are king here as their edible golden petals make great romantic desserts. Given North Carolina grows them wild, definitely expect some government employees to start a business harvesting organic sunflowers for special occasions since most people love them. Don’t know about you, but we’re obsessed with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day by Hertzberg and Francois. NYC’s top bread baker and food scientist teamed up to reimagine making fresh bread and we are 100% here for this experiment. Thank you people. Their process for making loaves of tasty white works and if you’ve stumbled for years with “gluten allergies” that are probably GMO modified wheat allergies, it may do wonders for your gut health too. You mix everything in a blender, then let it sit in your fridge like cookies or pie recipes for 2 weeks, pulling it out to make fresh bread on demand. No kneading. No flour everywhere. They’ve got 100+ recipes worth eating, but my favorite recipe is their whole wheat sandwich bread which you can add different ingredients to at the end each day so get to try a lot of different tastes while the underlying math stays the same so you’re not scrambling to figure out how to look awesome in the kitchen. People love it, good for you, and easy to make.
Here’s my take on their version (I only use whole milk in mine while they use ½ water and ½ milk), but feel free to try it out and buy their book. So far all the recipes have been easy and delicious. For anyone looking to make this, personally set up the mixing bowl next to the blender. Add the first 5 wet ingredients and turn on the mixer, then start putting wheat berries in the blender 1 ½ cups at a time on high which is 2 ¼ cups flour when fresh ground. Grind 3 times, leave the dough on the countertop 2-3 hours while it rises, then split into 3 parts. Add desired tops and you are good to go. Leftover bread dough can be stored in glass or plastic containers as long as it’s not sealed so the yeast can breath for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy.
Blender Bread
Makes 3 Loaves
4 cups whole milk
1 ½ tablespoons yeast (2 packets)
1 ½ tablespoons salt
½ cup honey
5 tablespoons olive oil
6 ¾ cups whole wheat flour (4 ½ cups whole wheat berries)
Optional Toppings add 1 ¾ cups favorite things like nuts, dried fruits, apples, etc. for sweeter breads or italian favorites like garlic, parsley, and basil.
Directions:
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Mix milk, yeast, salt, honey, and olive oil in a mixing bowl.
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Add whole wheat flour. Grind wheat berries before adding them in any blender on high if using before adding to a mixing bowl with a dough hook in batches of 1 ½ cups.
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Cover bowl with towel. Let rise 2-3 hours until dough rises and falls.
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Divide dough into 3 parts with wet hands, coat with olive oil and either bake or refrigerate for 5-10 days. Glass or plastic storage containers work great provided you don’t snap the last seal closed so the yeast can breath.
Cooking:
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Wet hands. Take out dough or use fresh. If adding optional toppings, add 1 ¾ cups mix of your favorite toppings. You can use more normal raisins and walnuts or garlic and fresh chopped parsley or look on the internet for fun edible flowers or fresh herbs like mints or lavender with wet hands.
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Lightly coat baking pan with olive oil. Place bread on pan. Cover with towel. Allow to rise 1 hour 40 min.
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Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 cup of water in rack below the baking section. While oven is heating, dust top of bread with flour and slices top or decorative patterns. Cook 50-60 min until deep golden brown.
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Take out of oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
Eat.